FIELD AND LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS IN AGROECOLOGY
Extraits
Littérature russe
L'archipel du Goulag 1918-1956. Essai d'investigation littéraire. Edition abrégée
Immense fresque de l'univers concentrationnaire soviétique, L'Archipel du Goulag a été écrit dans la clandestinité. Les milliers de lettres et témoignages reçus par Alexandre Soljénitsyne après la publication de son roman Une journée d'Ivan Denissovitch constituent la base de cette oeuvre, qu'il qualifie d'" investigation littéraire " ; ces documents font de lui le dépositaire du malheur de tout un peuple. Secrètement sorti d'URSS, ce texte explosif suscite, lors de sa parution en Occident en 1974, une prise de conscience des réalités du régime soviétique. Alexandre Soljénitsyne, magistral chroniqueur, redonne une voix aux détenus du Goulag, cet " archipel " où des millions de zeks sont morts.
06/2014
Sciences historiques
Mille ans d'histoire dans le Nord-Pas-de-Calais et en Picardie. De l'an mil à l'an 2014
Ces mille ans sont égrenés a travers les dates et les moments privilégies qui ont rythmé la vie du nord-ouest de la France ; guerres, batailles, traités, personnalités, traditions, culture... servent de repères à la découverte du millénaire dans la région. D'année en année, force est de constater que ces jalons ont laissé une trace durable dans l'évolution des régions du nord de la France, à savoir la Picardie et le Nard-Pas-de-Calais. Réédité pour la 5e fois, cet ouvrage connaît un excellent accueil auprès des libraires et des lecteurs de la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais et Picardie. L'ouvrage de Jean Callens constitue un véritable livre d'histoire comme on aime les lire. Et même si mille ans, c'est beaucoup, le livre est tout sauf pesant.
06/2014
Décoration
1000 Lights. Edition français-anglais-allemand
Conçue comme pendant à notre classique 1000 Chairs, cette édition contient une incroyable sélection de plus de 1000 luminaires. Vous découvrirez, présentées chronologiquement par décennie, les lampes électriques les plus intéressantes du XXème siècle, de superbes abat-jour en vitrail de Tiffany, en passant par les modèles les plus audacieux de la fin des années 1960 et des années 1970, jusqu'aux dernières lampes LED high-tech. Arts and Crafts, Art nouveau, Art déco, Mouvement moderne, De Stijl, après-guerre, pop, radical, post-moderne et contemporain : tous les grands styles sont présentés dans ce livre, à travers 640 pages de créations vraiment lumineuses. Cet ouvrage de référence est un incontournable pour les collectionneurs et les amateurs de design.
11/2013
Esotérisme
Investigations sur le champ de conscience unitaire. Tome 2, Le temps et l'espace
Une remarquable synthèse de connaissances scientifiques cachées et de prophéties oubliées, Investigations sur le Champ de conscience unitaire révèle un grand nombre d'importants secrets : la transformation de l'ADN, la science de la conscience, les tunnels spatiotemporels, les voyages à l'aide de portes des étoiles, la géométrie sacrée, les anciennes conspirations, le temps multidimensionnel, le calendrier maya, et un étonnant nouveau modèle des champs d'énergie galactiques responsables de notre évolution biologique, mentale et spirituelle.
10/2012
Non classé
Benedict Nta Tanka's Commentary and Dramatized Ideas on «Disease and Witchcraft in our Society»
For the first time, autobiographical notes of an African on his own psychosis are presented in print. Mr. Tanka's experiences are related to problems of his environment, characterized by cultural change. Information on his tribe, the Menka, and psychiatric comments provide the necessary background for the notes. The course of Mr. Tanka's illness, followed for twelve years, illustrates results of the International Pilot Study on Schizophrenia (IPSS) of the WHO that schizophrenia in patients from traditional cultures often has a favourable prognosis.
