A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium (90 page)

88
A G Dickens,
The Age of Humanism and Reformation in Europe
(London, 1977), p202.

89
H V Polisensky,
The Thirty Years War
(London, 1974), p28.

90
H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, p31.

91
Adherents to the Hussite belief that priests had no special part to play in the communion rites.

92
H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, p47.

93
G Parker,
Europe in Crisis, 1598-1648
(London, 1984), p168.

94
Quoted in G Parker,
Europe in Crisis
, p168.

95
For details of this connection, see H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, pp141, 186-187.

96
See the comments of the German Marxist Franz Mehring, writing 90 years ago, in F Mehring,
Absolutism and Revolution in Germany, 1525-1848
(London, 1975), p28.

97
The assassination—and the way in which Wallenstein’s own vacillations allowed it to happen—form the basis of two plays by the German Enlightenment writer Frederick Schiller,
The Piccolomini
and
The Death of Wallenstein
, in F Schiller,
Historical and Dramatic Works
, vol 2 (London, 1980).

98
H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, p197.

99
See H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, p245.

100
See H V Polisensky,
Thirty
, pp245-247 for a full account of the deterioration in Bohemia’s economic and cultural life.

101
For arguments over the degree of damage done by the war, see the pieces by G Pages, S H Steinberg, H V Polisensky and T K Rabb, in T K Rabb (ed),
The Thirty Years War
.

102
Although a good deal of the shock among the ruling classes was hypocritical since, as Voltaire later pointed out in his
Lettres Philosophiques
, several European monarchs had been executed previously.

103
According to C Hill, ‘The English Revolution and the Brotherhood of Man’, in C Hill,
Puritanism and Revolution
(London, 1968), p126.

104
Quoted by C Hill,
God’s Englishman
(Harmondsworth, 1973), p87.

105
R S Duplessis,
Transitions
, p68; see also G Parker,
Europe in Crisis
, table 1, p23.

106
See R S Duplessis,
Transitions
, pp113-115.

107
John Dillingham to Lord Montagu, quoted in A Fletcher,
The Outbreak of the English Civil War
(London, 1981), p182.

108
A Fletcher,
The Outbreak
, p182.

109
John Tailor in his
New Preacher News
tract, quoted in A Fletcher,
The Outbreak
, p175.

110
Quoted in C Hill,
God’s Englishman
, p62.

111
Quoted in C Hill,
The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714
(London, 1969), p116.

112
This summary of one of his addresses is provided by I Gentles,
The New Model Army
(Oxford, 1992), p84.

113
C Hill,
God’s Englishman
, pp68-69.

114
Quoted in I Gentles,
New Model Army
, p160.

115
See I Gentles,
New Model Army
, pp161-163.

116
Quoted in I Gentles,
New Model Army
, p209.

117
Quoted in I Gentles,
New Model Army
, p209.

118
Quoted in B Manning,
The Crisis of the English Revolution
(London, 1992), p108.

119
Quoted in C Hill,
God’s Englishman
, p105.

120
Quoted in I Gentles,
New Model Army
, p330.

121
C Hill,
God’s Englishman
, p97.

122
According to C Hill,
The Century of Revolution
, p181.

123
The town known today known as ‘Old Goa’.

124
Close to the present day town of Hampi.

125
Quoted by V A Smith,
The Oxford History of India
(Oxford, 1985), p312.

126
These are the battles depicted in Kurasawa’s film
Ran
.

127
J Gernet,
A History of Chinese Civilisation
(Cambridge, 1996), p424. See also, ‘Introduction’ to F W Mote and D Twitchett (eds),
Cambridge History of China
, vol 7 (Cambridge, 1988), pp508-509.

128
J Gernet,
History
, p426.

129
J Gernet,
History
, p442. Just as medieval Europe had learnt from China, Chinese intellectuals and technicians were now acquiring, from a Jesuit mission in Beijing, advances in knowledge from post-Renaissance Europe. See C A Ronan and J Needham,
The Shorter Science and Civilisation of China
, vol 4 (Cambridge, 1994), pp220-221.

130
J Gernet,
History
, p440.

131
J Gernet,
History
, p437.

132
J Gernet,
History
, p446.

133
Although Ronan and Needham (see C A Ronan and J Needham,
Shorter Science
, pp1, 34) suggest the influence of the European Renaissance was of vital importance in 17 th century China.

