Other Englands: Regionalism in Shakespeare\u27s first historical tetralogy

This dissertation examines the representation of England in the plays of the first tetralogy. Arguing that a large number of studies of Shakespearian drama have tended to gloss over the inherent differences within the English nation. I suggest that regionalism and regional identity play a pivotal role in Shakespeare\u27s dramatisation of English history from the accession of Henry VI to the death of Richard Ill. In this thesis I propose that the first tetralogy is not only a representation of the past, but an expression of the political, cultural and geographical divisions within England during the period of the plays first production. While Shakespeare\u27s first tetralogy forms part of an interconnecting discourse of nationhood -- contributing to what has been termed the discovery of England -- I explore how the plays also serve to highlight the extent to which regionalism and regional diversity remained powerful factors within English society. By drawing attention to the proliferation of geographical references in the tetralogy, I discuss how the localisation of scenes and the identification of characters with specific places represents an encounter with the kingdom beyond the confines of the theatre. In a series of plays that appear to be principally concerned with the struggle between rival dynasties for control of the realm, the various regional references can be read as the site of competing voices and sectional interests: an acknowledgment of not one England, but various other Englands. While the image of the regional world in these plays is largely informed by the chronicle sources, this study considers how Shakespeare\u27s fashioning of regional identity was governed by the need for Elizabethan acting companies to secure and maintain the protection of powerful and influential patrons, by censorship, company rivalry, and the demands placed on theatre companies by touring. With this in mind, I argue that the manner in which certain characters and regions are presented in the tetralogy is an indication that these plays may have been performed throughout England. After a theoretical overview, chapter one presents an examination of regionalism as a social, cultural, political and economic phenomenon in early modem England. It is followed by a discussion of the various ways in which a sense of place was projected on the Elizabethan stage. Appropriating William Harrison\u27s division of the late Tudor kingdom into four distinct provinces, this dissertation interrogates the role and representation in the first tetralogy of the area south of the Thames (chapter two), the midlands (chapter three), Wales and the English border counties (chapter four), and northern England (chapter five)

The alien world within: The political, cultural and geographical marginalisation of Northern England in Shakespeare\u27s Second Tetralogy

This paper considers Shakespeare\u27s representation of the north of England in his second tetralogy of history plays. In this study, I argue that the plays are not only a representation of the past, but an expression of the political, cultural and geographical divisions within England in the era of their production. Drawing on contemporary reports from the region, official papers, ballads and various modern histories of the age, I will suggest that there exists a direct correlation between Shakespeare\u27s representation of the region and the concept of the north as the alien element within Elizabethan England. Reading the plays as explorations of the development of England from feudalism to a centralised nation state, I discuss the manner in which Shakespeare\u27s second tetralogy exposes the contradictions behind the concept of a united and stable England. Central to my argument is the notion that to be marginalised (in the latter decades of the sixteenth century) was not only a matter of social status or political expediency but was, to a degree, dependent on being identified as belonging to, and existing within, the geographical margins of the state. The four central chapters, comprising Richard II, both parts of Henry IV and Henry v, examine the manner in which the north, and those associated with it, are increasingly presented as a disruptive element that threatens the stability of the realm, a role that I suggest is reliant on both historical experience and contemporary expectation. In the final chapter, I attempt to discuss the implications of the north\u27s portrayal in the Elizabethan popular theatre in relation to the current debate within New Historicist criticism

A Tortonian (Late Miocene, 11.61-7.25 Ma) global vegetation reconstruction

For the Tortonian age of the Miocene Epoch (11.6–7.25 Ma) we present a global palaeobotanical and palaeoecologically-based vegetation dataset, combined with a best-fit Late Miocene climate-vegetation model experiment to create an advanced global data–model hybrid biome reconstruction. This new palaeoecological database and global vegetation reconstruction can be used both for the purposes of validating future palaeoclimate model simulations, as well as a land cover dataset to initialise palaeoclimate modelling experiments. Our Tortonian reconstruction shows significant changes in the distribution of vegetation compared to modern natural vegetation. For example in contrast to the modern scenario in the Northern Hemisphere, boreal forests reached 80°N and temperate forests were present above 60°N. Warm–temperate forests covered much of Europe, coastal North America and South-East Asia. Our reconstruction shows a spread of temperate savanna in central USA, the Middle East and on the Tibetan Plateau. Evidence for arid deserts is sparse, with the exception of the Atacama region (South America). Areas that exhibit arid desert today in the Tortonian were instead covered by shrublands, grasslands, savannas and woodlands. The extent of tropical forests in South America was likely reduced but expanded in the Indian sub-continent and East Africa. This pattern of global vegetation in the Late Miocene suggests a warmer and wetter world, which is supported by the pattern of climate anomalies predicted by our best-fit palaeoclimate-vegetation model experiment. Global mean annual temperature may have been as much as 4.5 °C higher than present day with many regions experiencing higher than modern amounts of precipitation over the annual cycle. The pattern of temperature and precipitation change reconstructed palaeobotanically, and predicted within our climate model experiment, infers a global forcing agent on Tortonian climate (e.g. such as elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases) to explain the observed and modelled climate anomalies. This is in contrast to current proxy records of Tortonian atmospheric CO2 which range from Last Glacial Maximum to mid-20th Century levels

Effect of increasing equilibration time of diluted bull semen up to 72 h prior to freezing on sperm quality parameters and calving rate following artificial insemination

An equilibration period of approximately 3–4 h prior to semen cryopreservation is standard practice for maintaining membrane integrity and motility of bull sperm. However, a number of studies indicate that an overnight equilibration period prior to freezing results in improved post-thaw semen quality thus optimising pregnancy rates. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of increasing the equilibration time of bull semen up to 72 h before freezing on sperm quality parameters and calving rate (CR) following artificial insemination (AI) with frozen-thawed semen. The effect of holding semen at 4 °C for 6, 24, 48 or 72 h post dilution before freezing on subsequent post-thaw total and progressive motility (Experiment 1) and field fertility (n = 1640 inseminations, Experiment 2) of frozen-thawed semen was assessed. Equilibration time did not affect post-thaw total and progressive motility (P > 0.05). In addition, there was no effect (P > 0.05) of equilibration time on field fertility with a CR of 53.3, 50.5, 51.3 and 47.3 for the 6, 24, 48 and 72 h treatments, respectively. In conclusion, increasing the equilibration time of diluted bull semen from 6 to 72 h had no significant effect on CR, within the expected range of fertility outcomes, thus providing semen processing centres with flexibility in the time which semen can be held prior to freezing

Students' participation in collaborative research should be recognised

Letter to the editor