Spiritual Belief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spiritual Belief - Essay Example In patience recovery, faith is important in contributing to the beliefs of the individual thus their ability to recover. The spiritual needs assessment of a relative to a patient helped reveal several demographic factors that may help devise proper psychological therapies for the patient thereby resulting in faster recovery. The assessment revealed that the patient had ardent faith in the Christian faith and was a staunch catholic. His beliefs were founded in the teachings of the Roman Catholic and so was his family’s. As a Christian ascribing to the doctrines of the faith, the respondent neither drinks nor smokes. Additionally, he portrays a social and loving personality often assisting those he interacts with whenever possible thus validating his support for the patient. The patient portrayed strong belief in the teachings of the faith thereby opting to live as per the demands of the Catholic Church. From the assessment, it became evident that one’s spiritual beliefs are important in determining their subsequent personalities. Religious beliefs contribute to the development of a personality within an individual as the interview portrayed. Most of the questions in the assessment tool sought to investigate the relationship between the faith and the social life of the individual. The respondent’s responses revealed a close relationship with the faith greatly influencing the social lives of the respondent (Reilly, 2011). Since the respondent is a catholic and that, the catholic teachings abhor alcoholism and cigarette. The respondent thus selects his social groupings carefully always avoiding smoker ad alcoholics. His religious beliefs thus influence the type of respondent’s lifestyle, such toxic substances as alcohol and cigarette affect health. By avoiding such for whichever reasons, one reduces chances of infections (Manent, 2011). Religious beliefs and the degree of beliefs in the teachings of a faith is a key factor that helps inf luence the type of lifestyle an individual leads. In this relation, religious beliefs thus influence the propensity of an individual being susceptible to certain lifestyle diseases such as those caused by alcohol, cigarettes and other religious contrabands. The assessment went well thereby revealing several important factors of religion that affect the health of an individual. Just as stated earlier, religion influences the relationship among people. The respondent’s belief in his faith that discourages discrimination resulted in an objective interaction between the respondent and the interviewer. The interaction was free and extremely interactive with the respondent opting to take the opportunity to pass some of his teachings to the respondent. The personal interaction between the respondent and the interviewer portrayed advanced development and maturity thereby leading to free flow of information from both sides. Such thereby contributed to the effectiveness of the study, w hich revealed several important facts about the relationship between religious belief, and lifestyle that is an important determinant of lifestyle diseases. Besides the personal relations between the respondent and the interviewer, communication between the two was effective a factor contributed to by several factors. The effectiveness of the interview ensured that the interviewee responded to all the questions and exhibited sincerity that improved the effectiveness of the study. The respondent owing to his inclination to his faith committed to the study and provided detailed answers to the questions in the tool. The free flow of information between the two permitted the respondent to provide examples of some of the issues he raised thereby developing factual relationship betw

An analysis of variations in style in comparison to Standard English Essay Example for Free

An analysis of variations in style in comparison to Standard English Essay 1. Introduction As in every language there are many different dialect in British English. It has always been and continues to be a language of dialects. Wherever one goes in England there are very obvious differences between the ways in which people speak in different places. This is often a big shock for people who have been learning Standard English which is the variety of English that is held to be correct in the sense that it shows none of the regional or other variations that are considered by some to be ungrammatical, or non-standard English. Non-English school-kids learn SE at school and expect to understand every English person once they enter the country. But the English they learn at school differs from the language which is being spoken in Britain. Of course, SE is used in the media and by public figures, and therefore it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable form of the language.1 But the English do not speak like that linguistic reality is different. Not only the words which are being used sometimes differ from Standard English even the grammatical structures vary at times. This work tries to present the differences between Standard English which is being taught at German schools and the dialects which are spoken in England. Altogether these factors might lead to confusing situations at times. German school-kids could hear words in England which they were told not to pronounce in that way when they were learning English at school. Hughes and Trudgill2 speak of two ways of dealing with the problem of native Britons not being able to speak their own language correctly. They point out that for learners it is not relevant weather their hear correct English or not. The problem which their are confronted with is to understand what they hear from the native speakers and which language-features they can adapt into their own speech. The second point they speak of is if that the notion of correctness is not really useful or appropriate in describing the language of native speakers.3 To find those differences I will analyse German English books from a Orientierungsstufe4, literature about dialects in Britain as well as private sources. I will try to analyse the gap between German school English an find possible solutions for that problem. 11 At the beginning of my approach I will be presenting a selection of different accents regarding their regional usage. In the following point I will analyse Standard English which is being taught in German schools and compare these results with the accents mentioned beforehand. After that I will summarize my approaches and try to find explanations as well as possible solutions. 2. The main dialects I want to start off with the presentation of the main dialects of the English language. For this I will adapt the Dialectology of Baugh5 who differentiates between Northern, West Midlands, East Midlands and Southern. In Old English they were divided into Northumbrian, Mercian, West Saxon and Kentish6. Of course there are far more divisions of accents but this would exceed the length of this piece of work. Additionally, I will conclude Cockney7 in my analysis. 2.1. Northern English This dialect is also knows as Geordie8. The Northeast area contains the urban centres of Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesborough and neighboring areas. Trudgill9 defines some of the best-known characteristics of the modern Northeast pronunciation which include the following. According to him the accent, as we have seen, does not have the diphthongal pronunciations of the long a vowel in made, gate, face that are more typical of the south of England, and the same is true of long o as in boat, road, load. It can be defined as a certain kind of simplification. Instead of the Standard English Combination of two vowels in boat [bà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ut] only one vowel is being used: [oo] The same phenomenon can be found within the pronunciation of words like made, which are not being pronounced [mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½id] but simplified [mehd]. Trudgill also points out that words that have al in the spelling are pronounced with a vowel of the type ah, so that all is ahl and walk is wahk. A Geordie-joke makes this difference clear in a funny way: A non-Geordie doctor who asks his patient if he is able to walk makes the patient interprets as a query about work ans replies Wawk! I cannot even wahk yet! 11 The second part of the Northern area, the Lower North and Central North, covers, according to Trudgill, a large area stretching down from Carlisle to Sheffield and covering Cumbria, most of Yorkshire and parts of Lancashire. He points out that this dialect differs from the Northeast by not having ee in very. 10 Another remarkable factor he mentions is that he Central North also contains a sub-area in which an interesting type of consonantal change takes place in certain conditions. What happens is that the voiced consonants b, d, g, v, z and j change to their voiceless counterpart p, t, k, f, s, and ch if they occur immediately before any of these same voiceless consonants.11 The examples E wood goh (He would go) and E woot coom (He would come). They would pronounce the expression I dont know like I doont noo. Another point is that this dialect is quite similar to the accent Indians or Pakistanis have when they talk English. Many of these dialectal features also appear in their accent. These shared features could be analysed in future for the Asian community in Britain is increasing steadily is growing. Which words, expressions are being brought into English through them would be interesting to find out. 2.2. West Midlands The central town for this accent is Liverpool. for the accent is very distinctive for this area called Merseyside. It has been mainly influenced by Irish immigrants during the nineteenth century. Hughes/Trudgill12 describe the Liverpool accent defining several features of which I will be mentioning a few. 1. a) There is no contrast between pairs of words like put and putt, both being pronounced [put]. b) [à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½] occurs in words like dance, daft etc. [] c) Words like book and cook have the vowel [u:] 2. Unlike in other northern urban accents (but in common with Newcastle), the final vowels of words like city and seedy is [i:] 3. A relative infrequency of glottal stop occurs. 4. [h] is usually absent, but is sometimes present (him an her) 5. The suffix -ing is [in] 11 2.3. East Midlands Based on own experience I can say that one of the clearest markers for the East Midland accent can be defined as a kind of parallelism to German which also appear in the Liverpool accent at times. The word bus, for instance, is not being pronounced [bas] but [bus]. Here, the vowel [u] is being pronounced the same way as in German. The same phenomenon can be found in words like. Another marker for East Midland accent is the pronunciation of the vowel combination [oe] like in shoes, where it is being changed to [à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½] [shà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½z]. Speakers in this area may even have short e at the end of words like coffeh13. Trudgill mentions a diagnostic sentence for this area: Veri few cahs mayd it up the long ill.14 2.4. Southern English Some of these dialectal features of Southern English are similar to the welsh accent. Trudgill states that the Bristol speech is famous for the presence in this accent of a phenomenon called the Bristol I. He explains that in the Bristol area, words such as America, India, Diana, Gloria are pronounced with a final I. Undoubtedly, foreigners would be quite confused hearing words like Americal, Indial and Dianal. This feature might be a result of hypercorrection, according to Trudgill.15 In the South the glottal stop is very common as a pronunciation of t which can be found in words like better, water, bet and what. This feature can also be found in Cockney or Midland areas. Trudgill mentions the diagnostic feature of the South are the lack of y in few, which differentiates it from all other English regions except the Northeast, although today h is rapidly being lost.16 He also notes that it a typical factor for East Anglia is the lack of distinction between the vowels of here and there, so that peer sounds like pair, here like hair and deer like dare.17 2.5. Cockney Cockney can be counted as a very special dialect because it can only be found amongst people who live in and around the London area. Let alone the name for this accent is special because it does not refer directly to the region. 11 The term Cockney originally stems from the middles ages where it was applied to an effeminate person, simpleton or a particularly weak man from a town as opposed to a countryman who was regarded as tougher. In the 17th century the term changed and came to mean specifically a Londoner. The six most striking features of Cockney are18: 1. r is pronounced only when followed immediately by a vowel-sound. So, in the demonstration below, no r is pronounced in flowers. (Some New England accents and Southern U.S. accents have this same feature.) 2. h is usually omitted (home in the demonstration words); in self-conscious speech its articulated very strongly. 3. l is pronounced only when a vowel-sound follows (so no l is pronounced in hole, etc.). 4. Voiceless th is often, but not always, pronounced as f (breath, etc.). 5. Voiced th is likewise often but not always pronounced as v (breathe, etc.) This feature is also found in Southern U.S. lower social class speech. 6. The long vowels are all diphthongs, as one can hear from the demonstration words. Notice especially the difference between force etc. (spelled with r followed by a consonant, though the r is not pronounced) and poor etc. (spelled with r not followed by a consonant, though again the r is not pronounced). More examples for this would be: price [proià ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½] mother [mawa] little [liou] with a glottal stop in the middle note [no] with a glottal stop at the end bowl [bao] Cockney has another speciality. It consists of a special vocabulary which is called Cockney rhyming slang. It has been evolving in the East End of London since the sixteenth century. It is thought to have originated from the seamen and soldiers who used the London docks, from the Gypsies who arrived in the fifteen hundreds, from the Irish residents and the Jewish faction and from all the other ethnic minorities which have made up the population of the city.19 11 It is said to have started as a way for costermongers20 to communicate without letting their customers know what they were saying. The slang usually consists of two words, e.g. butchers hook = look but sometimes only the first word is used in conversation. For example, someone might say I had a butchers at her barnet and her titfer meaning I had a look at her hair (barnet fair) and her hat (tit for tat). One has to know, though, when to use the whole phrase and when to abbreviate. Another example: Would you Adam and Eve it? I was on me Jack Jones when I saw me old china half inching a whistle from the market. Well, I aint no grass and hes borassic, so I kept me north and south shut. Translation: Would you believe it? I was on my own when I saw my old mate (friend) pinching (stealing) a suit from the market. Well, Im not a nark (informer) and hes skint (got no money, hard up) so I kept my mouth shut. In the Internet a whole dictionary can be found consisting of old and new Rhyming-Slang. The freshest contribution was the expression Becks and Posh for food. Food is also called nosh which rhymes with the nicknames of the famous David and Victoria Beckham, nationwide known as Becks and Posh21. This last example makes it clear that the rhyming slang does not have and economical reasons behind. It is more or less result of playing with words which the English are very fond of (for example in newspaper headlines). Additionally it is of course, the sense of togetherness, a kind of linguistic fellowship by defining a secret language as a code of London residents whereas this point, regarding the high population rate, refers more to small groups of people. 3. Standard English English-teaching in lower-saxony English has the status of a global language nearly everybody applying for a good job needs to prove his or her English skills. The competition is getting harder and harder. This is one of the factors leading to the current discussion whether to introduce English to schoolchildren at an even earlier age then 10. Some primary schools offer this already. Another interesting fact is that more and more schools offer bilingual teaching. The Ricarda-Huch-Schule in Braunschweig, for instance, offers several subjects being taught in English to make the children learn both, biology and English, at once. 11 Like this English finds its way into our life in more and more ways. But coming back to education a problem arises. Of course, children cannot learn every single accent being spoken in England, so that is why there are set forms for the learning process. They are identical to the language understood by the term of Standard English. Different then in Germany there cannot be found any accent-free regions in England. In comparison to that you can find unofficial figures which tell us that Hanover is most likely to be accent-free. Standard English, on the other hand, is more of an indicator for an upper social status, it can be seen as a class-dialect, owing its origin in the main not to geographical but to socio-economic causes. At the end it is quite a thin border between the English which is being taught at foreign schools and the English which is meant to represent poshness. Wakelin22 marks that a distinction must be made between Standard English, which is a dialect in use by educated speakers of English throughout the world, and Received Pronunciation, which is the accent of English usually associated with a higher social or academic background, with the BBC and the professions, and that most commonly taught to students learning English as a foreign language.23 So one has to clearly differentiate between Received Pronunciation (RP) and Standard English (SE). So, why is Standard English so different from the other accents then? Wakelin defines that Standard English is the sort of language used when communicating beyond the family, close friends and acquaintances, whereas dialect is nowadays often kept for intimate circles.24 So it can be seen as the most relevant English accent which can be understood everywhere and is compatible to every region in England. This type of English as being called normal English by Randolph Quirk25 is being taught children and adults all around the world. The following graphic tries to illustrate the violation which arises when both Standard English and regional accents clash. 11 People with different mother tongues learn English as their first or as another foreign language. They all refer to the same Vocabulary, use the same grammar and expressions which have been set by the Standard English-norm. 3.1. Comparison to English accents The chapter of English Sounds prepares the learning schoolchildren with the explanation that English words are often being pronounced differently than they are written and defines some words by using the phonetical alphabet.26 I want to show the differences of Standard English and English accents by directly comparing several words to each other. Referring to the pronunciation I want to compare the word but which is being pronounced with a short [u] in South England and with a long [oo] in Northern England27 whereas schoolchildren learn to pronounce the word but with an [28? There is one area of England where the y sound has been lost as a result of a historical process. This can be found in words like beauty [booty], music [moosic] and few [foo]29 and is probably going to spread more with the years. 11 Whereas in foreign schools it is still being taught that music should be pronounced [mju:zik]30 and beautiful [bju:t?f?l]31. The pronunciation of milk also differs. Camden Market teaches the children to pronounce it [mà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½lk]32 but the pronunciation according to the modern dialectology says that in a large area of southeastern England this consonant has aquired a short oo-like vowel in fron of it, or, especially in London itself, has disappeared altogether, leaving only the oo behind.33 So in this case the word milk is being pronounced [mioolk] which is being defined as a quite a recent change but spreading rapidly through the country. Now shifting over to the less problematical field of lexical variations it can be said that there are several words with the same meaning but regionally fixed. Words like the Standard English term gymshoe are known as the general term but in England they have more expressions for that. In the southern region they are called plimsolls, in middle English they are called pumps and people living in and around Newcastle talk about sandshoes.34 The word ear has also has different regional variations. In the North they talk about lugs and around Nottinghamshire one can also hear them talking about tabs. The Eastern part of England also might use lug. Standard English, of course, only teaches ear. 4. Summary On the whole it there is a big gap to be found between the English which is being taught in schools and the English which is being spoken in England. My analysis makes it quite clear that several difficulties occur when a person who has been learning English for five years and thinks he is now prepared for the linguistic challenge in England. The reality is different, as my paper shows. There is nearly nobody who speaks accent-free English but on the other hand Standard English mixes into the accents more and more. The loss of pure dialects is being mourned about in the whole country. The dialects are no longer pure, if they ever were, but contain a large admixture of Standard English or pseudo-Standard forms, as Wakelin35 mentions. The main reason for this development might be the result of the following problem: 11 In England is that people often get discriminated because of their language. The dialect is a clear social marker these days. Many countries have problem with racism, but in England people sometimes get discriminated against if they sound different. For example: A Scouse accent refers to a very rough area and there are chances are that the speaker is a thief A Posh accent: If people talk like this then they are supposedly educated, and can be trusted. Others would think your a rich person, and that your stuck up and you went to a boarding school. A Brummie accent: If a person speaks like this, then chances are that people think he is stupid. A Geordie accent: For some reason, the geordie accent is more comforting to southerners in England out of all the northern accents. Even though a Geordie can live in just as much a rough area, than a scouser if not rougher. A Yorkshire accent: There is a saying about this dialect called Yorkshire born, yorkshire bread, thick in the arm and thick in the head? A Cornish accent: If somebody talks like this most people think they are a farmer. The significance of accents and their cultural and social associations is well represented in films and on television in Britain. The critically acclaimed 1964 file My fair Lady based on George Bernard Shaws 1912 play, Pygmalion is often referenced in linguistic discussions as a example of how social class and accent were, and are still, inextricably linked in Britain. Over the past years, numerous television series have also provided viewers with a glimpse of the lives and accents of the Cockney population of London. The Cockney English section talks more about the current, very popular long running television series EastEnders. This opposes my supposition that Standard English might not be the right form to teach people English or should only form the basis of the linguistic education. The fact that the dialects are slowly dying and Standard English is spreading all over the world questions this. Additionally, more and more immigrants from mainly the Asian region bring in a new Standard English which I have been mentioning in point 2.1. At the end, I would say that English language teaching should be more concerned about real life and the real speech avoiding throwing the young learners into a cold pool when they enter the country. 11 A possible solution for this could be to strengthen the bonds of international relations between schools. Pen-friendships and school-exchanges could provide the basis of a more reality-based teaching which would undoubtedly also have the effect of arousing the childrens enthusiasm of learning English. 5. Literature Baugh, A.C.: A History of the English Language, p. 235 Davis, Lawrence M.: English Dialectology. Alabama/USA: 1983, p. 8 Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.): Camden Market. Hannover: 1998, p. 146 Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter: English Accents and Dialects, London: 1996. p. 1 Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 51 Wakelin, Martyn F.: English Dialects. An Introduction. London: 1977, p. 5 Quirk, Randolph: The Use of English. London: 1962, p. 95 Internet: http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/ http://www.derek.co.uk/cockney.htm http://www.geordie.org.uk/ http://www.phespirit.info/cockney/ http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/standard-english.html 1http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/standard-english.html 2Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter: English Accents and Dialects. London: 1996, p. 1 3s. a. 4Orientierungsstufe Westhagen/Wolfsburg 5Baugh, A.C.: A History of the English Language, p. 235 6Davis, Lawrence M.: English Dialectology. Alabama/USA: 1983, p. 8 7Most common accent in and around London 8http://www.geordie.org.uk/ 9Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 67 10Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 67 11see above 12Hughes, Arthur and Trudgill, Peter: English Accents and Dialects. New York (1996), p. 92 13Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 71 14see above, p. 72 15see above, p. 73 16see above, p. 72 17see above, p. 74 18http://www.derek.co.uk/cockney.htm 19http://www.phespirit.info/cockney/ 20= street and market sellers 21http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/ 22Wakelin, Martyn F.: English Dialects. An Introduction. London: 1977 23Wakelin, Martyn F.: English Dialects. An Introduction. London: 1977, p. 5 24Wakelin, Martyn F.: English Dialects. An Introduction. London: 1977, p. 5 25Quirk, Randolph: The Use of English. London: 1962, p. 95 26Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.): Camden Market. Hannover: 1998, p. 146 27Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 51 28Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.): Camden Market. Hannover: 1998, p. 146 29Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 57 30Edelhoff, Christoph (Hrg.): Camden Market. Hannover: 1998, p. 179 31see above, p. 173 32see above, p. 178 33Trudgill, Peter: The dialects of England. Oxford: 1990, p. 60 34see above, p. 102 35Wakelin, Martyn F.: English Dialects. An Introduction. London: 1977, p. 5