12/1980
Ouvrages généraux
Crusading Ideas and Fear of the Turks in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Textes en français et anglais
L'ouvrage s'intéresse à la pluralité et la diversité des idées de croisade à la fin du Moyen Age et au début de l'Epoque Moderne. Il met en lumière les la diversité des acteurs de la conception de l'idée de croisade et analyse les relations et les variations entre ces différentes conceptions. La " croisade " n'est pas considérée comme un concept fixe ou un type de conflit particulier, mais comme un attribut aux multiples fonctions argumentatives selon les contextes et les auteurs : la construction d'une identité, la représentation d'un pouvoir, la valorisation d'un prestige social, la formation d'alliances...
10/2021
Histoire internationale
Private Life and Communist Morality in Khrushchev’s Russia
Drawing on previously inaccessible records, this book discusses love, sex, marriage, divorce, and child-rearing during Khrushchev's "thaw" of the 1950s and early 1960s. It analyses the Soviet government's attempts to supervise private life and enforce communist morality, and it describes the diverse ways in which people responded to official prescriptions. Written in a lively and accessible style, this book provides an innovative exploration of the interactions between Soviet ideology and everyday life.
03/2007
Ouvrages généraux et thématiqu
Sainteté de cour. Les Capétiens et leurs saintes femmes
De la bataille de Bouvines en 1214 à la mort de Philippe le Bel un siècle plus tard, le pouvoir capétien connut un essor irrésistible, appuyé sur une idéologie inspirée par le christianisme : le "très chrétien" roi de France était présenté comme bénéficiaire privilégié de la faveur divine, la France, comme Terre sainte et les Français, comme peuple élu. Des croisades du saint roi Louis au conflit avec le pape Boniface VIII, le récit de cette période où l'Eglise et le pouvoir royal s'imbriquent et s'affrontent est traditionnellement dominé par un point de vue très masculin.
03/2022
Littérature étrangère
Nouvel An
Des vacances de Noël en famille sur l'île de Lanzarote - ce rêve de Henning, mari et jeune père plein de bonne volonté, risque de tourner au vinaigre. Le temps est maussade, le moral se détériore ; les crises d'angoisse qu'il redoute tant réapparaissent. Le premier janvier, il décide de s'éloigner des obligations familiales, d'un amour mêlé d'incompréhension et d'une paternité qui l'écrase. Il enfourche un médiocre vélo de location et entreprend, par défi, une ascension harassante. C'est un homme épuisé qui arrive au sommet de la montagne, où paysage et village se révèlent. Tel un voile qui se déchire, il lui semble retrouver un lieu maudit de sa petite enfance, une expérience traumatisante dont la romancière ressuscite alors chaque instant enfoui dans sa mémoire. Juli Zeh, à son meilleur, se livre à un travail vertigineux d'expérimentation psychique : la plongée de Henning dans l'onde obscure du refoulé nous hantera longtemps.
09/2019
Littérature française
Un an
Ici, nulle certitude, le doute imprègne tout le texte. L'auteur y déambule dans un labyrinthe de questions entre lesquelles éclosent parfois inattendus, de ténus émerveillements. Au jour le jour, des notules, des observations, des sensations, des réactions à l'actualité se conjuguent avec des souvenirs d'enfance, ceux qui ont fait de lui un lecteur puis un "graphomane". L'écriture de René Pons est exigeante, refusant bavardages et concessions, cultivant le mot juste et un certain humour au service d'une lucidité à l'écart de toute complaisance.
12/2012
Roman d'amour, roman sentiment
Un an
Emma est une étudiante qui, ses études terminées, se prépare à affronter la vie professionnelle. Idéaliste et sensible, une rencontre dans une soirée étudiante la projette dans un parcours amoureux rempli de sublime, de découvertes émotionnelles et de déceptions. Commence alors un cheminement sentimental que son moi intérieur, brisé en mille morceaux, rend chaotique. L'anorexie, la boulimie et les scarifications jalonnent son itinéraire et lui font vivre avec une intensité désespérée chacune de ses rencontres. Au fil du temps, des amitiés et des amours, elle grandit, chute... Finira-t-elle par trouver une issue de résilience ? Plus qu'une histoire fictive, Un an est un appel à la conscience de tous et de chacun face aux cris muets de ces personnes qui souffrent psychologiquement.
