History Commons^™

Princes, Patriarch, And The People: William Of Tyre And Popular Legitimacy In The People’S Crusade And The Principality Of Antioch, 1095-1143, Nicholas T. Thompson

The Purdue Historian

This paper will focus on popular legitimacy in regard to William of Tyre’s coverage of the People’s Crusade in the 1090s and the Principality of Antioch from 1130-1143. This paper involves a discussion of Peter the Hermit, Alice of Antioch, Ralph of Domfront, and Raymond of Antioch as depicted in A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. In his discussion of these political figures, William reveals his understanding of popular legitimacy, namely what makes popular action acceptable and unacceptable. The analysis focuses on how William uses popular action to tailor legitimacy in accordance with his political narrative. This work …

The Renaissance Plutocracy Of Cosimo De’ Medici: How He Used Patronage To His Advantage In 15th Century Florence, Victoria L. Schultz

The Exposition

This paper provides a detailed account of Cosimo de' Medici's patronage practices and the impact they had on the political and cultural landscape of Renaissance Florence. Cosimo consolidated power and influence in Florence, positioning himself as the city's preeminent political and cultural figure. This paper will examine the ways Cosimo leveraged his wealth and connections to establish a Renaissance plutocracy in Florence with a focus on his use of patronage to gain and maintain power.

Enlightening The “Dark Ages”: Historical Genealogy And The Medieval Narrative, Jess R. O’Leary

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

The Battle Of Tours Reconsidered, Paul Aitchison

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

This paper examines the Battle of Tours/Poitiers in 732 between the Merovingian Mayor of the Palace, Charles Martel, and the Umayyad governor-general of al-Andalus in modern-day Spain, Abdul Rahman Al-Ghafiqi. Since the pivotal works of Sir Edward Gibbons were published in 1776, the battle has been seen as keeping Europe from falling completely to Islam. More recent scholarship highlights the battle as pivotal in Charles's quest to consolidate power in his ultimately successful bid to create a new power in western Europe, the Carolingian dynasty, which would eventually be created in the crowning as the Holy Roman Empire his grandson, …

Death In Catharism And Its Threat To The Church, Evan Leahy

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Catharism was one of the most influential and consequential movements in southern France and northern Italy during the medieval period. This article traces the history and main ideas of Catharism, arguing that the Cathar beliefs, rituals, and conceptions of death were the most threatening aspect of the sect to the orthodox Catholic church and is what inevitably led to the majority of their followers being systematically executed.

Playing With Fire: The Medieval Judicial Ordeals And Their Downfall, Aaron Larson

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Trials by ordeal in the Middle Ages prove to be some of the most complex secular trials in all of history. Both trial by fire, and trial by water looked to call God's judgment into play, hoping that He would make the decisions of guilt or innocence. God is all-knowing. He is all-powerful. Therefore He has all of the relevant information to determine the fates of those who go through the ordeals. Despite this, the theologians in the medieval Church looked to lessen clerical involvement in the ordeals. In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council met, and the ordeals ceased to …

Medieval Infertility: Treatments, Cures, And Consequences, Zia Simpson

The Forum: Journal of History

Since the first civilizations emerged, reproductive ability has been one of the most prominent elements in assessing a woman’s value to society. Other characteristics such as beauty, intelligence, and wealth may have been granted comparable consequence, but those are arbitrary and improvable. Fertility is genetic, and for centuries it was beyond human control. Among the medieval European nobility, fertility held even greater power. The absence of an heir could, either directly or indirectly, bring about war, economic depression, and social disorder. Catholicism provided a refuge by allowing barren women to retain their hopes, while simultaneously enriching Rome’s coffers. Other women …

Opportunism & Duty: Gendered Perceptions Of Women's Involvement In Crusade Negotiation And Mediation (1147-1254), Gordon M. Reynolds

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Women’s involvement in negotiation and mediation during the Middle Ages has received close scrutiny. However, few scholars have concentrated their investigations on the trends in female-led negotiations during the crusades in the Near East, and the significance of the religious connotations of such leadership in this theatre. There were dramatic societal shifts in the Latin East during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, most significantly in the aftermath of the Battle of Hattin and loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The destruction of much of the Latin East’s crusader states that followed Jerusalem’s fall displaced many individuals, and with a plethora of Christian nobles …

Bartered Bodies: Medieval Pilgrims And The Tissue Of Faith, George D. Greenia

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In ‘The Bartered Body,’ George Greenia disentangles the complex desires and experiences of religious travellers of the High Middle Ages who knew the spiritual usefulness of their vulnerable flesh. The bodily remains of the saints housed in pilgrim shrines were not just remnants of a redeemed past, but open portals for spiritual exchange with the living body of the visiting pilgrim.