Russias Role in World War One

Russias Role in World War One Ryan Baccus Russia played a strong role in ww1 Until the treaty of Brest-litovsk removed the from ww1 and allowed them to focus on the russian revolution. WW1 affected russia in more ways than one. The Russian Empires many ethnic minorities grew increasingly restive under Russian domination. But it was the governments inefficient prosecution of World War I that finally provided the challenge the old regime could not meet. . Russias civil wars were affected by foreign troops The civil war was complicated by Allied intervention in Russia. British, French, and American forces occupied (Mar., 1918) Murmansk and later Arkhangelsk with the stated purpose of protecting Allied stores ( Research in Context.com ) Almost 15 million served in the Russian Army during the First World War. Casualties totalled an estimated 1.8 million killed, 2.8 million wounded and 2.4 million taken prisoner. The Russian Revolution eliminated Russia as an effective participant in the war, Although the Austro-Hungarians were unsuccessful in their attacks on Serbia and Montenegro in the first year of the war. Russia ordered a general mobilization of its armies. The next day Germany sent the tsar an ultimatum threatening war if Russia didnt stop the mobilization within twenty-four hours. When Russia refused, on August 1, Germany declared war on Russia. Germany followed this up with an invasion of Belgium. (Research in Context.com) When World War I broke out in 1914, most elements of Russia (except the Bolsheviks) united in supporting the war effort. However, the repeated military reverses, the acute food shortages, the appointment of inept ministers, and the intense suffering of the civilian population created a revolutionary climate by the end of 1916. The first offensive Russia launched was in August 1914, against Germany in East Prussia. The Russian First Army (commanded by Rennenkampf) aimed straight into the heart of East Prussia (held by the German Eighth Army), while the Russian Second Army (commanded by Samsonov) aimed to cut off the Eighth armys line of retreat. Once Eastern Prussia was Scure, the Russian Ministry of War planned to march on Berlin. On the outbreak of the First World War General Alexander Samsonov was given command of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia. He advanced slowly into the south western corner of the province with the intention of linking up with General Paul von Rennenkampf advancing from the north east. The first offensive Russia launched was in August 1914, against Germany in East Prussia. The Russian First Army (commanded by Rennenkampf) aimed straight into the heart of East Prussia (held by the German Eighth Army), while the Russian Second Army (commanded by Samsonov) aimed to cut off the Eighth armys line of retreat. Once Eastern Prussia was Scure, the Russian Ministry of War planned to march on Berlin. Russia entered the first world war with the largest army in the world, standing at 1,400,000 soldiers; when fully mobilized the Russian army expanded to over 5,000,000 soldiers (though at the outset of war Russia could not arm all its soldiers, having a supply of 4.6 million rifles). Treaty of (brĆ¢st-lÄ ­tà ´fskÊ ¹), separate peace treaty in World War I, signed by Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, Mar. 3, 1918, at Brest-Litovsk (now Brest , Belarus).. After the separate armistice of Dec. 5, 1917, long, bitter negotiations were conducted by Leon Trotsky for Russia, Richard von Kà ¼hlmann for Germany, and Count Ottokar Czernin for Austria-Hungary (the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria were also represented). On March 3, 1918, in the city of Brest-Litovsk, located in modern-day Belarus near the Polish border, Russia signed a treaty with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) ending its participation in World War I (1914-18). With the November 11, 1918, armistice ending World War I and marking the Allies victory over Germany, the treaty was annulled. By the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to give up its territorial gains from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. After the separate armistice of Dec. 5, 1917, long, bitter negotiations were conducted by Leon Trotsky for Russia, Richard von Kà ¼hlmann for Germany, and Count   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Ottokar Czernin for Austria-Hungary (the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria were also represented). Trotsky at one point suspended negotiations, but Germany resumed warfare and the Soviets-on the insistence of Lenin-accepted the German Works Cited Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopediaà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. New York: Columbia UP, 2017. N. pag. Research in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2017. Gottfried, Tod. Chapter Six: Mother Russias Dying Sons.. Road to Communism. US: Lerner Group, 2002. 67. History Reference Center. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. ISBN: 9780761325574; Lexile Rank: 940; Source of Data: R; Full Text Available; 9150105 The chapter describes the involvement of Russia in World War I. The saber rattling of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who made no secret of his schemes for military conquest, had put Great Britain, France and Russia on alert for at least seven years preceding the outbreak of war. In September 1914, with the war barely a month old, a Russian army had tried to invade Prussia, Germany and suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Tannenberg and lost 100,000 soldiers. History Today 58.3 (2008): 12. History Reference Center. Web. History.com Staff. Treaties of Brest-Litovsk. History.com. AE Television Networks, 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2017. ([emailprotected]), John Simkin. Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. Russian Revolution. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopediaà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. New York: Columbia UP, 2017. N. pag. Research in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2017. Russian Revolution. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopediaà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. New York: Columbia UP, 2017. N. pag. Research in Context. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. Russian Revolution of 1917. Britannica School, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 26 Oct. 2011. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Russian-Revolution-of-1917/64488. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017. Russia. Britannica School, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2016. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/109504. Accessed 30 Jan. 2017. Smele, Jonathan, DR. BBC History World Wars: War and Revolution in Russia 1914 1921. BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017. Solntseva, Svetlana A. Russian Studies in History 51.4 (2013): 50-73. History Reference Center. Web. Solntseva, Svetlana A. Russian Studies in History 51.4 (2013): 50-73. History Reference Center. Web. Vladimir Lenin. UXL Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2011. N. pag. Research in Context. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. World War I. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopediaà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. New York: Columbia UP, 2017. N. pag. Research in Context. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. World War I. Britannica School, Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 9 Dec. 2016. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/World-War-I/110198#. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017. WWI Russia. Glossary of Events: WWI: Russia. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Aborted Aspirations in Pat Barkers Regeneration Essay -- Pat Barker R

Aborted Aspirations in Pat Barker's Regeneration Pat Barker's riveting World War I novel Regeneration brilliantly exemplifies the effectiveness of fiction united with historical facts. While men aspired to gain glory from war and become heroes, Regeneration poignantly points out that not all of war was glorious. Rather, young soldiers found their aspirations prematurely aborted due to their bitter war experiences. The horrible mental and physical sicknesses, which plagued a number of soldiers, caused many men to withdraw from the battlefield. Feelings of guilt and shame haunted many soldiers as they found themselves removed from the heat of war. Men, however, were not the only individuals to experience such feelings during a time of historical upheaval. Women, too, found themselves at war at the dawn of a feminine revolution. One of the most contentious topics of the time was the practice of abortion, which comes to attention in chapter 17 on pages 202 and 203 of Barker's novel. Through Baker's ground-breaking novel, we learn how m en and women alike discovered that in life, not all aspirations are realized; in fact, in times of conflict, women and men both face desperate situations, which have no definite solutions. Illustrated in Barker's novel by a young woman named Betty, and many broken soldiers, society's harsh judgments worsen the difficult circumstances already at hand. As men engaged in war overseas, women gained many opportunities in their every day life. New employment opportunities became attainable to women. In women's health, many new medical practices were conventionalized as well. One of the most pivotal medical advancements of the time was the commercialization of birth control ("Marie Stopes"). However, n... ...omen did or did not abort their unborn child varied, it can be inferred that social disgrace would result from whatever choice was made. The decisions we make today, can create life-long repercussions. Regeneration poignantly points out that not all is fair in war, or life. Works Cited "Abortion: In Law, History & Religion." Childbirth By Choice Trust. May 1995. 26 April 2004. <http://www.cbctrust.com/abortion.html> Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York: Plume, 2003. Horden, Anthony. Legal Abortion: The English Experience. New York: Pergamon Press, 1971. "Marie Stopes." Spartacus. 7 December 2001. 26 April 2004. <http://www.spartacus .schoolnet.co.uk/Wstopes.htm> Raffel, Brian, Monica Borgone, Michael D'Ambrosio and Rebecca Heydon. "Abortion Around the World." 1999. 30 April 2004. <http://apdude0.tripod.com/abortionaroundtheworld/index.html>

