Ian W. Archer – författare

The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577, 1587), issued under the name of Raphael Holinshed, was the crowning achievement of Tudor historiography, and became the principal source for the historical writings of Spenser, Daniel and, above all, Shakespeare. While scholars have long been drawn to Holinshed for its qualities as a source, they typically dismissed it as a baggy collection of materials, lacking coherent form and analytical insight. This condescending verdict has only recently given way to an appreciation of the literary and historical qualities of these chronicles.The Handbook is a major interdisciplinary undertaking which gives the lie to Holinshed''s detractors, and provides original interpretations of a book that has lacked sustained academic scrutiny. Bringing together leading specialists in a variety of fields - literature, history, religion, classics, bibliography, and the history of the book - the Handbook demonstrates that the Chronicles powerfully reflect the nature of Tudor thinking about the past, about politics and society, and about the literary and rhetorical means by which readers might be persuaded of the truth of narrative. The volume shows how distinctive it was for one book to chronicle the history of three nations of the British archipelago. The various sections of the Handbook analyse the making of the two editions of the Chronicles; the relationship of the work to medieval and early modern historiography; its formal properties, genres and audience; attitudes to politics, religion, and society; literary appropriations; and the parallel descriptions and histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The result is a seminal study that shows unequivocally the vitality and complexity of the chronicle form in the late sixteenth century.

The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577, 1587), issued under the name of Raphael Holinshed, was the crowning achievement of Tudor historiography, and became the principal source for the historical writings of Spenser, Daniel and, above all, Shakespeare. While scholars have long been drawn to Holinshed for its qualities as a source, they typically dismissed it as a baggy collection of materials, lacking coherent form and analytical insight. This condescending verdict has only recently given way to an appreciation of the literary and historical qualities of these chronicles.The Handbook is a major interdisciplinary undertaking which gives the lie to Holinshed''s detractors, and provides original interpretations of a book that has lacked sustained academic scrutiny. Bringing together leading specialists in a variety of fields - literature, history, religion, classics, bibliography, and the history of the book - the Handbook demonstrates that the Chronicles powerfully reflect the nature of Tudor thinking about the past, about politics and society, and about the literary and rhetorical means by which readers might be persuaded of the truth of narrative. The volume shows how distinctive it was for one book to chronicle the history of three nations of the British archipelago. The various sections of the Handbook analyse the making of the two editions of the Chronicles; the relationship of the work to medieval and early modern historiography; its formal properties, genres and audience; attitudes to politics, religion, and society; literary appropriations; and the parallel descriptions and histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The result is a seminal study that shows unequivocally the vitality and complexity of the chronicle form in the late sixteenth century.

The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577, 1587), issued under the name of Raphael Holinshed, was the crowning achievement of Tudor historiography, and became the principal source for the historical writings of Spenser, Daniel and, above all, Shakespeare. While scholars have long been drawn to Holinshed for its qualities as a source, they typically dismissed it as a baggy collection of materials, lacking coherent form and analytical insight. This condescending verdict has only recently given way to an appreciation of the literary and historical qualities of these chronicles.The Handbook is a major interdisciplinary undertaking which gives the lie to Holinshed's detractors, and provides original interpretations of a book that has lacked sustained academic scrutiny. Bringing together leading specialists in a variety of fields - literature, history, religion, classics, bibliography, and the history of the book - the Handbook demonstrates that the Chronicles powerfully reflect the nature of Tudor thinking about the past, about politics and society, and about the literary and rhetorical means by which readers might be persuaded of the truth of narrative. The volume shows how distinctive it was for one book to chronicle the history of three nations of the British archipelago. The various sections of the Handbook analyse the making of the two editions of the Chronicles; the relationship of the work to medieval and early modern historiography; its formal properties, genres and audience; attitudes to politics, religion, and society; literary appropriations; and the parallel descriptions and histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The result is a seminal study that shows unequivocally the vitality and complexity of the chronicle form in the late sixteenth century.

