Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.015
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter concludes the discussion of the nobility by drawing out the similarities and differences between the role of noblemen in war and the effects of war on noble power in England and the ...
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This chapter concludes the discussion of the nobility by drawing out the similarities and differences between the role of noblemen in war and the effects of war on noble power in England and the Netherlands. War was not the sole key to noble power, but it remained very important through the resources, skills, and social power noblemen deployed in sustaining their princes' wars; through the offices, influence, and rewards they gained in war; through the relationships with others forged in war; and through the honourable reputations they won or lost. In some respects, the independent military power of the nobility in both polities declined over the period. But in helping to develop new forms of state power, the nobility built its own influence into them at many points.Less
This chapter concludes the discussion of the nobility by drawing out the similarities and differences between the role of noblemen in war and the effects of war on noble power in England and the Netherlands. War was not the sole key to noble power, but it remained very important through the resources, skills, and social power noblemen deployed in sustaining their princes' wars; through the offices, influence, and rewards they gained in war; through the relationships with others forged in war; and through the honourable reputations they won or lost. In some respects, the independent military power of the nobility in both polities declined over the period. But in helping to develop new forms of state power, the nobility built its own influence into them at many points.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0016
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, ...
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The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.Less
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.
ALASTAIR DUNN
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199263103
- eISBN:
- 9780191718786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263103.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This introductory chapter puts the book in the context of recent scholarship into the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. It considers the sources used in the book — a range of archival material and ...
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This introductory chapter puts the book in the context of recent scholarship into the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. It considers the sources used in the book — a range of archival material and printed primary and secondary writing.Less
This introductory chapter puts the book in the context of recent scholarship into the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV. It considers the sources used in the book — a range of archival material and printed primary and secondary writing.
Elliot Kendall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199542642
- eISBN:
- 9780191715419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542642.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter brings together all the arguments presented in the book regarding the importance of the great household to late 14th-century England. It summarizes the political positions developed in ...
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This chapter brings together all the arguments presented in the book regarding the importance of the great household to late 14th-century England. It summarizes the political positions developed in Gower's Confessio Amantis and the poem's profound influence on contemporary ways of thinking regarding the roles of the gentry, nobility, and royalty and their feelings of responsibility to the political economy, and the subsequent impact of this view of society.Less
This chapter brings together all the arguments presented in the book regarding the importance of the great household to late 14th-century England. It summarizes the political positions developed in Gower's Confessio Amantis and the poem's profound influence on contemporary ways of thinking regarding the roles of the gentry, nobility, and royalty and their feelings of responsibility to the political economy, and the subsequent impact of this view of society.
Regina Pörtner
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199246151
- eISBN:
- 9780191715228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246151.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This book demonstrates that the Counter-Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries contributed to the process of state building in Inner Austria in various ways, most important among which were the ...
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This book demonstrates that the Counter-Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries contributed to the process of state building in Inner Austria in various ways, most important among which were the enhancement of the power of the Habsburg Monarchy and the creation of an ideological formula for the consensus between the dynasty and the provincial nobilities who represented the political nation. On the other hand, there was the case of Hungary and the unsolved problem of crypto-Protestantism which illustrated the dialectics of a confessional policy that already carried the germ of self-destruction. In the course of the 18th century, it was to succumb to the dissolvent, secularising forces of the Enlightenment, whose ‘cosmopolitan’ expansionism was in turn checked by the countercurrents of nascent nationalism. The age of confessionalisation and aspiring confessional absolutism thus left an ambivalent legacy of repression and revolt, to be rejected or assimilated by the modern national movements of the peoples in the Habsburg Monarchy.Less
This book demonstrates that the Counter-Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries contributed to the process of state building in Inner Austria in various ways, most important among which were the enhancement of the power of the Habsburg Monarchy and the creation of an ideological formula for the consensus between the dynasty and the provincial nobilities who represented the political nation. On the other hand, there was the case of Hungary and the unsolved problem of crypto-Protestantism which illustrated the dialectics of a confessional policy that already carried the germ of self-destruction. In the course of the 18th century, it was to succumb to the dissolvent, secularising forces of the Enlightenment, whose ‘cosmopolitan’ expansionism was in turn checked by the countercurrents of nascent nationalism. The age of confessionalisation and aspiring confessional absolutism thus left an ambivalent legacy of repression and revolt, to be rejected or assimilated by the modern national movements of the peoples in the Habsburg Monarchy.
