Constructing kingship
Constructing kingship

Author: James Naus

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1526100452

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Crusading kings such as Louis IX of France and Richard I of England exert a unique hold on our historical imagination. For this reason, it can be easy to forget that European rulers were not always eager participants in holy war. The First Crusade was launched in 1095, and yet the first monarch did not join the movement until 1146, when the French king Louis VII took the cross to lead the Second Crusade. One contemporary went so far as to compare the crusades to 'Creation and man's redemption on the cross', so what impact did fifty years of non-participation have on the image and practice of European kingship and the parameters of cultural development? This book considers this question by examining the challenge to political authority that confronted the French kings and their family members as a direct result of their failure to join the early crusades, and their less-than-impressive involvement in later ones.

The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy
The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy

Author: Meredith Cohen

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1107025575

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This book offers a novel perspective on one of the most important monuments of French Gothic architecture, the Sainte-Chapelle, constructed in Paris by King Louis IX of France between 1239 and 1248 especially to hold and to celebrate Christ's Crown of Thorns. Meredith Cohen argues that the chapel's architecture, decoration, and use conveyed the notion of sacral kingship to its audience in Paris and in greater Europe, thereby implicitly elevating the French king to the level of suzerain, and establishing an early visual precedent for the political theories of royal sovereignty and French absolutism. By setting the chapel within its broader urban and royal contexts, this book offers new insight into royal representation and the rise of Paris as a political and cultural capital in the thirteenth century.

The Making of Saint Louis
The Making of Saint Louis

Author: Marianne Cecilia Gaposchkin

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780801445507

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M. Cecilia Gaposchkin reconstructs and analyzes the process that led to King Louis IX of France's canonization in 1297 and the consolidation and spread of his cult.

Paths to Kingship in Medieval Latin Europe, c. 950–1200
Paths to Kingship in Medieval Latin Europe, c. 950–1200

Author: Björn Weiler

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-10-14

Total Pages: 493

ISBN-13: 1009006223

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Medieval Europe was a world of kings, but what did this mean to those who did not themselves wear a crown? How could they prevent corrupt and evil men from seizing the throne? How could they ensure that rulers would not turn into tyrants? Drawing on a rich array of remarkable sources, this engaging study explores how the fears and hopes of a ruler's subjects shaped both the idea and the practice of power. It traces the inherent uncertainty of royal rule from the creation of kingship and the recurring crises of royal successions, through the education of heirs and the intrigue of medieval elections, to the splendour of a king's coronation, and the pivotal early years of his reign. Monks, crusaders, knights, kings (and those who wanted to be kings) are among a rich cast of characters who sought to make sense of and benefit from an institution that was an object of both desire and fear.

Sacred Kingship in World History
Sacred Kingship in World History

Author: A. Azfar Moin

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2022-05-10

Total Pages: 653

ISBN-13: 0231555407

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Sacred kingship has been the core political form, in small-scale societies and in vast empires, for much of world history. This collaborative and interdisciplinary book recasts the relationship between religion and politics by exploring this institution in long-term and global comparative perspective. Editors A. Azfar Moin and Alan Strathern present a theoretical framework for understanding sacred kingship, which leading scholars reflect on and respond to in a series of essays. They distinguish between two separate but complementary religious tendencies, immanentism and transcendentalism, which mold kings into divinized or righteous rulers, respectively. Whereas immanence demands priestly and cosmic rites from kings to sustain the flourishing of life, transcendence turns the focus to salvation and subordinates rulers to higher ethical objectives. Secular modernity does not end the struggle between immanence and transcendence—flourishing and righteousness—but only displaces it from kings onto nations and individuals. After an essay by Marshall Sahlins that ranges from the Pacific to the Arctic, the book contains chapters on religion and kingship in settings as far-flung as ancient Egypt, classical Greece, medieval Islam, Mughal India, modern European drama, and ISIS. Sacred Kingship in World History sheds new light on how religion has constructed rulership, with implications spanning global history, religious studies, political theory, and anthropology.

