Royal Court Research Articles

Mail concessions for a global empire: correos mayores in the Spanish Empire in America (1514-1620)

The nature of mail concessions awarded to private parties in order to enable the distribution of information within the Spanish Empire in the sixteenth century is examined. I propose the hypothesis that several versions of mail concessions coexisted within the Spanish Empire. Likewise, I question the notion that these mail concessions were intended to gain monopoly control. The analysis concentrates on correos mayores, through which contracts were negotiated and entered into with the crown for the rights to distribute correspondence in several communication epicenters. By means of a comparison between the situations in Sevilla, the Royal Court, Mexico, and Guatemala, the article shows that “gifts” by various means, as well as auctions, were the main models for allocating mail concessions.

". . . imagine! . . . what position she was in! . . .": Revealing the Female Form in Samuel Beckett's Not I

". . . imagine! . . . what position she was in! . . .":Revealing the Female Form in Samuel Beckett's Not I Zan Cammack (bio) In Samuel Beckett's 1972 play Not I, an actress whose mouth is tightly and exclusively lit delivers a rapid, incessant, long stream-of-consciousness monologue as the protagonist Mouth. Mouth undergoes a desperate struggle to articulate a traumatic narrative of female identity, all the while "vehement[ly] refus[ing] to relinquish the third person" as Beckett describes it, seemingly incapable of acknowledging that the narrative is indeed her own (Beckett 405). She avoids saying "I" during five marked moments of crisis in which her monologue becomes a question and answer with an unheard interlocutor: ". . . what? . . . who? . . . no! . . . she! . . ." (406, 408, 411, 412, 413). The staging of Not I requires Mouth to be suspended eight feet above stage level, upstage and audience right, "faintly lit from close-up and below" with the rest of her face and body obscured in darkness (405). For most of the piece the audience stares intently at the pinprick of light that Mouth occupies at the back of the large, dark stage. In Enoch Brater's article "The 'I' in Beckett's Not I" (1974), he explains how this staging affects the play: "if we concentrate too steadily on Mouth, we begin to discern in the stage darkness the actress behind the Mouth" (195). Brater's comment alludes to the phenomenon of dark adaptation in the human eye. Our eyes can reach a certain level of dark adaptation—the process by which eyes adjust to enable further vision in dim lighting—in approximately five to nine minutes, although full adaptation takes approximately twenty minutes (Kalloniatis and Luu). Brater's assessment of the stage lighting suggests that, in Not I, if audiences focus on Mouth for an extended period, their eyes can start to adapt to the dark, begin to penetrate the darkness of the stage, and potentially see the blacked-out figure of the performer. That level of dark adaptation would essentially undo the effect of a floating and disembodied mouth upon which Beckett's play entirely relies. In this essay, I attend to the darkness that so frames Mouth and its effects on spectators. What role, I ask, does darkness have on the play's presentation of female experience, and how have different productions used darkness as a staging technique to shape audiences' views of Beckett's disembodied protagonist? Lighting was (and is) a principal concern for the staging of Not I; to be more specific, the absence of lighting was a sticking point for Beckett and early productions of the piece. At the first Royal Court production of Not I in 1973, for instance, Billie Whitelaw remembers the impenetrability of the darkness in the theatre. It extended beyond a darkened stage to include the entire theatre space: "we killed all the lights, we broke all the rules, and took the lightbulbs out of the exit lights and took the lightbulbs out of the ladies' loo-lights because people tried to escape into the loo" (1990, n.p.). This left Mouth on the stage as the primary focal point for audiences, an anchor in the dark, as Beckett intended. While Beckett and his directors never specifically mention "dark adaptation" as motivation in their staging and lighting of Not I, I see a central tension in the way the play develops technical (staging) and verbal (in Mouth monologue) lighting in relation to the disembodied female body. For example, Beckett also added the figure of Auditor to the play:1 a hooded figure who stands "fully faintly lit" downstage left and diagonally positioned from the upstage right Mouth (Beckett 405). Auditor never speaks, only making slight arm movements at the first four intervals of Mouth's denial [End Page 97 ] of the first person. The dimly lit presence of Auditor and, more importantly, the small gestures Auditor makes create a distraction from Mouth at crucial moments in her narrative. Audiences shift their attention from the small, far-away Mouth to the larger and closer figure. In this fleeting moment of distraction, the eye is forced to change its level of dark adaptation. The eye can relax its...

