Direct Farming on the Estates of Cheshire Landowners c.1570–c.1700

Abstract

'Responses in the North of England to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715'. The Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 resulted in significant activity among State, Church and society throughout the North of England, especially because the Jacobite army marched through most of the northern counties, Yorkshire and Durham excepted. Yet, though the responses made in opposition to the rebellion and to its adherents were far from uniform, often slow and piecemeal, they did indicate that Jacobitism had limited appeal as loyalist action outweighed that of the Jacobites.     

The Safavid-Qizilbash Ecumene and the Formation of the Qizilbash-Alevi Community in the Ottoman Empire,c. 1500–c. 1700

Alevis, the largest religious minority of Turkey, also living in Europe and the Balkans, are distinguished from both Sunnis and Shi?ites by their latitudinarian attitude toward Islamic Law. Conceptualizing this feature as “heterodoxy,” earlier Turkish scholarship sought the roots of Alevi religiosity in Turkish traditions which traced back to Central Asia, on the one hand, and in medieval Anatolian Sufi orders such as the Yasawi, Bektashi, Qalandari, and Wafa?i, on the other. A new line of scholarship has critiqued the earlier conceptualization of Alevis as “heterodox” as well as the assumption of Central Asian connections. In the meantime, the new scholarship too has focused on medieval Anatolian Sufi orders, especially the Bektashi and Wafa?i, as the fountainhead of Alevi tradition. Critically engaging with both scholarships, this paper argues that it was the Safavid-Qizilbash movement in Anatolia, Azerbaijan, and Iran rather than medieval Sufi orders, that gave birth to Alevi religiosity.     

All quiet on the western front? Royal politics in Galicia from c.800 to c.950

For complex reasons pertaining to the course of Spanish historiography throughout the twentieth century, the region of Galicia has been seen as politically peripheral to the initial stages of the Reconquista. In this article I argue that Galicia was a key marcher region in the ninth and tenth centuries, and that its magnate class, far from being marginal, was closely implicated in the rudimentary political structures of the kingdom. I propose that documents which seem to disclose little more than idealized abstractions of the political relationships between Astur‐Leonese kings and Galician magnates reveal aspects of elite political practice in action.     

Multiregional Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Andes During the Late Intermediate Period (c. A.D. 1000–1400)

During the Late Intermediate period (LIP, c. A.D. 1000–1400), the central Andes experienced the decline of the Wari and Tiwanaku states, as well as processes of state formation, regional population growth, and competition culminating in the imperial expansion of the Chimú and Inka polities. The LIP holds the potential to link the archaeological features of early Andean states with the material signatures of the later ones, providing a critical means of contextualizing the intergenerational continuities and breaks in state structures and imperial strategies. The recent proliferation of LIP research and the completion of a number of regional studies permit the overview of six LIP regions and the comparison of highland and lowland patterns of political and economic organization, social complexity, and group identity.     

Entangled allegiances: Ottoman Greeks in Marseille and the shifting ethos of Greekness (c. 1790–c. 1820)

Abstract

An attempt is made here to consider ‘the Greek experience of Ottoman rule’ beyond the frontiers of the Empire itself, by focusing on the resilience of the Ottoman aspect of collective identity among the Greeks in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Marseille. Beyond the classic questioning of political, social and cultural categories and labels, this article makes a plea for taking this resilience seriously, as part and parcel of a broader process of identity formation in a diaspora context. Making the case for a richer and more complex analysis of the phenomenon of ‘entangled identities’ among the Greeks in Marseille, some suggestions are made for what this claim might bring to the analysis of identity formation in the context of diaspora communities.     

Northern Ireland and the Far Left,c. 1965 – 1975

ABSTRACT

The far left, defined as those to the left of orthodox communism, with few but important exceptions defined the Northern Ireland Troubles in essentially republican terms as a struggle to complete Irish national self-determination. Despite this lack of independent orientation, far left ideas fertilised both republicanism and loyalism in the 1970s. They are an important element in understanding the dynamics of ideological conflict in the period.     

Naval shipbuilding and the health of dockworkers c.1815–1871

Abstract

In the sixty years that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy underwent the transition from wood and sail to steam and iron. The impact that this had on the health of workers in the Royal Dockyards has been neglected by historians. In this article, records from the medical department at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard are used to demonstrate that the nature and causes of physical injuries sustained by dockworkers changed as a result of this transition. It is also shown that the environment of the dockyards became more hazardous to health. More broadly, this study suggests that the Royal Dockyards warrant inclusion in historical debates about industrialisation and the formation of welfare states; and in analyses concerned with the development of local healthcare provision in the nineteenth century.     

‘Our irrepressible fellow-colonist’: the biological invasion of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) in the Eastern Cape c.1890–c.1910

The paper provides an analysis of the spread of the alien prickly pear cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) through the Eastern divisions of the Cape Colony in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It argues that biological invasions are historical processes whose trajectories are crucially shaped by the diverse and shifting cultural values attached to the invader by the invaded human society. Prickly pear underwent a gradual transformation from utility to weed as it traversed space (west to east) and time (seventeenth to nineteenth centuries), entering new natural (Karoo for Mediterranean) and economic (market for subsistence) environments more conducive to its rapid spread. Even then its definition as ‘evil’ reflected class and regional biases not shared by either the rural poor of the Eastern Cape (whether black and white) or commercial stock farmers above and west of the Winterberg–Amatola line who prized and frequently cultivated the plant for subsistence and fodder. This division and widespread non-compliance blunted official extermination efforts and left the matter unresolved by the end of the colonial period. A cultural explanation of the prickly pear invasion is contrasted with both purely biological explanations and the tendency of environmental historians to reduce such events to environmental epiphenomenon of capitalism.     

