ITALY AND FRANCE IN THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY STAGE CONTROVERSY

Abstract

Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) was a notable Dutch statesman who penned over 75,000 lines of verse in eight languages. He made visits to England on no less than seven occasions and wrote a significant body of poetry, primarily in Dutch, but also in Latin, and very occasionally in French and English, during these visits. In this article, a detailed account is given of the poetry, which Huygens wrote in England. It provides a case-study of someone writing Dutch, and indeed Latin, verse in England in the early-modern period. Furthermore, during a time when the fortunes of Britain and the Northern Netherlands were very closely linked, it illustrates how a Dutchman responded in verse to aspects of English social and cultural life, and events such as the execution of Charles I, and the Great Fire of London of 1666.     

Gateways to Power: The Castles of Ranulf III of Chester and Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd

As an expression of his immense power and standing, Earl Ranulf de Blundeville, sixth Earl of Chester (1181–1232) granted his own Magna Carta in Cheshire. Ranulfs subsequent building programme can be regarded as comparable architectural expression. This article aims to provide a fresh interpretation combining a variety of approaches as to how Ranulfs personal power is manifested in the medieval landscape of north-west England and North Wales. It is argued that Ranulfs relatively overlooked and yet close relationship with Llywelyn Fawr, or Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of Gwynedd (C. AD 1173–1240), sheds further light as to the purpose of the position of Beeston and Cricieth castles in their landscapes. This study has wider implications as to how archaeologists can discern manifestations of lordly power in the designs and landscape settings of medieval castles. While this topic has been widely discussed over the last three decades, it has been hitherto under-investigated in the north-west of England and North Wales where the dynamic allegiances between lords were key components in how power was expressed.     

The tyranny of Richard III

To Tudor historians Richard III was a quintessence of tyranny. This belief was derived from the informed opinion of many who had experienced his brief reign. To them a tyrant was one who came to the throne without right or who governed against the interests of the political nation. There can be little doubt that Richard usurped the throne: it is also the case that in one important respect his government alienated a significant section of the nobility and gentry. Following the revolts of late 1483 Richard systematically placed trusted northern adherents in control of the unreliable and hostile southern counties. This action transgressed the unwritten law that the rule of the counties lay in the hands of their native élites. Its highhandedness was recognized by the author of the Croyland continuation and its pattern can be reconstructed from the record of grants from the Crown during the reign. Not only does the settlement of 1483-4 provide dramatic evidence in support of the Tudor tradition, but its circumstances also suggest an explanation for the continuing controversy surrounding Richard's reign. What was thereby tyranny in the south was good lordship to the loyal north. It is conceivable that the conflicting interpretations of the last Plantagenet spring from this regional division.     

The tyranny of Richard III

To Tudor historians Richard III was a quintessence of tyranny. This belief was derived from the informed opinion of many who had experienced his brief reign. To them a tyrant was one who came to the throne without right or who governed against the interests of the political nation. There can be little doubt that Richard usurped the throne: it is also the case that in one important respect his government alienated a significant section of the nobility and gentry. Following the revolts of late 1483 Richard systematically placed trusted northern adherents in control of the unreliable and hostile southern counties. This action transgressed the unwritten law that the rule of the counties lay in the hands of their native élites. Its highhandedness was recognized by the author of the Croyland continuation and its pattern can be reconstructed from the record of grants from the Crown during the reign. Not only does the settlement of 1483-4 provide dramatic evidence in support of the Tudor tradition, but its circumstances also suggest an explanation for the continuing controversy surrounding Richard's reign. What was thereby tyranny in the south was good lordship to the loyal north. It is conceivable that the conflicting interpretations of the last Plantagenet spring from this regional division.     

