Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies and Germanic oral tradition

The object of this study is to examine the possibility that, although the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies are in their extant from products of ecclesiastical scholarship, the keeping of royal genealogies in early England was not an innovation brought about by Christian literacy, but was rather a native, originally pre-Christian institution which the church adopted. The discussion is divided into two parts. The first argues that the genealogical lists derive at least in part from the sort of historical record which the Anglo-Saxons, in common with other early Germanic peoples, maintained in the form of orally transmitted narrative traditions. The second tries to show that these traditions were cultivated by a court poet known to the Anglo-Saxons as the scop. The conclusion is that the extant royal genealogies are ultimately dependent on orally transmitted royal dynastic histories the keeping of which was an established part of native, originally pre-Christian traditional culture in England.     

Paying attention to dreams in early medieval normative sources (400–900): countering non‐Christian practices or negotiating Christian dreaming?

Early medieval Christian cultures found important roles for dreams and visions, while at the same time perpetuating learned traditions advising suspicion of dreams and warning of the dangers of the wrong kinds of dreams. This article examines prohibitions against the heeding or interpretation of dreams and the transmission of these prohibitions in early medieval normative sources (canonical collections, penitentials, and royal and episcopal capitularies). It argues that such prohibitions were less likely related to any non‐Christian practices involving dreams than they were motivated by a need to define conceptual places for Christian dreaming. On the one side lay concerns about dreams arising from patristic writings, chiefly those of Gregory the Great; on the other was the importance of dreams in Christian cult and thought.     

The “Warrior of the Lords”: Smbat Bagratuni at the Center and Periphery of Late Sasanian Iran

The Armenian general Smbat Bagratuni's remarkable rise to military and political preeminence in the late sixth- and early seventh-century Sasanian Empire presents a fascinating historical question: how did a liminal figure, a Christian from a frontier region, become the “Joy of ?usrō” and “Warrior of the Lords” of king ?usrō II Aparvēz (590–628 CE)? This essay argues that Bagratuni's accomplishments were rooted in Sasanian patterns of political decentralization, provincial regionalism and strategic politics. The Sasanians were ethnically Persian, but Parthian and Armenian aristocrats from the periphery of the empire played a central role in upholding the regime. Granting titles, wealth and personal support, the king sought to turn aristocratic families against each other to enhance royal authority. Simultaneously, regional aristocrats like Smbat Bagratuni used royal patronage to advance their local interests, often at the expense of the royal center. The life of Smbat Bagratuni illustrates how complex negotiations of individual and collective identity shaped relations of “center” and “periphery” in Sasanian Iran.     

The Codex Mexicanus Genealogy: Binding the Mexica Past and the Colonial Present

Created in late sixteenth-century Mexico City, the Codex Mexicanus is an extensive bound book of miscellaneous contents, including a rare pictorial genealogy of the Tenochca dynastic lineage that traces the family line from its ancient origins to its colonial descendants. The Codex Mexicanus, as a whole, represents an attempt by its patrons and contributors to reconcile the Mexica past and the Christian present, and the inclusion of a genealogy in the larger book suggests that the Mexica royal house was believed to play an important role in this process. By providing a reading of the genealogy and comparing it with others, both native and European, I show that it presents a unique view of the Tenochca royal house that emphasizes its integrity and antiquity and in so doing effectively excludes outsiders who, at the time the codex was being created, were increasingly making claims on Mexica privileges without the proper family connections.     

Pro tutela regni: revisiting a royal diploma from 918 on the birth of Normandy and the first ‘ducal’ laws

The Treaty of Saint‐Clair‐sur‐Epte (911) and the cession of Normandy to Rollo have long been considered as evidence of a decline in Carolingian power during the reign of Charles III the Simple. If, during the twentieth century, this view has undergone gradual revision, the role that the king could have played in the process of the Normans’ installation on the Seine remains obscure. A review of the relevant royal diplomas, in particular that of 14 March 918, suggests, however, active participation by the king in the emergence of a Norman march in Neustria: that is to say, a political and legal programme intended to reaffirm royal authority over this part of the regnum Francorum. This rereading, based on Frankish texts, on Christian ideology and on the Roman heritage, suggests a new interpretation of the settlement of Scandinavians in Normandy, the emergence of a Norman principality, and the genesis of the famous ‘laws of Rollo’.     

