Patagonian Cinnamon and Pepper: Blending Geography in Alonso de Ovalle’s Tabula Geographica Regni Chile (1646)

ABSTRACT

The context and conditions under which early modern Europeans created images and maps that blended Asian and American geographies have recently received the attention of scholars. In this article I explore an example of this practice in the Chilean Jesuit Alonso de Ovalle’s mapping of Asian spices as it affected the southern region of his Tabula geographica regni Chile (Rome, 1646). I examine Ovalle’s inclusion of cinnamon and pepper in the Patagonian landscape as a persuasive allusion to the crucial role of the Strait of Magellan in his proposed revision of the trade route of the Spanish galleons.     

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.     

Angli cum multis aliis alienigenis: crusade settlers in Tortosa (second half of the twelfth century)

In the spring of 1147 Anglo-Norman and Flemish crusaders set out from Dartmouth in the direction of the Holy Land to take part in the Second Crusade. On their way they participated in the siege of Lisbon (October 1147) and the campaign against Tortosa which finished with the surrender of the city on the last day of 1148. A significant number of crusaders from the British Isles settled in Tortosa and its environs after the successful campaign, appearing in the documents as Angli, Anglici and Angles. The article describes the archival information for the role of these Anglo-Norman crusaders in the settlement of the region. They received grants from Count Ramon Berenguer IV, transferred real property, entered into credit and loan agreements, and established patrimonies. Many of the English settlers became part of the ruling oligarchy in the early years of feudal Tortosa, entering into transactions with the leading ecclesiastical and lay powers.     

Solitude or Performance? The Papal and Royal-Imperial Residences of Benedict XII and Charles IV in Avignon,Prague and Karlstein

A comparison of the architectural models applied, on the one hand, at the papal residence in Avignon (Benedict XII) and the royal and imperial residences in Bohemia (Charles IV) and, on the other, at the first forms of baronial apartment consisting of public (sala regia) and private rooms (studiolo; thalamus, locus) offers a new way of approaching this aspect of architectural history. The baronial apartment was a specific type of room in the residence and an early sign of the gradual transformation of the fortress architecture that had been associated with itinerant rule. Accordingly, it should be interpreted as one of the first example of the ‘state-building’ architecture used to construct fixed or temporary residential locations.     

Henry VII’s Letter to Carlisle in 1498: His Concerns about Retaining in a Border Fortress

Henry VII’s reign has been the subject of increased study in recent years, in particular his relationship with the nobility and his determination to ensure the loyalty of his subjects. Henry VII was adept at utilising the numerous methods at his disposal in order to keep his crown. This article makes a contribution to this broader understanding of Henry VII’s reign by focusing on one document, a letter to the city of Carlisle dated 15 February 1498, which ordered that the statutes relating to retaining and the distribution of liveries should be upheld. While the letter has been noted by previous historians, it has not been the subject of a detailed examination. This article explains the significance of the document for understanding the reign of Henry VII, his attitude towards retaining and the relationship between royal and urban governments in the late fifteenth century. This particular letter includes two novel features not found in other letters to towns about retaining. First, there is an explicit reference to the possibility of a Scottish invasion. Second, the city’s government were all required to swear oaths of fealty to Henry VII. Although the letter confirms the general picture that Henry VII was keen to remind his subjects of their duties and obligations to the Crown and that he built on and adapted Yorkist innovations, it highlights his specific concern in early 1498, in the aftermath of the Perkin Warbeck conspiracy, that James IV of Scotland might still invade.