Reversed,defaced, replaced: late medieval London and the heraldic communication of discontent and protest

ABSTRACT

Cultural history is currently rediscovering heraldry as a versatile means of communication that was widely employed throughout all parts of medieval society, not least the city. Scholars, however, primarily analyse the urban space as a stage for noble self-representation by means of heraldic communication. This paper argues for a different perspective, that townspeople and other commoners were far from primarily passive observers of heraldry displayed in the city. Four case studies from late medieval London demonstrate public expressions of discontent and protest through forms of heraldic communication which did not rely on display, but instead on the manipulation and destruction of the heraldic signs of kings, princes and other noblemen. Indeed, such heraldic practices of ‘non-nobles’ suggest that heraldry, in the later Middle Ages, was accessible to all parts of society, and constituted a ubiquitous and powerful aspect of urban visual culture.     

A.F.R. Wollaston and the 'Utakwa River Mountain Papuan' skulls

This note describes the results of research into the provenance of a small collection of human remains currently held at the Natural History Museum in London. These remains consist of four skulls, which almost certainly derive from individuals of the Amungme community in what is now the Indonesian province of Papua (Irian Jaya). The precise circumstances of the original collection of these skulls by the Wollaston Expedition to Dutch New Guinea of 1912–13 have not previously been clarified, and evidence is offered here to suggest that the silence on this matter has been deliberate.     

Saving the Rose Theatre: England's first managed and monitored reburial

Abstract

The discovery of the Elizabethan Rose Theatre in London in 1989 led to pressure on the government for the site to be preserved for future full excavation and the display of the remains in situ. This paper describes briefly the historical and geological background to the theatre site, and discusses the rationale of the burial system adopted and the methods used to monitor the condition of the site. The burial system was designed with a limited life expectancy of a few years and it was, and still remains, the objective of the Rose Theatre Trust to raise sufficient money for the theatre to be displayed. However, fourteen years on, the system continues to perform satisfactorily. The methodology is reviewed, particularly the use of expensive and scarce Buckland sand, and finally, the options for the future of the theatre's remains are considered.     

Book reviews

James E. McClellen III and Harold Dorn. Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1999.404 pages + illustrations + maps + graphs + bibliography + index. $55.00 (hardcover), $18.95 (paperback).

Arnold Pacey. Meaning in Technology (Cambridge, Mass and London, England: MIT Press, 1999), pp. viii+264.     

Population change in an urban system — the examples of the republic of Ireland and Scotland

State of the Scottish Environment 1991. By T.C.D. Dargie and D.J. Briggs, 296 × 210 mm, 73 pp, Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link, Perth, 1992, pbk, ISBN 0–9518582–0–3, £5.00.

Ice Age Earth. By Alastair G. Dawson, 233 × 155 mm, xx + 293 pp, Routledge, London and New York, 1991, pbk, ISBN 0–415–01567–7, £17.99.

Fundamentals of Weather and Climate. By Robin McIlveen, 246 × 190 mm, 497 pp, Chapman and Hall, London, 1992, pbk, ISBN 0–442–31476–0, £19.95.

Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster. By Keith Smith, 233 × 155 mm, xx + 324 pp, Routledge, London and New York, 1991, pbk, ISBN 0–415–01217, £16.99.

Global Shift: the Internationalization of Economic Activity (Second edition). By Peter Dicken, 244 × 172 mm, xv + 492 pp, Paul Chapman, London, 1992, pbk, ISBN 1–85396–142–6, £15.95.

Geographic Information Systems: Developments and Applications. Edited by L. Worrall, 238 × 155 mm, 244pp, London, Belhaven, 1991, hbk, ISBN 1–85293–1620, £45.00.

Grieve on Geddes. By Robert Grieve, 208 × 148 mm, iv + 53 pp, Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust, Edinburgh, 1992, pbk, no ISBN, £5.00.

The Changing Scottish Landscape 1500–1800. By Ian and Kathleen Whyte, 233 × 155 mm, 251 pp, Routledge, London, 1991, hbk, ISBN 0–415–02992–9, £40.00.     

Groping Toward Globalization: In Search of an Anthropology Without Boundaries

Donal B. Cruise O'Brien. Saints and Politicians: Essays in the Organization of a Senegalese Peasant Society. African Studies Series 15. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1975. 213 pp. Tables, bibliographies and index. $13.95.

Patrick Cole. Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos. African Studies Series 12. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1975. 297 pp. Bibliography and index. $17.50.     

An assemblage of 17th-century pottery from Bombay Wharf,Rotherhithe, London SE16

Abstract

A detailed examination of an assemblage of pottery deposited during the last quarter of the 17th century at Bombay Wharf, in Rotherhithe, London, provides the opportunity to look at the wider context of painted earthenwares made at selected centres on the Continent and found in London. The Rotherhithe material includes a high proportion of imported pottery, with fine examples of Portuguese faience, Ligurian maiolica and Dutch tin-glazed ware. The wider distribution of these wares in London is considered, as well as questions of the original context in which they appeared and the circumstances of their disposal.     

