Rule Of Kings Research Articles

Exercising Public Authority Beyond the State: Transnational Democracy and/or Alternative Legitimation Strategies?

legitimacy of the rule of kings and princes in the medieval feudal order had a different meaning from the legitimacy of kings or princes after the emergence of the modern territorial state; and even greater changes occurred in the postFrench Revolution era and the late nineteenth century under the impact of legal positivism, when metajuridical foundations of the legitimacy of public authority became no longer acceptable. 3 In our time, dealing with the problem of the legitimacy of public authority has become additionally complicated because under the impact of globalization—understood as a process of denationalization—public authority is no longer exclusively exercised within clearly defined territorial entities, i.e. within the sovereign states. Rather, the “production of public goods” or the performance of hitherto genuinely state

Exercising Public Authority Beyond the State: Transnational Democracy and/or Alternative Legitimation Strategies?

legitimacy of the rule of kings and princes in the medieval feudal order had a different meaning from the legitimacy of kings or princes after the emergence of the modern territorial state; and even greater changes occurred in the postFrench Revolution era and the late nineteenth century under the impact of legal positivism, when metajuridical foundations of the legitimacy of public authority became no longer acceptable. 3 In our time, dealing with the problem of the legitimacy of public authority has become additionally complicated because under the impact of globalization—understood as a process of denationalization—public authority is no longer exclusively exercised within clearly defined territorial entities, i.e. within the sovereign states. Rather, the “production of public goods” or the performance of hitherto genuinely state

Fortalezas y villas del rey: notas sobre la frontera galaico-portuguesa en tierras orensanas a fines del siglo XIII

The work studies a group of towns and fortresses near the frontier between Galicia and Portugal, actually province of Orense, built under the rule of kings Alfonso X and Sancho IV, in the last years of the Xlllth Century and the first years of XlVth Century. These fortresses defended also the old «Rout of Silver», the most important way between the south of Galicia and the kingdom of Leon. The fortresses' names, ended always with the word «rey» (= «king»), remind their royal origins

Submission, Seduction, and State Propaganda in Favart's Soliman II, ou Les trois sultanes

The following essay aims at reading the propaganda value of Favart's Soliman II, ou Les trois sultanes. (1) Based on an eponymous short story by Marmontel, the play narrates the reformation of the Ottoman court through the good offices of a French woman, Roxelane. (2) Favart's Soliman is represented as a monarch leading a fairly profligate existence, jumping from one member of his harem (what he calls his machines caressantes (259)) to another. He is shown pining after a Spanish woman, Elmire, only to lose interest in her once she agrees to his offer and openly declares her love for him. Roxelane, on the other hand, attracts the sultan's interest with her native understanding of sovereignty, her brash critiques of life at the court, and, more significantly, her apparent indifference to the Sultan. Amidst the many chains of unrequited love that bind the sultan to the harem, her show of indifference stands her in very good stead. It also affords her a moral soapbox of sorts, from which she preaches opposition to the Sultan's harem politics in favor of a by now familiar message of liberty, equality and fraternity. When Soliman II premiered on April 9, 1761, the Opera-Comique was in an interesting position as both genre and venue. After a decade of managerial and aesthetic reforms, it had changed a great deal from the vulgar outlet for popular entertainment that it had been during the 1720S and 1730s. Under Favart's artistic direction, the scatological humor and buffoonery of the early years were replaced by more elevated concerns, turning it into a medium for sophisticated political and social commentary. (3) At the same time, the popular roots of the genre make themselves felt in Soliman II's patriotic register. Favart himself wrote that, Cette comedie est d'un genre plus national que general; son principal agrement consiste dans l'opposition de nos moeurs a celles des Turcs. (4) Accordingly, much is made of the inefficacy of Turkish court life in contrast with the sheer Frenchness of Roxelane's character and the reforms she introduces. Of course, the reformation of the court is not a smooth process. It is held up by Roxelane's rivals and by Osmin, the chief eunuch, in particular. In fact, the eunuch's part in all of this is not insignificant, as his duties are those that would traditionally fall to the grand vizier, namely the organization and administration of anything connected with the sultan (other than military campaigns). Indeed, Favart seems to have taken tremendous interest in the character of the eunuch, endowing him with a name and a more active part than did Marmontel. This could, of course, be imputed to the demands of the Theatre] Italien--the eunuch does, after all, cut a rather buffoonish figure--but Favart's aesthetic decisions seem to respond to social as well as theatrical factors. The eunuch operates as a lens through which one might read the political subtext of Les trois sultanes, one dealing with the anxieties occasioned by the reign of Louis XV, or Louis le Bien-Aime. These anxieties have two components, each related to the essential ingredients of French royalty. The first related to the king as a universal object of desire. (5) The figure cut by the king in the image-complex that accompanied French absolutism was far from simple. Not only did the king have two bodies, one public and one private, in accordance with the tenets of medieval political theology; he also represented the conjunction of authority and desire. (6) The king rules absolutely, and his authority is total. The very totality of his authority, however, is created by the messianic sacrifice of his private desire to his public duty, a gesture that earns him, in principle at least, the undying love and loyalty of his subjects. This love for the king correlates with a number of customs and institutions in absolutist France, chief among them being the fidelite, by which two men enter into a sentimental bond of maitre to fidele, independent of duty to anything or anyone else. …

