For 7,000 years seals have functioned as signs of authority. This publication deals specifically with aspects of status in the history of seals, exploring this theme across a diverse range of cultural contexts—from the 9th century up to the Early Modern period, and, across the world, looking at Byzantine, European, Islamic and Chinese examples. These objects are united by the significant role they play in social status hierarchies, in the status of institutions, indications of power and finally in notions of relative status among objects themselves. In addition to their chronological and geographical diversity, these studies concentrate on many different phases of seal use. Therefore, together they highlight the importance of studying the full life cycle of seals, from the way in which they were made and used through to their cancellation, loss and sometimes destruction. The volume will look at seals used by all members of society, from kings to fishmongers, and will examine the history of objects, with examples ranging from the medieval matrix with a classical gem showing the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius to the 17th-century Providence Island matrix from America. This publication complements the British Museum’s ongoing programme of the digitisation of the Museum’s collection of medieval seal matrices which will widen access to this fascinating body of material.

Deel XIV in de serie Generale Missiven van de VOC bestaat uit twee banden. Deze bevatten samenvattingen in hedendaags Nederlands en oorspronkelijke citaten van de algemene brieven van Gouverneur-Generaal en Raden in Batavia aan Heren XVII in Nederland. In deze brieven worden de berichten weergegeven ontvangen uit de verschillende kantoren, van Kaapstad in Zuid-Afrika tot Deshima in Japan en van Kharg in de Perzische Golf tot Timor in Oost-Indonesië. Die gaan over de handel, de administratie en het bestuur van de VOC, inclusief fraude, desertie en schipbreuken. Zij geven daarnaast veel informatie over plaatselijke gebeurtenissen en de betrekkingen met de inheemse machthebbers. Zo zijn deze brieven ook een belangrijke bron voor de Aziatische geschiedenis. Door verwijzingen naar in Batavia ontvangen brieven uit andere delen van het VOC-imperium zijn de Generale Missiven voor historisch onderzoekers een onmisbare toegang tot het VOC-archief. Ook op dit deel zijn weer uitgebreide indices gemaakt.Deel XIV beslaat de jaren 1761-1767, de eerste helft van het gouverneur-generaalschap van Petrus Albertus van der Parra. De VOC voerde toen een grote oorlog tegen Kandy op Ceylon, die uiteindelijk de hegemonie van de VOC op het eiland bevestigde. Verder besloot zij de verloren vesting op Kharg op te geven en het geplunderde handelskantoor in Thailand te sluiten. Daarnaast valt te constateren dat door de machtsuitbreiding van de Engelse compagnie in Bengalen de positie van de VOC daar verzwakte. In een aantal gebieden in Azië was dus sprake van teruggang, maar in Zuidoost-Azië consolideerde de Compagnie haar macht en breidde die zelfs uit. English abstract: This book - published in 2 parts - is an edited translation and summary of the correspondence of the Dutch East India Trading Company (VOC) between the colonial headquarters in Indonesiä and the national headquarters in the Netherlands between 1761-1767. These letters were the means by which the headquarters in the Netherlands was informed about the colonies and relevant territories including most of south-east Asia and south Africa. They contain information about trading missings, shipwrecks, local events and news from the colonies.

Deel XIV in de serie Generale Missiven van de VOC bestaat uit twee banden. Deze bevatten samenvattingen in hedendaags Nederlands en oorspronkelijke citaten van de algemene brieven van Gouverneur-Generaal en Raden in Batavia aan Heren XVII in Nederland. In deze brieven worden de berichten weergegeven ontvangen uit de verschillende kantoren, van Kaapstad in Zuid-Afrika tot Deshima in Japan en van Kharg in de Perzische Golf tot Timor in Oost-Indonesië. Die gaan over de handel, de administratie en het bestuur van de VOC, inclusief fraude, desertie en schipbreuken. Zij geven daarnaast veel informatie over plaatselijke gebeurtenissen en de betrekkingen met de inheemse machthebbers. Zo zijn deze brieven ook een belangrijke bron voor de Aziatische geschiedenis. Door verwijzingen naar in Batavia ontvangen brieven uit andere delen van het VOC-imperium zijn de Generale Missiven voor historisch onderzoekers een onmisbare toegang tot het VOC-archief. Ook op dit deel zijn weer uitgebreide indices gemaakt.Deel XIV beslaat de jaren 1761-1767, de eerste helft van het gouverneur-generaalschap van Petrus Albertus van der Parra. De VOC voerde toen een grote oorlog tegen Kandy op Ceylon, die uiteindelijk de hegemonie van de VOC op het eiland bevestigde. Verder besloot zij de verloren vesting op Kharg op te geven en het geplunderde handelskantoor in Thailand te sluiten. Daarnaast valt te constateren dat door de machtsuitbreiding van de Engelse compagnie in Bengalen de positie van de VOC daar verzwakte. In een aantal gebieden in Azië was dus sprake van teruggang, maar in Zuidoost-Azië consolideerde de Compagnie haar macht en breidde die zelfs uit. English abstract: This book - published in 2 parts - is an edited translation and summary of the correspondence of the Dutch East India Trading Company (VOC) between the colonial headquarters in Indonesiä and the national headquarters in the Netherlands between 1761-1767. These letters were the means by which the headquarters in the Netherlands was informed about the colonies and relevant territories including most of south-east Asia and south Africa. They contain information about trading missings, shipwrecks, local events and news from the colonies.