ARNALDO MORELLI
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265055
- eISBN:
- 9780191754166
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265055.003.0019
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter investigates the locations and modes of musical performance in the residences of the nobility in seventeenth-century Rome, indicating the differences between this period and the ...
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This chapter investigates the locations and modes of musical performance in the residences of the nobility in seventeenth-century Rome, indicating the differences between this period and the Renaissance. In particular, instances of music-making in the courts of princes and cardinals are identified and described, in relation to considerations of etiquette, social conventions and anthropology. This research, based on first-hand documentary research in the archives of Roman noble families, has revealed unexpected locations for music-making, which cannot always be justified in terms of acoustic or aesthetic criteria. Particular attention is paid to the places where instruments were stored, as recorded in inventories, and their typology.Less
This chapter investigates the locations and modes of musical performance in the residences of the nobility in seventeenth-century Rome, indicating the differences between this period and the Renaissance. In particular, instances of music-making in the courts of princes and cardinals are identified and described, in relation to considerations of etiquette, social conventions and anthropology. This research, based on first-hand documentary research in the archives of Roman noble families, has revealed unexpected locations for music-making, which cannot always be justified in terms of acoustic or aesthetic criteria. Particular attention is paid to the places where instruments were stored, as recorded in inventories, and their typology.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Historians have long debated the effects of war on state formation in early modern Europe. Did military competition increase rulers' power over their subjects and forge more modern states, or did the ...
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Historians have long debated the effects of war on state formation in early modern Europe. Did military competition increase rulers' power over their subjects and forge more modern states, or did the strains of war break down political and administrative systems? This book seeks a rounded answer to these questions by comparing England and the Netherlands in the age of warrior princes such as Henry VIII and Charles V. It examines the development of new military and fiscal institutions, but goes beyond them to ask how mobilization for war changed political relationships throughout society. Towns in England, such as Norwich, York, Exeter, and Rye, are compared with towns in the Netherlands, such as Antwerp, Leiden, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Valenciennes, to see how the magistrates' relations with central government and the urban populace were modified by war. Great noblemen from the Howard and Percy families are set alongside their equivalents from the houses of Croÿ and Egmond to examine the role of recruitment, army command, and heroic reputation in maintaining the power of the nobility. The wider interactions of subjects and rulers in wartime are reviewed to measure how effectively war extended princes' claims on their subjects' loyalty and service; their ambitions to control news and public opinion and to promote national identity; and their ability to manage the economy and harness religious change to dynastic purposes. The book presents picture of societies and polities tested and shaped by the pressures of ever more demanding warfare.Less
Historians have long debated the effects of war on state formation in early modern Europe. Did military competition increase rulers' power over their subjects and forge more modern states, or did the strains of war break down political and administrative systems? This book seeks a rounded answer to these questions by comparing England and the Netherlands in the age of warrior princes such as Henry VIII and Charles V. It examines the development of new military and fiscal institutions, but goes beyond them to ask how mobilization for war changed political relationships throughout society. Towns in England, such as Norwich, York, Exeter, and Rye, are compared with towns in the Netherlands, such as Antwerp, Leiden, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Valenciennes, to see how the magistrates' relations with central government and the urban populace were modified by war. Great noblemen from the Howard and Percy families are set alongside their equivalents from the houses of Croÿ and Egmond to examine the role of recruitment, army command, and heroic reputation in maintaining the power of the nobility. The wider interactions of subjects and rulers in wartime are reviewed to measure how effectively war extended princes' claims on their subjects' loyalty and service; their ambitions to control news and public opinion and to promote national identity; and their ability to manage the economy and harness religious change to dynastic purposes. The book presents picture of societies and polities tested and shaped by the pressures of ever more demanding warfare.
