History Commons^™

John Duns Scotus’S Metaphysics Of Goodness: Adventures In 13th-Century Metaethics, Jeffrey W. Steele

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At the center of all medieval Christian accounts of both metaphysics and ethics stands the claim that being and goodness are necessarily connected, and that grasping the nature of this connection is fundamental to explaining the nature of goodness itself. In that vein, medievals offered two distinct ways of conceiving this necessary connection: the nature approach and the creation approach. The nature approach explains the goodness of an entity by an appeal to the entity’s nature as the type of thing it is, and the extent to which it fulfills or perfects the potentialities in its nature. In contrast, the …

The Count Of Saint-Gilles And The Saints Of The Apocalypse: Occitanian Piety And Culture In The Time Of The First Crusade, Thomas Whitney Lecaque

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines Raymond of Saint-Gilles’ regional affiliation in Occitania (modern southern France) and the effect of that identity on his conduct of the First Crusade. Crusade historiography has not paid much attention to regional difference, but Raymond’s case shows that Occitanians approached crusading in a fundamentally different manner from other crusaders. They placed apocalyptic eschatology in the forefront of the First Crusade and portraying the First Crusade as bringing about the New Jerusalem. To be Occitanian was not merely to be a speaker of Occitan. It was to be part of a Mediterranean culture, halfway between classical Roman and …

The Medical Response To The Black Death, Joseph A. Legan

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper discusses the medical response to the Black Death in both Europe and the Middle East. The Black Death was caused by a series of bacterial strands collectively known as Yersinia pestis. The Plague originated in the Mongolian Steppes. It was spread westward by the east-west trading system. Once it arrived in the Crimea in 1346, Italian merchants helped spread it throughout the Mediterranean. Medicine in Europe and the Middle East were centered on Galen’s theory of humors. There were many religious explanations for the Plague, but the main medical explanation was the spread of bad air, or …

The Matter Of Jerusalem: The Holy Land In Angevin Court Culture And Identity, C. 1154-1216, Katherine Lee Hodges-Kluck

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation reshapes our understanding of the mechanics of nation-building and the construction of national identities in the Middle Ages, placing medieval England in a wider European and Mediterranean context. I argue that a coherent English national identity, transcending the social and linguistic differences of the post-Norman Conquest period, took shape at the end of the twelfth century. A vital component of this process was the development of an ideology that intimately connected the geography, peoples, and mythical histories of England and the Holy Land. Proponents of this ideology envisioned England as an allegorical new Jerusalem inhabited by a chosen …

A Partial Reading Of The Stones: A Comparative Analysis Of Irish And Scottish Ogham Pillar Stones, Clare Jeanne Connelly

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A PARTIAL READING OF THE STONES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IRISH AND SCOTTISH OGHAM PILLAR STONES

by

Clare Connelly

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015

Under the Supervision of Professor Bettina Arnold

Ogham is a script that originated in Ireland and later spread to other areas of the British Isles. This script has preserved best on large pillar stones. Other artefacts with ogham inscriptions, such as bone-handled knives and chalk spindle-whorls, are also known. While ogham has fascinated scholars for centuries, especially the antiquarians of the 18th and 19th centuries, it has mostly been studied as a script and a …

The Anti-Crusade Voice Of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malek Jamal Zuraikat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reads some Middle English poetry in terms of crusading, and it argues that the most prominent English poets, namely Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Gower, were against the later crusades regardless of their target. However, since the anti-crusade voice of Gower and Langland has been discussed by many other scholars, this study focuses on Chaucer's poems and their implicit opposition of crusading. I argue that despite Chaucer's apparent neutrality to crusading as well as other sociopolitical and cultural matters of England, his poetry can hardly be read but as an indirect critique of war in general and …

“The Bedroom And The Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, And Shelter In ‘The Miller’S Tale’” & Haunchebones, Danielle N. Byington

Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The Bedroom and the Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, and Shelter in ‘The Miller’s Tale’” is an academic endeavor that takes Chaucer’s zoomorphic metaphors and similes and analyzes them in a sense that reveals the chaos of what is human and what is animal tendency. The academic work is expressed in the adjunct creative project, Haunchebones, a 10-minute drama that echoes the tale and its zoomorphic influences, while presenting the content in a stylized play influenced by Theatre of the Absurd and artwork from the medieval and early renaissance period.

The Fourth Crusade: How Internal Dynamics And Leadership Transitions Could Have Led To Its Diversion And Ultimate Failure, Tyler G. Grable

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Fourth Crusade, a war called to recapture Jerusalem, ended in disaster for the Christian city of Constantinople and the city of Jerusalem remained untouched by the crusading host. The fact that a war called to protect Christians in the Middle East and to recapture the city of Jerusalem for God resulted in the sacking of one of the largest Christian cities has led to much scholarly investigation into what exactly caused this to transpire. For the better part of a millennium scholars have sought answers to significant questions and have produced a variety of explanations for why the crusade …

