16th Century (History)

In 1540, Emperor Charles V elevated the seigniory of Zottegem, together with the county of Gavere to a principality. The title then belonged to Francisca of Luxembourg-Fiennes, the mother of the famous count Lamoral d'Egmont.
When a lady of foreign birth dies in the new principality, the amman of Zottegem sequesters the property. This leads to a protest of the aldermen of the land of Aalst, who claim to be empowered to collect the goods of the deceased. After 3 warnings, they come to the principality and arrest the amman, seriously angering her ladyship. A 12 years long legal conflict follows, in which we can distinguish 3 dimensions. On the pure inter-human level, the amman, and after his premature death his widow, backed by her ladyship request reparation from the Aalst council. On the seigniorial level, her ladyship defends her ancestral privileges against the claims of the Aalst council. Most interesting though, is the third dimension, in which her ladyship claims full sovereignty over her domain, denying any rights, not only to those of Aalst, claiming to be her superior institution, but even to the emperor himself, who cannot have any claims on the same domain as her, "as there cannot be two lordships at the same time in the same place".
A hard time for the Emperor's judges, a genuine sovereignty conflict in the center of the principality!

Preserved herring from a 16 century ship (Biddinghuizen, the Netherlands) and the myth of Willem Beukelszoon, the supposed inventor of gutting herring.

  - 2006b: R.C.G.M. Lauwerier & F.J. Laarman: Hollandse Nieuwe en de mythe van Willem Beukelszoon, Holland 38 (3), 150-160; 195-196.

This study considers sixteenth century evangelicals’ vision of a 'godly' commonwealth within the broader context of political, religious, social, and intellectual changes in Tudor England. Using the clergyman and bestselling author, Thomas Becon (1512–1567), as a case study, Brian L. Hanson argues that evangelical views of the commonwealth were situation-dependent rather than uniform, fluctuating from individual to individual. His study examines the ways commonwealth rhetoric was used by evangelicals and how that rhetoric developed and changed. While this study draws from English Reformation historiography by acknowledging the chronology of reform, it engages with interdisciplinary texts on poverty, gender, and the economy in order to demonstrate the intersection of commonwealth rhetoric with Renaissance humanism. Furthermore, the experience of exile and the languages of prophecy and companionship directly influenced commonwealth rhetoric and dictated the priorities, vocabulary, and political expression of the evangelicals. As sixteenth-century England vacillated in its religious direction and priorities, the evangelicals were faced with a political conundrum and the tension between obedience and 'lawful' disobedience. There was ultimately a fundamental disagreement on the nature and criteria of obedience. Hanson’s study makes a further contribution to the emerging conversation about English commonwealth politics by examining the important issues of obedience and disobedience within the evangelical community. A correct assessment of the issues surrounding the relationship between evangelicals and the commonwealth government will lead to a rediscovery of both the complexities of evangelical commonwealth rhetoric and the tension between the biblical command to submit to civil authorities and the injunction to 'obey God rather than man'.

There are numerous gaps in our knowledge of the marriage of Peter-Ernst I von Mansfeld and Marie de Montmorency. One such gap is with regard to the financial protection of Marie in the case of the death of her spouse. The following source critique deals with a marriage agreement between Peter Ernst and his relatives which was issued on 16th of June 1563 (from the holdings of the archives of Saxony-Anhalt (Department of Magdeburg)) and contained the inheritance of the Amt Salzmünde and a one-off payment of 1400 Rhenish guilder. Due to the debt burden of the Mansfeld dynasty and the division of their possessions on the 21st of June 1563, the inheritance contract must be analysed in this specific context. The ratification of the treaty should ultimately prevent legal titles on Salzmünde after the death of Peter-Ernst. Furthermore, that step should not be infringed upon in the case of liquidation of the debts.

RESUMEN
Señorío de habla tallán ubicado en el extremo norte del espacio costeño del imperio Chimar. Pervivía gracias al caudaloso y perma-nente río de su nombre que baja de Loja. Su clima caluroso permitía la reproducción incluso de caimanes (lagartos). Sus habitantes dedicados a la agricultura y pesca muy activa en el mar, también consagraban gran parte de su vida a la confección de varios estilos de embarcaciones, la más común de ellas las balsas de madera Ochroma que, con timón, anclas y velamen favorecía la navegación a largas distancias, como es a Chincha y playas del oeste de Panamá. Así intercambiaban caracolas Strombus Galeatus con bronce, oro, telas y otros objetos andinos.

