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42503 results in Collections

Page 1870 of 2126

  • (b) - Scotland: 1406–1513

  • from 22 - The Celtic world
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 514-531

  • Summary

    Fifteenth-century Scotland was a very violent society. To understand the mentalitè of fifteenth-century Scotland, historians have naturally emphasised the nationalism of Wyntoun and Bower. Historians of Scotland have tried to demonstrate the success of the kingdom in terms of contemporary experience. The nature of Scottish political society highlights sharply an issue obscured by more 'developed' societies: that in the end, successful rule is a political and not a constitutional matter. Fifteenth-century Scotland provides us with the paradox of exceedingly tough and effective kings ruling a decentralised kingdom, in which to an increasingly unusual degree local power could be exercised without challenge. Scotland was the first kingdom to receive formal recognition of the right of the crown to nominate to the greater benefices. No doubt Scotland had this distinction because the Papacy was more willing to give to the less important kingdom; but that was hardly a relevant consideration to the Scots.

  • (b) - Castile and Navarre

  • from 24 - The Iberian peninsula
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 606-626

  • Summary

    The history of fifteenth-century Castile seemed to be one of cosmic chaos, a period of almost constant anarchy until Isabel 'the Catholic' and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, restored law and order in the 1480s. Castile was overwhelmingly of greater significance, emerging as the dominant partner of the uneasily 'united' Spain established towards the end of the century, while the small realm of Navarre, retaining a precarious independence. The 'Catholic Monarchs', credited with introducing new notions about enhanced royal authority, even 'absolutism', were simply building on the work of their predecessors, particularly Isabel's father, Juan II. For administrative purposes, above all as far as taxation was concerned, Navarre was organised into regions known as merindades, the royal financial administration betraying French rather than Castilian influences. In 1449, therefore, the two principal disruptive elements in Castilian political life, noble intrigue and hostility towards the conversos, fused together to produce a serious rebellion in the city of Toledo.

  • 10 - Religious Belief and Practice

  • from PART III - SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 203-219

  • Summary

    The religious history of the fifteenth century was dominated by the Great Schism. The religious education of the laity had never occupied so high a place among the priorities of those clergy who took their duties seriously. The majority of priests capable of preaching and eager to do so effectively lived in towns, and thus their normal congregations represented only a small proportion of the total Christian population. At the beginning of the fifteenth century a ruling of the Inquisition listed the actions characteristic of a good and faithful Christian. The Catholic belongs to a complex society which cannot function without priests. Image-makers, painters and sculptors, put the resources of their talents and craft at the service of this multi-faceted religion. As people can estimate the frequency and regularity of religious practice, they can establish that the majority of the faithful did carry out the prescriptions of the Church, year in, year out.

  • (a) - Ireland

  • from 22 - The Celtic world
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 496-513

  • Summary

    Richard II was unusual, indeed unique, among medieval English monarchs in making two visits to Ireland in the course of his reign. Any advance in Ireland must therefore be financed from England, where there was a general reluctance to sanction large-scale expenditure on Ireland. In keeping with the view that Irish problems should be the responsibility of Irish resources, the English government enforced Absentee Acts which required those holding lands in Ireland either to reside there and defend them or to provide for their protection. In the first half of the fifteenth century there were ten appointees to the Irish lieutenancy. Ormond also differed from English lieutenants in his relationship with the Gaelic Irish, particularly with the learned classes who enjoyed a quasi-clerical status and immunity in Gaelic society. The victory of Edward IV ended the possibility of a continuing confrontation between a Lancastrian England and a predominantly Yorkist Anglo-Ireland.

  • 2 - Representation (Since the Thirteenth Century)

  • from PART I - GOVERNMENT
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 29-64

  • Summary

    Political representation, based on the mandate bestowed on elected and responsible delegates, and applied at regional and national levels, can be considered as one of the major contributions of the western Middle Ages to world history. German historian Otto Hintze identified the conditions necessary for the unique emergence of representative government in western Europe. Hintze saw the extension of monarchical authority over the representative institutions for the development of representation. This chapter deals with the wider concept of representation, which includes forms. It is generally assumed that states or, before their stabilisation, countries or territories formed the system in which representative institutions operated. This chapter focuses on the analytical framework of political systems, starting from the various representative activities themselves, rather than from the territories. Royal elections stimulated the development of representative institutions in Sweden. Fundamental weaknesses of the medieval representative institutions were their lack of continuity in the monarchical model, and their lack of unity in both models.

  • 26 - The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390– c. 1536

  • from PART IV - THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 671-706

  • Summary

    The Black Death struck the whole of Scandinavia except Iceland; in Norway, in particular, its effects were aggravated by subsequent epidemics, smallpox in 1359-60, plague in 1371. In the political history of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the states of the Scandinavian peninsula, Norway and Sweden, the long fifteenth century from c.1390 to the Reformation forms a well-defined period. In Sweden, the resumption of alienated crown lands had aroused the opposition of the Church. The Great Schism having undermined the authority of the Papacy, the general council emerged as the leading ruling body of the Church. Sweden had deposed Erik and was ruled by Karl Knutsson as regent. In the winter of 1439-40 Erik concluded an alliance with the overlord of the Low Countries, Duke Philip of Burgundy. The battle of Brunkeberg was a turning-point in Scandinavian history. The riksråd, convoked to meet on 30 October, declared on the following day that Christian was lawful heir to Sweden.

