How is History Employed in a Work of Medieval Political Thought? Harold’s 1062/63 Campaign in the Policraticus of John of Salisbury and Welsh Question Through the Eyes English the Twelfth Century.

Year 2023, Volume: 28 Issue: 55, 23 - 60, 30.12.2023

Fatih Durgun

https://doi.org/10.20519/divan.1320422

Abstract

Policraticus, which was completed by a leading English thinker and cleric John of Salisbury in 1159, is precisely one of the outstanding works of medieval political thought. This work mainly discusses how a good ruler should act to establish better and just governance by eliminating the corruption in the court through examples from history. However, the use of the examples from English history to justify the basic message of Policraticus has not been adequately analysed as compared to the studies referring to John of Salisbury’s interest in Antiquity and history of Christianity. The purpose of this article is to analyse the narrative of John of Salisbury in the Policraticus on the Welsh Expedition of Harold, the Earl of Wessex, in 1062/1063 regarding the lack of interest in the analysis of examples from English history. In this context, it will be revealed with its political and religious dimensions that negative language about the Welsh employed in John’s narrative directly stems from the rise of English expansionism in the twelfth century. Accordingly, this article will contribute to better understanding of how historical examples can have functions in the texts of political thought.

Keywords

John of Salisbury, Policraticus, England, Wales, Middle Ages, the Earl of Wessex Harold.

Bir Ortaçağ Siyaset Düşüncesi Metninde Tarih Nasıl Kullanılır? Salisburyli Johannes’in Policraticus Adlı Eserinde Harold’un 1062/63 Seferi ve İngilizlerin Galler Meselesi

Abstract

12. yüzyılın önde gelen düşünürlerinden İngiliz din adamı Salisburyli Johannes tarafından 1159 yılında tamamlanan Policraticus, Ortaçağ siyaset düşüncesinin en temel metinlerinden biridir. Bu eser, iyi bir yöneticinin, etrafındaki yozlaşmayı bertaraf ederek nasıl daha iyi ve adil bir yönetim tesis edebileceğini özellikle Antikite ve Hristiyanlık tarihinden verdiği örneklerle tartışır. Bununla birlikte, zengin içeriğiyle birçok yönden tarihçilerin ilgi odağında olmasına ve farklı yönlerine dair geniş bir literatür oluşmasına rağmen Policraticus’ta İngiliz tarihinden örneklerin, eserin temel mesajı etrafında neden ve nasıl kullanıldığı yeterli düzeyde analiz edilmemiştir. Bu makalede, Policraticus’ta Wessex Earl’ü Harold’un 1062/1063 tarihlerinde gerçekleştirdiği Galler Seferi’nin anlatısı eserin temel mesajı çerçevesinde değerlendirilecektir. Bu bağlamda, Salisburyli Johannes’in bu sefere ilişkin inşa ettiği anlatıda Gallilere yönelik kullandığı olumsuz dilin 12. yüzyılda yükselen İngiliz yayılmacılığından kaynaklandığı siyasi ve dinî boyutlarıyla ortaya konulacak ve bunun üzerinden tarihî örneklerin siyaset düşüncesi metinlerinde nasıl bir işleve sahip olabileceklerinin anlaşılmasına da bir katkı sunulacaktır.

Keywords

Salisburyli Johannes, Policraticus, İngiltere, Galler, Ortaçağ, Wessex Earl’ü Harold