ABSTRACT
Tallán Manor speaks located at the northern end of the coastal space CHIMAR empire. Pervivía thanks to permanent river flowing and your name down Loja. His hot weather allowed reproduction even caimans (alligators). Its inhabitants engaged in agriculture and very active sea fishing, also devoted much of his life to making various styles of boats, the most common of them the wooden rafts Ochroma that, rudder, an chor and sail favored navigation over long distances, as is to Chincha and beaches of western Panama Strombus conch shells and exchanged So Galeatus with bronze, gold, fabrics and other Andean objects.

Mikuláš Štraus is mainly known as a publisher of newspapers and leaflets after the Battle of White Mountain. The article builds on the analysis of the decorative material used by his printing workshop and provides some new conclusions concerning the illustrations of four books published by Štraus: a German translation of Hájek’s Kronika česká [Bohemian Chronicle], Barthold’s hymn-book Hymnorum sacrorum, Luython’s mass-book Liber I. missarum and the verse adaptation of an Old German legend published under the title Sumovní kronika. It identifies some illustrations as the work of the remarkable illustrator Jan Willenberg and thus indicates the wide range of motifs used by this hitherto undervalued artist.

This article examines the social significance of Real Tennis among the Western European nobility during its heyday of the sixteenth century. Underpinned theoretically by Norbert Elias’s seminal empirical work The Civilising Process, this article seeks to identify the societal preconditions for the emergence of Real Tennis, and provide explanations for its diffusion across Western Europe and subsequent boom in popularity among the nobility. A critique is offered of the current body of literature written on Real Tennis, with an aim to address a general lack of focus on the game’s ‘social’ elements and how their development is linked with structural changes to the game over the centuries. The article then goes on to examine the ways in which Real Tennis became a symbol of prestige and a tool for social mobility among the increasingly status-competitive royal court nobility. Played during royal festivals, the game provided opportunities for nobles to engage in conspicuous consumption through architectural, clothing and gambling displays; having an entourage in accompaniment to the noble players; and, through the style of play and behavioural control, exhibiting self-restraint and foresight. Overall, an attempt is made to apply Elias’s theoretical framework to aid our understanding of the development of Real Tennis, a game that has never been characterised by overt ‘violence’ of the kind examined previously by other sociologists employing an Eliasian framework.

A partire dal XV secolo la famiglia Poncini, in via di affermazione sul panorama cittadino di Bergamo grazie ai proventi dell'attività mercantile, avviò l'acquisto di appezzamenti di terra nella media pianura bergamasca, nei pressi della località Padergnone (Zanica), luogo che in seguito fu scelto da alcuni esponenti del casato per la costruzione di una dimora extraurbana e dell'azienda agricola annessa. A Girolamo di Simone Poncini spettò in particolare la trasformazione dell'antico castello lì esistente  in "residenza dominicale", attraverso l'ammodernamento delle strutture e l'apertura di nuovi cantieri. L'articolo propone l'analisi di tre episodi della committenza di Girolamo, corrispondenti alla costruzione del nucleo abitativo con portico e loggia (1508), al rimaneggiamento della torre medievale (1510) e al rinnovamento della cappella castrense (post 1513). I cantieri inaugurati da Girolamo furono condotti a compimento dai suoi discendenti, come dimostra il caso della citata loggia, decorata ad affresco nella seconda metà del secolo. Ciò che resta oggi di quella campagna decorativa è uno strappo di affresco raffigurante una rara carta topografica del territorio bergamasco, conservato presso il Museo Diocesano di Bergamo, databile attorno agli anni settanta del Cinquecento e attribuita all'ambito di Cristoforo Sorte.

(English Summary: Baptism and Baptismal Vessels in Post-Reformation Saaremaa pp. 126-136).