Pizza!: A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli

Reviewed by: Pizza!: A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli Elizabeth Bush Pizzoli, Greg Pizza!: A Slice of History; written and illus. by Greg Pizzoli. Viking, 2022 [56p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780425291078 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780425291092 $11.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-8 yrs Pizzoli offers up a startling stat: "In the United States of America, we eat 350 slices of pizza every second." The factoid doesn't come with specific verification, but it's safe to say that, yes, we do eat a boatload of pizza, and yes, his target picture book audience scarfs down their fair share. Inquiring young minds surely ponder the origins of the gastronomic social leveler, and this title brings them up to speed on murky legendary origins (maybe ancient Greek flatbread, maybe Persian military fare cooked on a shield), sturdier historic lore (Raffaele Esposito, who charmed Queen Margherita of Naples with a pizza named for her), and a plausible contender for the introduction of pizza to the USA (Genarro Lombardi of, where else, New York). From there it's a sprint of expanding popularity and culinary innovation through the twentieth century, culminating in the range of stateside and international interpretations that will have listeners arguing over whether such exotica even counts as pizza. Pizzoli's four-color print illustrations—in Italian-themed red, white, and green, complemented with swaths of doughy yellow—sport the wry humor his fans have come to recognize. Esposito rides horseback, rushing to-go boxes of pies to the royal court, while the Grim Reaper tempts a victim with a tomato once thought to be poisonous. Finally, as the perfect leftover to save for another day, Pizzoli concludes with a simple recipe for making toaster oven pizzas with English muffins. Pizza for breakfast. Of course! [End Page 363] Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

원제국 외래 香藥과 카안의 賞賜 ― 南海海上 생산 香藥을 중심으로 ―

This study examined the distribution and consumption of herbal medicines in the Yuan, which was traded as the main product in international trade in the 13th and 14th centuries. This study focused on herbal medicines produced in the Southern coastal region, which ranged from Southeast Asia to India, and flowed into the Yuan. This research confirmed that rare herbal medicines produced in the southern coastal region and other countries were valued by Mongol rulers and were not only used in the herbal medicines and cuisines in the Mongol court but also served as imperial gifts.BR After annexing the Southern Song, the Mongol advanced to the ocean and began to form political relations with countries on the southeastern coast and begin international trade with the southern maritime powers. Although maritime trade did not take place due to the fierce opposition in the southern maritime reigimes, a full-fledged maritime trade system was established postwar in the late 13th century, and the trade between the Yuan and southern maritime regimes began under the leadership of various people, including soldiers, bureaucrats, and merchants. Shibo(市舶) trade began at this point, as per the Southern Song dynasty’s maritime policy. According to Zhizheng Simingzhi(『至正四明志』), herbal medicines accounted for 170 products out of a total of 220 types of products that were imported through maritime trade. These products were not only imported from Southeast Asia but also countries in West and East Asia. A portion of the herbal medicine that reached the trade port was collected as tax in accordance with the Yuan’s shibo(市舶) regulations, and the rest were circulated in the markets.BR Yuyaoyuanfang(『御藥院方』), a book on medicine publishe d in the Yuan Empire, includes the recipes and effects of medicines prepared for the Mongol Qaghans. The list of medicinal herbs that were used confirms that herbal medicines presented or imported from Southern maritime powers were used as essential ingredients. Yinshanzhengyao(『飮膳正要』), a cookbook for Mongolian rulers, also introduces foreign herbal medicines as food ingredients, which shows that foreign herbal medicines were used as spices and that the herbal medicines from the southern sea, in particular, were used in medicinal drinks consumed by the ruling class, including the Mongol Rulers. The medicines or medicinal herbs prepared in the Yuan royal court were also bestowed on Imperial family members, court ministers, and Keshigs as imperial gifts or were shared among the ruling class, with the imported herbal medicines as the main ingredients. Such findings suggest that the herbal medicines and related knowledge brought into East Asia as maritime trade became active in the 10th century were transmitted to the Yuan empire through Mongol’s maritime policy and that the herbal medicines were shared among the Mongol Imperial Members as a privilege.

