DOCSLIB.ORG

State of the Union: Perspectives on English Imperialism in the Late Middle Ages*

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
State of the Union: Perspectives on English Imperialism in the Late Middle Ages* STATE OF THE UNION: PERSPECTIVES ON ENGLISH IMPERIALISM IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES* ‘Imperialism’, Sir Keith Hancock famously scolded, ‘is no word for scholars’.1 But is it a word for medievalists? Posed in mischief, this is a question with a grim subtext. It is increasingly acknow- ledged that some form of ‘imperial experience’ remains at hand, its capacity to inspire debate undiminished.2 The imperial turn in contemporary world affairs has provoked a storm of semantics, polemics and apologetics on the matter of empire.3 Haute vulga- risation and high dudgeon are prime characteristics of the genre.4 Neither sits well with the empirical tradition in English historical scholarship. Medievalists might be forgiven for suspecting, in the manner of Hancock, that ‘imperialism’ is one more master noun turned tyrant.5 I begin with two contrary assumptions. The first is that disputation is its own defence. As two imperial luminaries * Research for this essay was undertaken during my tenure as a Past and Present Society research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, London (2006–7), and latterly as part of the Irish Chancery Project, Trinity College, Dublin, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. I am grateful to David Ditchburn, Sea´n Duffy, Robin Frame and Alexander Grant for commenting on earlier versions. 1 W. K. Hancock, Wealth of Colonies (Cambridge, 1950), 1. 2 Cf. A. G. Hopkins, ‘Back to the Future: From National History to Imperial History’, Past and Present, no. 164 (Aug. 1999), 199: ‘A start can be made by recogniz- ing that the imperial experience, which inspired the major debates on empire, is no longer to hand’. 3 As Stephen Howe noted, even before the most extreme manifestations of the new military imperialism, ‘currently observable trends in the world of the early twenty-first century give the history of Empire a renewed relevance’: Stephen Howe, ‘The Slow Death and Strange Rebirths of Imperial History’, Jl Imperial and Commonwealth Hist., xxix (2001), 138. 4 Even the most recent literature on ‘empire’ is sprawling. For a valuable survey, see Frederick Cooper, ‘Empire Multiplied: A Review Essay’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, xlvi (2004). Other relevant works are cited in the course of this essay. 5 Cf. Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ‘The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe’, Amer. Hist. Rev., lxxix (1974); Rees Davies, ‘The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?’, Jl Hist. Sociology, xvi (2003); Timothy Reuter, ‘Medieval: Another Tyrannous Construct?’, in his Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities, ed. Janet L. Nelson (Cambridge, 2006). Past and Present (2011) ß ThePastandPresentSociety,Oxford,2011 doi:10.1093/pastj/gtq054 2of40 PAST AND PRESENT have put it: ‘Spacious subjects need to be opened up to new ideas rather than shut down by scholarly introversion’.6 The second is that empire need not be irreducibly complex. I propose to use the term simply to signify an extensive polity in which a core society exercises formal or informal power over outlying regions gained or maintained by coercion.7 This definition is blandness itself, but it allows us to categorize as an ‘empire’ the extensive polity with which this essay is concerned: late medieval England and its subject territories. And with a move from polity to policy, it also opens up the question of the nature of English imperialism in the late Middle Ages. The enterprises of England’s medieval kings have, of course, been diagnosed as ‘imperialist’ before. In a series of interlocking essays, John Gillingham has argued that many symptoms asso- ciated with modern imperial projects — among them, a civilizing ideology and notions of racial superiority — may be located as far back as the early twelfth century in the writings of William of Malmesbury.8 It was the late Sir Rees Davies, however, who en- trenched the notion that England’s first empire was a medieval empire.9 Davies’s Ford lectures trace the irruption of the English state across Britain and Ireland from the late eleventh century — the insular experience of Robert Bartlett’s ‘Euro- peanization of Europe’, itself a process ongoing since c.900, 6 P.J. Cain and A. G. Hopkins, ‘The Theory and Practice of British Imperialism’, in Raymond E. Dumett (ed.), Gentlemanly Capitalism and British Imperialism: The New Debate on Empire (Harlow, 1999), 196. 7 This accords with the basic definitions offered in Michael Mann’s taxonomy of empires: see his ‘American Empires: Past and Present’, Canadian Rev. Sociology and Anthropology, xlv (2008), esp. 8; and Susan Reynolds, ‘Empires: A Problem of Comparative History’, Hist. Research, lxxix (2006), esp. 158–9. In this essay ‘empire’ is consequently to be distinguished from ‘the Empire’, which in medieval Europe denoted the Western and Byzantine Empires, twin descendants of Rome: Robert Folz, The Concept of Empire in Western Europe from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, trans. Sheila Ann Ogilvie (London, 1969), esp. ch. 12. It is also not to be confused with the meaning of imperium as employed, for example, by English monarchs during the high and late Middle Ages, on which, see Walter Ullmann, ‘‘‘This Realm of England is an Empire’’’, Jl Eccles. Hist., xxx (1979). 