The Conspiracy Against the Prince

2020 ◽  
pp. 190-211
Author(s):  
Marta Celati
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Political Realism ◽  
Common People ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Classical Models ◽  
Definition Of

The chapter offers a comparative study that traces the evolution of fifteenth-century conspiracy literature, illustrating its distinctive features, narrative approaches, and political perspectives. The analysis focuses on the multiform operation of recasting classical models, which matches and, at the same time, underpins the ideological viewpoint in these texts. Specific attention is also paid to the multifunctional role of history in this literature, as it exploits historical narrative, historiographical techniques, and principles, in order to construct a historical memory that conveys a precise political message. This message coincides with the condemnation of the conspiracy as an attack against the state and the ‘prince’, who is now the dominant figure in the political discourse. The key elements that frame this political outlook in the texts are: the function of the author–narrator (as a poet, letter writer, historian, witness); the speeches delivered by historical characters; the stress on the exceptionality of the historical event; the portraits of the conspirators; the representation of the common people; the image of the revenge against the plotters; and the uneasy balance between clemency and vengeance in the ruler’s reaction to the conspiracy. Through the interplay of these components the texts reflect, and contribute to, the development of a theory of statecraft that is informed by a blossoming notion of political realism and plays a crucial role in the definition of a new model of state. Significantly this strand of political thought also emerged in mirrors for princes, which display many elements in common with works on plots.

Conspiracy Literature in Early Renaissance Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Celati
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Political Literature ◽  
Narrative Approaches ◽  
Literature History ◽  
Renaissance Italy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Literary Output

The present work represents the first full-length investigation of Italian Renaissance literature on the topic of conspiracy. This literary output consists of texts belonging to different genres that enjoyed widespread diffusion in the second half of the fifteenth century, when the development of these literary writings proves to be closely connected with the affirmation of a centralized political thought and princely ideology in Italian states. The centrality of the issue of conspiracies in the political and cultural context of the Italian Renaissance emerges clearly also in the sixteenth century in Machiavelli’s work, where the topic is closely interlaced with the problems of building political consensus and the management of power. This monograph focuses on the most significant Quattrocento texts examined as case studies (representative of different states, literary genres, and of both prominent authors—Alberti, Poliziano, Pontano—and minor but important literati) and on Machiavelli’s works where this political theme is particularly pivotal, marking a continuity, but also a turning point, with respect to the preceding authors. Through an interdisciplinary analysis across literature, history, philology and political philosophy, this study traces the evolution of literature on plots in early Renaissance Italy, pointing out the key function of the classical tradition in it, and the recurring narrative approaches, historiographical techniques, and ideological angles that characterize the literary transfiguration of the topic. This investigation also offers a reconsideration and re-definition of the complex facets of fifteenth-century political literature, which played a crucial role in the development of a new theory of statecraft.

Giovanni Pontano’s De bello Neapolitano

2020 ◽  
pp. 113-156
Author(s):  
Marta Celati
Keyword(s):  
Political Conflict ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
Political Realism ◽  
Common People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Social Components ◽  
Concrete Model

This chapter presents a critical study of Giovanni Pontano’s De bello Neapolitano, the historical account of the ‘conspiracy of the barons’ against Ferdinando of Aragon, king of Naples, and the war that followed the rebellion (1459–65). Pontano’s work is contextualized in the historical and cultural scenario of the Aragonese monarchy and in the humanist’s broader literary and political activity, as a historian, political and literary theorist, and royal secretary. In particular the De bello Neapolitano can be placed in the realm of ‘political historiography’, a genre that enjoyed considerable fortune in Italian Renaissance. Pontano’s work is inspired by different models, both classical and contemporary, and continues the tradition of Aragonese historiography (inaugurated by Valla, Facio, and Panormita). Moreover, the chapter examines the text from a political angle by investigating its connections with Pontano’s most significant political-theoretical treatises: De principe and De obedientia. The analysis illustrates how the humanist’s princely ideology and his theory of statecraft is framed by means of different works, through the interplay of historical narrative and theoretical speculation. In this productive literary interaction, the topic of internal political conflict occupies a prominent position and its treatment in Pontano’s works reveals a developing idea of political realism. Pontano provides a concrete model of an ideal state that is based on the principle of obedience and on the hierarchical relationship between different social components: the prince, the barons, and the common people, components that play a key function, both narrative and exemplary, also in the humanist’s historical work.

scholarly journals „Турското робство” като място на ­памет. Резултати от теренно изследване

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Евгения [Evgeniia] Иванова [Ivanova]
Keyword(s):  
Joint Venture ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
American University ◽  
National Memory ◽  
National Liberation Movement ◽  
High Level

