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.
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.
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.
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.
TIGRAN MKRTYCHEV
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263846
- eISBN:
- 9780191734113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263846.003.0024
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter examines Buddhism and the features of the Buddhist art in the Bactria-Tokharistan region of Central Asia. The findings indicate that Buddhism spread to Bactria in the Kushan period ...
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This chapter examines Buddhism and the features of the Buddhist art in the Bactria-Tokharistan region of Central Asia. The findings indicate that Buddhism spread to Bactria in the Kushan period because of the support of the Kushan nobility. During the first to third centuries there was a considerable growth of Buddhist art, mainly that of the monumental variety. Most of the work on the decoration of Buddhist monuments at that time was undertaken by professional artists who did not belong to the Buddhist community.Less
This chapter examines Buddhism and the features of the Buddhist art in the Bactria-Tokharistan region of Central Asia. The findings indicate that Buddhism spread to Bactria in the Kushan period because of the support of the Kushan nobility. During the first to third centuries there was a considerable growth of Buddhist art, mainly that of the monumental variety. Most of the work on the decoration of Buddhist monuments at that time was undertaken by professional artists who did not belong to the Buddhist community.
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 McManners
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198270034
- eISBN:
- 9780191600685
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198270038.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Bishops were appointed by the crown, and the vast majority were drawn from the aristocracy. Connections at court were very useful for those seeking appointments, while noble families would place one ...
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Bishops were appointed by the crown, and the vast majority were drawn from the aristocracy. Connections at court were very useful for those seeking appointments, while noble families would place one of their younger sons in the Church. Young noblemen destined for ecclesiastical careers had to qualify themselves for selection by pursuing university studies at the Sorbonne to the grade of licence, often supplemented by study at the seminary of St Sulpice, and then by serving an apprenticeship in diocesan administration as a grand vicaire.Less
Bishops were appointed by the crown, and the vast majority were drawn from the aristocracy. Connections at court were very useful for those seeking appointments, while noble families would place one of their younger sons in the Church. Young noblemen destined for ecclesiastical careers had to qualify themselves for selection by pursuing university studies at the Sorbonne to the grade of licence, often supplemented by study at the seminary of St Sulpice, and then by serving an apprenticeship in diocesan administration as a grand vicaire.
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.
R. R. Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161280
- eISBN:
- 9781400850228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161280.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter considers the prevailing notion in the eighteenth century that nobility was a necessary bulwark of political freedom. Whether in the interest of a more open nobility or of a more closed ...
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This chapter considers the prevailing notion in the eighteenth century that nobility was a necessary bulwark of political freedom. Whether in the interest of a more open nobility or of a more closed and impenetrable nobility, the view was the same. Nobility as such, nobility as an institution, was necessary to the maintenance of a free constitution. There was also a general consensus that parliaments or ruling councils were autonomous, self-empowered, or empowered by history, heredity, social utility, or God; that they were in an important sense irresponsible, free to oppose the King (where there was one), and certainly owing no accounting to the “people.” The remainder of the chapter deals with the uses and abuses of social rank and the problems of administration, recruitment, taxation, and class consciousness.Less
This chapter considers the prevailing notion in the eighteenth century that nobility was a necessary bulwark of political freedom. Whether in the interest of a more open nobility or of a more closed and impenetrable nobility, the view was the same. Nobility as such, nobility as an institution, was necessary to the maintenance of a free constitution. There was also a general consensus that parliaments or ruling councils were autonomous, self-empowered, or empowered by history, heredity, social utility, or God; that they were in an important sense irresponsible, free to oppose the King (where there was one), and certainly owing no accounting to the “people.” The remainder of the chapter deals with the uses and abuses of social rank and the problems of administration, recruitment, taxation, and class consciousness.
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.
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.
Rita Krueger
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195323450
- eISBN:
- 9780199869138
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323450.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book examines the intellectual ideas and political challenges that inspired patriotic activity among the Bohemian nobility, the infusion of national identity into public and institutional life, ...
