The changing geographical distribution of wealth in England: 1086–1334–1525

Attempts hitherto made to assess changes in the geographical distribution of wealth in medieval England have inevitably been based upon county totals. A more detailed coverage is now possible with the completion of the mapping of information from the Domesday Inquest of 1086 and the lay subsidies of 1334 and 1524–1525. The outstanding feature that emerges is that there were considerable changes, but that the areas of change in 1086–1334 were very different from those of 1334–1525. Before 1334, the main increases in wealth took place in three areas: (1) in the silt belt of the Fenland; (2) in the north where William the Conqueror had devastated the countryside in 1069–1070; and (3) in scattered areas of marsh, wood and afforested land over the rest of the countryside. After 1334, the main areas of increment were five: (1) the south-west peninsula, extending eastwards to include the cloth-making districts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire; (2) the cloth-making areas of Essex and Suffolk; (3) part of the West Riding; (4) London and much of the countryside around; and (5) the peat area of the southern Fenland.     

The haunting of Susan Lay: servants and mistresses in seventeenth-century England

At Easter 1650, Susan Lay, a servant in an Essex alehouse, saw the ghost of her mistress, who had been buried three days before. This article explores the history that lay behind her experience: of sexual relationships with both her master and his son, the births and deaths of two bastard children, and beneath it all, a relationship of antagonism, competition, and intimacy with her mistress. It uses this and other legal records to examine the relationship between women in early modern households, arguing that, while antagonisms between women are typically part of effective patriarchies, the domestic life and social structures of mid seventeenth-century England bound servants and mistresses peculiarly tightly together, giving servants licence to dream of replacing their mistresses and mistresses cause to feel threatened by their servants, and making the competitive relations between women functional to patriarchal order. It suggests, finally, that at this moment in time and in this context, seeing a ghost was the best, perhaps the only, way this servant had to tell a suppressed story and stake a claim to a household that had excluded her.     

Legitimation and delegitimation in early modern Europe: The case of England

In the year 1640, the government of England was monarchical; and the King that reigned, Charles, the first of that name, holding sovereignty, by right of a descent continued above six hundred years, and from a much longer descent King of Scotland, and from the time of his ancestor Henry II, King of Ireland …     

The naval reform of Emperor John II Komnenos: a re-evaluation

The eleventh and twelfth centuries have traditionally been interpreted as the era when the Byzantine navy declined, and then was allowed to disappear. Historians often mark the death knell of the Byzantine navy with Emperor John II Komnenos ending the collection of taxes for localized defence fleets. Niketas Choniates describes the act as a money-hungry measure devised by the finance minister John of Poutza, whereby fleet taxes would be collected and spent centrally, leading to the end of localized fleets as funds were diverted to other sectors. This reform has traditionally been interpreted as one that led to losing a war with Venice in the 1120s, provincial insecurity, the eventual outsourcing of the Byzantine navy to the Italians, and finally the sack of Constantinople itself by the forces of the Fourth Crusade when the Italians turned against them.Such an interpretation does not however sit easily with the reign of John II Komnenos, during which on numerous occasions the navy is referenced as playing a crucial part in the emperor’s campaigns, a feature that began in Alexios’ reign and continued into Manuel’s. Though Pryor and Jeffreys have previously expressed doubt that such a centralising naval reform could really spell the end of the Byzantine fleet, and possibly the empire itself, this paper will build upon that doubt with evidence that necessitates a re-evaluation of the traditional interpretation. First, the narrative of John’s war with Venice in the 1120s will be examined, followed by how the subsequent naval reform was shaped by these events, which themselves only confirmed the experiences of the Byzantine Navy in previous decades, and so highlighted the need for reform. This analysis will demonstrate that a centralising reform was a coherent measure undertaken to increase the efficiency of the fleet, and to recognize officially trends in organization that had already emerged under Alexios. Subsequent fleet operations in John and Manuel’s reigns reveal that the role of the navy did indeed change in the early twelfth century, but the narrative of decline is false. Throughout this section it will also be shown that analysis of the Byzantine navy has been overly shaped by use of hostile sources. The second part of this paper will then move on to highlight three major uses of the fleet that have been undervalued by scholars focused on traditional sea battles: its use on rivers as well as the sea, its use for transport and logistics, and its ‘soft power’ diplomatic capacity. The combination of these factors reveal a Byzantine navy that was a crucial part of the Komnenian restoration of Byzantine fortunes in the twelfth century, and that its decline after the death of Manuel must be seen as a product of other factors, rather than a cause of the late twelfth-century imperial decline in itself.     

