Medieval Studies Commons^™

A Handbook Of Early Arabic Kufic Script: Reading, Writing, Calligraphy, Typography, Monograms, S. M. V. Mousavi Jazayeri, Perette E. Michelli, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

A comprehensive textbook of the early Arabic Kufic script, written as a complete reference book for calligraphers, designers, and students of art history and the history of Arabic language and scripts. This beautiful and powerful script was derived from the earlier Hijazi Mashq style of Mecca and Medina, which was invented by early Muslim scribes to record the Quran. Today, the many historical manuscripts displayed in numerous museums around the world can attest to development and evolution of this remarkable and versatile script. Authored by master calligrapher, Mousavi Jazayeri, this book is the first book written in English that is …

Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber, Kelly Murdoch-Kitt

Presentations and other scholarship

Lost & Found is a strategy card-to-mobile game series that teaches medieval religious legal systems with attention to period accuracy and cultural and historical context.

The Lost & Found games project seeks to expand the discourse around religious legal systems, to enrich public conversations in a variety of communities, and to promote greater understanding of the religious traditions that build the fabric of the United States. Comparative religious literacy can build bridges between and within communities and prepare learners to be responsible citizens in our pluralist democracy.

The first game in the series is a strategy game called Lost & …

Authority Of Images / Images Of Authority: Shaping Political And Cultural Identities In The Pre-Modern World, Karen Fresco

Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Focusing on language's political power, these essays discuss how representation, through language norms, plays and court spectacles, manipulations and adaptations of texts and images, both constitutes and reflects a cultural milieu. The volume brings together various disciplinary approaches, offering a complex appreciation of these questions. While a core of the essays focuses on France, the contributions engage a broad range of geographical contexts, from Byzantium to eastern Germany and England from the early centuries of the Common Era to the seventeenth century, revealing the prevalence and persistence of the key interconnected issues of images and authority. Contributors: Carla Bozzolo; Philippe …

Aribo, De Musica And Sententiae, T. J. H. Mccarthy

TEAMS Varia

Music was central to the medieval church's public worship: it was the essential medium of the Mass and the Divine Office. In this new critical edition, T. J. H. McCarthy presents the Latin text and the first English translation of Aribo's musical treatise, De musica and Sententiae. Written between 1070 and 1078, it is concerned with the workings of the liturgical music that Aribo and his contemporaries called Gregorian chant, and builds off of and responds to several contemporary treatises by Abbot Bern of Reichenau and his pupil Herman, Abbot William of Hirsau, Frutolf of Michelsberg, and Theoger of Metz. …

“The Bedroom And The Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, And Shelter In ‘The Miller’S Tale’” & Haunchebones, Danielle N. Byington

Undergraduate Honors Theses

“The Bedroom and the Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, and Shelter in ‘The Miller’s Tale’” is an academic endeavor that takes Chaucer’s zoomorphic metaphors and similes and analyzes them in a sense that reveals the chaos of what is human and what is animal tendency. The academic work is expressed in the adjunct creative project, Haunchebones, a 10-minute drama that echoes the tale and its zoomorphic influences, while presenting the content in a stylized play influenced by Theatre of the Absurd and artwork from the medieval and early renaissance period.

Three Late Medieval Kilns From The Athenian Agora, Camilla Mackay

Library Staff Research and Scholarship

This article presents pottery from three late medieval kilns excavated in the Athenian Agora in the 1930s. Wasters from the kilns provide important proof of the local production of lead-glazed wares that come into use in the early Ottoman period and are found in surveys and excavations throughout Attica and Boeotia. Some of this pottery has been identified as maiolica, but portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis has not indicated the presence of tin in the glaze. While distinctive in appearance, the pottery from these kilns seems to continue the ceramic tradition of earlier medieval Athens.