From pear maiden to tower princes: towards a new history of medieval childhood

Twenty years ago, Philippe Arie`s presented a negative view of childhood, characterized by abuse and neglect. The thesis was persuasive, but evidence from England from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries contradicts its tenets. The neglected material suggests that medieval society placed a high value on its children's lives and safety, and condemned harshly those who ignored it. Neglect still existed, but honored as a cultural ideal was a caring commitment towards children. Sermons and medical treatises increasingly described childhood innocence and parental devotion. Narrative literature such asPearl used the image of a grieving parent to underline philosophical themes. The most public of medieval literature, the Corpus Christi plays, directly addressed the parents in the audience on their responsibilities to their children. Richard III's political career was irrevocably affected by his society's beliefs about children. The disappearance of his nephews from public view sparked rumors about his abuse and murder of them. Even mere rumor about an attack on innocents inspired rebellion during Richard's reign and literary condemnation by contemporary chronicles. By the sixteenth century, Richard had become the prime example of the monster shunned by society because of his disregard for its most basic ideal.     

The politics of being Norman in the reign of Richard the Fearless,Duke of Normandy (r. 942–996)

In 966, by the end of the reign of its third duke, Richard I, Normandy had overcome the crises that had beset it in the middle of the century. Much of this success came from the coherence of its ruling group, which expressed itself partly in terms of ‘Norman’ identity. This article uses Dudo's history of the dukes and Richard's charters to argue that ‘Norman’ as a political identity was a deliberate creation of the court of Richard I in the 960s, following the perceived failure of his and his father's policies of assimilation into Frankish culture.     

‘A strong and prosperous condition’ — the geography of state building and social reform in Peter the Great's Russia

The point is often made that the rise of the modern state in Europe provided models which have been influential, if not actually copied, across much of the rest of the world. In Russia during the reign of Peter the Great (1682–1725), not only was the tsar aware of the European experience of state building, but consciously strove to base many of his political and social reforms on European models. Peter aimed at sweeping reform of the Russian state and society in the attempt to bring them into the modern world. The paper argues that the reforms were necessarily geographical, involving an attempt radically to reconstruct the country's economic and social geography. The focus is upon the spatial implications of reform, including the founding and development of the city of St. Petersburg as an experiment in social reconstruction. In the event, Peter's success was only partial, and the end product quite different from the models which had influenced his reforms. It is argued that this relative failure derived not only from the widespread resistance to reform but also from geographical, social and cultural circumstances peculiar to Russia. Greater scholarly sensitivity to the social and cultural contexts in which state building occurs might stimulate more cross-cultural and comparative perspectives and enrich this important area of social theory.     

Contesting Chivalry: James II and the control of chivalric culture in the 1450s

This article focuses on the reign of James II of Scotland (1437–1460) and argues that the Scottish king deliberately attempted to gain a monopoly over chivalry as part of his assertion of royal power. In seeking to integrate the historiographies of state-building and chivalric culture in fifteenth-century Scotland, what is offered here is an account of the principal strategies employed by James II to establish royal authority throughout Scotland, and an assessment of the various means in which chivalry was being patronised and promoted by the Scottish nobility and the political challenge inherent in this activity. James's response to this challenge is examined through a series of incidents in the 1450s and, in this manner, seeks to rethink the role of chivalry in late medieval Scotland. Far from being a peripheral cultural practice, this article argues that it should be seen as an integral part of James II's state-building agenda.     

Richard II's knights: chivalry and patronage

Research on late medieval England has tended in two directions. There has been a great renewal of interest in matters chivalric and in the conflicts between the chivalric ideal and reality as interpreted by chroniclers such as Froissart. Quite divorced from such inquiry, the study of pelf and place has proceeded apace. A study of Richard II's conferments of knighthood provides an interesting opportunity to unite these disparate strands of inquiry.Richard II, who ended his life as the simple knight Sir Richard of Bordeaux, had afar deeper sense of chivalric values than many historians have allowed. Chivalry was a vital component in the outlook of the man.Yet, Richard II found himself in this position as a result of intense factional rivalries in which he had been a leading if ultimately losing player. Records of the order of the Garter provide one source of material for this study, but the article also looks at Richard's conferments in more general terms. Clearly, Richard manipulated the chivalric ideal for practical ends, but a tarnished ideal is not a repudiated ideal. Richard II made use of knighthood within his system because he - and his clients —continued to operate within the chivalric code for which such knighthood stood.     