This article examines the changes that occured in the use and location of baptismal vessels and fonts in Saaremaa during the Early Modern Period. It also discusses the alteration of the sacrament and rites of baptism on island during the 16th and 17th centuries. The questions and alterations pertaining to the place of baptism and baptismal fonts are connected with the rest of the ecclesiastical space and church furnishings. The conversion of Catholic churches into Lutheran ecclesiastical space was a complex process and the changes were carried out gradually. Saaremaa is one of the few, if not the only area, in Estonia today were the changes that took place in the process of conversion from Catholicism to Lutheranism can be viewed in rural churches. Information about the church furnishings in Saaremaa during the 16th-17th centuries (Danish and Swedish Period) is available from practically every local church.

Stadendenkmäler in Deutschland und Brasilien.
Aus Anlass der Einweihung des neuen Staden-Denkmals in Wolfhagen.

Das historische Gedenken an Hans Staden und sein epochales Brasilienbuch (Warhaftige Historia, Marburg 1557) hat natürlich heute auch einen memorialtopischen Aspekt: die Orte, die Staden während seiner Reise besucht hat, oder die mit seiner Lebensgeschichte vor und nach der Reise verbunden sind, haben sich-allerdings erst spät im 20. Jhdt.-seiner erinnert und ihn in Deutschland und Brasilien durch öffentliche Denkmäler und Benennungen von Straßen und Plätzen nach ihn gewürdigt. Der Beitrag stellt die Denkmäler vor und die Umstände ihrer Errichtung. Ferner werden kurz künstlerische Reflexe von Stadens Werk und Stadenfilme angeführt.

Abel Eppens was a learned man, a farmer from Eekwerd. His school- days in Groningen were followed by a peregrinatio academica through the universities of Louvain, Cologne and Wittenberg. He subsequently married a woman from a prominent family, took over his family’s farms and fathered eight children. He was a landowner of importance in the village, involved in the church and in local politics and the settlement of water management disputes. However, Eppens is remembered for more than just references in contemporary records or account books; while in exile he took up his pen and composed a detailed chronicle of his times.

At 21, Robert Tomson had become an integral part of an English merchant’s household in Seville and in 1555 he joined their emigration to Mexico. There he fell victim to the Inquisition. After languishing in jails in Mexico City and Seville, Tomson resumed his career in Seville under the protection of another English merchant and married a Spanish heiress. On returning to England, Tomson, eager to avoid accusations of papacy, wrote an account of his experiences. In this chapter I look at the personal relationships and family connections central to his story, exploring a world where marriages that transcended national ties and traditional boundaries were central to individual survival and to the project of national expansion.

Katarzyna Hochstadt of Telnicz (Moravia) is known as the mistress of Sigismund the Old, mother of his illegitimate children: bishop of Vilnius John of the Lithuanian Dukes, Regina Szafraniec, and Katarzyna Montfort, and wife of Andrzej Kościelecki, castellan of Wojnicz and sub-treasurer of the Crown of Poland. Little is known about her true personality, with the exception of the universally emphasized fact of her being a genuine beauty and the mother and grandmother of beauties. As the legend has it, Katarzyna was an enchantress, a witch, a woman who intruded where she was not supposed to. The few preserved sources suggest of a more subtle picture: a woman of an unknown descent in the higher society that was strange to her was in fact dependent on the grace of men – her lover, her spouse or her son. Katarzyna, however, managed to exercise her influence as she accumulated certain wealth and formed a circle of her clients.

“Ni Français ni Breton, Malouins suis !”, proclame la devise de Saint-Malo. Cela ne fut jamais plus vrai que pendant l’épisode de la “république de Saint-Malo”. En pleines guerres de religion, entre 1590 et 1594, Saint-Malo s’émancipe en effet du pouvoir royal et seigneurial, met en place des structures d’autogouvernement et développe des relations commerciales et diplomatiques avec ses voisins.

