Rethinking the representation of Gustavus Adolphus: the case of William Watts and The Swedish Intelligencer, 1630–33

ABSTRACT

Between 1630 and 1633, English newsbooks resounded with tales of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden’s victories against the “popish” armies of Emperor Ferdinand II. Such literary praise has been widely associated with Calvinist disapprobation of Charles I’s pacific foreign policy. This article throws new light on the alternative, non-Calvinist sources of enthusiasm for Gustavus Adolphus in the newsbook, The Swedish Intelligencer, which portrayed the Swedish king as the figurehead of a broad, confessionally flexible, pan-Protestant cause. This has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between English and European Protestant nations in the context of the Thirty Years’ Wars. News from the military camp of the Lutheran King of Sweden offered a subtle way of promoting and normalising non-Calvinist forms of worship in England, and thus provides evidence that a range of Protestants were utilising the London news presses to advance their religious agenda in the early 1630s.     

Henry IV and Charles VI: the confirmation of the twenty-eight-year truce

The deposition of Richard II in 1399 caused serious problems for the new English king, Henry IV, in foreign affairs. Contemporaries believed that his seizure of the crown would provoke an outbreak of new hostilities with the French since the wife of the deposed monarch was none other than Isabel, a daughter of Charles VI, king of France. Indeed Charles took certain belligerent measures against henry, whom he stubbornly refused to recognize as the legitimate ruler of England, but stopped short of war because Isabel still remained in English custody. Henry IV, on the other hand, desired to improve relations with France because of his own tenuous hold on the English throne. Once Charles VI became convinced early in 1400 that Richard II had died in captivity, he abruptly changed his policy towards England and announced his intention of observing the terms set forth in the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce which he had originally concluded with his son-in-law in 1396. Later in May, Henry IV similarly proclaimed his willingness to honor that agreement. How both sides avoided an open clash and eventually confirmed the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce forms the central theme of this paper.     

Henry IV and Charles VI: the confirmation of the twenty-eight-year truce

The deposition of Richard II in 1399 caused serious problems for the new English king, Henry IV, in foreign affairs. Contemporaries believed that his seizure of the crown would provoke an outbreak of new hostilities with the French since the wife of the deposed monarch was none other than Isabel, a daughter of Charles VI, king of France. Indeed Charles took certain belligerent measures against henry, whom he stubbornly refused to recognize as the legitimate ruler of England, but stopped short of war because Isabel still remained in English custody. Henry IV, on the other hand, desired to improve relations with France because of his own tenuous hold on the English throne. Once Charles VI became convinced early in 1400 that Richard II had died in captivity, he abruptly changed his policy towards England and announced his intention of observing the terms set forth in the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce which he had originally concluded with his son-in-law in 1396. Later in May, Henry IV similarly proclaimed his willingness to honor that agreement. How both sides avoided an open clash and eventually confirmed the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce forms the central theme of this paper.     

Arnau de Vilanova at the summit of Oloron (1287): a major inflection point in the life of a medieval physician

In July 1287, during mediation by Edward I for the release of Charles, prince of Salerno, the kings of England and Aragon met with Charles' representatives at a large assembly at Oloron in Béarn, on the edge of the Pyrenees west of Bayonne. An English document deriving from this meeting reveals the presence there of the famous physician Arnau de Vilanova, a member of the Aragonese party, and recipient of a gift from the king of England. This article demonstrates how this document and other recent discoveries, properly contextualised, can illuminate an obscure period in Arnau's life in which he turned towards a new pattern of existence.     

ITALY AND FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY STAGE CONTROVERSY

Abstract

Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) was a notable Dutch statesman who penned over 75,000 lines of verse in eight languages. He made visits to England on no less than seven occasions and wrote a significant body of poetry, primarily in Dutch, but also in Latin, and very occasionally in French and English, during these visits. In this article, a detailed account is given of the poetry, which Huygens wrote in England. It provides a case-study of someone writing Dutch, and indeed Latin, verse in England in the early-modern period. Furthermore, during a time when the fortunes of Britain and the Northern Netherlands were very closely linked, it illustrates how a Dutchman responded in verse to aspects of English social and cultural life, and events such as the execution of Charles I, and the Great Fire of London of 1666.     

