Troya Victa : Empire, Identity, And Apocalypse In The Frankish Chronicles Of The Fourth Crusade,
2022
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Troya Victa : Empire, Identity, And Apocalypse In The Frankish Chronicles Of The Fourth Crusade, Jordan Amspacher
Doctoral Dissertations
Histories of the Fourth Crusade have long revolved around the so-called “Diversion Question,” or the process by which a crusading army sworn to liberate the Levant from Muslim control ultimately found itself laying siege, not once but twice, to the largest city in Christian Europe. Competing answers to the Diversion Question have have tended to focus on the economic and diplomatic motivations of the crusade leadership. Scant attention, however, has been paid to the religious and intellectual motivations at play within the minds of these thirteenth-century Latin Christians. This dissertation examines intellectual trends in twelfth-century Latin Europe and the ways …
The Siege Of Calais During The Hundred Years War: An English Perspective, 1344-1347,
2022
University of Maine
The Siege Of Calais During The Hundred Years War: An English Perspective, 1344-1347, Jordan J. Bruso
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores the siege and capture of the port city of Calais in 1347 by King Edward III of England (1312-1377) during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). The capture of Calais was the culminating event of King Edward III’s 1346-7 military campaign in Normandy and France. This victory provided the English military with a strategically strong foothold on the European continent to conduct future military and economic operations. This thesis blends the methodological approach of “old military history” from the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with “new military history” beginning in the latter half of the twentieth century in an …
'Geomorlic' Or 'Eorlic?' Uncovering Early English Emotional Communities In "The Wanderer," "Deor," And "The Wife’S Lament",
2022
William & Mary
'Geomorlic' Or 'Eorlic?' Uncovering Early English Emotional Communities In "The Wanderer," "Deor," And "The Wife’S Lament", Hunter Phillips
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In my honors thesis, I uncover what I consider to be a poetic trope governing emotional expression in three of the Old English 'elegies.' Narrators in these poems engage the emotional values of the Old English "Heroic Tradition"-namely the value of keeping silent in the face of adversity-through abstracted and idealized figures like the 'eorl' (warrior/man). The invocation in these poems of the eorl and eorl-like figures such as a hlaford (lord) or geong mon (young man) functions as a poetic trope that signals the speakers engagement with the heroic emotional community represented by that figure. I name this …
The Effects Of Regional Separatism On Late Roman Identity In Fourteenth-Century Byzantium,
2022
University of Maine
The Effects Of Regional Separatism On Late Roman Identity In Fourteenth-Century Byzantium, Evangelos Zarkadas
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores how tendencies of regional separatism affected the political and ethnic contexts of late Roman identity during the course of the fourteenth century in the Byzantine Roman Empire. Fourteenth-century Byzantium was characterized by political fragmentation, significant sociopolitical changes and alterations, and subsequently a crisis of the Roman identity. The major question that the research will answer is: who was considered to be a Roman during the fourteenth century, and what did it mean for someone to hold that identity? The thesis will focus on two major and important geographical areas in the fourteenth century: the Principality of Achaia …
The Long Investiture Controversy: Western Europe's Power Struggle Between Church And State (494-1598),
2022
Dominican University of California
The Long Investiture Controversy: Western Europe's Power Struggle Between Church And State (494-1598), Kieran Vrklan
History | Senior Theses
Conflicts between the Catholic Church and European monarchs are nothing new. Foremost among this timeless conflict is the Investiture Controversy, beginning in 1076 due to a feud between Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV of Germany and ending in 1122 with the Concordat of Worms. Monarchs were appointing bishops and abbots, a job meant to be for the Pope. The Concordat sought to alleviate the conflict by stating the Church had the sole ability to select the bishops and appoint abbots of monasteries. However, this crisis continued centuries after as monarchs sought to appoint, or publicly support, clergy to …
The Unity Of Normanitas: Norman Identity In Twelfth-Century Scotland And Southern Italy,
2022
Clemson University
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, …
A Performance Of Disease And Its Cures: Lovesickness In Medieval Iberia,
2022
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
A Performance Of Disease And Its Cures: Lovesickness In Medieval Iberia, Lillian B. Sanders
Masters Theses
In the context of late medieval Iberia, lovesickness as a real disease was both treatable and threatening to one’s lived experience. Different forms of lovesick cures, from both learned and vernacular healers, arose from the Galenic regime of the humoral body. Cures such as charms, mixtures, and verbal expressions helped heal lovesick patients, as is shown in the archive through sources like remedy books and literary texts depicting lovesick affliction. Much of the current scholarship on lovesickness focuses on medieval medicine through the archive. Through the lens of performance studies, I argue that medieval Iberians enacted cures on lovesick patients …
Unearthing The Witch: Reckoning With Gender, Magic, And The Unusual Dead Within Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burials,
2022
University of Mary Washington
Unearthing The Witch: Reckoning With Gender, Magic, And The Unusual Dead Within Anglo-Saxon Deviant Burials, Samantha Melvin
Student Research Submissions
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.,
2022
University of Richmond
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,
2022
St. Mary’s Academy
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.