Deontology Definition Essay

‘Whilst Deontology has it’s attractions it fails to provide a reliable foundation for moral decision making’ Examine and evaluate this claim (30) Deontology is based upon the actions of a person, not the consequences. The word deontology is derived from the Greek word ‘deontos’. It was developed by Immanuel Kant and it is an absolutist a priori theory, the phrase a priori means it is knowable through experience and absolutist means there are fixed rules that cannot be changed. This means Kant believed the duty of the moral law was unchangeable and through experience, if everyone followed these rules the world would be a better place. Immanuel Kant wrote ‘Critique of Pure reason’ in this book he devised his deontological theory of duty. He believed it is the duty of one to follow the moral law and not judge situations with feelings, inclination, love and compassion. Kant also believed that all humans seek for summum bonum which is the state when all human virtue and happiness are united. To help people on their way to moral decision Immanuel Kant devised the categorical imperative, this is in contrast to the hypothetical imperative. The hypothetical imperative normally starts sentence with an if e.g. if you wish to complete a good essay you must spend time on it, where as a categorical imperative tells you that you should do something, e.g. you should brush your teeth in the morning. This then was devised into three different rules on how to live your life; The Universal Law, Treat Humans as Ends in Themselves and Act as if you live in a Kingdom of Ends. Kant’s second principle in the categorical imperative, ‘So act that you treat humanity, both in your own person and in the person of every other human being, never merely as a means, but always at the same time as an end’ This shows that it could be an attractive theory as it has good intentions in mind. Like many theories, Deontology has its strengths and weaknesses. One of its main strengths is that it is an absolutist theory. This means it is either intrinsically good or bad, e.g. do not commit murder. This is a major strength as it makes an easy theory people to follow. This may attract people towards the theory as it shows guidelines to follow which some people may rely on to make their moral decision making. Another reason why it may attract people is because the rules are fixed so they do not have to question the rules whether they are right or wrong them just have to obey them keeping them in a comfortable position. This makes the theory practical in everyday use and people can depend upon the theory also there is no need to do any calculations. However there are many conflicting views to this strength. One of them is how people can become dependant on the theory. If they become to dependant upon the theory and it does not help them in a situation on moral decision making they may struggle to think of what to do next. WD Ross devised the notion of prima facie duties, this means first appearance. This is when we follow our duty unless there is an overriding obligation, e.g. telling a white lie to make someone feel good about them self. This goes against the principle of duty as you must not lie but you could argue that you will feel morally good about yourself if you make another person feel good. Therefore this does not help is moral decision making as you have conflicting duties. Strength to this theory is that justice is always the absolute. This means only intrinsically right actions are accounted for. This can be seen with Kant’s statement of good will. ‘it is impossible to conceive of anything at all in the world, or even out of it, which can be taken as good without qualification, except good will.’ This shows that only good will is the only good we can achieve from the world. By justice being an absolute it means that you cannot justify immoral actions. This is attractive because it shows that by following this theory you will not act unmorally and you will be able to reach that summum bonum as you are fulfilled with good deeds. By not being able to do any intrinsically bad actions this will make people feel it is a reliable theory because if you follow these set rules you will not harm another person. Although it seeks justice, it does not seek the best interest of the majority, this means the minority may feel that justice has been done but on the other hand the majority may feel that justice has not been served. Personally I feel by pleasing the majority I will end up with a better outcome because there will greater happiness, this links in with Utilitarianism and the greatest pleasure over the greatest pain. Another reason why this theory has its flaws is the summum bonum. The summum bonum is the ultimate fulfilment but it can only be achieved by having an immortal soul as it cannot be achieved in the lifetime. This shows links with religion, even though Kant rejected theological arguments with the existence of God. This strikes a problem because not everyone believes in God so how could you follow the theory if you do not believe in his existence. Finally it is to legalistic because it assumes everyone is a law abiding person, people have different intentions so by assuming everyone has the intention of justice is wrong. To see whether is really does fail these reliabilities; we have to compare the strengths with the weaknesses. A weakness to the theory is that there are no limits to what can be universalised. This is because in one person’s state of mind something may seem perfectly fine to another person’s state of mind, e.g. a chronically depressed person. They may feel suicide is perfectly acceptable. This links in with the first law of the categorical imperative ‘Do not act on any principle that cannot be universalised.’ This means moral laws should be taken into account into all situations. Again this is wrong because who is to say one right action is another person’s right action, this makes it very unreliable with moral decision making. However if you take into account what the majority feel is wrong or right you could come to a conclusion on universal rules. This can be seen with rules such as ‘do not commit murder’ as most people do not tolerate that and it is safe to say they do not agree with it. Finally another weakness is that Immanuel Kant starts to argue now ‘is’ to be done but what ‘ought’ to be done, this is known as the Naturalistic Fallacy. This is a weakness because it makes people feel as he is in control and he is telling what should and shouldn’t be done. This is a weakness because Kant has different agreement on morals to another agreement, again he is assuming the masses will agree with this method making unreliable. By Kant saying what ought to be done he is showing what he feels is intrinsically good and that may vary from another. On the other hand by Kant saying he ought instead of is, it shows he is laying down ground rules and some people may like this as they will have rules to follow making it a attractive and reliable moral decision making theory.

The Cholera Epidemic of 1832

The Cholera Epidemic of 1832 The cholera epidemic of 1832 killed thousands of people in Europe and North America and created mass panic across two continents. Astoundingly, when the epidemic struck New York City it prompted as many as 100,000 people, nearly half the citys population, to flee to the countryside. The arrival of the disease prompted widespread anti-immigrant feeling, as it seemed to flourish in poor neighborhoods populated by new arrivals to America. The movement of the disease across continents and countries was tracked closely, yet how it was transmitted was barely understood. And people were understandably terrified by horrific symptoms which seemed to  afflict  victims instantly. Someone who woke up healthy could suddenly become violently ill, have their skin turn a ghastly bluish tint, become severely dehydrated, and die within hours. It would not be until the late 19th century that scientists knew for certain that cholera was caused by a bacillus carried in water  and that proper sanitation could prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Cholera Moved From India to Europe Cholera had made its first 19th-century appearance in India, in 1817. A medical text published in 1858, A Treatise On the Practice of Medicine by George B. Wood, M.D., described how it spread through most of Asia and the Middle East throughout the 1820s. By 1830 it was reported in Moscow, and the following year the epidemic had reached Warsaw, Berlin, Hamburg, and the northern reaches of England. In early 1832 the disease struck London, and then Paris. By April 1832, more than 13,000 people in Paris had died as a result. And by early June 1832 news of the epidemic had crossed the Atlantic, with Canadian cases reported on June 8, 1832, in Quebec and June 10, 1832, in Montreal. The disease spread along two distinct pathways into the United States, with reports in the Mississippi Valley in the summer of 1832, and the first case documented in New York City on June 24, 1832. Other cases were reported in Albany, New York, and in Philadelphia and Baltimore. The cholera epidemic, at least in the United States, passed fairly quickly, and within two years it was over. But during its visit to America, there was widespread panic and considerable suffering and death. Choleras Puzzling Spread Though the cholera epidemic could be followed on a map, there was little understanding of how it spread. And that caused considerable fear. When Dr. George B. Wood wrote two decades after the 1832 epidemic he eloquently described the way cholera seemed unstoppable: No barriers are sufficient to obstruct its progress. It crosses mountains, deserts, and oceans. Opposing winds do not check it. All classes of persons, male and female, young and old, the robust and the feeble, are exposed to its assault; and even those whom it has once visited are not always subsequently exempt; yet as a general rule it selects its victims preferably from among those already pressed down by the various miseries of life and leaves the rich and prosperous to their sunshine and their fears. The comment about how the rich and prosperous were relatively protected from cholera sounds like antiquated snobbery. However, since the disease was carried in the water supply, people living in cleaner quarters and more affluent neighborhoods were definitely less likely to become infected. Cholera Panic in New York City In early 1832, citizens of New York City had known the disease might strike, as they were reading reports about deaths in London, Paris, and elsewhere. But as the disease was so poorly understood, little was done to prepare. By the end of June, when cases were being reported in the poorer districts of the city, a prominent citizen and former mayor of New York,  Philip Hone, wrote about the crisis in his diary: This dreadful disease increases fearfully; there are eighty-eight new cases today, and twenty-six deaths. Our visitation is severe but thus far it falls much short of other places. St. Louis on the Mississippi is likely to be depopulated, and Cincinnati on the Ohio is awfully scourged. These two flourishing cities are the resort of emigrants from Europe; Irish and Germans coming by Canada, New York, and New Orleans, filthy, intemperate, unused to the comforts of life and regardless of its proprieties. They flock to the populous towns of the great West, with disease contracted on shipboard, and increased by bad habits on shore. They inoculate the inhabitants of those beautiful cities, and every paper we open is only a record of premature mortality. The air seems to be corrupted, and indulgence in things heretofore innocent is frequently fatal now in these cholera times. Hone was not alone in assigning blame for the disease. The cholera epidemic was often blamed on immigrants, and nativist groups like the Know-Nothing Party would occasionally revive fear of disease as a reason to restrict immigration. In New York City the fear of disease became so prevalent that many thousands of people actually fled the city. Out of a population of about 250,000 people, it is believed that at least 100,000 left the city during the summer of 1832. The steamboat line owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt made handsome profits carrying New Yorkers up the Hudson River, where they rented any available rooms in local villages. By the end of the summer, the epidemic seemed to be over. But more than 3,000 New Yorkers had died. Legacy of the 1832 Cholera Epidemic While the exact cause of cholera would not be determined for decades, it was clear that cities needed to have clean sources of water. In New York City, a push was made to construct what would become a reservoir system which, by the mid-1800s, would be supplying the city with safe water. Two years after the initial outbreak, cholera was reported again, but it did not reach the level of the 1832 epidemic. And other outbreaks of cholera would emerge in various locations, but the epidemic of 1832 was always remembered as, to quote Philip Hone, the cholera times.

Dr. Norman Bethune essays

Dr. Norman Bethune essays Personality is what makes us human. Most people when asked, What is a personality? will respond that it refers to ones public image and the way people view that particular person. But personality goes deeper than those mediocre definitions. Personality encompasses our childhood and present, our motives and drives, our needs and experiences, it is social and is specifically human. Understanding someones complex personality is a difficult task and in this essay I will try to unlock Dr. Norman Bethune to try and realize why he did what he did, what is his personality and who influenced Bethune to become the great man that he became. I will use a combination of the various personality theories and take the relevant outlooks which I believe make up Bethune as a person. In the Freudian tradition personality is linked with the past and significant events that effect an individual during certain stages of their life. Little is known about Bethunes childhood but what is known is significant. Henry Norman Bethune was born on March 3, 1890 in Gravenhurst, Ontario. He was the first son to parents Malcolm and Elizabeth. Malcolm's job (a minister) moved the family frequently to small towns throughout Ontario. Bethunes given name was Henry and at the tender age of eight he proudly and very seriously announced to his family that he was no longer to be called Henry but Norman, the name of his Grandfather. Then ceremoniously he hung the brass plate of his surgeon grandfather and namesake on his bedroom door. (Allen and Gordon, 11). Now what would cause a little boy at the age of eight to think of doing such a thing, let alone actually do it? As a young boy Norman often dissected different insects and small animals obviously fascinated by the surgeon asp ect of it. So obviously he greatly respected his grandfather who perhaps influenced him not only to become a surgeon but also to be strong enough to d...

Quotes About Being Nice from Famous People

Quotes About Being Nice from Famous People It is important to be nice. But sometimes being nice can be misconstrued as being weak. Should you be nice to everybody? Should you be nice only when others are nice to you? Do nice guys and gals finish last? Here are some interesting views and quotes about being nice.   Dave Barry A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. Garrison Keillor You taught me to be nice, so nice that now I am so full of niceness, I have no sense of right and wrong, no outrage, no passion. Dag Hammarskjold It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy from lack of character. Addison Walker Its not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts. Wilson Mizner Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet them on your way down. Phyllis Diller Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home. Fay Weldon Young women especially have something invested in being nice people, and it’s only when you have children that you realize you’re not a nice person at all, but generally a selfish bully. Bill Gates Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one. Lord Hanson Always be nice to bankers. Always be nice to pension fund managers. Always be nice to the media. In that order. Drew Barrymore Weve got to learn hard things in our lifetime, but its love that gives you the strength. Its being nice to people and having a lot of fun and laughing harder than anything,  hopefully, every single day of your life. Michael Arlen It is amazing how nice people are to you when they know youre going away. Richard Simmons Everyone in this world is somehow connected. So why not just be nice to everybody. Robert De Niro The hardest thing about being famous is that people are always nice to you. Paul Arden Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great. To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. Theres equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked. Kirk Douglas Virtue is not photogenic. What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing, thats what. A big fat zero with a smile for everybody. Muhammad Ali At home, I am a nice guy: but I dont want the world to know. Humble people, Ive found, dont get very far. Lillie Langtry No person in the world ever lost anything by being nice to me. John Templeton It is nice to be important, but its more important to be nice. Bryan Cranston Weve been trained since kindergarten: Be nice, be kind, share, put on a smile. So were conditioned to squash our natural selfish instincts, and thats the right thing for society.