The long‐haired kings of the Franks: ‘like so many Samsons?’1

As the paradigm of Germanic sacral kingship has lost its appeal, historians have begun to rethink the concept of Merovingian kingship. Most of the arguments once used in support of its alleged Germanic and pagan character have now been refuted. However, the meaning of their long hair has thus far proven difficult to explain. This article will argue that the Merovingian hairstyle took up Christian meaning shortly after their conversion, presenting them in the image of the biblical Samson. Consequently, their use of biblical analogies to legitimize royal power further challenges the once‐held dichotomy between Merovingian and Carolingian kingship.     

先秦帝王称号及其演变

先秦帝王称号主要经历了后、王、天子、帝、皇帝等几个阶段,每一种称号都体现了中国字神秘的象征意义,其演变与社会化背景密切相关,也体现了先秦神权的日益衰落与王权的日益强化,王权居于神权之上,上古社会政权、族权、神权合而为一等历史事实。帝王称号所透视出来的不仅仅是政治的、更多的是社会的、思想的化信息。因此,把握帝王称号的演变,也是了解上古社会的一把钥匙。     

King Pedro IV of Aragon, royal propaganda and the tradition of royal speechwriting

In the medieval Crown of Aragon it was customary for the corts to begin with a proposicio or opening speech made by the king. These Aragonese royal speeches were not merely confined to a brief summary of the political situation or a series of points to be considered but were elaborately constructed political sermons, in which affairs of state were portrayed in terms of Christian morality and nationalist pride, with the aid of exempla drawn from the Bible and other religious and classical works. An example is the speech made by Pedro IV ‘the Ceremonious’ of Aragon against the rebellion of the Judge of Arborea in Sardinia. A copy of this speech survives written in the king's own hand which raises the interesting question of whether the kings of Aragon were themselves responsible for the ideas expressed in these speeches and for composing them or whether their efforts were confined to reading out propaganda which was primarily the creation of royal officials.     

From huey altepemeh to civitates christianae: Considering a Franciscan collective agency project on Indian cathedral cities in post-Tridentine Central Mexico (1567–1585)

In this paper, we suggest a new analytical approach on a less-known and poorly investigated topic about early Church history in New Spain: the will to develop an institutionalized regular diocesan machinery in order to rearrange a Franciscan missionary Indian project with Tridentine Catholic ecumenical outcomes. To achieve that, we both report and analyze a wide spectrum of European and New Spain archival, documentary, and bibliographical sources related to the main Indian settlements, urbanism, and populations; Seraphic authorities, and civil vice-regal and royal officers. Preliminarily, we hypothesize that Indian ciudades were assumed to be the principal laboratories of this Seraphic-led project to strengthen friars’ traditional preeminence in a highly disputed colonial Christian theatre.     

THE THRACIAN ITHYPHALLIC ALTAR FROM POLIANTHOS AND THE SACRED MARRIAGE OF THE GODS

Summary. This article considers the light thrown on Thracian Orphic doctrine by a stone ithyphallic altar dated to the fourth century BC, found near Polianthos, northern Greece. Its iconography combines symbols reflecting the sacred marriage, and can be paralleled in petroglyphs and figured metalwork; while its cosmological basis is also reflected in aspects of royal Thracian burials.     

试论刘宋东宫武官制度

刘宋的东宫武官在南北朝军事逞胜的外环境和刘宋皇权不断加强的总趋势下得到了较大发展。刘宋四帝对于东宫武官制度采取了不同的态度和政策。宋武帝恢复晋末罢废的太子二率,增设太子三校、三将等职官;文帝时二率、三校成为东宫主要武官职;孝武帝大力罢省东宫武官,削抑东宫势力;明帝则再度恢复东宫三校,并新增东宫直阁等武职。总而言之,宋之东宫武职呈现出明显的强弱跌宕、阶段性变化,这既是刘宋诸任皇帝权力强弱异势的现实表现,也是刘宋皇权重振之路的曲折反映。     

Entangled Fidelities: Towards a Relational Christian Realism for the Public Sphere

Abstract

This article articulates a new concept within public and political theology, namely relational Christian realism, which it encapsulates within the notion of Entangled Fidelities. It proposes that the interlocking of a series of highly problematic areas of current human experience, reflected, for example, in the ongoing economic and environmental crises, require a reformulation of the Christian realism tradition. In this reformulation, aspects of this tradition are brought into close and critical dialogue with key voices from philosophy, sociology, and theology: namely, H Richard Niebuhr, Bruno Latour, and Manuel Castells. The dynamics and methodologies associated with relational Christian realism are further explicated with reference to a number of case studies. The article concludes by suggesting that this new (and as yet speculative) conceptual term needs fuller explication and development with regard to empirical research in a number of cross-over fields in which faith-based and no faith-based social actors are engaged in a new politics of postsecular rapprochement.     