8 John Gillingham, ‘The Beginnings of English Imperialism’, Jl Hist. Sociology,v (1992); see also John Gillingham, The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values (Woodbridge, 2000), esp. chs. 3, 5, 6, 9. 9 R. R. Davies, The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093– 1343 (Oxford, 2000); see also R. R. Davies, Domination and Conquest: The Experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1100–1300 (Cambridge, 1990). STATE OF THE UNION 3of40 if not before.10 Davies draws his story to a close in 1343, by which time his first English empire is ‘overextended’ (an occupa- tional hazard, it seems, of empires generally) and its internal contradictions are becoming manifest.11 What happened next? Early modernists have been given to understand that this fore- runner of the British empire then ‘disintegrated, apparently for good’.12 David Armitage eloquently sums up the brief passed to him by medievalists: ‘Failure to enforce institutional uniformity, incomplete assimilation of subject peoples, the cultural estrange- ment of the English settlers from metropolitan norms, and mo- narchical indifference all conspired to bring about its collapse’.13 The present essay attempts a fresh interpretation of the period after 1343. Its premise is that the political and cultural infrastruc- ture of the ‘first English empire’ was more durable than has been allowed. The reorientation of English policy towards France from 1337 did not mean that England’s insular possessions were allowed to fall into dereliction. From the 1360s the English crown engaged in a concerted effort to resuscitate its colony in Ireland, a process that climaxed with Richard II’s Irish exped- itions of the 1390s and sputtered on into the fifteenth century. Fourteenth-century Wales was relatively quiescent, but the early fifteenth century witnessed a ‘classic example of an anti-colonial rebellion’,14 prompting some of the most draconian (albeit ill-enforced) legislation to ring-fence the values of the metropole in the Middle Ages, and engendering a residual suspicion of the Welsh that lasted deep into the fifteenth century.15 And in 1417 English enterprises in France took on a new aspect with the 10 Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950–1350 (London, 1993), ch. 11; cf. Chris Wickham, ‘Making Europes’, New Left Rev., ccviii (1994), esp. 139–41. 11 Davies, First English Empire, esp. 175–7 (quotation at p. 176); R. R. Davies, ‘The Failure of the First British Empire? England’s Relations with Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1066–1500’, in Nigel Saul (ed.), England in Europe, 1066–1453 (London, 1994), 132. 12 David Armitage, ‘Greater Britain: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis?’, Amer. Hist. Rev., civ (1999), 427. 13 Ibid. The quotation may also be found in David Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge, 2000), 28. 14 R. R. Davies, ‘Colonial Wales’, Past and Present, no. 65 (Nov. 1974), 23; see also R. R. Davies, The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwˆ r (Oxford, 1995), esp. ch. 6. 15 Statutes of the Realm, 11 vols. in 12 (London, 1810–28), ii, 128–9 (2 Hen. IV, c. 16); 140–1 (4 Hen. IV, cc. 26–34); Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1399–1401, 469–70. See Ralph A. Griffiths, ‘After Glyn Dwˆ r: An Age of Reconciliation?’, Proc. Brit. Acad., cxvii (2001), esp. 162. 4of40 PAST AND PRESENT systematic reduction and colonization of Normandy. As Gerald Harriss has reminded us, not without a degree of Anglocentrism: ‘Such a conquest and occupation of the major part of a neigh- bouring kingdom was without parallel in northern [continental] Europe since 1066’.16 Moreover, the fact that the land market in Normandy continued to be lively into the 1440s when the Lancastrian occupation was on the eve of its collapse is an indi- cation that the commitment of the new ‘Anglo-Normans’ was sincere.17 This cursory survey of England’s ventures in the century after 1343 suggests that there may be profit in extending the story of the ‘first English empire’ geographically to include the continental possessions and chronologically to at least the fall of Bordeaux in 1453. If we are to explore how this empire worked, then due allowance must be made for change as well as continuity. Several threads in Davies’s story undoubtedly unravel in the late Middle Ages. Within the archipelago, the expansion and centralization so characteristic of the English state in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are less conspicuous in the ensuing period.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Alpine Ice and the Annual Political Economy of the Angevin Empire, from the Death of Thomas Becket to Magna Carta, C
