Analytical Essay (review of Fortescue or essay on a work of art)

HIST B 309, section 27118 / HIST H 509, section 26988                        Dr. Thomas A. Mason

Fall 2015

Analytical Essay: review of Fortescue, On the Laws and Governance of England,

                                 or analysis of a work of art

Date due: November 23

Assignment: Write an analytical essay of 750–1,000 words (3–4 typewritten pages), on white paper, 8 ½ x 11 inches, double spaced, in 12-point type, with a one-inch margin on all sides. An analytical essay separates a subject or argument into its component parts and assesses how well or how logically those parts, and the evidence upon which they rest, support or substantiate the whole subject or argument.

Please note:

• Please turn in book reviews / essays electronically through the “Assignments” link on Canvas, and bring a hard copy / printout with you to class on the due date, when we will have a class discussion of the book and works of art.
• You are welcome to turn in book reviews / essays early (before the due date) through the “Assignments” link on Canvas.
• If a book review / essay is transmitted electronically through the “Assignments” link on Canvas on the due date, and the student is absent from class, it will be considered late.
• The “Assignments” link on Canvas will automatically check your book review / essay for originality through Turnitin. The Turnitin Originality Report will be accessible to you and me.
• No more than one late assignment (book review / essay) or makeup examination will be allowed to any student.
• After the due date, you may turn in a book review / essay for full credit but subject to the abovementioned limit of one late assignment (book review / essay) or makeup quiz / examination per student.

Style: Brevity and conciseness are harder to achieve than verbosity and vagueness. Do not just turn in a first draft. Proofread your writing; do not just rely on spell check, which will not alert you when you are using a real word that is the wrong word in the context. Write in complete sentences. A complete sentence has a subject and a verb. Style and accuracy are important and integral parts of content and will count heavily in or against your favor in the determination of your grade on this essay.

Academic honesty: We all know that there are reviews and summaries of books and works of art, in the library, on the Web, and elsewhere. I want to know your ideas about the book or work of art, not somebody else’s. When you use someone else’s ideas, they must be acknowledged in a footnote (see hypothetical example below).¹ When you use someone else’s words, those words must be enclosed within quotation marks, and acknowledged in a footnote. If from a website, it is insufficient just to cite the “Web”; rather, you should cite the full URL (uniform resource locator) and the date that you accessed it: “accessed mm/dd/yyyy.” When you are quoting from the book you are reviewing, you may simply enclose the quote within quotation marks and cite the page number in parentheses, immediately after the quotation. Example: (p. 202). The “Assignments” link on Canvas will automatically check your book review / essay for originality through Turnitin, which will create an originality report that will be accessible to you and me. Using someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit is called plagiarism, which is an offense under the university-wide Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct at Indiana University (www.iu.edu/~code/code/index.shtml). Plagiarism is a big word for stealing, passing off another’s work as your own, or cheating. When plagiarism is detected in this class, the student will receive an automatic F (zero points) on the assignment.

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1. John H. Smith, A History of the Ancient World, 4th ed. (New York: Jones Publishing Company, 2004), p. 202.

Option 1: Book review of Fortescue, On the Laws and Governance of England.

Structure: At the head of the review, give the review your own original title, and your name, followed by the bibliographical information on the book as follows:

Fortescue, Sir John. On the Laws and Governance of England. Edited by Shelley Lockwood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Purpose: The essential purpose of writing a book review is to enable the reviewer to summarize, evaluate, and communicate, to the reader of the review, the book that the reviewer has read. You should not only summarize the contents of the book, but also critically evaluate the book. For general guidelines, from Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University–Bloomington, on how to write a book review, see: www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/book_reviews.shtml.

A review of any book (or any historical document) should address / answer the following questions:

• What was the author’s (Fortescue’s) purpose in writing the book?
• To put it another way: Where is the author coming from? Where is he going with this book?
• How well did he achieve that purpose?
• What are the book’s strengths and weaknesses?
• What audience did the author intend to reach with this book?
• To what extent did the author set standards for accuracy in writing history? Please do not refer to this book as a “novel.” A novel is fiction; this is supposed to be nonfiction. You may if you wish address the issue of the extent to which the author spins his message or blurs the distinction between fiction and nonfiction.
• To what extent are the author’s expectations and standards of accuracy similar to or different from our own? (In this case, you can compare and contrast Fortescue with Bede.)
• To what extent have our expectations and standards of accuracy changed since the author’s time? (In this case, you can compare and contrast Fortescue with Bede.)
• How did the author deal with the challenges and dilemmas that he encountered?

The English jurist Sir John Fortescue (ca. 1395–ca. 1477) served as chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench (one of the common-law courts—originally the principal court for criminal cases), 1442–1460. Fortescue supported the House of Lancaster during the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. The Yorkist King Edward IV deposed him from the chief justiceship in 1460. In De natura legis naturæ (written 1463 in Renaissance Latin [which was in use ca. 1300–ca. 1500]: On the Nature of the Law of Nature; circulated in manuscript), Fortescue continued to defend the Lancastrian claims to the throne of England. In De laudibus legum Angliæ (written 1468–1471 in Renaissance Latin: In Praise of the Laws of England; circulated in manuscript; first printed in London, 1543), Fortescue described current legal practices. He reconciled with Edward IV in 1471 and wrote Of the Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy (written 1471–1476 in Middle English [in use ca. 1300–ca. 1500]; circulated in manuscript; first printed in London, 1714; edited by Charles Plummer, who gave it the title The Governance of England, 1885), in which Fortescue retracted his earlier defense (in On the Nature of the Law of Nature) of the Lancastrian claims.

