English History

Social Reform and Allotment Gardening in Twentieth Century York

by Ross Wilson

Published online before print February 28, 2012, doi: 10.1177/0096144211430152 Journal of Urban History February 28, 2012 0096144211430152

This article examines the development of allotment gardens in the northern English city of York at the start of the... more This article examines the development of allotment gardens in the northern English city of York at the start of the twentieth century. Using archive material and newspaper reports the role of the allotment gardens within wider issues of urban social reform is explored. Through Giddens’s theory of structuration, the manner in which relationships between citizens and the City Corporation of York developed is investigated. In this manner, the place of allotment gardens as a means of understanding wider urban life in Britain can be reexamined. Whilst allotment gardens have only partially featured in studies of civic reform, identity and governmentality, their place as a central feature of working class life in Britain demands that a greater focus of attention should be placed on these plots of land.

SEALIFT: The Logistics of Richard of England's Third Crusade

by Dana Cushing

***SPEAKER COPY ONLY*** This paper was presented in at Kalamazoo in 2000 and it is posted here only so that colleagues can see my calculations. Unfortunately the polished (article) file was corrupted so this is the best file currently available.

This paper calculates the material and financial costs of launching King Richard's crusade from England to Messina,... more This paper calculates the material and financial costs of launching King Richard's crusade from England to Messina, including detailed breakdowns of the money and cargo information by type of material or animal.

The exchanges, silver purchases and trade in the reign of Henry III

by Richard Cassidy

British Numismatic Journal Vol. 81 (2011), 107-118

Except during recoinages, the royal mints at London and Canterbury could only produce silver pennies when they... more Except during recoinages, the royal mints at London and Canterbury could only produce silver pennies when they received foreign coins and silver in exchange. The activities of the exchanges were recorded in the rolls of silver purchases, a few of which survive from Henry III's reign. They show that activity was seasonal, and probably linked to the wool trade. Some customers of the exchanges were bringing very large sums of money, and the exchanges and mints could operate on a large scale: in one week in 1262, the London exchange handled over £3,000, more than one tonne of silver.

Adventus Vicecomitum and the Financial Crisis of Henry III's Reign, 1250-1272

by Richard Cassidy

English Historical Review, Vol. CXXVI, No. 520, June 2011

Twice a year, sheriffs and other officials appeared at the Exchequer to pay in the cash they had collected for the... more Twice a year, sheriffs and other officials appeared at the Exchequer to pay in the cash they had collected for the government of Henry III. The amounts collected at this Adventus have not hitherto been published in full; the data used in previous publications covered only county revenues, but not the boroughs. The figures in this article show that revenues were maintained during the early years of the baronial reform movement, but collapsed from 1263 onwards. During the period of civil war and disorder, revenues fell, as might be expected, and on two occasions the Adventus did not take place. The Adventus figures are related to records of Treasury receipts, to show that the cash was received over a period of several weeks following the nominal date of the Adventus. Comparisons with further new data, for the cash revenues shown in the annual pipe rolls, demonstrate that in normal times the Adventus represented a significant proportion of government income, some 30 per cent of the cash recorded in the county accounts.

The reforming council takes control of fines of gold, 1258-59

by Richard Cassidy

Fine of the Month, October 2011

In the 1250s, Henry III accumulated a gold treasure, which he intended to use for two of his pet projects, the... more In the 1250s, Henry III accumulated a gold treasure, which he intended to use for two of his pet projects, the Sicilian venture and the gold coinage, both of which failed miserably. He built up this treasure by having fines of gold paid directly into the Wardrobe, which managed his household finances, without notifying the Exchequer. When the baronial reformers took over the administration in 1258, they not only chased up the unpaid fines, but also ensured that they should be paid into the Exchequer, thus removing them from Henry’s control.

The Reforms at the Exchequer, 1250-1270

by Richard Cassidy

Free iBook, available via iTunes, for viewing on an iPad. Published in the iBook store on 7 February 2012.
Also available as a PDF (without the interactive bits, of course).

As an experiment with a new form of publication, I converted a recent talk into a short iBook. The talk, to a seminar... more As an experiment with a new form of publication, I converted a recent talk into a short iBook. The talk, to a seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, concerned the state of government finance before and during the period of baronial reform and rebellion in England, in the 1250s and 1260s. The iBook makes some modest use of interactive features such as the glossary, but was intended primarily as a test of how quickly and easily such a publication could be produced and made available.
The book presents some new financial information, derived from unpublished records, particularly pipe rolls and memoranda rolls, to argue that: Henry III’s financial position, on the eve of the baronial coup of 1258, was healthier than is often assumed; Henry’s financial problems were largely of his own making, particularly his absurd commitment to the Sicilian venture; and the baronial reform regime of 1258-61 achieved some success in improving the administration of the Exchequer, and maintaining the flow of government income.