The Construction of Ottonian Kingship
The Construction of Ottonian Kingship

Author: Antoni Grabowski

Publisher: Intellectual and Political History

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789462987234

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German historians long assumed that the German Kingdom was created with Henry the Fowler's coronation in 919. The reigns of both Henry the Fowler, and his son Otto the Great, were studied and researched mainly through Widukind of Corvey's chronicle Res Gestae Saxonicae. There was one source on Ottonian times that was curiously absent from most of the serious research: Liudprand of Cremona's Antapodosis. The study of this chronicle leads to a reappraisal of the tenth century in Western Europe showing how mythology of the dynasty was constructed. By looking at the later reception (through later Middle Ages and then on 19th and 20th century historiography) the author showcases the longevity of Ottonian myths and the ideological expressions of the tenth century storytellers.

Pindar and the Construction of Syracusan Monarchy in the Fifth Century B.C.
Pindar and the Construction of Syracusan Monarchy in the Fifth Century B.C.

Author: Kathryn A. Morgan

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 0199366853

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This book situates Pindar's victory odes for Hieron of Syracuse within the tumultuous context of Syracuse and Greece in the early fifth century BC. It combines exploration of the material and musical culture of Hieron's Syracuse with literary analysis to demonstrate how Pindar's poetry manipulates epinician form to effect political legitimation.

The Character of Kingship
The Character of Kingship

Author: Declan Quigley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-31

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1000190048

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Why has monarchy been such a prevalent institution throughout history and in such a diverse range of societies? Kingship is at the heart of both ritual and politics and has major implications for the theory of social and cultural anthropology. Yet, despite the contemporary fascination with royalty, anthropologists have sorely neglected the subject in recent decades. This book combines a strong theoretical argument with a wealth of ethnography from kingships in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Quigley gives a timely and much-needed overview of the anthropology of kingship and a crucial reassessment of the contributions of Frazer and Hocart to debates about the nature and function of royal ritual. From diverse fieldwork sites, a number of eminent anthropologists demonstrate how ritual and power intertwine to produce a series of variations around myth, tragedy and historical realities. However, underneath this diversity, two common themes invariably emerge: the attempt to portray kingship as timeless and perfect, and the dual nature of the king as sacred being and scapegoat.

The Making of an African King
The Making of an African King

Author: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2019-01-04

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0761870717

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In this edition of The Making of an African King: Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle Among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Ghana, Revised & Updated, every chapter is updated, taking into account the 2015 Ghana Supreme Court ruling on the internecine kingship struggle among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba). The patrilineal Otuano Royal Family sued the Acquah faction and proponents of matrilineal succession in 1976, seeking confirmation of their inalienable right as the sole kingmakers of Simpa, and also for the court to place perpetual injunction on the Acquahs never to interfere in the royal affairs of Simpa. During the intervening decades from 1976-2015, Simpa witnessed a spate of intermittent political violence, especially the months leading to their annual Nyantɔr (aboakyir) Festival, all aimed at preventing the king from propitiating the ancestors and deities of Simpa led by Pɛnkyae Otu. With the Supreme Court ruling, people now have the opportunity to read the judgment in its entirety and make up their own minds. What is actually fascinating about the whole internecine royal struggle is, that we have a situation whereby a matrilineal political system practiced by the Akan is displacing a long-established patrilineal system of descent traditionally practiced by the Guan speaking people of Simpa. Such an idea would be unheard of in the West, but this is what is happening among the Ᾱwutu (Effutu) of Simpa (Winneba) socio-culturally and politically. Indeed, it shows how unique and transformative the Akan ābusua (a mother and her children) system is all about.

Rome and the Friendly King (Routledge Revivals)
Rome and the Friendly King (Routledge Revivals)

Author: David Braund

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-08

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1317803019

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Rome and the Friendly King, first published in 1984, offers a functional definition of what is usually called client kingship – to show what a client king (or ‘friendly king’, to use the Roman term) was in practice. Each aspect of this complex role is examined over a period of six centuries: the making of a king; exposure to Roman institutions and individuals; formal recognition as a friendly ruler. Professor Braund shows how the king’s power related to Roman authority, and to his subjects. The role of Romans in royal wills, principally as recipients of bequests, is also examined, and it is also shown how some kings were assimilated completely into Roman society to become senators in their own right. In conclusion, Professor Braund considers the ways in which both sides benefited from client kingship and, in doing so, helps to explain the persistent use of such relationships throughout history.