Topoi of historical memory in Bulgaria. Field researchThe article summarizes the preliminary results from the research project “Topoi of Memory”, which is a joint venture between the New Bulgarian University and the American University in Bulgaria.The major goal of the research team is to investigate the level of modernization of Bulgarian society using the mechanism of historical memory. Thus we are trying to answer the question: whether there exists one coherent and normative Grand Historical Narrative, inspired by “the inventors of tradition” – and how does it function. Or, whether there are diverse narratives which circulate among the various social, ethnic and religious groups, according to their own value systems.Another aim of the research is to establish the generators of memory, which are at odds between the institutional education and the traditions of the different groups.The results are quite clear: the Grand Bulgarian Historical Narrative is centered on the last decade of the Ottoman Rule in Bulgaria (the 1870’s) which presents the climax of the national liberation movement and the Liberation from the “Turkish Joke”. Still, the “joke” is marked primarily by the heroic discourse. This is in sharp distinction with Serbia, where the traumatic discourse is dominant. The heroic discourse allows much more wider deployment of the narratives of epic heroism, than the traumatic national memory of martyrdom.The leading topoi of memory among the majority of Bulgarians and the diverse minorities groups are relatively similar, still they differ on the level of repetition of these topoi. Even the representatives of the Turkish minority consider the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule the most important historical event. This fact does not mean that these Bulgarian Turks highlight a distinct “martyrdom memory”, or feature a high level of integration in Bulgarian society. It rather presents (in the majority of the cases) a special mimicry of the minority group versus the majority.  „Niewola turecka” jako miejsce pamięci. Wyniki badań terenowych Tekst zawiera raport z badań przeprowadzonych w ramach projektu „Toposy pamięci historycznej” realizowanego przez Nowy Uniwersytet Bułgarski i Uniwersytet Amerykański w Bułgarii. Głównym celem była ocena poziomu modernizacji społeczeństwa bułgarskiego, który byłby do uchwycenia z perspektywy mechanizmów pamięci. Czy można mówić o istnieniu jednej wielkiej narracji narodowej, inspirowanej przez „wynalazców tradycji”, czy też o cyrkulacji wielu opowieści – zależnie od systemów wartości poszczególnych grup społecznych, etnicznych, religijnych? Innym celem badania było wyznaczenie czynników tworzących pamięć (generatorów), jak powszechne wykształcenie czy tradycje rodowe.Wyniki badań jednoznacznie pokazują, że wielka bułgarska narracja narodowa – jeśli w ogóle istnieje – osadzona jest w ostatniej dekadzie panowania osmańskiego: okresie walk narodowowyzwoleńczych i wyzwolenia spod „jarzma tureckiego”. „Jarzmo” jednak nie tyle definiowane jest w kategoriach traumy (jak chociażby w Serbii), ile heroizmu. Okazuje się w większym stopniu impulsem do wielkiego zrywu niż martyrologią.W przypadku Bułgarów i poszczególnych mniejszości narodowych wiodące toposy są podobne, mimo iż pojawiają się z różną częstotliwością. Nawet mniejszość turecka uznaje wyzwolenie Bułgarii spod panowania osmańskiego za najważniejsze wydarzenie, w czym nie należy upatrywać martyrologii czy wysokiego stopnia integracji; w większości przypadków pozwala to dojrzeć w tym zjawisku tendencję do stosowania strategii mimikry.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Marta Celati
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Renaissance Literature ◽  
Literature And Politics ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Classical Models ◽  
Political Background ◽  
Definition Of

The first section is a general introduction to Italian Early Renaissance literature on the topic of conspiracies. It sets out the theoretical basis of this study, providing the definition of the ‘thematic genre’ of texts on political plots and contextualizing it within the historical, cultural, and political background of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. This substantial corpus consists of texts produced in different political centres and through different literary forms, but with significant thematic and ideological traits in common. The expansion of this kind of literature, in an epoch that can be rightly defined an ‘age of conspiracies’, is connected with the concentration of political power in the hands of newly established leaders. In this scenario, the fruitful interaction between literature and politics is evident in the development of two intertwined genres: historical-literary works on plots and political treatises de principe, texts that are informed by similar political perspectives and contribute to the legitimization of new types of authorities. The crucial implications that the issue of conspiracy had in the literary debate on princely power will also emerge clearly in the following century in Machiavelli’s thought. This chapter additionally introduces the crucial role played by the classical tradition in this ‘thematic’ literature. Sallust is predictably the chief source, but all texts are based on the recovery of manifold classical models and display a complex process of imitation that affects structural, thematic, stylistic, and ideological aspects. The last section offers an overview of the main fifteenth-century texts on plots.