John Nightingale
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208358
- eISBN:
- 9780191716645
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208358.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This book explores the prominent role of monasteries in the early medieval period and their relationship to the nobility in Lotharingia throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. It focuses on the ...
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This book explores the prominent role of monasteries in the early medieval period and their relationship to the nobility in Lotharingia throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. It focuses on the evidence from three of the region's greatest abbeys — Gorze, Saint-Maximin, and Saint-Evre — which played a central role in the monastic reform movement. This swept through the region in the 930s and is commonly named after Gorze. Set within the context of the whole social structure and exercise of regional power in the early middle ages, this book demonstrates the vitality and importance of monasteries, focusing on their land transaction as well as their religious roles. Accepted notions of monastic lordship are challenged and the complexity of the two-way relationships between monasteries and their patrons, relationships which ensured the former a central place in the early medieval landscape, is discussed.Less
This book explores the prominent role of monasteries in the early medieval period and their relationship to the nobility in Lotharingia throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. It focuses on the evidence from three of the region's greatest abbeys — Gorze, Saint-Maximin, and Saint-Evre — which played a central role in the monastic reform movement. This swept through the region in the 930s and is commonly named after Gorze. Set within the context of the whole social structure and exercise of regional power in the early middle ages, this book demonstrates the vitality and importance of monasteries, focusing on their land transaction as well as their religious roles. Accepted notions of monastic lordship are challenged and the complexity of the two-way relationships between monasteries and their patrons, relationships which ensured the former a central place in the early medieval landscape, is discussed.
Julian Goodare
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199243549
- eISBN:
- 9780191714160
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243549.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book shows how Scotland was governed during the transition from Europe's decentralised medieval realms to modern sovereign states. The expanding institutions of government — crown, parliament, ...
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This book shows how Scotland was governed during the transition from Europe's decentralised medieval realms to modern sovereign states. The expanding institutions of government — crown, parliament, privy council, local courts — are detailed, but the book is structured around an analysis of governmental processes. A new framework is offered for understanding the concept of ‘centre and localities’: centralisation happened in the localities. Various interest groups participated in government and influenced its decisions. The nobility, in particular, exercised influence at every level. There was also English influence, both before and after the union of crowns in 1603. The book argues that the crown's continuing involvement after 1603 shows the common idea of ‘absentee monarchy’ to be misconceived. Particular attention is also paid to the harsh impact of government in the Highlands — where the chiefs were not full members of Scottish political society — and to the common people who were also excluded from normal political participation.Less
This book shows how Scotland was governed during the transition from Europe's decentralised medieval realms to modern sovereign states. The expanding institutions of government — crown, parliament, privy council, local courts — are detailed, but the book is structured around an analysis of governmental processes. A new framework is offered for understanding the concept of ‘centre and localities’: centralisation happened in the localities. Various interest groups participated in government and influenced its decisions. The nobility, in particular, exercised influence at every level. There was also English influence, both before and after the union of crowns in 1603. The book argues that the crown's continuing involvement after 1603 shows the common idea of ‘absentee monarchy’ to be misconceived. Particular attention is also paid to the harsh impact of government in the Highlands — where the chiefs were not full members of Scottish political society — and to the common people who were also excluded from normal political participation.
Scott M. Eddie
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198201663
- eISBN:
- 9780191718434
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201663.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in Germany's history, but the absence of official statistics on land ownership has left their position and identity confined mostly to folklore, ...
