Comparative Literature Commons^™

Embellishing The Past: Fernando Del Pulgar And History At The Court Of The Catholic Monarchs, Bretton Rodriguez

Quidditas

Composed in the late fifteenth century, Fernando del Pulgar’s Crónica de los Reyes Católicos was the official account of – and therefore one of the best sources for – some of the most significant events in late medieval Spanish history. Within his narrative, Pulgar described the marriage of Isabel and Fernando (better known today as the Catholic Monarchs), the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, and the buildup to the conquest of Granada. Despite the importance of the events that he described, as well as his own role as official historian, Pulgar revealed a radical understanding of history and history writing …

The World Of Miracles: Science, And Healing In Caesarius Of Heisterbach’S Dialogus Miraculorum (Ca.1240) In Competition With Magic, Albrecht Classen

Quidditas

This paper offers a close reading of some of the miracle tales dedicated to the Virgin Mary as contained in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogus miraculorum (ca. 1240) in order to shed light on the fundamental narrative structures of this genre, the association between the narratives and their material background, and to build a case to argue that medieval miracle narratives actually shared much in common with the discourse on magic. After a critical examination of magic itself and its properties as imagined or realized in the Middle Ages, the analysis highlights the ‘miraculous’ or maybe even ‘magical’ features of Caesarius’s …

Delno C. West Award

Quidditas

The West Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a senior scholar at the annual conference.

Recipient of the Delno C. West Award for 2019

Corinne Wieben

Front Matter

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

“We Are Perpetually Moralists:” Samuel Johnson And Renaissance Epistemology, Brandon Schneeberger

Quidditas

This article discusses how new Renaissance epistemological views shaped the important eighteenth-century critic Samuel Johnson. I argue that Johnson emphasizes conversation as an important element of epistemology, pushing against what was an over-emphasize on book learning perpetuated by educators such as Peter Ramus. The rise in print-culture led to a shift in epistemology, in which knowledge could be seen as linear, codified, or fixed. While Johnson works both within and against these new epistemological trends, I argue that his criticism of John Milton’s poetry can be appreciated more fully if Johnson’s own reservations about print culture are kept in mind. …

The Fiscal Policy Of Richard Iii Of England, Alex Brayson

Quidditas

Influenced by the “new” fiscal historiographical agenda of the 1990s, this article pioneers a radical reconstruction of the Yorkist-era royal budget. This demonstrates that the increased role of demesne revenues managed by the royal chamber in financing total expenditures under Edward IV, which was famously applauded by B. P. Wolffe, signally failed to provide for long-term fiscal stability. The removal of Edward’s French pension in 1483 led to a substantial deficit which compelled Richard III to contravene his brother’s pledge to “live of his own”. Richard’s sustained attempts, during 1483-4, to resurrect and revise controversial late Lancastrian attempts to secure …

“Sapere Videre” How A Spreadsheet Helps “Knowing How To See” Royal Power On Display In England’S Counties, 1277 To 1642, James H. Forse

Quidditas

Using a spreadsheet tracking touring in England’s counties by entertainers attached to members of England’s royal families suggests that such activity was wide-spread dating from the time of Edward III, and that those entertainers may have served to “advertise” royal power.

Stricken By Terror: Seeing And Knowing In Late Medieval Criminal Case Records, Corinne Wieben

Quidditas

Medieval legal records frequently feature parties and lawyers willing to stretch the truth and weave tales that fulfill statutory requirements and promote their cases, but what happens when defendants testify against themselves? When Giambono of Matraia, a monk from the monastery of San Ponziano in Lucca, appeared before Lucca’s episcopal court in 1356, he found himself facing charges of adultery, robbery, and murder. After four witnesses testified against him, Giambono confessed. When all seemed lost, Ser Giovanni Folchini, a well-known Lucchese notary, appeared as Giambono’s legal representative and claimed his client’s confession was false, since “he said these things while …

Eric H. Cline, 1177 B.C. - The Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton University Press, 2015, Mariana Tepfenhart

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Comparative Civilizations Review Style Sheet, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Crime And Civilization: Identification; Impacts; Threats And Rapid Response – June 2018, Lynn Rhodes

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Jihad: Peaceful Applications For Society And The Individual, Norman C. Rothman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Niccolo Leo Caldararo, Big Brains And The Human Superorganism: Why Special Brains Appear In Hominids And Other Social Animals. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