    Antiquity 2020 Vol. 94 (374): 473–490 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.202 Research Article Alpine ice and the annual political economy of the Angevin Empire, from the death of Thomas Becket to Magna Carta, c. AD 1170–1216 Christopher P. Loveluck1,* , Alexander F. More2,3,4 , Nicole E. Spaulding3 , Heather Clifford3 , Michael J. Handley3 , Laura Hartman3, Elena V. Korotkikh3 , Andrei V. Kurbatov3 , Paul A. Mayewski3 , Sharon B. Sneed3 & Michael McCormick2 1 Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, UK 2 Initiative for the Science of the Human Past and Department of History, Harvard University, USA 3 Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, USA 4 School of Health Sciences, Long Island University, USA * Author for correspondence: ✉ [email protected] High-resolution analysis of the ice core from Colle Gnifetti, Switzerland, allows yearly and sub-annual measurement of pollution for the period of highest lead production in the European Middle Ages, c. AD 1170–1220. Here, the authors use atmospheric circulation analysis and other geoarchaeological records to establish that Britain was the principal source of that lead pollution. The comparison of annual lead deposition at Colle Gnifetti displays a strong similarity to trends in lead production docu- mented in the English historical accounts. This research provides unique new insight into the yearly political economy and environmental impact of the Angevin Empire of Kings Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and John. Keywords: Colle Gnifetti, Britain, Angevin, ice core, geoarchaeology, lead, silver, Pipe rolls Introduction Twenty years ago, Brännvall et al.(1999) published the first high-resolution evidence dem- onstrating that the largest-scale lead pollution in Northern Europe prior to the modern era occurred between c.
    [Show full text]
  • Late-Medieval France
    Late-Medieval France: A Nation under Construction A study of French national identity formation and the emerging of national consciousness, before and during the Hundred Years War, 1200-1453 Job van den Broek MA History of Politics and Society Dr. Christian Wicke Utrecht University 22 June 2020 Word count: 13.738 2 “Ah! Doulce France! Amie, je te lairay briefment”1 -Attributed to Bertrand du Guesclin, 1380 Images on front page: The kings of France, England, Navarre and the duke of Burgundy (as Count of Charolais), as depicted in the Grand Armorial Équestre de la Toison d’Or, 1435- 1438. 1 Cuvelier in Charrière, volume 2, pp 320. ”Ah, sweet France, my friend, I must leave you very soon.” Translation my own. 2 3 Abstract Whether nations and nationalism are ancient or more recent phenomena is one of the core debates of nationalism studies. Since the 1980’s, modernism, claiming that nations are distinctively modern, has been the dominant view. In this thesis, I challenge this dominant view by doing an extensive case-study into late-medieval France, applying modernist definitions and approaches to a pre-modern era. France has by many regarded as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of the club of nations and has a long and rich history and thus makes a case-study for such an endeavour. I start with mapping the field of French identity formation in the thirteenth century, which mostly revolved around the royal court in Paris. With that established, I move on to the Hundred Years War and the consequences of this war for French identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Westfield Public Schools Ancient and Medieval
    March 19, 2018 Attachment # 2 WESTFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS Westfield, New Jersey Office of Instruction Course of Study ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TRADITIONS – 4670 School .................................. Westfield High School Department ....................................... Social Studies Length of Course ...................................... Full Year Credit ..................................................................... 5 Grade Level .......................................10, 11, and 12 Prerequisite ...................................................... None Date ........................................................................... I. RATIONALE, DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE This full year Social Studies elective explores the period from the birth of civilization to the end of the Middle Ages through the window of historical, textual, and visual learning. Students probe, investigate, and study the roots and subsequent development of Western and Middle Eastern cultural traditions and heritage. Students also trace the causes of the rise and fall of each civilization and connect them to modern issues facing contemporary society. In Ancient and Medieval Traditions, students are encouraged to develop and expand their understanding of history as a discipline as well as how cultures, religions, and economic systems interact. Students are exposed to the origins, development, achievements, and influence of Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval European, and Islamic civilizations provide the lens through
    [Show full text]
  • Module Hi1200 Europe, 1000-1250
