Factional Struggles Research Articles

The Change of the Power in the Context of Factional Struggle in the Formation Years of the Mamlūk State

There are numerous studies in the literature dealing with the formation years of the Mamlūk state. These studies generally focus on the issue of the legitimacy of the state due to the mamlūk origin of the sultans. In order to overcome this problem, the Mamluks emphasized their identity as the guardians of Islam. According to this narrative, being the protector of Islam would legitimise their future independent state. However, this argument largely attributes the formation of the state to successful struggles against external factors such as Crusader-Mongol attacks. This leads to the neglect of many reasons behind the formation of the Mamluk State. While it is accepted that the state derives legitimacy from its struggles against external elements, this study focuses on inter-factional conflicts and reveals that the state has become dynamic due to these struggles. In this respect, the struggle between factions, which had been active since the time of the Ayyubids, must be taken into account in the internal transformation of the Mamlūk power. In addition, although there are narratives such as becoming sultan by killing the sultan, which is among the arguments frequently mentioned in the Mamluks, the determining power of the elite amirs, which is one of the unwritten rules known by everyone in the functioning of the state system, should be taken into account. Because when this is missed, the results of inter-factional struggles will be ignored. In these rules/system, not only the sultan changed, but also a series of changes occurred in the elite amirs in power. The autocracy-oligarchy conflict between the sultan and the elite amirs was ever-present. Whenever one of the amirs who provided the oligarchic power became the sultan, the power struggle between the sultan and the elite amirs would begin. In this case, the sultan would be in a dilemma and would establish a new faction in order to reassert his authority. Therefore, the struggle between factions at the point of the formation of the Mamlūk State was one of the most important factors that ensured the formation of the state and the change of power. As a matter of fact, it is a known fact that Mamlūk factions such as ʿĀdiliyya, Kāmiliyya and Sālihiyya held the state power de facto, if not officially. On the other hand, this work takes a holistic approach to the conditions that led to the statehood of the Sālihiyya-Bahriyya mamlūks in the process. It also discusses how the tensions between the sultan’s mamlūks (al-mamālīk al-sultāniyya) and his khushdāshs affected the change of power. Focusing specifically on the Bahriyya-Muʿizziyya struggle, this work examines how the formation, maintenance, and transition of power took place during the formative years of the Mamlūk state. Finally, the work focuses on the role of background conflicts between the sultan and the senior amirs, power gathering, etc. in the formation and decline of the state through the chronicles of the early Mamlūk period in general and works devoted to the Mamlūk sultanate in particular.

Sátiras contra el rey en la España del siglo XVII

Abstract Satire in verse became a significant element of political culture in the factional struggles at the Spanish court. While the favorites and ministers have been studied in regards to the use of political satire, this work aims to examine the attacks against the king, how these evolved during the Habsburg reigns, and how they shaped a lasting image of the monarchs.

The minister is much disheartened: clergy and their communities in Interregnum legal records

ABSTRACT Many questions remain to be answered about the parish clergy who served in England’s churches between 1640 and 1660, due to the difficulties of interrogating the complex, ever-changing, singular and often deficient ecclesiastical records of the time. But much can be learned about religious policy and the relationships of clergy with their communities from the legal records of the time. As well as being useful for linking transient clergy to particular locations, assize, quarter and borough sessions reveal clergy’s interventions to influence local religious practice or morality, their complaints against parishioners, as well as the objections parishioners made against them in their turn. With evidence of violence and verbal abuse on all sides, disrupted church services, factional struggles within parishes, resistance to Godliness and a continuing propensity of parishioners to denounce their ministers’ political opinions, religious practices, drinking, swearing or sexual misbehaviour, these sources show that clergy had a challenging task in negotiating the divided religious landscape of the times.

From Unitary Plurality to Plural Unity

The writings by Chinese historians and archeologists about the origins of Chinese civilization in the past century have transitioned from the old construct of “unitary plurality,” or a shared assumption of the mythical Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) as the progenitor of the only civilization in the land of Huaxia (proto China) while admitting its coexistence with other heterogeneous but inferior cultures, to the new paradigm of “plural unity” or a consensus on Huaxia's interaction with all other cultures to form a unitary Chinese civilization that has lasted into the twenty-first century. Substantiated by the archeological findings of the twentieth century, this transition was ultimately propelled by three interweaving forces, namely, Chinese researchers' ideological undertakings, their factional struggle for academic supremacy, and commitment to local interest and identity.