Midterm Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Midterm - Assignment Example As has been evident in the recent wars and the virility of drone technology use, it is sufficient to state that robotics, inclusive of drone warfare, represent technological revolution in warfare and global security. Drones are now at the top of the robotic weapons employed by the U.S. since 2004. Since their inception, winning wars has not only become simpler, but world politics are also taking a more positive approach. One of the biggest roles played by drones so far has been in counterinsurgency fights. In the Afghanistan, Iraqi, and Libyan Wars, the American commanders were awarded a great advantage by drones. First, they could survey enemy territory without being noticed. As such, they would plan their attacks to attain maximum effectiveness. In short, they knew where to hit, and when, using what kind of power, and what the likely outcome was. In this way, they had greater command over the battlefield. This justifies that warfare has undergone significant revolution unlike ancient times when rivals blindly went into battlefields with the least idea of what awaited them. Second, unarmed drones played a key role in undermining enemy’s networks of communications. Before and during the wars, spy drones would invade enemy airspaces and bypass their communication systems. Back at headquarters, the drone operators would collect intelligence from the information being relayed by the UAVs. As such, they knew much of what the enemy was planning, or they could easily locate insurgents’ hideouts. This advancement in collecting intelligence enabled the United Sates to suppress terror attacks as well as take the enemy by surprise. In the event that an enemy is caught unawares in battle, the war is a win-win situation. More importantly, drones can be used to interrupt enemy communications thus disrupt their activities. One of the most popular

Reflective writing baased on Full Body burden Essay

Reflective writing baased on Full Body burden - Essay Example Besides, Kristine gives readers her stint at the weaponry facility where she was employed to work for a short duration of time. In as much as several concepts are evident in the book, it is fundamental to explore the facts and fictions that came out through Karen’s narration of the Colorado plant. Fact is defined as a thing that is known and has been proven true while fiction is something that is not right and untrue. While growing up and working for Rocky Plants nuclear weapon, Kristine encountered a number of challenges and experiences; some are facts while others are fictions (Iversen 3). I find that Kristine’s narration balanced between facts and fictions that help readers share the same viewpoint. The author candidly reveals her personal life to readers in an open manner. The events that surrounded her personal life such as having an alcoholic father and working at the nuclear factory shaped her life and gave her the experiences she needed to write the book. I cons ider the revelation of these secrets important for the development of the story since they were factual (Iversen 31). According to Kristine, she received the information needed for the development of the book from the interviews she conducted on the people, both from the neighborhood and from the plant. This is fictitious because she does not tell us the methods she used for the interviews. Furthermore, she is at pains to illustrate how she corroborated the data. The illustrations are factual because they are based on experiences. This is because it is a first person narration. She was at the same place where events were taking place. I find it tricky to determine facts in a situation where the people to be interviewed have vague memories. Consequently, I believe that the author’s recollection of her family’s memories is false. This is attributable to the fact that she directly quoted some of the conversations she had with members of the family. She pointed out exactly what her sister was doing while on her date. This is fiction because the author fails to declare that she interviewed her sister. Ordinarily, this cannot be factual because the time duration cannot allow persons to recall the exact words said more than a decade ago. This is because she spent twelve years working on the book (Iversen 301). Kristine takes us through the bare facts concerning the plant while revealing the once hidden secrets about the nuclear plant. The government had initially lied to the citizens of Colorado about the dealings of the plant. However, when Kristine exposed the damages that the surrounding environment had undergone due to nuclear weapons disposal by the factory, it disclosed the shocking cover up by the US government. Besides, the radiations from the factory caused hurt not only to the environment but also to human health. This is because several people were diagnosed with cancer. The factory was closed because of these revelations. I find such kind of disclosure by the author factual. Otherwise, the factory would still be operating had the stories been fictitious. A crucial aspect of the book is portrayed in chapter sixteen. The author highlights the decline of a family. Kristine discloses the emotional disconnect that her family had with their alcoholic father. This alcoholism almost caused them their lives when her father was driving when intoxicated. Although the author’s father was a lawyer, he constantly faced trouble with the law due to

Reference tool paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reference tool paper - Essay Example However, there have been a lot of assessment tools that have been developed to correctly evaluate whether a person shows signs of schizophrenic behavior and/or tell the severity of each case. Some of the most commonly used are Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Introduction Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that is mainly caused by unsound function of the brain. A lot of psychologists point to past experiences, frustration, or a tragic loss of a loved one as factors that impact one’s mental health that leads to this debilitating disorder. However, as each case of schizophrenia is always unique, where each patient’s history should be clearly studied before coming to a conclusion of someone’s diagnosis to this disorder, it is important to understand effective assessment tools used to reach to a comprehensible judgment. Common Symptoms of Schizophrenia There ar e common symptoms of schizophrenia that somewhat signals the need to talk to a psychologist or to get help. Some of which would be hearing voices that no one could hear, assumptions of people talking about them or laughing at them, extensive control over their thoughts and imaginations, and the inability to control emotions (The Role of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual IV (DSM-IV) in Diagnosing Mental Disorders, n.d.). Diagnosing Schizophrenia There are several factors to consider in diagnosing schizophrenia. Aside from looking at mental behavior, how they react to their environment for which a candidate for schizophrenia surrounds themselves with is a factor to consider. This would include the change in their work, school, interpersonal relations, and or ability for self-care is important. This is because of the fact that an abrupt change to their routine without anything triggering a behavior is a strong sign of which. Another important basis for diagnosis would be the duration for which these abnormalities have been felt without the influence of substance use and/or an underlying medical condition. Persistence of which for at least six months is a clear supposition of the disorder and not just a result of perhaps a mid-life crisis or coping with a major happening in one’s life (Schizophrenia Society of Canada, n.d.). Assessment Tool in the Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Unfortunately, all these symptoms are not a guaranteed basis for a correct diagnosis of schizophrenia. Also, since there is no single course of treatment yet for this, assessment tools, one of which is the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is one that will help provide a more customized and effective diagnosis and treatment. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is a standard rating scale used to weigh the positive symptoms of a patient that manifests schizophrenic tendencies as opposed to the symptoms that point to the absence of these traits. It is a 30-item scale, assessed on a seven-point scale that points one from poor to extreme case of the disorder. This assessment technique was developed solely for diagnosing the syndromes of schizophrenia in all unique cases that

Employee relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Employee relations - Essay Example It also includes the ongoing evaluation of performance of employees, managing it, ensuring that ‘laws and regulations’ are followed and also to solve the employees disputes (Society for Human Resource Management, 2011). Good employee relations denote peaceful, pleasant, abundant relation between labour and management. Sound relation regulates the production by minimising conflicts. It improves the worker’s strength by resolving their problems through negotiation and consultation. It improves the status of employees, evades any kind of disputes and thus, preserves ‘industrial democracy’. Employee relation is the virtual balance of negotiating influence between the employees and management. In every organisation, an efficient ER executive provides instruction about how a company can manage with the grievances, penalising process and legislative recognition process of the Employment Relations Act (1999). For managing the employee relation the managers mu st act in a reasonable and logical manner towards the employees and labour unions. It is vital for personnel authorities to ascertain standards of activities which are rational (Gennard & Judge, 2005). In this context, the study will evaluate the employee relations related challenges as faced by Royal Mail. Analysis of Organisation Royal Mail is a public limited company controlled by the government of the UK. Their annual turnover is more than ?8 billion and it has almost 200,000 employees. In the UK, Royal Mail operates under its well-known brands: Royal Mail; Post office and Parcel force Worldwide. Royal Mail has gone through a restructuring process to reduce costs, improve effectiveness to compete with other rivalries in the postal sector. It ensures delivery of sustained high quality services effectively (CSR Case Study Series, 2005). Basic Organisational Structure Royal Mail Group serves mails and parcels throughout the UK. It has almost 168,000 employees in the UK. It has 11,9 05 Post Offices and manages almost 400 million parcels per year. The network of Royal Mail includes almost 11,500 branches throughout the UK. Royal Mail Group has five non–Executive Directors and three Executive Directors who take all the managerial decisions for Royal Mail. The CMU (Communication Workers Union) is the labour union of Royal Mail which stands for non–managerial employees. The company follows the bureaucratic organisational structure. The flow of communication goes through different layers of management which causes slow decision making. With respect to employee relation, organisation can adopt unitary or pluralistic approach (Royal Mail Holdings plc, 2010). Industrial Relation Theory There are three theories of industrial employees’ relations namely unitary, pluralist and radical. Unitary: In unitary system, the organisation is a harmonious system. There is no trade union. Mangers and workers both share similar interest, purpose and objective. Pl uralistic: In pluralism, there are two parties in the organisation namely trade unions and the management. Any conflict is dealt with collective bargaining, mutual agreement or negotiation between trade union and management. Marxist

Octogram.net Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Octogram.net - Essay Example I also scored a good point for achiever. I got 6 in this personality trait which means that I am very ambitious and like to set high goals for me. It is true because I am a kind of person who is always focused on achieving something in my professional life. In case of helper, I scored 7. It means that I am a very helpful person for others at work which is quite true about me. I love to work in teams and assist others through my knowledge. I also want my colleagues to achieve their professional goals. The areas in which I scored less were strategist, anchor, analyst, and team player. To my surprise, I scored just 2 points for strategist. It means that I am not interested in finding solutions for problems which does not seem true about me. I have the potential to set strategies to meet those goals. For anchor, I scored 4 points. The scored truly reflected my multitasking approach at the workplace. I like to get exposure to multiple areas of professional life rather than sticking to any particular role. For analyst, I scored 4 points which means that I am not able to dig into the problems. It does not seem correct because I am a problem-solver rather than problem-avoider. The last personality trait was team player for which I scored 4 points. It means that I am only concerned with my role in the team. It is again not correct about me because I like to help others when working as a team and like to maintain team harmony to achieve results. Summing it up, although some results went in favor of me and some appeared as if they were wrong, but they did expose my workplace personality traits. I think that this understanding would influence my managerial behaviors because managers need to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This octogram test would work as a good starting point for me and would definitely help me work on my weak areas. This response seems to be summing up all workplace

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Education - Essay Example Indeed an education in STEM is critical for the population because this is the kind of education that will make a difference in the future. Without STEM education, engineers, programmers, architects and other technology oriented professionals will not be able to formulate the basic algorithm in creating technology nor will they be able to build any structure that will facilitate technology and it follows that a given country will not have anything to engage in trade to make itself progressive and prosperous if it lacks the aptitude in STEM. Indeed STEM is the necessary education in the future as it would become the primary enabler in industry not only on a national scale but also on a personal level. The world is getting technology oriented and we can even feel it today. Technology permeates and affects every dimension of our life and it is expected that this trend will not only continue in the future but will become more intensive. Virtually almost all product s will have a component of technology and engineering and as long as technology and engineering is involve, so does STEM because technology and engineering speaks the language of numbers and science which is the domain of STEM. Thus it can be inferred that a country’s competitiveness is directly correlated with its aptitude in STEM. A country which has strong score in STEM tends to have a strong technological base to create industry such as the case of Japan who is the leading country in manufacturing electronic products (section for interview) and thus will have a greater chance to prosper. STEM’s importance is not only limited to national scale but can be equally important on a personal level. An aptitude in STEM will tremendously boost an individual’s success in the workplace because he or she has the necessary solid skills (STEM) to get things done. In the new economy of globalization, this skill is indispensable because almost all aspect of

Employee relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Employee relations - Essay Example It also includes the ongoing evaluation of performance of employees, managing it, ensuring that ‘laws and regulations’ are followed and also to solve the employees disputes (Society for Human Resource Management, 2011). Good employee relations denote peaceful, pleasant, abundant relation between labour and management. Sound relation regulates the production by minimising conflicts. It improves the worker’s strength by resolving their problems through negotiation and consultation. It improves the status of employees, evades any kind of disputes and thus, preserves ‘industrial democracy’. Employee relation is the virtual balance of negotiating influence between the employees and management. In every organisation, an efficient ER executive provides instruction about how a company can manage with the grievances, penalising process and legislative recognition process of the Employment Relations Act (1999). For managing the employee relation the managers mu st act in a reasonable and logical manner towards the employees and labour unions. It is vital for personnel authorities to ascertain standards of activities which are rational (Gennard & Judge, 2005). In this context, the study will evaluate the employee relations related challenges as faced by Royal Mail. Analysis of Organisation Royal Mail is a public limited company controlled by the government of the UK. Their annual turnover is more than ?8 billion and it has almost 200,000 employees. In the UK, Royal Mail operates under its well-known brands: Royal Mail; Post office and Parcel force Worldwide. Royal Mail has gone through a restructuring process to reduce costs, improve effectiveness to compete with other rivalries in the postal sector. It ensures delivery of sustained high quality services effectively (CSR Case Study Series, 2005). Basic Organisational Structure Royal Mail Group serves mails and parcels throughout the UK. It has almost 168,000 employees in the UK. It has 11,9 05 Post Offices and manages almost 400 million parcels per year. The network of Royal Mail includes almost 11,500 branches throughout the UK. Royal Mail Group has five non–Executive Directors and three Executive Directors who take all the managerial decisions for Royal Mail. The CMU (Communication Workers Union) is the labour union of Royal Mail which stands for non–managerial employees. The company follows the bureaucratic organisational structure. The flow of communication goes through different layers of management which causes slow decision making. With respect to employee relation, organisation can adopt unitary or pluralistic approach (Royal Mail Holdings plc, 2010). Industrial Relation Theory There are three theories of industrial employees’ relations namely unitary, pluralist and radical. Unitary: In unitary system, the organisation is a harmonious system. There is no trade union. Mangers and workers both share similar interest, purpose and objective. Pl uralistic: In pluralism, there are two parties in the organisation namely trade unions and the management. Any conflict is dealt with collective bargaining, mutual agreement or negotiation between trade union and management. Marxist