Burial Practices in the Northern Danelaw,c.650–1100

Abstract

The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 formed a watershed in the pastoral care of Western Europe. Aiming to transform nominal faith into a more active and personal religious experience, the Lateran IV decrees instigated an internal mission. In the decades immediately following the Council, its reforms were disseminated across Europe through diocesan legislation, where bishops adapted the decrees to fit local circumstances. This paper attempts to follow both the transmission and implementation of the 1215 decrees in the Northern Province, analysing both the reforming climate of northern England and the actual effects of the legislation in the approximate century and a quarter immediately following the Fourth Lateran Council.     

‘Reconciled gradually to the system of indoor relief’: the poor law in wales during the ‘crusade against out-relief’, c. 1870 – c. 1890

Evidence is growing that Wales was a distinctive ‘welfare region’ under the New Poor Law. Higher rates of out-relief, tense relations with London and a deep dislike of the workhouse system marked the Principality out as different. This article considers Welsh distinctiveness in the context of the ‘crusade against out-relief’. Launched in the early 1870s, the crusade saw out-relief numbers tumble nationally. Little is known about the crusade in Wales but it is often assumed that it was a non-event. It is argued here that this is entirely incorrect. Official statistics reveal that tens of thousands of outdoor paupers in Wales had their relief stopped. Crusaders were successful partly due to the misleading way the Poor Law inspectorate used official figures to portray Wales as a district on the brink of crisis. The turning of outdoor paupers into ‘folk devils’ by sections of the Welsh press was also pivotal. Welsh distinctiveness was not eradicated during the crusade, but it was eroded.     

Clothing as communication? Vestments and views of the papacy c.1300

ABSTRACT

This essay argues that Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303) used clothing in a highly intentional and performative manner to communicate his status and authority. His audience, however, was quite limited – essentially, the small community of those who aspired to hold or influence the power of the Holy See – and the messages conveyed were not particularly complex. Attempting a reception history of papal attire c.1300, the essay surveys remarks regarding clothing in late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century chronicles and analyses in depth the evidence of two sources: ambassadorial reports to King James II of Aragon (1291–1327) and the De electione et coronatione sanctissimi patris domini Bonifatii pape octavi of Cardinal Jacopo Caetani Stefaneschi (c.1270–1343). A suggestive finding is that performativity, or the highly theatrical use of garments, appears to have been used by Boniface VIII to foster dissemination of simple communications across great distances.     

Animal husbandry among the Norwegian population in finnmark c. 1685–1705

This article is part of a larger work about the settlement development among the Norwegian population on the coast of Finnmark in the period c. 1520–1700. To understand properly the motive power behind the settlement changes, it is of importance to have insight into the industries of the area, especially the fisheries, but also animal husbandry. In the following a major aim is to examine the extent of and the importance of animal husbandry in Finnmark at the end of the 17th century.     

The business of human trafficking: slaves and money between Western Italy and the House of Islam before the crusades (c.900–c.1100)

ABSTRACT

Before the First Crusade, the maritime cities of Italy imported precious objects from Islamic regions. The question of what they exported in return has long occupied historians. Due to the large economic disparity between Latin Italy and the wealthier House of Islam, human trafficking offered a strong profit opportunity to merchants from Amalfi, Pisa and other ports. This was because the price of a slave in Egypt or North Africa, at around 20 gold dinars, represented a large sum in the silver currency zones of Latin Europe, especially compared to low prices in Italy. Even moderate numbers of trafficked humans may therefore have provided the capital for further maritime economic expansion. Moreover, slaves offered a commodity with low infrastructure and transportation requirements, unlike bulk agricultural products, as well as unique advantages in market access, which suggests that slave trading preceded investment in other branches of commerce.     

Debating federal Europe in the British Parliament,c. 1940–49

Federalism, or the fear of it, worked as a catalyst in the British pre-referendum debate on Brexit in June 2016. In this paper, we focus on the pre-European integration context and ask what kind of an alternative federalism was seen to afford in British politics during and after the Second World War. We limit our discussion to parliamentary debates, which have only rarely been used as primary sources for studying European integration history. The British Parliament was one of the key political arenas for debates on foreign policy, not just in terms of informing the party lines but also guiding the public discussion. In the early part of the 1940s, the British federalist movement was able to generate political debate on the issue and gain the attention of many leading politicians. We argue that the approach to the use of the concept was politically charged but remained open to various context-based interpretations, which did not eventually lead to any concrete proposals. During the latter part of the 1940s, the majority of British MPs were open to different ways of creating unity in Europe. The emphasis on national sovereignty, however, continued. As a result ‘federalism’, attached to structures for unity, gave way to more pragmatic political solutions.     

Evangelicalism and the early vegetarian movement in Britain c.1847–1860

This article explores the complex inter-relationship between evangelicalism and the formation of an organised vegetarian movement in Britain in the period 1847–1860. As well as adding insight into existing historical research into the diet, I will comment on the potential of evangelicalism's influence to reach into various areas of society, a claim that has often been contested in the existing historiography. I will explore the manner by which religious belief interacted with medico-scientific views pertaining to diet; and how it penetrated views on the role of diet to family life.