GIS, Interactive Table, Political Discourse, and the Specula Principium

My thesis research involves a comparative analysis of Henry VIII’s reign. Henry VIII has been given a very negative analysis in terms of his reign due to the break from Rome, the six wives, the destruction of those around him, and many other reasons. However, historians have yet do attempt to understand the king’s reign from a contemporary perspective. During the Renaissance there was a burgeoning literature genre known as specula principium, or mirror for princes. This contemporary literature written by political theorists such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Desiderius Erasmus, Sir John Fortescue, and many more, provide a contemporary perspective as to the expectations of a Christian and noble king. Using this contemporary literature, I plan on writing a comparative analysis to understand the efficiency, or lack thereof, and the characteristics of Henry VIII’s reign to provide a better understanding of his reign. Using his reactions to times of crisis and his decision-making using the fall of Thomas Wolsey in contingency with the king’s “great matter,” the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, and the Pilgrimage of Grace to analyze his efficiency as king from the contemporary perspective. My present hypothesis is that despite seeming prima facie a selfish tyrant as modern historiography has made him out to be, the contemporary evidence will reveal a fresh perspective into Henry’s reign that demonstrates his exemplification of a Christian and noble king.

Originally, my first thought was to do a type of annotation tool to create a table demonstrating the ways in which he does exemplify a Christian and noble king, the ways he debatably is, and the ways he does not, and then they can hover over the characteristics to see which speculum principium it came from in addition to a brief description of the way in which Henry did or did not exemplify the traits providing some historical background. However, this will not suffice completely for this project. I do, however, still intend on creating this table, but there is more that I would like to do using digital tools.

In addition to the annotated digital table, I would also like to use GIS to create a map that shows the networks of the political discourse that existed during my timeline of the fall of Lord High Chancellor Thomas Wolsey. For letters and papers, I am using the British History Online database to read and analyze the Letters and Papers under the reign of Henry VIII. Wolsey was in contact with many countries/people including, but not limited to, Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Pope. Using GIS, I can create an interactive map showing the networks of political discourse to show that the “king’s matter” was not merely a domestic issue, but an international issue that spanned across western Europe beginning in 1527, demonstrating how this history of this topic is more than merely a British issue. On this map, I plan to map the years and dates of the letters from 1527-1537, and each one would have the letter itself (already transcribed thanks to BHO) and a brief description of the historical context/background of this letter.

Referring back to readings from this semester, there are a few that will be useful for my digital project. Anne K. Knowles mentioned in her article that “it makes plain the point that all history takes place---in other words, that the geography of past that places and events is intrinsic to their character and meaning as well as, in many instances, their causes and effects” (Knowles, p. 8). Maybe there is information that I have not noticed yet and I would notice using the map. I also plan on exploring more information about different ways that I can use interactive visualizations using the ASSERT model that Bill Ferster discusses in his book. There are still many elements that I am working out for this project, especially as a beginner to using digital tools such as GIS, but I hope to make use of these for my project in this way.