Legal status of widows in Denmark 1500-1900

The legal status of widows in Denmark between 1500 and 1900 has been analyzed from three main perspectives. First, we examine the widow as an actor in the private room and, secondly, as actor and object in the public room. The first perspective concerns the general rules as to inheritance of the husband's separate property, the division of the community property and the possibility of retaining the community property in undivided possession on one side, and on the other the possibilities for special agreements between the spouses as to the economy of the widowhood, and agreements between the widow and her kinship or other persons or institutions about her old age maintenance and support. The second perspective concerns the legal status of widows in business life as trading actors or as receivers of public or private pensions or life insurances, and thirdly as objects for social security help. The different economic solutions are evaluated from the point of view that they were favouring the widows at the expense of the children or other heirs.     

The medical content of English almanacs 1640-1700

There has been a great deal of recent interest in popular health care in early modern England, resulting in studies on a range of topics from practitioners through remedial treatment. Over the past decade, the history of books has also attracted growing interest. This is particularly true for the seventeenth century, a period marked by a dramatic rise in all types of printed works. The 1640s are especially significant in the evolution of printed vernacular medical publications, which continued to flourish during the rest of the century. While recent studies on popular medical books have contributed greatly to our understanding of contemporary medical beliefs and practices, they have failed to properly recognize the effect that almanacs had on early modern medicine. Although their primary function was not to disseminate medical information, most provided a great deal of medical information. Furthermore, these cheap, annual publications targeted and were read by a wide cross-section of the public, making them the first true form of British mass media. This article is based on the content of 1,392 almanacs printed between 1640 and 1700, which may make it the largest comparative study of the medical content of any early modern printed works. The project has resulted in two major findings. First of all, almanacs played a major part in the dissemination, continuing popularity, and longevity of traditional astrological and Galenic beliefs and practices. Secondly, at the same time, almanacs played an important early role in the growth of medical materialism in Britain.     

The Migrations and Changing Culture of the Alabama and Coushatta, 1700-1900

The Alabama and Coushatta Indians have been known to history since the De Solo Expedition (1539-1541 A.D.) and to prehistory since Mature Mississippian times (1200-1500 A.D.). This study focuses on cultural changes through time—from 1700 A.D. to 1900 A.D.—and postulates a reducing tradition, or an increasing simplification through loss of culture traits over the time frame.

Both tribes passed from the Mature Mississippian to the Burial Urn Culture and on the Alabama River both adopted the culture of the Creeks. They came into early contact with the English arid French traders (17th and 18th centuries), inducing further cultural changes.

Migration also played a role in the reducing tradition. The Alabama and Coushatta moved west after the Treaty of Paris (1763) and abandoned the Alabama River completely after the Creek War (1813-1814). Numerous encampments and villages were set up in Louisiana. The Alabama finally moved to east Texas: the Coushatta consolidated at Indian Village. Louisiana (1840s) where they were forced off the land by white homesteaders. After their Indian cultural traditions were all but lost, the Coushatta finally settled near Bayou Blue in Louisiana (1884).     

Western society and alchemy from 1200-1500

In the middle ages someone professing to be an alchemist might not actually be one in the strict sense of the word. Many frauds and charlatans posed as alchemists to make the credulous public pay for the application of their supposed knowledge of the divine art.This article will trace the development of the medieval view of alchemy as it emerges from the most important contemporary sources and will attempt to answer the question why its abuses attracted more attention than its serious exercise.     

Northeast Brazil 1700-50: The agricultural crisis re-examined

The period from 1700 to 1750 was one of dramatic change in Brazil. The two major elements in the change were the beginning of gold production in the highlands of present-day Minas Gerais and later in Goiás and Mato Grosso and a decline in agriculture in the coastal areas of the Northeast. In the historiography of Brazil these changes have been interrelated, the one as cause, the other as effect. In so doing, historians have paid little attention to the date of the agricultural depression or to the geographical variations in the intensity of the decline. In this paper I propose to examine the stages of that decline more closely and to try to determine the significance of the discovery of gold as a cause by comparing its role to that of other possible cause such as drought, political instability and, with the emergence of other more competitive centres of sugar production, declining sugar prices. I will show that the agricultural depression in the Northeast came long after the initial discoveries of gold and will argue that the price of sugar rather than the effects of a gold rush was the crucial variable in the timing of the depression.     

西班牙天主教语境下的宗教政策--16-18世纪菲律宾华侨皈依天主教研究

西班牙是欧洲最早向海外扩张的殖民国家之一,15世纪末地理大发现后其海外扩张的主要动机是攫取东方财富和传播天主教,企图在亚洲建立"东方天主教帝国",这使得它在海外殖民的过程中所实施的政策与其它殖民国家显著不同,即注重从宗教文化上对殖民地人民进行同化.本文探讨了西班牙在天主教语境下对菲律宾华侨的宗教政策和华侨的反应,以及这种政策所产生的结果.