'Dynasty and Division: The Depiction of King and Kingdom in John Hardyng's Chronicle

Composed during a period of increased dynastic awareness and political tension, John Hardyng’s late fifteenth-century Chronicle survives in two versions. Previous scholars have labelled the first version a ‘Lancastrian’ account of history, written with little purpose other than to elicit financial reward and advocate the conquest of Scotland; the second is regarded as a ‘Yorkist’ revision. This article assesses Hardyng’s representation of the kings and their kingdom, with particular emphasis on the depiction of division within the realm; it demonstrates that Hardyng’s portrayal of Henry VI in the first version, and his use of commonplace imagery and themes, are conscientiously crafted to facilitate a wider-ranging political focus and concern with late medieval affairs than previously accepted. Conversely, comparable examples from the second version show that it is not exclusively concerned with fortifying the Yorkist dynasty, but that it promotes the same call for peace and good governance as the first version

Robert Grosseteste and the simple benefice: a novel solution to the complexities of lay presentation

That pastoral care was the main focus of Robert Grosseteste’s theological work and correspondence is well-established: Grosseteste is often characterised as the vehement, uncompromising promoter of the pastoral ideal in the face of strong opposition, ecclesiastical and lay. Less close attention has been paid to whether the records of his diocesan administration demonstrate the practical outworking of his pastoral theories. Although narrow in compass, his administrative rolls are not entirely sterile. They show Grosseteste experimenting with a novel form of parish organisation, using grants of simple benefices (simplex beneficium) to ensure appropriate provision of parochial priestly function whilst offering a constructive compromise to the laity who had the right to nominate clergy for churches (the patrons) when their candidates were deemed inadmissible. The practical outworking of these proposals reveals that they had both educational benefits, particularly for potential clergy, and allowed Grosseteste to focus his educational and pastoral efforts directly within the parishes

Sir Thomas Gray's Scalacronica: a medieval chronicle and its historical and literary context

Sir Thomas Gray's Scalacronica is almost unique amongst medieval English chronicles in having been written by a knight, and it is therefore surprising that so little work has been done on it; this thesis attempts to remedy that omission. Gray's life is very well documented, as is that of his father (who was the source of much of the Scalacronica’s narrative of the reign of Edward II - and also its main subject). Thus, unusually with a medieval chronicle, it is possible to examine the work in the context of its author’s career, providing a valuable insight into the attitudes and learning of a member of the gentry classes in fourteenth-century England. The Scalacronica starts with a well known literary dream sequence in which Gray names some of his written sources. An analysis of this passage reveals much about Gray's learning and his methods as a historian - and about his literary pretensions. He also relied on stories gleaned from his father; the manner in which he integrated them with his written sources is equally revealing about his interests and priorities. As the elder Gray was close to the court of Edward II, his son's political commentary is particularly interesting, providing an alternative to the more usual pro-Lancastrian bias of medieval chroniclers. Furthermore, both the father and son were prominent in the administration of the Marches, so the Scalacronica has an obvious - but hitherto unrecognised - relevance to current historiographical debates on the role of the gentry. Finally, the Scalacronica has been widely regarded as a 'chivalric' chronicle, embodying the values of medieval romance. However, a close analysis of Gray's text reveals that while he admired and respected acts of martial heroism, his attitude to the trappings of fourteenth-century chivalric culture was highly disdainful, and even cynical

The effects of King John's scutages on East-Anglian subjects

In this paper, we give an overview on recent developments in the research on national innovation systems (NIS). Essentially, we identify three development lines of the concept. These are policy-oriented studies that frequently combine the NIS approach with the terminology of corporate benchmarking, contributions to formalize the concept of NIS through descriptive or analytical models, and NIS studies of countries beyond the group of highly industrialized economies. It follows from the analysis of these research trends that the concept has developed in distinctive directions. In international comparisons of innovation systems, heterogeneity in the structure of the systems is only marginally taken into account, an aspect that may reduce the explanatory power of such system-level comparisons. Contrary to this, historically grown organizational and institutional structures are extensively described and considered in NIS studies of industrializing countries, a characteristic which ties up with early studies of national innovation systems

AS JUSTIFICATIVAS PARA O TRAIR E PERDOAR NA INGLATERRA DO SÉCULO XV (1470-1471)

we will discuss how men in the 15th century in England justified their way of acting, limiting the research to the acts of treason committed against Edward IV and the request for a royal pardon. For this purpose, we used two writings, namely the Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire, 1470 and the History of the Arrival [...] (1471), which, in addition to intending to memorize Edward Plantagenet's deeds, they sought, in a more immediate sense, to blame their enemies for the evil that befell the kingdom. These writings present us with the instability that the kingdom was going through, the acts of treason committed by the allies to the king and how such traitors sought the mercy of this monarch.Abordaremos como os homens no século XV na Inglaterra justificavam a sua forma de agir, circunscrevendo-nos sobre os atos de traição cometidos contra o monarca Edward IV e a solicitação do perdão régio. Para isso, lançamos mão de dois escritos, a saber a Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire, 1470 e a History of the Arrival.... (1471), os quais, para além de pretenderem memorizar os feitos de Edward Plantagenet, tais documentos buscaram, em um sentido mais imediato, culpabilizar os seus inimigos pelo mal que acometia o reino. Dessa forma, estes escritos apresentam-nos a instabilidade pela qual o reino passava, os atos de traição cometidos pelos aliados mais próximos ao rei e como tais traidores buscavam a misericórdia deste monarca

The itinerant justices of Henry II

Henry II (1154-1189) is most often described as the father of English common law. Indeed his reign is pre-eminent in English history for its legal progress. Yet, many of the reforms and innovations credited to Henry II have antecedents dating back to the reign of his grandfather Henry I (1100-1135), if not before. As Polloclc and Maitland point out in their monumental History of English Law.”Under Henry II the exceptional becomes normal," The system of itinerant justices employed by Henry II to centralize and unify the whole of English law is a case in point. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the itinerant justice came to be an integral part of the legal machinery utilized by Henry II and, in so doing, to examine the role of the itinerant justice, his duties and his significance, during the reign of this versatile twelfth-century monarch