Medieval Studies Commons^™

Our Flag (And Spaceship) Means Queer: Monstering The Majority Culture, Sara Brown, Kristine Larsen

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Although the television series Our Flag Means Death presents on the surface as a romantic comedy, it is enhanced by mythic elements that infuse the narrative with a clear sense of the fantastic. Here, the pirates exist in a Secondary World that openly draws upon the Primary (both in terms of historiography and legend); hence 18th-century piracy and British colonialism can interact seamlessly with human-to-animal-transformations (paying homage to the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone) without seeming either disconcerting or anomalous – all co-exist comfortably in Faerie. OFMD both inverts and deconstructs mythopoeia; the Primary World myths of the Gentleman …

Tolkien’S Queer Landscape: Three Papers On Middle-Earth’S Heterotopias, Will Sherwood, Marita Arvaniti, Mariana Rios Maldonado

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

The following papers will explore Tolkien’s queer landscapes of Middle-earth: from Arda’s highest peaks and hidden underbellies, to her liminal, fae places, using the lens of Michel Foucault’s heterotopias.

Marita Arvaniti will introduce the panel and discuss Tolkien’s Faerian Drama and its relationship to the much-maligned Tom Bombadil episode, focusing on the queer figure of Tom Bombadil himself and his heterotopic domain.

Mariana Rios Maldonado will analyse the Barrow-downs, Dead Marshes, and Paths of the Dead as symbolic sites of death created during harrowing moments in the history of Middle-earth. These are no-places: spaces of Otherness containing the evil and …

Welcome And Announcements, The Mythopoeic Society

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

Join us for a screening of the Welcome and Announcements video in the 'Track 1' room, and have a cup of coffee before we get started!

The Holy Thorn Of Glastonbury And The Two Trees Of Valinor, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

An old wooden church in Glastonbury rose on the site of the Abbey church taking its place after a fire burnt it. This old church is traditionally considered to have been the eldest church in England, founded by Joseph of Arimathea after landing upon the British shore. Such a legend, probably spread after the Norman Conquests by the Abbey monks who needed to fund the monastery, also relates that Joseph planted his staff upon the highest hill in Glastonbury, and the staff grew branches and roots, transforming into a wonderful thorn tree which, unlike common thorns, bloomed twice a year, …

The Tale Of ‘Aldarion And Erendis’: Not Just A Medieval Love Story, Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner’s Wife’, published in the Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, is a cautionary tale of a failed marriage that also serves as an indicator of the moral decline of Númenor in the Second Age of Middle-earth. In this relationship is the beginning of the Downfall, heralding the shadow of evil that will entangle events into the Third Age. This paper explores the significance of this story to the history of Middle-earth, as well as its possible roots in medieval texts such as the Prose Edda and the Icelandic Laxdaela Saga.

Visualizing Ancient Empire In Tudor England: Imperial Monarchy, Reformation, And The Antique Soldier In The Title Page To Richard Grafton’S Large Chronicle (1569), Peter Nicholas Otis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the iconography and visual sources of the title page to the first volume of A chronicle at large and meere history of the affayres of Englande (1569) by the Tudor author Richard Grafton. Representing the visual synthesis of several distinct but interrelated currents that developed in the preceding century, the title page to the Large Chronicle offers a rare glimpse into a transitional moment in the middle Tudor perception and visual representation of the British past. These currents include imperializing royal iconography, with origins in antecedent representations in the late fifteenth century; the entry of the ‘classicizing’ …

Lost & Found (Game Series) [Book Chapter], Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Description of game series for use in the classroom with best practices.

What Does It Mean To Talk About Tolkien And Diversity? A Look Within And Without The Legendarium, Yvette Kisor

Journal of Tolkien Research

“What Does It Mean to Talk about Tolkien and Diversity? A Look within and without the Legendarium” considers racial diversity by focusing on the structure of Tolkien’s universe, both how it is modelled on ancient and medieval concepts like the Great Chain of Being and the Declining Ages of Man, but also remakes those models. In addition, it considers responses to racial structures perceived in Tolkien’s work.

John Gower: The Minor Latin Works, Robert J. Meindl, Mark T. Riley

Accessus

A translation, with introductions, of the minor Latin works of John Gower.

