The Armada Tapestries in the Old Palace of Westminster

The tapestry series of the ‘Defeat of the Spanish Armada’ was a national artistic treasure which hung in the old Palace of Westminster from the mid 17th century until the fire of 1834. This article outlines the creation of the tapestries in the 1590s and covers the major treatments of them in illustrations of parliamentary interiors and in John Pine's 1739 engravings; it ends with a short account of the curious episode of the tapestry which escaped the conflagration. In the absence of any known historical record of how the tapestries were displayed, suggestions are offered about how many and in what order they hung in the two chambers occupied successively by the house of lords (before and after 1801), and about how they were physically supported on the walls of the Parliament Chamber.     

Playing with Fire: The 4th Duke of Hamilton's Jacobite Politics and the Union

James Hamilton, duke of Hamilton and the Scots jacobites are generally linked in analyses of the final years of the Scots polity. Indeed, Hamilton is often presented as the leader of the jacobite party in the Scottish parliament. Yet both contemporaries and historians have been unsure what to make of his on-again, off-again, conduct with respect to the exiled Stuarts and France. This has fuelled an ongoing debate about Hamilton's erratic and highly enigmatic behaviour during the winter of 1706–7, when the Union was passing the Scottish parliament. Was he genuinely opposing the Union? Was he duped by the court? Or was he, ‘bought and sold for English gold ’? This essay takes a fresh look at the duke and his part in the Union crisis in the light of new and previously underused jacobite sources with a view to better understanding Hamilton's aims, objectives, and influence with this crucial group. Only the jacobites and the Cameronians were potentially willing to take their opposition to the Union to God's Acre. But neither party immediately flew to arms in response to passage of a union they both believed was a betrayal of everything they held dear, and Hamilton was a major factor in their failure to do so. This essay thus takes a close look at the duke's part in preventing a major national uprising against the Union in the winter of 1706–7 and advances a new interpretation of his conduct and significance throughout the Union crisis.     

黄宗智“过密化”理论中的事实判定、逻辑分析与模式建构问题——以《长江三角洲小农家庭与乡村发展》为中心

黄宗智的“过密化”理论自其《长江三角洲小农家庭与乡村发展》于20世纪90年代初出版之后一直在国内外史学界影响广泛,它认为明清以来的人口增长导致了长江三角洲植棉等经济行业的单位工作日劳动报酬的递减。鉴于史学界至今未有人从该书内部详细分析这一理论的实际论证过程,本文以此为切入点,指出它存在：一,植棉经济发韧于明代等诸多事实判定疏误或不当之处;二,抽样数据的数量严重不足等统计数据问题;三,植棉等经济行业的单位工作日劳动报酬因其单位产出价格的巨幅变动而无法简单比较等逻辑分析方面的问题。据此,本文认为该书没能有效证明过密化理论符合明清时期长江三角洲的历史发展事实。     

明末清初文人命运之管窥——侯方域生平考

侯方域是明末清初著名的文人之一,他出生于名门望族,受过良好的教育,很早就名满天下。他早年交游广阔,与当时的一帮名士朝夕对酒作诗,品评当世人物,颇有济世之志。后来,因得罪了小人,自己落得四处飘零,又由于农民战争及清军的蹂躏,他的大部分好友都散去或死去;明清易代,他又成了夹缝中的遗民。他虽然英年早逝,但短暂的一生却历经巨变沧桑。     

略论晚清汉学的兴衰与变化

晚清时期,兴盛于乾嘉年间的清代儒学主流学派－汉学－尽管走上衰落的道路,但这种衰落并非直线性地下降,而是经历了一个较长的曲折变化的过程。自鸦片战争到中日甲午战争长达半个多世纪的时间里,汉学依然是中国学坛人多势众、著述丰富、分布广泛的强势学派,居于学界“老大”的地位。晚清汉学家们秉承乾嘉宿儒治学传统,在经学、小学、音韵学等领域开展深入研究,取得显著成就,甚至在某些方面直驾乾嘉而上。晚清汉学因处于与乾嘉汉学完全不同的社会环境,形成“实”、“通”、“变”的历史特征,并随着中国传统社会发生根本性的变化而实现着自身的新旧更替。晚清汉学既沿袭了传统儒学的许多消极因素,也包含着其中的积极成分,对中国近代社会文化产生了复杂而多重的影响。     

试论清代皇帝明黄色朝袍的功用

在清代皇帝冠服中,明黄色朝袍的功用尤其引人关注。但是,长期以来人们对“朝祭所御”的概念往往含混不清,以至认为清帝明黄色朝袍既可亲郊飨庙又能御殿朝贺,模糊了朝服与祭服的区别。顺治十年(1653年)都察院左副都御史傅景星奏言:“自古帝王一代之兴,必有一代之制,黄帝尧舜垂衣裳而天下治。衮冕黼黻代有不同,朝有朝服,祭有祭服,所以肃臣民而格上下也……”。本文旨在讨论清帝明黄色朝袍的不同作用,从而区分出朝服与祭服的不同。     

“以文征利”与“倚商事文”——晚明士人文化活动的趋利化及对文化消费风尚的影响

明代中后期,随着商品经济的发展,文化生产和消费活动显著扩大。具有文化消费者和生产者双重身份的士大夫阶层,认识到文化作为谋生资本的作用,自觉地推动整个社会文化生产和消费,并引导整个文化消费风尚。商人与普通民众亦步亦趋,雅文化与俗文化交互作用,士大夫的传统义利观正在发生变化,市井之民在社会生活中崭露头角,这种变化是将要萌生新生力量的前兆,经济、文化、政治正在积蓄前所未有的变动,中国进入了第一个较具普遍意义的文化消费时代。     

圆明三园中的祀庙祠宇建筑探析

清代离宫圆明园及其附园中曾经修建大量的祀庙祠宇建筑,分别以龙王、关帝、土地神、花神等各种神灵为祭祀对象,清帝与皇室成员园居期间,经常来此祭拜。本文通过文献考证,对这些建筑的分布情况、具体形制、祀典特色作了详细考证,并试图进一步揭示其历史背景和文化内涵。     

Jacobite Politics in the Age of Anne

Every political movement has watershed moments when decisions are taken with very long-term consequences. This article explores one such moment with respect to the jacobite movement during the reign of Queen Anne. Implicitly building on Geoffrey Holmes's model of the workings of the whig and tory parties in the age of Anne, the article analyses the turn to the Scots that took place within jacobite politics between 1702 and 1710. Throughout the 1690s the English jacobites had dominated the politics of the jacobite movement. Cementing their hold on the jacobite court's outlook and policies there was, too, an intrinsic anglocentrism at royal and ministerial level. Yet by 1715 the Scots jacobites were clearly equal partners with the English within the movement, and this parity was to shape the entire subsequent history of the jacobite cause. This shift within the politics of the movement was, moreover, not simply a corollary of the union. This article argues that the shift to the Scots was far more fundamental in terms of the outlook and policies of the movement, and ultimately did not depend on the immediate military utility of the Scots jacobites, but on a new perception of them as a uniquely important resource.