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Establishing and Registering Identity in the Dutch Republic1

Henk Looijesteijn and Marco H. D. Van Leeuwen

in Registration and Recognition: Documenting the Person in World History

The Dutch Republic had a broad range of means to establish an individual's identity, and a rudimentary ‘system’ of identity registration, essentially established at the local levels of town and ... More

The Dutch Republic had a broad range of means to establish an individual's identity, and a rudimentary ‘system’ of identity registration, essentially established at the local levels of town and parish. This chapter seeks to provide a description of the ways in which the Dutch established an individual's identity. The various registration methods covered almost the entire population of the Dutch Republic at some stage in their life, and it is argued that on balance identity registration in the Dutch Republic was fairly successful. The chapter contends that the degree to which identity was registered and monitored in the early modern era in the Netherlands, while certainly not wholly effective, is remarkable given the absence of a centralized state and the lack of a large bureaucracy.Less

The Queer Afterlife of Billy Budd

Hiram Pérez

in A Taste For Brown Bodies: Gay Modernity and Cosmopolitan Desire

This chapter returns to Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor: An Inside Narrative, acknowledging Eve Sedgwick’s designation of the novella as a foundational text for modern gay male identity. ... More

This chapter returns to Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor: An Inside Narrative, acknowledging Eve Sedgwick’s designation of the novella as a foundational text for modern gay male identity. Focusing on the neglected figure of the African sailor, the narrative’s original beautiful sailor, the chapter investigates how nostalgic fantasies about the savage or the primitive mediate same-sex desire in the novella. The chapter presents Billy Budd’s blond beauty as surrogacy for the African sailor, the original fetish of Melville’s narrative. Blondness figures in Billy Budd as a proxy for primitiveness. The chapter argues that the perpetual deferral of homosexual desire performed by the narrative and embodied in the figure of the sexually frustrated Claggart construct a model of autonomy for gay modernity in constituting its interiority—its “inside story” as it were, what Sedgwick will term the epistemological closet.Less

Sailor Shanties

David Manning

in Vaughan Williams on Music

The art of the folk singer, like all true art, is essentially un-self-conscious—the artistic result is not openly sought, but comes, as it were, by accident. In the same way the sailor, with the ... More

The art of the folk singer, like all true art, is essentially un-self-conscious—the artistic result is not openly sought, but comes, as it were, by accident. In the same way the sailor, with the object of improving the quality of his work, has invented the “shanty,” and it is these that Dr Richard Runciman Terry now has collected into a book. Modern developments in machinery have destroyed the original purpose of the shanty, but like the tithe barn, the church, and the castle, they remain for the people as works of art, and it is as works of art, and that only, that one must now judge them. If they are merely of nautical or antiquarian interest, then their proper place is the library of the folklorist or the marine expert.Less

Of the admirable case of a Venetian sailor who was marooned on an island for two years, and of another Genoese marooned for eight years; and how these two and other castaways came together on an island; and how finally only the Venetian and the Genoese remained; and how later God brought them out of that tribulation. [358]

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo

in Misfortunes and Shipwrecks in the Seas of the Indies, Islands, and Mainland of the Ocean Sea (1513–1548): Book Fifty of the 'General and Natural History of the Indies'

This chapter describes the admirable case of a sailor from Venice who was marooned on an island for two years, and of another Genoese marooned for eight years. It indicates how these two and other ... More

This chapter describes the admirable case of a sailor from Venice who was marooned on an island for two years, and of another Genoese marooned for eight years. It indicates how these two and other castaways came together on an island; and how finally only the Venetian and the Genoese remained; and how later God brought them out of that tribulation.Less

Of a ship that departed this city of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola and struck a rock on this coast and a sailor jumped from the ship to the rock and came by land to this city while the ship sailed safely on to Spain.

