This dissertation constitutes the first monograph devoted to Qalawun's life and reign based on the contemporary and original data found in the Arabic chronicles of the period. An historiographical approach has brought to light information regarding the career of this sultan and has revealed contemporary historians' perceptions of his role as sultan. On the basis of an analysis of several aspects of the political and administrative, economic and social structure of the empire, which reflects the emphasis of the sources on the activities of the sultan, we concluded that centralization of sovereignty was enhanced during Qalawun's reign. But, whereas the historians attribute this development to the sultan's political convictions, analysis of the events they record indicates that other factors--most significant of which was the superimposition of the Mamluk system on the political, economic and social structure of Egypt and Syria--largely explain this trend.

"The Mobilization Of History And The Quest For The Tembe Chieftaincy in Maputaland: 1896-1997," is a study of conflicts emerging in post-apartheid rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Under the white rule that extended from 19th century to the apartheid era, the African pre-colonial "identities" were contained but not diminished. During this period, some ruling families were supported by the colonial powers while others suffered as their positions were undermined. This resulted in numerous conflicts among Africans over ethnic identity; yet the white governments suppressed these conflicts. As the power ofwhite rule declined, some African pre-colonial "identities" have begun to show up and reclaim their positions within their communities. However, times have changed, the forces of the new political and economic order provides a different platfonn to which these conflicts over land and chieftainship are taking place. Motives behind these tensions have been shaped by the present rather than historical demands. The struggles over land and chieftainship in Maputaland are but one example of these controversial post-apartheid debates. For more than hundred years, starting from 1896 to the present, the Tembe Royal family has ruled Maputaland as the legitimate family. After 1994 with the end of white rule in South Africa, some followers of the Tembe Dynasty begun to question the Royal family's legitimacy. The history of the leadership ofthe Maputaland is re-debated. This dissertation is a historical examination of the genesis and development ofthe challenges to the Tembe Royal family's control of present-day Maputaland. This dissertation maintains that the local leadership's mobilization ofhistory in Maputaland, that is reshaping old ethnic identities, is inspired by the envisaged economic benefits to be derived from the advent of eco-tourism. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This thesis is a study of two major figures among the royal Safavid women in the sixteenth century, with a special focus on their political activities and style of leadership. I examine the socio-political careers of Pari Khan Khanum (955-985/1548-1578) and Mahd-i 'Ulya (d.987/1579) in connection with family and dynastic politics as well as the power struggle and factionalism among the qizilbash tribes. A detailed analysis of these powerful female political figures of the Safavid court leads one to conclude that first, royal women faced particularly complex social and personal restrictions, but nonetheless some managed - through their privileged status as upper-class women with access to education, wealth, and social and family networks - to advance their careers in politics. Second, these women were subject to the political rules and games of their time but faced additional impediments, for they competed with other women such as co-wives, sisters-in-law and others for social recognition and influence, at times leading to the ruthless elimination of female and male rivals. Third, Safavid women came to play an active role in shaping central political decisions and the succession of sovereigns. This reflects not merely gendered semi-nomadic Turcoman roles but also urban Iranian-Islamic transitional traditions which are comparable to Ottoman and 'Abbasid counterparts.

