European History Commons^™

A Prosaic People? Literature, Propaganda, And National Identity In Second World War Britain, William L. Maines

Honors Theses

During the early years of the Second World War, a typically unofficial and loose coalition of British newspapers, publishers, propagandists, and booksellers mobilized Britain’s imagined literary past and present as a part of the war effort. They defined the nation through its imagined literary proclivities— its penchant for literary production and consumption, and its “unique” attitude toward literary freedom— and in opposition to the literary tyranny of Nazi Germany. Marshaling the nation’s mythological literary heritage, they enlisted Shakespeare and Milton in the war effort, portraying them as temperate and civilian English heroes. While the rhetoric of “British bookishness” hardly went …

How Tales Of Blood Libel Travel: Depictions Of Jews In Fifteenth-Century European World Chronicles, Rachel Bard

Fasciculus Temporum

This paper considers the correlation between the popularity of Werner Rolevinck’s Fasciculus Temporum and other world chronicles, and the antisemitic tropes and blood libel accusations directed against Jewish communities in later medieval Europe.

The Fasciculus repeats many stock tales of Jewish ritual murder, including a relatively little-known story from Bern, Switzerland, that Rolevinck may have adapted from the Berner Chronik. This paper also considers the connection the first Spanish printing of the Fasciculus Temporum, in Seville in 1480, with the only known Jewish ritual murder accusation in Spain, which dates to 1490, and which in turn may have been …

Barbarians & Heretics: Anti-Greek And Anti-Latin Sentiments In Crusade-Era Chronicles, 1096-1204, Ryan Saputo

Honors Theses and Capstones

Historians have debated the role of stereotypes and hostile language in the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople mostly through the outdated "Clash of Civilizations" lens. This work investigates the role of hostile stereotypes in both Western and Byzantine narrative histories discussing the first four crusades through a deep textual and literary analysis. This work argues that contemporary narrative histories from the first four crusades demonstrate that virulently hostile attitudes abounded in both Byzantine and Western sources, and that these attitudes greatly affected diplomatic and political decision making during Byzantine-Crusader interactions from 1096-1204. This work's close textual examination of …

Preliminary Report 2021: Coring And Excavations At Hof In Hjaltadalur, John M. Steinberg, Zachary N. Guttman, Guðný Zoëga

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

This report outlines the 2021 work at Hof as part of the Hjaltadalur Archaeological Survey Project (HASP). The results of soil coring suggest that the site of Hof is relatively small compared to other settlement farms. The footprint of the farmstead expands substantially after the 11^th Century. The midden from the 11^th and 12^th centuries appears to be located just north of the main farmhouse (Hof 1). Cores from this area show an abundance of midden on either side of the white AD 1104 tephra. There is a notable absence of post-1300 midden deposits. The excavation unit …

Vernacular Print, Johann Prüss, And The Fasciculus Temporum, Julia Hines

Fasciculus Temporum

This research discusses biographical information on Strasbourg printer Johann Prüss and his vernacular German work, and offers a statistical and categorical comparison to other contemporary Strasbourg printers and their vernacular German works.

Using the British Library's Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC) and other sources, I created a table in the appendix that lists all the known vernacular works of each printer and their date of publication. Lastly, this paper discusses the similarities and differences between the 1490 Latin edition of the Fasciculus Temporum and the following German edition printed by Prüss in 1492.

Preliminary Report 2021: Geophysics, Coring, And Excavations At Hólar; Geophysics At Kálfsstaðir, Guðný Zoëga, John M. Steinberg

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

This report outlines the 2021 work at Hólar in Hjaltadalur as part of the Hjaltadalur Archaeological Survey Project (HASP). The results of soil coring suggest that the farmstead of Hólar is the most extensive farmstead measured using this method in the area of Skagafjörður. After over 1200 cores and 17 excavations (6 of which were part of the 2021 research), there are still no confirmed pre-1104 cultural deposits at Hólar. This difficulty in identifying the pre-1104 domestic occupation implies that Viking Age Hólar was probably not large. The Hólar farmstead domestic space seems to be tightly defined and constrained rather …