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The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in Germany's history, but the absence of official statistics on land ownership has left their position and identity confined mostly to folklore, without satisfactory quantification. This book, making extensive use of primary sources from the seven ‘core provinces’ of eastern Germany (East Elbia), establishes answers to questions pivotal to our understanding of pre-war Germany: who were the biggest land owners, both by area and by the value of their land? Which social groups held land, how much, and where? How did this change, especially during the last decades before 1914? The bourgeoisie had made substantial inroads into land ownership by the mid-1850s, in at least some areas even before the mid-1830s. Despite rapid industrialization after 1880, the process was reversed, so there was a net exodus of bourgeois owners from the ranks of large land owners, just as there was of lesser nobility (barons and untitled nobles). On the eve of war, ownership of large estates was even more concentrated in the hands of the Prussian state, the Prussian royal family, and the higher nobility than it had been in the early 1880s. Among the other contributions of this book are analysis of the extent of rural industry in East Elbia, evaluation of the land endowment of the seven provinces, description of the ownership of knight's estates, and investigation of possible favouritism in the land tax assessment system.Less
The big landlords of eastern Germany have loomed large in Germany's history, but the absence of official statistics on land ownership has left their position and identity confined mostly to folklore, without satisfactory quantification. This book, making extensive use of primary sources from the seven ‘core provinces’ of eastern Germany (East Elbia), establishes answers to questions pivotal to our understanding of pre-war Germany: who were the biggest land owners, both by area and by the value of their land? Which social groups held land, how much, and where? How did this change, especially during the last decades before 1914? The bourgeoisie had made substantial inroads into land ownership by the mid-1850s, in at least some areas even before the mid-1830s. Despite rapid industrialization after 1880, the process was reversed, so there was a net exodus of bourgeois owners from the ranks of large land owners, just as there was of lesser nobility (barons and untitled nobles). On the eve of war, ownership of large estates was even more concentrated in the hands of the Prussian state, the Prussian royal family, and the higher nobility than it had been in the early 1880s. Among the other contributions of this book are analysis of the extent of rural industry in East Elbia, evaluation of the land endowment of the seven provinces, description of the ownership of knight's estates, and investigation of possible favouritism in the land tax assessment system.
Guy Rowlands
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265383
- eISBN:
- 9780191760433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
For all the research that has been done into French politics and society in the fifty years before the Revolution, only a handful of serious studies have looked at the great noble families and the ...
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For all the research that has been done into French politics and society in the fifty years before the Revolution, only a handful of serious studies have looked at the great noble families and the royal court. Moreover, the history of the army, where leading noble families dominated the upper ranks, has been integrated neither with that of the court, nor with that of intra-noble relations. This chapter therefore examines the most prestigious units of the French army — the privileged forces associated directly with the royal households — to bring together the history of the military and the court and suggest why, by the time the old regime collapsed in 1787–89, the great nobility was at loggerheads with the monarchy, and why relations between higher and lesser nobles had deteriorated a great deal since the reign of Louis XIV. The collapse of elite cohesion was ultimately disastrous for all concerned.Less
For all the research that has been done into French politics and society in the fifty years before the Revolution, only a handful of serious studies have looked at the great noble families and the royal court. Moreover, the history of the army, where leading noble families dominated the upper ranks, has been integrated neither with that of the court, nor with that of intra-noble relations. This chapter therefore examines the most prestigious units of the French army — the privileged forces associated directly with the royal households — to bring together the history of the military and the court and suggest why, by the time the old regime collapsed in 1787–89, the great nobility was at loggerheads with the monarchy, and why relations between higher and lesser nobles had deteriorated a great deal since the reign of Louis XIV. The collapse of elite cohesion was ultimately disastrous for all concerned.
Michel Figeac
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265383
- eISBN:
- 9780191760433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The history of the French nobility has long been symptomatic with that of the Revolution, and this chapter takes a fresh look at the state of the second estate in the years preceding 1789. Confronted ...