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo

in Misfortunes and Shipwrecks in the Seas of the Indies, Islands, and Mainland of the Ocean Sea (1513–1548): Book Fifty of the 'General and Natural History of the Indies'

This chapter's story is about a ship whose master was Captain San Juan Solórzano which departed the river-port of Santo Domingo. At midnight or a little later on the day in question the crew weighed ... More

This chapter's story is about a ship whose master was Captain San Juan Solórzano which departed the river-port of Santo Domingo. At midnight or a little later on the day in question the crew weighed anchor, and in bright moonlight with a nice land breeze the ship sailed up the coast for Spain about two or more hours before daybreak. A Basque sailor who saw that the ship was on a collision course with the rocks stationed himself in the prow with the idea of jumping to land at the moment of impact. The boat, as reported, was pushed on course for Spain, where it arrived safely. The Basque sailor returned by land to Santa Domingo, arriving after a day or two and the ship took his sea chest and clothing to Spain for him. God saved the ship in the manner described and willed that sailor to remain behind to testify to the miracle.Less

Introduction

Hiram Pérez

in A Taste For Brown Bodies: Gay Modernity and Cosmopolitan Desire

Rather than imagining the late Victorian invention of homosexuality as a moment of singular and absolute abjection, the introduction posits the homosexual as a modern agent of neocolonial expansion ... More

Rather than imagining the late Victorian invention of homosexuality as a moment of singular and absolute abjection, the introduction posits the homosexual as a modern agent of neocolonial expansion (the geographies of which are redefined by new visual and information technologies), instrumental both to modern nation-building and transnational flows of capital. A range of mobilities, transformed or generated by industrialization (i.e. class privilege, whiteness, transportation technology, mass media, tourism) and eventually post-industrial society (i.e. communications and information technologies), provide conditions for a cosmopolitan gay male subject. The introduction traces the foundations of gay modernity to gay cosmopolitanism, including the queer, proletarian cosmopolitanism of sailors, soldiers, and cowboys, interrogating how these three figures were deployed to sustain and expand U.S. empire. It is crucial to recover these unexpected routes of queer cosmopolitanism in order to appreciate the links between gay modernity and imperialism.Less

The Alexander Romances in the Middle Ages

John Boardman

in Alexander the Great

This chapter examines how fantastic tales about Alexander's life and adventures after he had conquered the “known world,” were current soon after his death. Very possibly these were to some degree ... More

This chapter examines how fantastic tales about Alexander's life and adventures after he had conquered the “known world,” were current soon after his death. Very possibly these were to some degree modelled on the early epic and heroic legends in Greek literature. The new stories seem to find their origin mainly in Ptolemaic Egypt, which is hardly surprising given Alexander's associations there in life and death. Such documents provide writers and artists with a corpus of tales about the mystic east which were to echo in later centuries through the works of Marco Polo, the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, and Sir John de Mandeville's record of imaginary journeys in the east, and much else.Less

Muslims in the United Kingdom

H. A. Hellyer

in Muslims of Europe The ‘Other’ Europeans

The United Kingdom has a long history of interaction with Muslims and is home to a large Muslim population. While the largest and most noticeable presence of Muslims rose in the UK in the aftermath ... More

The United Kingdom has a long history of interaction with Muslims and is home to a large Muslim population. While the largest and most noticeable presence of Muslims rose in the UK in the aftermath of the breakup of the British Empire, the history of the relationship goes back much further. Muslim history in the UK or among Britons can be divided into five phases: early Muslim general history until the end of the fifteenth century; sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth century; nineteenth century to World War I; early twentieth century; and mid-twentieth century to the turn of the twenty-first century and the ‘War on Terror’. This chapter focuses on Muslims in the UK, with Muslim sailors as the early British Muslims in Cardiff and Liverpool. It also considers Muslim lobby groups in the UK, the debate over ‘church-state’ relations and the past and present legal status of Muslims in the UK. Moreover, the chapter considers blasphemy, demands for fiqh incorporation into state law and legal reforms.Less

Society Under Scrutiny VII: Miscellaneous Penitents: Pardoners, Collectors, Doctors, Hosts, Actors, Servants, Sailors, Women, and Children

Michael Haren

in Sin and Society in Fourteenth-Century England: A Study of the Memoriale Presbiterorum