Faction, Connection and Politics in the Civil Wars: Pembrokeshire, 1640–1649

Abstract This article considers the roles of faction and connections between centre and periphery as structuring elements of local politics during the civil wars of the mid-seventeenth century. It explores these issues through an examination of Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales. Using a considerable amount of previously unexamined printed and manuscript material, it argues that established but largely ignored factional alignments informed a good deal of the political manoeuvring in the county during and after the first civil war, and that these connected to and were complicated by evolving associations with rival political coalitions at Westminster. The article pays close attention to the connections between figures among the Pembrokeshire gentry and MPs and power-brokers in Westminster. It argues that establishing fruitful links with the political centre was vital to the success of an Independent group in the county following the war’s cessation and, conversely, the isolation and ultimate defeat of the Presbyterian party. The article throws new light on the origins of John Poyer’s 1648 rebellion, which initiated the ‘Second Civil War’. It rejects the established narrative which characterises Poyer’s revolt as borne from apolitical self-interest, arguing instead that it was the final act in a factional struggle that was at least a decade old. The piece contends that gentry faction has largely been written out of recent civil war history, but that scholars should be more attentive to its potential for influencing (although not conditioning) political and ideological alignments in the provinces.

New Labour in Power: Five Problems of Contemporary History

AbstractThe history of New Labour is highly politicised, deployed either for its policy lessons (good or bad) or as a weapon in Labour's factional struggles. But, just as historians in the 1990s reassessed the premierships of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, so the distance of time and the opening of archives offers an opportunity to reappraise New Labour as history. Such work raises five methodological challenges: the lack of sufficient distance from the subject to tell whether policy innovations will remain popular and permanent; the long shadow the Iraq war casts over this whole period; the deluge of data and sources available; the continuing and controversial part that key actors, such as Tony Blair, are still playing; and the lack of expertise any one author will inevitably face in some policy areas. This article addresses each of those difficulties in turn.

The ideology of the "right-wing threat" in Soviet Art of the turn of the 1920–1930s

The object of the study is the Soviet practice of transferring the ideology of the "right-wing threat", widely spread at the turn of the 1920s–1930s, into the space of fine art. This concept, which arose thanks to Stalin's purposeful efforts, was his effective weapon in the fight against the opposition. It was assumed that its existence would be limited by the factional struggle in the CPSU(b). However, the logic of public life in the country has made it inevitable that a purely political ideologeme will be transferred to all areas of culture. Based on the material of art magazines, newspapers, yearbooks published from 1929 to 1932, the chronology, main stages and features of the adaptation of the ideologeme in relation to fine art are considered for the first time. It is shown that accusations of belonging to the "right opposition", "right deviation" were made not only to creative associations or to individual artists, but also in relation to genres of fine art (for example, to still life and landscape). Manifestations of bourgeoisness were found both in the content of the works and in their form. It is revealed that the initial publications contained sincere attempts to understand what the "right threat" in art is, how its manifestations in this area can be determined. However, very soon such attempts were almost completely abandoned, and the phrase "right-wing threat" turned into a formal cliche, a political label.

Evolution of the US Democratic Party in the 1830s-1840s

The article focuses on the history of the Democratic Party during the bipartisan Democrat-Whig system. It shows how the nationwide issues of tariffs, slavery and expansion influenced the formation of sectional factions. Having progressed from a small-scale factional struggle, by the end of the period under review the party consisted of two major factions divided geographically by North-South. Particular attention is paid to the “Young America” movement, which originated with young and ambitious politicians who promoted infrastructure development and the idea of expanding borders. This idea came to be known as the "idea of predestination". Although the movement died out in the 1840s, the Predestination idea became the ideological basis for the invasion of Texas, California and other Mexican territories, as well as for the justifcation of the spread of slavery. The article examines how the controversy over the extension of slavery to the newly acquired territories caused a division of political forces in the country. "The Wilmot Proviso", which prohibited slavery in these territories, provoked protests from southern politicians, who not only began voting against the amendment in a single section, but began preparations for a convention that would decide the Southern states' secession from the United States.