『관혼례강의』에 나타난 조선 후기 왕자 관례식 고증 연구

『Gwanhonryegangui(冠婚禮講義)』, which is stored in Gyujanggak(奎章閣) and Jangseogak(藏書閣) is a syllabus that has been used for the lecture against the officials who performed official Jesa(祭祀, Korean traditional ancestral rites) events at Seoul in 1938. 『Gwanhonryegangui』 recorded the procedures and attire required for the coming-of-age ceremonies[冠禮] and wedding ceremonies[嘉禮] of the Royal Court of Joseon Dynasty. In the case of the events related to the Prince, the layout of the convention hall, which cannot be found in previous records, is written in 『Gwanhonryegangui』. The royal rituals regarding the Prince of the Joseon Dynasty were not researched actively compared to the rituals related to the Crown Prince due to the lack of data. The coming-of-age ceremony was the first ceremony for a prince while living in the palace. The coming-of-age ceremony in Confucian style had three stages, Choga(初加), Jaega(再加), and Samga(三加), respectively. For each of these stages, which represented adulthood, the Prince wore a different costume comprised of Gwan(冠) and an attire that befits the Gwan. This research aims to identify and organize the costume of the participants who participated in the Prince

초한전쟁 관련 문학의 동아시아적 변이 양상 연구

This paper attempted to examine how the war between Cho and Han was embodied and modified in the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese musical dance drama by focusing on the Chinese Peking Opera “Paewangbyulhee (Farewell My Concubine),” Korean Jeongjae “Hanjangmu” and Japanese Noh “Hangwoo.”. Peking Opera “Paewangbyulhee” is divided into nine chapters, mainly composed of the last battle of the War between Cho and Han, which is also described as the song of surrounded by enemies on all four sides. The events unfold in an orderly causal relationship, and the description is also very detailed. Through this incident, “Paewangbyulhee” depicts the love and death of Xiang-Yu and Yuji through the narrative reproduction of the song surrounded by enemies on all four sides. Royal Court public performance “Hangjangmu” has no chapter but it can be divided into three paragraphs, mainly composed of the confrontation between Xiang-Yu and Liu Bang in the Hongmunyeon feast. Also, the performance of Xiang-yu and Liu-bang’s vassals, who want to kill or protect, is centered on the sword dance. Therefore, “Hangjangmu” embodies the image of a loyal subject to loves and respects his king through the dramatic reproduction of the Hongmunyeon feast. There is no chapter division in Noh “Hangwoo,” but it can be divided into three paragraphs in terms of form. Life's uncertainty and sadness are constantly emphasized, centered on the reminiscences and emotions of unrealistic characters, and it tried to overcome by returning to the Buddhist world. Therefore, “Hangwoo” embodies the emptiness of life through the representation of the Cho-Han post-war. However, “Paewangbyulhee” emphasizes the love and death of Xiang-yu and Yu-ji, so the tragic beauty is strengthened, and “Hangjangmu” has strengthened elegant beauty by dramatically revealing the content of the character being congratulated, the dignity of the royal family and the content related to the loyal subjects to love and respect his king. In “Hangwoo,” the sublime beauty is strengthened by embodying the emptiness of life and returning to the Buddhist world through restrained music, characters dialogues, and songs. In the end, it can be said that the musical dance drama works of Korea, China, and Japan related to the war between Cho and Han embody distinctive literature by utilizing their literary assets and sense of beauty.

