King Henry V

This paper was delivered at CAMWS in March 2015 for the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt at which Henry V trounced the French much like Alexander at Issus (for Harfleur consider Tyre).  I had started the paper thinking Tacitus was a role model for Shakespeare with a comparison between Henry V and Germanicus, while though true, is less of a recollection to the audience than Henry to Alexander (from mixed sources:  Alexander Romance, Plutarch, Quintus Curtius Rufus, etc).  I invote others to comment further.  This paper is not the exact version I gave at CAMWS which included sound bites from Branagh's Henry V (now better know than the Olivier version) and some powerpoint pictures.

In his famous handbook on war, written in the context of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, Carl von Clausewitz argues that military contlict is the continuation of politics with other means. To highlight the irresolvable antagonism that will continue to be played out once soldiers have returned from battle, Michel Foucault, in his series of lectures, "Society Must Be Defended", takes this definition a step further to suggest that if war merely continues political power struggles, this is so because power is anchored in the particular relationship of force established in and through war. To claim that politics is the continuation of war by other means implies that the political system merely reinscribes an adversarial relationship of force by sanctioning
and reproducing the disequilibrium of forces manifested in scenes of war, where a combat decides that the day after battle one party will have triumphed over another party. Far from being averted in times of peace, Foucault claims, war should be thought of as presiding over its birth; "indeed the laws of peace are born in the blood and mud of battles". Not, he adds, in some ideal sense of battles and rivalries dreamed up by philosophers and jurists, however, but of "real battles, victories, massacres, and conquests which can be dated and which have their horrific heroes". Not only does confrontation sustain political power even after a concrete war has come to an end. Foucault goes a step further to suggest that law itself "was born in burning towns and ravaged fields. It was born together with the famous innocents who died at break of day."1 The critical metaphors deployed by Foucault in themselves resonate with the poetic language of Shakespearean history plays and yet, by the time Foucault reaches the acme of his argument, we have also - thus my wager - entered the dark logic of Shakespeare's problem plays. War, Foucault concludes, is the "motor behind institutions and order". Even in a world after battle, it continues to persist as a force beneath peace, because "peace itself is a coded war [...] a battle front runs through the whole of society, continuously and permanently, and it is this battlefront that puts us all on one side or the other". There is no such thing as a neutral subject, he adds, because in our social relations "we are all inevitably someone's adversary".

Chivalric traditions continued to shape all aspects of life for those of high status in the late medieval and early modern periods. But this same period has most often been characterised as witnessing a decline of chivalry. Indeed William Worcester and William Caxton lamented this decline of chivalry and a related loss of English masculinity, grieving for the loss of French territories, all of which took an emotional toll on the English nation. Yet in fact Edward IV’s reign brought a revival of chivalry as his kingship was presented as the antidote to England’s humiliation through his embodiment of a chivalrous version of masculinity. From the start of his reign Henry VIII also made it clear that he wanted to go to war with France. He felt compelled to equal and to even surpass the victories of his martial hero Henry V not just for his own prestige, but also for England’s. This paper argues that by the late fifteenth century the English nation was more chivalric than it had been for decades as noblemen untied against a common enemy, thus displaying a range of emotions that included: nostalgia, anger and revenge.


This paper will also examine the role of the medieval tournament in establishing knightly bonds between the men of the tiltyard and both kings who held and competed in jousting contests. Friendships between knights were the most important bonds in the elite cultural system that constituted chivalric life. This paper identifies individuals such as William Hastings and Anthony Woodville in the reign of Edward IV who demonstrated chivalric masculinity because of his knightly expertise. For Edward in the absence of brothers in the tiltyard, these men provided a substitute for this familial connection; functioning as the king’s chivalric brothers- in-arms, who promised mutual support, encouraged acts of bravery and personal loyalty. This paper demonstrates that the mutual respect between Edward and these chivalric brothers saw them develop strong emotional bonds that transcended beyond the tiltyard and even beyond death.

There were only a few countries whose nobility did not take part in the campaigns of the Teutonic Order against the Lithuanians (Reisen). The popularity of these military actions reached its zenith in the second half of the fourteenth century. The Kingdom of England – thanks to its significant contribution to the campaigns – surpassed other participants, and its close cooperation with the Teutonic Order was not simply confined to military actions. England sought to support the military order, and thus the cause of Christianity in the Baltic, by offering different means of help: military, diplomatic and financial. The primary goal of this paper is to follow the course of the diplomatic relationship between the two parties after 1410, especially from a Teutonic point of view. As a result of personal contacts established during the Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) and the growing fame of the Order, the English crown started to support the young institution financially, and, from the fourteenth century on, also militarily. Interestingly, in contrast with former English undertakings, military actions led by members of the royal family in the 1390s became popular. However, after 1394, significant English participation suddenly came to an end. Although English military assistance did not arrive in Prussia from overseas, the Teutonic Order did not give up the hope of gaining financial or diplomatic aid from its old ally. Reviewing the correspondence between the two countries after 1410, one can state that, except in the immediate aftermath of Tannenberg/Grunwald/ Žalgiris, most of this was confined to commercial matters. This result coincides with the conclusion drawn by the termination of the annual English rent at the turn of the 14–15th century: England was no longer interested in the wars of the Teutonic Order or, at least, it did not expect to make much profit from supporting an institution of now questionable legitimacy.