    MODULE HI1200 EUROPE, 1000-1250: WAR, GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY IN THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES Michaelmas Term Professor Robinson ( 10 ECTS ) CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2 2. A Guide to Module HI1200 3 3. Lecture Topics 6 4. Essay Titles 6 5. Reading List 8 6. Tutorial Assignments 11 1 1. INTRODUCTION This module deals with social and political change in Europe during the two-and-a- half centuries of the development of the crusading movement. It focuses in particular on the internal development of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Byzantium (the Eastern Christian empire based on Constantinople) and the crusading colonies in the Near East. The most important themes are the development of royal and imperial authority, the structure of aristocratic society, rebellion and the threat of political disintegration, warfare as a primary function of the secular ruling class and the impact of war on the development of European institutions. Module HI1200 is available as an option to Single Honors, Two-Subject Moderatorship and History and Political Science Junior Freshman students. This module is a compulsory element of the Junior Freshman course in Ancient and Medieval History and Culture. The module may also be taken by Socrates students and Visiting students with the permission of the Department of History. Module HI1200 consists of two lectures each week throughout Michaelmas Term, together with a series of six tutorials, for which written assignments are required. The assessment of this module will take the form of: (1) an essay, which accounts for 20% of the over-all assessment of this module and (2) a two-hour examination in Trinity Term, which accounts for 80% of the over-all assessment.
    [Show full text]
  • Issues and Agenda the Medieval State: the Tyranny of a Concept?*
    Journal of Historical Sociology Vol. 16 No. 2 June 2003 ISSN 0952-1909 Issues and Agenda The Medieval State: The Tyranny of a Concept?* REES DAVIES The Case for “the Medieval State” Medieval historians seem to be falling in love with the word “state”, and with all that it implies. Such at least might be the conclusion to be drawn from the titles of some of the books they have pub- lished recently: such as James Given, State and Society in Medieval Europe. Gwynedd and Languedoc under Outside Rule (1990); James Campbell, The Anglo-Saxon State (2000), a collection of essays mainly of the 1990s on early England as “an elaborately organized state”; Matthew Innes’s path-breaking State and Society in the early middle ages: the middle Rhine valley 400–1000 (2000); and, most recently, a festschrift, edited by John Maddicott and David Palliser, presented to James Campbell under the title The Medieval State (2000). Given that the authors who have contributed to this latter volume classify Northumbria, Wessex, Brittany, and Scotland as states, it comes as no surprise that we now hear murmurs of the Pictish state. Where will it all end? Or perhaps, more to the point, where and why has it all begun? To a certain extent it is no doubt a reaction against the infuriat- ing condescension of historians of the modern period towards medieval polities and kingdoms. Such historians seem to subscribe to the view that since the word “state” did not acquire its “modern” connotations until the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, then the state itself is a post-1500 phenomenon.
    [Show full text]
  • Timeline - May 1940
    TIMELINE - MAY 1940 As the month begins the battle for Norway continues. Just to recap, German naval and ground forces had begun invading both Norway and Denmark on 9th April. Denmark had quickly capitulated but Norway had resisted. British forces were sent to Andalsnes on 18th April to 1st May, Namsos on 16th April to 3rd May, and Narvik from 15th April to 8th June. They were joined by Norwegian, French and Polish forces. But as May begins the evacuation of Allied troops from some of these areas is already underway and nearing completion. With the failure of the campaign for central Norway attention shifts to Narvik in the far north, strategically vital to the Germans for the shipping of iron ore from Sweden. 1 On 2nd May German troops reached Andalsnes, and on the following day Norwegian troops south of Trondheim surrendered to the Germans. The allied evacuation at Namsos was completed, but German aircraft located part of the evacuation fleet and sank the destroyers Afridi and Bison. The Bison was a French destroyer and she was the first to be sunk with the loss of 136 of her crew. The surviving crew were then picked up by the Afridi. But when that ship came under attack a further 35 of her crew were lost, along with 53 of the Afridi’s crew and 13 soldiers - the only casualties among the whole force of 12,000 troops evacuated from Åndalsnes and Namsos On 5th May the Battle of Hegra Fortress ended when the fortress capitulated. The Germans had now achieved complete victory on Norway’s southern front.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Argument and Practice Bibliography for Lectures 2019-20
