The Rise of the Safavids According to their Old Veterans: Amini Haravi's Futuhat-e Shahi

This article studies an early Safavid chronicle, Futuhat-e Shahi by Amini Haravi. In 1521, the founder of the Safavid state, Shah Isma‘il, provided Haravi with a number of veterans from the early days of the Safavid uprising as informants. Their narrative presents an alternative view on the early career of the shah that differs from the dominant version current in modern scholarship. From the perspective of the Futuhat, the rise of the Safavids did not occur as a wild apocalyptic explosion, but was a carefully planned and cautious campaign run by experienced commanders who kept a tight rein on the teenage Shah Isma‘il.     

The Earliest cAlid Genealogy for the Safavids: New Evidence for the Pre-dynastic Claim to Sayyid Status

Studies on the pre-dynastic claim of the Safavids to sayyid status suffer from a dearth of primary source materials. Scholars have advanced various conjectures, but it is not yet clear when the Safavids began to promote this claim or indeed when the so-called “official” Musavid genealogy was developed. This study presents a genealogical chart drawn in the third quarter of the fifteenth century (most probably in the 1460s) in Iraq (most likely in Najaf), which records the “official” genealogy in an unequivocal manner. This chart is a valuable document in that it testifies to the circulation of the “official” genealogy some three to four decades before the establishment of the Safavid dynasty. A survey of the studies to date on the question of the pre-dynastic claim is also offered in order to clarify the significance of the chart.     

The chronology and sources of the early Irish annals

Chronological divergence between the different early Irish annals has hampered the use of their many unique records of events in Ireland, Britain and the European continent as historical sources. This paper reviews recent work which has demonstrated that their original chronological apparatus consisted of a kalend (Kł) followed, until at least the mid-seventh century, by the ferial of 1 January, and from this a consistent chronology has been restored for the annals over the years AD 1–722. In addition, critical examination of their regnal and episcopal successions has established that the 'world history' section of these annals and Bede's Chronica maiora are not mutually dependent, but rather share a common source which has been identified as a kalend-plus-ferial chronicle composed by Rufinus of Aquileia in the early fifth century.     

The early section of the Worcester chronicle

The Latin chronicle traditionally attributed to Florence of Worcester is examined, and it is suggested that its early portion, down to the end of the reign of Æthelred the Unready, was compiled at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire during the last two decades of his reign. The repercussions of this on the transmission of the vernacular texts of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle are explored.     

The early section of the Worcester chronicle

The Latin chronicle traditionally attributed to Florence of Worcester is examined, and it is suggested that its early portion, down to the end of the reign of Æthelred the Unready, was compiled at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire during the last two decades of his reign. The repercussions of this on the transmission of the vernacular texts of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle are explored.     

The San-Min Doctrine and the early legislation of the Nanjing government

Shortly after the Nanjing Nationalist government was established, Hu Hanmin and others rejected the existing legal system and proposed instead the San-Min Doctrine legislative principles, which they called society oriented. These principles were derived from Sun Yat-sen’s San-Min Doctrine. A direct manifestation of these legislative principles was the Guomindang’s one-party dictatorship under the system of political tutelage. As the legal system developed during the early period of the Nanjing government, a number of laws were designed to restrain capital and equalize landownership. In his legislative principles, Hu Hanmin understood “obligations centered” to mean “society centered.” When his society-centered principle was applied in laws, the resulting legislation appeared authoritarian in that the state, the nation, and society had the first priority. Therefore, the nature of the political tutelage based on this legislation was closer to feudalism than to modern capitalism.     

The early development of the senate of Constantinople

Abstract

The development of the senate of Constantinople as an imperial senate, on a par with the senate of Rome, has been attributed to Constantius II to the exclusion of Constantine and dated to 357. The present paper argues that the evidence for this dating is fundamentally flawed and that the decisive change came at the outset of the reign of Constantius II, while developments under Constantine foreshadowed it in significant respects. Conclusions are also drawn about what the evidence reveals of relations between Hellenic gentry and imperial rule in the fourth century.     