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The history of the French nobility has long been symptomatic with that of the Revolution, and this chapter takes a fresh look at the state of the second estate in the years preceding 1789. Confronted by the problems arising from demographic decline, the pressure of the state, and a certain internal malaise as it sought to cope with internal divisions and to make sense of its own place in the world, the French nobility could be seen as a state of crisis. With some nobles even going so far as to attack the concept of nobility itself, these divisions would have important repercussions in 1789.Less
The history of the French nobility has long been symptomatic with that of the Revolution, and this chapter takes a fresh look at the state of the second estate in the years preceding 1789. Confronted by the problems arising from demographic decline, the pressure of the state, and a certain internal malaise as it sought to cope with internal divisions and to make sense of its own place in the world, the French nobility could be seen as a state of crisis. With some nobles even going so far as to attack the concept of nobility itself, these divisions would have important repercussions in 1789.
Matthew Rendle
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199236251
- eISBN:
- 9780191717154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199236251.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the Russian nobility from February to late summer 1917. Initially, the nobility played a prominent role in national and local government, and this was something that its main ...
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This chapter examines the Russian nobility from February to late summer 1917. Initially, the nobility played a prominent role in national and local government, and this was something that its main body, the United Nobility, sought to promote. Increasingly, however, the popular movement forced nobles out of local government as the former privileged classes, whilst their prominence in the Provisional Government declined. The increasing social conflict and attacks on former elites forced the United Nobility to focus on preserving the nobility. Yet nobles seemed unconvinced that this class‐based body was effective, and instead favoured new, professional unions that represented particular interest groups within the elites, such as the Union of Homeowners. An attempt to transform the United Nobility into such a group, the Society of Nobles, to safeguard its property was a hesitant process.Less
This chapter examines the Russian nobility from February to late summer 1917. Initially, the nobility played a prominent role in national and local government, and this was something that its main body, the United Nobility, sought to promote. Increasingly, however, the popular movement forced nobles out of local government as the former privileged classes, whilst their prominence in the Provisional Government declined. The increasing social conflict and attacks on former elites forced the United Nobility to focus on preserving the nobility. Yet nobles seemed unconvinced that this class‐based body was effective, and instead favoured new, professional unions that represented particular interest groups within the elites, such as the Union of Homeowners. An attempt to transform the United Nobility into such a group, the Society of Nobles, to safeguard its property was a hesitant process.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter asks how the demands of war changed towns' relationships with other elements in the polity. War accelerated their direct communication with central government, whether through ...
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This chapter asks how the demands of war changed towns' relationships with other elements in the polity. War accelerated their direct communication with central government, whether through correspondence or princely visits. Provincial councils took some part in steering towns into compliance with princely policy in war, but more important were intermediaries from the local nobility. Their role declined over time in England, though fluctuating with the character and courtly power of individual noble patrons. It remained significant in the Netherlands whenever campaigns came near or princely tax demands had to be considered. Representative institutions — parliament in England and the provincial states and States-General in the Netherlands — were important forums in which towns could trade consent to taxation for favourable legislation or other concessions. At times they even enabled towns collectively to manage the war effort in their own strategic interest.Less
This chapter asks how the demands of war changed towns' relationships with other elements in the polity. War accelerated their direct communication with central government, whether through correspondence or princely visits. Provincial councils took some part in steering towns into compliance with princely policy in war, but more important were intermediaries from the local nobility. Their role declined over time in England, though fluctuating with the character and courtly power of individual noble patrons. It remained significant in the Netherlands whenever campaigns came near or princely tax demands had to be considered. Representative institutions — parliament in England and the provincial states and States-General in the Netherlands — were important forums in which towns could trade consent to taxation for favourable legislation or other concessions. At times they even enabled towns collectively to manage the war effort in their own strategic interest.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.009
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter introduces the nobility in England and the Netherlands, and the role of war in the relationship between the princes and noblemen. Though noble land-holding and political influence varied ...