    HISTORICAL ARGUMENT AND PRACTICE BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR LECTURES 2019-20 Useful Websites http://www.besthistorysites.net http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/index.html http://www.jstor.org [e-journal articles] http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/ejournals_list/ [all e-journals can be accessed from here] http://www.historyandpolicy.org General Reading Ernst Breisach, Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983) R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1946) Donald R. Kelley, Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998) Donald R. Kelley, Fortunes of History: Historical Inquiry from Herder to Huizinga (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003) R. J. Evans, In Defence of History (2nd edn., London, 2001). E. H. Carr, What is History? (40th anniversary edn., London, 2001). Forum on Transnational History, American Historical Review, December 2006, pp1443-164. G.R. Elton, The Practice of History (2nd edn., Oxford, 2002). K. Jenkins, Rethinking History (London, 1991). C. Geertz, Local Knowledge (New York, 1983) M. Collis and S. Lukes, eds., Rationality and Relativism (London, 1982) D. Papineau, For Science in the Social Sciences (London, 1978) U. Rublack ed., A Concise Companion to History (Oxford, 2011) Q.R.D. Skinner, Visions of Politics Vol. 1: Regarding Method (Cambridge, 2002) David Cannadine, What is History Now, ed. (Basingstoke, 2000). -----------------------INTRODUCTION TO HISTORIOGRAPHY---------------------- Thu. 10 Oct. Who does history? Prof John Arnold J. H. Arnold, History: A Very Short Introduction (2000), particularly chapters 2 and 3 S. Berger, H. Feldner & K. Passmore, eds, Writing History: Theory & Practice (2003) P.
    [Show full text]
  • Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc
    Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. 7407 La Jolla Boulevard www.raremaps.com (858) 551-8500 La Jolla, CA 92037 [email protected] [Calais] Il vero ritratto de Cales preso a Inglesi del Re Cristianissimo l'Anno M.D.L V III Stock#: 61403 Map Maker: Duchetti / Orlandi Date: 1558 circa (1602) Place: Rome Color: Uncolored Condition: VG Size: 19 x 14 inches Price: $ 1,200.00 Description: "When I am dead and cut open, they will find Philip and Calais inscribed on my heart" -- The Siege of Calais in 1558 Rare early map / view of Calais, showing its capture by the French in 1558. Fourth and final state of this are map of the Siege of Calais, illustrating the taking of Calais from the English (then ruled by Queen Mary, whose quote is noted above), one of the final acts in the French re- taking of the last of the English held portions of France during the Hundred Years War. Siege of Calais The Siege of Calais was fought in early 1558 during the Italian War of 1551–1559. The Pale of Calais had been ruled by England since 1347, during the Hundred Years' War. By the 1550s, England was ruled by Mary I of England and her husband Philip II of Spain. When the Kingdom of England supported a Spanish invasion of France, Henry II of France sent Francis, Duke of Guise, against English-held Calais, defended by Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth. Following failure in mid-1557, a renewed attack captured the outlying forts of Nieullay and Rysbank and Calais was besieged.
    [Show full text]
  • Pembrokeshire Castles and Historic Buildings
    Pembrokeshire Castles and Historic Buildings Pembrokeshire County Council Tourism Team Wales, United Kingdom All text and images are Copyright © 2011 Pembrokeshire County Council unless stated Cover image Copyright © 2011 Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any form First Digital Edition 2011 Digital Edition published by Count Yourself In Table of Contents Introduction SECTION 1 – CASTLES & FORTS Carew Castle & Tidal Mill Cilgerran Castle Haverfordwest Castle Llawhaden Castle Manorbier Castle Narberth Castle Nevern Castle Newport Castle Pembroke Castle Picton Castle & Woodland Gardens Roch Castle Tenby Castle Wiston Castle SECTION 2 - MUSEUMS Carew Cheriton Control Tower Castell Henllys Flying Boat Centre Gun Tower Museum Haverfordwest Museum Milford Haven Heritage & Maritime Museum Narberth Museum Scolton Manor Museum & Country Park Tenby Museum & Art Gallery SECTION 3 – ANCIENT SITES AND STANDING STONES Carreg Samson Gors Fawr standing stones Parcymeirw standing stones Pentre Ifan SECTION 4 – HISTORIC CATHEDRALS & CHURCHES Caldey Island Haverfordwest Priory Lamphey Bishop’s Palace St. Davids Bishop’s Palace St. Davids Cathedral St. Dogmaels Abbey St. Govan’s Chapel St. Mary’s Church St. Nons SECTION 5 – OTHER HISTORIC BUILDINGS Cilwendeg Shell House Hermitage Penrhos Cottage Tudor Merchant’s House Stepaside Ironworks Acknowledgements Introduction Because of its strategic position, Pembrokeshire has more than its fair share of castles and strongholds. Whether they mounted their attacks from the north or the south, when Norman barons invaded Wales after the Norman Conquest of 1066, they almost invariably ended up in West Wales and consolidated their position by building fortresses. Initially, these were simple “motte and bailey” constructions, typically built on a mound with ditches and/or wooden barricades for protection.