The early dissolution of the house of representatives

An early election is likely: (a) when the elections for the two houses are out of kilter, (b) when the Parliament has met the technical conditions of section 57, and (c) when the government is in its first term of office. In other circumstances a parliament is likely to run its full term.

In terms of likelihood of winning an early election a prime minister would be well advised to call a synchronising early election if his government is in its first term (Deakin in 1903, Hughes in 1917 and Fraser in 1977) but should be advised against calling a double dissolution election if he is not in his first term. (There is no case of a prime minister winning a double dissolution election who was not in his first term.)

Generally speaking, synchronising early elections have been kind to governments while double dissolution elections have been unkind.     

The British Isles and Great Moravia in the early middle ages

The work of the Irish or Iro-Scottish missioneries on the continent of Europe in the sixth to eighth centuries is well known. An attempt is made here to show how the characteristic design of early Celtic churches found its way partly via Bavaria, where for example the Irishman Virgil became bishop of Salzburg in the mid-eight century, into Moravia, along with other Iro-Scottish cultural influences, a century or so before the well-known Christianizing mission launched into that area from Byzantium by the two brothers SS Cyril and Methodius, in 863.     

The British Isles and Great Moravia in the early middle ages

The work of the Irish or Iro-Scottish missioneries on the continent of Europe in the sixth to eighth centuries is well known. An attempt is made here to show how the characteristic design of early Celtic churches found its way partly via Bavaria, where for example the Irishman Virgil became bishop of Salzburg in the mid-eight century, into Moravia, along with other Iro-Scottish cultural influences, a century or so before the well-known Christianizing mission launched into that area from Byzantium by the two brothers SS Cyril and Methodius, in 863.     

The sheep of early jericho

A re-examination of the ruminant remains from the excavations of the Jericho Tell has shown that sheep were certainly present, both in the pre-pottery Neolithic A levels and in the pre-pottery Neolithic B levels. Details are given of the osteology of the fourteen bones that have been identified as sheep and the implications of their origin in the context of early domestication are discussed.     

The dog in prehistoric and early historic britain

The development and changes in size, conformation and skull shape of the dog in Britain from the Mesolithic to the end of the eleventh century AD are described and factors are derived for the estimation of shoulder height from long bone lengths.The Mesolithic dog is represented by not more than four animals of about 60 cm shoulder height. In both the Neolithic and the Bronze Age the available evidence indicates a single population showing little variation. The observed range of estimated shoulder height was the same, 43–62 cm, but the mean values for each long bone length were a little higher in the later period.In the Iron Age there is again a single population but the larger dogs in it were either more common or better represented. An overall reduction in height is apparent, the range being 29–58 cm.The cardinal feature of the Romano-British dog is variability, apparent in height, build and skull shape. The height range is 23–72 cm. There were definitely two, possibly three, distinct populations and what were almost certainly house dogs were seen for the first time.The mean size of the dog in Anglo-Saxon times was greater than that in any previous period and there is evidence for two distinct populations. The range in shoulder height is 23–71 cm but overall the variation is reduced.Evidence is presented that the dog was probably used as a food animal.     

The early medieval secular: spectrum and strategies

This special issue seeks to fill a gap by taking the first steps towards locating the early Middle Ages in the broader history of the secular. While it has generally been assumed that a division between religion and secular was impossible to make in the early medieval period, taken together the articles in this collection show a variety of early medieval seculars, all arising from a general assumption that distinctions could, indeed had to, be made between what was secular and what was not. The introduction proposes that scholars should think in terms of a spectrum of secularity; key to determining what sits within this spectrum must be the identification of secularizing strategies, i.e. attempts to draw a distinction between religious and secular in a particular context. Such an approach offers the possibility of a history of the secular that does not privilege one time or place.