07/2021
Littérature française (poches)
Un an
Une jeune femme, prénommée Victoire, découvre un matin son ami Félix mort près d'elle dans son lit. Elle ne se souvient pas de ce qui est arrivé, mais elle file, dans le Sud-Ouest, en emportant ses économies. Sa fugue va durer un an, d'où le titre. Au début, tout va bien. Elle loue une villa au Pays basque, se trouve un amant. Mais l'amant lui vole ses sous et Victoire va parcourir une à une les étapes de la dégringolade sociale : après la villa, les chambres d'hôtel, de plus en plus miteuses, puis la belle étoile ; le vélo, puis l'auto-stop et, quand elle est devenue trop sale, trop dépenaillée pour le stop, la marche au hasard, l'association avec d'autres clochards, le chapardage, la promiscuité, la perte progressive de soi et du monde. L'histoire d'une errance en forme de descente, une aventure picaresque que l'auteur achève en la ramenant à son point de départ. Un an, dans sa simplicité linéaire, immédiate, met en valeur la poétique d'Echenoz. Celle-ci repose sur le combat perpétuel que se livrent une réalité mystérieuse et dont le sens fuit sans cesse le monde, les objets, les personnes, les formes, les sons, les paroles, l'espace, le temps et les mots pour la dire le plus exactement possible.
04/2014
Histoire internationale
Violences et non-violences en Inde : Violences and non-violences in India
Comment comprendre que des ascètes aient développé en Inde une tradition martiale extrêmement élaborée, tout en ayant fait des vœux stricts de " non-violence " ? Et comment se fait-il que des leaders syndicalistes à poigne puissent se réclamer avec conviction des mêmes idéaux que Gandhi, ou encore que des brahmanes hésitent aussi peu à manier le bâton tout en affichant haut et fort leur foi dans la non-violence ? De telles façons d'agir, souvent paradoxales à nos yeux, sont susceptibles cependant de renouveler notre compréhension des notions de violence et de non-violence dans la société indienne, contredisant en particulier l'idée que l'on s'en fait habituellement depuis le gandhisme.
Douze études, portant sur des périodes, des lieux, des protagonistes fort divers, montrent que, bien souvent, la non-violence est ce au nom de quoi la violence se légitime, ce qui lui confère du sens. Mais la valorisation de " la " non-violence repose sur des interprétations en réalité très variées de cette expression, et sur des rapports de force qui relativisent et hiérarchisent des points de vue distincts, tout en permettant leur maintien.
03/1994
Histoire des sciences
Histoire de la recherche contemporaine Tome 9 N° 2/2020 : L'archéologie entre l'humain et les espaces
SOMMAIRE DOSSIER L'archéologie entre l'humain et les espaces Pierre Rouillard Trois décennies de recherche : une archéologie préhistorique plus proche de l'humain Catherine Perlès Encadré | La pré-protohistoire de l'Europe révélée par la paléogénomique Eva-Maria Geigl L'approche de l'espace par les archéologues : des pratiques en évolution Laurent Costa, Bruno Desachy Encadré | Archéologie maritime et navale : nouveaux outils et acquis récents de la recherche Giulia Boetto Les nouveaux rapports avec la nature ne doivent pas nous faire ignorer ceux du passé Stéphanie Thiébault Encadré | Bioarchéologie des substances naturelles dans des céramiques Martine Regert L'archéologie préventive en France : du sauvetage du patrimoine ancien à l'émergence de pratiques scientifiques et au partage de la connaissance Dominique Garcia Encadré | La fouille archéologique comme laboratoire et bibliothèque sans murs Laurent SchneiderVARIA Georges Sagnac : de la découverte de la fluorescence X à la relativité Jean-Christophe Pain Une histoire du " PMC ", le laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée de l'Ecole polytechnique Thiên Nga Lê Jean Pruvost, " dans les mots jusqu'au cou " Table of Contents report Archeology between humans and spaces Pierre Rouillard Three decades of research : a prehistoric archeology