Excerpts from The Freedom Fight: A Novel of Resistance and Freedom.

The Novel Set in 19th century traditional Yorùbáland in South Western Nigeria, Olókùn Ẹṣin is a historical tale about feudalism and enslavement, freedom and independence. It chronicles brilliantly the rebellion of an idealist, Àjàyí, son of Olókùn-Ẹṣin, a prominent member of the town’s Council of Chiefs and the chain reaction of the revolution he mounts against the injustices of enslavement and any kind of feudal practices. His violent protest results in eventual freedom and independence for the people of Òkò from years of servitude under the feudal lord, Olúmokùn, signaling the beginning of the end of feudalism in Yorùbáland. Told mostly from the protagonist’s point of view, with the help of his two prominent compatriots, childhood friend Àyọwí and Ibiwumi, the town’s ̀ Baálẹ’s own daughter, ̀ Ọmọ Olókùn-Ẹṣin chronicles not only the experiences and struggles of these three idealists, but also the inevitable uncertainties and risks of mobilizing the oppressed rank and file in a rule-of-fear system, sanctioned by traditional authority, the many trials and tribulations suffered at the hands of the wily oppressors, and the risks and frustrations of advancing the movement. Ironically, despite the novel’s tension, the ending is paradoxical. While the freedom seekers succeed in establishing a grassroots movement, first by their own example of charity and basic education, however, their hard-fought campaign is compromised by a less than convincing negotiation for freedom, which they gain by bargaining their forced enslavement for a voluntary servitude. Nonetheless, as with any fight for freedom in the modern world, the separation process between the colonizer and the colonized is tenuous, much like the typical Prospero-Caliban sort of scheming, distrustful bargaining between two “unequals.” In Fálétí’s words, “the choice of ending is no different from what happens in ‘real-life’ situations, when the colonizer ensures that he 208 From the Archives does not leave the negotiation table completely empty handed.” 1 The incongruous, happily-ever-after ending of weddings among the freedom fighters, while plausible, appears rather contrived. Nonetheless, its place in Yorùbá literary corpus and contribution to the revolutionary novel sub-genre cannot be overstated. Its significance is threefold. First, it is the best, perhaps still the only, known example of the revolutionary novel sub-genre in Yorùbá that chronicles the practice of the feudal system in Yorùbá history, thus making it the standard example, a good one at that, of successful experimentation in the sub-genre. Undoubtedly, its depiction of slavery and resistance makes it unrivalled as an eloquent marker of a historical and linguistic age gone by. Secondly, it joins the ranks of the works of only two other leading contemporary Yorùbá writers, whose attention to language make them the remaining literary and linguistic purists of the previous generation of Yorùbá writers. Thirdly, since its publication in 1970, it has withstood the test of time as the premier example of “ìjìnlẹ̀ Yorùbá.”

URDU-22 Historical review of the beginning and evolution of feudal system and its social and political impact in Saraiki District Dera Ghazi Khan

Majority people of the District are Saraiki speaking in Dera Ghazi Khan but they under the strong hold of Baloch feudal Lords. Feudalism is not a new issue in our society actually it is an ancient issue of the human society. The term feudalism was started from Europe in medical period during the decline of Roman empire. The continuous wars between Great Britain and France divided the people and stratification of society appeared in Europe. Feudalism was very close to the policy of divide and rule. In 1857 colonial Government was established in India and they also exercised the same. They won the second Sikh war in 1849 and then with annexation of Punjab they became the ruler of India. With their extension policy they marched toward the west of Indus. During forward policy they granted and obliged the various tribes of Dera Ghazi Khan. But after 1854 when they marched in Balochistan they faced a strong and powerful resistance in the tribal belt of Dera Ghazi which was an important route and area before Balochistan. The continual resistance forced the colonial government to negotiate with tribes. In this regard Robert Sandeman was given the Task to manage these tribes and after mutual discussion in 1866 Sandeman became successful to form the Tumans in Dera Ghazi Khan. The tribal Chief was appointed as a Tumandar. Tumandar or the feudal lord is very powerful in his Tuman and the feudal system is still existing even in 21st century.