The Henrician legend revived: the Palatine couple and its public image in early Stuart England

By exploring the nature of the Palatine myth in Early Stuart England this article contributes to the debate on the religious and political polarisation in Europe in the decades before the Thirty Years War. In the battle of words that preceded the armed conflict of men, references to the national past and greatness were used and misused by the opposing sides as influential instruments of propaganda. The paper sets out to answer two basic questions. In what way was Frederick, the Palatine Elector, put within the context of English Protestant mythology? How did the public image of the Palatine Couple change after the disaster at the White Mountain?     

中世纪和近代早期英国关税性质的演变

中世纪和近代早期,英国关税性质发生了根本性变化,从一种国王特权税,逐渐演变为处于议会严格控制下的议会间接税。中世纪和1625年前的近代早期,关税主要是国王的一种特权税。1625-1660年间,随着议会和王权斗争的高涨,以及议会的暂时胜利,关税一度转变为处于议会直接控制下的间接税。复辟时期,关税的最终课征批准权继续掌握在议会手中,但因缺少日常操控权,其关税权残缺不全。光荣革命后,因议会在与王权的斗争中取得了决定性胜利,关税演变为完全由议会严格控制的间接税。     

The History of Political Thought as secular genealogy: the case of liberty in early modern England

ABSTRACT

The History of Political Thought originated in, and partially remains an adjunct to the academic study of politics. As such it is not a mere subject matter or authentic tradition of speculation, but a secularising genealogy in some tension with an impulse to rigorous historicity. It provides an under-acknowledged context for the thinkers and concepts placed within it. The difficulties and consequent distortions are illustrated with reference to seventeenth-century discussions of liberty. It is argued that notions of negative liberty and Republican liberty as an ideological alternative are secularising genealogical projections that distort the character of seventeenth-century debate; but that republican liberty can be reformulated in more historically plausible terms as a special case of one of the entailments of contentious office-holding in and beyond a secularised conception of the political. Thomas Hobbes's conceptions of liberty provide a concluding illustration.     

The origins of the birth control movement in England in the early nineteenth century

The origins of the birth control movement in England in the 19th cen tury are discussed. The impact of Malthus's "Essay on the Principle of Population" and the activities of such thinkers and reformers as Jermy Bentham, James and John Stuart Mill, Francis Plance, Richard Carlile, Robert Dale Owen, and Charles Knowlton are discussed. The social debate that arose during the century is discussed.     

England’s trade with the Continent in the early thirteenth century: customs and the port of Dover

ABSTRACT

This article identifies and prints the earliest detailed customs list from northern Europe, which was prepared for the port of Dover in 1233 or soon after, and it gives fuller and more detailed information about trade than for any other northern European port at this date. The list shows a remarkable diversity of trade, including some of the earliest references to particular goods in English documents, and widespread sources of trade including Flanders, Germany and Italy. The depiction of such trading links prompts questions about the ‘commercial revolution’ and the development of European trade, for it shows how varied trade and consumption could be in the era of the fairs of the Champagne towns, before the establishment of direct maritime links from the Italian cities to northern Europe. The appearance of commodities and trading links in the Dover list suggest that commercial development was earlier and more evolutionary.     

留英学生与五四新文化运动——以《太平洋》杂志为中心

五四时期留英学生的思想活动鲜见论者讨论.本文以留英学生1917年初创刊于上海的<太平洋>杂志为中心,讨论其同人群体及其文化思想和教育主张.作为留英学界的一股知识力量,<太平洋>同人所提供的新思想观念,对于五四新文化运动具有积极推动和引导作用,这与以<新青年>作为运动的指导力量并无二致.但<太平洋>的思想背景有着浓厚的英伦调和主义色彩.