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 9

Education - Essay Example Indeed an education in STEM is critical for the population because this is the kind of education that will make a difference in the future. Without STEM education, engineers, programmers, architects and other technology oriented professionals will not be able to formulate the basic algorithm in creating technology nor will they be able to build any structure that will facilitate technology and it follows that a given country will not have anything to engage in trade to make itself progressive and prosperous if it lacks the aptitude in STEM. Indeed STEM is the necessary education in the future as it would become the primary enabler in industry not only on a national scale but also on a personal level. The world is getting technology oriented and we can even feel it today. Technology permeates and affects every dimension of our life and it is expected that this trend will not only continue in the future but will become more intensive. Virtually almost all product s will have a component of technology and engineering and as long as technology and engineering is involve, so does STEM because technology and engineering speaks the language of numbers and science which is the domain of STEM. Thus it can be inferred that a country’s competitiveness is directly correlated with its aptitude in STEM. A country which has strong score in STEM tends to have a strong technological base to create industry such as the case of Japan who is the leading country in manufacturing electronic products (section for interview) and thus will have a greater chance to prosper. STEM’s importance is not only limited to national scale but can be equally important on a personal level. An aptitude in STEM will tremendously boost an individual’s success in the workplace because he or she has the necessary solid skills (STEM) to get things done. In the new economy of globalization, this skill is indispensable because almost all aspect of

Patch Adamas Essay Example for Free

Patch Adamas Essay Hunter Adams got his nickname â€Å"Patch† when he helped a patient in the mental institution. I admired how he tried to behave like the patients do so that he can attend to their needs and to reach out to them. This is almost similar to what Jesus did, he became human in order for us to understand Him and for us to be saved. From then on, he realized that he wanted to help people. He became enlightened that his purpose is to serve other people and that is what he wanted to do. After sometime, he enrolled himself into a medical school wherein he believed that the doctor’s role is not to prevent death but to improve the quality of life. His way of improving the quality of life of the patients is by addressing to their needs and making them happy. I was deeply moved when he acted out as a clown in the pediatrics ward where mostly children diagnosed with cancer belongs. As I have observed, when Patch entered the ward, the children were sad and unenergetic but when Patch did his hilarious moves that would surely make the children laugh out loud, the room was filled with joy and laughter. The mood became light and happy. Some of the children even jump up and down their beds with glee. It came to the point where Patch wanted to build a hospital that uses humor to heal pain and suffering, where joy is a way of life, learning is the highest aim and love is the ultimate goal. At first it goes well but then things got complicated when Carin died. Patch almost lose hope and abandon the hospital but as he reflected on it, he got back on his foot again and continue on what Carin would have wanted him to do, and that is to serve other people. I like the way he defines what a doctor is. A doctor is someone who helps someone else. There are times when I think of myself as a doctor and one of the questions that always pops into my mind is that â€Å"What if my patient dies? † He made me realize that we should not be afraid of death. He made me realize that a doctor’s mission is not to prevent death but to improve the quality of life. We can learn many things even on the most ordinary random stuff. In his case, he learned a lot not only through his professors but also to the people around him, the nurses and especially the patients. We should not just quest for our grades instead we must really keep the things that we learn in our minds and most importantly in our hearts.

