POWER OF PLACE: Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities

Fully illustrated and brilliantly researched, this book breaks new ground in bringing together the wide range of material culture that has supported rulers in their power from the 1st to the 16th centuries, from Prague and Seville to Palermo and the Oslo Fjord. The author draws on the work of historians, archaeologists and art historians to afford constant insights not only into the nature of power itself, but also into the ways rulers wished to represent themselves to the outside world. Power can be categorised within a framework of bureaucratic power, including legal and fiscal structures, personal power, covering the relationship of a ruler to his or her subjects including the military, and finally ideological power, the position of the ruler relative to belief systems. An interesting comparison can be made between Diocletian's early fourth century complex at Split in Croatia, a lavish retirement home with an impressive balcony that may have been used for imperial appearances, and the palace of Pedro the Cruel, ruler of Castile and Leon in the 14th century. External staircases, for instance at Saumur or the Doge's palace in Venice, became increasingly common ceremonial devices as the ruler ascended above his subjects. Cities were the location of the Roman triumphs, parades of military success, depicted for instance in a relief on the arch of Constantine showing the emperor in his quadriga or chariot. Holy places include not only Christian cathedrals and shrines but also mosques, for instance the Great Mosque in both Cordoba and Damascus. Monreale Cathedral in Sicily was founded in the 12th century by the ruler, answering directly to the Pope and decorated with mosaics relating to kingship, with the most prominent features a mosaic of Christ the Ruler and secondly the royal throne, comparable with what was probably a royal pew in Westminster Abbey. The author discusses the prehistoric Hill of Tara in Ireland and Scotland's Stone of Scone in their later functions in rituals of inauguration. Finally this comprehensive book covers tombs and mausoleums and their links with ideas of divine rulership. 458pp, black and white photos and a colour section.
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