There was nothing second-rate about the English way of war in the Late Middle Ages, argues Tobias Capwell, Curator of Arms and Armour at London’s Wallace Collection, in a major new study published late last year. The early 15th-century English warrior was at the forefront of military innovation. And the key to success was combined-arms tactics.

This doctoral thesis (Université de Lausanne, 2017) highlights the role of Carmelite friars in the composition and circulation of religious texts in the vernacular in late medieval England, a mission undertood with energy but also consternation, because of the vexed religious and social climate of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

A particular theological concern to the Carmelites were the teachings of Oxford theologian John Wyclif (c.1328-84) and his ‘Lollard’ followers. Carmelite writers of ‘vernacular theology’ in the years 1375-1450 trod a fine line in balancing their Order’s reputation for, on the one hand, promoting religious renewal, and on the other hand the rooting out of heresy.

The first two chapters set out the context in which medieval English Carmelite writers and their audiences lived. Chapter One considers the interactions between Carmelites and pious laypeople, notably the testimony offered by Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438+) in her Book, and the symbolic imagery contained in the so-called Reconstructed Carmelite Missal. Chapter Two surveys early Carmelite history and historiography, with a particular focus on the Whitefriars’ approach to vernacularity, apostolate, education, and bibliographic culture.

The following chapters present in roughly chronological order the Carmelites known to have written in the vernacular, making reference to others who may have done so, or had a demonstrable interest in vernacular theology. Each Carmelite is first put in his social and literary context, before his life and work are considered.

Chapter Three presents Carmelite theologian Richard Maidstone (d. 1396), comparing his Latin works with his Middle English poem The Penitential Psalms. Chapter Four considers parallel interests in the Litil Tretys on the Seven Deadly Sins by Richard Lavenham (fl. 1399). Chapter Five considers the work of Thomas Ashburne and Richard Spalding, and a manuscript scribe who may well have been an East Midlands Carmelite. Chapter Six concerns Richard Misyn, who in the 1430s translated into English the De Emendatio Vitae and Incendium Amoris by Richard Rolle of Hampole (c.1290-1349), clearly articulating in a preface addressed to an anchorite the tension Whitefriars felt in promoting and policing religious thought in the vernacular. Misyn’s work is compared with confrere Thomas Fishlake, who translated Walter Hilton’s Scale of Perfection into Latin. Chapter Seven examines Thomas Scrope’s activities as a writer, translator, bibliophile, and promoter of Carmelite spirituality in both the Latin and English languages.

The conclusion traces the extraordinary experience of Carmelite Provincial John Milverton, provides a broad chronological survey of major themes and individuals, and presents a broad resumé of findings, suggesting areas for further research.

Appended to the thesis are: a chronology of Carmelite vernacular writers in medieval England; a list of their surviving, lost, doubtful, and rejected writings, including all known manuscripts, editions, and translations; the Carmelite Rule of Saint Albert in Latin and Modern English versions; and a comprehensive bibliography.

The Middle English poet-monk John Lydgate composed his 'Dance of Death' poem in 1426 while in Paris, basing it on the medieval Danse Macabre mural in Paris. As previously argued in my paper 'Of dead kings, dukes and constables', it was the death in 1422 of the French king Charles VI that inspired the creation of this mural in English-occupied Paris. Likewise, it was the death of the English king Henry V earlier that same year that is alluded to in Lydgate's poem and that may have been the inspiration for the painted cycle at Old St Paul's Cathedral subsequently commissioned by Town Clerk John Carpenter. Henry V remained in the national consciousness the most admired English monarch, as is still evident in Shakespeare's plays nearly two centuries later.
This paper also demonstrates why it is most likely the superior A-version of Lydgate's poem that was used in this London scheme, as stated unambiguously in one contemporary manuscript copy; the B-version is almost certainly due to scribal variation once the commemorative aspect lost its poignancy.

The starting point for this essay is the sense that we live in a world that is, perhaps more than ever before, intensely mediated. In many ways, the rise of electronic information technology in the so-called “developed world” has reinforced the principle of mediation that shapes our experience of reality. The ubiquity of information technology in our everyday lives also provides us with invaluable tools to contextualise our position as mediated subjects. In recent theoretical debates, the mediation of subjectivity has been addressed through the concept of “interpassivity”. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, Slavoj Žižek uses interpassivity to conceptualise the intrinsic displacement that defines the experience of enjoyment. Interpassivity describes how enjoyment is always, by essence, displaced onto another instance (the “big Other”). The essay explores the manifestations and implications of interpassivity in technologically advanced twenty-first century societies. Shakespearean drama provides a key entry point into the topic: Hamlet, Macbeth and Henry V throw a new light on the big Other qua symbolic instance that regulates social interactions. The Chorus of Henry V, in particular, illustrates the kernel of mediation underlying mass entertainment and opens up a reflection on the role of the media in the distribution and control of information.

