Major differences lie between Europe and China and Japan hundreds of years ago as much as they do today. China and Japan seemed to have a more dignified way of handling conflicts within the court, compared to Europe, which beheaded and tortured whoever they wanted because it was deserved. The scholastic book, Rhetoric & the Discourses of Power in Court Culture, edited by David R. Knechtges and Eugene Vance, portrays the contrasts between Europe and China and Japan in their courts, although similarities are also attainable.
This book is a scholarly treatise based on thorough research, which is obvious to see from the pages of notes containing the sources used for the information read in the chapters. This book is not written for a broad audience because it specializes on focusing clearly on the court culture specifically in Europe, during the middle ages and before, and China and Japan around the same time, including some documents from B.C.E. It was written by many scholars and experts in separate fields, who assembled a numerous amount of times for years to construct a reliable book. This work does not base itself on feeble sources such as gossip or biased opinions, however, although some of the ancient sources it uses does not have proof that it is completely true, the authors remain skeptical about the source and obtain as much truth as possible. The book doesn’t completely look at both sides of the story, but it is evident that an effort was made based on the facts they were given. It is a dependable source of information and appears trustworthy with the extent of research used to create it.
This book focuses on, like I wrote earlier, the practices and customs of the court and courtiers of China, Japan, and Europe. The author’s purpose was to portray the differences of the traditions displayed in the history of the court culture, and to define how everything used to be handled within their given circumstances. The authors’ main purpose is to study the court as a high power and the effects it had on the way of life of the larger culture, or the kingdom that was under it. The authors verifies his thesis through the chapters of the book, starting with chapter discussing Cao Pi’s new accession to Emperor of the Wei dynasty, and how at first he had many refusals to accept the imperial throne, by repeatedly (over 3 times) refusing the throne because, “…after he has issued “repeated refusals” would it be proper to discuss the possibility of his accepting the throne”(22). The author shows the reader through this chapter that the Chinese court culture thought it was only proper to not act as if they were worthy but to be modest in agreements. Also, the chapter shows how the accession ceremony took place in a small village instead of being in a highly prestigious court or palace. The author uses this part of the chapter to show how the Chinese didn’t find it important to appear as nobility and too good for the common people, but they welcomed the townspeople.
The next chapter discusses the court, politics, and rhetoric of England, which seems to differ greatly from the previous chapter. The chapter begins by explaining in great detail the death of King Edward II, and follows to say, “Ambition, suspicion, and condemnation tore the royal court apart and divided the nobility into rival factions whose competition resulted in extraordinary violence”(37). The author of this chapter, Scott L. Waugh acknowledges that the main point of this chapter is to portray the cruelty that lied within the European courts. England didn’t have an official court, with rules and routines, which means there were no official records to base these historic facts on, leading Waugh to read the different accounts of the stories to find which parts were fact or a biased fiction. Then the chapter goes on to show how the stability of the country relied on the immediate group surrounding the king and their struggles, which resulted in the country’s struggles also. The troubles coming from the inside circle of the court was between Edward II and his wife, who deeply hated his job because he listened more to his courtiers (who secretly wanted to get rid of her) than to his wife. Eventually the wife deemed to seek revenge on her husband, secretly plotting his murder, which eventually came through. This supports the author’s thesis by illustrating how the troubles inside the court directly reflected on their job as king, resulting in problems in society. But once his son Edward III came to the throne, his mother and his courtiers did exactly what Edward II’s courtiers did with him, try to tell him how to run the throne and what to do. Waugh shows here that the court couldn’t stop what it was used to, with the immediate people in the court trying to live vicariously through the King. Waugh then goes into detail describing the different death penalties of their time, showing how brutal an era it was, especially by having the public participate in watching the death, but these ways were also used to scare the public into obeying the law.
Pauline Yu, author of the next chapter, describes the Imperial taste of poems in the early ninth century. She describes how poetry writing was used in the civil service examination, proving that heavy learning was required for poetry. Through this, the author portrays how important it was to China to have smart and civilized citizens, and especially the ones who take the examination. But later in the chapter, Yu reveals from a different source that, “Among all the poems written for the examination, very few are any good” (77). Yu tries to express through this that although there weren’t many talented poets; it is the fact that the civil service exam required the test takers to be learned people who felt they were prepared to write because of the extended amount of studying used on learning the art of poetry. The author ends the chapter by saying, “…the self-representation of the court in early ninth century: its graceful, balanced decorum is precisely the image of the world that the emperor wanted to see” (87), showing how greatly the emperor cared about the image of his empire.
Steven D. Carter discusses in the next chapter how in Japan automatically the military men were accepted in the high class people with the arts such as poetry and music, but also they were involved in the court culture. Carter then displays how Japan liked to use marriage as forming alliances, also letting people get closer to the court culture. He even goes into detail to describe Kaneyoshi and his ways of creating alliances with important families by having children from different families to help his social standing. Carter’s purpose of this chapter is to show how easily attainable it was to create ties with people with a high social standing, and how important success relied on social standing. Also his social standing determined his trustworthiness because nobody questioned his interpretations and ideas on the books of poetry that he inherited.
