Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Edward III'

This thesis traces the way in which the growing political consciousness of the English nation in the thirteenth century led the king to pay more attention to public opinion, and considers the arguments he used to justify his policies, and in particular his military undertakings, before a wider public audience. The development of such political propaganda began during Henry Ill's reign. Yet he felt little need to explain his policies until this increasingly unrealistic position was exposed during 1258-65, when the barons made strenuous and successful attempts to exploit public opinion. Edward I probably learnt much from his father's experience, and during his reign took considerable care to explain how his wars were in the interests of the realm. The traditional means of communication and the arguments put across both underwent considerable development as a result. Much of the material for this study is in print. The king's arguments can be established from the writs entered on the chancery rolls, supplemented by the accounts of the chroniclers, while the outline of the barons' arguments in 1258-65 can be established from the same sources. Bishops' registers and the memoranda rolls provide further information towards the end of the century. Throughout an attempt has been made to show how the king's claims and arguments were viewed, which is not particularly easy. The main sources for public opinion, the chronicles, supplemented by political songs, reflect mainly the views of literate churchmen, and the opinions of the laity can be ascertained only indirectly. Yet the picture which emerges is of an increasingly politically conscious nation following the main political events with interest, and able to judge the merits of the king's arguments for itself.

This thesis is a full political biography of Alice Perrers, the mistress of Edward III from the early 1360s until his death in June 1377 and mother to three of his children. It argues on the basis of the progression of her career that after the death of Edward's queen consort Philippa of Hainault in August 1369 Alice was able to extend the scope of her power and influence to the point that she became a ‘quasi' or ‘uncrowned' queen and, consequently, that her contribution to the political crisis of the 1370s can only be fully understood in terms of queenship. More generally, despite the recent increase on work on Alice, this study suggests that her life deserves a more thorough and nuanced appraisal than it has so far received. Various aspects of Alice's life are explored: her birth, family and first marriage; her early years as Edward III's mistress; the change in her status after Philippa of Hainault's death; her commercial activity as a moneylender and businesswoman; her accumulation of a landed estate and moveable goods; what happened to her in the Good Parliament; her trial in 1377; her marriage to William Wyndesore; and her life after Edward III's death. By examining Alice's career in this fashion it is shown that she took a leading role in the court party during the 1370s. Ultimately, by taking the original approach of applying ideas about queenship to a royal mistress this thesis demonstrates that Alice was perceived to have ‘inverted' or undermined the traditional role that the queen played in complementing and upholding the sovereignty and kingship of her husband, something that has implications for the wider study of not only mistresses, but also queens and queenship and even male favourites.

The present thesis examines the power structures of the royal forests of medieval England. The royal forests were vast geographic entities that sheltered a variety of resources. Some of these resources were mundane, like timber and land, and some were more symbolic, like the deer and the right to hunt, but all were highly valued in the medieval world. This research analyzes the role of the forester as a guardian of such resources and how the forester functioned within the local power structures of the forest as well as in the realm on a more general level. Traditional historiography has tended to gloss over the significance of the forester. Typically he appears as a stock character, as an evil local tyrant with no discernible redeeming qualities. Research emphasis has traditionally been placed on the forest laws and on royal hunting, with the forester appearing only as an addendum. More recent research, while addressing other important aspects of the forest, such as the symbolic nature of hunting, has also generally perpetuated a stereotypical image of the forester. One aim of the present research is to examine the forester more closely to see if this reputation is duly earned. A secondary aim of the thesis focuses on examining the general position of the forester within the power structures of medieval England. The forester naturally had an important role in local power structures, but these would have been intrinsically connected to wider power structures as well. This thesis aims to examine the forester’s position within both power contexts. Additionally, the tools and means by which a forester might contest power will also be examined. The analysis is effected primarily by examining feudal ties of fealty and land tenancy as well as how power structures were negotiated and contested. An accessory aim of the research is to understand why (and how) power roles changed in the forest. Foresters were often stripped of their offices, seemingly due to malfeasance, and the forest officialdom seems to have been ever fluctuating. In general, the locals who resided in the forests commonly complained of the foresters’ corruption and abuse. In this light, this thesis aims to examine the possible reasons why this was the case. Was the forester’s position a tenuous one? Were his actions the result of a wider political/power calculus or were they simply inane as historians have been apt to interpret them? The research focuses on the cases of two foresters in particular, which I take to be generally indicative. The careers of both foresters are examined closely and contextualized to better understand their actions and the environment that engendered them. The foresters are examined primarily by using the forest court records, as well as other traditional sources of historiography. A general sketch of the forester’s place within the power structures is offered, as well as a detailed analysis of the power roles of the two foresters examined in the research. The results imply that the forester, and the entire forest system by extension, has generally been misinterpreted by previous research traditions.