Why subjects? Why should writing be another name for the constitution of subjects and, so to speak, of constitution itself? of a subject, that is to say of an individual held responsible (for) himself in front of a law and by the same token subject to that law? Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology The history of Western critical theory has been preoccupied with questions regarding subjectivities and subjects, about what constitutes and accounts for them: whether individual or collective consciousness, presence, embodiment, perspective, authority, simulacra, and so on; whether they are singularities within multiplicities, or vice versa, or some multidimensional combination: events, amalgams, or articulations. Concepts of subjectivity typically pertain to individuals, respectively, even if generally applied to all people, and are linked to theories of inwardness, selfhood, personal agency, and identity formation and maintenance; yet they often suggest or extend to something collective or indicative of a group. Accordingly, inquiries into subjectivity correspond with specific areas of investigation and experience; in other words, with subjects of critical inquiry and philosophy as well as of societies and cultures. These include the subject matters of psychology, sociology, phenomenology, metaphysics, neuroscience, and consciousness studies, but also of literary, cultural, theater, and performance studies. Perspectives on subjectivity within and among these areas are commonly divided, generally speaking, between humanist/essentialist and post-humanist/constructivist idea-fields. While defining and explaining 1

KING HENRY V:
AN EVALUATION IN THE LIGHT OF INDIAN IDEA OF KINGSHIP
Susheel Kumar Sharma Professor of English, University of Allahabad, Allahabad – 211002, Mobile: 09450868483,       
E-mail: susheelsharma.avap@gmail.com.
Vinod Kumar Singh, Research Scholar, Department of English and Modern European Languages, University of Allahabad, Allahabad – 211002, Mobile: 09452774859, E-mail: vksinghau@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The issue of qualities to become a ruler has been one of the most celebrated discourses in the Shakespearean critical canon. The importance of the discourse can be guessed from the fact that a whole volume of Shakespearean Criticism has been devoted for the purpose. Moreover, from the critical articles in this special volume it is obvious that Shakespeare’s creation of the Elizabethan chronicle history plays was a political activity through which he tried to create and legitimitise a new kind of ideal ruling authority. The articles by critics like Leonard Tennenhouse and Sukanta Chaudhury and many more others share the view that the playwright’s portrayal of King Henry V, a Machiavel, as an ideal king, “the copy-book paragon of kingly virtue” was the realisation of his political goals.
The proposed paper is an attempt to re-evaluate the aforementioned “ideal king” in the light of Indian Idea of Kingship. Since Indian Idea of Kingship gives a detailed description about a king’s status, category, virtues, education, appointment, duties and assistants it will enable readers to re-assess the character of the king on a fresh paradigm and help them revise the value-judgements regarding the king as well as Shakespeare’s ideals of kingship.

The multiple roles of Henry V have become a critical commonplace, whether he is viewed positively or negatively as savvy prince or as calculating politician. The specific interrelation of the roles and the mechanisms of their production have been less attended to, and are, because of their paradoxical interfaces, particularly inviting of a transversal analysis. In employing "transversal theory" for this purpose, we find that the play foregrounds a mechanism we call the "principal of translucency," by which one signifier or identity is incompletely concealed within another, a disguise apparently flawed or inadequate, producing a particular kind of mixed coding for audiences or spectators, who experience transversality in response. 1 While historically nonspecific as both a social and theatrical trope, this principle of translucency is specifically historical as a feature of early modern social performativity theorized in terms of courtly spectacle by Baldessare Castiglione. It is a visual means whereby transversal territory may be open for wonder, whereby the subjective dislocations of transversality may be approximated visually for an audience's understanding and enticement. Shakespeare, as we hope to demonstrate, illustrates an employment of transversality onstage and offstage, including what we call a "projective transversality," by which one effects, or attempts to affect, transversality in the other rather than in oneself.

Henry V has one of the most divisive critical histories in the Shakespeare canon. For the first two hundred years after being published, it was seen as a patriotic celebration of the heroic warrior King Henry V and his victory at Agincourt. But in 1817 William Hazlitt made remarks critical of the King and several subsequent commentators interested in character analysis followed suit. In 1919 Gerald Gould made an astonishing claim that Shakespeare was actually being ironic in the play, that it is ‘a satire on monarchical government, on imperialism, on the baser kinds of ‘patriotism’, and on war.’ From that point on, many commentators have felt it necessary to approach the play relative to the antipodal views Gould had essentially initiated: in Henry V, is it Shakespeare’s intent to present King Henry V as an exemplar, a mirror for other monarchs to emulate, and to glorify his incredibly improbable victory at Agincourt, or was Shakespeare being less than upfront with his motivation to actually show an (ironic) ‘reversed’ reflection of this magisterial ideal. Many readings of the play in the past fifty years have focused on some form of reconciliation of these two views, but this article contends the poetic imagery and a correctly oriented manner of interrogating the text reveal a largely under appreciated masterpiece, and that beyond a reasonable doubt: the play is ironic.