History of the Reformation in Wales

History of the Reformation in Wales The Reformation is one of the most studied, most discussed and heavily analysed periods of English history, arousing controversy and interest through the works of academics and the private study of interested individuals alike. J.A. Froude called it [T]he greatest incident in English history, but it would be just as easy to call it an act of sacrilege motivated by a selfish tyrant, interested more in perpetuating his own line than fulfilling his self-proclaimed role as defender of the faith. No matter the differences of historical opinion, its importance cannot be denied, and nor can its impact. Yet few authors have deigned to focus on the impact of this turbulent course of events on the principality of Wales, nor has there been much discussion of the role of its governor, Rowland Lee. This essay will do exactly that. It will begin with an analysis of the Reformation Acts as this author has dubbed them, the statutes enacted by Henry with the specific aim ofremaking the English church in his image. These measures affected thecountry as a whole, and any aspects peculiar to Wales will be examined. The essay will continue with a detailed look at the Welsh Acts,†statutes often called (wrongly) Acts of Union. Obviously, their effectis specific to Wales, and the attitudes of the Welsh people will be especially noteworthy here. Finally, the scope of the inquiry will turn to the man who implemented those policies as President of the Council of Wales: Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. To some he was a blood-thirsty man,the hanging bishop who instigated a reign of terror. To others he was a skilled and efficient administrator, a man who was given a job to do and who took the actions necessary to its success. Once this essay isfinished, the thoughts of the writer will be well known, it will be upto the reader to make the final judgement. The background to the Reformation is long and complex, and is morethan a simple matter of a childish egotists desire to take what he hasbeen told he cannot have. Nor is the motivation as simple as apolitical need to secure the continuation of his line through the birthof a healthy son. Both of these were factors in Henrys thinking, butthey were not as simplistic as they have been portrayed. Henry was ascholar and had the capacity for intelligent, theoretical and theological thought. The Reformation was in part the end result of atheory of kingship based on the kingship of David in the Bible, and ona notion of imperium, that a king was the sole final arbiter of allmatters within his realm. Unfortunately, we do not have the available time or space to go into the causes of the Reformation in more detail. All that need concern the reader for the purpose of this study is that the Popes refusal to annul Henry VIIIs marriage to Catherine of Aragon (thereby invalidating the papal dispensation that had made the marriage legal inthe first place) led Henry to break with the Church of Rome and taketotal control of the church in England. The Church of England, as it became known, had the King at its head; he was the defender of the faith, and no foreign power could determine religious policy in his realm, just as it could not determine administrative policies or set taxation. There is a logical (if not theological) sense in this policy,and it was one that fitted with Henrys newfound theory of kingship. (i) The Reformation in General: A Legislative Revolution Henry was a king who ruled with parliament, and this makes analysis ofhis policies easier, since there is a clear legislative framework toalmost every reforming measure he undertook. Indeed, the parliamentthat enacted this legislation was dubbed the Reformation Parliament.It was through Parliament and the legal apparatus at his disposal thatHenry and Cromwell conducted the reformation of the Church, which wasto become Henrys church. The birth of the Reformation (at least in legal terms) came in the formof the Act of Restraint of Appeals (1533). It stated that as King ofEngland, Henry owed submission to no man, not even the Pope. The actproceeded on the basis that a king owed allegiance and obedience to Godand God alone. No earthly being could tell him how to interpret theScripture, or prevent him from annulling a marriage he had adjudgedsinful. In both theory and practice, it created an autonomous Church ofEngland, with the King at its head. The Act (as with almost alllegislation) was politically motivated, for (as its name implies) itbarred an English citizen from appealing to the Vatican against anydecision made by an English ecclesiastical court. The motivation forthis was obvious. It meant that if an English ecclesiastical courtruled that the marriage between the King and Catherine of Aragon wasinvalid, Catherine could not appeal to the pope. If she did, anyresponse would have no legal force within the Engli sh realm. Since theecclesiastical courts were now as much the kings courts as any otherlegal forum, they would dispense a decision in line with hisinterpretation of the law. This may seem tyrannical and corrupt tomodern eyes, but in Tudor England it made perfect sense. The courtsystem existed because the king was meant to dispense justice but couldnot hope to adjudicate every case himself. Personal intervention ofthis sort was impracticable. With this in mind, for a king to advisethe court of the correct decision was a constitutional act of theutmost legality. Part of the coronation oath was the preservation ofjustice; that is (in theory) all interference in a court case was; theking assuming duties he had previously sworn to perform. It is clear that dealing with his political and marital problems werefar more important to Henry and his government than reforming theChurch itself. The second key measure in the Henrician/Cromwellianreform programme was the Act of Succession (March 1534). The Actconfirmed the bastardy of Mary Tudor, (who had lost her title ofPrincess and was now referred to as the Lady Mary). Mary wasdisinherited and the Princess Elizabeth was named the kings truesuccessor. More importantly, the Act provided that any subject, if soordered, should swear an oath recognising its provisions. Most peoplecomplied without question, but both Thomas More and Bishop John Fisherrefused to take it. Both men paid for this allegiance to the Pope withtheir lives. The Princess Dowager (as Catherine of Aragon was nowdesignated), and her daughter also refused, but their relationship tothe Emperor restrained Henry, who left them to their own devices. It wasnt until later in 1534 (November) that the real changesbegan. The Act of Supremacy gave a legal, statutory definition of thekings position within the structure of this newly created Church ofEngland. It gave the king a statutory title of Supreme Head of theChurch of England and assigned the king all prerogatives to the saiddignity of supreme head of the same church belonging and appertaining.In effect, the pope was being displaced as the head of the church inEngland. Henry of course, had a different view. It was the kings ofEngland who had been displaced by the pope, based on spurious doctrinethat contradicted the Holy Scriptures. God had always intended that theking be master of all matters in his realm. That was why He selectedkings personally, putting them on the throne through his divine powers.His intervention at Bosworth Field had put the Tudors in control of thekingdom of England, and Henry was not about to let some bishop of Romeusurp his God-given authority. That would be to defy the will of God.Naturally, Henry was able to find theologians with concurring views.Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester wrote a treatise on the subjectthat made the very point Henry was making in the Act of Succession. Itsaid that The word of God is to obey the King, and not the Bishop ofRome.† Despite all of this, the Church of England remained an essentiallyCatholic church, since Henry had little interest in Protestantism.Indeed, many of the measures he did introduce of an evangelical naturewere later reversed. The Ten Articles of 1536 are a prime example ofHenrys attempts to steer a level course between the extremeCatholic/conservative and Anglican/evangelical wings of his new church.He was eager to keep it a broad church, but not willing to countenanceheresy (he burned papists and people who denied the sacraments withequal vigour). They were supposed to constitute a formulary for the newand improved Henrician church and were not without their controversies.For one thing, it only explicitly recognised three sacraments(baptism, penance and the Eucharist), where the Catholic Churchrecognised seven. Emphasis was laid upon the words of the Scriptures,and the merits of simple Christian life (something difficult torecognise in the grandiose magnificence of Renaissance royal co urts).It was not however, an anti-Catholic formulation as such. It did notcondemn the Mass, nor did it condemn the Catholic call for good works.It was a balancing act, with a little something for everybody, and Weirhas described it as a tentative move in an evangelical direction. Ifit was such a move, it was one that Henry soon reversed. The Act of SixArticles in 1539 resolved any latent ambiguity that existed in theEnglish church, returning it to a clearly Catholic structure. Clericalmarriage was condemned and the vows of chastity were now held to besacred and unbreakable, which put Archbishop Cranmer in an unfortunateposition as his marriage had been an open secret for some time. He wasundoubtedly not alone in finding himself in what was now a compromisingsituation, and it is somewhat ironic that Henry was enactinglegislation to combat illegal marriages. One thing of course, remainedunchanged; papal supremacy was not restored, nor could it be. Henry hadspent years espousing his ow n supremacy over the church, and it hadbeen the guiding principle behind his reign for the past decade. Evenif he had wanted to reverse what he had done and re-enter the CatholicChurch, it would be a political mistake of the highest order, and notone that he was prepared to make. Only one man could have dominion overEngland, and that man was its king. (ii) The Dissolution of the Monasteries: Royal Motives and a Welsh Perspective The Dissolution of the Monasteries was seen by some as an unwarrantedattack on a helpless class of people with no means to defendthemselves, and by others as a necessary purging of a corrupt andparasitical class of clergymen who served no pastoral or practicalpurpose. In reality, it was in the main, a land grab. There was anincreasing likelihood of war with France and Henry had gained fewfriends following Englands break with Rome. As the arch-pragmatist andchief minister Cromwell saw it, the monasteries were an untappedresource. Now that the king was overall arbiter of the churchsfuture, he had a legal authority over the monasteries that he had neverhad before. With this new ecclesiastical power came a desire toexercise it. Cromwell managed to push through an extremely efficientprogramme of dissolution, despite the objections of the kings newbride, Jane Seymour. In four short years, all five-hundred andsixty-three religious houses would be closed, and their inmatespensioned off. This freed up an enormous amount of land and finances which, naturallybecame the property of the Crown. With the injection of the abbeysrevenues into the treasury, the royal income doubled. This new moneywould help to finance Henrys extensive (and expensive) buildingprojects and the acquisition of new property (among other things). TheCrown also annexed monastic lands worth  £120, 000 a year, a massiveamount of money at the time, which amounted to one fifth of thekingdoms landed wealth. The Reformation was a time when the king had no significant standingarmy, despite the threat from the Catholic powers of France and Spainand the not unlikely threat of civil rebellion. To offset this risk,Henry redistributed a third of this new land to secure the loyalty ofimportant men, men who he would come to depend on when the northerupted in rebellion in 1536-7. Whilst the church held one quarter of all Welsh land it was notprolific in its membership. In 1500, Cistercian monasteries averagedonly six monks. Augustinian monasteries averaged five monks, with theBenedictine order averaging a mere three monks a monastery. Theso-called Great Abbey at Tintern only had thirteen monks. All in all,the dissolution displaced two hundred and fifty monks, nuns and friars,not an extreme number. Indeed, Henry could easily have described them as a minor casualty that benefited the whole nation. The effect on the people of Wales was somewhat more serious, as thepoor relied on the benefactory nature of the Welsh monasteries andpriories. This was a country where fifty per cent of the populationsuffered from malnutrition and an equal percentage of newborn babiesfailed to survive their first year. A lifespan of thirty-five years wasalso not uncommon, which is low, even for medieval Europe. The sheerpoverty and susceptibility to illness (a result of their malnutrition)of the Welsh working class made them dependent on the principalitysforty-six monasteries for alms and food. What made this worse was thatall of the Welsh monasteries were relatively poor, and so all of themwere dissolved in the initial cull of the lesser monasteries. In onefell swoop, Welsh monasticism was ended; for the Welsh there was noadjustment period, no breathing space; all of their monasteries went atonce. With the monasteries gone, a vital source of relief was cut off,a fact that no doubt hit hard in poor h omes throughout Wales andengendered a lot of distaste for the Tudor regime. A dynasty that theWelsh people had supported at its inception was taking away a vitalsource of support. It was to get worse too, as the new Church ofEngland cracked down on idolatry and (in Welsh eyes) took an axe to thepeoples heritage. (iii) The Idolatry Crackdown: A Welsh Perspective As has been stated above, the Reformation began as an essentiallypolitical process, resolving the question of absolute dominion andwhether the church was to be ruled from Rome or by the divinelyappointed sovereign of the nation in question. However, as the TenArticles of 1536 demonstrates, the Reformation did incorporate somereform of the church into its programme. A part of this thatparticularly affected Wales was the crusade against idolatry andimages. In 1538, Thomas Cromwell issued an Injunction ordering every parishchurch to stock an English bible to be made available for all whowished to read it and interpret the Scriptures themselves. As we willsee below, this was of little benefit to the Welsh. In the same year, asimilar Injunction ordered that every shrine in the country was to bedestroyed. This is where the popular image of thugs running around thecountry smashing up churches comes from, and it is a view that is notwithout some justification. As always, Cromwell was very effective, andeven the shrine of Thomas Becket (one of the countrys holiestpilgrimage places) was lost as a result of the zealous evangelicaldestruction squads. This had a particularly damaging effect on Wales,where cultural-religious relics were highly venerated. In a move thataccorded perfectly with the Reformations attempt to completelyassimilate the Welsh nation and culture, the principalitys relics wereruthlessly swept away, with almost nothing (if any thing) surviving thecull. Village processions would often have sacred images carried inthem, these priceless relics were lost. One such relic was the healing cup of Nant Eos. This sacred relicwas in reality no more than a cracked piece of wood, but to the Welshit had mystical powers. Whilst such a phrase sounds laughable to modernears, there is little doubt that the Welsh believed in the cupsproperties. Not only did it have remarkable healing properties, itpossessed the ability to cleanse your soul, keeping you out of hell andin extreme cases, it was believed to bring you back from that foulplace of purgatory. To the Welsh therefore, this was not merely avenerated image, but a physical key to salvation and a medical toolthat went far beyond contemporary healing techniques. As we have seen,Tudor Wales was a grim place and to remove relics such as the cup ofNant Eos was to eliminate hope itself for many of the people whobelieved in them. At a time when the Acts of Union were doing theirvery best to dilute and destroy the very basics of Welsh culture, thepolicies of the Reformation were providing a complementar y service inthe field of religious relics. (i) Why unify? The Welsh Problem The Welsh problem had been of concern to Henry VIII for some time bythe coming of the Reformation. Even though he had never been anyfarther west than Bristol, he was aware that the country which hadhelped his father to the throne was an alien one, out of step with therest of his realm. In a period of heightened nationalism, thedifferences between the Principality and its ruler were brought into amuch sharper focus, and became more clearly defined as a threat to theuniformity of the Henrician imperium. The Welsh language was an ugly tongue when compared to the Latin,French and Greek he had learned at the hands of his tutors, and it hadan alien sound to it. To a paranoid man, it could also be construed asthe ideal way to foment rebellion; after all, it is hard to root outtraitors when you cannot understand what they are saying It wasnt just the Welsh language that concerned the king. Walesstill had a distinct legal system, based on Gaelic traditions whichwere alien to a country based on Norman ideals. The Welsh system was sodifferent that it did not even recognise the English distinctionbetween civil and criminal cases; one of the central tenets of thecommon law system. Outrageously to a modern western audience,manslaughter and deliberate homicide were not even considered realcrimes. In England, such acts were offences against the community, tobe judged in royal courts, and nothing could alter the prosecutorsright to pursue a criminal case. In Wales (and Ireland), it was the kinwho had been wronged, and they who sought a remedy, and as in somemodern cultures, the family could seek financial reparations. None of this was, strictly speaking, a threat to society, or the soundadministration of the Principality. What was (or at least should havebeen) a genuine cause for central concern was that the conquest had notmanaged to eliminate the operation of the law of galanas, a lawregarding blood feuds and the appropriate resolution of such disputes.The principle of compensation was fundamental to the justice of thefeud, and it is not impossible that compensation could have included alife in return for a life. As we have seen above, tolerance was not one of Henry VIIIs qualities.He did not recognise alternative forms and systems of justice,especially when they were operating in his imperium. The root cause ofthe Reformation was his determination to see that his law was the law,and that no legal system, ecclesiastical or civil, could co-exist withhis own. Henry himself said that the Welsh laws were sinister usagesand customs used by the lords of the March for thraldom and tyranny. Of a more practical concern, there was a serious problem with law andorder throughout Wales and it was this that was the root cause ofHenrys acts of union. As Henry himself said in 1520: realms withoutjustice be but tyrannies and robberies Wales was not as much of aproblem as the Marches, which were a patchwork of autonomous fiefdoms,where lawlessness and violence abounded. The main problem with theMarcher lordships was centuries old. The constant threat of rebellionin Wales had led to the Marches becoming a buffer zone between thePrincipality and England, a medieval Rhineland, designed to keep theWelsh wolf from the door. To combat the Welsh threat, extensive powershad been delegated to the Marcher lords, powers that had never beenreclaimed. Within any one lordship, the lord had legislative power and,as Susan Brigden has said, they possessed virtual judicialomnicompetence within their own domain. There were a total of onehundred and thirty-seven separate jurisdictions where the king s writsimply did not run. They were notorious hideouts for outlaws andcriminals, a situation not helped by the fact that a murderer couldsimply cross state lines into another lordship to avoid punishment.For serious, career criminals the Marches were a safe haven that theking could simply no longer permit. The situation is believed to havebeen so bad that J.A. Williamson described Wales as wild anduntroubled by Parliaments laws, or by any law at all, being in aworse state of crime and disorder than England had been in the civilwars. For a king so obsessed with sovereignty and control over hisown domains, reform of the Marches and the principality as a whole wassimply a matter of time. All of these things, coupled with thetheoretical imperative that England was an empire, ensured that theActs of Union were not a long time coming. (ii) The Acts of Union: Aims and Effects Before the Acts are examined, one thing must be made clear; Henrywanted control of Wales, he did not want to set up an effective Welshgovernment, capable of managing its own affairs and getting a grip onlaw and order. He was not interested in