Justice for Whom? Redressing the “1975 Shadian Incident” in the Post-Mao Era, 1978–2019

The “Shadian conflict,” which erupted in 1964 and continued until at least 1975, was the largest religious resistance of the Cultural Revolution, but its local dynamics and sociopolitical impacts are significantly understudied. This article sheds light on how Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities have dealt with Shadian Muslims’ petitions and requests for religious freedom from 1979 until 2019. It argues that the post–Mao Zedong CCP leadership has continued to implement the same mentality and methods as in the Mao period to deal with ethno-religious conflicts. At the center of this process lies the events of 1975 that have come to be known as the “Shadian incident” or “Shadian massacre,” in which around 1,600 Shadian Muslims were killed. The party’s approaches to redressing the events of 1975 have secularized and simplified the causes of the Shadian massacre and the religious requests of Muslim villagers by attributing the tragedy and villagers’ protests to factional struggles launched by “followers of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four” and “a handful of chaos-making figures.” Embedded in ongoing struggles between vernacular and official narratives of the 1975 tragedy, the Shadian problem has resulted in unreconciled discord between the CCP, which prioritizes the Maoist class-struggle mentality, and villagers, who emphasize Islamic religiosity.

« Ce que l'un construit, l'autre le détruit » : Les factions de la cour de France, le Cardinal de Richelieu et l'Acadie, 1629-1632

In 1629, the subjects of Charles I almost completely drove the French out of New France by seizing Quebec militarily and settling peacefully in Acadia. Although the English immediately agreed to restore Quebec to Louis XIII, they refused to leave Port-Royal, which the French had abandoned 15 years earlier. Faced with this situation, Cardinal Richelieu asked for an immediate return of Canada to France, even if it meant leaving the fate of Acadia in suspense. Richelieu's demand fueled the factional struggles that then undermined the French and English courts.

Review: Violence and the Caste War of the Yucatán, by Wolfgang Gabbert

Review: <i>Violence and the Caste War of the Yucatán</i>, by Wolfgang Gabbert

Books Briefly

Books Briefly

Clans of Roman Italy

Clans of Roman Italy Roman Roth Terrenato, N. 2019. The Early Roman Expansion into Italy: Elite Negotiation and Family Agendas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. xx + 327, 43 black-and-white illustrations. ISBN 978–1–108–42267–3. £75.00. I In 381 bc the city-state of Tusculum became the first community to be incorporated into the Roman state as a municipium, probably by inclusion in the tribus Papiria to which it belonged in historically better documented times.1 Livy informs us that the incorporation came in the wake of an impending war between Tusculum and Rome, which was averted by the community's surrendering itself to the Roman troops that had menacingly entered the town's territory.2 Yet its allegiances remained uncertain, so that by the time Rome's Latin allies revolted from her forty years later, Tusculum appears to have been on the rebels' side. Livy represents this as the result of a factional struggle within the municipium when he describes the restitution of the town to its citizen status in 338 bc in the following terms: Tusculanis seruata ciuitas quam habebant crimenque rebellionis a publica fraude in paucos autores uersum ('The Tusculans retained the citizen status which they had and the charge of rebellion was laid against a few ringleaders while the community was absolved from that of collective betrayal', Livy 8.14.4). [End Page 268] This incident provides a prime example of the fact that Rome's successful expansion in Italy depended on loyal members of local elites being in control of her allied communities or, as in this case, of a recently incorporated municipium.3 By the same token, it was possible for those elites to lead their city-states to break away from Rome – or at least attempt to do so – which raises the question what motivated such individuals to be either loyal or opposed to the emerging imperial power. In the case of Tusculum, this issue again arose only fifteen years after the town had been allowed to retain its citizen status. In 323 bc, Livy writes of a recent rebellion in which the Tusculans were said to have sided with the people of Velitrae and Privernum.4 The tribal assembly rejected the proposed terms of punishment – execution of adult males, sale into slavery of women and children – almost unanimously, except for the tribus Pollia, which Livy (8.37.7–12) suggests was the reason why candidates from this tribe usually failed to gain the Papiria's vote ad patrum aetatem ('down to our fathers' time'). Again significant is the fact that the status of the town was preserved although at least some of the Tusculans – almost certainly members of the elite – had attempted to break their allegiance to Rome yet another time. There is yet another twist to the tale; one of the Roman consuls who were elected for the following year (322 bc) was L. Fulvius Curvus, member of a prominent Tusculan family and generally considered to have been the first immigrant homo nouus who attained the consulship.5 Although Livy does not comment on this, the Elder Pliny supplies additional information on both the man and his rise to power, which is as intriguing as it is confused.6 According to Pliny, Fulvius had in fact been consul of 'the rebellious Tusculans' only recently and obtained the same office as soon as he had changed sides and joined the Romans, to the point of celebrating a triumph over his town of origin. Since this anecdote is recorded neither by Livy nor, more importantly, in the fasti triumphales, we ought not to lend it too much credence. Rather, its roots might be traced to later Republican discourses of noble origins.7 In turn, these were quite possibly elaborated upon by the exemplary tradition [End Page 269] of the early Empire that also provides a context for this and many other chapters in the seventh book of Pliny's Naturalis Historia.8 Still, there is rarely smoke without fire. In this case, the fact that this anecdote could credibly be circulated during later times invites the suspicion that the historical rise of the Fulvii had something more to it...