The nineteenth century was a time when the world was becoming increasingly connected through global forces and networks. Colonial and capitalist expansion was bringing the world into closer contact, while nationalism and forms of indigenous resistance were shaping and moulding the world on more local and regional scales. This dynamic environment was the backdrop for a time when childhood was becoming significantly elaborated as a cultural category of identity. Institutions, objects, and places specifically designed for children were multiplying at an unprecedented rate; writing about children in fiction and non-fiction became increasingly prolific; and the concern for children’s health and well-being in life and death was paramount in many communities. Scholarship on the nineteenth century spans many disciplines and areas of interest and utilizes diverse and abundant source material to study a period recognized as foundational for our modern, globalized world. This volume brings together scholars from archaeology, art history, bioarchaeology, educational history, history, literary studies, and theatre history to present studies of nineteenth century children and childhood in Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, England, Ireland, Native North America, Romania, Russia, and the United States. The interdisciplinary focus of this volume illustrates the wealth of sources, methods, and perspectives that can be used to develop our understandings of childhood in the nineteenth century, and the international scope of the studies offers a platform to engage commonalities in an increasingly globalized world alongside an appreciation for local, regional, and national variations in the cultural creation and experiences of childhood.

It is commonly believed that in medieval and post-medieval towns and cities death outnumbered births and that these urban centres could only survive through the influx of migrants; a concept which has come to be known as the urban graveyard effect. Whether this was indeed the case for all cities and towns is still debated, but it is certain that urban citizens were more used to death that we are today. The medieval graveyards in which the deceased were interred, then still located within town limits, are an invaluable source of knowledge for reconstructing past lives. Systematic archaeological and osteoarchaeological research of urban graveyards has become the norm in the Netherlands and Belgium since the 1980s. However, many of the studies remain unpublished and larger, overarching publications in which comparisons are made between different studies are still lacking. The urban graveyard presents several studies in which the results of older archaeological and osteoarchaeological research are compared to more recent excavation data from several Dutch, Belgian and Danish cities and towns. Both the archaeological data concerning burial position, orientation, and grave goods as well as osteoarchaeological data such as demographic information and pathological observations are discussed. This well-illustrated volume is a starting point and source of inspiration for more (inter)national comparative research.

Jewellery is often viewed as a feminine preoccupation, but in Tudor and Jacobean England men wore just as much (if not more) jewellery as their female counterparts. Jewels themselves were valued not merely for their intrinsic monetary worth, but also for their ability to reflect status and lineage, as well as sustain social bonds and networks of reciprocity. Bejewelled offers an in-depth discussion of the contexts in which jewellery in Tudor and Jacobean England was circulated from a male perspective, considering the jewels as valid items of material culture worthy of study and attention, rather than as mere trifles of adornment. Amongst other subjects, the book analyses the social and historical contexts in which jewellery was acquired, owned and circulated, interrogating the meanings that these jewels had for their male owners. The publication will highlight artefacts from the British Museum’s collection, such as the magnificent Lyte Jewel from the Waddesdon Bequest and the sealing devices of Sir Thomas Smith and Sir Walter Ralegh, as well as lesser-known objects such as the rings of the serjeants-at-law and a group of bronze plaquettes. By including material that has been discovered in archaeological contexts, along with evidence from inventories and wills as well as portraits showing these jewels being worn, this publication seeks to reposition jewellery, presenting it not merely as a concern of the elite but as something that was owned, worn and valued by a range of men across English society.