The 'Big Society' and the National Citizen Service: Young people, volunteering and engagement with charities c.1900-1960

by Kate Bradley

in Armine Ishkanian, Simon Szreter and Hakan Seckinelgin (eds),The Big Society Debate: A New Agenda for Social Welfare? Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, in press, forthcoming 2012

Bede’s Perspective and Purpose in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People

by Chip Schroeder

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People was widely renowned in his own day, and has been read continuously... more Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People was widely renowned in his own day, and has been read continuously for nearly thirteen centuries. Bede was first given the title of ‘Venerable’ at the Council of Aachen in 836, was canonized a millennium later by the Catholic Church in 1899. He is the only Englishman with the title of Doctor of the Church. Bede’s accomplishment is worthy of its praise, but his book is not an infallible record of history. Faith in his historical description of people, places, and events should be tempered with knowledge of Bede’s perspective and purpose. Bede’s main objectives in the Ecclesiastical History were to describe the dissemination of Christianity in Britain and the unification of English churches with the universal Catholic Church. To support his account, Bede frequently included miracles and hagiographical anecdotes, which he believed functioned as hard evidence of God’s support of the spread of Christianity in England. In the later part of the History, which details the controversy between Celtic and Catholic Christians, Bede tailors his account to praise conformity with Roman Catholic doctrine and practice. With recognition of Bede’s perspective and purpose, Bede remains a lamp to our feet and a light to our path in examining the history of English Christianity.

New Model Armies: Re-contextualizing The Camp in Margaret Cavendish's Bell in Campo

by Vimala Pasupathi

ELH 78 (2011): 657–685.

The boundaries of meaning and the formation of law: legal concepts and reasoning in the English, Arabic, and Chinese traditions

by Sharron Gu

A comparative study of English Common Law, Islamic Law, and Chinese imperial law. A comparative study of English Common Law, Islamic Law, and Chinese imperial law.

The Prose "Description of England": a hitherto unedited Anglo-Norman Text from BL, Additional MS 14252

by Claudio Lagomarsini

published in "Medium Aevum", LXXX (2011), pp. 325-335

British Library, Additional MS 14252 is the only copy extant of a hitherto unedited prose Description of England... more British Library, Additional MS 14252 is the only copy extant of a hitherto unedited prose Description of England (DEAFBibl: DescrEnglPr), consisting of a relatively faithful translation into the Anglo-Norman vernacular (c. 1200) of a passage from Henry of Huntingdon’s "Historia Anglorum" (§§ i.1–8, ed. Greenway 1996). The same passage of the Latin text was the source of another short text in Anglo-Norman, this time in rhyming couplets (DeafBibl: DescrEnglB), already edited by Alexander Bell.
In the article a comparative study, an edition and a short glossary of the prose Description of England are given.

By visions of the night: millennialism and dreams among seventeenth century English sectarians

by Deana Weibel

Review of Lawrence Stone's Trilogy on the History of Marriage and Divorce in England

by Carl L Bankston

The Medical Diagnosis of Demonic Possession in an Early Modern English Community

by Judith Bonzol

Richard I and the Jewish "Servi Camarae" as a Funding Source for the Third Crusade

by Dana Cushing

Using the Rolls for the first years of Richard I of England's reign, this paper calculates and clarifies the... more Using the Rolls for the first years of Richard I of England's reign, this paper calculates and clarifies the significant financial levies exacted from the Jews, as "servi camarae" or human chattel of the King, in order to finance his Crusades efforts.

This paper was originally presented as an undergraduate paper for the Charles Homer Haskins Society in 1999.

Prerogativa, deroga e tecniche prudenziali di governo nel pensiero politico inglese del Seicento

by Alessandro Arienzo

in A.A.V.V., Prudenza civile, bene comune, guerra giusta. Percorsi della ragion di Stato tra Seicento e Settecento, a cura di G. Borrelli, Napoli, Archivio della Ragion di Stato, 1999.