Although Polish historiography does not usually regard 1541 as an important date, contemporary reactions in the country show that the fighting around Hungarian capital, Buda, and the subsequent Ottoman
occupation of the city received much more active attention than the Battle of Mohács or even the siege of Vienna in 1529.
Here, I attempt to outline the policy and objectives of the Polish court in 1540 and 1541, using diplomatic reports and manuscript documents. Some degree of ambivalence may be detected in court policy. Although King Sigismund was attempting to maintain good relations with both the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire, he was also trying to secure the future of his daughter and grandson. At first, the Polish emissaries tried to persuade the parties to observe the terms of the Peace of Várad, but when Sigismund saw the escalation of events and the resistance of the Hungarian elite in 1541, he increasingly adopted the view that he should let his daughter decide whether to stay in Hungary and try to secure the throne for her son.
It should also be pointed out that there was no coherent ‘Hungarian policy’. For one thing, the anti-Habsburg, pro-Szapolyai groups in Polish elite circles made their intentions clear, and for another, the uncertainty of news from Hungary caused serious difficulties for Polish diplomats in making rapid and resolute decisions at crucial moments.

Franziska Neumanns Studie untersucht Formalisierungsprozesse und die Ausbildung formaler Organisationen in frühneuzeitlichen Verwaltungen. Am Beispiel der sächsischen Bergverwaltung im 16. Jahrhundert zeigt sie, dass Formalisierung nicht nur verwaltungsintern, sondern auch mit Bezug auf Verwaltungsumwelten interpretiert werden muss: Die Bergverwaltung war in hohem Maße von auswärtigen Investoren abhängig. Mitgliedschaftsregeln, formale Regeln, Routinen, Verfahren, vor allem aber die Selbstdarstellung als formale Organisation dienten auch dazu, unter den Bedingungen von Abwesenheit Vertrauen herzustellen. Statt also Formalisierung mit Rationalität und Effizienzsteigerung gleichzusetzen, lädt die Studie dazu ein, genauer nach Formen und Funktionen von Formalisierungsprozessen zu fragen.

Wybór Stefana Batorego na tron Rzeczypospolitej utorował drogę do kariery także członkom jego rodziny. Po niespodziewanej śmierci króla jego ambitne plany usiłowało zrealizować czterech bratanków, przede wszystkim zaś Andrzej, uważany za duchowego spadkobiercę stryja. Jako kardynał musiał wypełniać zadania stawiane przed nim przez Kościół, jednocześnie za pomocą zawiłych rozgrywek usiłował bronić interesów Batorych i jedności rodu, mając przeciw sobie Habsburgów, Szwecję i Moskwę.

A opinião comum atual atribui com frequência a um passado remoto o que foram os estereótipos femininos prevalecentes no século XIX: um ser emotivo, frágil ou mesmo enfermo, mas naturalmente abnegado e dócil, cuja vocação instintiva era a maternidade e o serviço aos outros. Na verdade, essas imagens oitocentistas eram diferentes das que haviam dominado os discursos ocidentais desde a Antiguidade, pois antes do Romantismo as elites ideológicas insistiam noutras características: a perversidade e a perigosidade das mulheres, as quais configuravam a sua inferioridade moral. Em comum, partilhavam a crença na sua menoridade intelectual e biológica a carecer de permanente vigilância e proteção. É sobre alguns desses estereótipos de género (de corpo, de personalidade e de funções) que este texto se debruçará.

Stejně jako vedle obecných „velkých“ dějin stojí koncept mikrohistorie, tak vedle „velký“ dějin módy lze postavit každodenní oděvy sledované v jedné lokalitě napříč společenskými vrstvami.  Průzkumem lokálních památek, archeologického materiálu a textových pramenů se autorka pokusila zachytit proměny oděvu v oblasti západních Čech v období 15. až 17. století a aplikovat na výzkumný materiál metody historické antropologie. Součástí knihy jsou rovněž popisy používaných historických textilních technik, textilních materiálů a obsáhlý katalog citovaných předmětů a ikonografie.

PILNÁ, Veronika: Oděv západních Čechách 15. – 17. století. NPÚ ÚOP v Plzni, Plzeň 2018. ISBN ISBN 978-80-58035-52-0.

This brief newspaper article was published in the Turkish Daily News January 4, 2003, p. 5 and concerns Phillip II's collection of works painted by Hieronymus Bosch. The article is no longer available on the net. I suppose it is about the nature of the propoganda of hate, rather than love, with the depiction of Muslims as being the denizens of hell and of some of the consequences of that perspective for human beings.