The Loyalty Of The Lords Of Albret: An Investigation Of The Gascon Rolls At The Outset Of The Hundred Years War, Jason Delaney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis will examine the juxtaposition of the duchy of Gascony's importance to the Plantagenet Crown with the difficulties administering the region and protecting it from French interference during the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth centuries, resulting in the necessity of securing the loyalty of Gascon nobles for assistance. The lords of Albret were powerful allies under Edward I (1272-1307), and their defection to the French under his son, Edward II (1307-1327), put Plantagenet Gascony in a vulnerable position when the Hundred Years War began in 1337. Resecuring the loyalty of Albret – and other powerful Gascon lords – was crucial for …

Rabbits And Hogs And Bears, Oh My! Monstrous Births And Control Over Pregnant Bodies, Elizabeth Klein

Undergraduate Research Awards

Monstrous birth stories occupied early modern European society between the 16th and 18th centuries. These stories depicted gruesome and fantastical births influenced by the imaginations and ill virtue of pregnant women, and the tales were the subject of much interest within the intellectual and medical community. The discussion of these births that took place among the male members of such communities were particularly revelatory of the way female bodies were viewed and controlled in early modern Europe. These conversations are evidenced in the writings of 16th and 17th-century European physicians about the power of women’s imaginations over their pregnant bodies, …

The Politics Of Eternity: Public History And Monuments To Memory In Kings Park, 1902-1934, Anthony Critchley

Theses

The sacred sites of Gargatup (Mount Eliza) and Gooninup (Kennedy’s Spring) were revered by Whadjuk Noongar people long before the arrival of Europeans in Western Australia. Now part of the site of Kings Park in Perth, it remains cherished by today’s community for its botanic beauty and panoramic views. European traditions have replaced the Indigenous cultural heritage, most notably with the erection of war monuments, statues, and memorial plaques, amidst the herbaceous gardens and native flora. The first president of the Kings Park Board, Sir John Forrest, and his successor, Arthur Lovekin, envisioned that the Park would emulate ornate British …

“To Multiply Corn Two-Hundred-Fold”: The Alchemical Augmentation Of Wheat Seeds In Seventeenth-Century English Husbandry, Justin Niermeier-Dohoney

Arts and Communication Faculty Publications

Agricultural reform movements proliferated in seventeenth-century Europe. For many who sought to make farming more economically productive, the practices of chymistry offered a way to accomplish these goals. Placed in the context of the development of a “vegetable philosophy,” or a theory of generation and growth across mineralogical and botanical domains, this article examines the application of chymical techniques in the attempt to enhance wheat seeds through seed-steeping and “fructifying” experiments among seventeenth-century agricultural reformers, particularly in England. I focus on three main sources: instructional husbandry manuals describing how to create “fructifying waters” to fertilize these seeds, the writings of …

"Rusticall Chymistry": Alchemy, Saltpeter Projects, And Experimental Fertilizers In Seventeenth-Century English Agriculture", Justin Niermeier-Dohoney

Arts and Communication Faculty Publications

As the primary ingredient in gunpowder, saltpeter was an extraordinarily important commodity in the early modern world. Historians of science and technology have long studied its military applications but have rarely focused on its uses outside of warfare. Due to its potential effectiveness as a fertilizer, saltpeter was also an integral component of experimental agricultural reform movements in the early modern period and particularly in seventeenth-century England. This became possible for several reasons: the creation of a thriving domestic saltpeter production industry in the second half of the sixteenth century; the development of vitalist alchemical theories that sought a unified …

Left To Blind Destruction: An Exploration Of Post-Punk Britain Through The Lens Of Manchester's Own Joy Division (1973-1980), Emily Wingfield

Capstone Showcase

This thesis explores the UK post-punk movement, looking at how the movement emerged within the political and social climate of 1970s and early 1980s Britain and the key characteristics of the genre. I also provide a deeper exploration of the movement through a case study of Joy Division. The central questions within my research are: What was the social and political climate of Britain during the 1970s and 1980s? How did this influence the emergence of the post-punk movement? What are the complexities and nuances of Joy Division and its place in the Manchester music scene? How do these earn …

History, Memory, And National Identity; The Formation Of The Russian Nation After The Katyn Massacre, Juliana Messina

