Recent news, and random musings

So, we just had our small-but-high-octane conference on constitutionalism at the U of R, and life can now resume its normal hectic course, and leave the frenetic for the time being. I'm exhausted, not feeling too well (rich university food, too much for the palate of the average grad student...whatever), and not at all happy with my own presentation. In the abstract, the conference was a big success...Though I found myself thinking about German "constitutionalism" (and yes, the Teutons did have a version of it, so to speak), and ruing that east of the Rhine wasn't covered.

William Chester Jordan pointed out, in his response at the end of the proceedings, that "sacral kingship" hadn't really been discussed, but that it was truly important in any conception of constitutionalism, esp. from the French side, but also from the English. I couldn't agree more, though interest has been sporadic since Kantorowicz' Laudes Regiae in 1946. Well, put more precisely, Capetian, Valois, and Ottonian historians are concerned with it, as, to a lesser extent, are Angevin historians; Plantagenets and Lancastrian experts, on the other hand, seem to find this mystical/spiritual conception of kingship on the whole a less compelling topic.

Anyway, good times were had in one form or another by all, and it was fascinating to meet these folks in person. One scholar cancelled at the last minute (for, in my opinion, a rather inadequate reason), and the absence was noticeable, but otherwise all went off well. Scheduling and catering worked well, too, which is something to warm the soul...

IN other news...

Jonathan Sumption's third volume in the Hundred Years' War came out, at last, though I heard vague rumblings about publisher sqabbles, something about UPenn, I think it was, not entirely pleased that it was unilaterally released in the UK by Faber. I could be wrong. The review from The Times:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article5979921.ece

I was not aware that "egads" comes from "Godfrey of Bouillon", or that "to not give a damn" should actually be "to not give a dam", but apparently it is so...Any counter etymological opinions on these subjects?
http://www.journal-advocate.com/news/2009/apr/03/changes-language/

Here's an article from mid-March on Robin Hood. I will not attempt to comment, but leave the gnashing of teeth to the experts, heh heh.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7946000/7946724.stm
Slightly more information on this new source:
http://www.startribune.com/nation/41264582.html?elr=KArks:DCiUBcy7hUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

And an actual synopsis of the new Robin Hood movie, at least as it was momentarily...
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/03/cast-and-plot-details-unveiled-for-ridley-scotts-r.html

I was never as averse as many of my friends were to the idea of Crowe playing both roles; the problem, as I saw it, was that, in that case, how do you keep the film from becoming a "medieval Batman"? Moot point, now. Also, apparently some purists are unhappy that the film will be shot in Wales. Sherwood Forest is too protected, and doesn't really have enough trees...

This just in! Lisa Hilton's rather justified umbrage at David Starkey, for apparently claiming "that women historians, and female readers and audiences, have reduced history to 'soap opera'." Uh, okaaaaayyyy...?:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/behind-every-great-man--how-women-made-history-1662814.html
Of course, I understand that she is being polemic, but I hardly think it's all about subversion from here on out...And after all, whether we're talking about dead white guys, or dead white women, they're still dead. And no amount of reactionary or revisionist scholarship will change the fact that Henry VIII made Ann Boleyn that way...

I have yet to read Cornwell's new novel on Agincourt, but I doubt he claims the longbow was a "new" weapon in 1415!!!! But, apparently, this sort of bodkin-meets-breastplate paradigm shift is influencing our secretary of defense. Amazing how things work sometimes, eh?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/17/gates_readies_big_cuts_in_weapons/