The purpose of this study is to examine the imagery of time, identity, order, and power in William Shakespeare's Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, and Henry V in order to demonstrate that the dramatist's use of imagery both emphasizes the themes of the plays and frequently develops the characterization of those who people the stage: Shakespeare's skillful artistic technique of incorporating imagery into the dramatic text emphasizes, reinforces, and develops both theme and characterization. The terms "image" and "imagery" refer exclusively to figurative language, excluding the constrictive definitions of visual imagery, wordpictures, and iterative words. In this procedure, I recognize that figurative language involves the process of comparison in which each image contains two parts which have been variously called the subject-matter and object-matter, the minor term and the major term, and the vehicle and the tenor. My analysis deals with the effect achieved by the interaction between the two parts of each image. The major sections of the paper are organized, first, according to the image patterns of time and identity and order and power and, second, by individual play.The imagery of time and identity illustrates that these plays are more than dramatizations of political ideas and philosophies. The dramas demonstrate man's continual relationship with time. Because time is a force which affects all human beings, part of man's identity is determined by his position on the wheel of time. More important, however, than man's position on the wheel of time is the behavior of men and the use which they make of the time given to them. The Henriad portrays King Richard II as a human being who wastes time and fails to recognize its force and significance until it is too late for him to restore the order which he has violated. In taking advantage of time, Richard's successor, Henry IV, imagines that an adequate amount of time exists for him to compensate for having taken Richard's crown. However, Henry IV spends his entire reign trying to settle civil disruption and to change Prince Halls behavior. Finally, the cycle of Henry IV comes to an end without his having been able to restore order to his country. The disordered time which was initiated by Richard and Bolingbroke continues throughout the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V. The position of king which Bolingbroke so eagerly seeks and illegally achieves brings him little happiness and finally destroys him. In a world subject to time and fortune, the positions, roles, and identities of men change. The imagery depicts the disordered segments of time and the subsequent effects in the lives of men, all of which occur because of man's interference in the cycle of time and his violation of its order. No matter what his specific role at any time, man's identity, as the imagery illustrates, is determined by the fact that he is no more than a mortal human being with certain moral capacities. Who he is clearly rests upon his use of these in the time given to him. The Henriad demonstrates that each person, from king to common soldier, fulfills the role of human being in the diverse ways he recognizes and meets his human obligations.

The starting-point of this thesis is the question of the origin of the nobility in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem up to 1131. This is discussed in parallel with the question of the origins of the monarchy itself and that of relations between the two institutions. Chapter 1 discusses the European origins of the monarchy which derived from two distinct dynastic traditions, the House of Ardennes-Verdun whose power had declined in the later eleventh century and was extinguished on the eve of the crusade, and the House of Boulogne which was in an ascendant. Chapter 2 examines Godfrey of Bouillon's crusading army between 1096 and 1099. Originally almost exclusively Lotharingian in composition, the army absorbed numerous elements from other contingents in the course of the march. The minority who remained in Outremer after 1099 were of diverse origin and had developed strong ties to the Ardennes-Boulogne family. Chapter 3 re-assesses the generally accepted nature of the state established in Palestine by the First Crusade, arguing that this was a secular monarchy headed by a princeps whose authority derived from God. Chapter 4 deals with the origins of the nobility and is an analysis of prosopographical material presented in the Appendix, while Chapter 5 is a chronologically-based analysis of relations between monarchy and nobility. The nobility comprised four main groups: Lotharingians and Germans; Normans; Flemings, and Picards; and men from the Ile-de-France and the surrounding areas. The last group increased in numbers and influence after the accession of a new dynasty in the person of Baldwin II. Resentment against his policies, and a growing factionalism based on dynastic loyalties and geographical origins enabled sections of the nobilty to threaten the monarchy in this and the next reign.

This thesis examines accounts of the regal period in Cicero's de republica, Varro, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Livy, as well as references to the period in Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. Cicero, Varro and Dionysius all present idealized accounts of the period, responding to the aetiological traditions concerning it, and making Rome's founders represent ideal originators, in different ways depending on the nature of their interests. Cicero acknowledges the problems of idealizing history, pointing to the influence of historical context on views of history. Dionysius' historiographical theories are examined, revealing a coherent theory in the light of which Dionysius' idealization can be seen as an informed attempt at an historical reconstruction. Livy too gives the regal period an originative function, to display in microcosm many themes important in later history. His interest in the origin of Rome's problems prevents him from idealizing the period. Instead he demonstrates political and social development under the kings which leads to a republic where the tensions of Rome's later history can be foreseen. Elegy had traditionally rejected history, but in Propertius IV history is included, much of it regal. Propertius establishes a particular relationship between the regal period and the elegist which is continued in Ovid's Fasti. Both poets reinterpret history, applying the self-conscious skill which had hitherto rejected historical material, and subverting expectations of the relationship of past to present. Ovid also displays kinship to themes of the Augustan revival, celebrating the present as the culmination of the past. The main unifying feature of all accounts is the dominance of the author's view of the present in shaping his version of history, stemming from the importance of the regal period as the period of Rome's origins. In the conclusion, these writings are placed within their Augustan context.