In the 1997 edition that you are reading, Shelley Lockwood has translated both In Praise of the Laws of England and The Governance of England into Modern English with the combined title, On the Laws and Governance of England. Her introduction .(pages xv–xxxix) provides the political and historical background. “Principal Events in Fortescue’s Life” (pages xl–xliii) provides a useful timeline. The index entries (pages 145–156) provide thumbnail descriptions of persons and places. As you read the book be alert to, and in your analytical essay address / answer, the following questions specific to this book (your essay does not have to address all of them):

• In The Governance of England, Fortescue coined the term “over-mighty subject,” for the feudal warrior aristocrats who deployed private armies and private castles to tear England apart during the Wars of the Roses. What solutions did Fortescue advocate to end political instability and civil war?
• What form of government did Fortescue advocate as best suited to provide political stability for England?
• According to Fortescue, how should the monarchy be funded and financed?
• According to Fortescue, on what basis should officeholders be appointed?
• Fortescue compared government in England with that in countries on the Continent of Europe (where he had traveled). What did he conclude about the relative merits of English versus Continental European forms of government?
• What did Fortescue conclude about the economic prosperity of England, compared with Continental European countries?

Option 2: An analysis of a work of art in the collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) has strong collections in British art, mostly in the Clowes Courtyard and the Clowes Gallery. This class will visit the IMA for a tour beginning at 2:00 PM, Saturday, November 14. Choose any work of art that you see at the IMA, not a reproduction, created by a British artist, by an American painter who trained in England, or by a non-British artist of a British subject. Since the IMA has only a few British paintings from the early (pre–1688) period, you are not limited by time period of the painting. Examples:

• after Holbein, Hans, the younger (a German painter who worked at the court of Henry VIII and influenced later English painters). Portrait of the Artist (1542).
• Gower, George. Lady Philippa Coningsby (1578).
• Panini, Giovanni Paolo (an Italian painter whose works were purchased by British travelers on the Grand Tour and influenced the development of British neoclassicism). Two Roman Capriccios (1735)—The Pantheon and Other Monuments and The Colosseum and Other Monuments.
• Reynolds, Joshua. Charles Brandling (1760), Portrait of Thomas Bowlby (ca. 1765), or Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Watkinson Payler (1771).
• Ramsay, Allan. Portraits (ca. 1762–1766) of King George III and Queen Charlotte
• Gainsborough, Thomas. Lady in a Mob Cap (ca. 1763) or Wooded Landscape with Mounted Peasants (1772).
• Romney, George. Portrait of Jane Dawkes Robinson (ca. 1778).
• Stuart, Gilbert (an American painter who trained in England). Portrait of a Family ( 1783–1793) or Marianne Ashley Walker (1799).
• Peale, Charles Willson (an American painter who trained in England), and Charles Peale Polk. George Washington at Princeton (ca. 1788).
• Raeburn, Henry. Portrait of Thomas Wood (ca. 1790), MacDowall (ca. 1800), or Portrait of George Deuchar (no date).
• West, Benjamin (an American painter who trained—and then remained—in England). Woodcutters in Windsor Park (1795).
• Constable, John. The Cornfield (ca. 1816).
• Turner, J. M. W. The Fifth Plague of Egypt (1800) or East Cowes Castle (1828).
• Monet, Claude (a French Impressionist painter who visited England frequently, studied the works of Constable and Turner, and painted many London scenes). Charing Cross Bridge (ca. 1900).

You will need to do some basic research in information available from the IMA, your textbook, the World Wide Web, libraries (consider the IUPUI University Library, the Herron Art Library, the IMA’s Art Reference Library, and the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library), and the observation of your own eyes. This is not a major research paper but an analytical essay of 3–4 typewritten pages, so plan your time accordingly.

Structure: At the head of your essay, give the essay your own original title, and your name, followed by the basic information on the work of art as follows:

[Artist name], [title of work of art], [date of work of art], [medium].

While you are to choose any work of art that you see at the IMA, not a reproduction, please include a reproduction (black-and-white or color photocopy is acceptable) if possible with your essay so I can have some idea of the work of art about which you are writing.

In your essay, address / answer the questions:

• Who created the work of art? Who was the artist (if known)?
• Where and when (date, as exact as possible, approximate if necessary) was the work created?
• In what medium was the work created? Painting (oil, watercolor, fresco)? Sculpture (bronze, marble, terracotta)? Drawing (graphite, etching, engraving, pastel)? Mosaic? Tapestry? Photograph?
• What was the intended audience for the work? Public? Private?
• Was the work commissioned? If so, who commissioned it? Private or public patron? Governmental entity? Religious organization?
• What is the subject of the work? Portrait (individual, group, self-portrait)? A religious subject (representation of a scriptural or devotional subject)? Historical (a major subject area from the sixteenth century was history painting)? Domestic (northern European artists from fifteenth century specialized in domestic scenes)? Landscape? Townscape? Seascape?
• What does the work tell us about the society in which it was created?
• Is the work realistic or idealized? Is it characteristic of an identifiable style?