Book Review Of King & Etty's England And Scotland, 1286-1603, Austin M. Setter

The Hilltop Review

This review addresses the strengths and weaknesses of Andy King and Claire Etty's 2016 book England and Scotland, 1286-1603.

Chinese Porcelain And The Material Taxonomies Of Medieval Rabbinic Law: Encounters With Disruptive Substances In Twelfth-Century Yemen, Elizabeth Lambourn, Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman

The Medieval Globe

This article focuses on a set of legal questions about ṣīnī vessels (literally, “Chinese” vessels) sent from the Jewish community in Aden to Fustat (Old Cairo) in the mid-1130s CE and now preserved among the Cairo Geniza holdings in Cambridge University Library. This is the earliest dated and localized query about the status of ṣīnī vessels with respect to the Jewish law of vessels used for food consumption. Our analysis of these queries suggests that their phrasing and timing can be linked to the contemporaneous appearance in the Yemen of a new type of Chinese ceramic ware, qingbai, which confounded …

Unconfessing Transgender: Dysphoric Youths And The Medicalization Of Madness In John Gower’S “Tale Of Iphis And Ianthe”, M W. Bychowski

Accessus

On the brink of the twenty-first century, Judith Butler argues in “Undiagnosing Gender” that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines the psychiatric condition of “Gender Identity Disorder” (or “Gender Dysphoria”) in ways that control biological diversity and construct “transgender” as a marginalized identity. By turning the study of gender away from vulnerable individuals and towards the broader systems of power, Butler works to liberate bodies from the medical mechanisms managing difference and precluding potentially disruptive innovations in forms of life and embodiment by creating categories of gender and disability.

Turning to the brink of the 15 …

The War Of The Two Jeannes And The Role Of The Duchess In Lordship In The Fourteenth Century, Katrin E. Sjursen

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In the mid-fourteenth century, two women headed opposing parties in a civil war for control of the duchy of Brittany in France. Conventional scholarship explains their involvement in politics and warfare as exceptions possible only during emergencies. Contemporary chronicles and the letters of the two women themselves, however, tell another story, one in which these two women participated in politics and warfare even before their husbands entered captivity. Their participation makes sense if we recognize that medieval society understood lordship as a form of shared governance performed by a noble couple. While separate roles did exist for the husband and …

The Knights Of The Front: Medieval History’S Influence On Great War Propaganda, Haley E. Claxton

Crossing Borders: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Spanning a number of academic areas, “Knights of the Front: Medieval History’s Influence on Great War Propaganda” focuses on the emergence of medieval imagery in the First World War propaganda. Examining several specific uses of medieval symbolism in propaganda posters from both Central and Allied powers, the article provides insight into the narrative of war, both politically and culturally constructed. The paper begins with an overview of the psychology behind visual persuasion and the history behind Europe’s cultural affinity for “chivalry,” then continues into specific case studies of period propaganda posters that hold not only themes of military glory and …

Introducing The Medieval Globe, Carol Symes

The Medieval Globe

The concept of “the medieval” has long been essential to global imperial ventures, national ideologies, and the discourse of modernity. And yet the projects enabled by this powerful construct have essentially hindered investigation of the world’s interconnected territories during a millennium of movement and exchange. The mission of The Medieval Globe is to reclaim this “middle age” and to place it at the center of global studies.

From Medieval To Renaissance: Paradigm Shifts And Artistic Problems In English Renaissance Drama, John Boni

Quidditas

In describing the change from Medieval to Renaissance, Theodore Spencer writes;

There finally came a time when realism, at first connected inextricably with religion, was used for its own sake. What we call the Renaissance began at that moment.

For Spencer, "realism" denotes an increased concern with depicting the actual world itself. As an illustration, one may cite the exclamation attributed to Paolo Uccello, "What a wonderful thing is this perspective!", an exclamation over a technique which aided him in more accurate representation of the world as he had begun to perceive it.

Warm Journal Volume 1 Issue 2, 1972-2021 Women's Art Registry Of Minnesota

WARM Journal

This issue contains two interviews, one with Pat Olson about her graphic design work and life as an artist, and one with B.J. Shigaki about her life and being the director of the Rochester Art Center. There is a collection of poetry by Jill Breckenridge-Haldeman, and a review of Obstacle Race by Germaine Greer, a book on women’s “fine art” from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. Also included in the issue were submissions of artistry with descriptions from members of WARM.