Preface To A New English Translation Of The Minor Latin Works Of John Gower, Georgiana Donavin, Eve Salisbury

Accessus

The editors' preface to Robert J. Meindl and Mark T. Riley's new English translation of the Minor Latin Works of John Gower.

Findlist_Venice_1477-1517, Doug Wayman

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Provides information about three important functions enabled by the accompanying finding list spreadsheet of books examined at The Ohio State University (OSU) Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) during the 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar, Books and Printing during the Reformation, 1450-1650 that took place in July of 2022. Those functions are: to provide links to global databases for descriptive information related to each book, to provide access to authorized versions of names associated with each book, and to provide value-added access to information-rich resources (including images) detailing certain aspects of some of the books, printed between …

Introduction To A Finding List Of Early Venetian Books Printed From 1477 To 1517 In The Rare Book And Manuscript Library Of The Ohio State University, Doug Wayman

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Provides information about three important functions enabled by the accompanying finding list spreadsheet of books examined at The Ohio State University (OSU) Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) during the 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar, Books and Printing during the Reformation, 1450-1650 that took place in July of 2022. Those functions are: to provide links to global databases for descriptive information related to each book, to provide access to authorized versions of names associated with each book, and to provide value-added access to information-rich resources (including images) detailing certain aspects of some of the books, printed between …

Fra Angelico In San Marco: A Comparison Of Fra Angelico’S Frescoes And Altarpieces During His Time In San Marco, Isaac Copeland

Tenor of Our Times

Fra Angelico stood at the crossroads of two major art movements in the early 15th century, the old International Gothic style, and the new Renaissance style. During his stay at San Marco between 1436, when the monastery moved to Florence, and 1445, when Fra Angelico was summoned to Rome, his work reflected elements of both the International Gothic style and the Renaissance style. However, in his works at San Marco, his panel paintings were more conservative, painted with more Gothic conventions than his frescos, which exhibited elements of the rising Renaissance.

Osu Venetian Imprints Dataset, Doug Wayman

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Provides information about three important functions enabled by the accompanying finding list spreadsheet of books examined at The Ohio State University (OSU) Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) during the 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar, Books and Printing during the Reformation, 1450-1650 that took place in July of 2022. Those functions are: to provide links to global databases for descriptive information related to each book, to provide access to authorized versions of names associated with each book, and to provide value-added access to information-rich resources (including images) detailing certain aspects of some of the books, printed between …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

End Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

John Dickinson's "Falling Away In Politics," 1774-1776, Matthew Harris

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Of all the Founding Fathers, recorded Benjamin Rush, "few men wrote, spoke and acted more for their country from the years [of] 1764 to the establishment of the federal government than [John] Dickinson." He was one of the only Founding Fathers to play a leading role in most of the significant events surrounding the birth of the American republic-from the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Yet his standing today compared to that of his fellow revolutionaries is shamefully obscure in view of his contributions.

Another Look At Japanese Relocation During World War Ii, Anna Maria Allen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The U.S. government's rationale for relocating people of Japanese ancestry during World War II is seldom explained. Most attention since President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the order permitting the relocation of individuals of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast to areas in the interior of the United States has naturally been placed on the plight of the people involved. Present popular historical perspective usually interprets this relocation as a constitutional violation worthy of redress from the United States government although historical evidence suggests that at the time the order was issued the action was considered a critical part of U.S. …

Anglo-Saxons And The Irish Sea, Ryan Patrick Crisp

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Recently, Peter Brown described the Irish Sea in the early Middle Ages as "a Celtic 'Mediterranean of the north."' That assessment may be more than this small sea can measure up to, but sufficient evidence concludes that there was substantial naval activity in this area during the early Middle Ages. Interestingly, the Anglo-Saxons, though they had access to the Irish Sea, never ventured forth upon these waters in great numbers. This fact makes their few voyages upon this Celtic lake worth examining.

Prague Spring, Prelude To The Velvet Revolution, Travis Mueller

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the late 1980s, the world watched communism topple. Political and economic reforms started by Gorbachev in the Soviet Union caused a chain reaction in the Soviet Eastern European satellite states. These countries finally felt able to initiate their own reforms and for the first time in decades the people could collectively voice their opinions. Particularly notable was the Czechoslovak popular movement of the late 1980s chat froze the power of the Soviet-supported government and forced its leaders to resign. This revolution, known as the Velvet Revolution, is unique among ocher political revolutions in chat it was almost entirely peaceful, …