Medieval History Commons^™

Who Does She Think She Is?, Caroline W. Bynum

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Abstract: A retired medievalist uses an incident from her early career to urge younger scholars to both self-confidence and realism about their own scholarship. Pointing out that suspicion of bright, high-achieving women has not disappeared, she argues that the greatest weapon for triumphing over it is women’s self-confidence that they set their own standards for excellence.

When Feminism Isn't Enough, Monica H. Green

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

An invited “retrospective” on Monica H. Green's career in medieval studies.

Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments For An Ill-Used Past, Ana C. Núñez

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Lay Saint: Charity And Charismatic Authority In Medieval Italy, Mary Anne Gonzales

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Nuns’ Priests’ Tales: Men And Salvation In Medieval Women’S Monastic Life, Holle Canatella

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

This Is My Body: Eucharistic Theology And Anthropology In The Writings Of Gertrude The Great Of Helfta, Jessica Barr

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Margery Kempe’S Spiritual Medicine: Suffering, Transformation And The Life-Course, Lucy Barnhouse

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Letters Of Margaret Of Anjou, Gabrielle F. Storey

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Notes On Contributors

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Unity Of Normanitas: Norman Identity In Twelfth-Century Scotland And Southern Italy, Zachariah J. Chamberlin

All Theses

Scholars have rigorously debated the extent to which the Normans remained a definitively identifiable group as they branched out from Normandy in endeavors of conquest and expansion. In the twentieth century, historians such as Charles Homer Haskins and David Douglas maintained the unity of Norman identity throughout the British Isles, southern Italy, and the crusader states. Other scholars like R. H. C. Davis argued that the Normans were merely extraordinary cultural assimilators and decried the notion of Norman unity, or Normanitas, as a myth propagated by chroniclers and historians dating back to the tenth century. Drawing upon recent scholarship, …

Unearthing The Witch: Reckoning With Gender, Magic, And The Unusual Dead Within Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burials, Samantha Melvin

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The fifth to seventh centuries CE, or the Migration Period, marked the development of Anglo-Saxon culture and society in England. The early Anglo-Saxons are known largely through their material culture and mortuary practices, left behind in medieval cemeteries that twist their way across the English landscape. The remains of early Anglo-Saxons tell rich and interesting histories about past peoples, but within the broader landscapes of these cemeteries are deviant burials. These are burials that are specifically typified as ones that ‘deviate’ from the norm, usually indicating that the inhumed individual was punished in death for actions committed in life. These …

Noble Pagans And Satanic Saracens: Literary Portrayals Of Islam In Medieval Italy And Iberia., John Spencer Jones

Honors Theses

The medieval Christian world is generally associated with a kind of religious zealotry that would seem to preclude the development of nuanced understandings of the religious Other. The heightened interreligious contact in regions such as Iberia and the Italian Peninsula, however, made room for relationships with members of other faiths that resulted in more developed ideas about these other creeds. This honors thesis examines the portrayal of Islam in the Christian literature of medieval Italy and Iberia, dating from the late 11th century to the middle of the 14th century. It categorizes a few types of the literary “use” of …

The Failure Of The Anabaptist Kingdom Of Münster, Sonja Cutts

Young Historians Conference

In February 1534, after rebelling against the authority of their Catholic prince-bishop, the German town of Münster fell under Anabaptist rule. During the next sixteen months, the city’s religious leaders would advocate in favor of Münster becoming a “community of goods,” in which all goods are shared in common. However, their egalitarian dream never fully materialized. This paper examines how the hidden motives of Münster’s political leaders both helped the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster come into being and prevented the accomplishment of its economic goals.

Poetry To Prose: The Influence Of Herodotus On Written History, Frances B. Currie

Young Historians Conference

In his book, The Histories, Herodotus of Halicarnassus expertly displayed his inquiries into the cultures and conflicts that transformed the Mediterranean world during the Greco-Persian Wars of the fifth century BCE. By writing his narrative in prose, citing his work, and providing cultural reasoning for past events, Herodotus earned himself the nicknames “father of history” and “father of comparative ethnography,” but his inclusion of fables also labeled him the “father of lies.” A historian named Thucydides eventually refined the historical genre to focus on politics without the inclusion of myths, narrowing the discipline of history for another thousand years. …

Angels, Snakes, And Everything In Between: The Fall Of The Byzantine Eunuch, Tess E. Nye

Young Historians Conference

Great figures of fascination, eunuchs have mystified ancients and contemporaries alike through their physical mutilation, sexual ambiguity, and distinct roles within civilizations and societies. Underpinning Byzantine imperial court life, eunuchs possessed great influence in domestic and political spheres for much of the empire’s history. Following the Latin occupation of Constantinople in the 13^th century and extending onwards, however, eunuchs and their influence became increasingly obsolete. This paper explores the broad scope of the Byzantine eunuch’s social and political power and the causes for the eunuch’s decline nearing the collapse of the Byzantine empire.

Paving The Way: Women In Music At Ferrara, Italy During The Late 1500s, Ella Yarris

Young Historians Conference

During the late Renaissance period, musical advancement and development thrived in the courts of dukes around Italy. However, in Ferrara around 1580, a group of women began to gain unprecedented attention for their court performances and dedication to music. Interestingly, this region was also home to a prolific group of cloistered musicians. This paper explores the impact that the Ferrarese madrigal singers would have on the future of music professions for women of all social classes, as well as the relationship of court music to religious music in a time where life as a whole was becoming more secular.

Of Vultures, Souls, And Galen: Theology And Medical Cures In Early Medieval Europe, Christina Cannon

Campus Research Month

Examining how medical cures in early medieval Europe reflect the theology of the time is one that involves tracing and defining the emergence of a more defined field of "medicine," beginning with Galen. The work briefly examines prevailing contemporary views of the relation of body to soul, as well as what medical cures looked like. Understanding how 'pagan' thought was conceptualized and related to 'Christian' thought during the period is also helpful, and the work seeks to broadly consider these themes while noting particular examples that answer the question of how theology and medicine were related in medieval Europe.

Reimagining History Dataset 3.0, Michelle R. Warren, Neil Weijer

Other Faculty Materials

The Middle English prose Brut chronicle survives in nearly two hundred manuscripts. This corpus has been the subject of extensive study for more than a hundred years. The most recent research, however, has turned out to be the most fragile. In 2017, the multiyear digital humanities project “Imaging History: Perspectives on Late Medieval Vernacular Historiography” disappeared from the live Internet, only a decade after its publication. Shortly afterwards, we began a project called "Re-Imagining History"--to create a new dataset of information about the Brut manuscript corpus and learn how digital infrastructure might shape the production and preservation of historical data. …

Res Historica, Volume 1, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The inaugural journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg, Hunter Curlee, and Johnathan Sorce. Cover art for this volume is the Phi Alpha Theta: Alpha Rho Epsilon logo created by Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg.

From Spark And Flame: A Study Of The Origins Of Gunpowder Firearms, Avery D. Shepherd

Tenor of Our Times

All modern civilizations look to gunpowder for their weapons of war. Few advancements have been able to match their destructive capabilities, versatility, and ease of production. While it is clear to see the modern usage of the advancement, gunpowder’s origins have been debated over centuries. A study of gunpowder is a study of alchemy throughout the middle ages and across the known world. That study begins in China around the 9th century, where the invention is developed into a weapon of war. Advancements in gunpowder weapons continued as the neighboring Mongols took the technology for themselves. From there, the Westward …