  • (a) - France at the End of the Hundred Years War (c. 1420–1461)

  • from 19 - France
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 392-407

  • Summary

    In 1521, Francis I of France visited Dijon, where he was shown the skull of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. Oaths were taken by the greatest French princes, such as Burgundy and Brittany, to pledge their allegiance to a Lancastrian succession to the throne of France after the death of Charles VI. Hatred of the Burgundians and their allies was as powerful an incentive to resist the Lancastrian war effort as any sense of nascent French nationalism. The creation of the standing army had been preceded by a period in which positive gains were made by Charles VII's forces, especially in the southern territories of the Lancastrians. Although there were apprehensions about a further revival of English war aims the disturbed political condition of Lancastrian and Yorkist England militated against a concerted policy of intervention in France. The strength of regionalism had led to a widespread devolution of royal authority: poor communications militated against effective government from the centre.

  • 25 - The Swiss Confederation

  • from PART IV - THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 645-670

  • Summary

    The system of alliances among imperial provinces and cities known as the Swiss Confederation, emerged as a distinct political unit within the German Empire. About 1370, the small states of the Confederation, whose territorial expansion had scarcely begun, were no more than isolated dots on the multi-coloured political map of what is now Switzerland. The rise of the Confederation at the fifteenth century was influenced very significantly, though not exclusively, by events in the Austro-Habsburg sphere of influence. The events in the Aargau underline the importance of relations with the Empire for the ambitions of the political elite within the Confederation. The transformation and decline of the political order built up by the Austrian dynasty and nobility were counterbalanced by the decisive progress in the constitution of urban territorial rule. The drive towards political independence and territorial expansion in the cities and rural cantons of the Confederation advanced alongside the beginnings of an institutional inner consolidation of the state.

  • (b) - The Recovery of France, 1450– 1520

  • from 19 - France
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 408-430

  • Summary

    France witnessed both the recovery of lost territory and a crucial advance towards territorial cohesion and monarchical absolutism. The position of the great nobility is now better understood, while the recovery of France after the war against England is no longer seen as an inevitable royal victory but rather the story of how a fragile monarchy overcame the power of the princely polyarchy. Charles VII had managed to maintain the precarious balance between royal sovereignty and princely polyarchy which had been struck after the defeat of the Praguerie in 1440. The bedrock of the state, however, was not military might but the upholding of justice by which 'kings rule, while kingdoms, principalities and monarchies are maintained'. The royal fiscal system had been reconstructed after the recapture of Paris in 1436. The rural lordship, 'the unique legal and stable framework of the recovery', took full advantage of the favourable economic situation.

  • 31 - The Latin East

  • from PART IV - THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 796-811

  • Summary

    The Latin communities in the east were composed predominantly of minority groups of westerners settled, permanently or temporarily, in the eastern Mediterranean, largely in consequence of earlier movements of Latin expansion. The cosmopolitan world of scattered Levantine ports and islands was united by its seas, by its shipping and by the extensive trade which the Latins moved across them. Latin Levantine outposts and activities depended for their survival upon an overall naval superiority which Ottoman or Mamluk fleets could seldom match. The southern Levant trade was not a Venetian monopoly but Venice increasingly assumed the predominant role in it after about 1410, while the hitherto considerable presence of Genoese, Catalans and other westerners diminished. The Latins on Cyprus reserved political power and fiscal advantages to themselves, maintaining a social distance from the Greeks which was rooted in religion and culture. In the Levant the Turks normally expelled Latin settlers while reaching accommodations with the Greeks.

  • 7 - Commerce and Trade

  • from PART II - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 145-160

  • Summary

    The fifteenth century is seen as one of economic contraction until the late 1460s and then of expansion, although within it many short-term fluctuations took place. Trade took place at local, regional and international levels. Besides major routes, many minor land, river and coastal routes existed, appropriate to regional and local trade. Luxury goods circulating on international routes were only the tip of the commercial iceberg. Merchants matched commodities to their markets: Italians bought English cloth differently for Tunis or Egypt, and Toulouse merchants ordered specific English reds for their customers. Transport, already well organised, regular and dependent on professional carriers, was steadily improved. Mercantile organisation was sophisticated enough to cope with geographically extended businesses of widely varying sizes, and, like shipowning, must be reckoned a capitalist activity. The English Staple Company illustrates a different sort of trade organisation. Regular trade, backed by political stability, allowed commercial specialisation. The specialisation of commodities was an integral part of the European economy.

