Kingship and Propaganda


Book Description

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Crown of Aragon was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this period a series of energetic and talented rulers sought to maintain royal authority and govern their realms effectively. Their persuasive rhetoric, and that of their advisers, is preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which provide a rich and under-exploited vein of source material for historians. There are long letters to their subjects, historical works, and the proceedings of the cortes, where the kings and queens perusaded their reluctant subjects to grant taxes and to support their decisions. Suzanne F. Cawsey examines the tradition of royal eloquence, thereby illuminating the nature of political discourse and persuasion in medieval Aragon and exploring the key ideas shared by the king and the political classes of the kingdom.




Kingship and Propaganda


Book Description




Perceptions of a Monarchy Without a King


Book Description

How Britain's religious and political powers reacted to an absolute leader without royal blood.




The Mythology of Kingship in Neo-Assyrian Art


Book Description

In this book, Mehmet-Ali Ataç argues that the palace reliefs of the Neo-Assyrian Empire hold a meaning deeper than simple imperial propaganda.




Universal Empire


Book Description

This book explores the aspiration to universal, imperial rule across Eurasian history from antiquity to the eighteenth century.




The Story of War


Book Description

”O God we thank thee” was sung in the churches of France and Sweden after military victories in the seventeenth century. To celebrate Thanksgiving was a way of thanking God, but also a way for the rulers to legitimize the ever ongoing wars. For the inhabitants it was both an occasion for festivity and a way of getting information about what happened in the battlefield. Yet the image given was selective. Bloody defeats and uneventful everyday life was replaced by spectacular victories and royal glory. Even though the rituals in the two countries were similar in some ways, there were also substantial differences. The propaganda formulated a narrative about what war actually was, and what role the rulers and their subjects should play. In the crisis of 1709 this narrative was profoundly challenged. The book investigates how war events were communicated to the inhabitants of France and Sweden in the seventeenth century by the Church, and especially through days of thanksgiving (called Te Deum in France).




Imagination of a Monarchy


Book Description

Scholars have long known that the Egyptian Ptolemaic monarchy underwent a transformation between 323 and 30 BC, but the details of this change have proven problematic. This book presents a clear argument based on the author's theories.




The Pragmatics of Early Modern Politics: Power and Kingship in Shakespeare’s History Plays


Book Description

Early modern kings adopted a new style of government, Realpolitik, as spelled out in Machiavelli’s writings. Tudor monarchs, well aware of their questionable right to the throne, posed as great dissimulators, similarly to the modern prince who “must learn from the fox and the lion”. This book paints a portrait of a successful politician according to early modern standards. Kingship is no longer understood as a divinely ordained institution, but is defined as goal-oriented policy-making, relying on conscious acting and the theatrical display of power. The volume offers an intriguing discussion on kingship in pragmatic terms, as the strategic face-saving behaviour of Shakespeare’s kings. It also demonstrates how an efficient or inefficient management of the king’s political face could decide his success or failure as a monarch, and how the Renaissance world of Shakespeare’s history plays is combined with modern theories of communication, politeness and face. “Many studies in historical pragmatics or historical stylistics purport to expose language use in social context, but they fall short when measured against this study. The author approaches Shakespeare with concepts from literary studies and linguistic pragmatics, and weaves them together seamlessly with social history. The result is a treasure trove of insights.” – Jonathan Culpeper, Lancaster University “Exploring Machiavellian politics from the perspective of linguistic pragmatics and sociological role theory, Urszula Kizelbach’s study sheds interesting new light on Shakespeare’s stage kings. Her discussion of the strategic uses of polite speech is a particularly welcome addition to our thinking about Shakespeare’s English history plays. A promising new voice in European Shakespeare studies!” – Andreas Höfele, Munich University




Defenders and Critics of Franciscan Life


Book Description

The essays in this volume were presented at a conference honoring John V. Fleming at Princeton University on April 21-22, 2004. The aim of the conference was to revisit Fleming's 1977 book, An Introduction to the Franciscan Literature of the Middle Ages, from a number of different perspectives, including social, religious and literary history, as well as art, exegesis, political thought and the history of education. A prominent, but not exclusive, theme of the contributions is the distinction between "defenders" and "critics" of medieval Franciscanism. Recent scholarship has shown that the dividing line between medieval defenders and critics of Franciscan life was not as sharp or as clear as had once been thought. This, more nuanced approach to medieval Franciscanism is a reflection of the many scholarly developments that have occurred since - and as a result of - Fleming's volume. The present work offers a selection of current approaches to the question.




Kings and Colonists


Book Description

This book on Macedonian imperialism in the 4th-2nd centuries BCE looks at the nature and origin of that imperialism, and for the first time examines closely the personnel of imperial control to see what the empire meant to them.




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