closer to humans Catherine Perlès Insert | The pre-protohistory of Europe revealed by paleogenomics Eva-Maria Geigl The approach of space by archaeologists : evolving practices Laurent Costa, Bruno Desachy Insert | Maritime and naval archeology : new tools and recent research findings Giulia Boetto The new relationships with nature should not make us ignore those of the past Stéphanie Thiébault Insert | Bioarchaeology of natural substances in ceramics Martine Regert Preventive archeology in France : from the rescue of ancient heritage to the emergence of scientific practices and the sharing of knowledge Dominique Garcia Insert | Archaeological excavation as laboratory and library without walls Laurent SchneiderVARIA Georges Sagnac : from the discovery of X-ray fluorescence to relativity Jean-Christophe Pain A History of PMC, the Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics of the Ecole Polytechnique Thiên Nga Lê Jean Pruvost, "in words up to the hilt'
06/2021
Moto
Xl-ultimate collector motorcycles
Bécanes de rêve : les motos les plus spectaculaires de la planète. De la Hildebrand & Wolfmuller de 1894 à l'Aston Martin AMB 001 de 2020, cet ouvrage expose superbement 100 des plus belles motos à avoir jamais fait vrombir l'asphalte et se pâmer les passionnés. Premières briseuses de records, luxueuses voyageuses, bolides des routes ou des circuits de Grands Prix, légendaires superbikes de production et customs exotiques, cet ouvrage célèbre ce que le design et l'ingénierie moto ont produit de meilleur. Nombre de modèles sont issus de collections privées renommées et n'ont été montrées que rarement. D'autres sont les vedettes incontestées des plus grands musées de la moto - comme la Brough Superior "Golden Dream" de 1938 ou la MV Agusta 500 4C de 1957, qui emporta John Surtees jusqu'à la victoire en championnat du monde. Les reliques étonnamment bien conservées côtoient un écurie de sportives mythiques chevauchées par des pilotes comme Dario Ambrosini, Tarquinio Provini, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Barry Sheene et Kenny Roberts. Les histoires captivantes associées à ces motos fabuleuses sont racontées en détail et illustrées par les clichés des plus grands photographes du genre, réalisés spécialement pour cette publication, ainsi que des bijoux tirés de diverses archives, des affiches promouvant les premières courses aux photos prises dans le vif de la course. Elle s'ouvre sur un avant-propos de Jay Leno, célèbre accro à la mécanique, et contient des interviews de George Barber, le fondateur du Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum ; Sammy Miller, pilote de course et fondateur du Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum ; Ben Walker, directeur du département Motos chez Bonhams ; Paul d'Orléans, fondateur de The Vintagent et Gordon McCall, co-fondateur du Quail Motorcycle Gathering, le concours de renommée mondiale qui se tient à Carmel, en Californie. Une abondance de bijoux sur deux roues et un livre incontournable pour tous les fanatiques de moto.
03/2023
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
Thinking about Physics
Physical scientists are problem solvers. They are comfortable "doing" science: they find problems, solve them, and explain their solutions. Roger Newton believes that his fellow physicists might be too comfortable with their roles as solvers of problems. He argues that physicists should spend more time thinking about physics. If they did, he believes, they would become even more skilled at solving problems and "doing" science. As Newton points out in this thought-provoking book, problem solving is always influenced by the theoretical assumptions of the problem solver. Too often, though, he believes, physicists haven't subjected their assumptions to thorough scrutiny. Newton's goal is to provide a framework within which the fundamental theories of modem physics can be explored, interpreted, and understood.