Imagining Britain: reconstructing history and writing national identity in Englands Heroicall Epistles

ABSTRACT

The idea that in the Tudor era the English people became proudly conscious of their national language and history, has been challenged by critical interventions that suggest how England as a nation had to be “written”: the act of writing can construct imagined boundaries, both to appropriate and exclude. In Englands Heroicall Epistles, Drayton replaces Ovid’s mythological figures in the Heroides with specific well-known English historical personas who provide, through their letters, different perspectives on English history. I will contend that Drayton’s assertion of national identity and patriotism is done verbally and semantically, while his allegiance to oppositionist politics is rendered generically and subversively by a remarkable manipulation of the genre of historical poetry in the Heroicall Epistles: this in turn reflects his deep engagement with ideas of history and the construction of national consciousness in early modern England.     

Sir Charles Grandison,Natural Law and the Fictionalised English Gentleman

This article enquires into the relation between enlightened humanist conceptions of natural law and the period novel's fictionalization of the English gentleman in the context of its marriage plot. Marriage played a key role in enlightened theorisations of natural law precisely as an institution capable of grounding familial and civil life in an emerging concept of human nature. Yet public debate about the state's role in the regulation of marriage in mid-eighteenth-century England demonstrates that natural law lent itself to very different models of sovereignty and governance. The antinomies that characterized natural law's circulation in the English context are uniquely fictionalized in Samuel Richardson's last novel, Sir Charles Grandison (1753–54), a lengthy parallel narrative of failed courtship and matrimonial felicity that draws upon Pufendorf's model of natural law, yet is only partly implicated in its secular humanism. The novel's eponymous gentleman hero – a ‘Man of Religion and Virtue’ – exemplifies a mix of Anglican piety, civic virtue and disinterested sympathy that is sanctioned by natural law and sealed by the English marriage plot.     

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Book reviewed in this article: Parliament and community. Edited by Art Cosgrove and J.I. McGuire. English Lordship in Ireland 1318–1361. By Robin Frame. The Statesman and the Fanatic: Thomas Wolsey and Thomas More. By Jasper Ridley. The Axe of Elizabeth: England under the Later Tudors 1547–1603. By D.M. Palliser. Calendar of tha Correspondernce of the Smyth Family of Ashton Court 1548–1642. Edited by J.H. Bettey. Faith by Statute: Parliament and the Settlement of Religion 1559. By Norman L. Jones. De Republica Anglorum by Sir Thomas Smith. Edited by Mary Dewar. Charles I: The Personal Monarch. By Charles Carlton. Charles I and the Popish Plot. By Caroline M. Hibbard. The English Republic 1649–3660. By Toby Barnard. England without a King 3649–1660. By Austin Woolrych. The Poet's Time: Politics and Religion in the Work of Andrew Marvell. By Warren L. Chernaik. William Molyneux of Dublin 1656–1698. By J.G. Simms. Edited by P.H. Kelly. The Glorious Revolution. By John Miller. Hell-Fire Duke: The Lije of tlie Duke of Wharton. By Mark Blackett-Ord. Lord Bolingbroke: Contributions to the Craftsman. Edited by Simon Varey. Pvoceedinp and Debates of the Brifish Parliament Rcspecfirg North America 1754-1 781.Edited by R.C. Simmons and P.D.G. Thomas. The Emergence of the British Two-Party System 1760–1832. By Frank O'Gorman. A Great and Necessary Measure: George Grenville and the Genesis of the Stamp Act 1763–1765. By John L. Bullion. Peaceable Kingdom: Stability and Change in Modern Britain. By Brian Harrison. Palmerston: The Early Years 1784–1841. By Kenneth Bournc. Selections from the Papers of the London Corresponding Society 1792–1799. Edited by Mary Thale. The Great Reform Act of 1832. By Eric J. Evans. Lord Aberdeen: A Political Biography. By Muriel E. Chamberlain. A Political Odyssey: Thornas O'Donnell M.P. for West Kerry 1900–1918. By J. Anthony Gaughan. Britain and Ireland 1914–23. By Sheila Lawlor.     

Church and monarch in the Carmen de Hastingae proelio

Widely read as a largely reliable account of Duke William of Normandy's invasion of England in 1066, the Carmen de Hastingae proelio is built around an important and neglected literary theme: God's protection of William's venture, and the sustaining importance for that venture of Holy Church. William's reliance upon, and consequence indebtedness to, the Church, emerges frequently in the poem, informing the structure in a way which can be observed in other texts as well, and illuminating several key passages. The duke's prayers before setting out, his safety in battle, and his treatment of Harold and the English nation after victory, all reflect this theme. The poem thus not only argues the Norman case, but more importantly it reminds the new king - or his successors - of the contribution which God and his Church made to the establishment of the Norman crown in England, and enjoins them to continue to support it in the future. Later instances from the rule of William I of England suggest that, in large measure, he did so.     