Estudo dos usos do passado na construção simbólica do Reino de Inglaterra, observando a relação intrínseca entre a construção da identidade inglesa e o desenvolvimento do poder régio. Para tanto, analisamos a figura de Henrique V de Lancaster (1413-1422), e como o passado bíblico, hagiográfico e histórico foram utilizados na produção da imagem régia. Percebemos que o processo de evolução e transformação do pensamento político medieval, que envolve a centralização política, as lutas por legitimação e a produção simbólica do Reino, contribuem para a relação entre identidade, reino e poder régio. A produção cronística do século XV coloca a imagem dos reis como protagonistas das narrativas. O Rei torna-se um aglutinador e unificador das identidades do Reino, assim como das especificidades regionais e culturais. O passado torna-se um dos meios privilegiados para produção e consolidação de tal imagem sobre os Reis e o Reino. Utilizamos fontes que ligam a história do reino inglês ao passado bíblico, romano e da Cristandade, mas principalmente, a história dos reis ingleses e suas ações. Como fontes principais o The Regiment of Princes de Thomas Hoccleve, Chronicon Adae de Usk de Adam de Usk, The Chronica Maiora de Thomas Walsingham, The Book of Illustrious Henries e The Chronicles of England, ambas de John Capgrave.

Study about the uses of the past in the symbolic construction of the Kingdom of England, noting the intrinsic relationship between the construction of English identity and the development of royal power. To do so, we analyse the figure of Henry V of Lancaster (1413-1422), and how the biblical, hagiographic and historical past were used in the production of the royal image. We perceive that the process of evolution and transformation of medieval political thought, which involves political centralization, struggles for legitimation and the symbolic production of the Kingdom, contribute to the relationship between identity, kingdom and royal power. The chronicle production of the 15th century puts the image of the kings as the protagonist of the narratives. The King becomes an agglutinator and unifier of the identities of the Kingdom, as well as of the regional and cultural specificities. The past becomes one of the privileged means for the production and consolidation of such an image over the Kings and the Kingdom. We use sources that link the history of the English kingdom to the Biblical, Roman and Christianity past, but most importantly, the history of the English kings and their actions. As main sources are The Regiment of Princes by Thomas Hoccleve, Chronicon Adae Usk by Adam of Usk, The Chronica Maiora by Thomas Walsingham, The Book of Illustrious Henries and The Chronicles of England, both by John Capgrave.

This paper approaches adaptation from a hermeneutic perspective, specifically from a post-structuralist hermeneutics of discourse informed by symbolic interactionism. The intertextual relationship between a cultural product (e.g. a play) and its screen adaptation(s) is analysed as a performative intervention on an existing discourse formation which includes both the original product or text and the discourses using it, originating it, deriving from it or surrounding it. This intervention amounts to both an interpretation and an appropriation of the original text. Like other intertextual modes (translations, critical readings), adaptations produce a retroactive transformation of the original, not in se, but rather as it is used and understood in specific contexts and instances of communicative interaction. These theoretical issues are explored with a special focus on Shakespearean film adaptations, more specifically on the major Henry V films, Laurence Olivier’s (1944) and Kenneth Branagh’s (1989), and their treatment of violence and war in a variety of contexts. A case for a ‘resisting’ approach to Shakespearean adaptation is put forward.

On 3 August 1460, King James II of Scotland was killed by a gun whilst besieging the English-held castle of Roxburgh. He did not die as a result of gunfire by the defenders of Roxburgh however.  Instead he was killed by a fragment of his own bombard, a Flemish gun called ‘The Lion’, which burst under the strain of firing.  In the words of the sixteenth century Scottish chronicler, Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, the arrival of Scottish reinforcements:

In late-fourteenth century England, the third surviving son of King Edward III, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, became obsessed with gaining control of the nation and establishing a Lancastrian legacy that would one day evolve into a dynasty. This thesis investigates and compares the political maneuvering of John of Gaunt and his grandson, King Henry V, in order to illuminate the long-lasting effects of their actions which forever changed the face of both the monarchy and church in England. In the 1370s, the aged King Edward III left the governance of the realm in the hands of his third surviving son, John of Gaunt. Edward the Black Prince of Wales was himself very sickly and incapable of administering the government, and the king’s second son, Lionel of Antwerp the Duke of Clarence, had passed away earlier, on 17 October 1368. From the early 1370s until his father’s death in 1377, while Lancaster acted as de facto king of England, he developed a predilection for power that he was...

Just as 1415 was a momentous year militarily for England, so it was for Portugal too. In August, King João I led a crusading expedition against the Muslim enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, opening up a new phase in Portuguese and European history. This article sets this expedition against a backdrop of evolving political and military relations with England, arguing for a distancing between Portugal and her English ally since the initial formation of an alliance in the previous century. Attention is also given to the army which conquered the stronghold of Ceuta: significant differences can be seen in comparison with Portuguese armies which had fought against Castile in the last decades of the fourteenth century. Although certain key features persisted, there were changes which resulted from a thorough military reorganisation undertaken by João I, and from evolution of the military culture of Portugal, as an examination of the library of King Duarte (1433–38) demonstrates.