SLAVERY, SLAVE TRADE AND MANUMISSION IN GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA, 1940S-1950S.

Like in other African countries, in Ethiopia slavery and slave trade were practiced for centuries and had been endemic to the society In this article, I have made an attempt to bring out the efforts of different emperors, particularly Emperor Haile Sellassie’s period in order to regulate and prohibit slavery and slave trade in Ethiopia and to discuss the existence of the institutions and the practice until the 1950s. The attempt of the Ethiopian rulers to regulate or prohibit the slave trade in slaves failed to owe to several reasons. Anyway, the most serious laws making the beginning of the end for the institution of slavery in Ethiopia came in the 1920s. In an attempt to counter European criticism, Rastafari issued an edict in 1923 and 1924 imposing heavy penalties on the slave trade without, however, abolishing the legal status of slavery itself. Later, Ethiopia became a signatory to the ‘Slavery Convention of 1926.’ The official policy of the Ethiopian government against the slave trade, however, did little to stop the regional warlords from continuing to raid the borderlands for slaves. The continuation of slave trading and slavery itself in Ethiopia into the 1930s, the involvement of the state in the trade, and the continued use of slaves in the royal court were directly contrary to the public statements of Emperor Haile Sellassie I and the legal commitments of the Ethiopian state. Immediately after the evacuation of the Italian although Emperor Haile Sellassie made efforts to prohibit the trade in slaves, it continued to flourish. Even in 1942, he issued an edict imposing heavy punishment on those who were involved either in capturing or kidnapping, or selling slaves. Nonetheless, this does not mean that it came to an end. For this, I have discovered archival evidence in the Debre Markos Administrative Office and Higher Court House of Eastern Gojjam Zone, and in Dangla and Metekel administrative offices. Accordingly, the archives I discovered have three categories: the first deals with people who were accused of catching, kidnapping, and selling slaves on the basis of an eyewitness who was punished from seven to twenty years of imprisonment. The second category is dealing with people who were accused of kidnapping and selling individuals as slaves for money but for lack of witnesses, who were pardoned and set free. The third phase is connected with the people who after capturing and kidnapping individuals with the intent to sell them to slavery but because of the absence of a purchaser, treated them brutally. The sources are critically collected, scrutinize, and analyzed and their validities are cross-checked one against the other. Finally, as historical research, the paper is based on a systematic selection, collection, and analysis of archival documents, manuscripts, and secondary sources both published and unpublished.

A Historical Study of Prostitution

Since the beginning of time, the history of romantic relationships between men and women has been one of the most fascinating and complex. Hugging and sexual intercourse between men and women is an example of a romantic act that can take many forms. Different countries' policies on prostitution, such as legal and illegal forms, have been widely disseminated. Various forms of prostitution, such as consensual and forced prostitution, will be discussed here. Every country and every type of society has had some form of prostitution at some point in its history. It is an age old social evil. Kautilya in Arthashastra refers to the ganikas as an indispensable factor in royal courts and in India, it became institution in the post Vedic period Prostitution was an organized profession and was a source of revenue to the State in ancient times. A prostitute is a woman who sells herself for sexual purpose to a great number of men in succession and with little or no choice among them. This article is prepared through analytical and archival method of research.

A Historical Study of Prostitution

Since the beginning of time, the history of romantic relationships between men and women has been one of the most fascinating and complex. Hugging and sexual intercourse between men and women is an example of a romantic act that can take many forms. Different countries' policies on prostitution, such as legal and illegal forms, have been widely disseminated. Various forms of prostitution, such as consensual and forced prostitution, will be discussed here. Every country and every type of society has had some form of prostitution at some point in its history. It is an age old social evil. Kautilya in Arthashastra refers to the ganikas as an indispensable factor in royal courts and in India, it became institution in the post Vedic period Prostitution was an organized profession and was a source of revenue to the State in ancient times. A prostitute is a woman who sells herself for sexual purpose to a great number of men in succession and with little or no choice among them. This article is prepared through analytical and archival method of research.