"Surely physics is more than a collection of experimental results, assembled to satisfy the curiosity of appreciative experts," Newton writes. Physics, according to Newton, has moved beyond the describing and naming of curious phenomena, which is the goal of some other branches of science. Physicists have spent a great part of the twentieth century searching for explanations of experimental findings. Newton agrees that experimental facts are vital to the study of physics, but only because they lead to the development of a theory that can explain them. Facts, he argues, should undergird theory.
Newton's explanatory sweep is both broad and deep. He covers such topics as quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, field theory, thermodynamics, the role of mathematics in physics, and the concepts of probability and causality. For Newton the fundamental entity in quantum theory is the field, from which physicists can explain the particle-like and wave-like properties that are observed in experiments. He grounds his explanations in the quantum field.
Although this is not designed as a standalone textbook, it is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, professors, and researchers. This is a clear, concise, up-to-date book about the concepts and theories that underlie the study of contemporary physics. Readers will find that they will become better-informed physicists and, therefore, better thinkers and problem solvers, too.
01/2000
Décoration
Colour and meaning. Art, Science and Symbolism
'John Gage's Colour and Meaning... is full of ideas... He is one of the best writers on art now alive' - A.S. Byatt
'Magnificent' - The Independent on Sunday
'Erudite but accessible' - The Architect's Journal
Is colour just a physiological phenomenon? Does it have an effect on feelings? This vividly written book, the sequel to Gage's award-winning Colour and Culture, is ultimately informed by the conviction that the meaning of colour lies in the particular historical context in which it is experienced and interpreted.
John Gage explores the mysteries of themes as diverse as the optical mixing techniques implicit in mosaic, colour-languages in Latin America at the time of the Spanish Conquest and the ideas of Goethe and Runge, Blake and Turner. For students and lecturers in the history of art and culture, for artists and designers, and for psychologists and scientists with a special interest in the subject, John Gage has produced a compelling study of the meaning of colour through the ages.
01/1999
Non classé
Development and Developing International and European Law
This book contains more than 40 contributions from academics, specialists and practitioners in International and European law as well as transnational constitutional law. The articles focus on recent developments in these fields and in particular on legal aspects of development. The book is dedicated to Konrad Ginther whose own academic research and work have always been devoted to new developments in international law and the shift of legal paradigms at universal and regional levels. International law in transformation and the right to (sustainable) development as a legal principle have been important aspects of his work. The contributions of his colleagues, friends and scholars, published in honour of his 65th birthday, reflect the interplay of theory, dogmatics and the practice of development in international, European and national constitutional law.
11/1999
Histoire internationale
Knowledge and Symbolization in Saint John of the Cross
The works of Juan de la Cruz contains numerous passages dealing with human cognition both ordinary and mystical. This study traces San Juan's examination of the mystic's knowledge in and through God. The sixteenth-century Spanish thinker stresses that conditionality is a fundamental character of all human knowledge, and brings to light a complex movement of contiguity between one and another mode of cognitive activity. Also discussed is the expression, through the instruments of prose and poetry, of the mystic's supereminent and therefore ineffable experience of knowledge and love. Relying upon Juan de la Cruz's own texts, it is shown how a relative communication can be effected despite the barriers separating mystical from ordinary cognition.
07/1993
Non classé
Métissage in New France and Canada 1508 to 1886
This book deals with métissage in New France and Canada in the period 1508 to 1886. Métissage is understood as a syncretistic process of cultural, social and political encounter and mixture of ethnic groups that resulted from mixed marriages and relationships. Those led to the rise of the Métis people in North America, which were distinguished as French-speaking Métis and English-speaking Halfbreeds. The process of mixture began in 1508, when first Indians were shipped to France with the intention to use them as multipliers of French culture on their return to the colony. In 1886, the Act of Savages legally distinguished between "Indians" and "Metis", thus marking the beginning of a mixed-blood identity in Canada that was differentiated from neighbouring Whites, Indians and Inuit. The theoretical approach of the history of concepts is employed in the longue durée to show the variance throughout four centuries.