This collection of hitherto unpublished material sheds important light on the English court and its relationship with a wider political society in the sixteenth century. The 'Journall' of political events covering 1547-52 and 1559-1562, possibly by the 'commonwealth man' John Hayles, offers arresting insights on court politics, foreign affairs and events in the life of London. It is published alongside a related account of the rivalry between the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland. Court religious ceremonial is illustrated through an edition of regulations for the royal chapel. The memoir of Jean Malliet, sent to England to solicit a loan for the beleaguered city of Geneva in 1582-3, demonstrates the 'Calvinist international' at work. A tranche of letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir Christopher Hatton offers fresh material on court politics in this period.

The Transactions of the Royal Historical Society publish an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. The volume includes the following articles: Presidential Address: Britain and Globalisation since 1850: III. Creating the World of Bretton Woods, 1939-1958 Martin Daunton; High and Low: Ties of Dependence in the Frankish Kingdoms (The Alexander Prize Essay) Alice Rio; Text, Visualisation and Politics: London, 1150-1250 Derek Keene; Centre and Periphery in the European Book World Andrew Pettegree; A Tale of Two Episcopal Surveys: The Strange Fates of Edmund Grindal and Cuthbert Mayne Revisited (The Prothero Lecture) Peter Lake; The Language and Symbolism of Conquest in Ireland, c. 1790-1850 Jacqueline Hill; Writing War: Autobiography, Modernity and Wartime Narrative in Nationalist China, 1937-1946 Rana Mitter; The Death of a Consumer Society Matthew Hilton; Report of Council for 2007-2008.

This work engages in the historical debate about the reasons for London's freedom from serious unrest in the later sixteenth century, when the city's rulers faced mounting problems caused by rapid population growth, spiralling prices, impoverishment and crime. One key to the city's stability was that Londoners were locked into a matrix of overlapping communities, the livery companies, wards and parishes, all of which created claims on their loyalties and gave them a framework within which redress of grievances could be pursued. The highly developed structures of government in the capital also enjoyed considerable success in mobilising resources for poor relief, while the authorities so impotent against it, as the traditional accounts would suggest. This is the first effort at a holistic approach to interpreting early modern London society, based on the full range of London sources.

This collection of hitherto unpublished material sheds important light on the English court and its relationship with a wider political society in the sixteenth century. The 'Journall' of political events covering 1547-52 and 1559-1562, possibly by the 'commonwealth man' John Hayles, offers arresting insights on court politics, foreign affairs and events in the life of London. It is published alongside a related account of the rivalry between the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland. Court religious ceremonial is illustrated through an edition of regulations for the royal chapel. The memoir of Jean Malliet, sent to England to solicit a loan for the beleaguered city of Geneva in 1582-3, demonstrates the 'Calvinist international' at work. A tranche of letters from Sir Robert Cecil to Sir Christopher Hatton offers fresh material on court politics in this period.

Praise for the series:‘Perhaps the most important historical undertaking of our age... one of the most valuable historical works ever produced.’ Times Literary Supplement‘A landmark in the field of historical endeavour... the most admirable collection of sources on English history that exists.’ American Historical Review English Historical Documents is the most ambitious, impressive and comprehensive collection of primary documents on English history ever published. The volumes have each become landmark publications in their own fields. This long awaited volume covers 1558-1603, the reign of Elizabeth I, when government, culture, religion and foreign policy all underwent profound change. This volume includes informative introductory pieces for the parts and sections and editorial comment is directed towards making sources intelligible rather than drawing conclusions from them. Opening with an introductory section which contextualises the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, the volume covers all key aspects of the Elizabethan period, including:InstitutionsSocial and economic structuresThe marriage question and the problem of the successionFamily and householdCultural lifeThe Church and religious affairsElizabethan warsOverseas trade and explorationCrime and disorderThe format of the series has been updated and the documents gathered here encompass the most up to date approaches to the material.

Praise for the series:‘Perhaps the most important historical undertaking of our age... one of the most valuable historical works ever produced.’ Times Literary Supplement‘A landmark in the field of historical endeavour... the most admirable collection of sources on English history that exists.’ American Historical Review English Historical Documents is the most ambitious, impressive and comprehensive collection of primary documents on English history ever published. The volumes have each become landmark publications in their own fields. This long awaited volume covers 1558-1603, the reign of Elizabeth I, when government, culture, religion and foreign policy all underwent profound change. This volume includes informative introductory pieces for the parts and sections and editorial comment is directed towards making sources intelligible rather than drawing conclusions from them. Opening with an introductory section which contextualises the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, the volume covers all key aspects of the Elizabethan period, including:InstitutionsSocial and economic structuresThe marriage question and the problem of the successionFamily and householdCultural lifeThe Church and religious affairsElizabethan warsOverseas trade and explorationCrime and disorderThe format of the series has been updated and the documents gathered here encompass the most up to date approaches to the material.