Sham trusts and the requirement that a shamming intent be shared: Administrators of the Estate of Hanson v O’Leary and Ors

Abstract In the recent case of Hanson, the Royal Court considered at length the principles applicable to claims that a trust is a sham and as such is void. The Court traced the case law through a number of recent developments. It reaffirmed the principle that, whereas a trustee's recklessness as to the terms of an apparent trust will constitute an intention that the assets would not be held on those apparent terms, recklessness will not suffice for the required intention to mislead third parties.

Religious Discourse in Ancient Mesopotamia

AbstractThe modern representation of cuneiform literature as a creation depending on a religious discourse leads us to think that myths and rites have structured not only the institution of kingship, but also all Mesopotamian knowledge, as well as social life. If political ideology needed a religious support to explain the king’s authority and privileges, later textual traditions show that the same intellectuals working for the royal court and urban elites developed at the same time, beyond religion, an alternative conception of their own power as knowledge and control of history, through narration, and nature through “magic”, in order to change reality and the gods’ will.

Dream as a Narrative Strategy in Selected Classical Malay Texts

This paper discusses dream as a narrative strategy in selected classical Malay texts. The discussion covers six Malay historiographical texts: Sulalatus Salatin, Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, Hikayat Banjar, Tuhfat Al-Nafis, Babad Tanah Jawa and Syair Peperangan Aceh. Mieke Bal's narrative theory (2017) is used as the main method of discussion. In her book, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (2017), Bal presents 12 important characteristics in narrative theory; event, character, time, location, plot, repetition, focalization, text, author, description, narrative stages and ideology. Based on the analysis, the characteristics can be condensed into five categories: text (theme, point of view, repetition, description, narrative stages, plot, and focalization), author, setting (time, place, and event), ideology and character. However, the discussion of this paper uses one element only, which is the author's ideology. The findings intend to show the author's ideology in using dream as one of the narrative strategies to highlight the sovereignty and veneration of the Malay kings. The study's results prove that dream was used as a narrative strategy by the past royal court authors.

The role of women in the formation of gallant aesthetics.

The object of the study is radical changes in gender relations in France in the first half of the XVII century, increasing the social role of women.The process of turning the knightly estate into a courtier against the background of the strengthening of the royal court leads to the fact that men leave the historically habitual and habitual ideal of knightly valor, entering the space of salons and the court. In this space, they are forced to comprehend the art of secular communication that is new to them and the art of liking the participants of this communication. That art, which, according to contemporaries, was perfectly mastered by women. Through language, education, literature, women take part in the birth and establishment of a public space built around new gender norms, a new practice of fiction. The recognition of a woman in the moralistic literature of the first half of the XVII century as equal to a man in dignity and nobility makes her an equal participant in secular communication. Women's authority eventually begins to determine the direction of criticism, women act as arbiters of good taste in literature and art. At this time, a modern view of the relationship between the sexes is being formed. All these phenomena are characteristic of European culture as a whole and largely determine the modern European mentality. The analysis of the historical prerequisites for the increase in social activity and the role of women is extremely important and relevant both for understanding many historical realities, including the formation of the European gender tradition, and for studying the influence of these processes on the formation of new aesthetic ideals. Gallant aesthetics develops with the participation and under the influence of women, since gallant culture is a culture permeated with the idea of love.

