a long paragraph from a book named History of King Charles The First of England

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absd

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From a book named History of King Charles The First of England, by Jacob Abbott

"He repented, however, as soon as the consent was given, and when Charles and Buckingham came next to see him, he said it must be given up. One great source of his anxiety was a fear that his son might be taken and kept a prisoner, either in France or Spain, and detained a long time in captivity. Such a captive was always, in those days, a very tempting prize to a rival power. Personages of very high rank may be detained as captives, while all the time those who detain them may pretend not to confine them at all, (1)the guards and sentinels being only marks of regal state, and indications of the desire of the power into whose hands they have fallen to treat them in a manner comporting with their rank. Then there were always, in those days, questions and disputes pending between the rival courts of England, France, and Spain, out of which it was easy to get a pretext for detaining any strolling prince who might cross the frontier, as security for the fulfillment of some stipulation, (2)or for doing some act of justice claimed. (3)James, knowing well how much faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts, was afraid to trust his son in French or Spanish dominions. He said he certainly could not consent to his going, without first sending to France, at least, for a safe-conduct—that is, a paper from the government, pledging the honor of the king not to molest or interrupt him in his journey through his dominions."


The underlined parts of the paragraph are making me confusing.

In the phrase (1), it says the guards are only marks of regal state, but what exactly the term "regal state" means here?
Does it mean the guards and sentinels are just there to show the state of the palace?
or they want to show that the prisoner is treated like a loyalty?


And in the pharse (2), I'm not sure whether the term "act of justice claimed" means
(a) an act that is truly somewhat righteous
(b) an act that has nothing to do with justice, but would benefit the power who is keeping the prisoner


In the phrase (3), lastly, how "knowing well how much faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts" and "being afraid of sending his son to rival's dominion" are connected? I guess I don't get the exact meaning of the part saying "faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts".
Does it mean James knew that it's going to cost a lot to get a king or a member of court back when they are captured by their rival power?


You can read the full text via the link below if you need
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64344/64344-h/64344-h.htm
 
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SoothingDave

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1. The captors would claim that they are using guards only because it is an important person and they want to keep him safe. When in reality they are there to keep him captive. The fact that he is royal (his regal state) gives them the excuse for having guards.
 

absd

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Thank you for your answer. Could you please help me with the phrase (2) and (3)?
 

Charlie Bernstein

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From a book entitled History of King Charles The First of England, by Jacob Abbott

Book, movie, play, and music album titles are in italics.


[STRIKE]"[/STRIKE]He repented, however, as soon as the consent was given, and when Charles and Buckingham came next to see him, he said it must be given up. One great source of his anxiety was a fear that his son might be taken and kept a prisoner, either in France or Spain, and detained a long time in captivity. Such a captive was always, in those days, a very tempting prize to a rival power. Personages of very high rank may be detained as captives, while all the time those who detain them may pretend not to confine them at all, [STRIKE](1)[/STRIKE]the guards and sentinels being only marks of regal state, and indications of the desire of the power into whose hands they have fallen to treat them in a manner comporting with their rank. Then there were always, in those days, questions and disputes pending between the rival courts of England, France, and Spain, out of which it was easy to get a pretext for detaining any strolling prince who might cross the frontier, as security for the fulfillment of some stipulation, [STRIKE](2)[/STRIKE]or for doing some act of justice claimed. [STRIKE](3)[/STRIKE]James, knowing well how much faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts, was afraid to trust his son in French or Spanish dominions. He said he certainly could not consent to his going, without first sending to France, at least, for a safe-conduct—that is, a paper from the government, pledging the honor of the king not to molest or interrupt him in his journey through his dominions.[STRIKE]"[/STRIKE]


The underlined parts of the paragraph are making me confusing.

In the phrase (1), it says the guards are only marks of regal state, but what exactly the term "regal state" means here?

It means kingdom. The guards are not important, they're minor figures, low-level employees of the kingdom.


Does it mean the guards and sentinels are just there to show the state of the palace, or do they want to show that the prisoner is treated like royalty?

No.


And in the pharse (2), I'm not sure whether the term "act of justice claimed" means
(a) an act that is truly somewhat righteous
(b) an act that has nothing to do with justice, but would benefit the power who is keeping the prisoner

They can be arrested if they're accused of a crime. Arresting them is an act of justice. The claim is that an injustice was committed.


In the phrase (3), lastly, how "knowing well how much faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts" and "being afraid of sending his son to rival's dominion" are connected?

He knows that kings and courts have no honor, so he fears sending his son there.

I guess I don't get the exact meaning of the part saying "faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts".
Does it mean James knew that it's going to cost a lot to get a king or a member of court back when they are captured by their rival power?

Yes — or he might never see his son again at all.


You can read the full text via the link below if you need
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/64344/64344-h/64344-h.htm
There!
 

absd

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Thank you for the detailed answer!

May I ask something about your answer for the second phrase that I underlined?

You said that the captured one could be arrested because he committed a kind of crime or something, but since that part of the text is about the captors requiring the captive's court to do "some act of justice claimed". So I think it has nothing to do with the captive himself.

Shouldn't it mean that the captors want the captive's homeland court to do something they want that is not necessarily something just, or something actually righteous?
 

jutfrank

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You said that the captured one could be arrested because he committed a kind of crime or something, but since that part of the text is about the captors requiring the captive's court to do "some act of justice claimed". So I think it has nothing to do with the captive himself.

Yes, that's right. It doesn't mean the captive has committed a crime. It just means that the captors have detained the captive in response to what they see (or pretend to see) as an act of injustice having been done to them.

Shouldn't it mean that the captors want the captive's homeland court to do something they want that is not necessarily something just, or something actually righteous?

Yes, that's basically right. Whether they see their actions as genuinely just is irrelevant. This is high-level political diplomacy. The main point is that having a captive prince is diplomatic bargaining power.
 
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jutfrank

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In the phrase (3), lastly, how "knowing well how much faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts" and "being afraid of sending his son to rival's dominion" are connected? I guess I don't get the exact meaning of the part saying "faith and honor were to be expected of kings and courts".
Does it mean James knew that it's going to cost a lot to get a king or a member of court back when they are captured by their rival power?

Effectively, yes. James understood very well the fact that captive princes are valuable political assets, so he was afraid to let his son go to rival states (Spain and France) because he thought his son might well be captured.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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Thank you for the detailed answer!

May I ask something about your answer for the second phrase that I underlined?

You said that the captured one could be arrested because he committed a kind of crime or something, but since that part of the text is about the captors requiring the captive's court to do "some act of justice claimed". So I think it has nothing to do with the captive himself.

Shouldn't it mean that the captors want the captive's homeland court to do something they want that is not necessarily something just, or something actually righteous?
Yes, that's better. It's not that the captive him- or herself committed a crime, it's that the captors have arrested the person because of a crime committed.
 

absd

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Thank you for your answer and sorry for my late reply.

Could you please give me some words that can replace those "faith and honors"?

I don't see any meaning of those words on my dictionary that matches to the context.
 

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Could you please give me some words that can replace [STRIKE]those[/STRIKE] "faith" and [STRIKE]honors[/STRIKE] "honor"?
Faith: trustworthiness.
Honor: adherence to a conventional standard of conduct.
 

jutfrank

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If two parties have a relationship of good faith, they both feel that the other will treat them fairly.

Somebody can be called honorable if they do the right thing in a certain situation.

Both of these words have in some way a sense of justice, which is a theme of the paragraph as a whole.
 
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