Making History: How Art Museums In The French Revolution Crafted A National Identity, 1789-1799, Anna E. Sido

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper compares two art museums, both created during the French Revolution, that fostered national unity by promoting a cultural identity. By analyzing the use of preexisting architecture from the ancien régime, innovative displays of art and redefinitions of the museum visitor as an Enlightened citizen, this thesis explores the application of eighteenth-century philosophy to the formation of two museums. The first is the Musée Central des Arts in the Louvre and the second is the Musée des Monuments Français, both housed in buildings taken over by the Revolutionary government and present the seized property of the royal family and …

Robot Saints, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

In the Middle Ages, articulating religious figures like wooden Deposition crucifixes and ambulatory saints were tools for devotion, techno-mythological objects that distilled the wonders of engineering and holiness. Robots are gestures toward immortality, created in the face of the undeniable fact and experience of the ongoing decay of our fleshy bodies. Both like and unlike human beings, robots and androids occupy a nebulous perceptual realm between life and death, animation and inanimation. Masahiro Mori called this in-between space the “uncanny valley.” In this essay I argue that unlike a modern person apprehending an android (the uncanny human-like object that resides …

The Burgos Tapestry: Medieval Theatre And Visual Experience, Nathalie Rochel Frch '11

The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal

In the field of art history, the medium of tapestry has only recently begun to gain attention as its own significant art form. This paper examines the possible relationship between the Burgos Tapestry, recently on view at The Cloisters after a thirty-year conservation, and medieval theatre. The compositional and stylistic forms of the tapestry may have been influenced by productions of medieval mystery plays, which through analysis can help provide a greater understanding of the medieval cultural mindset, the possible artistic decisions behind maintaining medieval pictorial traditions into the early sixteenth century, and the medieval viewer’s experience when looking at …

Zoomorphic Penannular Brooches In 6th And 7th Century Ireland, Esther G. Ward

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

In this thesis the author examines the evolution, manufacture, and societal significance of zoomorphic penannular brooches, a type of metal dress fastener used in early medieval Ireland that is often decorated. The brooches examined are dated to the 6^th and 7^th centuries, during which the Irish underwent a process of religious conversion from Celtic paganism to Christianity, and social rank was paramount. It is in this social context that the brooches are examined. Despite the significance of this time of social change, brooches from this period tend to be overlooked by scholarship in favor of the more ornate …

Female Flesh And Medieval Practice In The Later Middle Ages, Megan E. Marzec

Mid-America College Art Association Conference 2012 Digital Publications

My work explores the importance and presence of the female body in medieval religious practice as exemplified in medieval art, religious texts and hagiographies. My research shows that while the reasoning behind female imagery and imagery of the nude is disputed, the prevalence of mandorla-like images, images of the female nude, and images displaying the femininity of Christ suggest the meaningfulness to the medieval viewer. I discuss extensively Julia Kristeva’s writing on the woman as abject and the artistic experience as an element of religiosity. For this research I analyzed works by various artists including Robert Campin, Jan Gossaert and …

A Spectacle Of Great Beauty: The Changing Faces Of Hagia Sophia, Victoria M. Villano

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

"Semiotics Of The Cloth": Reading Medieval Norse Textile Traditions, Kristen Marie Tibbs

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Reading textiles from medieval Norse society supplements written sources and also provides insight into the voice of the individual who created these textiles. This project puts women and traditionally female tasks at the forefront of historical thought and analysis. I demonstrate that we can read textiles (via their material, color, style, and geographic location) alongside texts in order to expand our understanding of past cultures. Along with valuable archaeological remains of textiles and textile production tools, this research incorporates examples from the Sagas of the Icelanders in order to further understand the significance and symbolism of clothing and production in …

Medieval Synagogues In The Mediterranean Region, Samuel D. Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

Throughout the Middle Ages, the synagogue developed as the central identifying institution and physical building for Jews, replacing the still yearned for but increasingly distant Jerusalem Temple as the focus of Jewish identity. Equally important, the synagogue became the symbol par excellance of the Jews and their community for the Christian (or Muslim) majority populations in the countries where Jews were settled. For Christians, the synagogue was a Jewish church, but much more so, it came to symbolize in opposition all that the church represented.

Though relatively little known today, medieval synagogues were not symbolic abstractions to the men and …

Meaningful Mingling: Classicizing Imagery And Islamicizing Script In A Byzantine Bowl, Alicia Walker

History of Art Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

York Art: A Subject List Of Extant And Lost Art, Clifford Davidson, David E. O'Connor

Early Drama, Art, and Music

A list, classified by subject, of extant and lost art from pre-Reformation York originally compiled by Clifford Davidson and David E. O'Connor in 1978 and updated by Clifford Davidson, apparently in 2003. This digital reprint was created in 2014 for ScholarWorks at WMU.

