Witchcraft and Politics in Muscovy and the Hetmanate

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-78
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
Inner Circle ◽  
Witchcraft Trials ◽  
Modern Russian

This chapter analyzes witchcraft and politics in Muscovy and the Hetmanate. Politics at the early modern Russian (or Muscovite) court was very much focused on personal connections of kinship, marriage, and patronage, so the choice of brides for the rulers was of utmost political importance. Witchcraft, or rumors of witchcraft, frequently arose in connection with royal marriages. Witchcraft charges also arose when competition among rival factions at court grew particularly fierce, as during the minorities of rulers, when members of the inner circle jockeyed for position, or when a ruler was selecting his royal bride. While it is true that in many instances witchcraft charges were combined with suspicions of high treason or lese majesty — that is, attacks on the ruler, his family, or his dignity — far from all Russian witchcraft trials or anxieties can be described as “political” in any conventional sense of the word. Instead of stressing the political essence of witchcraft, one could emphasize the personal, familial, or even emotional aspects of political life that emerge from the language and sites of anxiety evident in these texts. Witchcraft thus provides a lens through which to rethink the very nature of politics.

War and Sovereignty in Medieval Roman Law

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-63
Author(s):  
Ryan Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Just War ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
War And Peace

The theory of just war in medieval canon law and theology has attracted to it a large body of scholarship, and is recognized as an important foundation for Western approaches to the study of ethics in war. By contrast, the tradition on war in medieval Roman law has not received much attention, although it developed doctrines that are distinct from those in canon law and theology. The oversight is notable because medieval Roman law on war influenced subsequent tradition, forming with canon law the essential basis for early modern legal thought on war and peace. While the main canonistic contributions to legal theory on war came in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Roman jurists added new opinion in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which can be related to the political life of Italy and to the growth of the independent cities. By the fourteenth century, Roman lawyers (or civilians) often considered licit war from a secular and pragmatic perspective, and associated a right of war with sovereignty. Here, I would like to trace the development of this theory, from roughly 1250 to 1450, and particularly a view that sovereigns licitly judged the justice of their own causes, as a remedy for a lack of superior authority.

Women in Power and Decision making Positions : Conditions and Restraints

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Azza Charara Baydoun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Slow Progress

Women today are considered to be outside the political and administrative power structures and their participation in the decision-making process is non-existent. As far as their participation in the political life is concerned they are still on the margins. The existence of patriarchal society in Lebanon as well as the absence of governmental policies and procedures that aim at helping women and enhancing their political participation has made it very difficult for women to be accepted as leaders and to be granted votes in elections (UNIFEM, 2002).This above quote is taken from a report that was prepared to assess the progress made regarding the status of Lebanese women both on the social and governmental levels in light of the Beijing Platform for Action – the name given to the provisions of the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The above quote describes the slow progress achieved by Lebanese women in view of the ambitious goal that requires that the proportion of women occupying administrative or political positions in Lebanon should reach 30 percent of thetotal by the year 2005!

“I'd make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson's Catiline His Conspiracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Legal Procedures ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.

The Ideology of Socialism and the Armenian Political Parties

wisdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Gegham HOVHANNISYAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Given

The article covers the manifestations and peculiarities of the ideology of socialism in the social-political life of Armenia at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. General characteristics, aims and directions of activity of the political organizations functioning in the Armenian reality within the given time-period, whose program documents feature the ideology of socialism to one degree or another, are given (Hunchakian Party, Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian Social-democrats, Specifics, Socialists-revolutionaries). The specific peculiarities of the national-political life of Armenia in the given time-period and their impact on the ideology of political forces are introduced.

The critical theory of democracy in Western political thought

2020 ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Ruqaya Saeed Khalkhal
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Political Realities ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theory Of Democracy ◽  
Or Applications ◽  
The Ideal

The darkness that Europe lived in the shadow of the Church obscured the light that was radiating in other parts, and even put forward the idea of democracy by birth, especially that it emerged from the tent of Greek civilization did not mature in later centuries, especially after the clergy and ideological orientation for Protestants and Catholics at the crossroads Political life, but when the Renaissance emerged and the intellectual movement began to interact both at the level of science and politics, the Europeans in democracy found refuge to get rid of the tyranny of the church, and the fruits of the application of democracy began to appear on the surface of most Western societies, which were at the forefront to be doubtful forms of governece.        Democracy, both in theory and in practice, did not always reflect Western political realities, and even since the Greek proposition, it has not lived up to the idealism that was expected to ensure continuity. Even if there is a perception of the success of the democratic process in Western societies, but it was repulsed unable to apply in Islamic societies, because of the social contradiction added to the nature of the ruling regimes, and it is neither scientific nor realistic to convey perceptions or applications that do not conflict only with our civilized reality The political realization created by certain historical circumstances, and then disguises the different reality that produced them for the purpose of resonance in the ideal application.

