Medieval History Commons^™

One Object, Fluctuating Trajectories: Harnessing The Document Future Of Premodern Manuscripts, L.P. Coladangelo, Rose A. Mccandless

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Using copy theory as a framework to explore document surrogacy and simulation, this paper discusses premodern manuscripts as a case study for understanding relevant aspects of temporality and materiality in the experience of documents to speculate on the nature of immersive documents of the future. This speculation is powered on mapping and synthesizing the paths of interconnected temporal and material change manuscripts have followed by examining multiple “versions” of these documents based on various contexts of use and access and technological innovations. As hand copied documents of similar texts, premodern manuscripts are posited as both copies and originals depending on …

Antillia, Kelsie Ogden

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

History, Mythology, and Fantasy are all considered to hold different ideas surrounding truth. More often than not, it is harder to draw this line than one might think. Through this thesis, an argument is made surrounding the legendary island Antillia and where this mythical island falls into more categories than one. Through the carefully crafted journal writings of the Viking, Ragnar, and the wondrous diary entries of Medieval widow, Ivette, the search for this island comes to a head. What waits upon this island, however, is a cure to the very essence of these two characters and others like them– …

Lilac Divinity: The Socio-Religious Transformation Of The Capetian Monarchy, Michael Earth Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study considers an alternative explanation for the ascendancy of the Capetian monarchy during the High Middle Ages. Through a broad consideration of notable kings across a large time period, I argue that the kings of France knowingly participated in a process of spiritual and cultural embellishment that traditional, comparative models have failed to properly assess. The paper begins with a short introduction and is followed by a consideration of how the Middle Ages have been framed historiographically. The next section offers a historiographical overview of feudalism to contextualize persistent issues in the field. The remaining sections consist largely of …

Resilience And Evolution: The Transformative Impact Of The Black Death On Women’S Roles In Medieval England, Kaylee N. Vitato

The Cardinal Edge

"Resilience and Evolution: The Transformative Impact of the Black Death on Women’s Roles in Medieval England" delves into the nuanced effects of the Black Death on gender dynamics in medieval England. While there were positive shifts in attitudes toward women's roles, persistent challenges, such as unequal employment conditions, lower wages compared to men, and negative household stereotypes, endured. The research examines alterations in labor markets, inheritance norms, property laws, and domestic dynamics to uncover the multifaceted impact of the Black Death on the evolution of women's roles. Despite emerging opportunities for women in previously male-dominated spheres, the analysis also reveals …

Disease And Discrimination: The Persecution Of Jews In The Holy Roman Empire During The Black Death, Abigail M Stanger

The Cardinal Edge

The Black Death, the second major plague pandemic caused by the spread of the bacteria Yersinia pestis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire in 1348. Throughout its spread until 1352, the plague devastated residents of the Holy Roman Empire regardless of demographic features. However, Christians at the time believed that members of Jewish communities died at significantly lower rates than themselves, and already existing sentiments of antisemitism grew into the assignment of blame onto Jews. This concurrent spread of plague and antisemitism resulted in pogroms and other forms of mass violence against Jewish communities across Europe, but specifically in the …

Des Rois Anglais Qui Parlent Français : Une Etude Sur La Situation Linguistique En Angleterre Après La Conquête Normande, Trent Dunkin

Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies

Prior to 1066, England was ruled by the Germanic speaking Anglo-Saxons. However, after the defeat of Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror became King of England, ushering in a lengthy era in which English monarchs were primarily francophone. This article explores the linguistic situation in England before, during, and after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Specifically, this article looks at the Anglo-Norman dialect as a distinct Langue d’Oïl, focusing primarily on its phonetics, syntax, and orthography, using examples found in Laüstic and Chèvrefeuille, two lais written by Marie de France in the late 12 …

Remembering And Forgetting: National Identity Construction In Tolkien’S Middle-Earth, Sara Brown