Presidential elections-2022 in the Republic of Korea

The presidential race of 2022 was fought on the background of the uneasy legacy of President Moon Jae-in between the candidate of the ruling Democratic Party Lee Jae-myong and the representative of the conservatives, former Attorney General Yoon Seok-yeol. Each of the camps was represented by a person who was not a typical representative of his camp and has a difficult relationship with the &amp;quot;core of the party&amp;quot;. Lee is a representative of the inner-party opposition, and not Moon&amp;apos;s successor. Yoon has found himself in the conservative camp after the conflict with the Blue House due to the logic of factional struggle and the absence of a third force in the politics of the Republic of Korea. Lee was called the Korean Bernie Sanders because of the promise of unconditional basic income and other social programs, and in foreign policy he promised to continue inter-Korean rapprochement. Yun had to reflect conservative discourse and advocated a tougher policy towards the DPRK, an alliance with the United States and the restoration of relations with Japan. The elections turned out to be a record in terms of populist promises and black PR against candidates and their families. This led to a specific situation when, on the eve of the elections, both candidates had a high anti-rating and the final gap between them was less than one percent. In such a situation, the victorious Yoon Seok-yeol will have to face the split of society, the Democrats controlling the parliament, and the need to strengthen the unity of the party in the difficult international situation and internal problems.

Три северных похода цзиньского генерала Хуань Вэня (312–373 гг. н. э.) против «варварских» царств Северного Китая

Introduction. The southern Chinese empire of Eastern Jin, which lost its northern lands in 316, did not lose hope of reclaiming its territories. The East Jin commander Huan Wen undertook three military expeditions to Northern China: the first campaign of 354 (against the northwestern “barbarian” kingdom of the Di clan — Former Qin), the second campaign of 356 (against the rebellious Northern Chinese barbarian general Yao Xiang), and the third campaign of 368 (against the Xianbei kingdom of Former Yan). The purpose of the article was to give a general overview and a brief analysis of the events associated with the three campaigns, as well as to identify the causes and consequences of the victories and defeats of the Chinese side. Materials and methods. The main research methods were historical-genetic, historical-biographical, and historical-geographical analysis of relevant events and personalities. The major source of information about the events associated with Huan Wen’s three campaigns to the North is the official dynastic history “History of the Jin [Dynasty]” (“Jin Shu”), namely the Zaiji section and the Liezhuan biographical section. Results. The unsuccessful outcome of the initially successful campaigns of Huan Wen may be explained by the factional struggle between the capital (Yangzhou) and regional (Jingzhou) groupings of the ruling elite of the Eastern Jin state, as well as the general degradation of the central government apparatus. The crushing defeat of the third northern campaign led to the loss of the territories in Central China previously conquered by the Jin army and the decline of the court career of Huan Wen himself. But his clan remained an influential power in the Jingzhou region.

Urban protest in thirteenth-century north-western Europe: a comparative approach

ABSTRACT The historiography of urban revolts in north-western Europe is abundant, yet events of thirteenth-century urban protest are mostly neglected. They are usually only mentioned briefly as forerunners of later, better documented events. Sources for thirteenth-century events of urban protest are scarce, but not absent. This article gives an overview from the first industrial action in Brabant, Flanders and northern France between 1220 and 1250, to the factional struggles between urban elites, in which craftsmen took sides, in the towns of England and the Holy Roman Empire in the 1250s and 1260s, and back to Flanders and northern France as the epicentre of violent revolts in 1275–85. These events reveal the way artisans entered the political stage, they underline regional differences and common features, and they uncover the interplay between changes in urban society and overall development in north-western Europe in this crucial period of profound transition.