On the origins and organization of South Italian poverty

John Davis. Land and Family in Pisticci. London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology No. 48. London: The Athlone Press, 1973. ix + 200 pp. Illustrations, tables, appendixes, reference's, and index. $10.50.     

Collections of Chinese antiquities outside China: problems and hopes

Abstract

This paper is a revised and abbreviated version of an inaugural address delivered on 3 March 2005, at the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology. The Centre was jointly established in London by the Institute of Archaeology and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University College London, together with the School of Archaeology and Museum Studies at Beijing University as their Chinese partner institution.     

A Seventeenth-century Boat found in London

Abstract

A flat-bottomed barge carrying a cargo of bricks was excavated where it had sunk on the bed of the Thames off Blackfriars in London. Details of the boat’s construction were recovered, and associated finds suggested a date in the third quarter of the 17th century, perhaps connected with intensive rebuilding activity after the Great Fire of London in 1666.     

Book Reviews

Technopoles of the World: The Making of 21st Century Industrial Complexes. M. Castells and P. Hall. London, Routledge, 1994, x + 275 pp, £45.00 hb, ISBN 0 415 10014 3, £14.99 pk, ISBN 0 415 10015 1 pb.

Transport and Communications Innovation in Europe. G. Giannopoulos and A. Gillespie (Eds). London, Belhaven Press, 1993, xii + 369 pp, £42.00 hb, ISBN 1 85293 269 4.

The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning. F. Fisher and J. Forester (Eds). London, UCL Press, 1993, 327pp, £14.95, pb, ISBN 1 85728 183 7.

Regional Development in the 1990s. The British Isles in Transition. P. Townroe and R. Martin (Eds). London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Regional Studies Association, 330pp, £22.50 pb, ISBN 1 85302 139 3.

Urban Land and Property Markets in France. R. Acosta and V. Renard. London, University College Press, 1993, 166pp, £40.00 hb, ISBN 1 85728 050 4.     

The laryngoscope and nineteenth-century British understanding of laryngeal movements

ABSTRACT

The source of the human voice is obscured from view. The development of the laryngoscope in the late 1850s provided the potential to see the action of the vocal folds during speaking for the first time. This new instrument materially contributed to the understanding of vocal fold neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropathology. The laryngoscope led to elaborated understanding of disorders that previously were determined by changes in sound. The objective of this paper is to detail the consequences of this novel visualization of the larynx, and to trace how it aided in the development of understanding of the movements of the vocal folds. This is demonstrated through an examination of the activities and practices of a group of London clinicians in the second half of the nineteenth century.     

Book reviews

Plans, Pragmatism and People: the Legacy of Soviet Planning for Today's Cities. R. Antony French. London, UCL Press, 1995, 233 pp. US$19.95 pb, ISBN 0 82296 106 7

The Politics of Decentralisation: Revitalising Local Democracy. D. Burns, R. Hambleton and P. Hoggett. London, Macmillan, 1994, xvi + 304 pp., £12.50 pb, ISBN 0 333 52164 1

Environmentally Sustainable Business: a Local and Regional Perspective. P. Roberts. London, Paul Chapman, 1995, 271 pp., £16.95, ISBN 1 85396 240 6

International Perspectives in Urban Studies 3. Ronan Paddison, John Money and Bill Lever (Eds). London, Jessica Kingsley, 1995, 284 pp., US$37.50 pb, ISBN 1 85302 311 6

British Planning Policy in Transition: Planning in the Major Years. M. Tewdwr‐Jones (Ed.). London, UCL Press, 1996, 262pp., £14.95 pb, ISBN 1 85728 422 4, £40.00 hb, ISBN 1 85728 421 6     

'I'd Heard it was Such a Grand Place': Mid-19th Century Internal Migration to London

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, the migration of people into London was at its height. Studies of gross and net migration patterns from other regions demonstrate the importance of London as a goal destination, but until now the underlying structure of migration movements was difficult to access due to the volume of material involved. This paper exploits the recent indexing of the currently available censuses to identify the individual migration behaviour of young men from Devon, Norfolk and Sussex to London. Findings relating to the size and locality of source places, occupational backgrounds, kinship and to residential and occupational choice upon reaching London are presented for each county. The importance of information as a spur to migration is underlined and differing responses in terms of occupation are attributed to distance depreciation of such information.     