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This book examines the intellectual ideas and political challenges that inspired patriotic activity among the Bohemian nobility, the infusion of national identity into public and institutional life, and the role of the nobility in crafting and supporting the national ideal within Habsburg Bohemia. Patriotic aristocrats created the visible and public institutional framework that cultivated national sentiment and provided the national movement with a degree of intellectual and social legitimacy. The book argues that the mutating identity of the aristocracy was tied both to insecurity and to a belief in the power of science to address social problems, commitment to the ideals of enlightenment as well as individual and social improvement, and profound confidence that progress was inevitable and that intellectual achievement would save society. The argument, that class mattered to the degree that it was irrelevant, intersects with several important historical questions beyond theories of nationalism, including debates about modernization and the longevity of aristocratic power, the nature of the public sphere and class, and the measurable impact of science, and intellectual movements on social and political life. The book is organized thematically to reflect the central argument that critical nation building was located in nascent institutions that incorporated fundamentally new ways of thinking about community, culture, competition, and status.Less
This book examines the intellectual ideas and political challenges that inspired patriotic activity among the Bohemian nobility, the infusion of national identity into public and institutional life, and the role of the nobility in crafting and supporting the national ideal within Habsburg Bohemia. Patriotic aristocrats created the visible and public institutional framework that cultivated national sentiment and provided the national movement with a degree of intellectual and social legitimacy. The book argues that the mutating identity of the aristocracy was tied both to insecurity and to a belief in the power of science to address social problems, commitment to the ideals of enlightenment as well as individual and social improvement, and profound confidence that progress was inevitable and that intellectual achievement would save society. The argument, that class mattered to the degree that it was irrelevant, intersects with several important historical questions beyond theories of nationalism, including debates about modernization and the longevity of aristocratic power, the nature of the public sphere and class, and the measurable impact of science, and intellectual movements on social and political life. The book is organized thematically to reflect the central argument that critical nation building was located in nascent institutions that incorporated fundamentally new ways of thinking about community, culture, competition, and status.
David George Mullan
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269977
- eISBN:
- 9780191600715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269978.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The National Covenant (28 February 1638) once again bound the country to God to withstand all innovations in church and state, and under the wave of Presbyterian nationalism, which followed those who ...
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The National Covenant (28 February 1638) once again bound the country to God to withstand all innovations in church and state, and under the wave of Presbyterian nationalism, which followed those who opposed the covenant were subjected to various forms of coercion. There followed in November the Glasgow General Assembly of the church, and it was dominated by the aristocrats who seized upon the occasion to press their political agenda. By then political resistance had found its way into pulpit discourse, though not without an acceptance, indeed an assertion of the leadership of the nobility. The royalist/Episcopalian opposition, soon to be scattered, struck back at the covenanters, accusing them of Jesuit politics of resistance and revolt, representing a tit for tat exchange of allegations of popery.Less
The National Covenant (28 February 1638) once again bound the country to God to withstand all innovations in church and state, and under the wave of Presbyterian nationalism, which followed those who opposed the covenant were subjected to various forms of coercion. There followed in November the Glasgow General Assembly of the church, and it was dominated by the aristocrats who seized upon the occasion to press their political agenda. By then political resistance had found its way into pulpit discourse, though not without an acceptance, indeed an assertion of the leadership of the nobility. The royalist/Episcopalian opposition, soon to be scattered, struck back at the covenanters, accusing them of Jesuit politics of resistance and revolt, representing a tit for tat exchange of allegations of popery.
David George Mullan
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269977
- eISBN:
- 9780191600715
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269978.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Presbyterianism favoured limited monarchy, rejecting any form of human absolutism in state, church, and family. However, in the period covered by this book, they were generally political ...