As attractive as historical or commemorative medals are in their own right and as telling as they are by their designs and inscriptions of the persons or events they honour (or, in some cases, vilify or deride), they tell us much more: by means of inscriptions, design and allegory, they tell us their age, of their makers, of the purpose for which they were made, the manner in which they were made, and the ‘story’ their maker wished to communicate. This volume presents the published works on 17th century British medals that appeared in the late 17th century through to the 19th century as well as biographies of the authors. It also surveys those medallists who created the medals, the major collectors of the medals, the great collections that we know of through auction catalogues, the antiquaries and chroniclers who wrote on the period, or who were otherwise associated with these works, as well as early printers of numismatic works. It is intended as a companion volume to the authors’ two volume work, The English Civil Wars: Medals, Historical Commentary & Personalities. Handsomely illustrated throughout with some 300 illustrations, this work is an essential addition to the libraries of collectors and students of both British and Continental Historical and Commemorative Medals.

In the last 20 years or so, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has inspired a number of creative writers who were eager to represent that genocide itself, its aftermath and, in some cases, the situation that they perceived as paving the way for it decades before it occurred. Unlike other parts of Africa, where the novel already had a deeply rooted tradition, the Rwandan novel is a recent phenomenon that dates back to the late 1990s. In this book, the author focuses on 10 Rwandan-authored novels of genocide, which he considers to be excellent memory texts that reveal a lot about memory processes in post-genocide Rwanda. The author argues that the freedom the novelists enjoy to create their own Rwanda enable them to explore the most controversial aspects of the relationships amongst the Hutu and the Tutsi, the main ethnic groups in Rwanda. Unlike non-fiction writers who are restricted by their discipline-specific constraints and ethical considerations, novelists use their invented Rwanda to expose ethnicity-related issues in a less formal, and often provocative, way. In so doing, however, they seem to exacerbate tensions, by for instance stereotyping the ethnic Other, by providing the ethnic Other with certain attributes and memory-loaded names, and by embracing certain ideological truths. As a follow up to Complexities and Dangers of Remembering and Forgetting in Rwanda [Volume 1 of the Memory Traps series, 2013], Novels of Genocide invites scholars, researchers, students and all those interested in collective memory, genocide studies, fiction, and propaganda studies, to go beyond the traditional fiction-versus-reality dichotomy, and to look at post-genocide Rwanda through the lenses of fiction. The author engages six Tutsi-authored novels and four Hutu-authored counterparts and contends that what happens in fictional Rwanda is so close to, and highly instructive about, what happens in real Rwanda.

This volume brings together the results of archaeological excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology in advance of redevelopment, at three sites in Maidstone, Kent. Supplemented by documentary research, each of these sites epitomises a different aspect of the town’s past. The earliest evidence came from investigations at West Borough School (Site 1), to the west of the town centre, where ditches, pits and associated finds provide evidence for occupation spanning the Bronze Age to Roman periods. A remarkable and apparently unique assemblage of polished flints had been buried in a Bronze Age enclosure ditch. Post-medieval cess-pits and buildings attest to the expansion of settlement beyond the Saxon and medieval core of the town, adjacent to the River Medway, at Waterfront (Site 2). At James Whatman Way (Site 3) the structural remains of the former Maidstone Cavalry Barracks were revealed. Initially constructed in the late 18th-century, these barracks only closed in the 1990s. Amongst the finds recovered a copper-alloy General Service military button is a poignant reminder of the site’s past.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is known for its spices imported from the Moluccans. It is less well-known that apart from spices the VOC also imported many millions of calicoes from India during the 17th and 18th century. For a long time the Dutch were the most important foreign trader in India, using dozens of trading stations (‘ factories’) at which over 3000 Dutch company servants were deployed. To be allowed to trade in India, so-called firmans were necessary, official orders by the Great-Mogol, laying down the trade privileges. These firmans had to be renewed regularly. After Aurangzeb became Great-Mogol, Van Adrichem undertook a journey to the royal court. In 1711-1713, fifty years later, Ketelaar did the same after Bahadur Shah, the successor of Aurangzeb, took office. In this study both court journeys are analysed and compared. There are some similarities but the differences between both journeys are huge. In half a century India had changed quite dramatically, and so had the VOC. The central power of the Mogols was weakening and regional powers became more powerful. Many trade routes became too dangerous. At the same time India, and especially Bengal, became even more important within the overall trading system of the VOC. How did the VOC ambassadors, humble merchants by origin, behave at court? Contrary to what one would expect, they adapted themselves quite successfully to the Mogol diplomatic culture. Both ambassadors were quite experienced, having worked as merchants for decades already in India. They had an extensive social network and were well-versed in Hindustani and Persian, the court language. Ketelaar even wrote the first grammar of Hindustani. This study depicts in detail the interaction between VOC ambassadors and the royal court. Also the extremely long and dangerous journeys from the coast to the royal court in the interior are described. The journey of Ketelaar has become famous for its length (two years) and incredible costs (over one million guilders). It was the most expensive court journey by the VOC in Asia ever.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is known for its spices imported from the Moluccans. It is less well-known that apart from spices the VOC also imported many millions of calicoes from India during the 17th and 18th century. For a long time the Dutch were the most important foreign trader in India, using dozens of trading stations (‘ factories’) at which over 3000 Dutch company servants were deployed. To be allowed to trade in India, so-called firmans were necessary, official orders by the Great-Mogol, laying down the trade privileges. These firmans had to be renewed regularly. After Aurangzeb became Great-Mogol, Van Adrichem undertook a journey to the royal court. In 1711-1713, fifty years later, Ketelaar did the same after Bahadur Shah, the successor of Aurangzeb, took office. In this study both court journeys are analysed and compared. There are some similarities but the differences between both journeys are huge. In half a century India had changed quite dramatically, and so had the VOC. The central power of the Mogols was weakening and regional powers became more powerful. Many trade routes became too dangerous. At the same time India, and especially Bengal, became even more important within the overall trading system of the VOC. How did the VOC ambassadors, humble merchants by origin, behave at court? Contrary to what one would expect, they adapted themselves quite successfully to the Mogol diplomatic culture. Both ambassadors were quite experienced, having worked as merchants for decades already in India. They had an extensive social network and were well-versed in Hindustani and Persian, the court language. Ketelaar even wrote the first grammar of Hindustani. This study depicts in detail the interaction between VOC ambassadors and the royal court. Also the extremely long and dangerous journeys from the coast to the royal court in the interior are described. The journey of Ketelaar has become famous for its length (two years) and incredible costs (over one million guilders). It was the most expensive court journey by the VOC in Asia ever.