긍재(兢齋) 김득신(金得臣, 1754~1822) 생애의 재구성

Geungjae (兢齋) Kim Deuk-shin (金得臣, 1754~1822) was a painter from the Yeong, Jeong, and Sun Dynasties. Born to the Kaesong Kim clan, a noble painter family of the late Joseon Dynasty, he entered the Dohwaseo in his teens and, for more than 44 years, played critical roles of a major painter, living the typical life of a painter during the late Joseon Dynasty. In addition to his well-known genre painting, he was one of the best painters of his time, presenting outstanding skills in almost all genres, including landscapes, figures, furry animals and flowers and birds. Nevertheless, many viewed him with limited perspectives, such as “a painter whose major inspiration was Kim Hong-do” and “a painter only known for genre painting.” Focusing on these aspects, this paper intends to reconstruct Kim Deuk-shin’s life and his influence on Korean painting history.
 Born to the Gaesong Kim clan and Shinpyung Han clan, both noble painter families of the late Joseon Dynasty, Kim Deuk-shin received rigorous education from an early age and became an official Dohwaseo painter in his teenage years. After the establishment of Jabidaeryungw hawon (the best painters of their time, temporarily recruited for royal court assignments in the late Joseon period) by Gyujanggak, he was recruited as one of the first Jabidaeryungwhawon and devoted himself to Gyujanggak activities for the next 37 years. He was known to be diligent in all his tasks, small or large, in addition to major painting duties including Gamdong (監董, a temporary official post to supervise and manage special projects such as civil engineering works or publication of books), royal portrait painter for Jeong Dynasty, and production of Hwaseongwonhaengdobyeong. With his talent and attitude, he was a trusted painter, being appointed several times as an official (burok, 付祿) during both Jung and Sun Dynasties.
 In addition to his official duties, Kim Deuk-shin was also active in his private works. He grew himself as a painter by interacting with important artists of the Joseon Dynasty, such as Kim Eung-hwan who came from a similar background, as well as Kim Hong-do and Lee In-moon. He received private orders through these personal relations, resulting in general paintings of various genres, as evidenced by his works such as Gosangugok-sihwabyeong and Hanjgangjooyouaheokdo cheob.

Fifteenth-Century Melaka’s Networked Ports-of-Trade and Maritime Diasporas in the Bay of Bengal and Western Indian Ocean

Abstract Internationally Western scholars have emphasized the importance of pre-fifteenth-century Western and Eastern Indian Ocean, South Asian, Bay of Bengal, South China; regional Java and wider Southeast Asia commercial, landed, maritime, and societal networking; and Islamic, Hindu, Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. Notably where there were upstream agrarian hinterlands of early historical Southeast Asia polities, royal courts, temples, cultural centers, and traditional farming were relocated in the vulnerable regional downstream coastal ports-of-trade. This essay recenters the discussion of the changing role of Melaka’s trade ports and their engagement with maritime based trade as conducted by various regional populations.

How to do things with the Church Fathers: Mary Magdalene and anti-Calvinist court rhetoric in Lancelot Andrewes’s Easter Sermons (1620-22)

ABSTRACT Mary Magdalene was one of the most controversial Scriptural figures in Post-Reformation England. This article draws attention to a remarkable moment in the early 1620s when Lancelot Andrewes decided to preach on Mary Magdalene not once but three consecutive times. Crucially, he did so during the highest point in the Christian calendar, Easter Sunday, and in the locus classicus of political power, the Royal Court. In so doing, Andrewes deliberately challenged a tradition of Reformed Protestant biblical commentaries which saw Magdalene’s femininity as intimately tied to her inability to trust Christ’s promise that he would rise from the grave. For the first time, I uncover how these three sermons constitute a trilogy (I term them the “Magdalene Triptych”). Moreover, I contextualise them within an ascendent English anti-Calvinist movement which began to weaponize the nascent field of patristic scholarship to specific confessional and political ends.

