Seventeeth Century Research Articles

The ‘Dutch’ in Colchester: The economic influence of an immigrant community in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries

In this paper the immigration of ‘Dutchmen’ into England is firstly placed within the context of immigration into this country in general, with particular reference to the movement of people in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries. The growth of the community in Colchester is described briefly, as is the economy and standing of the town itself, with particular reference to the decline of its staple textile manufacture in the sixteenth century. The position of the Dutch in the town, and the transformation and revival of cloth production which resulted from their arrival, are examined, as are both popular and official attitudes towards them. Finally, an attempt is made to assess the extent of the Dutch contribution to the economic and social well‐being of the town by an examination of developments within the English textile industry in general in this period.

Famine and disease in the history of Angola, C. 1830-1930.

In Angola, climatic instability contributed to maintaining a precarious balance between food resources, population and disease long before the nineteenth century. Periods of exceptionally irregular rainfall, lasting several years, were preceded or accompanied by plagues of locusts which caused famines at least once every decade. The coastal lowland and the extreme south were especially vulnerable. Prolonged hunger crises led to malnutrition, lowered resistance to disease and epidemic outbreaks, especially of smallpox. A rhythm of drought and smallpox can be discerned in Angola, at least since the seventeeth century. From the 1830s the gradual decline of the overseas slave trade and rise of commerce in raw materials and cash crops brought important demographic changes. These contributed to the worsening famines and epidemic crises of the late nineteenth century. Commercial instability and rural depopulation hindered the growth of Portuguese plantation prosperity. Soon after, however, similar crises aided Portuguese military conquest in Angola by weakening African ability to mobilize effective resistance. In the twentieth century malnutrition continued to be the most widespread problem of Angola's Africans and on occasion it drove them to revolt.

Arminianism and the English Parliament, 1624–1629

“Oh, Mr. Pym, this breaks the heart,” lamented Sir Richard Grosvenor in the House of Commons in 1629; “if God be God, let us follow him, and if Baal be God, let us follow him, and no longer halt between two opinions.” The Baalites, it was clear to the Commons, were the Arminians, who threatened “the very ruin and desolation if not dissolution of Religion in this land.” Such was the threat of Arminianism that when the Commons presented its Protestations on March 2, the first article read,Whosoever shall bring in innovation in Religion, or by favour or countenance, seek to extend or introduce Popery or Arminianism or other opinions disagreeing from the true and orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to this Kingdom and Commonwealth.This was no ordinary condemnation of schism or theological haggling. The members of the Commons shared a strong suspicion of Arminianism as a political as well as religious heresy. They had a clear idea of what English Arminianism was and who was an Arminian. Before 1624, no Englishman had even been accused of Arminianism, either in Parliament or in contemporary literature devoted to religious controversies. How did the definition of English Arminianism develop between 1624 and 1629? How did Arminianism, originally a moderate Dutch Calvinism, come to be considered along with Popery as a treasonable theology?At the turn of the seventeeth century, Jacobus Arminius, Divinity Reader at the University of Leyden, had proposed a theological compromise between Supralapsarian and Infralapsarian Protestantism.

Montemayor's "Diana": a novel pastoral

Jorge de Montemayor never called his Siete Libros de la Diana a ‘novela pastoril’ nor indeed was the word novela applied by anyone in the sixteenth century to any works other than Italianate short stories. Nevertheless it seems clear that Montemayor was conscious of producing a new and even daring version of pastoral, by combining it with narrative in the tradition of the Italian novella. In this sense the term ‘pastoral novel’ is valid for La Diana, and attention to its hybrid nature provides a clue to understanding the work's enormous popularity in terms of continuations, adaptations and translations in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries, as well as its importance in the history of the modern European novel.

A Drum from Seventeeth Century Africa

A Drum from Seventeeth Century Africa

MARTIN LUTHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE MENTALLY RETARDED

Kanner, more than anyone else, has called our attention to the gradual but slow and halting emergence of compassion and concern on the part of churchmen, philosophers, philanthropists, physicians, and politicians toward the mentally retarded. It may come as a surprise to learn that it was during the "enlightenment" and "reform" of the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries that the treatment of mental defectives was at its worst. It was during this period that many of them became victims of the prevailing demonism. Martin Luther referred to the feeble-minded as godless and reported this occurrence in one of his Table Talks:1 Eight years ago, there was one in Dessau whom I, Martinus Luther, saw and grappled with. He was twelve years old, had the use of his eyes and all his senses, so that one might think he was a normal child. But he did nothing but gorge himself as much as four peasants or threshers. He ate, defecated, and drooled and, if anyone tackled him, he screamed. If things didn't go well, he wept. So I said to the Prince of Anhalt: "If I were the Prince, I should take the child to the Moldau River which flows near Dessau and drown him." But the Prince of Anhalt and the Prince of Saxony, who happened to be present, refused to follow my advice. Thereupon I said; "Well, then the Christians shall order the Lord's Prayer to be said in church and pray that the dear Lord take the Devil away." This was done daily in Dessau and the changeling died in the following year.