Pursuing West: The Viking Expeditions Of North America, Jody M. Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose to this thesis is to demonstrate the activity of the Viking presence, in North America. The research focuses on the use of stones, carved with runic inscriptions that have been discovered in Oklahoma, Maine, Rhode Island and Minnesota. The thesis discusses orthographic traits found in the inscriptions and gives evidence that links their primary use to fourteenth century Gotland. Also connecting the stones to Gotland, is the presence of an unusual rune dubbed the Hooked X. This single rune has been the center of controversy since it was first discovered in Minnesota, 1898. Since that time, it has …

Enduring City-States: The Struggle For Power And Security In The Mediterranean Sea, Zachary B. Topkis

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Unius Regulae Ac Unius Patriae: A Standardizing Process In Anglo-Saxon England, Daniel Matteuzzi O'Gorman

Dissertations

My dissertation investigates the value of `standards' and `standardization' as tools for historians to interpret social and political dynamics in the Middle Ages. To date, medieval scholarship has utilized these concepts in a relatively unsophisticated manner; standardization has been taken to simply mean the imposition of uniformity. My dissertation uses the work of contemporary engineers and sociologists to problematize this understanding of standardization. I argue that the term, properly employed, signifies a process of consensus, of horizontal rather than hierarchical relationships and of ongoing revision. Further, I contend that standardization is a means and not an end, and that those …

Censorship And Intolerance In Medieval England, Richard Obenauf

Dissertations

Censorship is difficult to prove conclusively in the Middle Ages because manuscript culture is susceptible to the destruction of evidence, namely by burning works deemed unacceptable. Moreover, medieval authors were subject to many forms of intolerance which shaped their literary decisions. This dissertation proposes that the roots of formal print censorship in England are to be found in earlier forms of intolerance which sought to enforce conformity and that censorship is not distinct from intolerance, but rather is another form of intolerance. I draw on political writings by Peter Abelard, John of Salisbury, and William of Ockham to establish a …

The Struggle Between The Center And The Periphery: Justinian's Provincial Reforms Of The A.D. 530s, Mark-Anthony Karantabias

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation analyzes the struggle between the imperial court and the periphery in the context of Justinian’s reforms in the early A.D. 530s. The reforms targeting select Roman provinces sought to reduce the size of the imperial bureaucracy while simultaneously attempting to maintain imperial vertical authority. The reforms epitomize the imperial court’s struggle to rein in the imperial bureaucracy in the provinces of the Roman Empire. The analysis is framed within the cultural, social, political and economic evolution occurring in Late Antiquity. It shall be proposed that the reforms are one example of the imperial court’s attempt to limit the …

A Tender Spot: Care, Memory, And Place In Carolingian Memoria Mortuorum, Amber Suzanne Mcclure

Theses and Dissertations--History

This thesis argues that in the Carolingian period, the rituals for the memory of the dead, or memoria mortuorum, was built on structures that utilized location, space, and architecture as devices for creating mnemonic images for remembering. It also argues for the theological significance of memoria mortuorum, which was heavily debated, and that from Augustine to the Carolingians there is a shift in approaches to the theological aspects of practices including burial ad sanctos and communal prayers. Augustine’s work left an unresolved problem: the need to reconcile the theological aspect with the mnemonic function of memory practices for the …

“…Tamquam Civili Causa” – The Reception Of Vegetius And Frontinus In Geremia Da Montagnone’S Compendium Moralium Notabilium, Aaron J. Bolarinho

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis explores the transmission of the Epitome Rei Militaris of Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus and the Strategemata of Sextus Iulius Frontinus in the Compendium Moralium Notabilium. Completed by Paduan judge Geremiah of Montagnone in around 1310, the Compendium Moralium Notabilium is a large medieval florilegium contemporary with Thomas of Ireland’s Manipulus Florem. The Compendium is distinct from typical medieval florilegium due to its lay author, its internal organisation, and its inclusion of many classical Roman and Greek authors as well as common Italian proverbs and secular liturature. The Compendium also includes over 199 distinct selections from the military manuals …

Monstrous Muslims? Depicting Muslims In French Illuminated Manuscripts From 1200-1420, Benjamin Anthony Bertrand

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper examines depictions of Muslims in illuminated manuscripts produced in France between 1200-1420 that feature images of Christian-Muslim interactions. The study specifically looks at three popular manuscripts from the time: the Histoire d'Outremer, the Grandes Chroniques de France, and the Roman d'Alexandre en Prose. By examining the depictions of Saracens in these three manuscripts I attempt to gain an understanding of the artists' perceptions of Muslims. I argue that through analyzing the topoi employed by these artists we can understand how they and their audiences viewed Muslims. These images demonstrate that these artists understood Saracens to …

The Ethics Of Mourning: The Role Of Material Culture And Public Politics In The 'Book Of The Duchess' And The 'Pearl' Poem, Tarren Andrews

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This project is a socio-historic analysis of two late 14^th century dream visions: Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess and the Pearl poem. Utilizing Robert Pogue Harrison’s concept of objectifying grief through ritualized communal mourning, this thesis examines the ways in which mourning literature functioned as consolatory device, and a form of public performance for the powerful patrons who commissioned the pieces. By engaging with pre-existing communities of grief, material culture, and courtly discourse these poems perform the work of mourning while simultaneously enacting modes of public performativity that stress the ethics of grieving, and suggest that, for royal patrons, …