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This chapter introduces the nobility in England and the Netherlands, and the role of war in the relationship between the princes and noblemen. Though noble land-holding and political influence varied from region to region, both polities had an elite of wealthy lords — often influential at court — as provincial governors or lords lieutenant, and as the leaders of affinities among the gentry or lesser nobility. The Percy earls of Northumberland were great lords in the north of England, and the Howard dukes of Norfolk and earls of Surrey office-holders at court, with estates concentrated in the south. The Croÿ counts of Roeulx confronted the French as governors of Artois and Flanders, while the Egmond counts of Buren held lands on the borders of Holland and Brabant, and mostly campaigned against Guelders.Less
This chapter introduces the nobility in England and the Netherlands, and the role of war in the relationship between the princes and noblemen. Though noble land-holding and political influence varied from region to region, both polities had an elite of wealthy lords — often influential at court — as provincial governors or lords lieutenant, and as the leaders of affinities among the gentry or lesser nobility. The Percy earls of Northumberland were great lords in the north of England, and the Howard dukes of Norfolk and earls of Surrey office-holders at court, with estates concentrated in the south. The Croÿ counts of Roeulx confronted the French as governors of Artois and Flanders, while the Egmond counts of Buren held lands on the borders of Holland and Brabant, and mostly campaigned against Guelders.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.010
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter examines the resources deployed by the nobility in their participation in warfare. In England, their recruitment of troops became less important over time as retinues raised from their ...
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This chapter examines the resources deployed by the nobility in their participation in warfare. In England, their recruitment of troops became less important over time as retinues raised from their estate tenants and household servants were superseded by drafts from the county militias. In the Netherlands, great nobles led bandes d'ordonnance, permanently waged by the prince but staffed by the captain's clients and other contingents animated by their local influence. Generals there also cultivated entrepreneurs able to raise mercenaries beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Noblemen's private arsenals were better stocked with artillery in the Netherlands than in England, and their private fortifications better maintained and modernized. The English, however, were more likely to own ships that could be turned to war or privateering.Less
This chapter examines the resources deployed by the nobility in their participation in warfare. In England, their recruitment of troops became less important over time as retinues raised from their estate tenants and household servants were superseded by drafts from the county militias. In the Netherlands, great nobles led bandes d'ordonnance, permanently waged by the prince but staffed by the captain's clients and other contingents animated by their local influence. Generals there also cultivated entrepreneurs able to raise mercenaries beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Noblemen's private arsenals were better stocked with artillery in the Netherlands than in England, and their private fortifications better maintained and modernized. The English, however, were more likely to own ships that could be turned to war or privateering.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.011
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter investigates the special position of noblemen who acted as leading military commanders. The appointment of provincial governors, lords lieutenant, wardens of the marches, and deputies in ...
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This chapter investigates the special position of noblemen who acted as leading military commanders. The appointment of provincial governors, lords lieutenant, wardens of the marches, and deputies in Ireland might both focus the social power and military ambition of the nobility in the service of the prince and reinforce noble power with a framework of public authority, but incompetent exercise of such offices could wreck noble reputations. Skill in administration, firmness in disciplining troops, wisdom in taking counsel, and splendour in living nobly all contributed to effective generalship. Distant campaigns in Germany, Ireland, Italy, or Spain, and relations cultivated with foreign princes and their commanders could make or break careers as readily as defending one's neighbours and friends. Negotiating and collecting taxation or suppressing revolts could do as much for the war effort as front-line command.Less
This chapter investigates the special position of noblemen who acted as leading military commanders. The appointment of provincial governors, lords lieutenant, wardens of the marches, and deputies in Ireland might both focus the social power and military ambition of the nobility in the service of the prince and reinforce noble power with a framework of public authority, but incompetent exercise of such offices could wreck noble reputations. Skill in administration, firmness in disciplining troops, wisdom in taking counsel, and splendour in living nobly all contributed to effective generalship. Distant campaigns in Germany, Ireland, Italy, or Spain, and relations cultivated with foreign princes and their commanders could make or break careers as readily as defending one's neighbours and friends. Negotiating and collecting taxation or suppressing revolts could do as much for the war effort as front-line command.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.012
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter asks what risks war posed to the nobility and what profits it offered. Captivity and ransom, injury and death were greater threats in the Netherlands, though real enough in England; so ...
