The General Introduction

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OUTLAW KING: SACRIFICING HISTORICAL ACCURACY FOR GREATER DRAMA

Outlaw King directed by David Mackenzie, follows the story of Robert Bruce as he defies Edward I’s dominance over Scotland. Bruce with the help of a group of allies amasses a small army to fight back and assert Scotland’s independence. The history of Scottish independence in the fourteenth century is one that is defined by a constant push and pull between English forces and the forces of Robert Bruce. Its history is complicated with many conflicts, alliances, and interwoven narratives that make this story one that is incredibly complicated. For the purposes of this paper, I examine Mackenzie’s cinematic depiction of the key historical figures of the time and argue that Mackenzie’s cinematic depiction of this period of history falls short of the mark when it comes to an accurate depiction of Robert Bruce's life as an outlaw king. What one will come to realize is that the filmmakers make a number of decisions which compromise historical accuracy for the sake of creating better drama.

Alexander's Bandit Kings

After the death of Alexander, the Great in 323 BCE at Babylon, his generals, friends, family, and even secretaries would fight for decades to control the spoils of his newly forged empire. Eventually a series of Hellenistic kingdoms would carve up his empire stretching from Western Greece to Northern India. For nearly 300 years after his death Alexander’s successors would fight a series of titanic and seemingly never-ending wars with each war simply leading into the next. The Seleucids and Ptolemies would fight six Syrian Wars and never manage to fully conquer one another, Pyrrhus of Epirus would go on a never-ending series of military expeditions each time failing until he was finally killed in skirmish in Argos. The question must be asked then what compelled the Hellenistic Kings to go to war so much? By looking at primary and secondary sources it becomes clear that Hellenistic Kings were motivate by a powerful fusion of economics, geography, military, ideological, and legitimacy needs that would propel them into war after war. This essay determines what these myriad reasons were specifically and how it affected the Hellenistic kingdoms rational for going to war.

A Forgotten Hero?: The Influence of Andrew Murray during the Scottish Wars of Independence, 1296-1298

William Wallace is a highly renowned Scottish legend, who led his nation to victories against the English in battles such as Stirling Bridge. There are also some other less known figures who contributed to this success but are lost in the Wallace romance. The most notable of these figures is Andrew Murray. Murray is a forgotten hero in Scottish legacy, and played a major role in Wallace's success. Andrew Murray was a strong military leader and was greatly admiried by the lower classes of Scotland. Murray's character and tactics as a military leader were instrumental in Wallace's campaigns against the English, particularly at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. This was made further evident by his death in late 1297 and his absence in the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Falkirk the following year.

White Women Poets: The Fight Towards the Abolition of the Slave Trade in Eighteenth-Century Britain

The British Parliament passed the act to abolish the slave trade in 1807. Many historians focus on the powerful men that challenged Parliament such as Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, but rarely do they acknowledge the active role that British white women played in the abolition campaign. Women raised awareness of the slave trade by supporting abolition societies, promoting the boycott of slave-grown sugar, and creating anti-slavery writing. Poetry, in particular, was the most common type of anti-slavery writing done by white women. This paper explores the use of poetry as a tool to promote the abolition of the slave trade by examining Mary Birkett Card’s A Poem on the African Slave Trade, Hannah More’s Slavery, A Poem and Sorrows of Yamba, and Ann Yearsley’s A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade. These poems highlight three key themes including the separation of family, Christianity, and the luxuries the British possessed at the expense of the Africans suffering.

The Impact of Somali Piracy Since 2000 on International Trade

This essay investigates how modern day piracy off of the coast of Somalia has negatively impacted international trade. The paper breaks down possible causes of Somali piracy and offers possible solutions to the problem after it has been made known. Since the topic and research is so current and because the piracy problem still exists today, readers will be drawn to this essay. Final grade - 85.

Economics Of Rome

In the terms of this essay we discus the economic and societal shift that would be shown in Roman History, mainly in the vain of economic differences in the Republic and Empire rule of the Roman people. The two events that are compared are the economic strategies in the 2nd Punic War and the Catiline conspiracy, and how the different economic strategies would affect the societal rule of the Roman classes. This also explores the laws that where implemented by the senate and the new tax reforms that would then give the Roman society a new way of life with the raising of taxes and the increased need for Raw materials and chattel.

Death by Honey and Bees

Intense political and religious divisions plagued mid-seventeenth-century English society following the execution of King Charles I and the English civil war conflicts. Against this backdrop, a fringe, troublesome Puritan preacher named Samuel Clarke published a history of Protestant martyrs, A Generall Marytrologie (1651), modeled after John Foxe’s popular Book of Martyrs (1563). Clarke’s less famous but more sensational version offered a zealous, often embellished, graphic account of religious persecution designed to incite anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiment. Significantly, his rousing text was supported by eighty crude and provocative engraved images depicting grotesque scenes of abuse and brutal sexual violence repeatedly positioning women and children as victims of “Papist” torture. To modern viewers, the inflammatory visuals are startling and disturbing, but they were enabled by several factors including a censored publishing industry in lockstep with Protestant ideology; a largely illiterate population swayed by traditions of narrative storytelling and visual messaging; and a fractious political environment in which leading figures actively positioned the Irish and Catholics as a menace to English society.

"Eradicating Religious Differences”: Religious Turmoil During the French Wars of Religion

This essay looks at the French Wars of Religion, specifically the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre and the relationship that it has to religious conflict. Looking at the religious elements of violence within this massacre attempts to show that both Protestant and Catholic leaders, followers, and significant figure of the time, like the King and Catharine de Medici, used religious upheaval as a way to condone the violence that ensued during the late 1560s and early 1570s. Using both primary and secondary sources, this essay looks at ‘Religious nationalism’ and its role in the blood shed of the Massacre. The tensions between the two sects of religion were growing, St. Bartholomew’s Day is an example of when this tension became too much. Looking closely at the people involved and the events that took place, violence and religion are clearly intertwined.

An Even Stronger Woman: The Substantial Role of Indigenous Women Throughout North American Herstory

Indigenous women have had immense impacts on North American society since before the beginning of the colonization process. Recent historical research has shed light on these influences made by Indigenous women as they begin to unpack the multiple abilities of these strong women. Indigenous women controlled both the private and public spheres by captaining the economic, political, and social roles of society. They had a voice within their communities and used it to obtain change and progress. They were respected mothers, providers, nurturers, and leaders. These women worked endlessly as producers of vast fields of agriculture and as important members of the fur trade to sustain their communities. This paper explores the roles that Indigenous women took on throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and how they broke gender roles and stereotypes that were common in their European counterparts’ societies during this period. This is done by incorporating the perspectives of Indigenous women themselves who haven written about the lives their ancestors lived and everything they accomplished. These new perspectives show that Indigenous women were essential and resilient to the success of their communities. They prove that behind all strong men, there are even stronger woman.