Court Etiquette for the Viceroys: The Marquises of La Laguna, from the Court of Madrid to the Court of Mexico

This article addresses the baptism of Don José de la Cerda y Manrique, son of the viceroy of New Spain, the marquis of La Laguna, and his spouse, the countess of Paredes, in 1683. In contrast to previous baptisms of children born to the viceroys and seemingly going against the guidelines established by the royal court in Madrid, the ceremonial employed for his baptism was transposed almost exactly from that used for the baptism of the monarch, Charles II of Spain in 1661. The article analyses the royal baptismal ceremony used at the Spanish court with regard to its most significant artistic and symbolic elements. Attention is then turned to the splendid ritual organized by the cathedral chapter of the City of Mexico. The article argues that the Countess’ participation in the ceremony held in Madrid in 1661 influenced her to urge the Mexican authorities to stage her son’s baptism in a similar form.

The Pozsony Toll Exemption in the Angevin and Sigismund Eras

This study examines the question of the toll exemption of the citizen of Pozsony (Bratislava, Slovakia) in the Angevin period and under the rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg. Beyond interpreting the privilege guaranteed in the town charter issued by Andrew III in 1291, we discuss the problems connected to the validity of the privilege. The town charter ensured the Pozsony hospites the toll exemption in the entire kingdom, but only those could benefit from the privilege who travelled with the purpose of trade. Through royal confirmations, the country-wide toll exemption remained in effect throughout the Angevin and Sigismundian periods. All the lawsuits with known outcome ended with the acknowledgement of the exemption from tolls of the burghers of Pozsony except one case: in 1357 the cathedral chapter of Esztergom managed to break the privilege of the exemption with reference to the ancientness and pious donation of their right to collect tolls. Mentions from the reign of Louis I, however, also imply the existence of a lost but partially reconstructed charter issued by Charles I, which granted the Pozsony townspeople a regionally restricted toll exemption. The latter charter of privilege seems to have provided toll exemption for any kind of traffic, meaning transport of persons and goods on the Pozsony–Visegrád and Pozsony–Buda routes (meaning, the routes to the royal court) on and beside the Danube. Charles’s charter providing a ‘Danube toll exemption’ was probably confirmed by Louis, because court records indicate that the privilege was in effect.

The “destroyer of the realm:” Castilian chronicles and the de-legitimation of Juan Pacheco (d. 1474)

ABSTRACT During the fifteenth century, Castilian nobles were subject to criticism in chronicles and other literary texts. Titled nobles, especially those who were closest to the royal court, were particularly hard-hit by these discourses. Some of these aristocrats stand out for the intensity of the diatribes suffered, especially Juan Pacheco, Marquis of Villena, whose political influence would, to a large extent, shape political relations in Castile in the second half of the fifteenth century. The time is ripe for a reassessment of the public image of this figure from a new perspective on medieval political discourses and criticism. The aim of this study, therefore, is to analyse the de-legitimising strategies deployed around his figure, in relation to both his political role in the kingdom at large and his local influence in various cities and regions.

Charyapads as the oldest written specimen of assamese literature

Assamese literature and language has gained the present status by coming across various levels. The historians of literature have divided the Assamese literary eras by examining the style of composition, language, thoughts, ideals, themes etc of the literature written in the language from the era of origin till now. While dividing this era, Charyapad has been included as one of the most important examples of early age. On the basis of numerous reliable information, Charyapads are considered as the first written specimen of Assamese literature. In order to promote the worship of Buddha religion and theory among the masses, the Siddhacharyas of Sahajayana doctrine, the recent path of Tantrayana branch under Mahayana Buddhism composed the Charyapadas. In 1907, the Mahamahopadhyaya Har Prasad Shastri discovered the Charyapadas from the royal court of Nepal and in 1916 he published it as ‘Hajar Bochhorer Purono Bangala Bhasay Bouddha Gaan o Doha’. From the ancient era, the textbooks get disappeared in the womb of time due to various reasons. In consequence to that the written specimen of Assamese literature before 14th Century B.C have been found as inadequate.