William Rosen, Justinian's Flea. Penguin Books, 2008, Mariana Tepfenhart

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

End Matter, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Eric Ashley Hairston, The Ebony Column: Classics, Civilization, And The African American Reclamation Of The West. Stanford University Press, 2014, John Berteaux

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

The Russian Euro-Asian Movement And Its Geopolitical Consequences, Piotr Eberhardt

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Policies Through Which Central Eurasian Nations Are Promoting Their Civilizational Experiences: An Exercise In 'Soft Power' And Global Image Making, Alicia Campi

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

48th Annual Iscsc Conference

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

François Guizot, The History Of Civilization In Europe. Liberty Fund Inc., 2013, Mariana Tepfenhart

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Comparing Post-Expansion Integration Policies Of The Early Roman Republic And The Early Chu State From A Geopolitical Perspective, Pengfei Su

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Comparative Civilizations Review No. 79 Full Issue, Comparative Civilizations Review

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Telling The Story Of A Forgotten Martyr: Step One, Caleb Deppermann, Stephen Bay

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the our research was to establish the date of the authorship of the ancient martyrdom Passio Sanctorum Adriani et Nataliae. This text is an early Christian martyrdom account that was widely read in antiquity and in the middle ages. The two martyrs featured in the text, Adrian and Natalie, were canonized in both the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Christian communities and the text was widely represented in medieval art. Regrettably, however, the text has received almost no scholarly attention in the modern era. This is especially unfortunate because the text is a fascinating literary document in …

Antiochus Iv And The Origin Of Jewish Martyrdom Literature, Allen Kendall, Stephen Bay

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The study of ancient martyrdom literature has typically revolved around early Christian literature. Many scholars view the concept of martyrdom as a Christian construct, which borrowed only minimally from earlier literary traditions.¹This assumption exists largely because Christian writers first used the term “martyr”—originally a Greek legal term referring to a witness in court—to refer to someone who died for their witness of Jesus Christ.²When reading Jewish literature, however, it becomes evident that although no term for martyrdom yet existed, the ideologies of martyrdom were nevertheless prevalent in Jewish thought. The aim of this project was 1) …

A Look At Peruvian Theater: A Translation Of And Reflection On No Hay Isla Feliz, Rachel Draut, Marlene Esplin

Journal of Undergraduate Research

No hay isla feliz (1954) is a significant part of Sebastián Salazar Bondy’s repertoire and a valuable work of Latin American literature that deserves to be known to the English-speaking world. The play’s author was one of most influential Peruvian authors of his time and a North American audience would benefit from getting to know his brilliance. I was instantly intrigued by No hay isla feliz , with a captivating plot full of social commentary about modern Peruvian life and compellingly tragic characters. However, I found that this play had not gotten much attention: it had neither been translated into …

Investigating The Black Hours: Finding Deeper Significance, Caroline Ferrell, Dr. Elliott Wise

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Created around 1470, the Morgan Black Hours (MS M.493) is part of a rare group of manuscripts with black pages, gold lettering, and luminous miniatures painted in blue, green, and pink (see Fig. 1). My initial paper, which led me to this project, examined the way this unique and enigmatic color scheme contributes to the spiritual argument of the prayer book.

The Herculaneum Papyri: A Paleographic Approach To The Latin Library, Jordan Rawlings, Roger Macfarlane

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the 1750’s AD, military engineers commissioned by the Bourbon rulers found many black, chalky chunks while excavating an underground Roman villa. Initially these lumps were thought to be coal or other detritus and were thus handled with little care. Later, some workers noticed that these black lumps were manmade and actually preserved traces of writing. Early attempts at deciphering and unrolling these papyri scrolls proved unfruitful and resulted in the destruction of many papyri. Eventually a meticulous approach applied by Antonio Piaggio, an experienced ancient manuscript and document worker, proved successful. Although it preserved the papyri, Piaggio’s method worked …

Early Ecologies: Distance Reading Popular Scientific Journals In Turn-Of-The-Century Sweden, Erin Modersitzki, Dr. Christopher Oscarson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The understanding of art and literature depends on an ability to contextualize it within the discourses from which it emerges. This project combined two important new strands of literary research to flesh out the context in which the idea of ecology emerged in Sweden: digital humanities and ecocriticism. We used digital tools to complement traditional literary approaches, broadening our understanding of even non-literary texts by suggesting patterns and constellations of ideas that elude any individual reader attempting to read and analyze hundreds of thousands of pages of text. Proving the viability of these “distant reading” tools through test cases like …

The Power Configurations Of The Central Civilization / World System In The 11th Century, David Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.