This thesis focuses on the architecture and decoration of St Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster (1227-1363) and the relationships between art and politics which were expressed throughout its long construction. First recorded in 1206, extensively remodelled 1227-53 and entirely rebuilt 1292-1363, Westminster’s former principal palace chapel is considered one of the most influential buildings of its age and was positioned at the centre of royal power and devotional activity in Plantagenet England. Patronised by four sequential English kings – Henry III (1207-72) and the three Edwards (1272-1307, 1307-27 and 1327-77 respectively) – this building was highly responsive to the changing political circumstances of its time. However, the chapel’s complete destruction by fire in 1834 after three centuries of continuous use and modification has left many questions regarding its appearance, design sequence and construction history unanswered. Consequently, this thesis has two aims. Firstly, it proposes a new reconstruction of St Stephen’s supported by a systematic reassessment of its building sequence. This is facilitated by interrogation of antiquarian visual and textual sources and the chapel’s extant building accounts from the medieval Chancery and Exchequer now held in the National Archives. This has resulted in an attached set of reconstruction drawings, the first of their kind attempted since 1844, and extensive supporting appendices of tabulated accounts. Secondly, it uses this information to analyse the impact of political actions and situations on design and construction at St Stephen’s, introducing a new model of architectural causality within royal patronage. This is articulated through four key themes woven throughout a chapter-by-chapter architectural chronology: patronal agency, royal identity and iconography, international interactions and economics. By considering the contextual circumstances of the building’s creation, these themes are used to present a systematic re-evaluation of royal architectural causality in thirteenth- to fourteenth-century England.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
外國語文學研究所
93
In this thesis, I investigate ideological ambivalences in the context of contemporary political, religious, and economical theories, contending that ideological ambivalences mirror out the confrontation and opposition of political, religious, and economical movements of late Elizabethan England. In the first chapter, I aim to position ideological ambivalences among male relationship through the help of contemporary theories of kingship, allegiance, and biblical appropriation, charting out the hidden patriarchal background in post-Reformation England. In my second chapter, I explore the ambivalences of female roles in history, suggesting that female characters intervene in the patriarchal history and generate a voice of their own. In my third chapter, I situate my previous reading of politics and religions in economical phrases, bridging up the literary world of Shakespearean stage with a period that bears witness to the transition of late Elizabethan world from a lineage society into a civil nation.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
英語研究所
92
Abstract In this thesis, I investigate the religious, gender, and identity politics of obedience as manifested in the recently attributed Shakespearean play, Edward III, within a cultural materialist framework. In chapter one, I begin my project by examining the impacts of the Protestant marital ideology on the social status of women and the ways in which patriarchal writers appropriate the Bible to construct women as psychologically, intellectually, and morally inferior, thereby justifying the social and political subordination of early modern women. In chapter two, I turn to investigate how females were represented on the early modern stage by examining Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s The Changeling (1653), John Wesbter’s The Duchess of Malfi (1623), and George Peele’s The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599). This chapter focuses on the ways in which dramatists engaged with the contemporary querrelles des femmes through the representation of a number of strong women that challenge patriarchal society with varying degree of success. Finally, in my third chapter, I situate Edward III in the context of the Reformation movement and delineate the ways in which the play participates and intervenes in the religious, gender and identity politics of obedience in early modern English culture. I interrogate the pessimistic idea in current critical literature that a strong female presence in history plays is always demonized, victimized, or marginalized. I contend that the English nation-building project is impossible without the presence of a strong and virtuous female that helps to shape and direct the course of history in Edward III.

