Great Chronicle Research Articles

New light on musical aspects of the troubadour revival in Spain

The revival of the poetic art of the troubadours in eastern Spain from the latter part of the fourteenth century has been well documented. At this time, and through most of the fifteenth century, poet-courtiers at the royal courts of Aragon and Castile drew inspiration from the troubadours of the earlier centuries, many of whom had been active in the Spanish kingdoms. The historiographical tradition for this literary phenomenon begins with Gerónimo Zurita, the great chronicler of the Aragonese kings. In his Annies de la Corona de Aragón (1562–8), he discusses this renewed interest in the ‘Gay Science’ at the Aragonese royal court of Joan I (1387–96), and relates how letters came to prevail over arms at that time as the primary concern of the courtier:

“Let the Punishment Fit the Crime”: The Vocal Choreography of Cholly Atkins

From the Twenties through most of the Forties, American tap dance in the jazz/rhythm tradition experienced its heyday. Suddenly in the late Forties, the bottom dropped out for many rhythm tap dancers who had established successful careers in vaudeville, musicals, and with big bands. The great chronicler of jazz dance, Marshall Stearns, died wondering whether or not American vernacular dance was vanishing forever. Even today, many still believe that tap absolutely ended with the advent of rock-and-roll, or that it remained in a deep freeze until its revival in the late Sixties. However, the existence of black vocal groups such as those in the Motor Town Revue helped retain and preserve much of the vocabulary of American vernacular dance, including that of tap. The man largely responsible for this retention and cultural transference was Cholly Atkins, who worked as choreographer for Motown Records from 1965-1971.

How Reliable is U Kala's Burmese Chronicle? Some New Comparisons

Rarely has a national historiographic tradition depended so heavily on a single author as the Burmese tradition has on U Kala. A native of Ava in Upper Burma, U Kala completed the so-called “Great Chronicle”, the Maha-ya-zawin-gyi, in the early eighteenth century. Beginning, logically enough, with the start of the current world cycle and the Buddhist version of ancient Indian history, this chronicle proceeded with ever increasing detail to narrate the political story of the Irrawaddy basin from quasi-legendary dynasties to events witnessed by the author himself in 1711. Before U Kala, the only Burmese histories of which we have record were biographies and comparatively brief local chronicles. Some twenty years after U Kala finished his work, many of the original sources on which he relied were destroyed by a fire at Ava. This loss combined with U Kala's admirable prose style to establish his encyclopaedic work as a model in the eyes of all subsequent historians. The pre-1712 portions of later national Burmese chronicles — including the Ya-zawin-thit (New Chronicle), the Maha-ya-zawin-gyaw (Great Celebrated Chronicle), and the famous Hman-nan maha-ya-zawin-daw-gyi (Glass Palace Chronicle) — are more or less verbatim reproductions of U Kala's history, with some interpolations of quasi-legendary material and with limited digressions on points of scholarly dispute. In essence, therefore, we have but one chronicle prior to 1712. Not surprisingly, U Kala's Maha-ya-zawin-gyi has provided the basis for virtually every survey of pre-colonial Burmese political history.

State of Studies: Roman Eighteenth-Century Art

ROMAN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES could be one of the very richest of fields for the scholarship of European culture: I hope I need not emphasize that it should be. Yet it lacks everything. Its historical text remains to be written. For the cultural history we still must use that great chronicler, Freiherr von Pastor, and even that old gossip, David Silvagni. While V. E. Giuntella's recent Settecento nel Roma is well intentioned and far more accurate and useful than Maurice Andrieux's Daily Life . . . , yet Giuntella is primitive and insufficient. De Felice, del Pane, Franco Venturi have helped to move us forward toward the socioeconomic history we need; yet we certainly aren't out of the woods of what might be called Risorgimento bias, and there is no text, full, accurate, or otherwise. There is no useful book on the eighteenth-century pieties, pomp, and theology of the resident church. There is no useful literary history, no history of science, nothing of consequence on the opera, theatre, music, the decorative arts, the splendid but suffering crafts. Why won't someone earn the gratitude of students of European architecture, design, iconography, and style simply by publishing all of the Chinea prints?1 Computer print-outs on Roman palazzi and piazze have begun to appear, but nothing on this most basic visual material. To my mind primary research in our field of an orderly and thorough sort has been done by only a single modern, and quite a while ago: Friedrich Noack. He covered the most obvious and basic

