An electronic, international, peer-reviewed, MLA-indexed, EBSCO-distributed journal for studies in Renaissance/early modern literature & culture. APPOSITIONS publishes under a Creative Commons License and is an open-access, independently managed journal. ISSN: 1946-1992. APPOSITIONS will be on hiatus beginning October, 2017.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
EDITOR
W. SCOTT HOWARD
Department of English
University of Denver
EDITORIAL ADVISORS
CHRISTOPHER BAKER
Languages, Literature & Philosophy
Armstrong State University
RAPHAEL FALCO
Department of English
University of Maryland,
Baltimore County
ELIZABETH H. HAGEMAN
Department of English
University of New Hampshire
BRETT D. HIRSCH
Centre for Medieval &
Early Modern Studies
University of Western Australia
MATTHEW STEGGLE
Humanities Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University
SARA J. van den BERG
Department of English
Saint Louis University
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
CHRISTINA ANGEL
Department of English
Metropolitan State College, Denver
ERIK ANKERBERG
Department of English
Wisconsin Lutheran College
CRISTELLE BASKINS
Art & Art History Department
Tufts University
GARY R. ETTARI
Department of Literature & Language
University of North Carolina, Asheville
ANNE GREENFIELD
Department of English
Valdosta State University
JUTTA SPERLING
Social Sciences, History
Hampshire College
AMY D. STACKHOUSE
Department of English
Iona College
ASSISTANT EDITORS
JENNIFER L. AILLES
Department of English
Rollins College
LOUISE DENMEAD
Department of English
University College, Cork
THOMAS J. MORETTI
Department of English
Iona College
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APPOSITION:
1. A public disputation by scholars; a formal examination by question and answer; still applied to the ‘Speech day’ at St. Paul's School, London. [1659-60 PEPYS Diary 9 Jan., “My brother John’s speech, which he is to make the next apposition.” 1864 Press 18 June 588, “St. Paul’s School . . . celebrated its annual Apposition on Wednesday.”]
2. The action of putting or placing one thing to another; application. [1541 R. COPLAND Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., “Yf after the fyrste apposycyon . . . it blede nat wel.” 1559 MORWYNG Evon. 367, “All suche thinges as . . . fomentacions, apposicions, embroches, etc.” 1650 FULLER Pisgah IV. vi. 117, “By apposition, or putting of sweet odours to the dead body.” 1726 AYLIFFE Parergon 308, “By the Apposition of a Publick Seal.” 1875 POSTE Gaius II. 220, “The apposition of the seals of seven attesting witnesses.”]
3. That which is put to or added; an addition. [1610 J. GUILLIM Heraldry §1. i. (1660) 10, “For distinction sake, to annex some apposition over and above their paternall Coat.” 1655 FULLER Ch. Hist. II. 67, “The Place is plainly written Cern, without any paragogical apposition.”]
4. The placing of things in close superficial contact; the putting of distinct things side by side in close proximity. [1660 STANLEY Hist. Philos. 64/2, “The mistion of the Elements is by apposition.” 1669 GALE Crt. Gentiles I. I. vi. 35, “[The word] according to the various apposition of the leters, may signifie either a foot, or a river.” 1830 LYELL Princ. Geol. (1875) I. II. xix. 488, “These layers must have accumulated one on the other by lateral apposition.” 1850 DAUBENY Atom. The. iv. 121, “The result of the apposition of an assemblage of smaller crystals.”]
5. The fact or condition of being in close contact, juxtaposition, parallelism. [1606 G. CARLETON Tithes Exam. iv. 21b, “There is an apposition betweene things of the same kinde.” a1. 652 J. SMITH Sel. Disc. v. 160, “A mere kind of apposition or contiguity of our natures with the divine.” 1801 FUSELI Lect. Art. (1848), “The true medium between dry apposition and exuberant contrast.” 1824-8 LANDOR Imag. Conv. (1846) 159, “He places strange and discordant ideas in close apposition.” 1878 T. BRYANT Pract. Surg. I. 145, “The cut surfaces and edges of the wounds are to be brought into apposition.”]