Institutional Historical Memory and History in Post-Soviet Belarus

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-73
Author(s):  
Alena Marková
Keyword(s):  
Historical Memory ◽  
Typical Feature ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
National History ◽  
Nationality Policy ◽  
Second Shift ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Government ◽  
Clear Shift

Abstract Belarusian institutional historical memory (as defined by Richard Ned Lebow) and the interpretation of Belarusian national history have experienced radical shifts in the past several decades. The first shift (1990–1994) was characterized by radical rejection of the interpretational and methodological patterns of the Soviet period, resulting in the creation of a new concept of Belarusian national history and historical narrative. The second shift in the existing historical narrative and institutional memory followed rapidly. It came with the transformation from a parliamentary republic into a parliamentary-presidential (1994) and then presidential republic (1996). The second wave demonstrated a clear shift towards a methodological, theoretical approach and terminological framework typical of the historiography of the Soviet period. These changes were in response to the growing demands for ideological control of institutionalized historical research supported by the government in the same decade. One of the characteristic features of recent Belarusian state-sponsored historiography (Lyč, Chigrinov, Marcuĺ, Novik and others) is the linking of post-Soviet national initiatives to Nazi occupation and collaboration in World War II. Another typical feature is simplifying historical explanations and often using undisguised pejorative terminology. The last shift in institutional historical memory also resulted in further re-interpretations of many symbolic centres and milestones of Belarusian history (for example, the period of the first years of post-Soviet independence, the introduction of new national symbols (Pahonia coat of arms and white-red-white flag) and the interwar nationality policy of Belarusization of the 1920s.)

John among the Apocalypses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin E. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
And Function

The central place of revelation in the Gospel of John and the Gospel’s revelatory telling of the life of Jesus are distinctive features of John when compared with the Synoptic Gospels; yet, when John is compared among the apocalypses, these same features indicate John’s striking affinity with the genre of apocalypse. By paying attention to modern genre theory and making an extensive comparison with the standard definition of “apocalypse,” the Gospel of John reflects similarities with Jewish apocalypses in form, content, and function. Even though the Gospel of John reflects similarities with the genre of apocalypse, John is not an apocalypse, but in genre theory terms, John may be described as a gospel in kind and an apocalypse in mode. John’s narrative of Jesus’s life has been qualified and shaped by the genre of apocalypse, such that it may be called an “apocalyptic” gospel. Understanding the Fourth Gospel as “apocalyptic” Gospel provides an explanation for John’s appeal to Israel’s Scriptures and Mosaic authority. Possible historical reasons for the revelatory narration of Jesus’s life in the Gospel of John may be explained by the Gospel’s relationship with the book of Revelation and the history of reception concerning their writing. An examination of Byzantine iconographic traditions highlights how reception history may offer a possible explanation for reading John as “apocalyptic” Gospel.

Law in Common

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Common People ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Economic Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Law ◽  
Late Medieval England

There were tens of thousands of different local law-courts in late-medieval England, providing the most common forums for the working out of disputes and the making of decisions about local governance. While historians have long studied these institutions, there have been very few attempts to understand this complex institutional form of ‘legal pluralism’. Law in Common provides a way of apprehending this complexity by drawing out broader patterns of legal engagement. The first half of the book explores four ‘local legal cultures’ – in the countryside, towns and cities, the maritime world, and Forests – that grew up around legal institutions, landscapes, and forms of socio-economic practice in these places, and produced distinctive senses of law. The second half of the book turns to examine ‘common legalities’, widespread forms of social practice that emerge across these different localities, through which people aimed to invoke the power of law. Through studies of the physical landscape, the production of legitimate knowledge, the emergence of English as a legal vernacular, and the proliferation of legal documents, it offers a new way to understand how common people engaged with law in the course of their everyday lives. Drawing on a huge body of archival research from the plenitude of different local institutions, Law in Common offers a new social history of law that aims to explain how common people negotiated the transformational changes of the long fifteenth century through legality.

Historical Narratives and Understanding

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Stefan Petkov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Past ◽  
Epistemic Criteria

This paper defends the view that narratives that bring understanding of the past need not be exhaustively analyzable as explanatory inferences, nor as causal narratives. Instead of treating historical narrative as explanations, I argue that understanding of history can be analyzed by the general epistemic criteria of understanding. I explore one such criterion, which is of chief importance for good historical narratives: potential inferential power. As a corollary, I dispute one of the distinctive features of narratives described by some philosophers: the non-aggregativity of narrative histories. Instead, I propose that historical narratives modestly aggregate and this aggregation depends on the success of the colligatory concepts they offer.

The Opposite of Custom

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
M. Christina Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Conspicuous Consumption ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Definition Of

Fifteenth-century Italian urban and ecclesiastical authorities sought to regulate the laity’s conspicuous consumption of dress, sometimes resulting in canon law petitions for exemption on the grounds of custom. By exploiting an ambivalent definition of custom according to status, wealthy men and especially women successfully sidestepped regulation. Critics of luxury such as the Franciscan Observants, who encountered similar arguments in confession, countered this permissive understanding of custom with alternate criteria for determining proper dress tied to the morality of the economic behavior that made luxurious dress possible. Overlapping definitions of custom drawn from canon law and moral theology thus provided both fashionable people and their confessors a way to negotiate and contest their status.

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