    [Show full text]
  • 19 Williams 1502
    GLANMOR WILLIAMS Glanmor Williams 1920–2005 IT IS A WELL-KNOWN FACT that adult males born in Wales are the shortest in Britain, and on a good day Glanmor Williams measured just over five feet in his stockinged feet. But physical stature has never mattered to the natives of Dowlais, and this Lilliputian man, by dint of intellectual bril- liance, far-sighted vision and exceptional personal charm, achieved tow- ering eminence in the field of Welsh historical studies. At most gatherings he cut a compelling figure, and he was particularly adept at turning his smallness to advantage. Having famously written in the preface to his first big book that the work had ‘like Topsy, “just growed”’, it amused him thereafter to reproach nature for denying him the same opportunity.1 When he was chairman of the Broadcasting Council for Wales in the late 1960s, he impishly confessed never to have been able to see eye to eye with the impossibly tall Controller of the BBC in Wales, Alun Oldfield-Davies. On another occasion there was much mirth in the Williams household when a reporter described him in the Evening News as a ‘pint-sized but very eloquent professor of history’.2 Few Welsh scholars in the modern era have served their profession, university and country as admirably as this diminutive giant and the flourishing condition of Welsh historical studies during the last half century is in considerable measure attributa- ble to his influence. Yet, in spite of his unrivalled standing as a Welsh his- torian and the weight of honours he accumulated over the years, he remained unspoiled by his academic successes and public achievements, 1 Glanmor Williams, The Welsh Church from Conquest to Reformation (Cardiff, 1962), p.
    [Show full text]
  • War and Peace in Ancient and Medieval History
    War and Peace in Ancient and Medieval History edited by Philip de Souza and John France CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521817035 © Cambridge University Press 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-38080-8 eBook (Adobe Reader) ISBN-13 978-0-521-81703-5 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents List of contributors page vii Acknowledgements ix Note on abbreviations xi 1 Introduction Philip de Souza and John France 1 2 Making and breaking treaties in the Greek world P. J. Rhodes 6 3 War, peace and diplomacy in Graeco-Persian relations from the sixth to the fourth century BC Eduard Rung 28 4 Treaties, allies and the Roman conquest of Italy J. W. Rich 51 5 Parta victoriis pax: Roman emperors as peacemakers Philip de Souza 76 6 Treaty-making in Late Antiquity A. D.
    [Show full text]
  • 1V, Owen Glendower and the Welsh Fight For
    3~19 /1V, g66I OWEN GLENDOWER AND THE WELSH FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE By Phillip Eric Beims, B.A. Denton, Texas May, 1991 Rawl I Beims, Phillip Eric, OwenGlendower and the Welsh Fight for Independence. Master of Science (History), May, 1991, 133 pp., bibliography, 81 titles. Owen Glendower led the last military struggle of the Welsh against the English crown for Welsh independence and nationalism. The failure of the Glendower rebellion established the supremacy of English rule over Wales. For six hundred years the status of Wales as a principality of the crown has not been seriously challenged. This paper will show how widespread the idea of "Welshness" was in 1400 and how much support existed for Wales as an independent nation. Welshmen sought to move from the status of a medieval, tribal principality to a position of an independent nation capable and ready to stand with other national in the world. The role of leadership that Owen Glendower assumed in the final rebellion against the English king, Henry IV, lifted him from a popular Welsh prince to an historical legend. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter I. INTRODUCTION....--.-.-... ... II. ANCESTRY AND INHERITANCE 0 - - 20 III. EARLY YOUTH AND MANHOOD 33 IV. THE REVOLT .. --.-...-...-...-.-. 45 V. THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.......-... 63 VI. THE ALLIANCE WITH THE FRENCH . 79 VII. GLENDOWER AND THE CHURCH.,....a.. 94 VIII. THE END OF GLENDOWER AND THE DREAM 109 IX. CONCLUSIONS - - - -- - - *-4- - 120 APPENDIX .
    [Show full text]