帕勒莫石碑及其学术价值

帕勒莫石碑是古代埃及已知最早的王室年鉴。它还有其他6个版本。它们来自于两块不同的石碑。帕勒莫石碑的书写年代是古王国时期,是埃及人为神庙而刻写的,是他们祖先崇拜的一项重要内容。石碑关于埃及前5个王朝的记述不能被用来重建埃及早期历史,它只是揭示了埃及早期王权思想,即国王的行政职能和宗教职能。     

An Ambiguous Utopia

Abstract

The article begins with a discussion of some Christian and secular ideas about utopia. It shows that after the Enlightenment it has become difficult to conceptualize true utopias while postmodernism has been preoccupied with dystopian visions of the future. The ambiguous nature of utopianism is reflected particularly in science fiction, which powerfully reflects contemporary aspirations and anxieties, and this ambiguity is here explored with special reference to the work of the novelist Ursula Le Guin.     

Lords,settlers and shifting frontiers in medieval Catalonia

This article examines how settler conditions on formerly Muslim-ruled land in the area known as New Catalonia (in north-eastern Iberia) changed as the territory was consolidated by Christian landlords and migrants from the north, and increasingly buffered from the border with Islam by conquests against Muslim Valencia over several generations following its conquest in the mid-twelfth century. Most landlords responded to the conditions of the local land market, but there is little evidence that the region as a whole, or even favourable sub-markets, experienced a straightforward trajectory from liberal to heavier tenant obligations. While lords in Old Catalonia are known to have limited peasant mobility from the later twelfth century in order to diminish an exodus to territory with more franchises in New Catalonia, lords in New Catalonia from the early thirteenth century were not able to respond to a similar extent to the territorial offerings in northern Valencia. Their overall ability to erode or reformulate exemptions and other privileges was checked by customary practice, insufficient settlement density and increased regulation which accompanied a rise in royal administrative capacity.     

略论殷墟王陵制度的形成

无论是传世文献还是甲骨金文,均反映出晚商时期有一个嫡庶观念逐渐加强的过程,而这个过程与殷墟西北岗王陵区不断突出王墓的作法是一致的。两个方面均反映出晚商王权的逐步加强以及父死子继王位传承制度的逐渐巩固与最终确立。西北岗王陵西区是比较纯粹的王陵区,但东区埋葬的人员较为复杂,只能看作是一处高等级王室墓地。西北岗王陵区可能开启于殷墟文化一期偏早阶段,并可能一开始就大致划定兆域界限。武丁在位时期可能对王陵制度作过重大调整,即西区只葬殷王,其他成员只能葬在王陵东区、小屯宫殿宗庙区西南部墓地以及后岗西区墓地等处。殷王陵不奉行夫妻并穴合葬,王与后分处。但王陵东区有异姓陪葬的现象。殷王陵区有象征国家政权的一面,与殷墟其他普通族墓地有较大差异。     

Barracks Islam and Command Christianity: Religion in Britain’s West African Colonial Army (c.1900–1960)

Religion was an important and dynamic aspect of Britain’s West African colonial army. The religious composition of the force changed from primarily Muslim in the late nineteenth century to primarily traditionalist and Muslim during the early twentieth century to overwhelmingly Christian during and immediately after the Second World War. These changes reflected not only military requirements but also broader social trends. While Muslim religious life in the military reflected a ‘barracks Islam’ accommodated by British officers, a top-down form of command Christianity emerged from the 1940s. Appointed during the Second World War, military chaplains and imams encouraged recruiting and strengthened morale but the presence of black religious officials challenged the existing racial hierarchy.     

Lords,settlers and shifting frontiers in medieval Catalonia

This article examines how settler conditions on formerly Muslim-ruled land in the area known as New Catalonia (in north-eastern Iberia) changed as the territory was consolidated by Christian landlords and migrants from the north, and increasingly buffered from the border with Islam by conquests against Muslim Valencia over several generations following its conquest in the mid-twelfth century. Most landlords responded to the conditions of the local land market, but there is little evidence that the region as a whole, or even favourable sub-markets, experienced a straightforward trajectory from liberal to heavier tenant obligations. While lords in Old Catalonia are known to have limited peasant mobility from the later twelfth century in order to diminish an exodus to territory with more franchises in New Catalonia, lords in New Catalonia from the early thirteenth century were not able to respond to a similar extent to the territorial offerings in northern Valencia. Their overall ability to erode or reformulate exemptions and other privileges was checked by customary practice, insufficient settlement density and increased regulation which accompanied a rise in royal administrative capacity.