From English to British liberty, 1550–1800

This essay was written for a symposium on Dutch conceptual history in a comparative European perspective. The concept in question here is liberty, and the context first English and then (following the creation of the United Kingdom in 1707) British. What follows primarily addresses two themes, both challenging. First, what role did the concept of liberty play over an exceptionally long and turbulent period of English history punctuated by two revolutions? Second, what relationship existed during this period between English and Dutch understandings and experience of this concept?     

Jacobitism and the English people, 1688–1788

This essay investigates the marginalisation in eighteenth-century literary theoretical discussions of a category of emotion, ‘the affections’, which plays a significant role elsewhere in eighteenth-century thought, especially in moral philosophy and theology. It proposes that affections are incompatible with a series of principles that underpin dominant concepts of the literary in early and mid-eighteenth-century literary criticism by authors including Kames, Burke, Alison, Duff, Brown, Du Bos, Trapp and Beattie, many of whom were associated with the Scottish Enlightenment. By analysing eighteenth-century theories of the perceived obscurity of literary emotions in comparison with the emotions of the other fine arts (in particular, painting and music), and by highlighting the perceived distinction of literary emotions from what theorists of the period term ‘reality’, it shows how the supremacy of the belief that literary merit is tied to the individuality, particularity, and plausibility of represented emotion gives rise to a prioritisation of passions over affections in literary critical discussions about the emotions.     

The English Interpreters in Dahomey, 1843–1852

ABSTRACT

Commercial and diplomatic relations between Africans and Europeans in West Africa in the pre-colonial period depended on the existence of persons who had sufficient knowledge of both European and African languages to be able to act as interpreters between the parties, and such persons were more usually Africans than Europeans. This article collates biographical information on four persons who served as interpreters to successive British visitors to the kingdom of Dahomey between 1843 and 1852, including official government missions seeking to persuade the Dahomian king to cooperate in the suppression of the Atlantic slave trade. The lives of such men may be thought of as involving the ‘transcending’ of ‘boundaries’, not only in acting as brokers in contacts between Africans and Europeans, but also in themselves occupying an ambiguous liminal position between the two. In their role as interpreters, they were subject to contradictory pressures, from the Dahomian state and the various European interests involved in the negotiations, and at the same time sought to advance their own personal interests. Beyond the intrinsic interest of these biographies, this article is conceived as a methodological exploration of the possibility of extracting an African voice and perspective from mainly European sources.     

Miskitu Labor and English Royalization at Augusta,Roatán Island,Honduras

In 1742, an outpost of English royalization was established on Roatán Island off the north coast of Honduras. The community, Augusta, housed a mix of English settlers and local indigenous Miskitu peoples. While the settlement was occupied for a brief span of only 7 years, the material record of the community provides insight into early English-Miskitu interactions during the process of English “royalization,” or the strategies deployed by monarchies to engender loyalty to a state. In this article, we discuss the concept of royalization from an agent-centered perspective and then describe the results of our four field seasons of archaeological investigations at Augusta, which have unearthed mixed deposits of English and Miskitu material culture. We argue that such deposits indicate that Miskitu labor and identity were entangled with English lifeways and lifestyles, and that these entanglements reveal some of the ways in which the process of royalization was adapted to the unique social and natural landscapes of the western Caribbean.     

These Englands,or where does devolution leave the English?*

Abstract. Devolution to Scotland and Wales has not yet led to popular demand for a new constitutional settlement for England, but it has led to renewed debate about who the English are. One reason why the English find this a difficult question is that there is more than one construction of England with which to engage. This paper distinguishes four constructions, each with its distinctive orientation to time and place: Anglo‐British England, Little England, English England and Cosmopolitan England. Each has its light and dark sides. Each also enjoys considerable currency, but none has an exclusive appeal. Cosmopolitan England may be thought to constitute the future, but the uneven cosmopolitanisation of the regions will continue to complicate the collective representation of England.     

Changing emphases in English vernacular homiletic literature, 960–1225

In spite of the highly traditional nature of English vernacular homiletic literature, the content of the homilies can be shown to change when the period 960–1100 is compared with the period 1100 1225. This is especially true of the homilists' attitudes toward history, and of the subjects they address when they admonish their audiences with regard to correct behavior.By identifying direct admonitions to behave or obstain from behaving in a particular way, it has been possible to establish certain important categories of behavior advocated or prohibited. Admonitions relating to these thirty-seven categories of behavior have then been recorded and quantified. The results of this analysis show significant changes in the attention of the homilists to such categories of behavior as murder, lying, sorcery, theft, disloyalty, kinship duties, and confession, as well as to various states of mind such as chastity, contrition, etc. These changes reveal an early thirteenth-century homiletic literature in which questions of basic social order are no longer considered pressing matters for the pulpit, and in which sincere compliance with Christian moral precepts is a primary concern.Seen in this light, the homilies give us valuable insight into the world view characteristics of the parish pulpit during a period when there are very few other records of parish life.     

War and the emergence of the English parliament, 1297–1360

Although the opening of the Hundred Years' War led the kings of France and England to make similar demands upon their subjects, the effect on the monarchy and on the Estates was markedly different in the two countries. In England taxation gave parliament a central role in the medieval polity while in France it strengthened first local autonomy and then absolute monarchy. Because parliament had an inescapable obligation to grant taxation for common defence, the Commons sought to limit this to periods of open war, and to criticise and control the handling and expenditure of the tax. The character of taxation, as levied by common assent and for the common profit, likewise permitted resistance to the extension of prerogative rights and the assertion of parliament's right to grant the tax on wool. In these matters the Commons were forced into a defensive dialogue with the Crown over their obligations which educated them in political argument and the techniques of parliamentary opposition. The power to levy taxation on grounds of ‘necessity of state’ strengthened both monarchies; but in England this was subject to the assent and authority of parliament which thereby emerged as a political institution concerned with the common needs of the realm.     

Cesare Beccaria's influence on English discussions of punishment, 1764–1789

The impact of Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments on English discussions of punishment in the twenty-five years following its publication is assessed, with attention being paid to Beccaria's combination of contractarian and early utilitarian thinking. It is argued that Beccaria's influence was particularly striking in England in that he stimulated two disparate strands of reform thinking. The first being exemplified in the work of William Eden, and taking the form of a contractarian, humanitarian version, which owed something to William Blackstone, but was ultimately quite distinct. The second represented in Jeremy Bentham's theory of punishment with its emphasis overwhelmingly on utilitarian calculation.     

An English Tree-Ring Chronology,A.D. 404–1216

AN 813-YEAR OAK CHRONOLOGY, A.D. 404–1216, is presented. Its construction has taken three years because of the difficulty of finding suitable Saxon timbers and the need to test the reliability of the dating. Although based on only a few timbers for the period c. A.D. 700, it can be used to date Saxon and medieval timbers whilst more material is found to consolidate that section of the chronology.