Mapping the soft city: using cognitive mapping to respond to London-based literature and explore the construction of teenage place-related identity

ABSTRACT

Raban (1974. Soft City: What Cities Do To Us, and How They Change the Way We Live, Think and Feel. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2) distinguishes between the ‘hard’ city of statistics and maps, versus the ‘soft’ city of the ‘creative play of urban living’, ‘an art’ which enables urbanites to mould cities in their desired image. This case study reviews approaches to conceptualising urban space, exploring practical tasks through which London students can engage with, and write about, their place-related identities in order to enhance their readings of the rich range of literature set in their city. Developing an unconventional approach to teaching two A-level (16–18 years old) English Literature coursework texts – John Gay’s (1716) Trivia and Geoff Nicholson’s (1997) Bleeding London – it was hoped that students might be helped to ask whether a comprehensive (‘hard’) knowledge of London can ever be achieved. This case study is primarily an account of the students’ own London maps, a creative task designed to help them engage thematically with the coursework texts.     

New maps

EUROPE.

Sweden for Peace. The Programme of Sioeden in the Union Crisis. By Nils Edén, Professor at the University of Upsala. London : David Nutt. Pp. 40.

La Belgique : Institutions, Industrie, Commerce. Brussels : J. Goemaere, 1905.Pp. 870.

Place‐Names of Boss and Cromarty. By W. J. Watson, M.A., Eector of Inverness Royal Academy. Inverness : The Northern Counties Printing Co. 1904.

ASIA.

The Private Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai. Translated from the Tamil by order of the Government of Madras, and edited by Sir J. Frederick Price, K.O.S.I., late of the Indian Civil Service. Vol. I. Madras : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Press, 1904.

The Central Tian‐Shan Mountains, 1902–1903. By Dr. Gottfried Merzbacher. Published under authority of the Eoyal Geographical Society. Pp. 294, with Map and 20 Photographic Illustrations. London : John Murray, 1905.

AFRICA.

The World of To‐day.—Vol. III. Africa. By A. R. Hope Moncrieff. London : Gresham Publishing Co., 1905. Pp. vi + 280. Numerous Illustrations and Maps.

AMERICA.

Back to Sunny Seas. By Frank T. Bullen, F.R.G.S. London : Smith, Elder and Co., 1905.

GENERAL.

The Oxford Geographies. Vol. II. : The Junior Geography. By A. J. Herbertson, M.A., Ph.D. Oxford : At the Clarendon Press, 1905.     

Book reviews

Frontiers

The Predicament of Englishness

The English: a portrait of a people. Jeremy Paxman. Pp. ix + 309. London: Penguin, 1999. Price £7.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 14 026723 9.

New Works in Geography

Introducing Human Geographies. Edited by Paul Cloke, Philip Crang & Mark Goodwin. Pp. 16 + 368. London: Arnold, 1999. Price £19.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 340 69193 X; £50.00 (hbk), ISBN 0 340 69192 1.

Cities of Difference. Edited by Ruth Fincher & Jane. M. Jacob. Pp. 322. New York: Guildford Press, 1988. Price £16.95 (pbk), ISBN 1 57230 310 7.

Urban Geography. Tim Hall, Pp. 180. London: Routledge, 1998. Price £35.00 (hbk), ISBN 0 415 14084.

Focus on Scotland

Industrial Nation: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland, 1800‐present. William W. Knox. Pp. 368. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999. £14.99 (pbk), ISBN 0 7486 1085 5; £45.00 (hbk), ISBN 0 7486 1084 7.     

Out of the shadow of man

R. D. Martin, G. A. Doyle and A. C. Walker, eds. Prosimian Biology. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1974. xxi + 983 pp. Figures, tables, indices. $48.00.

Ian Tattersall and Robert W. Sussman, eds. Lemur Biology. New York and London: Plenum Press, 1975. xiii + 365 pp. Figures, tables, and index. $22.95.

W. Patrick Luckett and Frederick S. Szalay, eds. Phylogeny of the Primates: A Multidisciplinary Approach. New York and London: Plenum Press, 1975. xiv + 483 pp. Figures, tables and index. $39.50.     

The Textile Fabrics of India and Huddersfield Cloth Industry

Abstract

There was a large and rapidly expanding cloth finishing industry in London in the late fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth century. London merchants brought provincial cloth to the City, some of which was finished prior to export, and some was finished for the City's expanding clothing industry. The success of the London Fullers and Shearmen was reflected in their merger to form the Clothworkers' Company in 1528, and their acceptance ten years later as the last and twelfth merchant company in the City. The paper traces both the economic progress of the company and some of its principal members, and the difficulties that the Fullers and Shearmen faced as they decided to merge, and then to become accepted as one of the leading companies in the City.     

Mid 17th- and 19th-century English wine bottles with seals in London’s archaeological collections

Abstract

This article details work which has, for the first time, delivered a comprehensive catalogue of 17th- and 19th-century dated English glass bottles with applied seals derived from archaeological excavations in London by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) and its predecessors. This text introduces the cataloguing methodology employed, reviews the historiography of bottle seal studies and summarizes the survey results. We consider, among other issues, the context and parallels behind individual seal designs, their chronologies, geographies of their movement and spaces of use in early Modern London.