References

• Birincil Kaynaklar:
• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England: A Revised Translation with Introduc- tion, Life and Notes by A.M. Sellar. London: George Bell and Sons, 1907.
• Brut y Tywysogion or the Chronicle of the Princes of Wales. ed. John Williams Ab Ithel. London: Longman, 1860. Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum. ed. Richard Clarke Sewell. London: Sumptibus Societatis, 1846.
• Giraldi Cambrensis [Gallerli Gerard], Itinerarium Kambrie et Descriptio Kambriae. ed. J.F. Dimock. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer, 1868.
• Joannis Saresberiensis [Salisburyli Johannes], Postea Episcopi Carnotensis, Vol. IV: Polycratici Libri VI-VIII, ed. J.A. Giles, J.H. Parker, Oxonii (Ox- ford), 1848.
• John of Salisbury, Policraticus: Of the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footp- rints of Philosophers. ed. Cary J. Nederman, Seventh Printing. Cambrid- ge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• Salisburyli Johannes, Siyasal Yönetim Üzerine Bir İnceleme: Policraticus, çeviren ve notlandıran Fatih Durgun, ed. Cary J. Nederman. İstanbul: Timaş Akademi, 2023.
• The Acts of Welsh Rulers: 1120- 1283. ed. Huw Pryces, Cardiff: Cardiff Univer- sity of Wales Press, 2005.
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Revised Edition. ed. Dorothy Whitelock with David C. Douglas & Susie I. Tucker. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961.
• “The Chronicle of Fabius Ethelwerd”. Old English Chronicles. ed. J.A. Giles. London: George Bell & Sons, 1906, 2-41.
• The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals From 1067 to 1140 with the Gloucester Interpolations and the Continuation to 1141, Volume III. ed. and trans. P. McGurk. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
• The Chronicle of John of Worcester: The Annals From 450 to 1066, Volume II. ed. R.R. Darlington and P. McGurk, translated by Jennifer Bray and P. McGurk. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
• The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon Comprising the History of England, from the Invasion Julius Caesar to the Accession of Henry II, Also the Acts of King Stephen, King of England and Duke of Normandy. translated and edited by Thomas Forester. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853.
• The Ecclessiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, Vol: IV, Books VII and VIII. ed. and translated by Marjorie Chibnall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
• The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, Vol: VI, Books XI, XII, and XIII. ed. translated by Marjorie Chibnall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
• The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. ed. and trans. F.L. Attenborough, Se- cond Printing. New Jersey: The Lawbook Exchange Ltd., 2007.
• The Letters of John of Salisbury, Vol: I, The Early Letters (1153-1161). ed. W.J. Millor, S.J. and H.E. Butler. revised by C.N. L. Brooke. Oxford: Claren- don Press, 1986.
• The Letters of John of Salisbury, Vol: 2, The Later Letters (1163-1180). ed. W.J. Millor and C.N.L. Brooke. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.
• The Life of King Edward who rests at Westminster attributed to a monk of St. Bertin: Vita Edwardi Regis, qui apud Westmonasterium requiescit S. Bertini monacho ascripta. ed. and translated by Frank Barlow. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1962.
• William of Newburgh [Newburghlu Willelmus], The History of English Af- fairs: Book II, Chapter V, edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary by Peter Walsh. M. J. Kennedy. Oxford: Aris & Phillips Clas- sical Texts, 2007.
• Willelmi Malbesbiriensis Monachi [Malmesburyli Willelmus]. De Gestis Re- gum Anglorum, Vol: I. ed. William Stubbs. London: Rolls Commission, 1887.
• Willelmi Malbesbiriensis Monachi [Malmesburyli Willelmus]. De Gestis Re- gum Anglorum, Vol: II. ed. William Stubbs. London: Rolls Commission, 1889.
• İkincil Kaynaklar:
• A Companion to John of Salisbury. ed. Christophe Grellard & Frédérique Lac- haud. Leiden: Brill, 2015. Ash, Laura. “Harold Godwineson”. Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Ro- mance. ed. Neil Cartlidge. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2012, 59- 80.
• Charles-Edwards, T.M. Wales and the Britons, 350-1064. Oxford: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2013.
• Chibnall, Marjorie. “John of Salisbury as Historian”. The World of John of Salisbury. ed. Michael Wilks, Oxford: Blackwell, 1994, 169-177.
• Crouch, David. The Normans: The History of a Dynasty. London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007.
• Crouch, David. The Reign of King Stephen, 1135- 1154. London: Routledge, 2013.
• Crouch, David. “Urban: The First Bishop of Llandaff, 1107-1134”. Journal of Welsh Ecclesiastical History. 6 (1989) 1-15.
• Davies, John Rueben. “Aspects of Church Reform in Wales, c. 1093-c. 1223 “, Anglo-Norman Studies, XXX. Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2007. ed. C.P.Lewis. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2008, 85-99.
• Davies, Wendy. Wales in the Early Middle Ages. Leicester: Leicester Univer- sity Press, 1982.
• Davies, John. A History of Wales. London: Penguin, 1994.