Richard,duke of York,and the crisis of Henry VI's household in 1450–1: some further evidence

The political crisis in England in 1450 and the deteriorating relationship between King Henry VI and Richard, duke of York, in the summer of that year are examined in the light of two new documents. These provide direct evidence of the reaction of the royal household, if not the king himself, and his advisers to the duke of York's return from Ireland, firstly from the Midlands in the summer of 1450, and secondly, from North Wales around April 1451. Both items were sent to Lord St Amand. The first, from the duke of Buckingham, notes the arrival of a notable force in Warwickshire and a stand-off between the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and the men of Stafford and its region. The second, from a royal servant, Thomas Broun, is a memorandum of advice for St Amand, who was shortly to become chamberlain in North Wales. It focuses on the excesses of Sir Thomas Stanley, one of a small group of royal household officials holding office in this area, and the threat they posed to the king's regime and its financial stability.     

The court of the Lionheart on crusade, 1190–2

The source material that records the history of the Third Crusade gives the impression that Richard was a king who found it easy to interact with people from different backgrounds. Though he was one of the greatest warrior-kings of the medieval era, he was comfortable with churchmen and knights, with Frenchmen and Anglo-Normans, with lords and clerks, with his men and his father’s men. No doubt every royal court was a bustling, perhaps nearly chaotic, environment, but the individuals found in this study indicate that the court of Richard I was not an ivory tower to which only his barons had access.     

996 and all that: the Norman peasants' revolt reconsidered

Early in the reign of Richard II of Normandy (996–1026), a peasant movement, usually described as a revolt, was suppressed. This paper re‐examines the evidence of William of Jumièges, Wace and an anonymous history of Fécamp. It argues that the movement cannot be securely dated to 996, was not a military enterprise, and was not revolutionary. Peasants attempted to mobilize quasi‐Carolingian assembly practices in order to gain concessions concerning specific economic issues, but did not seek to re‐order their society. The movement probably affected the Seine valley, rather than encompassing all of Normandy.     

皇家名分的确认与再确认——清宫至伪满皇宫收藏钱选《观鹅图》始末

清宫的书画收藏是中国封建社会后期文化史的重要组成部分,为考察艺术与社会的关系提供了一个特殊的窗口。大量珍贵的前代书画作品从民间进入清代宫廷,并在乾隆朝形成鼎盛局面。成为宋徽宗以来又一个皇家艺术收藏的高峰。这不仅是封建集权制度的产物,同时也是满汉文化融合的结果。自清王朝覆亡至满洲国出笼,逊帝溥仪及其小朝廷在北京、天津及长春的一系列复辟和称帝活动中从未放弃对清宫旧藏的关注与重视,将之作为象征皇家名分的主要标志之一。本文以1746年到1940年代元代钱选《羲之观鹅图》(现藏美国纽约大都会美术馆)的收藏过程为脉络,通过考察画卷上诸多收藏印鉴和题跋来认识清宫绘画收藏的兴衰转折及其历史意义。在近200年的皇家收藏史中,特别是在清皇室20世纪所经历的变故中,这一画卷成为不可多得的历史见证。其奇特的收藏始末,深刻地向世人揭示了中国和世界政治、经济及文化史中的一段精彩画面。     

Henry IV and Charles VI: the confirmation of the twenty-eight-year truce

The deposition of Richard II in 1399 caused serious problems for the new English king, Henry IV, in foreign affairs. Contemporaries believed that his seizure of the crown would provoke an outbreak of new hostilities with the French since the wife of the deposed monarch was none other than Isabel, a daughter of Charles VI, king of France. Indeed Charles took certain belligerent measures against henry, whom he stubbornly refused to recognize as the legitimate ruler of England, but stopped short of war because Isabel still remained in English custody. Henry IV, on the other hand, desired to improve relations with France because of his own tenuous hold on the English throne. Once Charles VI became convinced early in 1400 that Richard II had died in captivity, he abruptly changed his policy towards England and announced his intention of observing the terms set forth in the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce which he had originally concluded with his son-in-law in 1396. Later in May, Henry IV similarly proclaimed his willingness to honor that agreement. How both sides avoided an open clash and eventually confirmed the Twenty-Eight-Year Truce forms the central theme of this paper.     