[Republished in  Rémy Ambühl and Craig Lambert (eds), "Agincourt in Context: War on Land and Sea" (Routledge: Abingdon and New York, 2019) : 

https://books.google.pt/books?id=93t_DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Agincourt+in+Context:+War+on+Land+and+Sea&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFtJDR6rPqAhXZ6OAKHT0CB-MQuwUwAHoECAYQCA#v=onepage&q=Agincourt%20in%20Context%3A%20War%20on%20Land%20and%20Sea&f=false  ]

Henry V has one of the most divisive critical histories in the Shakespeare canon. For the first two hundred years after being published it was seen as a patriotic celebration of King Henry V and his victory at Agincourt, but starting with William Hazlitt in 1817 numerous commentators have seen Henry as less than heroic, and in 1919 Gerald Gould made an astonishing claim that Shakespeare was actually being ironic in the play, that it is “a satire on monarchical government, on imperialism, on the baser kinds of ‘patriotism’, and on war.” This observation has influenced much of the subsequent commentary on the play. Andrew Gurr, among others, has noted the crux of the divergent views relates to whether the play is seen staged (celebratory) versus read (cautionary and ironic). John Arden even called the ironic play a “secret play” within the text. This paper endorses the thesis there is a covert ironic play by showing two speeches where Shakespeare has poetically and obliquely used bawdy imagery and wordplay to completely undermine and subvert the surface meaning of the speeches—and that he even leverages off this covert imagery elsewhere in the play—supporting the ironic interpretation and inviting much more scholarly attention to a close reading of the play.
After piecing out the subversive understanding of these speeches, I present plausible triggers--the Oldcastle controversy and possible Catholic sympathies--that might have motivated Shakespeare to elevate his poetic powers and wit to craft such subtle, yet dangerous, subversion into the play.
In toto, given the uncovered subversion, I endorse a correct manner of interrogating the text as if in a battle of wits with Shakespeare, where we will find a largely under appreciated masterpiece—and that beyond a reasonable doubt, the play is ironic.

What hath Shakespeare to do with the politics of regime change? Given the long and unsuccessful history of what we call regime change, from the installment of the Shah over Persia, to the Bay of Pigs, to Libya, one questions the sanity of anyone who routinely calls for "regime change." Yet long before our modern failures exposed the foibles of those who lust for power and and the foolishness of political usurpation, the great bard of Anglodom provided wisdom enough for those who consider venturing into foreign lands.

Editors: Elin Andersson, Claes Gejrot, Eddie Jones and Mia Åkestam
KVHAA Konferenser 93, Continuity and Change. Papers from the Birgitta Conference at Dartington 2015
In this paper, the aim is, with Philippa and the medieval Birgittine monastery in Vadstena as an example, to highlight some material aspects of being a Queen, various forms of manifestations as they appear in still preserved works of art and architecture, material culture and in a limited written source material. The first part of the paper concentrates on Philippa´s Trousseaux, the second part focuses on the Queen´s relations to the Birgittines and Vadstena abbey church, and the foundation of a Saint Anna choir. In other words, the first part deals with material culture and the use therof, while the second part highlights art and architecture. The contribution will end in a discussion and some tentative conclusions regarding the Queen Philippa’s ways of creating her space and showing presence.

Apart for a few episodes such as the battle of Cravant (1423), the defence of Paris (1429) and especially the capture of Joan of Arc at the siege of Compiègne (1430), the military aspect of Anglo-Burgundian alliance in 1420-1435 war is little known to general audience. This stage of the Hundred Years War is presented largely as a series of English successes in the 1420s followed by the defeats and setbacks after 1429. The present study aims to uncover this largely ignored aspect of one of the most dramatic stages of the Hundred Years War, which at a certain point brought the English to the walls of Orléans – an undoubted peak of their centuries-long efforts to subdue the French kingdom.
For the aims of research, the course of the Hundred Years War in the 1420s-early 1430s has to be considered not in the terms of the English fighting against the French but as a struggle of two alternative claims to the French throne, both of them relying on certain support among the French population. One of these suggested that the French crown remained with the Valois dynasty represented by Charles VII, the other tried to introduce the Dual Monarchy of England and France under the governance of the House of Lancaster, as formalised by the Treaty of Troyes (21 May 1420). The role of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, the most high-ranking French partisan of the Dual monarchy, as the pillar of the Lancastrian power in France becomes the subject of study. This raises the question of the system of obligations between the duke and the Lancastrian government, the modes of its practical exploitation and the significance of the duke’s contribution to the Lancastrian war efforts.
With this in mind, this study provides a chronological reconstruction of Anglo-Burgundian military cooperation in its development by placing it in a wider military and diplomatic context. Having assembled the evidence on the
practice of military assistance it proceeds to discussing the most widely employed models of cooperation and interaction between the allies eventually leading to a certain reconsideration of the whole nature of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. The research reveals the scale and continuity of the alliance which retained its importance from December 1419 to September 1435, the significance of the allies’ efforts in supporting each other and variety of its models and, finally, the crucial influence of the military power or weakness factor on the diplomacy and politics in France.