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Kingship in the early state

1.1. The The term is used in wide variety of meanings. The King of Swing is famous musician, and the king of diamonds is playing card. In both cases the word expresses quality: the best, or the highest. In more narrow sense, refers to the ruler of kingdom. Such rulers not only play role in past and present, they are also found in literature and fairy tales. The king there carries sword and sceptre, wears robe lined with ermine, and has crown on his head. There are as wise as Solomon, or villainous tyrants who'd trade their king dom for horse, and others, who are killed in the bath by their queen. Though ideas about and kingship are thus spread widely, it is no easy task for historians and anthropologists to formulate definition of these concepts. The Oxford Dictionary defines king as a man who is the supreme ruler of an independent by right of succession to the throne. However, when the king rules over small state, the Dictionary calls him prince. Moreover, the Dictionary does not connect indepen dent country and state. Since the present article aims at stating general definition of king for intercultural research of the Early State, it seems necessary to carry the analysis further. A king is specific type of ruler, distinguishable from chief or headman on the one hand, and president on the other. It remains to be seen if it also makes sense to distinguish between king and an emperor. Several rulers who were called are known in history, including Napoleon, Charlemagne and Augustus. They were of kings as the Ethiopian rulers claimed to be, quality that German and Austrian Kaisers also pretended to possess. Just because of this quality there seems no reason to consider emperor as qualitatively different from king. A definition of king, then, might be: the supreme, hereditary ruler of an independent stratified society, having the legitimate power to enforce decisions. Formulated in this way, the borderline between headman and chief on the one side and king on the other can be drawn easily: headmen or chiefs do not have the legitimate right to enforce decisions (Claessen and