Why the term 'Anglo-Scottish Struggle' between 1337 and 1346? Why 'The Perspective of English Official Documents'? What influence did the so-called 'Hundred Year's War' have on the Anglo-Scottish relations in the first years of the war? What impact did the 'Scottish issue' have on the policy of the English king during the Anglo-French conflict? How did the perspective of English official documents differ from that of English chronicles or Scottish/French primary sources? What role did the rhetoric of these source play? How was it portrayed? The following thesis will try to analyse some of the aforementioned issues and will strive to prove that the Scottish kingdom had a profound impact on the English policy in multiple respects from the outset of the Hundred Years' War until the battle of Neville's Cross almost ten years later.

THESIS ABSTRACT This MA thesis examines the portrayal of King Richard III (1452-1485) in texts preceding William Shakespeare's canonical play on this subject. By analyzing a wide range of sources written between the 1480s and the 1590s, it traces how the reputation of Richard III as an epitome of a tyrant, a usurper and a royal murderer was created and consolidated. At the same time, special attention is paid to innovations and deviations from this interpretation that contributed to the diversification of the King's image. The first chapter covers some of the most significant historiographic works of the Tudor era: The Second Continuation of The Crowland Chronicle, chronicles by Polydore Vergil, Edward Hall, and Raphael Holinshed, Thomas More's historical narrative, as well as a less-known manuscript by Dominic Mancini who described the early months of the reign of Richard III. The second chapter examines the transformation of the historical topic into poetry. The image of Richard III is analyzed in as diverse sources as, on the one hand, a popular ballad and, on the other hand, a prominent poetically-didactic work A Mirror for Magistrates. The representation of Richard III on the English stage is discussed in the third chapter in connection with Thomas Legge's university drama Richardus Tertius and the...

碩士
國立中正大學
政治學研究所
102
A Study of the Implementation of Human Rights Education of the 1-9 Grade Education Advisory Group in Chia-Yi City: A Perspective of Policy Implementability Study by Edwards III Abstract The aims of this study is to investigate the implementation and difficulties of the human rights education policy in primary and secondary education through the advisory groups in Chia-yi city. Based on Edwards III’s theory of policy implementability analysis, the implementation of the human rights education policy in Chia-yi city was investigated through four main aspects: communication, resources, disposition, and bureaucratic structure. As the main institutions for implementing the policy, both the primary and the secondary education advisory groups in Chia-yi city were carefully examined and critically discussed in this study. The research methods adopted in this study include documentary analysis and a quasi-structural interview. It was hoped that this study could analyze policy implementation practice and could provide useful suggestions for improving in the future. The main findings of this study are listed as follows. First, for the education advisory groups in Chia-yi city, top-down, bottom-up and horizontal communication were seen as well-functioned. However, more integration between the two advisory groups were needed. Also, whether more teachers could be motivated to understand the human rights education policy need to be emphasized. Second, the human resources for the two education advisory groups were commonly seen as reasonable and sufficient. Although the professionalism of advisers in the groups were recognized, some key weaknesses such as limited budget and week authority did affect the implementation of the policy. Third, the implementation of the policy were influenced by different intentions of related policy makers and educational officers. These key stakeholders included officers in the Ministry of Education, those in the Education department in the Chia-yi city, principals, full-time advisers in the advisory groups. Fourth, scheduled plans proposed by the two educational advisory in Chia-yi city were practical and well implemented so that the aims and function of the organizations were fulfilled. Furthermore, the flexibility of the advisory groups were also widely recognized. In spite of these strength, implementing strategies were suggested to be modified. Key word: Human Rights Education, Compulsory Education Advisory Group, Policy Implementation