“Neptune to the Common-wealth of England” (1652): the “Republican Britannia” and the continuity of interests

ABSTRACT

In the seventeenth century, John Kerrigan reminds us, “models of empire did not always turn on monarchy”. In this essay, I trace a vision of “Neptune’s empire” shared by royalists and republicans, binding English national interest to British overseas expansion. I take as my text a poem entitled “Neptune to the Common-wealth of England”, prefixed to Marchamont Nedham’s 1652 English translation of Mare Clausum (1635), John Selden’s response to Mare Liberum (1609) by Hugo Grotius. This minor work is read alongside some equally obscure and more familiar texts in order to point up the ways in which it speaks to persistent cultural and political interests. I trace the afterlife of this verse, its critical reception and its unique status as a fragment that exemplifies the crossover between colonial republic and imperial monarchy at a crucial moment in British history, a moment that, with Brexit, remains resonant.     

Fragments of the Modern City: Material Culture and the Rhythms of Everyday Life in Victorian London

This essay analyses the influence of Charles Baudelaire's and Théophile Gautier's fetishist poetics on the early works of Algernon Charles Swinburne. If the crucial role played by the Victorian poet as a cultural ‘passeur’ between France and England has often been highlighted in recent criticism, his aesthetic delight in certain forms of sexual deviance such as podophilia has rarely been explored in relation to the verse of his French mentors. Swinburne, Gautier, and Baudelaire may have indeed shared this erotic fascination with feet: this is a fascination that was partly grounded in these poets' common interest in antique literary models, in particular in Sappho's poetry. Rather than extolling the Hellenic ‘sweetness and light’ which some of his contemporaries set so high, Swinburne indulged in dangerously eroticised Dionysian aesthetics which were perceived as both ‘too Hellenic’ and ‘too French’. I argue that the fetishism of the poetic foot may be read as one of the keys to the Victorian poet's subversive shift away from the serenity often associated with Victorian neoclassicism in favour of a Dionysian energy that anticipates Friedrich Nietzsche's works.     

Deutsche Literatur an der Indianergrenze

The thirteenth-century Spanish poem Libro de Apolonio (LA) shares many features with other works of the cuaderna vía; among them is the frequency with which the personified figure of sin makes its appearance. One finds the word pecado in the opening scene of the LA, where the narrator says that sin, always restless, manages to stir up desire in King Antioco and makes him turn his gaze on his own daughter (6). Soon again, in reference to the same incestuous king, the narrator writes that “metiólo en locura la muebda del pecado” (26). With two early references in the LA to sinful impulses, the narrator suggests that pecado is the root cause of Byzantine-like adventures that take Apolonio across the Mediterranean world. To further underscore its importance, the author uses the word pecado in a variety of contexts a minimum of thirty-one times. Given its near omnipresence, it is essential that one consider the nature and role of sin when interpreting the work. As a window through which to view sin, this essay focuses on the hero’s status as king. If Apolonio is referred to as pilgrim on occasion, it is no less significant that the main character is referred to as king no less than thirty-five times in the work. It could be that the author wants us to bear in mind that we are not dealing with “everyman,” but with a king. By viewing Apolonio in this light, one can proceed to examine his royal performance to assess to what degree his shortcomings might be considered pecado.     

Andrew Marvell and the Dutch fifth column: new evidence from a copy of Mr Smirke with authorial annotations

ABSTRACT

This essay discusses a previously unknown copy of Andrew Marvell’s Mr Smirke, which features annotations in his hand. We argue that the recipient of the volume was the Anglo-Dutch agent “William Freeman”, who was closely involved with a Dutch fifth column, set up by William of Orange and his spymaster Pierre Du Moulin, which lobbied Parliament during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The essay discusses further archival evidence of Marvell’s links to Freeman and argues that their connection persisted after the end of the Third Anglo-Dutch war. Finally, the essay argues that these links throw new light onto the development of Marvell’s late prose work, An Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government, which is more closely influenced by other pamphlets associated with William’s propaganda efforts in England in the 1670s than has been hitherto realised.     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: D. E. Luscombe : The School of Peter Abelard, The Influence of Abelard's Thought in the Early Scholastic Period. J. A. Watt : The Church and the Two Nations in Medieval Ireland. Marvin A. Breslow : A Mirror of England: English Puritan Views of Foreign Nations. 1618–1640. Charles H. O'Brein : Ideas of Religious Toleration at the Time of Joseph II: A Study of the Enlightenment among Catholics in Austria. Ian Breward : Godless Schools? A Study in Protestant Reactions to the Education Act of 1877. Harold E. Fey (Ed.): The Ecumenical Advance: A History of the Ecumenical Movement, Vol. II, 1948–1968.     