G/C/T Review: The King's Rule: Mathematics and Discovery

G/C/T Review: The King's Rule: Mathematics and Discovery

Neo-Confucianism: The Impulse for Social Action in Early Yi Korea

Neo-Confucianism: The Impulse for Social Action in Early Yi Korea MARTINA DEUCHLER lhe transformation of Korean society during the early Yi dynasty (1392-1910) was not a reform in the conventional sense: it was not merely a reorganization of defective institutions. Rather, it was a massive shifting of Korean society away from the culture of KoryS (935-1392) through the application of neo-Confucian concepts and values and a unique experiment in social engineering. Previous scholarship has examined the political and economic aspects of the transition period from Koryö to Yi, but few studies have described the intellectual milieu in which the transition took place.1 This paper investigates the ideological assumptions of the founders of the Yi dynasty, their motives for adopting neo-Confucianism, and the methods by which they sought to implement their newly found creed in Korean society. The intention of the scholar-officials was not just the building of another dynasty but the creation of a Confucian dynasty. THE RISE OF NEW DYNASTIC FORCES When Yi T'aejo (Yi Söng-gye, 1335-1408) ascended the throne in 1392, the existing sociopolitical order was not a moral polity in the Confucian sense. Reform programs, begun during the reign of The research upon which this work is based was made possible by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. 1. The two most important studies exploring the political and economic background of the transition period from late Koryô to early Yi are Han U-gün, "Yömal Sönch'o üi pulgyo chöngch'aek," Souldae nonmunjip, inmun sahoe kwahak 6 (1957): 1-80, and Yi Sang-baek, "Yubul yanggyo dyodae üi kiyön e taehan il yon'gu" Han'guk munhwasa yön'gu non'go (1948), pp. 1-170. The transmission of neo-Confucianism to Korea is studied in Yun Yong-gyun, Shushigaku no denrai to sono eikyö ni tsuite (1933). 71 72Journal ofKorean Studies King Kongmin of Koryö (r. 1352-74), were ineffective in revitalizing the country after almost a century of Mongol domination. Royal authority was eroded, and the fate of the country was largely in the hands of an aristocracy that had built its power base under foreign protection and opposed reforms aimed at strengthening the king's rule. Recurrent invasions by the Red Turbans in the north, devastating raids by Japanese pirates (wak3) along the coasts, and repeated attempts by the Mongols to maintain a dominant voice in Koryö internal politics did not create a climate conducive to reform. These events favored the reemergence of a military establishment that opposed reform. Moreover, Kongmin's prestige as a reformer was irreparably damaged when he placed an obscure monk, Sin Ton (P-1371), in command of government affairs.2 Although some reforms, especially in education, were moderately successful, Sin Ton failed to break the aristocracy's grip on power. He was criticized by the newly emergent scholar-officials who could not advance in government careers despite their success in the civil service examinations. Dynastic change in China, Sin Ton's fall from power in 1371, and King Kongmin's assassination three years later opened the possibility of a far-reaching realignment of political forces. The last kings of Koryö lost their credibility as rulers through questionable succession practices, and supreme power eventually shifted to the military, who propelled themselves into commanding positions during the declining years of Koryö. The triumph of the alliance between Yi Söng-gye, the military hero, and the Confucian scholar-officials was the founding of the Yi dynasty. The new rulers faced formidable tasks: consolidation of the country's territory, reconstruction of the bureaucracy, reorganization of local administration, extensive land reforms, increasing agricultural productivity , and social regeneration. The solution of the problems besetting Korean society was instrumental not only in striking a new balance between land and people, but also in introducing a new sense of order and security into society. The transition from Koryö to early Yi did not bring about abrupt institutional changes. Koryö political institutions were taken over as the organizational basis of the new government but their framework was tightened by increasing bureaucratization and centralization; royal power was concentrated in the...

The Divinity of Kings

THE ORIGINAL human manusyadeva, in India is the priest, or according to some texts, the scholarly priest; for one may be born to the caste and yet, if not initiated into it and later instructed in the sacred learning, one will not be a real priest and not entitled to priestly distinction. But such a restriction as this is ignored in the older Veda, where gods are very simply divided into two classes, invisible and visible, the latter being Brahmans (TS. 1. 7. 3. 1). The epic steers a middle course and says that any (Brahman) priest is a god, but when he is wise and learned he is more of a god , cavidvn brdhmacio devah vidvan bhftyastaro devah. In either case he is still a Ji he is born to it and only one born divine, so to speak, is at this period a priest. Kingship on the other hand is an attribute which may be bestowed on a member of other than the warrior-caste and in any case a king becomes divine only by virtue of a religious ritual, in which the mere man by consecration and baptism at inauguration assumes a divine nature. The war-god Indra is the natural prototype of the warrior-king and a verse in the earliest Veda addressed to Indra is in the later Atharva transferred to the king. Following this lead, the priestly ritual literature identifies the king with several divinities. Whatever his parentage (that is, of whatever caste), the king rules as divine; he and the priest together uphold the moral order. The R. g-Veda recognized a king as a demigod, ardhadeva, but even then apparently only when he was a conqueror. The next period, a few centuries later, identifies every properly inaugurated king, by virtue of his mystic consecration, with the great gods. He is anointed with the glory of the Fire-god, with the radiance of the Sun-god, with the power of Indra . It is the gods that confer upon him radiance, power, and might. The radiance, varceas, is united with the fiery energy, haras, which the Father of gods conferred upon Indra and is symbolized by a gold crown. The king only by