Ransoming Russians from Tatars: Justification and Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 91-99
Author(s):  
Donald Ostrowski
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Sliding Scale ◽  
The Government ◽  
Modern Russian

The early modern Russian government and Russian Orthodox Church identified as one of their main duties the ransoming of Russian Christians from Muslim Tatar captors. The process of ransoming could be an involved one with negotiations being carried on by different agents and by the potential ransomees themselves. Different amounts of ransom were paid on a sliding scale depending upon the ransomee’s social status, gender, and age. One of our main sources for the justification of this practice was the Stoglav (100 Chapters) Church Council in 1551, which discussed the issue of ransom in some detail. The Law Code (Ulozhenie) of 1649 specifies the conditions and amounts to be paid to redeem captives. Church writers justified the ransoming of Christian captives of the Muslim Tatars by citing Scripture, and they also specified that the government should pay the ransom out of its own treasury.

JULIJONA – LIETUVOS DIDŽIOJO KUNIGAIKŠČIO ALGIRDO ŽMONA IR JO VAIKŲ MOTINA

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019/2 ◽  
pp. 5-39
Author(s):  
Darius Baronas
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Nature Of Information ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania

ANNOTATION. This article is the first attempt of the biographic research of Grand Duchess Uliana Algirdienė of Lithuania (d. 17/03/1392), based on the critical analysis of primary sources. It is also aimed at pointing out the reflection of the role of women in the pagan Lithuanian society. The research was carried out by means of the analytical and comparative method of historical source analysis with a view to separate as distinctly as possible the information derived from contemporary sources from the images imposed by later historiographic tradition. The article questions the stereotypes related to Uliana’s great political power in Lithuania’s political life that are well-established in modern historiography and present-day cultural memory. With this an attempt is made to draw attention to the problematic nature of information derived from historical sources as well as to more distinctly define the frames imposed by the political culture of pagan Lithuania which clearly marked the boundaries for the political activities of women representing the ruling dynasty. This article for the most part dwells on the issues related to the coverage of Algirdas and Uliana’s marriage and the period of their married life up to Algirdas’ death in 1377. KEYWORDS: Uliana, Algirdas, Simeon, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Moscow, Tver, Rus’, women

Август и Агриппа: развитие системы соправления с 29 по 18 г. до н. э.

2017 ◽  
pp. 126-169
Author(s):  
S.E. Tariverdieva
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Inheritance System ◽  
The Future ◽  
One Step ◽  
Formal Equality ◽  
Different Parts

The article deals with the development of the coregency system of Augustus and Agrippa from 29 to 18 BC: from formal and actual disparity of the coregents to their formal equality with the dominance of the princeps auctoritas. Particular attention is paid to the earlier stages of this development and to the crisis of 23 BC. The coregency system created by Augustus is often regarded by modern historians as means of ensuring uninterrupted succession of power. Agrippa as his coregent often is thought to have assumed the role of the regent who temporally replaces the princeps, just as it was in formal monarchies, or that of the tutor of the future rulers. However, the Roman system of state administration did not allow such type of regency. The princeps coregent, who was his equal in formal credentials but his inferior in terms of auctoritas, in case of the princeps death had to become the next princeps as his immediate successor. It is unlikely that later he was expected to voluntarily give up his power in favour of younger heir and to vanish from the political life altogether. The inheritance system under Augustus was like a ladder with the princeps at the top, the coregent who was also the immediate successor one step below, heirs of the next degree further down. In case of death of one of them, successors shifted one step up. The coregency had one more function: geographically it allowed Augustus and Agrippa to rule jointly the empire while staying in different parts of it.В статье исследуется развитие системы соправления Августа и Агриппы с 29 по 12 гг. до н. э.: от формального и фактического неравенства соправителей до их формального равенства при преобладании auctoritas принцепса, причём особое внимание уделяется раннему этапу этого развития и кризису 23 г. до н. э. Институт соправления, созданный Августом, часто рассматривается, как средство обеспечения бесперебойного перехода власти, причем Агриппе, как соправителю, НЕРЕДКО отводится роль регента, временно замещающего принцепса или воспитателя будущих правителей. Однако римская система государственного управления не предполагала регентства. Соправитель принцепса, равный ему по формальным полномочиям, но уступавший по auctoritas, в случае его смерти должен был СТАТЬ следующим принцепсом, ближайшим его наследником. Вряд ли предполагалось, что в будущем он должен добровольно уступить власть более молодому наследнику и исчезнуть из политической жизни. Система наследования при Августе представляла собой нечто вроде лестницы, на вершине которой стоял принцепс, на следующей ступени соправитель, он же избранный преемник, ниже наследники следующей очереди в случае смерти когото из них происходило продвижение наследников по ступеням вверх. Кроме того, соправление имело и иное значение позволяло Августу и Агриппе совместно управлять империей, находясь в разных ее частях.

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