6. Rhet. The addition of a parallel word or phrase by way of explanation or illustration of another. Obs. [1561 T. [ORTON] Calvin’s Inst. III. 187, “Calling faith the worke of God, and geuing it that title for a name of addition, and calling it by figure of apposition Gods good pleasure.” a1. 638 MEDE Wks. I. xxiv. 93, “It is an Apposition, or παράθεση, and ειρήνη στη γη, the latter words declaring the meaning of the former; ‘Peace on earth,’ that is, ‘Good will towards men.’”]
7. Gram. The placing of a word beside, or in syntactic parallelism with, another; spec. the addition of one substantive to another, or to a noun clause, as an attribute or complement; the position of the substantive so added. [c. 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 416, “Yonge childryn that gone to the scole haue in here Donete this question, how many thinges fallen to apposicion?” 1591 PERCIVALL Span. Dict., “A Preposition . . . either in Composition, as, Contrahecho . . . or in Apposition, as, En la casa.” 1657 J. SMITH Myst. Rhet. 191, “Apposition is a figure . . . whereby one Noune Substantive is for Declaration and distinction sake added unto another in the same case.” 1860 JOWETT Ess. & Rev. 398, “In the failure of syntactical power . . . in various forms of apposition, especially that of the word to the sentence.”]
--OED
3 comments:
This is a convincing argument, especially because of the attention to the rhetorical purpose of James' initial hesitation. There is something I should know but don't: to what extent were there similar royal rituals of healing in other nations that became Protestant, and what was the response there?
That is a really penetrating question: thanks! There has been a lot of study of royal rituals of healing in contemporary Catholic nations, who were certainly not reticent about keeping up the ceremony. There's a wealth of material there - in art, as well. Take a look at Carlo Cignani's depiction of Francis I, for instance:
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=85097&apnum=1737094&LinkTypeID=1&PosterTypeID=1&DestType=7&Referrer%20=http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/cignani_carlo.html
Yet I have not seen much on England's Protestant contemporaries, and I would not be surprised to find that they had either abolished or replaced the rite altogether, though that is definitely not a safe assumption to make. It does seem the clear next direction for research, doesn't it? I'll look into this!
Hi, Dan --
A cogent, well-argued paper! I have 2 questions:
1.) You quoted Willis saying that some believed this kind of healing was "the product of a supernatural power inhering in the king's person." I expect that the king's healing was therefore connected to the doctrine of the king's two bodies that still enjoyed some popularity in the Stuart period (certainly Charles I liked it!). Presumably, the king's healing power was attributed to his spiritual or divine body. Can you expand on or speculate at this point on such a connection?
2.) Your essay recalls to me the moment in "The Lord of the Rings" when we read about the prophecy declaring that "the hands of the king are the hands of a healer." Tolkien was a Catholic, of course, and may have found the idea of ritual healing appealing as a Catholic and a scholar, so much so that it could have inspired the prophecy allowing the Gondorians to recognize Aragorn as king when he heals the wounded after battle, Of special interest here are Eowen and Pippin who are dying of "evil" wounds inflicted by the Captain of the Ringwraiths, and Faramir, who burns from a fever caused by the enemy's poison. Thus, Aragorn cures the "sickness of evil" when James I and his fellow monarchs could not. Yet, Tolkien gives no hint I can think of that his world ascribed to the doctrine of the king's two bodies. Quite the contrary. Aragorn's kingship is not based, I think, on a late medieval model encouraging the doctrine, but on earlier and more sober Anglo-Saxon and other "northern" views of kingship. Moreover, Tolkien intentionally excised nearly all suggestions of religions, including ritual, from his novel. Thus, it is difficult to call Aragorn's healing a ritual. It is rather something he simply does -- a very curious distinction in contrast to James' healing ritual.
That being said, what do you think is going with Aragorn's healing abilities and his kingship, and how does knowing about ritual healing practiced by Catholicism and an English king like James I influence an interpretation of "The Lord of the Rings?" Is it possible that Tolkien is offering a critique of the king's two bodies and reminding us of another definition of kingship at the same time that he creates a mythical origin in his Middle-earth for the healing ritual? How would this change the discourse about British kingship and Tolkien's fiction? Are there other possibilities here, too, that I have not considered?
Once again, you've provided us with a really interesting and provocative essay. Thanks!
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