134
J Gernet,
History
, p425.

135
J Gernet,
History
, p426.

136
J Gernet,
History
, p426.

137
F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p587.

138
Estimates given in J Gernet,
History
, p429, and F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p586.

139
F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p586

140
Quoted in F Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p631.

141
F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p632.

142
This is the argument of Geoffrey Parker in G Parker,
Europe in Crisis
, pp17-22.

143
F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p587.

144
The reason for ending the voyages was not only resistance to the growth of merchant influence. The voyages were costly to the state and China had little need of the sorts of goods to be found in the Indian Ocean—or for that matter in Europe. The empire exported much more than it imported until the rise of the opium trade in the 19 th century.

145
F W Mote and D Twitchett,
Cambridge
, vol 7, p518.

146
J Gernet,
History
, p431.

147
According to J Gernet,
History
, p432.

148
For details, see J Gernet,
History
, pp432-433.

149
J Gernet,
History
, p483.

150
Figures given in J Gernet,
History
, p489.

151
J Gernet,
History
, p464.

152
J Gernet,
History
, p497.

153
See J Gernet,
History
, pp497-505—although Gernet himself, for some reason, uses the term ‘enlightened’ to describe the culture of the subsequent period of acceptance of Manchu rule.

154
J Gernet,
History
, p505.

155
J Gernet,
History
, p507.

156
Details from J Gernet,
History
, p508.

157
J Gernet,
History
, p509.

158
See J Gernet,
History
, for a much fuller account of the symptoms of crisis.

159
One mistake of Marx in his writings on India was to overemphasise the importance of these. Irfan Habib, who is otherwise complimentary about these writings, insists, ‘Despite Marx, it is impossible to believe that the state’s construction and control of irrigation works was a prominent feature of the agrarian life of Moghul India.’ I Habib,
The Agrarian System of Mughal India
(London, 1963), p256.

160
For a more detailed account of the relation between the Mogul officials and the
zamindars
, see I Habib,
Agrarian
, pp66, 153-185.

161
Manriques, quoted in I Habib,
Agrarian
, pp322-323.

162
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p250. The state took much more of the surplus than did the
zamindars
. See I Habib,
Agrarian
, p153.

163
H K Naqvi,
Mughal Hindustan: Cities and Industries, 1556-1803
(Karachi, 1974).

164
According to S Maqvi, ‘Marx on Pre-British Indian Society’, in D D Kosambi Commemoration Committee (eds), E
ssays in Honour of D D Kosambi, Science and Human Progress
(Bombay, 1974).

165
H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p2.

166
According to H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p18.

167
H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p22; I Habib,
Agrarian
, p75.

168
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p76.

169
I Habib, ‘Problems in Marxist Historical Analysis’, in
D D Kosambi
, p73.

170
H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p155.

171
H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p171.

172
I Habib, ‘Problems’, p46.

173
Pelsaert, quoted in I Habib,
Agrarian
, p190.

174
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p77.

175
D D Kosambi, ‘Introduction’, in
D D Kosambi
, p387. Kosambi uses the term ‘feudalism’ to describe society in this period. Irfan Habib denies the validity of this after at least 1200 AD, given the absence of serfdom and of a real landlord class, with the great mass of the surplus being changed into money to pay taxes. See I Habib, ‘Problems’, p46.

176
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p320.

177
Quoted in I Habib,
Agrarian
, p321.

178
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p328.

179
Aurangzeb deposed his father and locked him in a tower in Agra’s fort, from which he could see his magnificent monument (and folly), the Taj Mahal.

180
A contemporary witness, quoted in H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p23.

181
Quoted in I Habib,
Agrarian
, p330.

182
Details in I Habib,
Agrarian
, p333

183
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p333.

184
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p333.

185
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p333.

186
H K Naqvi,
Mughal
, p18.

187
Quoted in I Habib,
Agrarian
, p339.

188
I Habib,
Agrarian
, pp344-345.

189
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p346.

190
I Habib,
Agrarian
, p333.

191
There are significant arguments among historians of India over the why the bourgeoisie did not assert itself. Some argue that it was simply too weak because of the economic stagnation. Others argue it did not fight independently because it saw the East India Company as a tool for achieving its goals. I am not knowledgeable enough to comment on this controversy. I do not think it alters the fundamental point—that it failed to act independently and then suffered because the East India Company acted according to goals arrived at in London, not India.