The Transactions of the Royal Historical Society publish an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. This 2010 volume includes the following articles: 'Presidential Address: French Crossings I: Tales of Two Cities' by Colin Jones, 'Living Like the Laity? The Negotiation of Religious Status in the Cities of Late Medieval Italy' by Frances Andrews, 'Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate' by Blair Worden, 'Refashioning Puritan New England: The Church of England in British North America, c.1680-c.1770' by Jeremy Gregory, 'Irish Social Thought and the Relief of Poverty, 1847-80' by Peter Gray, ''Facts Notorious to the Whole Country': The Political Battle over Irish Poor Law Reform in the 1860s' by Virginia Crossman and 'The Age of Prothero: British Historiography in the Long Fin de Siecle, 1870-1920' (The Prothero Lecture) by Michael Bentley.

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. Volume twenty-one of the sixth series includes the following articles: 'French crossings II: laughing over boundaries', 'Thinking with Byzantium', 'Why were some tenth-century English kings presented as rulers of Britain?', 'The Reformation of the generations: youth, age and religious change in England, c.1500-1700', 'Markets and cultures: medical specifics and reconfiguration of the body in early modern Europe', 'Troubling memories: nineteenth-century histories of the slave trade and slavery', 'The meaning of 'life': biology and biography in the work of J. S. Haldane (1860-1936)' and 'The demise of the asylum in late twentieth-century Britain: a personal history'. The volume also carries the Report of Council from 2010-11.

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. Volume 22 of the sixth series includes the following articles: 'French Crossings: III. The Smile of the Tiger', 'Orientation in Three Spheres: Medieval Mediterranean Boundary Clauses in Latin, Greek and Arabic', 'Monastic Reform and the Geography of Christendom: Experience, Observation and Influence', 'Negotiating the Medieval in the Modern: European Citizenship and Statecraft', 'People of the Covenant and the English Bible', 'The Moral Geography of British Anti-Slavery Responsibilities' (The Alexander Prize Essay),'The Challenger: Hugh Hamilton Lindsay and the Rise of British Asia, 1832-1865', 'After 1848: The European Revolution in Government', 'Auditory Snapshots from the Edges of Europe'. The volume also carries the Report of Council for 2011-12.

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. Volume 23 of the sixth series includes the following articles: 'French Crossings IV: Vagaries of Passion and Power in Enlightenment Paris', 'Entrusting Western Europe to the Church, 400-750', 'Emperor Otto III and the End of Time' (The Alexander Prize Essay), 'Of Living Legends and Authentic Tales: How to Get Remembered in Early Modern Europe', 'The Semantics of 'Peace' in Early Modern England', 'What is Pain? A History' (The Prothero Lecture), 'A Room With a View: Visualising the Seaside, c.1750-1914', 'Safety First: The Security of Britons in India, 1946-1947', 'The 'Tropical Dominions': The Appeal of Dominion Status in the Decolonisation of India, Pakistan and Ceylon'. The volume also carries the Report of Council for 2012-13.

Transactions of the Royal Historical Society is an annual collection of major articles representing some of the best historical research by some of the world's most distinguished historians. Volume 24 of the sixth series includes the following articles: 'Educating the Nation I: Schools', 'The 'Feudal Revolution' and the Origins of Italian City Communes', 'Preachers and Hearers in Revolutionary London: Contextualising Parliamentary Fast Sermons', ''The Honest Tradesman's Honour': Occupational and Social Identity in Seventeenth-Century England', 'Andres Bello and the Challenges of Spanish American Liberalism', 'Skill, Craft, and Histories of Industrialisation in Europe and Asia', 'Christendom's Bulwark: Croatian Identity and the Response to the Ottoman Advance, Fifteenth to Sixteenth Centuries', 'Croats and Croatia in the Wake of the Great War', 'Dissimilation, Assimilation, and the Unmixing of Peoples: German and Croatian Scholars Working towards a New Ethno-Polical Order, 1919-45'.