Political Tourism: Elizabeth Simcoe’s Maps and Views of Canada (1791–1796)

Abstract

Elizabeth Simcoe (1762–1850) travelled from England to Canada in 1791 and returned to her home, Wolford Lodge, in Honiton, Devon, in 1796. She was accompanying her husband, John Graves Simcoe (1752–1806), who had just been appointed Lieutenant Governor of the newly formed province of Upper Canada. Throughout their travels, Elizabeth recorded her Canadian experiences in her diaries and sketchbooks. She drew, corrected and copied maps for her husband. Upon their return to England they offered to the king an album of 32 works and a map, all drawn on birch bark. The map and the album acted as a report to the king of her husband’s political achievements in Canada and her engagement as a cartographer.     

Excavations on Brightstone and Bowcombe Downs,Isle of Weight,Made in August 1854

Abstract

Not a single English Romanesque great cloister arcade survives in situ. Despite this, the existence of a number of 11th- and 12th-century rear walls, and the discovery of quantities of stonework likely to have originated in cloister arcades, make it possible to recover something of the likely appearance and character of the cloister in Anglo-Norman England. The following paper considers that evidence, and assesses how our understanding of the underlying topography and archaeology of Anglo-Norman cloisters might enable us to reconstruct their lost walks. It concludes with an appraisal of the chronology of English cloister building.     

Republicans,Unionists and Jacobites: The 1st Marquess of Tweeddale and the Restoration of the British Parliament

Although John Hay, 1st marquess of Tweeddale, contributed significantly to both the ruthless overthrow of Charles I, and the establishment of the first British parliament in the 1650s, most of his political career was concerned with attempting to re-establish this parliament after it was dissolved at the restoration of Charles II. His first attempt ended in defeat at the hands of the king and the duke of Lauderdale in 1670, but following the overthrow of James VII and II in 1688, Tweeddale tried to persuade the prince of Orange to unite Scotland and England. The prince, however, showed much more interest in securing the crown of Scotland than uniting the two kingdoms. Tweeddale, as lord high commissioner to the Scottish parliament in 1695, responded by passing legislation designed to provoke the English parliament into accepting union. He was also engaged in a jacobite intrigue to restore King James. Tweeddale intended that the restored monarch would be little more than a puppet, who could be used to legitimise what was effectively a republican regime in all but name. By this means the restored parliament would avoid the unpopularity which brought down the first British parliament in 1660. Tweeddale's scheme came to nought, but the technique he employed to manipulate the English parliament, and exploit the jacobite threat, contributed to the restoration of the British parliament ten years after his death.     

King Stephen,the English church,and a female mystic: Christina of Markyate's Vita as a neglected source for the council of Winchester (August 1139) and its aftermath

One of the central reasons for the disintegration of royal authority (sometimes called ‘the Anarchy’) during the reign of King Stephen of England is generally thought to have been his troubled relationship with the English church. The king was summoned to appear before the legate in England, Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (who was also Stephen's brother), at a church council called for Winchester on 29 August 1139, in order to show cause for his conduct in arresting several prominent bishops and in confiscating their property. Several major chroniclers discuss the events leading up to and occurring at the council of Winchester, especially William of Malmesbury in his Historia novella and the anonymous Gesta Stephani. The versions of events contained in these sources are not entirely consistent. The present paper examines yet another recounting of the events of the council, seldom appreciated by historians of twelfth-century England, presented in the Vita of Christina of Markyate (c.1096/98–c.1155/66), composed by an anonymous monk of St Albans between 1140 and 1146. Christina was close to the abbot of St Albans, Geoffrey de Gorham, who was probably the patron of the Vita and who quite likely attended the Winchester council and apparently became involved in its aftermath. These events are recorded in some detail in the Vita, presenting us with a vivid recounting of the council and the immediate consequences thereof. The narrative of the Vita contains a somewhat different picture of the personalities and occurrences surrounding the Winchester council than we encounter in the chronicles. The current essay compares the Vita to the standard accounts. We argue that the Vita may be the earliest and possibly most reliable source for the events of the council. Moreover, if we privilege the report of the Vita, the council becomes an especially significant moment in the breakdown of relations between Stephen and the English church.     

The Atlantic Empires in the Eighteenth Century

Spanish America; John J. Tepaske