Lord’s Space in Seventeenth-Century Britain

This chapter discusses the ‘Lord’s space’, which refers to the space (or notional space) round a feudal lord, especially a sovereign prince—or, indeed, space symbolically associated with the Lord God. It focuses on literary examples, particularly plays and masques, which were undoubtedly designed in part to assert through their display the prince’s greatness, even if they contained specific contents of an advisory or controversial nature. France and Britain in the seventeenth century are apparently to be regarded as ‘theatre states’. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, the dominant symbol of nature had become the theatre. In the midst of all the significant theatricality, a prince’s location, both in the cosmic or intellectual and in the material theatre, must be a matter of moment. The prince required to be the cynosure of all the looking, so that theatres must be constructed accordingly. That was possible, because in the early seventeenth century court theatres were hardly ever permanent buildings, but rather temporary facilities, usually erected for a single performance, perhaps in a hall of Whitehall Palace that also served many other functions. The chapter then considers the hierarchic ordering of objects and people that had long governed the visual imagination of medieval people.

The Venetian Bride

A true story of vendetta and intrigue, triumph and tragedy, exile and repatriation in early modern Venice, this book focuses on the marriage between the feudal lord Count Girolamo Della Torre and Giulia Bembo, daughter of a powerful Venetian senator and grand-niece of Cardinal Pietro Bembo. Exiled to Crete for pursuing vendetta to avenge the murder of his father, Girolamo marries Giulia with the aim of enlisting her father as a powerful ally. Thus begins a challenging itinerary that leads from the Mediterranean back to Venice and its mainland territories in the Veneto and the Patria del Friuli. It plays out against a backdrop of the birth of ten children, the Council of Trent, papal and imperial politics, the rise of Girolamo’s brother Michele to the cardinalate, the Ottoman threat, and the golden age of Venetian art. Once a pawn in a marital strategy that failed, Giulia is celebrated after her death with the first independent biography of an ordinary woman published in Italy. The fortunes and misfortunes of the Della Torre bloodline, which survived the end of the Venetian Republic in 1797, are emblematic of a change in feudal culture from clan solidarity to individualism and intrafamily strife, and ultimately redemption. This epic tale opens a precious window into a contentious period in which Venetian republican values clash with the deeply rooted feudal traditions of honour and blood feuds of the mainland.

Minor Dynasties of Early Mediaeval Bengal According to Epigraphical Data: the Dynasty of Varmans (ca. 1050-1125 AD)

The paper presents a description of the socio-political and economic condition of South-Eastern Bengal in a relatively short period at the cusp of the 11th and 12th centuries, when the dynasty of Varmans ruled there. It is based on the data contained in their inscriptions. Altogether the period of the dynasty's reign did not exceed ¾ century. During this time four rulers succeeded the throne, namely Jatavarman, his both sons – Harivarman and Samalavarman, and also Bhojavarman, the son of the latter. There are seven historical sources ascribed to the dynasty, among them two manuscripts and five inscriptions. These five inscriptions contain three land-grant charters, and two inscriptions on large objects. Three land-grant charters are compiled on behalf of Harivarman, Samalavarman and Bhojavarman, while two inscriptions on large objects are dated back to the reigns of Harivarman and Bhojavarman. The first two of the three charters are poorly preserved; therefore, they cannot be deciphered in full, only the charter of Bhojavarman can be read moderately well. Of the two inscriptions on large objects, one is a panegyric of Bhatta Bhavadeva, who was the minister of peace and war of Harivarman, and the other was compiled on behalf of a minor feudal lord during the reign of Bhojavarman The dynasty's charters show that Varmans were a ‘regional’ dynasty whose interests did not extend beyond Bengal. Their status allowed them to give land-grants on their own; at the same time, they may be considered as minor independent rulers who constitute the orbit of the regional hegemon – the Pāla dynasty. In turn, the inscriptions on large objects ascribed to the dynasty of Varmans speak for the existence of a system of the hierarchical administration in their principality, as well as the existence of developed commodity-money relations and intensive social and economic ties of the territories controlled by the Varman with the rest of Bengal as well as with other regions of not only India, but probably with more distant countries. It should also be emphasized that their inscriptions witness the earliest evidence of the presence of Muslims in Bengal.

