Review of Dries Raeymaeker and Sebastian Derks, eds., <em>The Key to Power? The Culture of Access in Princely Courts, 1400–1750</em> (Leiden: Brill, 2016).

One of the functions of a panegyric was to interpret and define roles, and across the Ad Heinricum IV (written c.1085/1086), Benzo of Alba developed distinctive images of rulership. He depicted Henry IV of Germany not simply as a Christian emperor ruling within the traditions of earlier Roman emperors, but also as a second Christ. Benzo also presented Adelaide of Turin, ruler of the mark of Turin and Henry’s mother-in-law, as a princely woman. This new category of quasi-regal ruling woman emerged in the eleventh century in response to broader social and political changes. In his letters to Adelaide, Benzo emphasised her princely status and importance to the imperial cause. Using masculine titles, the classical figure of Egeria, and especially the Virgin Mary, Benzo depicted Adelaide as a quasi-regal ruler, advisor, and mediator. Benzo also drew a series of parallels between Adelaide and Henry using similar imagery, titles, and paired figures, such that Adelaide was Egeria to Henry’s Numa Pompilius, and a second Virgin Mary to Henry’s second Christ. Benzo thus created a remarkable image of Adelaide not simply as a ruler, but almost as a female counterpart to the emperor. Yet elsewhere in the Ad Heinricum, Benzo was more circumspect. He stressed that Adelaide was subordinate to Henry, and used more ambivalent imagery to describe her (even comparing Adelaide with Eve). By this means, Benzo’s image of Adelaide as a powerful princely woman was carefully calibrated to preserve both Henry’s pre-eminent imperial status and the traditional gender hierarchy.

Review of Carolyn Harris, Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting (Toronto: Dundurn, 2017).

Review of David Horspool, <em>Cromwell: The Protector</em> (London: Allen Lane, 2017).

This article provides an introduction to, and an English translation of, the Latin funeral oration written by Nikolaus, the bishop of Modrus (or Nicholas de Korto), on the occasion of Cardinal Pietro Riario’s death in January 1474. The article opens with a contextualizing introduction to the oration, its author, and its subject, as well as the contemporary late-fifteenth-century trend in publishing funeral orations. Following this introduction is an English translation from, and comparison with, Neven Jovanovic’s openaccess, peer-reviewed Latin transcription (Croatiae Auctores Latini) and the British Library’s copy of the oration (ISTC No. in000488000), which was first printed in Rome in 1474 by Antonio and Raffaele Volterrano.

This article takes a fresh look at the 1901 royal tour of the British Empire by the future George V and Queen Mary on HMS Ophir. This tour has been examined by several scholars, who have tended to concentrate on a single individual dominion, i.e., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or South Africa. Discussion has focused on local responses to the tour, and in particular to the royal couple. This article, in contrast, considers the tour as a single, global voyage, which involved more sea days than port days. It also moves beyond the royal couple to include the passengers and crew of both HMS Ophir and the accompanying British warships. By exploring a variety of individual shipboard accounts, in particular the illustrated journal of Petty Officer Harry Price and the published tour volume of Assistant Press Secretary Donald McKenzie Wallace, along with the personal diaries of the royal couple and an accompanying journalist’s description, the article explores the various, overlapping meanings of the tour for its diverse participants. In turn, it helps to clarify the class, gender, and imperial dimensions of both the royal tour and the British world c.1901.

Review of Catriona Murray, Imagining Stuart Family Politics: Dynastic Crisis and Continuity (London: Routledge, 2017).

Review of Christopher Given-Wilson, Henry IV (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016).

Review of Catherine Hanley, Louis: The French Prince Who Invaded England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016).

Review of Anna Keay, The Last Royal Rebel (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016).