Journal of Tolkien Research

The medieval period in Europe saw the development of vernacular literatures, grown out of oral tradition and classical mythology, in which epic poems were a means of preserving culture, sharing a moral code, and offering solace in times of hardship. These epic poems, usually transcribed or translated in monastic scriptoria, were passed down through generations and enabled the sharing of memory via storytelling. In many ways, this early literature, rooted as it was in both the religious and the secular aspects of life in this time, was as much a part of the identity of the various European peoples as …

The Archbishopric Of Ohrid In The Mnemohistory Of The Church: A Bulgarian Historiographical Perspective, Ivan Yovchev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

After the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was downgraded in rank by the decrees (sigils) of Emperor Basil II from 1019–1025. It was declared a Bulgarian autocephalous archdiocese with its seat in Ohrid, the last Bulgarian capital and the former seat Bulgarian patriarch. The diocese, its Bulgarian nationality, and the rights of its First Hierarch were defined by three sigils of Emperor Basil II, which outlined the rights of the Ohrid Archbishopric. In sources from the 11th-12th centuries, it is referred to as the Bulgarian Archbishopric. Its independence from the Patriarchate of Constantinople was …

Notes On Contributors

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Early English Queens, 650–850: Speculum Reginae, Theresa Earenfight

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Trans And Genderqueer Subjects In Medieval Hagiography, Erik Wade

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Authority, Gender, And Space In The Anglo-Norman World, 900–1200, Marisa Mills

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

A Mother’S Manual For The Women Of Ferrara: A Fifteenth-Century Guide To Pregnancy And Pediatrics, S.C. Kaplan

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Addressing Women In Early Medieval Religious Texts, Jo Koster

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Gender And Exemplarity In Medieval And Early Modern Spain, Emily C. Francomano

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Women And Monastic Reform In The Medieval West, C. 1000–1500: Debating Identities, Creating Communities, Gabrielle F. Storey

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Between Orders And Heresy: Rethinking Medieval Religious Movements, Mary Anne Gonzales

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Visualizing Household Health: Medieval Women, Art, And Knowledge In The Régime Du Corps, Kaitlin Sager

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Rape Culture And Female Resistance In Late Medieval Literature, With An Edition Of Middle English And Middle Scots Pastourelles, Grace Delmolino

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Horizons Of Desire: Salme's Subjectivity In "Salman Und Morolf", Aysha M. Strachan

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Salme in the Middle High German epic poem Salman und Morolf (twelfth–fifteenth century) is conventionally read as a wild, dangerous, animalistic object waiting to be tamed by the men who fight for her hand. An in-depth analysis of her character is long overdue, and this article argues that Salme is a pertinent example of how female figures resist being “tamed” altogether. She is the movable object of multiple bridal quests for which she is ambiguously responsible. The unreachable, exoticized, and foreignized object of men’s desire, Salme embodies the drive of the western man to possess a fantasy of the Orient, …

Fictional Literary Biography, Sarah E. Novacich

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This essay examines how Lauren Groff’s novel, Matrix, creates a fictional life story for Marie de France as it minimizes the importance of the poetic corpus associated with that name. It reads this exchange of poetry for biography against a backdrop of medieval thinking about gender, language, and corporeality.

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal Of Gender And Sexuality 59.2 (2024)

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Truth And Other Fictions: The Nuance Of Truth In Medieval Literature, Mark-Allan Donaldson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation, “The Truth and Other Fictions,” is an exploration of the functional relationship between fiction and truth. It discusses truth as a type of nuanced information which may exist in a variety of forms (i.e., objective truth, narrative truth, emotional truth, cultural truth, etc.) and explores how these truths may be created or communicated through the medium of literature. The dissertation also explores how fiction, either narrative or structural, assists in said creation and communication of truth and in some cases is the necessary component to these processes. The Middle Ages and its literature provide the ideal staging ground …

Imperial Nostalgia: The War For The Kievan Rus Legacy., Jacob Wolfe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the deep-seated historical, cultural, and religious narratives fueling the modern conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Central to this dispute is the legacy of the Kievan Rus, a medieval East Slavic state. The research examines historical claims over the Kievan Rus legacy, Russia's perception as the heir to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the impact of the Soviet Union's dissolution. It also delves into the Varangian Guard's role in establishing Kievan Rus-Byzantine relations, the mistrust instilled by the Crusades, and the shared linguistic and cultural influences between Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, the thesis analyzes the Normanist Controversy, Russian …