Scripps Senior Theses

The Katyn Forest Massacre is one example of an event where the recorded history and collective memory do not align. At times when events are misrepresented through media and intentional deception, those who remember what actually took place pass on the knowledge collectively, allowing a collective understanding that spites the historical record. These intersections are defining moments for national identity, where the image a state presents to the world conflicts with how their actions are actually perceived. This is true for Katyn. For decades, the event was denied and misrepresented by the Soviet Union who denounced accusations and convinced foreign …

Russian Women Emigres After The Revolution, Kaelen Sauriol

All Master's Theses

Revolution, civil war, and the eventual victory of the Bolshevik Party unsettled millions of Russian intellectuals, forcing many abroad. Defining and sustaining Russian intellectual culture outside of Russia through art, prose, politics, religion, and literature was a mission that men and women of the émigré intelligentsia shared. As the Soviet Union strengthened its identity, the émigrés also hoped to create a distinction between Soviets and Russians, as well as a distinction between European and Russian. They hoped to protect “true Russianness” for those who remained in the Soviet Union, and they dreamed of returning to Russia themselves. In the event, …

The Holocaust In Slovakia: The Deportation Of 1942 Through The Prism Of Oral History, Peter Salner

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

On October 28, 1918, after the end of the Great War, Slovakia became part of the Czechoslovak Republic. Two decades later, on October 6, 1938, the country’s political leadership declared autonomy, and within a few months, on March 14, 1939, the Slovak National Assembly voted for the establishment of an independent state. Already during the period of autonomy, the government adopted anti-Jewish legislation (this trend would continue throughout the brief lifespan of the new state) aimed at gradually shutting Jews out of social and economic life. This state-sponsored persecution of the Jews culminated in mass deportations which began in 1942. …

Epiphanies, Metaphors, And Liminality: Religion And Mountains In The Seventeenth Century English Mind, Ethan Smith

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

This thesis studies the relationship between religion and mountains as represented in seventeenth century English thought. In particular, it seeks to discover trends of continuity in connections between divinity and mountains. It demonstrates that at least two distinct trends of continuity exist. First, between mountains and divinity as represented by metaphor and allegory, both represented in a variety of mediums, from poetry to letters and books. And secondly, it demonstrates continuity with regards to mountain experiences, which often evoke religion, either as a religious experience, experiences that use religious language, or experiences to religious places. In charting these continuities, it …

The Changing Evaluations Of Black Skin, White Masks Throughout History, Paul Gonzalez

Theses and Dissertations

Black Skin, White Masks, produced in 1952 by Frantz Fanon is an iconic piece of decolonization literature in which he speaks out against the physical, psychological, social, and economic effects of colonialism in Africa and evaluations of his work have continually evolved throughout the last 70 years. From 1952 to 1960, evaluations of his book was mostly confined in France, then in 1960 to 1968 his work was actively used in America as a guide on achieving political freedom for African Americans and analyzing the Civil Rights Movement and by 1990 onward, his book has been used to analyze …

Murder And Massacre In Seventeenth Century England, Andrew Quesenberry

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Religion was almost always involved in murder and massacre during seventeenth century England, if not in its content, then at least in its interpretation. This work will support this assertion by examining multiple case studies of murder in seventeenth century England, which will simultaneously give the reader a more complete picture of the nature of homicide during the period. Specifically, the case studies consist of both homicides and infanticides, and explore the relation of the Devil to violent crime in seventeenth century England.

Young Adult Holocaust Literature: How Is The Holocaust Depicted And What Is Appropriate To Teach?, Madison Hilbert

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

The Cartulary Of Prémontré: People, Places, And Networks From Medieval To Digital, Yvonne Seale, Heather Wacha

History

The cartulary of the northern French abbey of Prémontré was produced in the mid-thirteenth century, and preserves acts dating mostly from the 1120s to 1230s, with some later additions. Although the abbey of Prémontré was the mother house of a prominent monastic order, and despite the relative abundance of its documentary record, that source base has been comparatively little studied. In this article, we discuss the process of undertaking the first full edition of this manuscript, some preliminary findings, and the scope that new digital technologies might afford in future prosopographical studies of the cartulary.