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Presbyterianism favoured limited monarchy, rejecting any form of human absolutism in state, church, and family. However, in the period covered by this book, they were generally political conservatives, and up until the eve of the National Covenant had little to say about advocating rebellion, though they did uphold the Melvillian notion of the two kingdoms in which church and state, while inseparably linked, also tended to different areas of human interest, meaning that when the king tried to interfere with sermon content and liturgy, there was bound to be trouble. Scotland was favoured by God, and defection from the truth would lead inexorably to God's departure from the land—a theme counterbalanced by covenantal notions, again nourished by the Hebrew Bible, that God would at least spare a remnant, so that Scotland's future, while dire, was not without all hope. There was similarly a deep tension in that political change must be effected by the lesser magistrates, the nobility—a caste of men who had for decades shown themselves generally to favour personal advantage over religious loyalty.Less
Presbyterianism favoured limited monarchy, rejecting any form of human absolutism in state, church, and family. However, in the period covered by this book, they were generally political conservatives, and up until the eve of the National Covenant had little to say about advocating rebellion, though they did uphold the Melvillian notion of the two kingdoms in which church and state, while inseparably linked, also tended to different areas of human interest, meaning that when the king tried to interfere with sermon content and liturgy, there was bound to be trouble. Scotland was favoured by God, and defection from the truth would lead inexorably to God's departure from the land—a theme counterbalanced by covenantal notions, again nourished by the Hebrew Bible, that God would at least spare a remnant, so that Scotland's future, while dire, was not without all hope. There was similarly a deep tension in that political change must be effected by the lesser magistrates, the nobility—a caste of men who had for decades shown themselves generally to favour personal advantage over religious loyalty.
Stephen Haliczer
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148633
- eISBN:
- 9780199869923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148630.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Unlike most women in Spanish society, women mystics achieved some recognition and were frequently consulted by the nobility. ‘Approved’ mystics tended to have greater access to male aristocracy, ...
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Unlike most women in Spanish society, women mystics achieved some recognition and were frequently consulted by the nobility. ‘Approved’ mystics tended to have greater access to male aristocracy, while female nobles sought out ‘false’ mystics. Further, in general, the ‘false’ mystics tended to relate to persons of lesser social standing, particularly in ecclesiastical circles. The mystics served as advisors on moral conduct and spiritual matters, and they also interceded on behalf of those in trouble and performed healings. However, mystics remained entrenched in male‐dominated society and church and were rarely permitted public recognition through preaching or missionary work.Less
Unlike most women in Spanish society, women mystics achieved some recognition and were frequently consulted by the nobility. ‘Approved’ mystics tended to have greater access to male aristocracy, while female nobles sought out ‘false’ mystics. Further, in general, the ‘false’ mystics tended to relate to persons of lesser social standing, particularly in ecclesiastical circles. The mystics served as advisors on moral conduct and spiritual matters, and they also interceded on behalf of those in trouble and performed healings. However, mystics remained entrenched in male‐dominated society and church and were rarely permitted public recognition through preaching or missionary work.
Ingo Gildenhard
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199291557
- eISBN:
- 9780191594885
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291557.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter focuses on how Cicero constructs specific human beings and human ‘types’, to which individuals are assigned. It first discusses the factors that underwrote the constitution and ...
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This chapter focuses on how Cicero constructs specific human beings and human ‘types’, to which individuals are assigned. It first discusses the factors that underwrote the constitution and reproduction of Rome's ruling elite, with particular emphasis on how Cicero combated what he stigmatizes as the ‘class racism’ of the nobility. Further sections consider how the category ‘nature’ was used in late republican rhetorical thought, as foil for an exploration of how Cicero deployed the lexemes natura and homo to construe persons as, first and foremost, human beings, quite irrespective of their historical identities. The chapter further illustrates Cicero's penchant for thinking in anthropological categories, and his reasons for doing so.Less
This chapter focuses on how Cicero constructs specific human beings and human ‘types’, to which individuals are assigned. It first discusses the factors that underwrote the constitution and reproduction of Rome's ruling elite, with particular emphasis on how Cicero combated what he stigmatizes as the ‘class racism’ of the nobility. Further sections consider how the category ‘nature’ was used in late republican rhetorical thought, as foil for an exploration of how Cicero deployed the lexemes natura and homo to construe persons as, first and foremost, human beings, quite irrespective of their historical identities. The chapter further illustrates Cicero's penchant for thinking in anthropological categories, and his reasons for doing so.
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.