bolstering the Welshadministration by giving them the tools to get the job done. What hewanted was a full scale incorporation of the Principality into theEnglish sovereignty. Once this was accomplished, the traditionalEnglish mechanisms could see to law and order in the tried and testedways. As has been exhaustively discussed above, the biggest problem wasthat the very nature of the Marcher lordships hindered the maintenanceof law and order. Therefore, they were a primary target of the 1536 Actwhich saw to their abolition. Some were combined with the unshiredWelsh lands to create the new counties of Monmouth, Brecon, Radnor,Montgomery and Denbigh (in 1543 Monmouth was transferred to England andtwo new counties of Glamorgan and Pembroke were crea ted). The rest ofthe lordships were incorporated into adjacent English counties. Crimescommitted in Marcher lordships could not be avoided by fleeing toanother jurisdiction; they were to be tried in English courts. Thepractice of cymortha, the imposition of obligatory gifts (a majorsource of revenue for Marcher lords) was forbidden. Any Marcherlordship official deemed guilty of corruption or oppression could betried and punished by the Council of Wales, whose powers wereincreased. The patchwork of anarchy had been abolished. Welsh law was another target of the 1536 Act. Henrys distrust of alienjurisdictions could lead to only one natural outcome; English law wasestablished as the law of the land throughout Wales. There were to beno more dual systems, with Welsh and English law operating side byside; from 1534 onwards, the Welsh legal system was no more differentto the national system than was the Sussex or Derbyshire legal system.English rules of tenure and inheritance replaced older Welsh customs.There was only one law in Wales: the Kings law. Of course, the change in legal structure would have meant nothingwithout the mechanisms and means to enforce it. Courts of greatsessions and Justices of the Peace were introduced to bring the Englishcommon law to Wales. The Council of Wales (which sat in Ludlow castlein Shropshire) was now the equivalent of a Welsh Privy Council andCourt of Star Chamber combined, and under the leadership of BishopRowland Lee, was responsible for enforcing the law in Wales (below, wewill examine the success and question the methods of Bishop Lee). To ensure the erosion of the Welsh language, English was to be thenational legal language of Wales. All court hearings were to beconducted in English (which caused obvious problems) and all publicofficials in Wales had to speak English. This was a clever move, itwedded the Welsh gentry to the Crown, anglicising them and driving afirm wedge between them and the Welsh lower classes. Any student ofhistory knows that a revolution needs the support of the middleclasses; the Act of Union ensured there was no benefit to suchco-operation. The Acts of 1536 and 1543 were not all bad news for the people ofWales. Indeed, they had some very tangible benefits. For one thing, thelegal distinctions between Henrys English and Welsh subjects wereeliminated. The Welsh were no longer second class citizens, they couldexpect the same level of due process as their English neighbours anddecades-long impediments to the acquisition and inheritance of landwere therefore removed. Whilst Welsh courts operated on Englishprinciples they were not answerable to Westminster but to theChanceries in Caernarfon and Carmarthen; thereby giving the Welshcourts an autonomy granted to no other section of the kingdom. Mostimportantly to modern eyes (although the reaction at the time wasprobably fairly moderate), the 1536 Act entitled Wales torepresentation at Parliament for the first time in its history. In 1543it sent twenty-seven MPs to Westminster. Clearly, the incorporationinto England was total, with Wales deriving the benefits as well as thecultu ral assaults of a full-blown union with England. Whilst somehistorians claim that the Statute of Rhuddlan (1284) created a unionbetween the two countries, this is somewhat short-sighted. Rhuddlan putWales under the auspices of the English kings, but it made Wales acolony, where its own inhabitants were left to their own devices andtreated as less than their English counterparts. Whilst the acts of1536 and 1543 were a clear attempt to assimilate and dissipate theWelsh culture, it also took positive steps to bring the Welsh into thefold, giving them rights they had never before enjoyed. In Henryscase, the lord giveth at the same time as the lord taketh away.Whatever the pros and cons of Henrician reforms, the Welsh language isstill alive over four hundred and fifty years later, and the Welshcontinue to be proud of their culture and their history. Rowland Lee was appointed president of the Council of Wales as partof a move to gain greater central control of the realm. In Ireland, theEarl of Kildare was replaced as governor by Sir William Skeffington (amilitary captain) and Lord Dacre was replaced as warden of the westmarches in the north by the Earl of Cumberland. All of this happened inthe space of a single month. As has been outlined above, Wales was ananarchic area, in need of a firm hand. Lee was to be that hand, andover the next nine years he conducted what some historians wouldcharacterise as a reign of terror. Like any sensible person, and in line with the thoughts of hissovereign, Lee was alive to the possibility that a Catholic nation suchas France or Spain was likely to invade. Lee took active measures todefend the coasts, recruiting soldiers and hunting out resources torepair the royal castles which had been falling into disrepair. At thetime of their construction, Welsh castles such as those built by EdwardI were designed as Welsh outposts, military strongholds in a freshlyconquered and belligerent colony. By the 1530s, the age ofcastle-building was over. Having mentioned above that Henry VIII hadused the monastic income to fund his extensive building projects; thismay surprise the reader of this piece. But do not be surprised. HenryVIII was a palace builder. He wanted large, glamorous and opulentresidences to relax in and house a Renaissance court that was worthy ofthe name. The type of uncomfortable and old-fashioned castle thatEdward I had deemed necessary in the thirteenth century was deemed ananachronism. They were also hugely expensive. This meant that Lee hadto make do with the castles he already had and hope that there wasntan invasion. Since his prayers were answered in this respect, we cannotjudge Lees success in this area. All we can say is that he seems tohave taken all the precautions a reasonable man could have taken. Lees greatest success and the biggest anvil dragging his reputationdown is his policy regarding law and order. This essay has discussed atsome length the lawlessness and turbulence that abounded in the WelshMarches prior to the arrival of Bishop Lee. His reports were in partresponsible for the reforms found in the 1536 Act, an act which gavethe Council of Wales the means to take Welsh matters in hand. Itensured that the patchwork of private judicial enclaves and palatinatesbecame a large English common law blanket under Lee’s jurisdiction.There is no doubt that Lee earned his nickname of the hanging bishop.Indeed, his entire policy on law and order was to hang people, the morethe better. Hanging was to be done frequently and publicly, especiallyif the criminal in question was of a more respectable background thanthe common criminal. Davies credits Lee with saying that executing agentleman was better than dispatching a hundred petty wretches andclaims he boasted that he had exe cuted four of the best blood inShropshire. Even if this is true, it is a sound policy. One of themajor scourges of the Wars of the Roses had been the major families andtheir constant liberty-taking where the law was concerned. Greatfamilies would wage private wars and other nobles would keep a hold ontheir territories by fear and licensing thugs and criminals to run riotthroughout their lands. The Marcher lordships were no different. Therewas little respect for the law. One way to instil a healthy fearfulrespect of the law was to prove that no-one was above it. If a wealthylanded gentleman could swing from the gallows for a crime then anyonecould. This author is no fan of capital punishment and would point tothe fact that people still kill each other in states where the deathpenalty exists. But in the case of Bishop Lee, it would be incrediblydifficult to argue that his policy of hanging did not act as adeterrent. The Marches and the rest of the principality quickly fellinto line. T he chronicler Elis Gruffyd claims that Lee executed fivethousand men in six years and this would certainly accord with theprinciple ascribed to Lee that it was better to hang a hundred innocentmen than let a guilty one escape the noose. If Lee really did despatchfive thousand souls to meet their maker, then it is easy to see whyWales became a more orderly region under his rule. In 1538, the manhimself said that order and quiet such as is now in England prevailedall over Wales. A key question when determining Lees success is the extent to whichLee benefited from the reforms of 1536, and whether the success of Leewas really the success of administrative reform as imposed byWestminster. After all, the key thread running through the criticism of the Marcherlordships is that they lacked a uniform legal system and an effectiveand unified administrative machine. The Act of 1536 gave Wales boththese things and therefore, the argument could be made, brought orderto the Principality. Before this argument is debunked, it is necessaryto give it a full airing by going over exactly how the Act aided BishopLees pursuit of order. Much was made in the previous section of the legal, jurisdictional andpolitical patchwork that existed in the Marches. Naturally this causedserious administrative problems for Bishop Lee. The extensive rightsgranted to the Marcher lords in the previous century still existed,even if the political and military justification for such a delegationof royal authority no longer did. This left the Council prettypowerless where the lordships were concerned, and meant that any reformLee undertook had to be confined to the Principality. Not that that wasan easy task, for the Principality had, in many places, Welsh andEnglish law operating side by side. These jurisdictional problems weresolved in one fell swoop by the 1536 Act; Lee went from having littleor no jurisdiction to having legal authority over all of Wales. Withoutthis reform of Marcher and Principality law, Lees task would have beenmuch more difficult than it was. Lee now had the power to punish History of the Reformation in Wales History of the Reformation in Wales The Reformation is one of the most studied, most discussed and heavily analysed periods of English history, arousing controversy and interest through the works of academics and the private study of interested individuals alike. J.A. Froude called it [T]he greatest incident in English history, but it would be just as easy to call it an act of sacrilege motivated by a selfish tyrant, interested more in perpetuating his own line than fulfilling his self-proclaimed role as defender of the faith. No matter the differences of historical opinion, its importance cannot be denied, and nor can its impact. Yet few authors have deigned to focus on the impact of this turbulent course of events on the principality of Wales, nor has there been much discussion of the role of its governor, Rowland Lee. This essay will do exactly that. It will begin with an analysis of the Reformation Acts as this author has dubbed them, the statutes enacted by Henry with the specific aim ofremaking the English church in his image. These measures affected thecountry as a whole, and any aspects peculiar to Wales will be examined. The essay will continue with a detailed look at the Welsh Acts,†statutes often called (wrongly) Acts of Union. Obviously, their effectis specific to Wales, and the attitudes of the Welsh people will be especially noteworthy here. Finally, the scope of the inquiry will turn to the man who implemented those policies as President of the Council of Wales: Rowland Lee, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. To some he was a blood-thirsty man,the hanging bishop who instigated a reign of terror. To others he was a skilled and efficient administrator, a man who was given a job to do and who took the actions necessary to its success. Once this essay isfinished, the thoughts of the writer will be well known, it will be upto the reader to make the final judgement. The background to the Reformation is long and complex, and is morethan a simple matter of a childish egotists desire to take what he hasbeen told he cannot have. Nor is the motivation as simple as apolitical need to secure the continuation of his line through the birthof a healthy son. Both of these were factors in Henrys thinking, butthey were not as simplistic as they have been portrayed. Henry was ascholar and had the capacity for intelligent, theoretical and theological thought. The Reformation was in part the end result of atheory of kingship based on the kingship of David in the Bible, and ona notion of imperium, that a king was the sole final arbiter of allmatters within his realm. Unfortunately, we do not have the available time or space to go into the causes of the Reformation in more detail. All that need concern the reader for the purpose of this study is that the Popes refusal to annul Henry VIIIs marriage to Catherine of Aragon (thereby invalidating the papal dispensation that had made the marriage legal inthe first place) led Henry to break with the Church of Rome and taketotal control of the church in England. The Church of England, as it became known, had the King at its head; he was the defender of the faith, and no foreign power could determine religious policy in his realm, just as it could not determine administrative policies or set taxation. There is a logical (if not theological) sense in this policy,and it was one that fitted with Henrys newfound theory of kingship. (i) The Reformation in General: A Legislative Revolution Henry was a king who ruled with parliament, and this makes analysis ofhis policies easier, since there is a clear legislative framework toalmost every reforming measure he undertook. Indeed, the parliamentthat enacted this legislation was dubbed the Reformation Parliament.It was through Parliament and the legal apparatus at his disposal thatHenry and Cromwell conducted the reformation of the Church, which wasto become Henrys church. The birth of the Reformation (at least in legal terms) came in the formof the Act of Restraint of Appeals (1533). It stated that as King ofEngland, Henry owed submission to no man, not even the Pope. The actproceeded on the basis that a king owed allegiance and obedience to Godand God alone. No earthly being could tell him how to interpret theScripture, or prevent him from annulling a marriage he had adjudgedsinful. In both theory and practice, it created an autonomous Church ofEngland, with the King at its head. The Act (as with almost alllegislation) was politically motivated, for (as its name implies) itbarred an English citizen from appealing to the Vatican against anydecision made by an English ecclesiastical court. The motivation forthis was obvious. It meant that if an English ecclesiastical courtruled that the marriage between the King and Catherine of Aragon wasinvalid, Catherine could not appeal to the pope. If she did, anyresponse would have no legal force within the Engli sh realm. Since theecclesiastical courts were now as much the kings courts as any otherlegal forum, they would dispense a decision in line with hisinterpretation of the law. This may seem tyrannical and corrupt tomodern eyes, but in Tudor England it made perfect sense. The courtsystem existed because the king was meant to dispense justice but couldnot hope to adjudicate every case himself. Personal intervention ofthis sort was impracticable. With this in mind, for a king to advisethe court of the correct decision was a constitutional act of theutmost legality. Part of the coronation oath was the preservation ofjustice; that is (in theory) all interference in a court case was; theking assuming duties he had previously sworn to perform. It is clear that dealing with his political and marital problems werefar more important to Henry and his government than reforming theChurch itself. The second key measure in the Henrician/Cromwellianreform programme was the Act of Succession (March 1534). The Actconfirmed the bastardy of Mary Tudor, (who had lost her title ofPrincess and was now referred to as the Lady Mary). Mary wasdisinherited and the Princess Elizabeth was named the kings truesuccessor. More importantly, the Act provided that any subject, if soordered, should swear an oath recognising its provisions. Most peoplecomplied without question, but both Thomas More and Bishop John Fisherrefused to take it. Both men paid for this allegiance to the Pope withtheir lives. The Princess Dowager (as Catherine of Aragon was nowdesignated), and her daughter also refused, but their relationship tothe Emperor restrained Henry, who left them to their own devices. It wasnt until later in 1534 (November) that the real changesbegan. The Act of Supremacy gave a legal, statutory definition of thekings position within the structure of this newly created Church ofEngland. It gave the king a statutory title of Supreme Head of theChurch of England and assigned the king all prerogatives to the saiddignity of supreme head of the same church belonging and appertaining.In effect, the pope was being displaced as the head of the church inEngland. Henry of course, had a different view. It was the kings ofEngland who had been displaced by the pope, based on spurious doctrinethat contradicted the Holy Scriptures. God had always intended that theking be master of all matters in his realm. That was why He selectedkings personally, putting them on the throne through his divine powers.His intervention at Bosworth Field had put the Tudors in control of thekingdom of England, and Henry was not about to let some bishop of Romeusurp his God-given authority. That would be to defy the will of God.Naturally, Henry was able to find theologians with concurring views.Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester wrote a treatise on the subjectthat made the very point Henry was making in the Act of Succession. Itsaid that The word of God is to obey the King, and not the Bishop ofRome.