Citizen of the World

During 1614 to 1615, Europe teetered once again on the brink of war and the English court revelled in the rise and fall of James I’s male favourites. Chapter 5 examines Herbert’s decision to turn his back on English politics during the ascendancy of the earl of Somerset and the Howard family and to go abroad to pursue his military interests and travel in Germany and Italy. It traces his growing military reputation, his friendship with Count Maurice of Nassau, and his presence at the 1614 Jülich-Cleves campaign and then follows his journey by horse, coach, and boat through the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. It highlights his diplomatic connections, sight-seeing interests, and scholarly activities, including his early interest in centres of religion such as Rome and Geneva, together with offers 5.P1, dof military employment, including the commission from Charles Emmanuel I, duke of Savoy, to raise a Protestant army in Languedoc which led to his arrest and temporary imprisonment in Lyon. Herbert resisted pressure from family and friends to return home to manage his estates and only set sail for England in late 1615 once European peace was temporarily secured and as the influence of Somerset and the Howards began to crumble.

English Politics and the Blasphemy Act of 1698*

In 1698, less than a decade after the Toleration Act, a blasphemy law was passed in England. No convictions were ever brought under the Act, and it has been largely neglected by historians. Yet, for all its apparent insignificance, the Blasphemy Act is an instructive episode in post-1688 politics, which sheds light on the political realignments of the post-revolutionary decade. The language of the blasphemy debates was theologically sophisticated, rooted in Calvin’s understanding of blasphemy as distinctively malicious, and it is clear that the contours of the extra-parliamentary Trinitarian controversy were a source of division in Westminster too. The Blasphemy Act was one means by which the Williamite bishops, under pressure from both the dissenter-dominated moral reform movement and High Church advocates of Convocation, tried to reassert the court’s moral leadership. But the significance of the dispute was not limited to ecclesiastical politics; the story of the Blasphemy Act was also closely entwined with that of the more famous ‘standing army’ controversy. William’s Court Whig ministers—often portrayed as areligious pragmatists—exploited the theological fault-lines among Country MPs to legitimise fiscal-military reform.

From Henry’s Birth to the End of the Minority 1207–1227

This chapter discusses the period from Henry III's birth to the end of the minority. Henry was born on October 1, 1207, in the royal castle of Winchester. Henry's birth strengthened King John's immediate political position and secured the future of his dynasty, what he later called ‘our perpetual hereditary succession’. Around 1211 or 1212, John made a major decision about Henry's future by entrusting him to the guardianship of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester. Bishop Peter was still impacting on Henry's life and envenoming English politics more than twenty years later. The chapter then details Henry's accession to the throne, after which his governors issued a new version of Magna Carta.

Presbyterians in the Restoration

This chapter examines the ways in which Presbyterian identity was reluctantly refashioned in the late seventeenth century. It discusses the failure of the Presbyterian political and religious programmes at the Restoration, and emphasizes the implications of these failures for the future of Presbyterianism. It shows how living under the penal code meant that Presbyterians adopted practices that could evolve into a structure independent of the national Church, at the same time as demonstrating that hopes for comprehension continued throughout the period. It traces the ultimate reasons for the failure of comprehension, and the processes by which a distinct Presbyterian identity emerged. It concludes by examining some of the ways in which the history of Restoration Presbyterianism might not simply be a history of failure, and suggests its broader impact on English politics and religion.

How Can Money Conquer France? On the Question about the Monetary Policy of King Henry V in 1415–1422

This article studies the peculiarities of the monetary policy of English king Henry V in the territories of the Kingdom of France occupied by him between 1415 and 1422. The purpose of the study is to establish its influence on the state of finance in France and, first of all, on the sharp depreciation of silver money following the defeat. Within the framework of English politics, two stages can be clearly traced: the first one lasted from 1415 to 1420, when monetary policy was indirect in nature, influencing the French economy by the fact of conquest and becoming an additional factor in the aggravation of the domestic political struggle, and the other one lasted from 1420 to 1422 and was connected with the intention of Henry V as regent of the Kingdom of France, to bring the financial system into relative order. The author refers to French and English chronicles, The Diary of a Parisian Citizen, as well as the ordinances of the kings of France, which reflected the peculiarities of the monetary policy, more particularly, changes in the exchange rate and weight of silver coins and attempts to carry out reforms. The study carried out makes it possible to find out that the depreciation of the French silver coin was associated with the beginning of the British conquest of Normandy and the transfer of mints located there. A sharp drop in the money rate occurred after the transfer of Paris into the hands of the Burgundians and the formation in the fall of 1418 of an independent financial administration in the south of France under the control of the dauphin. On the contrary, some stabilisation followed the conclusion of the Treaty of Troyes, and the General States adopted a course towards reforms in December 1420. The author determines the stages of the reform and the reasons for its delay. These include: the lack of control over all the mints of the kingdom, the lack of coin metal and the required number of qualified personnel. Finally, the premature death of Henry V in the summer of 1422 did not allow the completion of the monetary reform.

Conjuring legitimacy: Shakespeare’s Macbeth as contemporary English politics

The text provides a political reading of Shakespeare?s Macbeth, claiming that the play is responding to the curious connection between witchcraft and state power in the preceding century, as well as contemporary political events. Namely, practices variously labeled as witchcraft, magic, conjuring were an integral aspect of English politics and struggles over royal succession in the sixteenth century; even more so were the witch hunts and attempts by British monarchs to control witchcraft. These issues reached a head with the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603, and the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. On the surface, Shakespeare?s play, written in the immediate aftermath of the failed attempt at regicide, brings these historical and political issues together in an effort to legitimize James? rule. However, the article shows that a closer look reveals a more complicated, indeed subversive undercurrent at play. Paradoxically, while Macbeth does provide James with legitimacy, at the same time it calls into question the grounds of that legitimacy.