L'enorme attenzione posta dalla critica storico-politica ai diversi aspetti del Seicento inglese rivela, quasi in modo... more L'enorme attenzione posta dalla critica storico-politica ai diversi aspetti del Seicento inglese rivela, quasi in modo paradossale, una scarsa produzione di analisi e ricerche sugli sviluppi della Ratio status e della conservazione politica in tale paese. Eppure essa, nella sua specificità e con modalità e forme diverse da quelle continentali, occupa uno spazio di primaria importanza, configurandosi come un moderno progetto di governo e di esercizio del potere statale che si intreccia con i problemi posti dagli sviluppi seicenteschi del machiavellismo, della sovranità politica e di quelle nuove pratiche di governo che il filosofo francese Foucault ha definito “governamentalità”. Le scritture dei machiavelliani Lodowick Lloyd e John Melton, degli stessi sovrani Stuart e di autori quali John Davies, Roger Maynwaring, Henry Parker e, nella seconda metà del secolo, da George Savile e James Harrington, rivelano una complessa articolazione di discorsi politici diversi, accomunabili dall'obiettivo di offrire conservazione politica e sicurezza allo Stato e al popolo. L'intento del mio contributo è proprio quello di definire delle linee di ricerca e delle proposte interpretative che possano in qualche modo mostrare l'esistenza e l'importanza di ciò che chiameremo “ragion di Stato inglese” segnalandone le caratteristiche fondamentali, i tratti distintivi e gli snodi teorici e storici di maggiore rilevanza. Tale ricerca attraversa una serie di scritture e proposte teorico-politiche che percorrono tutto il XVII secolo cominciando proprio dai primi anni del secolo a partire dai quali è documentabile l'uso del termine reason of state. Le radici di tale sviluppo sono molteplici e di difficile ricostruzione e non è possibile parlare di un panorama dottrinale unitario e coeso; piuttosto, ci si trova di fronte ad una pluralità di discorsi riconducibili ad un terreno teorico comune attraverso la categoria di “conservazione”. Tali progettualità politiche diverse - tutte concorrenti alla costruzione di una autorità statale sovrana - sono il luogo di sviluppo dei discorsi e delle pratiche conservative della reason of state. Come cercherò di mostrare, la ragion di Stato inglese trova le sue origini sia nei particolari sviluppi della cultura machiavelliana di cui l'epoca elisabettiana fu coltivatrice, sia negli sviluppi delle idee di sovranità e di absolute Prerogative di fine Cinquecento e inizi Seicento. La seconda metà del secolo, invece, vede lo strutturarsi di ipotesi politiche conservative organizzate intorno alla costruzione di una “scienza della politica” capace di produrre governo e sicurezza grazie all'utilizzo di policies dinamiche, plurali e governamentali. Scienza della politica che, sviluppandosi da una complessiva analisi delle relazioni di potere e di governo proprie dei diversi ambiti del fare politica, giunge alla definizione della ragion di Stato nei termini di ragione e amministrazione dello Stato.

The English: A People Without a History?

by Michael Collins

As Krishan Kumar has perceptively and persuasively argued, the appropriate frame for understanding English national... more As Krishan Kumar has perceptively and persuasively argued, the appropriate frame for understanding English national identity is not the distinction between ethnic or civic bases for nationhood, but England’s ‘missionary imperialism’: the expansionist fervour of the English people. Crucially, Kumar claims, this moves the emphasis of an English national identity from the ‘creators to their creations’ (K. Kumar, The Making of English National Identity (CUP, 2003), p. x.). If Kumar’s thesis concerning the source of England’s national identity is correct, then, as Kumar points out, the implications of the loss of those ‘creations’ – let us suppose Alex Salmond were successful in persuading the Scottish people to turn A. J. P. Taylor on his head and say “to hell with England” – are quite disturbing.

If the foundations of ‘Great Britain’ have either ceased to exist or are crumbling around us, it might be said that all histories working on the assumption – explicit or implicit – that the history of England equates to the history of England’s expansion and impact on the world – that is histories of England’s ‘creative work’ – are ultimately histories of decline and loss. This is why Niall Ferguson’s efforts to re-narrate a comforting island story about ‘how Britain made the modern world’ amount to little more than nostalgia. From the perspective of our twenty-first century present, there seems to be an absence of meaning at the heart of England’s history, and we need a great conversation about what to put it is place.

The politics of sky battles in early Hanoverian Britain

by Vladimir Jankovic

Journal of British Studies 41 (2002), 429-459.

Richard I - A Vindication Of Sorts

by Melisende D'Outremer

The Death of William Rufus

by Melisende D'Outremer