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Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1500 to 1750
"Explores colonial Spanish-Apache relations in the Southwest
borderlands"
More than two centuries after the Coronado Expedition first set
foot in the region, the northern frontier of New Spain in the late
1770s was still under attack by Apache raiders. Mark Santiago's
gripping account of Spanish efforts to subdue the Apaches
illuminates larger cultural and political issues in the colonial
period of the Southwest and northern Mexico. To persuade the
Apaches to abandon their homelands and accept Christian
"civilization," Spanish officials employed both the mailed fist of
continuous war and the velvet glove of the reservation system.
"Hostiles" captured by the Spanish would be deported, while Apaches
who agreed to live in peace near the Spanish presidios would
receive support. Santiago's history of the deportation policy
includes vivid descriptions of "colleras," the chain gangs of
Apache prisoners of war bound together for the two-month journey by
mule and on foot from the northern frontier to Mexico City. The
book's arresting title, "The Jar of Severed Hands," comes from a
1792 report documenting a desperate break for freedom made by a
group of Apache prisoners. After subduing the prisoners and killing
twelve Apache men, the Spanish soldiers verified the attempted
breakout by amputating the left hands of the dead and preserving
them in a jar for display to their superiors.
Santiago's nuanced analysis of deportation policy credits both
the Apaches' ability to exploit the Spanish government's dual
approach and the growing awareness on the Spaniards' part that the
peoples they referred to as Apaches were a disparate and complex
assortment of tribes that could not easily be subjugated. "The Jar
of Severed Hands" deepens our understanding of the dynamics of the
relationship between Indian tribes and colonial powers in the
Southwest borderlands.
James Casey offers an innovative study of prestige, power and the
role of the family in a Mediterranean city during the early modern
period. He focuses on the structure and values of the ruling class
of Granada, where a new elite consolidated its authority. The study
suggests that their power was linked to the pursuit of honour,
which demanded participation in the politics of the commonwealth
and depended greatly on the network of personal relations which
they were able to build with kinsmen, clients and patrons. It
explores the way in which this system contributed to the relative
tranquillity of the community during a turbulent time of religious
and political change, that of the rise of absolutism and of the
Counter Reformation. The book sheds fresh light on the nature of
the early modern family and will be essential reading for
historians of early modern Spain and Europe.
A critical reading of both literary and non-literary German texts
published between 1490 and 1540 exposes a populist backlash against
perceived social and political disruptions, the dramatic expansion
of spatial and epistemological horizons, and the growth of global
trade networks. These texts opposed the twin phenomena of
pluralization and secularization, which promoted a Humanist
tolerance for ambiguity, boosted globalization and spatial
expansion around 1500, and promoted new ways of imagining the
world. Part I considers threats to the political order and the
protestations against them, above all a vigorous defense of the
common good. Part II traces the intellectual and epistemological
upheaval triggered by the spatial discoveries and the new methods
of visual and verbal representation of space. Part III examines the
nationalistic backlash triggered by the rising global trade and
related abusive trading practices and by perceived undue foreign
influences. It is the basic premise of this book that the texts
examined here protested the observed disruptions of the status quo
and sought to reestablish a stable imperial order in the face of
political and social upheaval and of the felt cultural decline of
the German nation.
Concepts of historical progress or decline and the idea of a cycle
of historical movement have existed in many civilizations. In spite
of claims that they be transnational or even universal,
periodization schemes invariably reveal specific social and
cultural predispositions. Our dialogue, which brings together a
Sinologist and a scholar of early modern History in Europe,
considers periodization as a historical phenomenon, studying the
case of the "Renaissance." Understood in the tradition of J.
Burckhardt, who referred back to ideas voiced by the humanists of
the 14th and 15th centuries, and focusing on the particularities of
humanist dialogue which informed the making of the "Renaissance" in
Italy, our discussion highlights elements that distinguish it from
other movements that have proclaimed themselves as
"r/Renaissances," studying, in particular, the Chinese Renaissance
in the early 20th century. While disagreeing on several fundamental
issues, we suggest that interdisciplinary and interregional
dialogue is a format useful to addressing some of the more
far-reaching questions in global history, e.g. whether and when a
periodization scheme such as "Renaissance" can fruitfully be
applied to describe non-European experiences.
Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the
translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to
West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the
period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the
Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written
for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on
the Gold Coast Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean
islands US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had
his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and
combined, hold a wealth of information - of interest both to
scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the
cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the
America's. One of the books, L.F.Rmer's A Reliable Account of the
Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious international
texts prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association. Selena
Winsnes lived in Ghana for five years and studied at the University
of Ghana, Legon. Her mother tongue is English; and, working
free-lance, she resides premanently in Norway with her husband,
four children and eight grandchildren. In 2008, she was awarded an
Honorary Doctor of Letters for distinguished scholarship by the
University of Ghana, Legon
William Stephens was Secretary of the Province of Georgia from 1737
to 1750 and was President from 1741 for ten years. He was sent to
America by the Trustees of Georgia, who resided in London, to keep
them informed on conditions in the colony. Besides writing numerous
letters to the Trustees, Stephens kept a journal which he sent to
them periodically. The journal down to 1741 was printed by the
Trustees. Here in this volume (and the volume for 1743-1745) the
continuation of the journal is published for the first time.
Through his journal Stephens undertook to inform the Trustees of
everything which happened in Georgia, from the most trivial to the
most important. This close-up view of Georgia, the details of the
everyday life of the people, and the record of significant
development in the colony all make his journal a valuable document
in American colonial history.
Originally published in 1927, this is a detailed biography of the
famous sea-faring man. Many of the earliest books, particularly
those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce
and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these
classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using
the original text and artwork. Contents Include The Age of
Adventure Smith goes Abroad Travels Across Europe In Single Combat
The Wandering Warrior Slave of Slaves The Colonial Idea The Voyage
Out The Founding of Jamestown Relations With The Indians
Organization and Administration Exploring Virginia Problems of
Pioneering The Corn Supply Dangers and Adversities The End of
Endeavour At Sea again Smith comes Ashore Appendix Bibliography
Index
This book explores why English Christians, from the early modern
period onwards, believed that their nation had a special mission to
restore the Jews to Palestine. It examines English support for
Jewish restoration from the Whitehall Conference in 1655 through to
public debates on the Jerusalem Bishopric in 1841. Rather than
claiming to replace Israel as God's "elect nation", England was
"chosen" to have a special, but inferior, relationship with the
Jews. Believing that God "blessed those who bless" the Jewish
people, this national role allowed England to atone for
ill-treatment of Jews, read the confusing pathways of providence,
and guarantee the nation's survival until Christ's return. This
book analyses this mode of national identity construction and its
implications for understanding Christian views of Jews, the self,
and "the other". It offers a new understanding of national
election, and of the relationship between apocalyptic prophecy and
political action.
John Calvin (1509-1564) is one of the most important figures in
religious history. Sitting on the cusp of the medieval and early
modern world, he was centre stage during the Reformation. In this
new biography, Michael Mullett introduces us to this most important
figure, tying his life together with that of Martin Luther, but
also valuing his individual contribution and influence. From what
Calvin himself described as 'humble beginnings', he became one of
the most influential theologians of the Protestant Reformation. The
influence of his teachings and the development of Christian
theology into what was to become known as Calvinism, swept across
Europe, reinforcing the Reformation's radical break from the
Catholic Church. John Calvin was 'a mighty and formidable man, able
to achieve the vast amount he did because of his unbending
conviction of his rightness'. Michael Mullett explores the
significant influences on Calvin and his work, and the
relationships that he formed along his reforming path. Looking not
only at the impact of Calvin throughout the early modern period and
the importance of his work to contemporaries, Michael Mullett also
assesses the impact that Calvin's works have had in shaping the
modern world, and the relevance that they still have today.
This volume presents one of the most important historical sources
for medieval Islamic scholarship: The Compendium of Chronicles,
written by the vizier to the Mongol Ilkhans of Iran, Rashiduddin
Fazlullah. It includes a valuable survey of the Turkic and
Mongolian peoples, a history of Genghis Khan's ancestors, and a
detailed account of his conquests. Distinguished linguist and
orientalist, Wheeler M. Thackston, provides a lucid, annotated
translation that makes this key material accessible to a wide range
of scholars.