Excavations at 1–2 and 3 Redcliff Street, Bristol, crossed a number of historic properties and revealed domestic and industrial remains dating from the establishment of the Redcliffe suburb in the 12th century through to the later post-medieval period. Cloth-dying was the dominant industry in Redcliffe in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the well preserved remains of dye-stuffs as well as leather shoes and off-cuts from a cobbler’s workshop were recovered from water-logged pit fills. The pits also yielded the largest assemblage of pottery of its kind from the city to date. The presence of stone-built dye-vat hearths suggest that cloth dyeing continued into the 14th century, when a pair of substantial town houses were also built. Late 14th-century remains include a furnace for lead-bronze casting, which produced cauldrons, posnets and smaller items, including candlesticks, and heralded a new phase of industry that became the pre-eminent activity for the next 200 years. The reverberatory furnaces are amongst the earliest examples of this advanced form of furnace known in Britain. In the 17th century, historic properties were amalgamated to establish a sugar refinery. Other significant aspects of the site evidence include the re-use of architectural fragments from the medieval church of St Thomas, and a large assemblage of clay-pipe kiln material. The discussion and interpretation of the excavated remains is augmented by documentary and historical research which, combined with evidence from other excavations in Redcliffe, further enriches the story of the urban development and economic history of this important suburb of Bristol.

Excavation of approximately a third of a hectare in the north-western part of the historic core of Worcester revealed evidence for activity dating from the Roman to the post-medieval and early modern period. The deepest deposits were recorded in geotechnical and archaeological boreholes, and in two sondages: the rest of the site was excavated to the depth of formation level for development.The earliest feature was a Roman road running on the approximate alignment of the present-day Newport Street. Deposits relating to road construction and ground consolidation comprised metal-working waste, with finds of later 2nd to 3rd-century date. No in situ evidence of Roman occupation was excavated. These levels were sealed by alluvial deposits. In the early 13th century the area was divided by boundaries, which were consolidated during the subsequent medieval and post-medieval periods into building plots with frontages onto both Newport Street and Dolday. The Newport Street frontage was developed with substantial stone and timber buildings, some over stone-built cellars. A series of ovens, hearths, structures and surfaces suggest a mixture of craft and domestic activities took place in the back plots of these properties. The style, construction and layout of some of the medieval buildings, coupled with artefactual and environmental evidence, suggest the occupants were relatively prosperous.The major plot boundaries changed little throughout the post-medieval and early modern period, although documentary research indicates a complex history of ownership and holdings featuring sub-division, amalgamation and multiple occupancy. The street frontages of both Newport Street and Dolday continued to be occupied throughout the post-medieval and early modern periods. Open spaces and structural remains, including wells, hearths, ovens and cess pits, in the back plots reflect a variety of activities associated with trade and domestic activity. Finds and environmental evidence has helped to link some of these structures to trades associated with the owners and occupants known from historical records. The remains of bread-ovens, a bake-house, a malthouse and a warehouse for hemp have been identified, and there is more tentative archaeological evidence for cordwaining, cloth-making, brewing and distilling, the latter trades replacing cloth-making as that trade declined in the 17th and 18th centuries. The sub-division of properties and the crowding of small cottages into the back plots during the 18th and 19th centuries reflect the increase in residential occupancy that resulted in over-crowding and a decline in status for this area of the city.The excavations represent the first large-scale archaeological investigation of this part of Worcester. The results complement those of previous major investigations of the Roman and medieval town and provide valuable insights into the economic and social status of the medieval town’s expansion onto the former floodplain. An integrated approach, analysing all aspects of the archaeological evidence in combination with detailed study of the available documentary and historical sources, has been particularly valuable in achieving an understanding of the site in later periods, providing the first major archaeological study of the post-medieval development of the city.

