Image Wars: Promoting Kings and Commonwealths - Book Report/Review Example

?Image Wars: Promoting Kings and Commonwealths in England Background Kevin Sharpe, born on January 26, 1949 in Rochester, Kent, finished hisundergraduate and postgraduate degrees at St. Catherine’s College in Oxford. According to Cunnane, Sharpe had stayed at Oriel College, Oxford, for four years before moving to University of Southampton where he was promoted as history professor and research director. He was at University of Warwick before he moved to Queen Mary, University of London in 2005. Some of his works include Image Wars: Promoting Kings and Commonwealths in England (2010), Selling the Tudor Monarchy: Authority and Image in Sixteenth -Century England (2009), Reading Revolution: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England (2000), Remapping Early Modern England: The Culture of Seventeenth-Century Politics (2000), The Personal Rule of Charles I (1992), Criticism and Compliment: The Politics of Literature in the England of Charles I (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History, 1990), Politics and Ideas in Early Stuart England: Essays and Studies (1989), and Sir Robert Cotton, 1586-1631: History and Politics in Early Modern England (1979). His Charles I of England garnered great attention from fellow historians (Hadfield). He received recognition in his “pioneering work in interdisciplinary sciences.” A historian of culture and politics, he was a pioneer in bringing to the study of the English Renaissance the perspectives into other disciplines. Sharpe’s style was characterized by his brilliant and “reader-friendly prose.” For him, historians should make their arguments in such a way so that the arguments could be easily understood by readers without sacrificing their standards. These are basically the reasons why Kevin Sharpe is considered a legitimate author for me. Book Themes Hero Worship in England The book covers a wide range of subject matters over a long span of time. The timeline includes the end of the House of Tudor and up to the restoration of monarchy after the Parliament failed. The representation is very common for England. Monarchs portrayed themselves in different ways, in which people would look them up to be someone in authority. Kevin Sharpe wanted to display how rulers of England during the 17th century represented themselves. Sharpe argued that governments during the early modern age in England had to display an appealing image with the purpose of securing support for their policies and authority (Cunnane, par. XIV). Elizabeth I portrayed herself “as an icon, a goddess elevated above political faction and fray.” She is more focused on how people will see her as a Queen. She had established an image of her own. Henry VIII, father of Elizabeth I, successfully branded monarchy as Tudor while Elizabeth branded her regime specifically as Elizabethan. Her successor, James I, the first Stuart to rule England, “symbolized motif of his representation-peace and received the universal gratitude of a people whose relief that England was spared destructive war was now audibly expressed” (Sharpe). James actually restored the “masculine rule” in England after the rule of childless Elizabeth for fifty years. “James presented himself, as biblical exegete and head of the church, as another David who, as God’s protected, would safeguard his people” (Cunnane). He was the first king to have an heir, two sons after more than a century of unsecured monarchy in England. “James chose to represent himself to his people through his words” (Cunnane). He was really into writing and thought that he could impose authority with the use of his pen. Most of his works were his own versions of the Scripture. “He commissioned the King James Authorized Version of the Bible in 1611, which still remains to be one of the most important Bible translations into English” (Cunnane). His son, Charles I, was known to have been quite different from him. “It is far too simple to argue that James paid no attention to his image or that Charles I developed a royal image without any regard to his people” (Hadfield). Charles’ approach to show authority was different to that of James. He was a man of few words unlike his father who regarded his words to be powerful. He is more of a silent monarch. The most interesting part is what happened in 1649. Sharpe asserts that the plan did not work mainly because it was not able “to secure its own cultural authority or even significantly to undermine the culture of kingship” (Hadfield 388). Charles I was beheaded during this time as a result of his forced loans to finance the Scottish war. The death of King Charles I signified the temporary end of monarchy. However, people who opposed to the king made use of the representational tools of monarchy to execute their motives. It can be justified in the case when Parliament tried to counterfeit a seal of state. The same thing happened when Cromwell attempted to imitate a “functioning political alternative to monarchy” (Hadfield). Charles I became an eminent symbol of kingship. His death established an influential martyr image to the people by which he gained sympathy and admiration from his constituents. On the other hand, Cromwell presented himself as the protectorate. Commonwealth never established itself as a feasible alternative to monarchy, since it simply continued the use of the seals and the palaces, which were known to be “representational structures of royal power” (Hadfield). Villains and Heroes This kind of theme is commonly observed in films and other books but to find this in a history book is interesting. The book, indeed, presents how different religions and beliefs shaped the early modern England government. The differences created conflicts and arguments which later led to wars among nations and its people. As I have understood, every regime leader was a hero in the making and their opponents were obviously the villains. James I traveled all his way from Scotland and took over the throne from the childless Elizabeth. When James I came with his two sons, the Kingdom was pleased to know that there would be someone to take over the crown. He then became a hero to the United Kingdom that waited for an heir in more than one hundred years. Aside from the fact that Elizabeth had no child, her father, Henry VIII went through a lot of effort to give himself a son who would take over the throne from him. Unfortunately, the