• Davis, R.R. The Age of Conquest, Wales: 1063-1415. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• DeVries, Kelly. “Harold Godwinson in Wales: Military Legitimacy in Late Anglo-Saxon England”. The Normans and Their Adversaries at War: Es- says in Memory of C. Warren Hollister. ed. Richard P. Abels & Bernard S. Bachrach. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2001, 65-85.
• Dugan, Anne. “John of Salisbury and Thomas Becket”, The World of John of Salisbury. ed. Michael Wilks. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994, 427-438.
• Esposito, Gabriele. Armies of the Vikings AD 793-1066: History, Organisation & Equipment. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2021.
• Evans, J. Wyn, & M. Wooding (ed). St. David of Wales: Cult, Church and Na- tion. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007.
• Faletra, Michael A. Wales and the Medieval Colonial Imagination: The Mat- ters of Britain in the Twelfth Century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
• Fanton, Kristen A. Gender, Nation and Conquest in the Works of William of Malmesbury. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2008.
• Gillingham, John. “Foundations of a Disunited Kingdom”, Uniting the King- dom? The Making of British History. ed. Alexander Grant & Keith J. Strin- ger. London: Routledge, 2003.
• Gillingham, John. “The Context and Purposes of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain”. Anglo-Norman Studies: XIII. Procee- dings of the Battle Conference 1990. ed. Marjorie Chibnall. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1991, 99-118.
• Gillingham, John. The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2000.
• Harkin, Daniel V. An Annotated Translation of the Correspondence of John of Salisbury, Letters 136-175. MA. Thesis. Chicago: Loyola University, 1946.
• Hermand-Schebat, Laure. “John of Salisbury and Classical Antiquity”, A Companion to John of Salisbury. ed. Christophe Grellard & Frédérique Lachaud. Leiden: Brill 2015, 180-214.
• Hosler, John D. Henry II: A Medieval Soldier at War, 1147-1189. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
• Hosler, John D. “Henry II’s Military Campaigns in Wales, 1157 and 1165”. Medieval Military History, Vol: II, 1994, 53-71. Hudson, B.T. “The Destruction of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn”. Welsh History Re- view, 15 (1990/91) 331-350.
• John of Salisbury: Military Authority of the Twelfth- Century Renaissance. ed. John D. Hosler. Leiden: Brill, 2013. Jones, W. R. “The Image of Barbarian in Medieval Europe”. Comparative Stu- dies in Society and History, 13 (4) (1971) 376- 407.
• Kearney, Hugh. The British Isles: A History of Four Nations, Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Licence, Thomas. Edward the Confessor: Last of the Royal Blood. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020.
• Martin, Jean. “John of Salisbury as Classical Historian”, The World of John of Salisbury. ed. Michael Wilks. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994, 179-201.
• Meecham-Jones, Simon. “Where Was Wales? The Erasure of Wales in Medi- eval English Culture”, Authority and Subjugation in Writing of Medieval Wales. ed. Ruth Kennedy & Simon- Meecham- Jones. New York: Palgra- ve Macmillan, 2008, 27-55.
• Monagle, Clare. “John of Salisbury and the Writing of History”, A Compani- on to John of Salisbury. ed. Christophe Grellard & Frédérique Lachaud. Leiden: Brill, 2015, 215-232.
• Moser, Christian. “The Concept of Barbarism in Eighteenth-Century Theo- ries of Culture and Sociogenesis”, Barbarian: Explorations of a Western Concept in Theory, Literature and the Arts, Vol: I: From the Enlighten- ment to the Turn of the Twentieth Century. ed. Markus Winkler. Stutt- gart: J.B. Metzler Verlag, 2018, 48-53.
• Nederman, Cary J. “Introduction”, John of Salisbury, Policraticus: Of the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footprints of Philosophers. ed. Cary J. Nederman, Seventh Printing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007, xv- xxvi.
• Nederman, Cary J., & Karen Bollermann. Thomas Becket: An Intimate Portra- it. New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2020.
• Orme, Nicholas. “Schools”, Medieval England: An Encyclopedia, ed. Paul E. Szermach, M. Teresa Tavormina & Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Rout- ledge Edition, 1998, 667-669.
• Poole, Austin Lane, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216, Se- cond Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Pryce, Huw. “British or Welsh? National Identity in Twelfth- Century Wales”. The English Historical Review. 116 (468) (2001) 775-801.
• The World of John of Salisbury. ed. Michael Wilks. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.
• van Moos, Peter. “The Use of exempla in the Policraticus of John of Salis- bury”, The World of John of Salisbury. ed. Michael Wilks. Oxford: Black- well, 1994, 207-261.
• Walker, David. Medieval Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Walker, David. “The Welsh Church in the Middle Ages”, A History of the Church in Wales. ed. David Walker. Penarth: Church in Wales Publicati- ons for the Historical Society of the Church in Wales, 1976.
• Warren, W.L. Henry II. London: Eyre Methuen, 1973.