  • 20 - Burgundy

  • from PART IV - THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 431-456

  • Summary

    On 27 April 1404, Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, died in the town of Hal, south of Brussels. The late duke's matrimonial policy had, in effect, led to the marriage of three Burgundian princesses to princes of the Empire. Heir to an important group of principalities, the new duke of Burgundy also took charge of the administrative and judicial institutions upon which ducal government relied. In the fourteenth century the position of the duke of Burgundy was such that, whether political, military or diplomatic, had repercussions across the length and breadth of Europe. The court of Burgundy was both an organ of government and a manifestation of prestige. The dynamism of the Burgundian territories, at the western Europe and the importance of their economic activities combined to give contemporaries an incomparable prosperity. Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy saw that the way of rescuing survived of the Burgundian inheritance lay through an alliance with the house of Habsburg.

  • 3 - Popes and Councils

  • from PART I - GOVERNMENT
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 65-86

  • Summary

    Supporters of the conciliar way wanted the council to undertake a reform of the Church, especially of papal taxation and papal appointments to senior benefices. On 26 June Peter Philarge, cardinal-archbishop of Milan, was elected pope and took the name Alexander V. The ensuing military and political events had a decisive impact on church history. The project of reunion through a council had been attracting strong support among the universities, especially Paris, and the numerous clerics, including senior prelates, who had been educated there. The defeat of the Council of Basle proved decisive for the western Church, for western Christendom and for European civilisation. Public opinion, amongst intellectuals and in court circles, seems to have favoured the more moderate view that a council was the emergency superior of the pope in cases of heresy, schism and the urgent need for reform. A look at popes and councils shows that the politics and ideology had an effect in shaping European culture.

  • 6 - Urban Europe

  • from PART II - ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 121-144

  • Summary

    The vagaries of record survival still make it impossible, and perhaps pointless, to try to estimate the total number of urban communities in late medieval Europe as a whole. Several fifteenth-century towns were sufficiently large and self-possessed to create an urban society capable of articulating its own communal values in religious, ceremonial, literary and artistic form. As the civic councillors of Florence, Venice, Bruges and Barcelona were alike aware, both urban self-expression and urban political power were always dependent on a local economy prosperous enough to generate exceptional wealth, albeit always unequally, among their citizens. The limitations of German urban political and military power, even when towns associated themselves with one another in so-called leagues, were already becoming obvious by the end of the century. The Italian humanists who began by creating the most explosive new urban ideology in European history eventually helped to destroy the community of tastes and interests upon which a common civic mentality must ultimately rest.

  • 16 - Music

  • from PART III - SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 319-334

  • Summary

    Music permeated every walk of fifteenth-century life, from popular and aristocratic entertainment to religious and civic ritual. Music was sung or performed on instruments, executed by individuals or groups, played by ear, improvised or read from notation. During the 1430s and 1440s, the traditionally rather learned and esoteric isorhythmic motet was eclipsed as most prestigious genre by the so-called cyclic Mass, grouped settings of texts from the Ordinary of the Mass. The smaller-scale music also tended to be composed rather differently, with simpler vocal parts conceived together rather than as successively superimposed layers. Range of musical style is also surprisingly wide, despite a general tendency towards a tuneful, semi-popular manner, there are also a number of far more refined and sophisticated pieces, especially among the more austere devotional carols of the later years of the century. The basis for academic study of music and the ultimate source for most of the speculative treatises was Boethius' treatise De institutione musica.

  • 13 - Manuscripts and Books

  • from PART III - SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 278-286

  • Summary

    The production of books and manuscripts in the fifteenth century saw the culmination of tendencies which had begun during the latter part of the thirteenth century. It is important to distinguish between 'mere books' and illuminated manuscripts, produced on the finest sheepskin or goatskin parchment. The use of paper in book production was evident from the late fourteenth century onwards. Parchment provided a better medium for manuscript painters, and was far better suited to the production of de luxe editions for affluent patrons and clients. The fifteenth century also saw an unprecedented demand for illustrated books at social levels. The manufacture and sale of books was only loosely controlled by guilds and corporations. The tendency towards the establishment of publishing houses, was especially marked in the Low Countries and at Florence. The important development in the style and format of illuminated books stemmed from the emergence of a closer relationship between manuscript painting and the art of the panel painter.

  • (a) - Aragon

  • from 24 - The Iberian peninsula
  • Edited by Christopher Allmand, University of Liverpool
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 June 1998, pp 588-605

  • Summary

    The death of King Martí led to a crisis within the states of the crown of Aragon. Martí's death brought to an end the dynasty founded with the marriage of the infanta Petronilla of Aragon to Ramon Berenguer, count of Barcelona, which had reigned uninterruptedly since 1137. The Compromise of Caspe cannot be reduced to a mere matter of the rights of succession limited, to the kingdom of Aragon. The kingdom is perhaps better described as the 'crown of Aragon', a term already in current use long before Jerónimo Zurita first introduced it into historiography. The victor of Caspe, Fernando de Antequera, made clear his intention of continuing the Mediterranean policy of his Catalan predecessors. The war had strengthened Joan II in his conviction that the future of Aragon lay in Castile, potentially much stronger than Aragon-Catalonia. Castile, however, was exhausted by decades of internecine fighting between opposing noble factions, a festering sore in the side of the Trastámaran dynasty.

Page 1870 of 2126