Die Fresken des Palazzo Spreca

Abstract In the 1470s, Domenico Spreca, a citizen of Viterbo, commissioned a cycle of virtues for the sala on the upper floor of his palazzo. From 2012 to 2018, the frescoes, largely unknown in (art) historical research, were the subject of legal proceedings and, on a regional level, of public debate over the preservation of cultural heritage. Over these years, it became clear that objects not only require financial resources to protect and preserve them over the centuries, but also need to be part of a narrative. Such a narrative was lost at an early stage, although the frescoes bear extraordinary witness to the negotiation processes of the 15th century concerning political virtues. In this paper, I argue that the cycle of virtues should be interpreted as an allegory of good government. Domenico Spreca addressed the conditions of loyalty (fidelitas)/obedience (oboedientia) on the one hand and the authority (auctoritas) of the superiores – the Pope, the Curia and the Rector of the Patrimonium Petri in Tuscia – on the other. To facilitate comprehension of this interpretation, the frescoes will be embedded in the political culture of Viterbo. To this end, their interpretation will be preceded by observations on the institutional establishment of papal authority in the city and on how its citizens dealt with it in the 1450s and 1460s: an authority that they legitimised on the basis of its pacification of factional struggles within the city and demanded for this purpose, from which they benefited and whose arbitrariness they attempted to curtail.

Interpreters and the Deep Layer of Spanish Colonial Justice

The office of General Interpreter was a vital link in Spain's multi-ethnic American empire, bridging the jurisdictions overseen by Native lords and municipal authorities and colonial ecclesiastical and civil jurisdictions. This article analyzes the role of General Interpreters in making an empire of law and, at the same time, a distinctive regional society in Villa Alta, Oaxaca, a remote hinterland of colonial New Spain (Mexico) during the late-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although scholarship on General Interpreters in viceregal courts is growing, we know less about interpreters outside of colonial centers due to fragmentary evidence. This article relies upon data scattered across Oaxaca's local archives: Native-language petitions, notarial records, letters, and memoriales produced by Native scribes, and their Spanish translations penned by interpreters, as well as first-instance cases of land disputes, idolatry, murder, theft, and factional struggles over village elections. These sources and other materials allow the historian to move beyond the narrow confines of legal institutions to reconstruct how patronage, economic cooperation and exploitation, and inter-ethnic networks defined the work and translation practices of General Interpreters. Finally, they offer clues as to what the office of General Interpreter meant and how it was perceived by those who sought justice.

Re-Examining Theories on Factionalism in the Maoist Period: The Case of the Lushan Conference of 1959

Scholars consider the rise of factional politics as key to understanding party politics during the Maoist period (1949–1976). This article conducts a historical inquiry into the factional politics at the Lushan Conference of 1959. It argues that the very concept of factionalism, adopted not only by Mao Zedong but by all the conference participants, including those accused of being faction members, was created in line with a script generated by Mao to resolve the collective action problems facing the party. This script led the participants at the Lushan Conference to reimagine themselves as engaged in factional struggle within the party, suggesting to each of them the roles they should play as part of that imagined struggle. This article challenges the individualist perspective that takes factional exclusion as a strategic means employed by actors to attain personal goals when competing with others and sheds light on the imaginary and performative features of the CCP’s central decision-making dynamics.

Первый северный поход Хуань Вэня и «варварское» царство Ранняя Цинь

The article briefly reviews information about the first northern campaign (354 AD) of a prominent dignitary and general of the Eastern Jin Empire (317 – 420 AD) named Huan Wen (312–373 AD) against the Northern Chinese “barbarian” kingdom of Former Qin (351 – 395 AD) with its capital in Chang'an. As a result of the historical-biographical and historicalgeographical analysis of the reviewed information on this campaign, it was revealed that the unsuccessful outcome of the initially successful campaign of Huan Wen was due to the factional struggle between the Jingzhou and Yangzhou groups of the Eastern Jin nobility, as well as the general degradation of the central government apparatus.