08/2009
Non classé
Marriage and Divorce in the Plays of Hermann Sudermann
This study investigates Sudermann's plays from a socio-historical and literary-historical perspective. His plays are a response to a crisis of marriage. That crisis had its roots in the Romantic period and came to a head when the conservative Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch was introduced in 1900. Of particular significance is Es lebe das Leben (1902). The manuscripts of this play reveal that here Sudermann moved from a Realist treatment of marital difficulties to an exploration of the crisis of the realist literary system and a search for a Modernist treatment of divorce. His plays on marriage, divorce, courtship and the problems of single men and women constitute a sustained attempt to modify or at times radically to challenge the presentation of marriage in the Realist literary system.
03/1996
Philosophie
Issues in the Philosophy of Language Past and Present
In the light of contemporary perspectives a good deal of traditional philosophical thought can be read as relating to the issue of 'Language versus Reality'. The chapters of this book vindicate this claim ; bringing together thinkers different both in temperament and interests like Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, Heidegger and Gadamer they suggest that some of their major tenets reflect conceptual assumptions concerning linguistic meaning and reference. In trying to both identify and elucidate the assumptions at stake the author shows, both historically and systematically, that some of the problems experienced in the past as well as much of our contemporary concern with the same issue form a continuous line and a common endeavour ; and they have not yet come to an end.
11/1999
Non classé
Variation and Diachrony, with Early American English in Focus
This study of diachronic variation addresses two topics, the development of modal auxiliaries can (could), may (might), shall (should) and will (would), and the emergence of early American English as a new variety in the seventeenth century. Within the framework of socio-historical variation analysis, the author aims at accounting for diachronic change by examining the interplay of various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors in the light of evidence drawn from various corpora. The study concentrates on the language spoken and written in the New England area between 1620 and 1720, but to widen the scope in time and region, counterparts for comparison are found in the material included in the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts. The results indicate a gradual change (rather than a sudden re-structuring) in the system of the English modals from early stages on. Cumulative evidence is found for the rise of the forms can and will ; in early American English conservative (rather than innovative) tendencies characterize the development.
05/1991
Non classé
The best Approximation and Optimization in Locally Convex Spaces
This book presents several new results on the best simultaneous approximation in locally convex spaces. The concept of nuclear cone is systematically used to establish some interesting relations with Pareto optimization and the duality for vectorial optimization programs with multifunctions.
01/1993
Non classé
Frontier and Utopia in the Fiction of Charles Sealsfield
This study examines the work of Charles Sealsfield (1793-1864), the Moravian-American writer, whose fiction marked the first serious literary treatment of America in the German language. More specifically, Sealsfield's work is discussed in the light of his experience in America and, above all, in the light of his change of identity from Karl Anton Postl - Moravian monk to Charles Sealsfield - American writer. It employs two concepts - frontier and utopia - to show how Sealsfield was influenced by the antebellum tradition in America, and how he, in turn, used the governing myths and symbols of his time to create an important statement about the relationship between ideology and power in the Age of Jackson.
12/1986
Non classé
Ambivalence and Irony in the Works of Joseph Roth
Did Joseph Roth, the socialist, revolutionary and sceptic, become a monarchist, reactionary and believer ? This work attributes the contradictory manifestations in the life and personality of Roth to the attitude of ambivalence and irony that characterised him and his generation. The historical and intellectual situation that led to the dominance of this attitude and Roth's susceptibility to it due to the circumstances of his life are discussed. A meticulous study of Roth's letters, journalistic work and novels follows substantiating the thesis advanced.
12/1984
Non classé
Black and White Speech in the Southern United States
This study compares the pronunciation of the stressed vowel nuclei of black and white southerners interviewed for the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States. The informants from Maryland (two pairs), Virginia (seven pairs), and North Carolina (seven pairs), were all interviewed in the period 1933-1939 by a single field worker, Guy S. Lowman, Jr., and were matched as closely as possible for age, education, social class, and geographical proximity. The principal findings of the study are that systematic differences exist between black and white speakers in the pronunciation of the stressed vowels, on the phonic or subphonemic level. This is the same type of variation that is used to characterize dialect differences in the United States. The differences in speech, however, while systematic, are not categorical : i.e., there are no speech features examined that exist solely for black or white speakers. Another finding was that regional variation in speech was less apparent for black speakers than for white speakers.
