Medieval Studies Commons^™

Tolkien Fanzine Dataset, 1967-2017 [Bulk 1969-1979], Robinson Ensz, Gabriel Marotto, Aidan Oakey, Ivy Stanich, Ethan Thomas

Tolkien Resources

This dataset reveals the heretofore hidden contents of fan magazines (fanzines) related to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien that were created from 1969 through the publication of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion in 1977. It supplements the earlier Tolkien Fandom Review by S. Gary Hunnewell that discussed fanzines created through 1968. The dataset provides an item level index of the fanzines’ content and is intended to aid researchers in Fan Studies. It is accompanied by an inventory document that lists the fanzine titles and provides brief notes about some of them. Data was drawn from Marquette’s large holding of Tolkien fanzines, including …

“He Had Named Himself The Stranger”: From 'Germanic' Heroic Hospitality To Elvish Memorial Mediation In Tolkien’S Book Of Lost Tales, Paolo Pizzimento Dr.

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article examines the narrative functions of strangeness and hospitality in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales, focusing on Eriol’s transformation from foreign traveller into listener, witness, and transmitter of Elvish tradition. Through a comparative reading of selected Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon texts—particularly Hávamál, Gylfaginning, and Beowulf—it identifies recurrent literary configurations in which hospitality regulates admission, identity, reciprocity, danger, and access to knowledge. The comparison is morphological rather than genetic: it does not posit direct derivation or a uniform Germanic code. Drawing on Jan Assmann’s theory of cultural memory, the article argues that Tolkien redirects …

The Good Knight, Elektra Koozer

University Honors Theses

The Good Knight is a comics adaptation of Sir Galahad's story through the lens of a queer retelling. This story focuses on queer relationships, struggling with depression and isolation, and death. It begins at the end of Galahad's life, where he is forced to question his legacy and who he is after completing the quest that has dictated his whole life. The story weaves through time, reflecting upon his past, thinking about his mother's expectations of him, being chosen for the grail quest, confronting his estranged father, and trying to cope with the world on his shoulders. He has to …

“The Hond Hire Helde”: Solidarity, Mirroring, And Foreshadowing Between Helen, Cassandra, And Criseyde In Chaucer’S Troilus And Criseyde, Mallory K. Warner

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Geoffry Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde has divided readers and critics alike when addressing the main female protagonist: Criseyde. The poem follows Criseyde and her love interest Troilus, during the final days of the Trojan War, as the two are thrust together into a tragic affair then ripped apart by outside forces and the consequences of their own choices. By the end of the narrative, Criseyde’s autonomy is stripped from her as she is traded in a hostage exchange to the Greek army. In her last present moment in the poem, Criseyde comes to the realization that remaining true to Troilus …

Survey Of Medieval Literature On Maternal Mortality, Postpartum Care, And Birth Trauma In Relation To The Crisis In Arkansas, Paige Q. Thompson

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

When the general public thinks of childbirth in the Middle Ages, they think of death and danger. However, Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the entire United States, and many of those deaths are preventable. There have been previous analyses on different medieval texts as well as research into modern Arkansas, but none have made a direct connection between the two subjects. By analyzing medieval literature to understand cultural norms surrounding childbirth and postpartum care, patterns can be traced to modern Arkansas, where needless deaths are still prevalent. Ultimately, medieval texts demonstrate cultural attitudes surrounding blame toward women …

From Maldon To Mordor: Hobbits And The Lord-Retainer Relationship In The Lord Of The Rings, Samuel A. Masters

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Content warning: this paper discusses suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Tolkien’s interest in Old Germanic heroism had a profound impact upon the hobbits of The Lord of the Rings, and the Christianised form of heroism that they represent. In his essays, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936) and ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son’ (1953), Tolkien praises the loving, paternalistic relationship between a lord and his retainers in Old English poetry; this aspect of medieval heroism is retained in Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin However, Tolkien also highlights several shortcomings of the Old Germanic ‘Northern Courage’. In …

The Significance Of Ioreth, Wise Woman Of Gondor, In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Jane Beal Phd

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Using key ideas from the field of Narrative Medicine, this essay considers the significance of Ioreth in her role as a wise-woman (midwife) and healer of Gondor. J.R.R. Tolkien developed the character of Ioreth from the static fairy-tale type of the “Wise Old Woman” to a dynamic minor character in her own right in The Lord of the Rings. He gave her a defining characteristic of talkativeness, and he purposefully attributed to her prophetic utterances of proverb, rhyme, and instruction that positively influenced those around her, including her healthcare colleagues Gandalf, Aragorn, and the herb-master, her unnamed kinswoman from the …