The penultimate chapter in the section on restitution is an account of pardoners. The author makes clear how fraudulent pardoners must discharge their obligation to make restitution to their ... More

The penultimate chapter in the section on restitution is an account of pardoners. The author makes clear how fraudulent pardoners must discharge their obligation to make restitution to their principals, if they have been duly constituted, and to the bishop of the diocese if they have acted on their own authority. The Memoriale Presbiterorum represents a corresponding awareness of abuses practices by agents and collectors within the diocese. The section on restitution includes doctors, an obligation which they incur through inexpertise or malpractice. The host of an inn is responsible for the safe custody of mislaid property. Also included in the section on restitution is a discussion of the actor’s remuneration. Several persons have a place in the section on interrogation only, such as servants, sailors with their hostility to ecclesiastics or their spiritual shortcomings, women, and children whose responsibility is diminished by their age.Less

Contraband Sailors

Barbara Brooks Tomblin

in Bluejackets and Contrabands: African Americans and the Union Navy

Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, the Navy Department realized that the fleet's rapid wartime expansion would require thousands of sailors, and it sent navy recruiters out to recruiting stations, ... More

Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter, the Navy Department realized that the fleet's rapid wartime expansion would require thousands of sailors, and it sent navy recruiters out to recruiting stations, called rendezvous, in large eastern cities and small coastal and river towns to lure men into the service. Only about 300 African American men reported to these stations, and by the end of 1861 they accounted for only about six percent of Union Navy crews. These numbers soon grew, however. According to Howard University's Black Sailors Project, 18,000 African American men (and 11 women) served in the Union Navy over the course of the Civil War. African American sailors constituted about 20 percent of the enlisted force, nearly double the proportion of black soldiers who served in the Union Army during the war. The largest number of black men joining the Union Navy listed their place of origin as either Maryland or Virginia.Less

Not Everybody Mourned Lincoln's Death

Thomas P. Lowry

in The Lincoln Assassination: Crime and Punishment, Myth and Memory A Lincoln Forum Book

This chapter shows that some citizens—including, surprisingly, a number of Union soldiers and sailors—were not saddened at all by President Lincoln's passing. In fact, many of them publicly expressed ... More

This chapter shows that some citizens—including, surprisingly, a number of Union soldiers and sailors—were not saddened at all by President Lincoln's passing. In fact, many of them publicly expressed joy over the assassination. Their doing so had legal ramifications, too, for merely expressing satisfaction at Booth's deed often resulted in imprisonment, a fine, or both. The chapter examines seventy-eight long-ignored files in the National Archives involving cases of those tried for rejoicing over Lincoln's death. In such cases, the protections of the First Amendment were overwhelmed by public anger—and by sometimes harsh prosecution—at citizens who would applaud the murder of a president.Less

Medical and Health Issues

David M. Williams and Andrew P. White

in A Select Bibliography of British and Irish University Theses about Maritime History, 1792-1990

A bibliography of post-graduate theses concerning Medical and Health Issues relating to Maritime History, subdivided by illness.

The Americans

Patricia Lim

in Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery

This chapter discusses the Americans in Hong Kong. It begins with a discussion of American navy sailors, who were members of the largest American fleet ever assembled during the time. It then looks ... More

This chapter discusses the Americans in Hong Kong. It begins with a discussion of American navy sailors, who were members of the largest American fleet ever assembled during the time. It then looks at the different American businesses in Hong Kong, which ranged from merchant houses to smaller-scale businesses.Less

Conflicting Narratives and Images

Kathleen M. German

in Promises of Citizenship: Film Recruitment of African Americans in World War II

This chapter reveals the successful adaptation of the conversion narrative in additional Office of War Information films intended to solidify African American support for the war. At the same time, ... More

This chapter reveals the successful adaptation of the conversion narrative in additional Office of War Information films intended to solidify African American support for the war. At the same time, contradictory messages continued to be used in other military training and advocacy films. Summaries and analysis of these films are developed in this chapter.Less