† Despite all of this, the Church of England remained an essentiallyCatholic church, since Henry had little interest in Protestantism.Indeed, many of the measures he did introduce of an evangelical naturewere later reversed. The Ten Articles of 1536 are a prime example ofHenrys attempts to steer a level course between the extremeCatholic/conservative and Anglican/evangelical wings of his new church.He was eager to keep it a broad church, but not willing to countenanceheresy (he burned papists and people who denied the sacraments withequal vigour). They were supposed to constitute a formulary for the newand improved Henrician church and were not without their controversies.For one thing, it only explicitly recognised three sacraments(baptism, penance and the Eucharist), where the Catholic Churchrecognised seven. Emphasis was laid upon the words of the Scriptures,and the merits of simple Christian life (something difficult torecognise in the grandiose magnificence of Renaissance royal co urts).It was not however, an anti-Catholic formulation as such. It did notcondemn the Mass, nor did it condemn the Catholic call for good works.It was a balancing act, with a little something for everybody, and Weirhas described it as a tentative move in an evangelical direction. Ifit was such a move, it was one that Henry soon reversed. The Act of SixArticles in 1539 resolved any latent ambiguity that existed in theEnglish church, returning it to a clearly Catholic structure. Clericalmarriage was condemned and the vows of chastity were now held to besacred and unbreakable, which put Archbishop Cranmer in an unfortunateposition as his marriage had been an open secret for some time. He wasundoubtedly not alone in finding himself in what was now a compromisingsituation, and it is somewhat ironic that Henry was enactinglegislation to combat illegal marriages. One thing of course, remainedunchanged; papal supremacy was not restored, nor could it be. Henry hadspent years espousing his ow n supremacy over the church, and it hadbeen the guiding principle behind his reign for the past decade. Evenif he had wanted to reverse what he had done and re-enter the CatholicChurch, it would be a political mistake of the highest order, and notone that he was prepared to make. Only one man could have dominion overEngland, and that man was its king. (ii) The Dissolution of the Monasteries: Royal Motives and a Welsh Perspective The Dissolution of the Monasteries was seen by some as an unwarrantedattack on a helpless class of people with no means to defendthemselves, and by others as a necessary purging of a corrupt andparasitical class of clergymen who served no pastoral or practicalpurpose. In reality, it was in the main, a land grab. There was anincreasing likelihood of war with France and Henry had gained fewfriends following Englands break with Rome. As the arch-pragmatist andchief minister Cromwell saw it, the monasteries were an untappedresource. Now that the king was overall arbiter of the churchsfuture, he had a legal authority over the monasteries that he had neverhad before. With this new ecclesiastical power came a desire toexercise it. Cromwell managed to push through an extremely efficientprogramme of dissolution, despite the objections of the kings newbride, Jane Seymour. In four short years, all five-hundred andsixty-three religious houses would be closed, and their inmatespensioned off. This freed up an enormous amount of land and finances which, naturallybecame the property of the Crown. With the injection of the abbeysrevenues into the treasury, the royal income doubled. This new moneywould help to finance Henrys extensive (and expensive) buildingprojects and the acquisition of new property (among other things). TheCrown also annexed monastic lands worth  £120, 000 a year, a massiveamount of money at the time, which amounted to one fifth of thekingdoms landed wealth. The Reformation was a time when the king had no significant standingarmy, despite the threat from the Catholic powers of France and Spainand the not unlikely threat of civil rebellion. To offset this risk,Henry redistributed a third of this new land to secure the loyalty ofimportant men, men who he would come to depend on when the northerupted in rebellion in 1536-7. Whilst the church held one quarter of all Welsh land it was notprolific in its membership. In 1500, Cistercian monasteries averagedonly six monks. Augustinian monasteries averaged five monks, with theBenedictine order averaging a mere three monks a monastery. Theso-called Great Abbey at Tintern only had thirteen monks. All in all,the dissolution displaced two hundred and fifty monks, nuns and friars,not an extreme number. Indeed, Henry could easily have described them as a minor casualty that benefited the whole nation. The effect on the people of Wales was somewhat more serious, as thepoor relied on the benefactory nature of the Welsh monasteries andpriories. This was a country where fifty per cent of the populationsuffered from malnutrition and an equal percentage of newborn babiesfailed to survive their first year. A lifespan of thirty-five years wasalso not uncommon, which is low, even for medieval Europe. The sheerpoverty and susceptibility to illness (a result of their malnutrition)of the Welsh working class made them dependent on the principalitysforty-six monasteries for alms and food. What made this worse was thatall of the Welsh monasteries were relatively poor, and so all of themwere dissolved in the initial cull of the lesser monasteries. In onefell swoop, Welsh monasticism was ended; for the Welsh there was noadjustment period, no breathing space; all of their monasteries went atonce. With the monasteries gone, a vital source of relief was cut off,a fact that no doubt hit hard in poor h omes throughout Wales andengendered a lot of distaste for the Tudor regime. A dynasty that theWelsh people had supported at its inception was taking away a vitalsource of support. It was to get worse too, as the new Church ofEngland cracked down on idolatry and (in Welsh eyes) took an axe to thepeoples heritage. (iii) The Idolatry Crackdown: A Welsh Perspective As has been stated above, the Reformation began as an essentiallypolitical process, resolving the question of absolute dominion andwhether the church was to be ruled from Rome or by the divinelyappointed sovereign of the nation in question. However, as the TenArticles of 1536 demonstrates, the Reformation did incorporate somereform of the church into its programme. A part of this thatparticularly affected Wales was the crusade against idolatry andimages. In 1538, Thomas Cromwell issued an Injunction ordering every parishchurch to stock an English bible to be made available for all whowished to read it and interpret the Scriptures themselves. As we willsee below, this was of little benefit to the Welsh. In the same year, asimilar Injunction ordered that every shrine in the country was to bedestroyed. This is where the popular image of thugs running around thecountry smashing up churches comes from, and it is a view that is notwithout some justification. As always, Cromwell was very effective, andeven the shrine of Thomas Becket (one of the countrys holiestpilgrimage places) was lost as a result of the zealous evangelicaldestruction squads. This had a particularly damaging effect on Wales,where cultural-religious relics were highly venerated. In a move thataccorded perfectly with the Reformations attempt to completelyassimilate the Welsh nation and culture, the principalitys relics wereruthlessly swept away, with almost nothing (if any thing) surviving thecull. Village processions would often have sacred images carried inthem, these priceless relics were lost. One such relic was the healing cup of Nant Eos. This sacred relicwas in reality no more than a cracked piece of wood, but to the Welshit had mystical powers. Whilst such a phrase sounds laughable to modernears, there is little doubt that the Welsh believed in the cupsproperties. Not only did it have remarkable healing properties, itpossessed the ability to cleanse your soul, keeping you out of hell andin extreme cases, it was believed to bring you back from that foulplace of purgatory. To the Welsh therefore, this was not merely avenerated image, but a physical key to salvation and a medical toolthat went far beyond contemporary healing techniques. As we have seen,Tudor Wales was a grim place and to remove relics such as the cup ofNant Eos was to eliminate hope itself for many of the people whobelieved in them. At a time when the Acts of Union were doing theirvery best to dilute and destroy the very basics of Welsh culture, thepolicies of the Reformation were providing a complementar y service inthe field of religious relics. (i) Why unify? The Welsh Problem The Welsh problem had been of concern to Henry VIII for some time bythe coming of the Reformation. Even though he had never been anyfarther west than Bristol, he was aware that the country which hadhelped his father to the throne was an alien one, out of step with therest of his realm. In a period of heightened nationalism, thedifferences between the Principality and its ruler were brought into amuch sharper focus, and became more clearly defined as a threat to theuniformity of the Henrician imperium. The Welsh language was an ugly tongue when compared to the Latin,French and Greek he had learned at the hands of his tutors, and it hadan alien sound to it. To a paranoid man, it could also be construed asthe ideal way to foment rebellion; after all, it is hard to root outtraitors when you cannot understand what they are saying It wasnt just the Welsh language that concerned the king. Walesstill had a distinct legal system, based on Gaelic traditions whichwere alien to a country based on Norman ideals. The Welsh system was sodifferent that it did not even recognise the English distinctionbetween civil and criminal cases; one of the central tenets of thecommon law system. Outrageously to a modern western audience,manslaughter and deliberate homicide were not even considered realcrimes. In England, such acts were offences against the community, tobe judged in royal courts, and nothing could alter the prosecutorsright to pursue a criminal case. In Wales (and Ireland), it was the kinwho had been wronged, and they who sought a remedy, and as in somemodern cultures, the family could seek financial reparations. None of this was, strictly speaking, a threat to society, or the soundadministration of the Principality. What was (or at least should havebeen) a genuine cause for central concern was that the conquest had notmanaged to eliminate the operation of the law of galanas, a lawregarding blood feuds and the appropriate resolution of such disputes.The principle of compensation was fundamental to the justice of thefeud, and it is not impossible that compensation could have included alife in return for a life. As we have seen above, tolerance was not one of Henry VIIIs qualities.He did not recognise alternative forms and systems of justice,especially when they were operating in his imperium. The root cause ofthe Reformation was his determination to see that his law was the law,and that no legal system, ecclesiastical or civil, could co-exist withhis own. Henry himself said that the Welsh laws were sinister usagesand customs used by the lords of the March for thraldom and tyranny. Of a more practical concern, there was a serious problem with law andorder throughout Wales and it was this that was the root cause ofHenrys acts of union. As Henry himself said in 1520: realms withoutjustice be but tyrannies and robberies Wales was not as much of aproblem as the Marches, which were a patchwork of autonomous fiefdoms,where lawlessness and violence abounded. The main problem with theMarcher lordships was centuries old. The constant threat of rebellionin Wales had led to the Marches becoming a buffer zone between thePrincipality and England, a medieval Rhineland, designed to keep theWelsh wolf from the door. To combat the Welsh threat, extensive powershad been delegated to the Marcher lords, powers that had never beenreclaimed. Within any one lordship, the lord had legislative power and,as Susan Brigden has said, they possessed virtual judicialomnicompetence within their own domain. There were a total of onehundred and thirty-seven separate jurisdictions where the king s writsimply did not run. They were notorious hideouts for outlaws andcriminals, a situation not helped by the fact that a murderer couldsimply cross state lines into another lordship to avoid punishment.For serious, career criminals the Marches were a safe haven that theking could simply no longer permit. The situation is believed to havebeen so bad that J.A. Williamson described Wales as wild anduntroubled by Parliaments laws, or by any law at all, being in aworse state of crime and disorder than England had been in the civilwars. For a king so obsessed with sovereignty and control over hisown domains, reform of the Marches and the principality as a whole wassimply a matter of time. All of these things, coupled with thetheoretical imperative that England was an empire, ensured that theActs of Union were not a long time coming. (ii) The Acts of Union: Aims and Effects Before the Acts are examined, one thing must be made clear; Henrywanted control of Wales, he did not want to set up an effective Welshgovernment, capable of managing its own affairs and getting a grip onlaw and order. He was not interested in bolstering the Welshadministration by giving them the tools to get the job done. What hewanted was a full scale incorporation of the Principality into theEnglish sovereignty. Once this was accomplished, the traditionalEnglish mechanisms could see to law and order in the tried and testedways. As has been exhaustively discussed above, the biggest problem wasthat the very nature of the Marcher lordships hindered the maintenanceof law and order. Therefore, they were a primary target of the 1536 Actwhich saw to their abolition. Some were combined with the unshiredWelsh lands to create the new counties of Monmouth, Brecon, Radnor,Montgomery and Denbigh (in 1543 Monmouth was transferred to England andtwo new counties of Glamorgan and Pembroke were crea ted). The rest ofthe lordships were incorporated into adjacent English counties. Crimescommitted in Marcher lordships could not be avoided by fleeing toanother jurisdiction; they were to be tried in English courts. Thepractice of cymortha, the imposition of obligatory gifts (a majorsource of revenue for Marcher lords) was forbidden. Any Marcherlordship official deemed guilty of corruption or oppression could betried and punished by the Council of Wales, whose powers wereincreased. The patchwork of anarchy had been abolished. Welsh law was another target of the 1536 Act. Henrys distrust of alienjurisdictions could lead to only one natural outcome; English law wasestablished as the law of the land throughout Wales. There were to beno more dual systems, with Welsh and English law operating side byside; from 1534 onwards, the Welsh legal system was no more differentto the national system than was the Sussex or Derbyshire legal system.English rules of tenure and inheritance replaced older Welsh customs.There was only one law in Wales: the Kings law. Of course, the change in legal structure would have meant nothingwithout the mechanisms and means to enforce it. Courts of greatsessions and Justices of the Peace were introduced to bring the Englishcommon law to Wales. The Council of Wales (which sat in Ludlow castlein Shropshire) was now the equivalent of a Welsh Privy Council andCourt of Star Chamber combined, and under the leadership of BishopRowland Lee, was responsible for enforcing the law in Wales (below, wewill examine the success and question the methods of Bishop Lee). To ensure the erosion of the Welsh language, English was to be thenational legal language of Wales. All court hearings were to beconducted in English (which caused obvious problems) and all publicofficials in Wales had to speak English. This was a clever move, itwedded the Welsh gentry to the Crown, anglicising them and driving afirm wedge between them and the Welsh lower classes. Any student ofhistory knows that a revolution needs the support of the middleclasses; the Act of Union ensured there was no benefit to suchco-operation. The Acts of 1536 and 1543 were not all bad news for the people ofWales. Indeed, they had some very tangible benefits. For one thing, thelegal distinctions between Henrys English and Welsh subjects wereeliminated. The Welsh were no longer second class citizens, they couldexpect the same level of due process as their English neighbours anddecades-long impediments to the acquisition and inheritance of landwere therefore removed. Whilst Welsh courts operated on Englishprinciples they were not answerable to Westminster but to theChanceries in Caernarfon and Carmarthen; thereby giving the Welshcourts an autonomy granted to no other section of the kingdom. Mostimportantly to modern eyes (although the reaction at the time wasprobably fairly moderate), the 1536 Act entitled Wales torepresentation at Parliament for the first time in its history. In 1543it sent twenty-seven MPs to Westminster. Clearly, the incorporationinto England was total, with Wales deriving the benefits as well as thecultu ral assaults of a full-blown union with England. Whilst somehistorians claim that the Statute of Rhuddlan (1284) created a unionbetween the two countries, this is somewhat short-sighted. Rhuddlan putWales under the auspices of the English kings, but it made Wales acolony, where its own inhabitants were left to their own devices andtreated as less than their English counterparts. Whilst the acts of1536 and 1543 were a clear attempt to assimilate and dissipate theWelsh culture, it also took positive steps to bring the Welsh into thefold, giving them rights they had never before enjoyed. In Henryscase, the lord giveth at the same time as the lord taketh away.Whatever the pros and cons of Henrician reforms, the Welsh language isstill alive over four hundred and fifty years later, and the Welshcontinue to be proud of their culture and their history. Rowland Lee was appointed president of the Council of Wales as partof a move to gain greater central control of the realm. In Ireland, theEarl of Kildare was replaced as governor by Sir William Skeffington (amilitary captain) and Lord Dacre was replaced as warden of the westmarches in the north by the Earl of Cumberland. All of this happened inthe space of a single month. As has been outlined above, Wales was ananarchic area, in need of a firm hand. Lee was to be that hand, andover the next nine years he conducted what some historians wouldcharacterise as a reign of terror. Like any sensible person, and in line with the thoughts of hissovereign, Lee was alive to the possibility that a Catholic nation suchas France or Spain was likely to invade. Lee took active measures todefend the coasts, recruiting soldiers and hunting out resources torepair the royal castles which had been falling into disrepair. At thetime of their construction, Welsh castles such as those built by EdwardI were designed as Welsh outposts, military strongholds in a freshlyconquered and belligerent colony. By the 1530s, the age ofcastle-building was over. Having mentioned above that Henry VIII hadused the monastic income to fund his extensive building projects; thismay surprise the reader of this piece. But do not be surprised. HenryVIII was a palace builder. He wanted large, glamorous and opulentresidences to relax in and house a Renaissance court that was worthy ofthe name. The type of uncomfortable and old-fashioned castle thatEdward I had deemed necessary in the thirteenth century was deemed ananachronism. They were also hugely expensive. This meant that Lee hadto make do with the castles he already had and hope that there wasntan invasion. Since his prayers were answered in this respect, we cannotjudge Lees success in this area. All we can say is that he seems tohave taken all the precautions a reasonable man could have taken. Lees greatest success and the biggest anvil dragging his reputationdown is his policy regarding law and order. This essay has discussed atsome length the lawlessness and turbulence that abounded in the WelshMarches prior to the arrival of Bishop Lee. His reports were in partresponsible for the reforms found in the 1536 Act, an act which gavethe Council of Wales the means to take Welsh matters in hand. Itensured that the patchwork of private judicial enclaves and palatinatesbecame a large English common law blanket under Lee’s jurisdiction.There is no doubt that Lee earned his nickname of the hanging bishop.Indeed, his entire policy on law and order was to hang people, the morethe better. Hanging was to be done frequently and publicly, especiallyif the criminal in question was of a more respectable background thanthe common criminal. Davies credits Lee with saying that executing agentleman was better than dispatching a hundred petty wretches andclaims he boasted that he had exe cuted four of the best blood inShropshire. Even if this is true, it is a sound policy. One of themajor scourges of the Wars of the Roses had been the major families andtheir constant liberty-taking where the law was concerned. Greatfamilies would wage private wars and other nobles would keep a hold ontheir territories by fear and licensing thugs and criminals to run riotthroughout their lands. The Marcher lordships were no different. Therewas little respect for the law. One way to instil a healthy fearfulrespect of the law was to prove that no-one was above it. If a wealthylanded gentleman could swing from the gallows for a crime then anyonecould. This author is no fan of capital punishment and would point tothe fact that people still kill each other in states where the deathpenalty exists. But in the case of Bishop Lee, it would be incrediblydifficult to argue that his policy of hanging did not act as adeterrent. The Marches and the rest of the principality quickly fellinto line. T he chronicler Elis Gruffyd claims that Lee executed fivethousand men in six years and this would certainly accord with theprinciple ascribed to Lee that it was better to hang a hundred innocentmen than let a guilty one escape the noose. If Lee really did despatchfive thousand souls to meet their maker, then it is easy to see whyWales became a more orderly region under his rule. In 1538, the manhimself said that order and quiet such as is now in England prevailedall over Wales. A key question when determining Lees success is the extent to whichLee benefited from the reforms of 1536, and whether the success of Leewas really the success of administrative reform as imposed byWestminster. After all, the key thread running through the criticism of the Marcherlordships is that they lacked a uniform legal system and an effectiveand unified administrative machine. The Act of 1536 gave Wales boththese things and therefore, the argument could be made, brought orderto the Principality. Before this argument is debunked, it is necessaryto give it a full airing by going over exactly how the Act aided BishopLees pursuit of order. Much was made in the previous section of the legal, jurisdictional andpolitical patchwork that existed in the Marches. Naturally this causedserious administrative problems for Bishop Lee. The extensive rightsgranted to the Marcher lords in the previous century still existed,even if the political and military justification for such a delegationof royal authority no longer did. This left the Council prettypowerless where the lordships were concerned, and meant that any reformLee undertook had to be confined to the Principality. Not that that wasan easy task, for the Principality had, in many places, Welsh andEnglish law operating side by side. These jurisdictional problems weresolved in one fell swoop by the 1536 Act; Lee went from having littleor no jurisdiction to having legal authority over all of Wales. Withoutthis reform of Marcher and Principality law, Lees task would have beenmuch more difficult than it was. Lee now had the power to punish