Il signore va alla Camera. I relevi dell’archivio della Regia Camera della Sommaria

The essay offers an analysis of the largest concentration of records concerning the feudal lord- ship in the Kingdom of Naples from the 15th to the 17th century, the serie Relevi, kept at the Ar- chivio di Stato of Naples. The Relevi were the core of the enormous mass of records hold by the Archives of the Camera della Sommaria in Naples. These files must be considered as a whole: by tracing the creation, the evolution and the integration of the archives of the most important fiscal and financial court of the reign, the paper points out the crucial links between archivistic order, government of the state and seigneural power in the Aragonese and Spanish era.

Monumental Structures of Bilyar: new approach. Buildings with Underfloor Heating

The article discusses the monumental buildings of Bilyar, located in the citadel of the fortified settlement. Great mosque of Bilyar and other public buildings were investigated in the 70s of XX century. At the same time their reconstruction, which became canonical were made. Consideration of Bilyar buildings in the context of the architecture of the entire Muslim world makes it possible to make some adjustments both in the interpretation of buildings and in the elements of their reconstruction. The building with underfloor heating near the Juma mosque was considered the house of a feudal lord and was reconstructed as a two-story domed building. Another multi-room building with heated floors was interpreted as a caravanserai. Underfloor heating, plastering floors and walls with a water-resistant mortar, and a water drainage system indicate that these buildings were public baths. Like all eastern baths, they had one floor and were multi-domed buildings.

Medicine in the Byzantine empire: history and philosophy

It is shown that the history of medicine in the Byzantine Empire is characterized by almost complete stagnation of development throughout the entire thousand years of the empire, for which characteristic was the domination of religious and magical practices represented as astrology, magic, occultism, neoplatonism over scientific ones, extremely low levels of education and training of doctors. The article points out that one of the leading causes of stagnation of the development of medical science in the Byzantine Empire was the formation of the civil church, which was completely controlled, both in administrative and doctrinal terms, by imperial government, which led to the secularization of the church and its transformation in a great feudal lord; to introduction of pagan beliefs and provisions to the church; to formation and prosperity of superstitions and rituals characteristic of paganism. It is shown that the state subjugating church lost its necessary spiritual foundation (without which it is impossible to build a healthy and prosperous society) resulting in the formation of extremely backward socio-economic situation of Byzantium, with long persistence of slave relations, pervasive embezzlement, huge bureaucracy, corrupt executive system, sharp stratification of society, low level of science in general and medicine in particular.

The Truth Behind Voice and Power in My Feudal Lord: A Speech Act Analysis

Female writers use autobiography to express their experiences, deference, and inner-conflicts. They describe their connection to different events and people in domestic or social context to explain their feelings and complexity of their lives. This study analyzes the way Durrani constructs norms of gender and power in her autobiography, My Feudal Lord. The paper imports Searle’s theory of speech act analysis to discover the way the author creates and performs gender in the domain of power through textual interactions. Durrani achieves the effect of patriarchy through frequent use of directives, expressives, and commissives by her husband through employing direct language. The husband openly expresses criticism, blame, complain, and acknowledgement in his interactions which validate his authority over his wife. The striking feature of the wife’s speech is even more frequent use of directives as compared to the husband. However, the major gender distinction was reflected in the use of directives. The husband used more commands and the wife asked more questions. Another major difference was that of commissives which occurred half of the times in the wife’s speech as compared to her husband’s speech. She hardly used any apologies or compliments which shows her diminishing submission to her husband’s authority. Her expressives also reflect her firm attitude and courage to take risk of protesting against her physically and socially more powerful husband.