This thesis is an examination of the dialogues of Xenophon's Cyropaedia. Chapter I opens with a brief introduction to the Cyr. - its genre, date, epilogue and place in modern scholarship. The second half of the chapter is devoted to an overall survey of the work's dialogues. The dialogues are listed and divided into seven main categories; various formal features of the dialogues - their length, number of speakers, presence of an audience, dramatic background etc. - are noted. The second chapter deals with the "Socratic" or didactic dialogues of the Cyr. These conversations are first compared to Xenophon's actual Socratic dialogues, particularly those of the Memorabilia, and are shown to have several of the same characteristics: a leading didactic figure, discussion of ethical questions, the use of analogies and a series of brief questions and replies etc. A detailed commentary on the "Socratic" dialogues of the Cyr. follows; some of these dialogues are seen to be livelier and more dialectical than Xenophon's genuine Socratic conversations and his hero Cyrus is not always assigned the role of teacher. Symposium dialogues are the subject of the third chapter. These conversations are shown to have several features or themes in common, such as a blend of serious and light conversation, a discussion of poverty and wealth, a love interest and rivalry among the guests. The symposia of the Cyr. are compared to earlier literary symposia, including those of Plato and Xenophon, and some of the more Persian features of these parties are pointed out. Chapter IV deals with the novelle or colourful tales of the Cyr. - the stories of Croesus, Panthea, Gobryas and Gadatas. The characters and plots of these stories are found to have much in common with the novelle of Ctesias and Herodotus. Nonetheless, it is argued in a detailed commentary on these dialogues that Xenophon displays considerable skill and originality in the telling of these tales. The fifth chapter is a brief commentary on the remaining categories of dialogues: short or anecdotal conversations, negotiation, planning and information dialogues. These dialogues are compared to similar conversations in other works by Xenophon. Finally, there are three appendices. The first questions whether Cyrus is portrayed as an ideal hero even after the conquest of Babylon, and the second discusses the problem of Persian sources in the Cyr. The third appendix is a list of the speeches of the Cyr.

"27 October 1998" / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, School of Law, 1999. / Bibliography: p. 509-550. / Thesis -- Appendices. / 'The Crown' has been described as a 'term of art' in constitutional law. This is more than misleading, obscuring the pivotal legal position of the king, which in modern times has been conveniently ignored by lawyers and politicians alike. -- This work examines the legal processes by which a king is made, tracing those processes from the earliest times to the present day. It concludes that the king is made by the selection and recognition by the people, his taking of the Oath of Governance, and his subsequent anointing. (The religious aspects of the making of the king, though of considerable legal significance, are not examined herein, because of space constraints.) -- The Oath of Governance is conventionally called the 'Coronation Oath'-which terminology, while correctly categorising the Oath by reference to the occasion on which it is usually taken, has led by subliminal implication to an erroneous conclusion by many modern commentators that the Oath is merely ceremonial. -- This work highlights the legal implications of the king's Oath of Governance throughout history, particularly in times of political unrest, and concludes that the Oath legally :- conveys power from the people to the person about to become king (the willingness of the people so to confer the power having been evidenced in their collective recognition of that person); - bestows all the prerogatives of the office of king upon that person; - enshrines the manner in which those prerogatives are to be exercised by the king in his people(s)' governance; and that therefore the Oath of Governance is the foundation of the British Constitution. -- All power and prerogative lie with the king, who as a result of his Oath of Governance is sworn to maintain the peace and protection of his people(s), and the king can not, in conscience or law, either do, or allow, anything that is in opposition to the terms of that Oath. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xxvii, 818 p

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-190).

Revision of Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 377-410).