In late-fourteenth century England, the third surviving son of King Edward III, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, became obsessed with gaining control of the nation and establishing a Lancastrian legacy that would one day evolve into a dynasty.  This book investigates and compares the political maneuvering of John of Gaunt and his grandson, King Henry V, in order to illuminate the long-lasting effects of their actions which forever changed the face of both the monarchy and church in England.

In the 1370s, the aged King Edward III left the governance of the realm in the hands of his third surviving son, John of Gaunt.  Edward the Black Prince of Wales was himself very sickly and incapable of administering the government, and the king’s second son, Lionel of Antwerp the Duke of Clarence, had passed away earlier, on 17 October 1368.  From the early 1370s until his father’s death in 1377, while Lancaster acted as de facto king of England, he developed a predilection for power that he was not readily willing to relinquish when his ten-year-old nephew, Richard of Bordeaux, ascended to the throne as King Richard II.  During his tenure as the guardian of the realm, John of Gaunt brought together a group of powerful men whose unwavering loyalty was critical in Lancaster’s scheme to seize the realm.  The insatiable appetite of John of Gaunt extended as far as coveting the authority of the church and centralizing that power under the crown.  Lancaster’s web of supporters propagated his agenda in the governance of the kingdom, and threw the church in England into an age of turmoil and uncertainty, leaving it vulnerable to possible appropriation by the temporal realm.  John of Gaunt’s eldest son Henry of Bolingbroke, who seized the throne from his cousin as King Henry IV in 1399, either learned little from his father’s strategems or rejected them, leaving him vulnerable to coercion by his advisors and parliament.  Unimpressed by his father’s mediocre reign, Henry V adopted his grandfather’s flawed tactics for constructing a power base, and improved them.  Examining the political maneuvering of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his grandson, King Henry V, this book will show how the House of Lancaster wove the authority of both the temporal and spiritual realms into an inescapable web that enabled John of Gaunt’s direct descendents to secure their continuous position as heirs to the throne of England.

Just as 1415 was a momentous year militarily for England, so it was for Portugal too. In August, King João I led a crusading expedition against the Muslim enclave of Ceuta in North Africa, opening up a new phase in Portuguese and European history. This article sets this expedition against a backdrop of evolving political and military relations with England, arguing for a distancing between Portugal and her English ally since the initial formation of an alliance in the previous century. Attention is also given to the army which conquered the stronghold of Ceuta: significant differences can be seen in comparison with Portuguese armies which had fought against Castile in the last decades of the fourteenth century. Although certain key features persisted, there were changes which resulted from a thorough military reorganisation undertaken by João I, and from evolution of the military culture of Portugal, as an examination of the library of King Duarte (1433-38) demonstrates.

The Voynich manuscript is a document of unknown origin, written in a unique and otherwise unknown script, in an unknown language, the parchment of which has been radiocarbon dated to the period 1404-1438. This paper presents cryptanalytic evidence that the text of this manuscript may represent writing in a strange and complicated cipher by English members or adherents of the House of York during the period 1404-1415, when they were engaged in a vicious power struggle againt the first English king of the rival House of Lancaster, Henry IV (Bolingbroke) (r. 1399-1413). The paper presents a complete correspondence table of Voynich manuscript characters and their corresponding Yorkist cipher letter values. An additional set of specific, precise cipher rules is also presented. In these rules, certain “good” Yorkist letters such as “Y”, “O”, “R”, “K”, “M” (for Mortimer), “TH” (for character shape similar to that of “Y”), and “N” (for character shape similar to that of “M”) are privileged in the cipher writing in certain precisely specified ways, while the “bad” letter “B” (for Bolingbroke) is almost always written last in words, and the letter “A” is not written at all (both of first two vowels in Lancaster, and in order to make “B” appear absolutely last in the backwards alphabet). Certain other letters are sometimes written as one of the “YORK” letters instead, and words can be written either forwards or backwards in order to make “good” Yorkist letters appear first in words, to make the final letter “K” of “YorK” appear in final position in words, or to make the “bad” letter “B” appear last in words. By means of this correspondence table and these cipher rules, the paper presents the reading and interpretation of two key lines of the manuscript text as the Middle English text “Spur soueth hoter: theiris son riseth o bimoueth / al-to siteth yong, hoting acme gatteething riteth” (“Spur [Hotspur] sows/begets hotter: their son rises, ever mocks [Bolingbroke], absolutely reigns young, promising at maturity he stabs the gap-toothed [Bolingbroke]”). This is a reference to the death of “Hotspur” Henry Percy, opponent of Henry IV and ally of the Yorkists, at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, shortly before the composition of this manuscript. Also, the first line of text in the manuscript written in Middle English is presented, two key lines of text on illustrated pages written in Anglo-Norman French are presented, and several additional key phrases in significant places in the manuscript written in Middle English are presented.