Although the wreck of the Mary Rose was raised twenty years ago, the excavations and conservation work and indeed the ship itself have never been published in full. Now the Mary Rose Trust, with the Heritage Lottery Fund is publishing the complete history of the project and the research up to the present day in five highly illustrated volumes, revealing a wealth of information covering all aspects of the ship. Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose traces the history of the Mary Rose from great naval vessel to ruinous shipwreck to an outstanding museum display. The Mary Rose was an extraordinary ship. Built to a new design, she was one of the first great British warships. Her career spanned all but a few years of Henry VIII's reign and she took place in most of his wars. Combining for the first time all that is known from contemporary documents and the archaeological evidence, Peter Marsden and a team of specialists give a fascinating and detailed overview of her history. They set out details of the circumstances of her building, participation in three wars with France, repairs and rebuilds, and finally the tragic sinking with massive loss of life in Portsmouth Harbour in 1545 as she prepared to encounter the French fleet one more time. Also described are the place of the ship in naval and seafaring history, the novel aspects of her shape and construction, how she performed at sea, her structure, rigging and armoury. Bringing the story up-to-date, further chapters describe the epic project to excavate and salvage the ship that culminated in the raising of the hull in 1982, an event watched by millions on television, and subsequently how the museum and display of the massive hull were created. Beautifully illustrated with contemporary paintings and documents as well as photos of the excavations and some of the 26,000 objects recovered, this will be of great interest to everyone with an interest in maritime archaeology, conservation, and the history of the period.

In the middle of the seventeenth century, judges in the short-lived New Haven Colony presided over a remarkable series of trials ranging from murder and bestiality, to drunken sailors, frisky couples, faulty shoes, and shipwrecks. The cases were reported in an unusually vivid manner, allowing readers to witness the twists and turns of fortune as the participants battled with life and liberty at stake. When the records were eventually published in the 1850s, they were both difficult to read and heavily edited to delete sexual matters. Rendered here in modernized English and with insightful commentary by eminent Judge Jon C. Blue, the New Haven trials allow readers to immerse themselves in the exciting legal battles of America's earliest days.The Case of the Piglet's Paternity assembles thirty-three of the most significant and intriguing trials of the period. As a book that examines a distinctive judicial system from a modern legal perspective, it is sure to be of interest to readers in law and legal history. For less litigious readers, Blue offers a worm's eye view of the full spectrum of early colonial society - political leaders and religious dissidents, farmhands and apprentices, women and children.

One of London’s largest archaeological excavations took place at Spitalfields Market, on the north-eastern fringe of the historic city, between 1991 and 2007. This book presents an archaeological history from the 16th to the 19th centuries, reconnecting the archaeological assemblages with documentary evidence in order to describe the place, people and possessions of the early modern suburb of Spitalfields. Following the closure of the medieval priory of St Mary Spital in the 1530s and the construction of private mansions, the largely residential enclave grew into the suburb of Spitalfields in the 17th century as landowners built clusters of houses in the former fields and developer-builders constructed some of London’s first terraced houses in the 1680s over the former military training ground. Development continued piecemeal in all areas over the next centuries. Analysis of the artefacts – pottery, glasswares, clay tobacco pipes and other domestic items – and of the botanical and faunal remains discarded in the privies of these houses throws new light on the household economies and leisure activities of, in particular, the Georgian and Victorian residents, a number of whom were involved in the silk industry and who included Huguenot and Jewish families. A series of essays bring an archaeological perspective to wider historical themes such as the religious life, architecture, sanitation and administration of this flourishing post-medieval suburb.