Camillo Agrippa's widely influential "Treatise on the Science of
Arms" was a turning point in the history of fencing. The author -
an engineer by trade and not a professional master of arms - was
able to radically re-imagine teaching the art of fencing. Agrippa's
treatise is the fundamental text of Western swordsmanship. Just as
earlier swordsmanship can be better understood from Agrippa's
critiques, so too was his book the starting point for the rapier
era. Every other treatise of the early-modern period had to deal
explicitly or implicitly with Agrippa's startling transformation of
the art and science of self-defense with the sword. Likewise, all
of the fundamental ideas that are still used today - distance,
time, line, blade opposition, counterattacks and countertime - are
expressed in this paradigm-shifting treatise. This is a work that
should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the history,
practice or teaching of fencing. His treatise was also a microcosm
of sixteenth-century thought. It examines the art, reduces it to
its very principles, and reconstructs it according to a way of
thinking that incorporated new concepts of art, science and
philosophy. Contained within this handy volume are concrete
examples of a new questioning of received wisdom and a turn toward
empirical proofs, hallmarks of the Enlightenment. The treatise also
presents evidence for a redefinition of elite masculinity in the
wake of the military revolution of the sixteenth century. At the
same time, is offers suggestive clues to the place of the hermetic
tradition in the early-modern intellectual life and its
implications for the origins of modern science. Camillo Agrippa's
"Treatise on the Science of Arms" was first published in Rome in
1553 by the papal printer Antonio Blado. The original treatise was
illustrated with 67 engravings that belong to the peak of
Renaissance design. They are reproduced here in full. "Mondschein
has at last made available to English-speaking readers one of the
most important texts in the history of European martial arts.
Agrippa marks a turning point in the intellectual history of these
arts.... Mondschein's introduction to his work helps the reader
understand Agrippa - and the martial practices themselves - as
pivotal agents in the evolving cultural and intellectual systems of
the sixteenth century. Above all, Mondschein's translation is
refreshingly clean and idiomatic, rendering the systematic clarity
of the Italian original into equally clear modern English -
evidence of the author's familiarity with modern fencing and
understanding of the physical realities that his author is trying
to express. Mondschein's contextualization of his topic points the
way for future scholarly exploration, and his translation will
doubtless be valued by both students of cultural history and
practitioners of modern sword arts." - Dr. Jeffrey L. Forgeng, Paul
S. Morgan Curator -Higgins Armory Museum, Adj. Assoc. Prof. of
Humanities, Worcester Polytechnic Institute First English
translation. Hardcover, 234 pages, 67 illustrations, introduction,
bibliography, glossary, appendix, index."
The execution of Charles I in 1649, followed by the proclamation
of a Commonwealth, was an extraordinary political event. It
followed a bitter Civil War between parliament and the king, and
their total failure to negotiate a subsequent peace settlement.
Why the king was defeated and executed has been a central
question in English history, being traced back to the Reformation
and forward to the triumph of parliament in the eighteenth century.
The old answers, whether those of the Victorian narrative historian
S.R. Gardiner or of Lawrence Stone's diagnosis of a fatal long-term
rift in English society, however, no longer satisfy, while the
newer ones of local historians and 'revisionists' often leave
readers unclear as to why the Civil War happened at all.
In "Why Was Charles I Executed?" Clive Holmes supplies clear
answers to eight key questions about the period, ranging from why
the king had to summon the Long Parliament to whether there was in
fact an English Revolution.
This volume presents one of the most important historical sources
for medieval Islamic scholarship - Khwandamir's "The Reign of the
Mongol and the Turk". It covers the major empires and dynasties of
the Persianate world from the 13th to the 16th century, including
the conquests of the Mongols, Tamerlane, and the rise of the
Safavids. Distinguished linguist and orientalist, Wheeler M.
Thackston, provides a lucid, annotated translation that makes this
key material accessible to a wide range of scholars.
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