Obituary Notice

Abstract

St Vitus’s Cathedral, founded in 1344, is a prime example of 14th-century cathedral Gothic, a product of the cooperation between the ingenious architect Peter Parler and his patron, Emperor Charles IV. The unusual layout consisted of a pair of choirs set side by side in the eastern section of the cathedral, an arrangement inspired by the earlier Romanesque double-choir basilica. One was dedicated to St Vitus and was used by the canons, the other to the Virgin Mary and operated by the mansionars. The royal and imperial necropolis was placed in the latter of the two choirs, with Charles IV’s tomb-chest protected by a sculptured canopy and surrounded by the cenotaphs of deceased family members and later kings and queens. The form of two choirs is probably the result of an extensive rearrangement of the earlier project completed in the 1350s, when initial plans to locate the royal burial ground in the canons’ choir were abandoned. The main choir contained a tabernacle of remarkable design, dating from c. 1365. There may originally have been plans for a third choir to be built around the tomb of St Adalbert located in the middle of the nave, the work on which was initiated in 1392.     

Kinship and mobility in 11th-century A.D. Gammertingen,Germany: an interdisciplinary approach

Excavation in and around a Medieval church in Gammertingen, Germany, revealed the skeletal remains of eight individuals dating to the 10th and 11th century AD. Archaeologists hypothesized that the individuals were the first members of a family later known as the Counts of Gammertingen, a medieval high nobility family. In an interdisciplinary approach, Strontium isotope and ancient DNA techniques were performed in order to test the hypothesis that the church was used as a family burial site and to investigate the provenance of family members. Seven of the eight individuals can be placed in a three-generation genealogy. The isotope analyses establish that the eighth individual had a different birthplace and possibly became a member of the Counts of Gammertingen through marriage. Further, genetic data revealed that distant relatives of the paternal lineage are still present in this area today. Thus, the combined results lead to a very detailed knowledge about a 1000-year old noble family.     

By invitation only: Lord Mountbatten,Prince Philip,and the attempt to create a Commonwealth ‘Bilderberg group’, 1964–66

This article examines the attempt between 1964 and 1966 to create new conference for the Commonwealth modelled on the secretive Euro-American Bilderberg group, and considers the roles of Earl Mountbatten of Burma and the Duke of Edinburgh in the venture. This was the only major initiative on the structure of the Commonwealth to originate with the government of Harold Wilson during its first term in office. Consideration of the scheme was suspended as a result of Rhodesian UDI and was never reopened. Although short-lived, the Bilderberg initiative offers important insights into a number of issues. It suggests that the original Bilderberg group had assumed a considerable importance to senior figures in the Labour Party by 1964. It also illustrates the distinct ambivalence with which members of the British elite viewed the changing nature of the Commonwealth, and points to a desire among some of them to recreate the atmosphere of a more exclusive ‘club’. Above all it sheds light upon the highly idiosyncratic negotiating style of Lord Mountbatten, and suggests a desire on the part of Prince Philip to establish for himself a fully independent role within the Commonwealth.     

Lord Salisbury,Mr. Chamberlain and South Africa, 1895–9

In the closing decades of the nineteenth century the idea of Greater Britain, of the unity of the Anglo-Saxon colonies and the ‘mother country’, became a topic of considerable interest and controversy amongst the metropolitan intellectual and political elite. This article examines the roles played by the monarchy in the debates. Queen Victoria, as both idea and institution, assumed two central functions. First, it was argued that the institution of the monarchy, stretching back over centuries, could supply an anchor of permanence and constitutional fidelity in a redesigned global polity. This would reassure critics of such schemes that their fears about fundamental transformation were unfounded; that a thread of historical continuity ran through the proposals. Secondly, Victoria – or at least an idealised representation of her – acted as the linchpin for a sense of global national identity. The prestige and admiration that she (and the institution of the monarchy itself) generated, it was contended, bound the distant peoples of her realm in close communion. Moreover, the way in which she was sometimes represented in imperial debate harked back to (while modifying) an older civic humanist language of ‘patriot kingship’.     

Monarchy and constructing identity in ‘British’ Gibraltar,c.1800 to the present

British Gibraltar began as a fortress, and royal coronations, jubilees and visits were initially celebrated in Gibraltar primarily by the British military and the colonial government. However, a substantial civilian population developed, to service the garrison and engage in trade. Sections of this civil community, not British-by-birth, increasingly demonstrated their loyalty to the crown on such royal occasions, in order to raise their status internally, protect their interests and increase their political influence inside Gibraltar. Spanish participation in royal events in Gibraltar, especially by members of the military and political elites from across the frontier, were also once commonplace and in Gibraltar uncontested. However, the relationship with Spain deteriorated, especially from the 1950s. Gibraltar's civil community then used expressions of loyalty to the British crown on royal occasions to assert its Britishness and to emphasise the duty of the British government to resist Spanish claims.