More
This chapter asks what risks war posed to the nobility and what profits it offered. Captivity and ransom, injury and death were greater threats in the Netherlands, though real enough in England; so was the devastation of estates. The wages of war left most noblemen out of pocket, but they found compensation in other ways: large fees for military posts, profits from prisoners, and plunder were all more important in the Netherlands; titles, lands, and offices from a grateful king more so in England. Similarly successful command seems to have been a more direct route to political influence in the England of Henry VIII, than in the Netherlands of the regents Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary.Less
This chapter asks what risks war posed to the nobility and what profits it offered. Captivity and ransom, injury and death were greater threats in the Netherlands, though real enough in England; so was the devastation of estates. The wages of war left most noblemen out of pocket, but they found compensation in other ways: large fees for military posts, profits from prisoners, and plunder were all more important in the Netherlands; titles, lands, and offices from a grateful king more so in England. Similarly successful command seems to have been a more direct route to political influence in the England of Henry VIII, than in the Netherlands of the regents Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter analyses the role of war in the construction of the nobility's power. War could foster competition between great lords or enforce collaboration. Noble kinship networks were important in ...
More
This chapter analyses the role of war in the construction of the nobility's power. War could foster competition between great lords or enforce collaboration. Noble kinship networks were important in the organization of war and local politics. Military service, sometimes rewarded by the conferral of knighthood, was both a force in shaping noblemen's affinities or clienteles, and an important function of those affinities. Military failure and a breakdown in trust could cripple local government, as it did for the fifth and sixth earls of Northumberland; military success and the development of a loyal following could facilitate provincial political management, as it did for Maximiliaan van Egmond-Buren. War conditioned the relations between nobles and the towns and ecclesiastical institutions in the areas where they aspired to exercise influence, especially given the proximity of campaigning in the Netherlands.Less
This chapter analyses the role of war in the construction of the nobility's power. War could foster competition between great lords or enforce collaboration. Noble kinship networks were important in the organization of war and local politics. Military service, sometimes rewarded by the conferral of knighthood, was both a force in shaping noblemen's affinities or clienteles, and an important function of those affinities. Military failure and a breakdown in trust could cripple local government, as it did for the fifth and sixth earls of Northumberland; military success and the development of a loyal following could facilitate provincial political management, as it did for Maximiliaan van Egmond-Buren. War conditioned the relations between nobles and the towns and ecclesiastical institutions in the areas where they aspired to exercise influence, especially given the proximity of campaigning in the Netherlands.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.014
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter examines how war shaped the identity of the nobility. The idea that military service was a duty for noblemen, but one fittingly rewarded with honour and more tangible benefits, was ...
More
This chapter examines how war shaped the identity of the nobility. The idea that military service was a duty for noblemen, but one fittingly rewarded with honour and more tangible benefits, was widespread in England and the Netherlands alike. Nobles read, commissioned, and wrote military treatises and memoirs and were exhorted in family histories to imitate the martial deeds of their ancestors. Poems, songs and chronicles, portraits, prints and history paintings, martial buildings, and gifts of swords and decorated plate proclaimed the military reputations of contemporary commanders. Elaborate chivalric funerals and tombs commemorated great generals, and some enacted memorable deathbed scenes, bidding their captains farewell and pledging their loyalty to their prince.Less
This chapter examines how war shaped the identity of the nobility. The idea that military service was a duty for noblemen, but one fittingly rewarded with honour and more tangible benefits, was widespread in England and the Netherlands alike. Nobles read, commissioned, and wrote military treatises and memoirs and were exhorted in family histories to imitate the martial deeds of their ancestors. Poems, songs and chronicles, portraits, prints and history paintings, martial buildings, and gifts of swords and decorated plate proclaimed the military reputations of contemporary commanders. Elaborate chivalric funerals and tombs commemorated great generals, and some enacted memorable deathbed scenes, bidding their captains farewell and pledging their loyalty to their prince.