In some chapters later, Paul Edward Dutton presents the topic of secrets during the middle ages, which again makes Europe seem like a dark environment lacking dignity. This chapter shows how Europe lived off of gossip and secrets, having a difficult time sending letters because hardly anyone could be trusted to not open a letter when delivering it. Through this chapter, Dutton shows how European courts relied on gossip to determine serious life or death decisions, based on word of mouth. Hasty choices were made, resulting in an even less respectable court, highly unlike the China or Japan courts.
The authors and editors of this book make China‘s court and people to be very polite and courteous of one another. Although they have arguments as displayed in the first chapter where Cao Pi was refusing the Imperial throne, he did it respectably by giving excuses why he shouldn’t be on the throne, while everyone else was trying to convince him to accept it. Nobody gave up on him and the leaders were persistent on having him rule the throne, although, according to the way that Europe is portrayed through this book, Europe would have instantly chosen another emperor, not wanting to be patient and well mannered. Europe is portrayed through this book as a fiend that lives on blood, torture, and secrets. There is a great contrast in the chapters describing the Chinese and the Europeans in the court. Especially between the first, second, and third chapter because both of the Chapters on China describe how calmly China goes about asking Cao Pi to be Emperor, and the third chapter discusses how China thought poetry was very important for their society, or learned people to know. China cared more about how its court appeared, and wanted it to seem balanced and graceful, unlike the portrayal of Europe which only portrays revenge and punishments as what was most important to the court, according to the book.
The book’s title does reflect accurately the main disposition of what is discussed in the book. Also the subtitle correctly describes what is also in the book, although Japan and Europe do not have as nearly as many chapters as China does. The authors of the book have verified the thesis to my liking although I would like to hear if China ever had any real trouble in its courts as compared to Europe’s likeness with punishment and torture. There are hundreds of sources in the book used from real accounts at the time. The materials used for evidence are consisted of hearsay (because it from hundreds of years ago), and writings from the time period. It seems that nine books have been used to make a tenth with all the sources that are used, except that this book organizes the main ideas from different sources to find the most likely truth. Most generalizations are supported by evidence but the evidence can only be so trustworthy because it is unknown how biased the piece of work might be in the 1300’s or earlier. The author uses efficient examples, especially in the poetry chapters because it shows many poems by the Chinese or Japanese. There are convincing cases made for the stands taken, although I would like to know if China really was that pure compared to Europe, or if purposely left out those certain aspects of China. The overall quality of the book is substantial, it is prestige in some chapters, but the quality of it all is very informative and useful for anyone wanting to learn in great detail of the culture of courts before the Middle Ages in Europe, China, and Japan.
This book is a scholarly treatise based on thorough research, which is obvious to see from the pages of notes containing the sources used for the information read in the chapters. This book is not written for a broad audience because it specializes on focusing clearly on the court culture specifically in Europe, during the middle ages and before, and China and Japan around the same time, including some documents from B.C.E. It was written by many scholars and experts in separate fields, who assembled a numerous amount of times for years to construct a reliable book. This work does not base itself on feeble sources such as gossip or biased opinions, however, although some of the ancient sources it uses does not have proof that it is completely true, the authors remain skeptical about the source and obtain as much truth as possible. The book doesn’t completely look at both sides of the story, but it is evident that an effort was made based on the facts they were given. It is a dependable source of information and appears trustworthy with the extent of research used to create it.
This book focuses on, like I wrote earlier, the practices and customs of the court and courtiers of China, Japan, and Europe. The author’s purpose was to portray the differences of the traditions displayed in the history of the court culture, and to define how everything used to be handled within their given circumstances. The authors’ main purpose is to study the court as a high power and the effects it had on the way of life of the larger culture, or the kingdom that was under it. The authors verifies his thesis through the chapters of the book, starting with chapter discussing Cao Pi’s new accession to Emperor of the Wei dynasty, and how at first he had many refusals to accept the imperial throne, by repeatedly (over 3 times) refusing the throne because, “…after he has issued “repeated refusals” would it be proper to discuss the possibility of his accepting the throne”(22). The author shows the reader through this chapter that the Chinese court culture thought it was only proper to not act as if they were worthy but to be modest in agreements. Also, the chapter shows how the accession ceremony took place in a small village instead of being in a highly prestigious court or palace. The author uses this part of the chapter to show how the Chinese didn’t find it important to appear as nobility and too good for the common people, but they welcomed the townspeople.