12/1986
Non classé
Participation and Litigation Rights of Environmental Associations in Europe
This book assembles the revised papers of an international conference and thus offers a comprehensive comparative overview of the participation and litigation rights of environmental associations in Europe. This is supplemented by a compilation of the relevant statutory law in force. Besides the legal background, the focus of interest is above all on practical experience with participation and litigation rights from the point of view of the environmental associations.The contributions show that the effectivity of group actions is extremely high. In none of the analysed countries were there the slightest indications of any undue strain being placed on the judicial system by this instrument. There can be no doubt that the participation and litigation rights of environmental organizations are important instruments in reducing the enforcement deficit in environmental protection. With a view to the fact that Europe is growing more and more into one entity, the need of participation of environmental NGO's on the European level becomes a pressing necessity.
10/1991
Objets d'art, collection
The Wider Goldsmiths' Trade in Elizabethan and Stuart London
The Wider Goldsmiths' Trade in Elizabethan and Stuart London is the first book to study all aspects of the Goldsmiths' trade. It challenges the assumption that the manufacture of silver plate and gold jewellery was the company's only activity during the seventeenth century. It considers allied trades such as refining, wiredrawing, and the making of small-swords and watches, as well as the development of the modern banking system. On Elizabeth I's accession, England was essentially a 'third world economy', with exports mainly of wool, unfinished woolen cloth and some minerals, whilst imports consisted of a great range of goods including luxuries such as silks, fine linens, and even scissors. By the end of the seventeenth century, the situation was transformed : a burgeoning maritime trade with many parts of the world enabled the import of raw materials as well as some luxury goods and a wide range of exports which included certain goods produced in London with an international reputation for quality, such as beaver hats and mathematical instruments. Throughout the period, religious refugees and economic migrants brought their skills and knowledge to England. At the Restoration, Royalists returning to London from the Continent introduced French and Low Country fashions in dress, manners, cuisine and dining practice. Refining, wiredrawing, and the making of plate, smallwares and jewellery were at the heart of the trade and of concern to the Goldsmiths' Company that had responsibility for ensuring that the correct alloys were used for silver and gold wares. This was not always the case for clocks, watches and swords. Nevertheless, they are included in this study as several members of the Company were instrumental in the development of clock and watch making in the city. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the great increase in the sale of watches with gold and silver cases forced the Company to become involved in the control of this trade. Similarly, after the Civil Wars, the wearing of the small-sword by all those with aspirations to gentility gave rise to a demarcation dispute between the Goldsmiths' and Cutlers' Companies. Further, during the Commonwealth, goldsmith-bankers developed the clearing system which led to modern retail banking. This book considers the wider Goldsmiths' trade against dynamic changes : the organization and control of its branches and the design, manufacture and sale of its wares. The twelve chapters cover a range of topics - from history and context, to the various branches of the trade.
04/2024
Non classé
Friendship and Love in the Middle English Metrical Romances
"Friendship and Love in the Middle English Metrical Romances" groups together a representative cross-section of the genre, according to variants of love relationships, and to ideas of friendship. The horizontal and the vertical structure of the relatonship are tripartite. The horizontal stages are attraction, separation-testing-trial, and reunion, the vertical spheres are the personal, social/political, and religious. All relationships fail into two types, the restorative-concordant and the innovative-discordant. These are defined by the relative position of the partners in the social-political sphere of their relationship. The groups of relationship are defined by the initially more active partner : forward heroine, fairy mistress, forward hero, mutual love, married love ; friendship, lords and retainers. Surveys of the Insular understanding of courtly love, and of Caxton's prose romances, complement the findings.
02/1991
