Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- A Global History (1)
- Allomorphs (1)
- Causality (1)
- English Nationalist progaganda (1)
- English people (1)
-
- Exeter Book (1)
- Frederick Barbarossa (1)
- Free will (1)
- Geoffrey Chaucer (1)
- Guillaume de Deguileville (1)
- Holy Roman emperors (1)
- Intuitive cognition (1)
- John Bale (1)
- John E. Wills Jr. (1)
- John Milton (1)
- Kynge Johan (1)
- La Mort le Roi Artu (1)
- Medieval studies (1)
- Middle English romances (1)
- Morality (1)
- Music genre (1)
- Music performance (1)
- Music philosophy (1)
- Prester John (1)
- Priest-king (1)
- Public shaming (1)
- Pèlerinage de la vie humaine (1)
- Rape narratives (1)
- Renaissance studies (1)
- Sir Orfeo (1)
Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in History
The Intersection Of Music Philosophy, Performance And Genre In The Middle English Breton Lay Sir Orfeo, Lisa Myers
The Intersection Of Music Philosophy, Performance And Genre In The Middle English Breton Lay Sir Orfeo, Lisa Myers
Quidditas
The Middle English romance Sir Orfeo is a dynamic and creative retelling of the classical Orpheus myth in which the wife of the English king, Orfeo, is abducted by fairies but eventually restored to her position and husband through Orfeo’s musical prowess. While any retelling of the Orpheus myth would necessarily contain references to music and would, therefore, likely use music as an important cue within the text, the poet of Sir Orfeo displays a sophisticated understanding of musical philosophy, composition and performance, as well as the Breton lay genre. The intersection of these elements all work together not only …
Visual Representations Of Prester John And His Kingdom, Michael E. Brooks
Visual Representations Of Prester John And His Kingdom, Michael E. Brooks
Quidditas
The mythical figure of the priest-king known to late medieval and early modern Europeans as Prester John fascinated literate Europeans for many centuries. Historians have weighed in on textual depictions of the legendary figure, but visual interpretations by European artists of the physical appearance of this eastern potentate have not been examined in any significant depth. These portrayals primarily took the form of map and book illustrations, and this essay examines the evolving visual representations that European artists developed of Prester John. In general, there was a gradual evolution over time in European artistic depictions of the legendary Prester John, …
The End Of An Era: John E. Wills Jr’S 1688: A Global History As A Capstone, Nikolas O. Hoel
The End Of An Era: John E. Wills Jr’S 1688: A Global History As A Capstone, Nikolas O. Hoel
Quidditas
When designing a course, an appropriate question is how to end it. What great primary or secondary source will send students off into the larger academic world, outside the immediate class at hand with a better understanding of the period they had just been studying? The quandary is important in every medieval or early modern course; for example, does one end the medieval survey with Dante or Petrarch, or even Erasmus? The necessity for a capstone is no less great in classes that are entitled “England to 1688,” which populate many university course catalogues today. Many monographs and articles have …
Causality In La Mort Le Roi Artu: Free Will, Accident, And Moral Failure, David S. King
Causality In La Mort Le Roi Artu: Free Will, Accident, And Moral Failure, David S. King
Quidditas
The thirteenth-century French La Mort le Roi Artu indicates forthrightly how the Arthurian world comes to an end, but the text leaves less clear what motivates the disaster. Many critics attribute the cause to an external force, God or the goddess Fortune, that obliges Arthur and others to pursue their own destruction. A few offer greater insight into the nature of causality in the romance. They see the characters as exercising some degree of free will or even complete liberty. But these critics err in alienating the notion of free choice from moral concerns. In their reading, the heroes suffer …
Resolving Exeter Book Riddles 74 And 33: Stormy Allomorphs Of Water, Thomas Klein, William F. Klein, David Delehanty
Resolving Exeter Book Riddles 74 And 33: Stormy Allomorphs Of Water, Thomas Klein, William F. Klein, David Delehanty
Quidditas