king’s heir, Edward VI died at a very young age. The Kingdom was ruled by his sister Mary and then succeeded by Elizabeth after Mary’s death. James was also responsible in the restoration of “masculine rule” after the fifty years of Elizabeth’s regime. Charles I became the sole heir after the death of his older brother, Henry. Charles inherited his father's financial issues: the Parliament refusing to grant funds to the king. He supported his reign in financing through selling commercial monopolies and imposing tax on ‘ship money’ for eleven years. This personal rule came to an end when Charles tried to use violence in introducing his new prayer book in the Scots that resulted to rebellion. He had conflict with the Parliament that made him to be the first king in England to be put on trial for treason. Charles was given the last chance to save his life; however, he refused to do what the court wanted him to do. As a consequence to his action, he was punished to death by the court. He was beheaded in front of his people, and this scene left a mark to these people. Eventually, he was called the martyr king because of the image he left before he died. Although his works during his reign were not really popular and many were actually against him, his death became the turning point of his image. He gained affection and sympathy after his death for withstanding with what he believed was right. The monarchy was abolished in 1649. The Parliament insisted that “the office of the king in this nation is unnecessary, burdensome and dangerous to the liberty, society and public interest of the people” (Little). The council of state was established then instead of the monarchy, and Oliver Cromwell was its first chairman. There were instances when the previous hero became a villain; such was the case with Cromwell. He was chiefly responsible on the execution of Charles I. He was a Puritan and considered to be a religious man, but was known to be very strict during his reign. Entertainment, of whatever way, was banned: inns and theaters were shut down; sports were also banned. Sunday was a very special day to the Puritans. Anyone caught to be working or doing something unrelated to religion would be punished. They even had a dress code so that everyone would dress in proper manner. Because of these very tight rules, Cromwell was hated by most of the people. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens were buried, but his body was dug up, he was put on a trial, found guilty and hanged at Tyburn. After the death of Cromwell, his son Richard was forced to resign and leave the throne. The collapse of Commonwealth in England led the negotiations to restore the monarchy system in the country. With the help of George Monk, Charles II went back to England to be crowned as the King, and then monarchy was restored. King Charles III punished those who condemned his father to death, but found to have been extremely tolerant when it came to execution as only nine of the convicted were executed. During his reign, England was quite pleased to have the monarch ruled again. Student Critique According to Little, Sharpe focused on how regimes during the 17th century set up a representation of themselves with the intention to raise their authority in the kingdom. The book discussed the different image presentation by each ruler; however, Little and other scholars agreed that Sharpe did not put equal attention to all regimes during the seventeenth century. He clearly described the representations done by Elizabeth I down to Charles I but little emphasis was given to the commonwealth and protectorate era that made it less convincing (Little). In another review by Morrill, he said that “it is a mine of useful information and lively comment.” The book is a revelation of personal success and failures of monarchs in portraying the image that they want their people to see. To these rulers, image is power. Putting up an image is important because it signified the authority they were holding. The book undeniably connects the reader back to the ancient England. For people who are not familiar with the monarchy system in England, it serves as their window to finally understand what it feels like to be under a king or a queen. It explains well the significance of image and its relation to supreme power. Moreover, the book uncovers the flaws of the regimes on concentrating mainly on the image representation, which at some points created arguments and conflict among their people. Image Wars also conveys much of a value on how cultural structure shaped the political power of early England. The book is the second volume of three-volume series of Sharpe, following the Selling of Tudor Monarchy. There was no doubt that Sharpe exerted so much effort in his research to be able to produce this one of a kind book. Sharpe was praised because of portraits, medals, coins, woodcuts, engravings, miniatures and state ceremonials used in the book, yet less attention was given to the impact of these productions. Many believed he was a very good writer, but he gave more attention to the first two Stuart regimes than anything else, which made other scholars say that other periods of history touched upon by him were written about in a less convincing way, specifically the Commonwealth era. Sharpe did not show ideas disproving the deliberate structuring of commonwealth principles nor did he take into consideration the recent body of work on the protectoral court allowing the readers to fully understand the period covered by Cromwell. Morrill once said, “Cromwell’s uncertainty about whether to be a new Moses or a new monarch is nicely caught.” That is just one of the uncertainties in Sharpe’s book. Despite of some unclear ideas, as a whole, the book is actually quite interesting, especially for people who are engaged in studying the early modern England. Works Cited Cunnane, Sarah. “Kevin Sharpe, 1949-2011.” Times Higher Education. TSL Education Ltd., 17 November 2011. Web. 27 June 2012. Hadfield, Andrew. “Kevin Sharpe Obituary: Historian Best Known for His Work on The Reign Of Charles I.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 27 June 2012. Little, Patrick. “Image Wars.” History Today. History Today, 20 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 June 2012. Morrill, John. “Image Wars: Promoting Kings and Commonwealths in England 1603–1660.” BBC History Magazine. Immediate Media Company Bristol, n.d. Web. 27 June 2012. Read More