The Architect Of The Past: Heinrich Himmler's Remaking Of Germany's History., Chad M. White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the complex interplay between historical narratives, ideological manipulation, and cultural artifacts in Heinrich Himmler’s efforts to reshape Germany’s history during the Nazi regime. The study shows how Himmler used historical revisionism to mythologize Germanic history to support Nazi ideology. Himmler used the Ahnenerbe, an SS organization, to research and propagate distorted narratives, fabricating artifacts to legitimize the Aryan myth and assert Germanic superiority. Influenced by movements like the Völkisch Movement, Himmler's ideology relied on pseudo-historical narratives to shape public perception and Nazi policies. The study analyzes Himmler's writings and the spatial transformation of sites like Wewelsburg Castle …

Saint Brigit And Her Habits: Exploring Queerness In Early Medieval Ireland, Jacqueline K. Stephenson

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Saint Brigit's behavior and reception by society highlight an avenue by which women in the early medieval period could escape societal strictures, exercising agency over their bodies and their romantic choices, and carve out a distinct and unexpected place for themselves in a Christian patriarchal society. In Saint Brigit’s case, this is especially demonstrated by the breadth of her portrayed power as not just a nun but a saint, her extreme resistance to marriage, and her frequent comparisons to men. Indeed, her hagiography, written by Cogitosus in the seventh century, positioned her as one of the three principal and earliest …

Abusive Abbots And Malevolent Monks: Monasteries And Violence In The Early Anglo-Norman Period, Timothy B. Smart Jr.

University Honors Theses

This investigation examines the conduct of abbots and monasteries from 1066 to 1087 in the context of violence and monasteries. It analyzes monastic chronicles and Anglo-Norman histories. The two historiographical lineages that emerge: the Norman Conquest and religious warfare. After the initial conquest in 1066, four native abbots offer insight into a range of local monastic behaviors during the early years of Norman rule. The Normans, in their combat against rebellious monasteries, developed procedures to remove local abbots in 1070. This connection between rebellions and monasteries drove the militarization of monasteries by both the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons. The militarization …

Edward's New Welsh: The Foundations Of English Colonialism, 1282-1343, Joshua Lembke

University Honors Theses

This thesis, Edward’s New Welsh: The Foundations of English Colonialism, 1282-1343, examines the tumultuous period following the English conquest of the last independent Welsh kingdom, focusing on the English Crown's efforts under King Edward I to integrate Wales administratively and culturally. By reevaluating the appropriation of the Prince of Wales title, the study highlights the creation of a 'New Welsh' identity aligned with English interests. Key legal acts, such as the Statute of Rhuddlan and the establishment of English-style boroughs and castles, are analyzed to reveal the Crown's strategic embedding of English governance and suppression of native Welsh resistance. …

Medieval German Christian Women’S Religious Experience, Elliot Knell

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

In the medieval period, both professed women and laywomen were deeply involved in manuscript production, and the use of books was often a vital part of their religious practices. In order to fully understand the value that manuscripts held for medieval women it is important to understand the medical and philosophical understandings of sex that permeated medieval society in order to better understand gendered experiences within Christian spaces. Additionally, examining how vision was understood as both a physical and spiritual process allows for a deeper understanding of how visual art is used in religious contexts. In the medieval period, understandings …

From Goths To Romans? Changing Conceptions Of Visigothic Kingship In The Reigns Of Leovigild And Reccared, Lance Hungar

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The historiography of Visigothic Spain has always been relevant, from the days of what is known as the Reconquista, to Franco-era propaganda efforts, and even to the modern day. Scholars have debated the varying qualities of Roman-ness or Gothic-ness that appear in the Visigothic kingdom, the importance of the Visigothic conversion to Nicene Christianity at the Third Council of Toledo in 589, and other details. Leaving those debates to others, this paper focuses on the question why did the Arian Visigothic kingdom abandon the Arian religion that had defined the Visigoths for generations? In examining this question through archaeological …