(29 December 1927 – 10 December 2010)
Heraldry & Collective Memory
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This essay traces the genesis and progress of the widely believed myth that the Dutchnobleman Reinoud III of Brederode, foolishly claiming the county of Holland for himself, was condemned to death and later pardoned by the emperor Charles V. It also demonstrates that extant legal records tell a different story: Reinoud claimed the coat of arms of Holland on his familial arms as an advised and...
Crowley, “Piers Plowman,” & Kett’s Rebellion
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In 1550, Robert Crowley published three editions of the late medieval poem The Vision of Piers Plowman. These editions have often been seen as violently appropriative, wrenching the poem into a role as Reformation prophecy and propaganda. However, Crowley’s preface and marginalia demonstrate a persistent anxiety about the prophetic matter of Langland’s work. Repeatedly, Crowley...
Puritan Conciliarism
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!is article examines the English puritan reception of Heinrich Bullinger’s De Conciliis in the early seventeenth century. In the process, it offers an alternative interpretation of the relationship between puritanism, conciliarism, and the continental reformed tradition. !e leading puritan thinker Walter Travers used Bullinger’s church history to serve multiple purposes. He stressed...
The Coverture of Widowhood in Antwerp
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This article explores the publishing activities of five widowed women in mid-sixteenth-century Antwerp. These widows were notable in that they produced scores of religiously heterodox texts in a period in which imperial and papal legislation was growing increasingly stringent with regard to such crimes. Despite this legal pressure, these women managed to conduct their illicit businesses for...
Archibald Armstrong & Early Stuart Politics
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In March 1638 Archibald “Archy” Armstrong, jester, was unceremoniously ejected from the court of King Charles I, as a result of a pointed jest he made to Archbishop William Laud regarding the trouble then occurring in Scotland over the archbishop’s religious policies. !us ended Armstrong’s long career at court, as jester first to James I/VI and then to his son, Charles. Evidence suggests that...