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This is a study of noblewomen in twelfth-century England and Normandy, and of the ways in which they exercised power. It draws on a mix of evidence to offer a reconceptualization of women's role in aristocratic society, and in doing so suggests new ways of looking at lordship and the ruling elite in the high Middle Ages. The book considers a wide range of literary sources—such as chronicles, charters, seals and governmental records—to draw out a detailed picture of noblewomen in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm. It asserts the importance of the life-cycle in determining the power of these aristocratic women, thereby demonstrating that the influence of gender on lordship was profound, complex and varied.
5 The external–internal linkages of the transition The external shocks: the economic recession The first element that needs to be analysed is the role played by the economic crisis of 1985–86 in ‘forcing’ the ruling elites to open up the system. It has been established that government revenues fell due to the oil counter-shock and this led to widespread impoverishment among the general population, which in turn led to the October 1988 riots. Due to the outbreak of violence the ruling elite decided to open up the political system. The question that should be
hinterland.11 Crucially, popular opinion in favour of more severe action against witches was never so widespread nor so vehemently articulated – even during years of hardship – that the council felt obliged to accede to it.12 The Rothenburg evidence thus suggests that those areas most likely to be characterised by a restrained pattern of witch-trials in early modern Germany were those in which a significant majority of the ruling elites came to realise that the social, economic and political stability of their territories was likely to be damaged rather than strengthened
, this settlement took a century to construct and was forged between the ruling elites and the leadership of the domestic working class in Britain. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, democracy in Britain was constructed through incremental reforms that included an ever-larger number of workers into the political process. This course of democratisation served to contain an insurgent working class
elite perceives its objectives and its constraints. The strong concern about inequality, especially spatial inequality, in China goes back to well before the communist era. It is rooted in the history of an empire with fissiparous tendencies, requiring force and suasion in equal measure to keep provinces from breaking away. It is that concern which is reflected in generations of Chinese rulers, right up to the present ruling elite of the Communist party. But, again, what is the transmission mechanism from the sensibilities acquired by the rules of the Qing Empire in
resistance’. Indeed, a leadership totalitarian in character and without the control of society cannot be changed from below, but it has turned out that for this purpose external interference is not at all necessary; change in the political regime and all systems of social relations can take place from above, if the political and economic elite, having been gradually reconstituted, takes on this task. Radical changes in the political and economical structure of the state, effected by the ruling elite in correspondence with its new system of values, are possible precisely in
aim of making effective social and economic demands. Instead of resorting to repression and persecution, the state co-opted the labour movement and distorted the confederation of unions into a mouthpiece for the ruling elite and bargaining tool in their feuds over the sectarian allocation of privileges and resources. More significantly, the book examines how the liberal-sectarian system rests on the decomposition of labour power into a scattered and fragmented movement. The maintenance of the power-sharing system or the
viventes 265 monastery was interacting with ruling elites, at different levels, and how such interactions were an essential part of its identity. Royal family Both sections of amici begin with the royal family, the first one –the living friends – at p. 98, the second –the dead benefactors – at p. 114: p. 98. Hludowicus imp Hludharius imp Pippinus rex Hludowicus rex hludowicus iunior Iudith regina Karolus Kisala Bertha p. 114. Karolus maiordomus Pippinus rex Karlomannus maiordomus Karolus imp. Karlomannus Karolus rex Pippinus rex Bernardus rex Ruadrud Ruadheid
of keeping costs down. In summer 1600 eight horses were grazing in Kentish Town, while in 1604 some were being kept on the Earl of Northumberland’s estate at Syon.110 Conclusion To sum up, this detailed analysis of William Cavendish’s journeys to and in London provides a rich and nuanced understanding of the complexities and contingencies of elite travel at the turn of the sixteenth century. For Cavendish, like so many of his peers, the London season was an extensive one and involved more than one visit. As befitted a member of the ruling elite, much of Cavendish
of senatorial oversight in the control of plague and the management of the epidemic is most obviously available in senators’ participation in the trials. As Table 3 shows, in just three trials, over forty magistrates were present at interrogations. More important, each of the syndics attended at least four separate sessions, while two attended six. In effect, the entire magistracy functioned as Health Board and, as in these cases, judicial panels. Geneva’s ruling élite showed a constant unwillingness to delegate authority or responsibility to anyone for very long