Entiscum Yrfe Ealdniflunga: Meter And Poetic Style In Tolkien’S Old English Attila, Galen Miller-Atkins

Journal of Tolkien Research

Tolkien famously wrote several poems in Old English and Gothic; however, these remain understudied for their philological and poetic qualities relative to his modern English poetic corpus. In the Old English Poem of Attila Tolkien adapts the Old Norse poem Atlakviða into Old English. This essay analyzes the meter and poetic techniques in Old English Poem of Attila, especially in relation to the closely related, Eddic poem Atlakviða. The Old English Poem of Attila exhibits verse patterns and vocabulary from the Old Norse original, but it is firmly rooted in the Old English poetic tradition. Tolkien deliberately blends …

“Where All Is Playtime And Pleasure”: Feeling The Otherworldly In Late Medieval Literature, Anna K. Mcgill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present intra-, inter-, and extra-textual felt responses to encounters with the otherworldly as described in Late Medieval texts as a lens through which to consider personal, social, and national imaginative potential surrounding contemporary issues across genres and disciplines. I argue that the use of otherworlds and otherworldly agents as both personally and rhetorically compelling analogues through which contemporary issues can be explored. I start my discussion of the felt impacts of encounters with the Arthurian otherworldly, with a particular focus on Glastonbury and Arthur’s alleged grave there, and how they transmit affects of sovereign authority. Next, …

Tolkien's Joyful Sorrow, The "Gift Of Tears" Of Medieval Mysticism, And John Donne's Sermon "Jesus Wept", Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

At the field of Cormallen, the emotion of joy felt by the victorious Hobbits is so great that Sam wonders whether everything sad will come untrue. At the same time, their joy is so great that it is described as "poignant as grief". Dimitra Fimi in 2017 pointed out Tolkien's probable indebtedness to Christian Orthodox tradition of "charmolype", or joyful sorrow. Another relevant parallel of the intermingling of joy and sorrow is the eleventh century Norman monk and abbot John of Fécamp's notion of the "Gift of Tears" (Gratia lacrymarum) from God, which brings true happiness. …

Navigating Kingship: Sea Power And Sovereignty In Gower's Confessio Amantis, Elizabeth D. Brissey

Accessus

This article examines John Gower’s Apollonius of Tyre in the Confessio Amantis through the lens of the blue humanities, giving special attention to the ways in which the tale treats the sovereign’s maritime domain as integral to the terrestrial. Apollonius depicts sovereignty over aquapelagic space, with the sea serving both as a channel of exchange and as a figurative medium through which sovereignty is negotiated. The crucial issue that aligns the Apollonius tale with the concept of English sovereignty lies in its vision of thalassocratic space in which kingship is grounded in sea power and the sea as a connecting …

Hoccleve Vs. Mowbray: Whose Book Is It?, Joyce Coleman

Accessus

Writing in 1994, Derek Pearsall suggested that, c. 1411-14, the future Henry V had commissioned Thomas Hoccleve to write The Regiment of Princes, and then to oversee the creation of copies to distribute among important courtiers, in “a concerted attempt ... to cement relationships with possibly doubtful friends” (Pearsall 1994: 396).

Ten years earlier, however, Kate Harris had proposed that the arms in the initials under the famous presentation image and on ff. 1 and 71 of London, BL Arundel 38 were all linked to John Mowbray, the future duke of Norfolk—not to the prince and to Thomas FitzAlan, earl …

Scriptor Latinus Morigeris -- Some Aspects Of Gower’S Latin Usage, Mark T. Riley

Accessus

This paper describes the distinctive characteristics of John Gower’s Latin as illustrated primarily by his Vox Clamantis, although his shorter Latin works are occasionally mentioned. Topics include Gower’s Latin education, his extensive Latin vocabulary and mythological references, the paragraphing of his poem, his procedures for using or adapting quotations, as well as his characteristic wordplay and punning. Further topics cover Gower’s medieval use of various verbs, pronouns, and conjunctions, with the accompanying grammatical structures, some of which may present difficulties for the translator. Also included is a section on the meter of the Vox Clamantis, with some notes on …

Preface, Georgiana Donavin, Eve Salisbury

Accessus

Preface for Accessus 9, no. 1.