This detailed, lavishly illustrated book chronicles the armour worn by English men-at-arms during the later phases of the Hundred Years War, as they fought through the great victories and humiliating defeats in France that would ultimately lead them into the Wars of the Roses.

For the first time, many unknown or rarely published visual and documentary sources have been brought together to reveal the beautiful and intimidating accoutrements of the war-like English.

Employing rich imagery in diverse media, combined with detailed technical and decorative analysis, Armour of the English Knight creates a unique visual journey through the physical world of the late medieval armoured warrior.

See English below

Kevés olyan ország található a 13–15. századi Európában, amelynek fiai, de különösképpen annak nemessége ne képviseltette volna magát valamilyen formában a Német Lovagrend litvánok elleni hadjárataiban. Ezek közül is kiemelkedett azonban az Angol Királyság, melyet nagyon szoros viszony fűzött a Lovagrendhez, annak megalapítása óta. Egészen a 15. század elejéig jól nyomon követhető az a sokoldalú és hosszú távú támogatás, amelyet a szigetország a Német Lovagrend irányában tanúsított. Az angol–német kereskedelmi kapcsolatokból továbbfejlődött baráti viszonya késő középkori Európa történetéből jól ismert jelenségben, a Preussenreisenekben csúcsosodott ki. Számos angol képviseltette magát a litvánok elleni hadjáratokban, kardot ragadva a keresztény hit és saját maguk dicsőségéért. A Hanza-szövetség is jelentős érdekeltségekkel rendelkezett a szigetországon belül is, azonban az angol kereskedők jelentős gazdasági terjeszkedése számos összeütközéshez vezetett és időnként hosszabb-rövidebb elhidegüléshez is vezetett a két terület között. A Német Lovagrend nagymestere mint a Hanza leghatalmasabb támogatója ebbéli szerepéből és az angol katonák szerepvállalásából fakadóan igyekezett kölcsönösen jó viszonyt fenntartani az angol uralkodóval. Az időnként jelentkező kereskedelmi feszültségeken felülemelkedve a diplomácia terén is bizton számíthattak a másik fél támogatására. Az angol katonai részvétel 15. század fordulójára tehető megszűnésének okai között említhető a litvánok (vitatott) keresztény hitre térése, az angolok Reisen való konfliktusai, a Német Lovagrend presztízsének megrendülése, továbbá más harcszínterek (Mediterráneum, Ibéria) növekvő népszerűsége. A dolgozat elsődleges célja, hogy primer források útján bemutassa az angol katonai szerepvállalás kezdetét és folyamatát mindazokkal a változásokkal együtt, amelyeket a belső- és külső ráhatások együttesen idéztek elő.

English:

The aim of my paper is to explore the many-sided and ever-changing relationship between the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of England in the Late Middle Ages. Their common history can be traced back to Holy Land and to the age of early crusades. Throughout centuries the Kingdom of England were supporting the Teutonic Order by different means of help: money, diplomacy and crusaders. The 14th century can be seen as a zenith of English –Teutonic cooperation which culminated in the well-known phenomenon of the so-called Reise (military campaigns). However, after 1394 English participation in these actions suddenly came to an end. Beside examining the relationship of England and Prussia, I will focus on answering the termination of English Reises and the change in attitude towards crusading in Baltics.
By studying the history of these campaigns – which aimed at exterminating paganism on the eastern frontier of the Catholic Christendom – one can find fascinating relations with all-time political events. By providing the constant flow of crusaders into the Baltic region, European nobility act together for a common goal. At the first place, I would like to demonstrate that in this sense the Reise can be regarded as a form and manifestation of international connections and cooperation. However, against the interest of the Teutonic Order, long-running or latent political conflicts could revive in tense situations. It is fascinating to see how these contradictory events appeared at the same time and in the same place. Thus, my second goal is to prove that these current diplomatic, commercial and economic relations seriously affected the number of crusaders and thus led to the decline of the Teutonic Knights in the 15th century.
On the other hand, the Reise offered Englishmen an opportunity for social advancement. We know that certain members of Henry of Bolingbroke’s retinue gained high positions in government following a Prussian expedition. During his reign, this trustworthy followers provided the stabilization of the Lancaster dynasty. Preparation works for the Reise, hardships of traveling and common fighting experiences created a strong cohesion and trust between participants. On the basis of these observations, I would like to study show that the Reise could be used as a social capital.
I would like to prove that the whole system of the Teutonic Order was based on the legitimacy of crusading idea and thus depended on the enthusiasm of participating countries. The Order used crusading rhetoric and the Reise to maintain its legitimacy to exist. On the other hand, participating kings, nobels or commons also made use of the Reise, but for different goals: to gain honor, military experiences and social advantages.