The next chapter discusses the court, politics, and rhetoric of England, which seems to differ greatly from the previous chapter. The chapter begins by explaining in great detail the death of King Edward II, and follows to say, “Ambition, suspicion, and condemnation tore the royal court apart and divided the nobility into rival factions whose competition resulted in extraordinary violence”(37). The author of this chapter, Scott L. Waugh acknowledges that the main point of this chapter is to portray the cruelty that lied within the European courts. England didn’t have an official court, with rules and routines, which means there were no official records to base these historic facts on, leading Waugh to read the different accounts of the stories to find which parts were fact or a biased fiction. Then the chapter goes on to show how the stability of the country relied on the immediate group surrounding the king and their struggles, which resulted in the country’s struggles also. The troubles coming from the inside circle of the court was between Edward II and his wife, who deeply hated his job because he listened more to his courtiers (who secretly wanted to get rid of her) than to his wife. Eventually the wife deemed to seek revenge on her husband, secretly plotting his murder, which eventually came through. This supports the author’s thesis by illustrating how the troubles inside the court directly reflected on their job as king, resulting in problems in society. But once his son Edward III came to the throne, his mother and his courtiers did exactly what Edward II’s courtiers did with him, try to tell him how to run the throne and what to do. Waugh shows here that the court couldn’t stop what it was used to, with the immediate people in the court trying to live vicariously through the King. Waugh then goes into detail describing the different death penalties of their time, showing how brutal an era it was, especially by having the public participate in watching the death, but these ways were also used to scare the public into obeying the law.
Pauline Yu, author of the next chapter, describes the Imperial taste of poems in the early ninth century. She describes how poetry writing was used in the civil service examination, proving that heavy learning was required for poetry. Through this, the author portrays how important it was to China to have smart and civilized citizens, and especially the ones who take the examination. But later in the chapter, Yu reveals from a different source that, “Among all the poems written for the examination, very few are any good” (77). Yu tries to express through this that although there weren’t many talented poets; it is the fact that the civil service exam required the test takers to be learned people who felt they were prepared to write because of the extended amount of studying used on learning the art of poetry. The author ends the chapter by saying, “…the self-representation of the court in early ninth century: its graceful, balanced decorum is precisely the image of the world that the emperor wanted to see” (87), showing how greatly the emperor cared about the image of his empire.
Steven D. Carter discusses in the next chapter how in Japan automatically the military men were accepted in the high class people with the arts such as poetry and music, but also they were involved in the court culture. Carter then displays how Japan liked to use marriage as forming alliances, also letting people get closer to the court culture. He even goes into detail to describe Kaneyoshi and his ways of creating alliances with important families by having children from different families to help his social standing. Carter’s purpose of this chapter is to show how easily attainable it was to create ties with people with a high social standing, and how important success relied on social standing. Also his social standing determined his trustworthiness because nobody questioned his interpretations and ideas on the books of poetry that he inherited.
In some chapters later, Paul Edward Dutton presents the topic of secrets during the middle ages, which again makes Europe seem like a dark environment lacking dignity. This chapter shows how Europe lived off of gossip and secrets, having a difficult time sending letters because hardly anyone could be trusted to not open a letter when delivering it. Through this chapter, Dutton shows how European courts relied on gossip to determine serious life or death decisions, based on word of mouth. Hasty choices were made, resulting in an even less respectable court, highly unlike the China or Japan courts.
The authors and editors of this book make China‘s court and people to be very polite and courteous of one another. Although they have arguments as displayed in the first chapter where Cao Pi was refusing the Imperial throne, he did it respectably by giving excuses why he shouldn’t be on the throne, while everyone else was trying to convince him to accept it. Nobody gave up on him and the leaders were persistent on having him rule the throne, although, according to the way that Europe is portrayed through this book, Europe would have instantly chosen another emperor, not wanting to be patient and well mannered. Europe is portrayed through this book as a fiend that lives on blood, torture, and secrets. There is a great contrast in the chapters describing the Chinese and the Europeans in the court. Especially between the first, second, and third chapter because both of the Chapters on China describe how calmly China goes about asking Cao Pi to be Emperor, and the third chapter discusses how China thought poetry was very important for their society, or learned people to know. China cared more about how its court appeared, and wanted it to seem balanced and graceful, unlike the portrayal of Europe which only portrays revenge and punishments as what was most important to the court, according to the book.
The book’s title does reflect accurately the main disposition of what is discussed in the book. Also the subtitle correctly describes what is also in the book, although Japan and Europe do not have as nearly as many chapters as China does. The authors of the book have verified the thesis to my liking although I would like to hear if China ever had any real trouble in its courts as compared to Europe’s likeness with punishment and torture. There are hundreds of sources in the book used from real accounts at the time. The materials used for evidence are consisted of hearsay (because it from hundreds of years ago), and writings from the time period. It seems that nine books have been used to make a tenth with all the sources that are used, except that this book organizes the main ideas from different sources to find the most likely truth. Most generalizations are supported by evidence but the evidence can only be so trustworthy because it is unknown how biased the piece of work might be in the 1300’s or earlier. The author uses efficient examples, especially in the poetry chapters because it shows many poems by the Chinese or Japanese. There are convincing cases made for the stands taken, although I would like to know if China really was that pure compared to Europe, or if purposely left out those certain aspects of China. The overall quality of the book is substantial, it is prestige in some chapters, but the quality of it all is very informative and useful for anyone wanting to learn in great detail of the culture of courts before the Middle Ages in Europe, China, and Japan.
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