Imperial Crown Research Articles

Reviews of Books

Abstract Abstract The King and the Imperial Crown. The Powers and Duties of His Majesty. By A. Berriedale Keith. (Longmans). £1 1s. The Life of John Butterworth, Earl of Jellicoe. By Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon. (Cassell & Co.). 25s. Marlborough: His Life and Times. Vol. III. By Winston S. Churchill. (G. G. Harrap, London). 25s. Captain James Cook, R.N., F.R.S. By Vice-Admiral Gordon Campbell, V.C., D.S.O. (Hodder & Stoughton). 15s. How is the Empire? By F. Percy Roe. (Pitman & Sons). 6s. At War with the Smugglers. By Rear-Admiral D. Arnold-Forster, C.M.G. (Ward Lock & Co.). 12s. 6d. The Flower of England's Garland. By G.E. Manwaring. (Philip Allen). 10s. 6d. River of Golden Sand. By Thomas Woodrooffe. (Faber and Faber). 8s. 6d. The Liao-Yang Campaign. (William Clowes). 5s. l'Aviation de Bombardement. By C. Rougeron. (Berge-Levrault, 5 rue Auguste-Comte, Paris, 6e). In 2 vols. Frs. 25 each. Air-Power and Armies. By Wing-Commander J. C. Slessor. (Oxford University Press, London: Humphrey Milford, 1936). 10s. 6d. War over England. By Air Commodore L. E. O. Charlton, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. (Longmans, Green & Co.). 12s. 6d.

Materials for the Reign of Alfonso X of Castile, 1252–84

The historian Mariana, writing at the end of the sixteenth century, summed up the achievements of Alfonso X in the epigrammatic phrase Dumque cœlum considerat, observatque astra, terram amisit, and this conception of the king as a scholar incompetent to govern is, on the whole, still very generally accepted. More than a century later, the Marquis of Mondéjar, in his Memorias Históricas del Rey Don Alonso el Sabio, posthumously published in 1777, attempted a vindication of the king. His work is a narrative of the political history of the reign, based on the Crónica de Alfonso Décimo, a late and unreliable source, but the only narrative account of the reign that is of any length. Mondéjar was at pains to point out the contradictions and errors of the Crónica, and, wherever possible, to clear the king's reputation from its imputations. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century interest in Alfonso X has steadily increased. The publication of the text of his legal codes, and of collections of documents containing materials for this period, and the gathering together of records in the Archivo Histórico Nacional at Madrid have much facilitated the task of investigation. Some good work has recently been done on certain aspects of the subject. German and Spanish scholars have studied Alfonso's relations with Germany and Italy, arising out of his candidature for the Imperial crown; his relations with France have been elucidated, and much critical work has been carried out on his literary achievements. The publication of historical material, the specialized research of recent years, above all the advance in historical method and criticism, and the change in the fashion of historical writing which have taken place since Mondéjar's time have combined to make his work antiquated.

Podiebrad: Bohemia Past and Present

The word Bohemia, it is well known, is a conventional appellation devoid of truth; a name derived from the Boij, a Gallic tribe which settled in that country, 587 B.C. In the seventh century, the Czechs, a Slavonian people, conquered it, and that branch of the great Slavonian race has ever possessed a distinct and original life, as well as a vernacular culture, that has not met with the attention it deserves at the hands of historical students. The Germans of the hereditary house of Habsburg, proclaim that the Czechs owe everything to them— arts, science, civilisation; they have often done so in a somewhat insulting language, despite several glorious epochs in the history of Bohemia, namely, the reign of Ottokar, the competitor of Rodolf of Habsburg to the imperial crown, in 1272; the greatness of the University of Prag, in the fourteenth century, and the glorious episode of George of Podiebrad. As to the Bohemian kingdom of Ottokar, by its importance and extent, it alone deserves a special history. It comprised, besides Bohemia proper, great part of modern Prussia, Carinthia, Croatia, Illyria; it extended from the Baltic to the Adriatic sea, with the harbour of Nao on the latter, thus justifying, as it were, Shakespeare, in whose “ Winter's Tale ” a Sicilian fleet sails into Bohemia, a statement that was eagerly ridiculed by Ben Jonson and others.

Remarks on crowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of great Britain

Remarks on crowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of great Britain Get access Leake Leake Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s1-XI, Issue 292, 2 June 1855, Pages 422–423, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s1-XI.292.422b Published: 02 June 1855

Ramarks on srowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of Great Britain

Ramarks on srowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of Great Britain Get access Leake Leake Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s1-XI, Issue 291, 26 May 1855, Pages 399–401, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s1-XI.291.399b Published: 26 May 1855

Remarks on crowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of Great Britain

Journal Article Remarks on crowns, and more particularly on the royal or imperial crown of Great Britain Get access Leake Leake Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s1-XI, Issue 290, 19 May 1855, Pages 379–381, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s1-XI.290.379b Published: 19 May 1855