The London Edition of De Thou's History: A Critique of Some Well-Documented Legends

For more than two hundred years, the Buckley-Carte edition (London, 1733) of Jacques-Auguste de Thou's History of His Times has been the standard one for this great Latin chronicle of the latter half of the sixteenth century. In six massive folio volumes, it presents the most complete and accurate text generally available. A seventh volume offers an imposing array of pièces justificatives: letters by and to de Thou and his friends, discussing the publication, emendation, and censoring of the History as well as its reception at the courts of Europe and in the ‘republic of letters.’ Many of these documents were reproduced in the three most widely used French translations of the History. In his recent bibliographical study, Samuel Kinser demonstrates at great length the superiority of the London text.

A Historical Background for Chrétien's Perceval

In Speculum, xvi (1941), pp. 149–166, A.C. Krey devoted to William, archbishop of Tyre, an article most welcome to students of French medieval romance. Rousing our interest in the work of this great chronicler of the crusades, he makes us read it, and reading it we find what we least expected: a historical background for Chrétien's Conte del Graal.

The Great Chronicle of London (Guildhall Library MS. 3313). Edited by A. H. THOMAS, of the Guildhall Records Office, and I. D. THORNLEY. [Library Committee of the Corporation of the City of London.] (London: George W. Jones. 1938. Pp. lxxvi, 502. For presentation only.)

The Great Chronicle of London (Guildhall Library MS. 3313). Edited by A. H. THOMAS, of the Guildhall Records Office, and I. D. THORNLEY. [Library Committee of the Corporation of the City of London.] (London: George W. Jones. 1938. Pp. lxxvi, 502. For presentation only.)

REVIEWS

History of Britain. By C. H. Carter and R. A. F. Mears A History of England and the British Empire. By W. P. Hall and G. R. Albion Bedae Venerobilis Expositio Actuum Apostolorum et Retraclatio. Edited by W. L. W. Laistner Iohannis Scotti Annotationes in Marcianum. Edited by Cora E. Lutz The Cartae Antiquae, Rolls 1–10, Edited by Lionel Landon Studies in Anglo‐Papal Relations during the Middle Ages. 1. Financial relations of the Papacy with England to 1327. By William E. Lunt English Diplomatic History, 1259–1339. By G. P. Cuttino The Register of Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury. Vol. II. Wills Proved before the Archbishop or his Commissaries. Edited by E. F. Jacob, with the assistance of H. C. Johnson The Great Chronicle of London. Edited by A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley Welt Geschichte: Völker‐Männer‐Ideen. By Veit Valentin Foundations of Western Civilisation. By Bossenbrook and Johannesen A History of Europe from the Reformation to the Present Day. By Ferdinand Schevill Archbishop Laud, 1573–1645. By H. R. Trevor‐Roper John Pym, 1583–1643. By S. Reed Brett A Gateway of Empire. By C. M. MacInnes A History of Poland. By George Slocombe The British Factory in Lisbon and its Closing Stages Ensuing upon the Treaty of 1810. By A. R. Walford The Cape Coloured People, 1652–1937. By J. S. Marais The Organisation of the English Customs System 1696–1786. By Elizabeth E. Hoon

The Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon. Translated into English by Wilhelm GeigerPh.D., Professor of Indo-Germanic Philology at Erlangen University, assisted by Mabel Haynes BodePh.D., Lecturer on Pali at University College, London. Demy 8vo: pp. lxiv, 300; with a map of Ancient Ceylon. Published for the Pali Text Society by Henry Frowde; London: 1912.

The Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon. Translated into English by Wilhelm GeigerPh.D., Professor of Indo-Germanic Philology at Erlangen University, assisted by Mabel Haynes BodePh.D., Lecturer on Pali at University College, London. Demy 8vo: pp. lxiv, 300; with a map of Ancient Ceylon. Published for the Pali Text Society by Henry Frowde; London: 1912.