Letters of Edward I (eBook)

Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century

Kathleen Neal (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
250 Seiten
Boydell & Brewer (Verlag)
978-1-80010-111-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Highly commended for the Royal Studies Journal Book Prize, 2022Detailed examination of the letters of Edward I reveals them to be powerful and sophisticated political tools.As formulaic in appearance as they are abundant in the archives, it is easy to underestimate the power of the letters generated by medieval governments, but these acts of communication were more than mere containers of information. Operating at the intersection of the spoken and the written, the performed and the observed, they produced a discourse that maximized royal authority and promoted solidarity between sender and recipient. This book situatesletters within medieval theories of composition and habits of reception, to argue that even mundane letters of governance were rhetorical texts. It focuses on the example of Edward I of England, whose rhetorical prowess was noted,often critically, by contemporaries. It shows how the king's correspondence varied in tone, vocabulary and structure across his reign and between recipients, revealing an unexpected dynamism of political discourse. Moving betweenhistorical context and close readings of individual letters, this volume identifies letter-writing as an art through which the king and his government attempted to negotiate and mould relationships with political communities anddiplomatic interlocutors alike. KATHLEEN B. NEAL is Lecturer in History at Monash University.

Inhalt

Introduction: Letters and the Language of Power
Royal Letters: The Authority of a Form
Rhetorical Refinement: Epistolary Editing and its Implications
Announcing the Message: Communities of Reception and Royal Ideology
'Dear Cousin': Affect and Epistolarity Beyond Borders
Keeping Friends Close: Strategies of Epistolary Alignment
Rhetoric Under Strain: Re-writing Royal Epistolarity
Conclusion. Royal Epistolarity: The Voice of the King
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.1.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 2 b/w, 1 line illus.
• Verlagsort: Woodbridge
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Mittelalter
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Schlagworte: Alexander III of Scotland • ars dictaminis • aurality • Britain • counsel • Crisis of 1297 • dictamen • Diplomacy • Falcon called Marmaduke • First Scottish War of Independence • great seal • Identity • John I of Scotland • Justice • kinship • Letter-writing • Literate
• ISBN-10: 1-80010-111-2 / 1800101112
• ISBN-13: 978-1-80010-111-1 / 9781800101111