The Recognition of Plant Sensitivity by English Botanists in the Seventeeth Century

THE detailed experimental study of plant and the examination of the nature of plant sensitivity were two of the important achievements of nineteenth-century plant physiologists. These subjects occupied the attention of many of the most distinguished botanists of the time, including Charles Darwin in England, Julius von Sachs in Germany, and Asa Gray in America. Sachs also wrote a historical account of the investigations of plant in his famous History of Botany,' in which he recognized that plant had been recorded since antiquityparticularly by the herbalists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Sachs found no evidence that the concept of plant sensitivity was used before the nineteenth century; his assessment has been accepted by subsequent historians of botany. However, it has recently been pointed out 2 that plant received attention in the eighteenth century and that the notion of plant sensitivity was familiar to many biologists by the end of that century, including Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin.3 This article demonstrates that the contributions of seventeenth-century natural philosophers have been seriously underestimated. During this period an experimental study of plant was promoted, which led to the postulation of a theory of plant sensitivity. While the Renaissance herbalists were familiar with plant movements, they had little interest in the explanation of this phenomenon. Thus, they noticed that sleep movements were characteristic of the leaves and flowers of certain species, but they were predominantly concerned with

The Ministry to the English Churches in the Netherlands in the Seventeeth Century

The Ministry to the English Churches in the Netherlands in the Seventeeth Century Get access ALICE C. CARTER ALICE C. CARTER Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Volume 33, Issue 88, November 1960, Pages 166–179, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2281.1960.tb02279.x Published: 12 October 2007

The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century

Journal Article The New England Merchants in the Seventeeth Century. By Bernard Bailyn. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955. xiv + 249 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliographical note, and index. $4.75.) Get access Christopher Crittenden Christopher Crittenden North Carolina State Department of Archives and History Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 42, Issue 2, September 1955, Pages 312–313, https://doi.org/10.2307/1897648 Published: 01 September 1955

Geography as a Science

Science the middle of the seventeeth century, Varenius and other geographers have been engaged in researching for the scientific character of geography. Its essential points are as follows.I Does geography belong to a science or not?1. commonsense or an organized knowledge2. what kind of learning3. its level with scientific knowledge4. its object and methodII Is geography an independent science?5. its nature and quality 6. what kind of science7. its position among sciences8. its alloted work and collaborationTo these questions in the above several answers have been given, but they are rarely solutions satisfactory to us. Especially doultful are their concepts of the earth surface or the world and their methods of approch to it.Human beings have been surrounded by the same time its whole surface is now occupied by them. Accordingly it should be studied not only from the standpoint of the third party, but also from that of the parties concerned.Strange as it may sound, recent studies require a synthesis of subjectivity as ancient geographers did. And in the same sense a synthetic method is to be applied to the unification of chorological and global view.We are much obliged to our former researchers for their endeavor in establishing geography as a modern science. Their work is really great, however, in the light of geography as an ancient science we are going to put it forward to a new age science.

American Economic Thought in the Seventeeth Century

American Economic Thought in the Seventeeth Century

The Malady of the Stone in the Seventeeth Century

The Malady of the Stone in the Seventeeth Century

A Seventeeth Century cambridge miscellany

A Seventeeth Century cambridge miscellany Get access Edward Bensly Edward Bensly Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 150, Issue 12, 20 March 1926, Pages 214–215, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/150.12.214 Published: 20 March 1926

Mysterious appearances in the heavens during the seventeeth century

Mysterious appearances in the heavens during the seventeeth century

Roxalana : seventeeth century trade token

Journal Article Roxalana : seventeeth century trade token Get access J. Eliot Hodgkin J. Eliot Hodgkin 1Richmond-on-Thames Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume s7-IV, Issue 102, 10 December 1887, Page 471, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s7-IV.102.471e Published: 10 December 1887

Ballad-makers of the seventeeth century

Ballad-makers of the seventeeth century

Value of money is the seventeeth century

Value of money is the seventeeth century