Lewis seems to expect that his take-downs of Hamlet et al. will come across as clever digs, like the one-liners of an insult comic: Hamlet as Yoda , Hamlet as Humpty-Dumpty (219). … [H]owever, Lewis's disdain for Shakespeare's characters' moral anguish, uncertainty, and hesitation comes across as oddly, unnecessarily short-sighted and unkind. Snark is no longer the Zeitgeist in the way it once was….

‘Rewriting History’ is a reappraisal of Shakespeare’s history cycle, exploring its origins, its popularity and its effects before challenging its dominance on critical and theatrical perceptions of the history plays.
A critical history of the cycle shows how external factors such as patriotism, bardolatory, character-focused criticism and the editorial decision of the First Folio are responsible for the cycle, more so than any inherent aspects of the plays.
The performance history of the cycle charts the initial innovations made in the twentieth century which have affected our perception of characters and key scenes in the texts. I then argue how the cycle has become increasingly restrictive, lacking innovation and consequently undervaluing the potential of the histories.
Having accounted for the history of the cycle to date, the second part of my thesis looks at the consequent effects upon each history play, and details how each play can be performed and analysed individually.
I close my thesis with the suggestion that a compromise between individual and serial perceptions is warranted, where both ideas are acknowledged equally for their effects and defects. By broadening our ideas about these plays we can appreciate the dramatic potential locked within them.

See also:

http://www.academia.edu/1684505/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Hotspur_in_Henry_IV_Part_One

http://www.academia.edu/688988/The_Ladys_Percy_Challenging_Expectations_of_Structure_and_Gender_in_Henry_the_Fourth

Antonio Candeloro realiza una reseña de mi primera novela histórica, ambientada en las tierras alemanas al comienzo del siglo XV: Intriga en Colonia. Un aventurero al servicio del arzobispo Dietrich von Mörs. si se desea publicar esta reseña en blogs o revistas, por favor contacten con el autor.

First cousin of King Charles VI, godfather of the future King Charles VII and Constable of France, Charles I d’Albret (1368-1415) was one on the prominent figures of the Kingdom of France at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. His birth was the result of the alliance between the Valois and the Albret that allowed the recapture of Aquitaine by the French; his death at the forefront of the French army at Agincourt – a battle he probably never desired – marked the beginning of a dark era for the kingdom. Actually, the story of his life often overlap this of Charles VI’s France, from the lights of chivalry to the gloom of the civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians. For the powerful Gascon family of the Albret, he is a first height. Through his action, the lands of his family expanded in Dreux, in Périgord and in Berry. Even in Gascony, he organised and administered the disorganised lordships of his forebears as a true principality. Yet nowhere his political action was more influencial than at the king’s court. None among his forefathers ever played such a role in the kingdom of France, and none among his descendants would outdo him before the 16th century, whith Henry IV, born as him of a marriage between Bourbon and Albret. For six centuries, no historian ever recounted in detail the Constable’s life. Bringing it to light, we wish to provide new insights into his time, thanks to inedited documents from the king’s and the Albret’s archives, but also with the stories of the chroniclers and with the poets (as Christine de
Pisan) who mentioned his deeds.

Estudo acerca das representações em torno da sagração de Henrique V de Lancaster, numa ampla construção de
memória produzida no século XV em crônicas após a morte do rei. Para tanto busca-se analisar as lendas e mitos que
cercaram o ritual de coroação régia, num contexto de afirmação da dinastia Lancaster pós-Guerra dos Cem Anos e início
da Guerra das Duas Rosas, assim como afirmação de um projeto de Reino no final da Idade Média.

Medieval pilgrim souvenirs were popular objects, mass-produced in the millions over the course of several centuries. Since the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands have been recovered, and almost all of these were made of low-cost materials such as lead and pewter, which means that all classes of pilgrims, even the very poor, could afford to take one home with them. Yet, for those with high status and great wealth, such modest souvenirs did not match their social prestige. To remedy this, wealthy pilgrims commissioned pilgrim souvenirs made of gold, silver, and silver-gilt. Unfortunately, the intrinsic value of these precious tokens made them good candidates for the melting pot, so until now, no pilgrim souvenir made from precious metal has been found. However, in the last few years several badges have been discovered, confirming the medieval written documentary evidence.

O século XV se caracteriza no reino de Inglaterra por um momento de transformações e tensões políticas e sociais que chamam a atenção de diversos historiadores. Pesquisadores britânicos ou até mesmo franceses buscam observar as diversas nuances da chamada Guerra dos Cem Anos, iniciada no século XIV, além da instabilidade política ocasionada pela usurpação de Henrique IV de Lancaster ao trono de seu primo Ricardo II de Plantageneta em 1399.Neste trabalho pretende-se analisar a construção de memória sobre a figura de Henrique V que aglutina diversas imagens como de rei guerreiro e devoto, no qual se tornou estruturante num processo de formação de uma identidade de reino que se conecta a elementos da tradição cristã. Tal processo se deu na longa duração, fato possível de se observar no século XVI com a peça de Shakespeare “Henrique V” que une características variadas da tradição cronística do século anterior.