Ztc Sls 302: Medieval/Early Modern Cultures, Nicolette Guida

Open Educational Resources

This course explores the depiction of gender, race, and social class in Shakespeare’s plays, with a focus on how his works engage with and challenge the norms of early modern society. In this course, we will study two of Shakespeare’s comedies: Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew; as well as two of his tragedies: Romeo and Juliet and Othello in relation to the culture of early modern England. Through an in-depth study of these texts, students will examine the complexities of these social categories as portrayed in the plays and how they continue to resonate in …

"Sing It Again": Linguistic Medievalisms In Geoffrey Hill And Seamus Heaney, Christian Cotten-Dixon

Honors College Theses

This study examines the use of early medieval structure and language in the poetry of Seamus Heaney and Geoffrey Hill, focusing on their near-contemporary collections, North and Mercian Hymns. Both collections use etymological and poetic structures to fashion an imagined medieval past in order to discuss personal and cultural narratives of history. Leveraging these structures in poetry and digging them out of past strata like a material artifact, Heaney and Hill collapse linear systems of time and language and access past word forms even as they evolve. This archaeological approach to poetry gives them the means to place the …

Reconstructing The Medieval Palette: Making Paints And Inks Using Medieval Recipes, Cael Sinclair

Graduate Research Posters

When considering the medieval period, most people imagine brilliantly painted and gilded manuscripts but not many people actually imagine the labor behind making those manuscripts. Similarly, modern perception of a scribe tends to be a single, solitary person slaving away at the entire manuscript. Contrary to these beliefs, the process of producing a manuscript was a highly collaborative and, more importantly, highly documented process. Throughout the period, numerous treatises (or handbooks) were created documenting instructions and advice for making ink and paint, for drawing and painting, and everything in between. While it is possible for one to just read these …

Belliphonic Tolkien: Listening To The Wars In Middle-Earth, Ali Mirzabayati

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper explores the belliphonic—the sonic dimension of warfare—in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, focusing on the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. While modern warfare studies emphasize the sounds of mechanized combat, the acoustic landscapes of ancient and medieval battles remain understudied. Drawing on recent scholarship by Clauss, Lummer, Potthoff, and Pretzer, this study situates Tolkien’s soundscapes within both historical and mythological traditions. Tolkien’s immersion in classical, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse literature, combined with his experience of World War I, enabled him to create richly layered battle sounds in which horns, cries, silence, and environmental …

Tolkien On Kennings And The River-(Woman’S) Daughter, Derek Simon

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

THIS IS A TWO-PART ARTICLE. IN ORDER TO READ OR DOWNLOAD THE OTHER PART, FOLLOW THE LINK AT THE END OF THIS ABSTRACT.

While the River-daughter is a prevalent poetic name for Goldberry, Tom introduces her as the River-woman’s daughter when singing and skipping along the banks of the Withywindle. The River-woman variant occurs only once in Goldberry’s narrative but is not easily dismissed. The contrast between the two variant names raises several questions on how to read Goldberry’s enigma. Tolkien’s brief commentaries on the kenning as a poetic device serve as the starting-point for exploring the literary function of …

“Pride And Despair”: Denethor’S Struggles Against His Self-Woven Death, Ali Mirzabayati

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper examines Denethor, Steward of Gondor, as a central figure illustrating the interplay of pride, fear, and mortality in The Lord of the Rings. It analyzes how his Númenórean heritage, grief over the loss of his sons, and obsession with control shape his decisions, leading to passivity, mistrust, and self-destruction. Drawing on Northern literary traditions, including the Danes’ prayers to the Gastbona in Beowulf and Boethian reflections on pride and despair, the study situates Denethor’s downfall within a broader cultural and philosophical context. By exploring how his fear of death undermines judgment and heroic potential, the paper highlights …

The Influence Of The Pearl-Maiden On The Imagination Of J. R.R. Tolkien, Jane Beal

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

I’D Rather (S)He Was Dead: Resurrection & Gender Transition In Superhero Comics, Jonathan Sexton, Eitan Runyan

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

From Hildeburh To Héra: Recuperating Women’S Presence In Beowulf, J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, And Kenji Kamiyama’S The War Of The Rohirrim, Christopher Vaccaro

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

The Tragedy Of Arwen Evenstar In “The Tale Of Aragorn And Arwen” And In Her Legacy On Film, Nicole Duplessis

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

The Lay(Er)S Of The Corrigan, Lelie Brémont

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

“Mysterium Tremendum Et Fascinans”: Melian’S And Lúthien’S Numinosity, Alexandra Filonenko

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Mythopoeic Awards Ceremony, The Mythopoeic Society

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Our Flag Means Gender: Gender “Fuckery” In Our Flag Means Death, Megan Abrahamson, Dusty Brooks, Cassidy Percoco

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Bolg’S Mother: Orc Women In Tolkien’S Legendarium, Robert T. Tally Jr.

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.

Grendel's Mother Talks Back: Contemporary Women's Mythopoeic Revisions, Anna Smol

Online Midwinter Seminar (OMS)

No abstract provided.