Angels, Snakes, And Everything In Between: The Fall Of The Byzantine Eunuch,
2022
Saint Mary's Academy
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 13th 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,
2022
Saint Mary's Academy
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.
Poetry To Prose: The Influence Of Herodotus On Written History,
2022
Grant High School
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. …
Of Vultures, Souls, And Galen: Theology And Medical Cures In Early Medieval Europe,
2022
Southern Adventist University
Of Vultures, Souls, And Galen: Theology And Medical Cures In Early Medieval Europe, Christina Cannon
Campus Research Day
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,
2022
Dartmouth College
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. …
Silver, Ships And Soil: Gift-Giving In Medieval Icelandic Sagas,
2022
William & Mary
Silver, Ships And Soil: Gift-Giving In Medieval Icelandic Sagas, Emma Eubank
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Through applying anthropological theory to gift exchange in medieval Icelandic sagas, we can uncover a wealth of information about the construction and reinforcement of gender, power, and value. This study incorporates Mauss, Sahlins, and Graeber alongside other theorists to analyze how the narrators of Egil's Saga, The Saga of Grettir the Strong, and Gisli Sursson's Saga perceived a past Iceland.
From Spark And Flame: A Study Of The Origins Of Gunpowder Firearms,
2022
Harding University
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 …
Homoerotic Medievalism: Looking At Queer Desire In The Homosocial Relationships Of Chaucer’S “The Knight’S Tale” And Fletcher And Shakespeare’S The Two Noble Kinsmen,
2022
Florida International University
Homoerotic Medievalism: Looking At Queer Desire In The Homosocial Relationships Of Chaucer’S “The Knight’S Tale” And Fletcher And Shakespeare’S The Two Noble Kinsmen, Juan P. Espinosa
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this thesis is to explore queer interiority within the heteronormative social constructions of late medieval England. Queer interiority is not an occurrence of modernity, but rather a response to social constructions that date back to the Middle Ages. It is essential to account for queerness in the Middle Ages because authors like Chaucer promote the successive resurfacing of queer characters within heteronormative social constructions. Writing during the queer reign of Richard II, Chaucer constructs the interior identities of Palamon and Arcite as a reflection of the king and the political norms of England. Inspired by Chaucer, authors …
Negotiating Boundaries In Medieval Literature And Culture: Essays On Marginality, Difference, And Reading Practices In Honor Of Thomas Hahn,
2022
University of Montevallo
Negotiating Boundaries In Medieval Literature And Culture: Essays On Marginality, Difference, And Reading Practices In Honor Of Thomas Hahn, Valerie B. Johnson, Kara L. Mcshane
Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures
Thomas Hahn’s work laid the foundations for medieval romance studies to embrace the study of alterity and hybridity within Middle English literature. His contributions to scholarship brought Robin Hood studies into the critical mainstream, normalized the study of historically marginalized literature and peoples, and encouraged scholars to view medieval readers as actively encountering others and exploring themselves. This volume employs his methodologies – careful attention to texts and their contexts, cross-cultural readings, and theoretically-informed analysis – to highlight the literary culture of late medieval England afresh. Addressing long-established canonical works such as Chaucer, Christine de Pizan, and Malory alongside understudied …
Heavy Metal In Medieval Europe,
2022
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Heavy Metal In Medieval Europe, Sean M. Klimmek
Masters Theses
How and why did plate armor come to be widely used in Medieval Europe? I trace the historical development of armor in Europe from antiquity to the middle ages, and then identify the main causes that pushed European warriors to develop and adopt plate armor from the 14th to the 16th centuries. I rely on prior research by scholars and historians of arms and armor, as well as primary source documents that describe arms and armor and their use in tournaments and on the battlefield. I conclude that a combination of social, political, military, and technical factors pushed European warriors …