The following article argues that the idea of the allomorph is a productive way to view two “transformation” riddles from the Old English collection of riddles in the Exeter Book. In the view of the authors, Riddles 74 and 33 should both be solved generally as “water,” and specifically as “in the form of a thunderstorm.” Both riddles dramatize the multiple forms that water may take, and meditate on the divinely-ordained grandeur of the storm and the particular paradox of a thing being both immensely violent and necessary for life on earth. Understanding how these riddles play out these truths …
Public Shaming: Milton And The English People, Courtney O. Carlisle
Public Shaming: Milton And The English People, Courtney O. Carlisle
Quidditas
“Public Shaming: Milton and the English People” discusses the role of shame and its performance in John Milton’s First and Second Defence of the People of England. As Milton attempts to shame Salmasius and More, he focuses on bodies and their relationship to shame. For Milton, shame should be morally productive—it is meant to produce a sense of self-consciousness and an appropriate moral awareness. Milton argues that Salmasius and More are shameless and therefore not self-conscious or morally aware. Involved with shame and self-consciousness is a profound awareness of one’s body and its relationship to others and to the environment. …
John Bale’S Kynge Johan As English Nationalist Propaganda, G. D. George
John Bale’S Kynge Johan As English Nationalist Propaganda, G. D. George
Quidditas
John Bale is generally associated with the English Reformation rather than the Tudor government. It may be that Bale’s well-know protestant polemics tend to overshadow his place in Thomas Cromwell’s propaganda machine, and that Bale’s Kynge Johan is more a propaganda piece for the Tudor monarchy than it is just another of his Protestant dramas..
Delno C. West Award Winner (2014)
Delno C. West Award Winner (2014)
Quidditas
David Strong
The West Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a senior scholar at the annual conference.
Allen D. Breck Award (2014)
Quidditas
Kristin Bovaird-Abbo
The Breck Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a junior scholar at the annual conference.
Was Frederick Barbarossa The First Holy Roman Emperor?, Thomas Renna
Was Frederick Barbarossa The First Holy Roman Emperor?, Thomas Renna
Quidditas
Frederick Barbarossa (1152-90) was the first German emperor—later to be called the Holy Roman Emperor—who gave considerable attention to the three terms of the imperial title. His own registers and contemporary chronicles reveal frequent references to the three components of both his title and the Holy Roman Empire. I argue that Barbarossa was the first to attempt to integrate them into the German traditions of the empire, in particular the method of electing the king of the Romans, the historical ties with Charlemagne, and the concept of the empire as an amalgam of smaller principalities. He was the first to …
Is Geoffrey Chaucer’S Tale Of Sir Thopas A Rape Narrative? Reading Thopas In Light Of The 1382 Statute Of Rapes, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo
Is Geoffrey Chaucer’S Tale Of Sir Thopas A Rape Narrative? Reading Thopas In Light Of The 1382 Statute Of Rapes, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo
Quidditas
Considering the tale’s placement between two narratives of violence—the Prioress’s Tale and the Tale of Melibee—it is surprising that the Tale of Sir Thopas has not merited more discussion of the potential for violence against feminine bodies. I argue that Chaucer the author introduces significant changes to the typical medieval romance, with the result that Thopas’s actions in the name of “love” conceal a rape narrative that engages late fourteenth-century debates as to what exactly constituted rape. As the transfer of property was a significant portion of such discussions, the 1382 Statute of Rapes prompted concerns about the ability …
The Pilgrim’S Intuitive Cognition In Pèlerinage De La Vie Humaine, David Strong
The Pilgrim’S Intuitive Cognition In Pèlerinage De La Vie Humaine, David Strong
Quidditas
This article maintains that the Pilgrim in Guillaume de Deguileville’s allegorical dream vision, Pèlerinage de la vie humaine, acquires a previously unrecognized importance through his cognitive abilities. Each personified figure’s significance depends not upon a general introduction, but the Pilgrim’s ability to identify those traits unique to their person. This mode of intellection mirrors the late Scholastic epistemology of intuitive cognition as championed by John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. This theory allows the Pilgrim to grasp a particular object’s certitude without relying upon universals. Since this philosophy extols intellectual surety, it serves as a framework for interpreting the …