“But He Could Not Warm Himself”: Sexual Innuendo and the Place of 1 Kgs 1,1-4

Springing off recent articles by Richard Hess and Russell Meek, this essay argues for the collaboration of vv. 1b and 4 to suggest that 1 Kgs 1,1-4 is concerned with discussing David’s impotency. In light of this physiological development, David’s attendants embarked on a search for a virgin. The Sumerian folktale “The Old Man and the Young Girl” may provide illumination for such an endeavor as it testifies to a perception that young women could rejuvenate impotent men. As for Adonijah’s pursuit of the throne, one can interpret a causative, albeit it implicit, relationship between 1,1-4 and vv. 5ff. David’s impotence rendered him unable to fulfill certain diplomatic duties, which had been a hallmark of his reign and rise to power. Such a development cast a shadow over the future of the administration, and ultimately, these four verses establish a sense of irony that will be revisited periodically throughout the history.     

The Presidential Manipulation of Inherited Wars of Choice: Barack Obama's Use of Nixonian Methods as Commander in Chief

Despite their apparent differences, both Richard Nixon and Barack Obama secured their party's nominations and ultimately the presidency partly due to their manipulation of contentious and inherited “wars of choice.” The wars in Vietnam and Iraq provided the political and cultural circumstances that made Nixon and Obama credible “peace candidates” in 1968 and 2008 respectively. Having championed their opposition to the wars to gain the presidency, both men continued the conflicts throughout their first term and subsequently utilized these conflicts to help secure a second term in office, declaring “victory” as part of their re-election campaigns. This study examines the manner in which Obama, like Nixon, benefited as president from an inherited “war of choice” and adopted Nixonian methods to maximize his chances for re-election in 2012.     

Richard II and the church in the years of ‘tyranny’

The years 1396–1399 were critical ones in terms of European and English politics alike and, concomitantly, in the course of the Great Schism of the West. England's attitude to the Schism at this time has hitherto been considered primarily from a presupposition of Richard II's own attitude and authority and as an aspect of European politics. An examination of the direct relationship between Richard II and both the Urbanist papacy and the English Church raises some doubts about the extent of his authority in ecclesiastical affairs both before and after his emphatic reassertion of his prerogative in 1397. Particular consideration is given to his personal view of his proper interest. A discussion of the effect of royal policy on the English Church, especially in respect of the episcopate, suggests that, both in practice and in theory, his influence, whilst strong, rested on co-operation as much as coercion, and the nature of the Anglo-papal concordat of November 1398 is reconsidered in this light. It is suggested that greater stress should be laid on the spiritual considerations which weighed with all parties at the time alongside those of a more familiar secular kind.     

湖湘文化视域下的刘显世

文化以稳定的心理积淀隐藏在人的心灵世界中,并形成固定的文化观念支配人的一切,以至于人在日常的思维和行为方式中都会表现出鲜明的文化特征。刘显世是民国时期贵州督军、省长,“兴义系”军阀的领军人物,其祖籍为湖南,他在深受湖湘文化影响的大家族中成长起来,湖湘文化作为一种固定的心理意识在支配着他,并形成其文化品格,这就使其思维及行为方式都表现出鲜明的湖湘文化的特征,那就是：兴办教育、重视人才;尚变求新、机敏睿智;经世致用、勇于任事。本文通过文化人类学的解读对他一生作出最合乎逻辑的阐释。