Iconography: A Checklist Of Some Useful Sources For Scholars And Students Of Medieval Art And Drama, Clifford Davidson

Early Drama, Art, and Music

A classified bibliography of scholarship on medieval drama, art, and music compiled by Clifford Davidson in 2002. This reprint was created in 2014 for ScholarWorks at WMU, with some corrections to the content and the formatting of the 2002 version.

The Early Drama, Art, And Music Project: Publications 1977-2002, Timothy Christiansen, Clifford Davidson

Early Drama, Art, and Music

A bibliography of publications of the Early Drama, Art, and Music project at Western Michigan University, originally compiled by Timothy Christiansen and updated in 2002 by Clifford Davidson. This digital reprint was created in 2014 for ScholarWorks at WMU, with an addendum, an update, and a few corrections to the formatting of the 2002 publication.

Index For Ann Eljenholm Nichols, The Early Art Of Norfolk: A Subject List Of Extant And Lost Art Including Items Relevant To Early Drama, Ann Eljenholm Nichols

Early Drama, Art, and Music

A detailed index, prepared by Ann Eljenholm Nichols, to her The Early Art of Norfolk (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2002).

Medieval Danish Wooden Sculpture: Roods: Part Ii: 1400 A.D. - 1600 A.D., James Mills

Early Drama, Art, and Music

An index of Danish examples of rood figures in the areas covered to that date in Danmarks Kirker, now represented by the website danmarkskirker.natmus.dk. This digitized version includes text pages only.

Medieval Danish Wooden Sculpture: Roods: Part I: 1100 A.D. - 1400 A.D., James Mills

Early Drama, Art, and Music

An index of Danish examples of rood figures in the areas covered to that date in Danmarks Kirker, now represented by the website danmarkskirker.natmus.dk. This digitized version includes text pages only.

An Iconographic Index To Danmarks Kirker 1100-1600: Supplement To Part I, James Mills

Early Drama, Art, and Music

A supplement to the partial index published in 1987.

Ordering The Urban Environment: City Statutes And City Planning In Medieval Todi, Italy, Samuel Gruber, Samuel D. Gruber

Art & Music Histories - All Scholarship

Presents examples of how legal system and city government action ordered the urban environment through regulations and actions for streets size and widths, building materials, size and appearance, and distribution of activities. As demonstrated in the medieval Umbrian town of Todi, such regulations helped create the image of the medieval town we appreciate today.

An Iconographic Index To Danmarks Kirker 1100-1600: Part I: Jutland To Date, James Mills

Early Drama, Art, and Music

An iconographic index to a portion of Danmarks Kirker, a 46-volume survey of the architecture and fittings of Danish churches published between 1933 and 1991, now represented by the website danmarkskirker.natmus.dk.

The Renascence Of Classical Thought And Form In The Carolingian Period, Sara James Laster

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The political stability established under the rule of Charlemagne (768-814) was conducive to the flourishing of the simultaneous resurgence of art and learning. Inspired by the achievements of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne wished to give his subjects a feeling of spiritual unity, a sense of continuity with the past, and an enhanced intellectual life. The classical intellectual tradition is traced from ancient times to the Carolingian present to demonstrate that classicism was a continuum. The thesis examines the classical tradition in the intellectual life of the Carolingian period, its conscious rejuvenation in the figurative arts, and its manifestation in the …

The Art Of Printmaking: Part 2. Master Prints From The Fifteenth Through The Eighteenth Centuries, Norman A. Geske

Sheldon Museum of Art: Catalogs and Publications

SCHONGAUER, MARTIN
ALDEGREVER, HEINRICH
ALTDORFER, ALBRECHT
BALDUNG-GRIEN, HANS
BEHAM, BARTHEL
CRANACH, LUCAS
DURER, ALBRECHT
DUVET, JEAN
HOLBEIN, HANS
LAUTENSACK, HANS SEBALD
VAN LEYDEN, LUCAS
MANTEGNA, ANDREA
BOSSE, ABRAHAM
CALLOT, JACQUES
CARRACCI, AGOSTINO
GELLEE, CLAUDE (called Lorrain)
GOLTZIUS, HENDRIK
NANTEUIL, ROBERT
VAN RIJN, REMBRANDT HARMENSZ
CANAL, ANTONIO (called Canaletto)
HOGARTH, WILLIAM
MOREAU, JEAN-MICHEL (known as Moreau Ie Jeune)
PIRANESI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA

The New England Primer Improved, Unknown

Albert A. Howard Book History Collection

Full title: The New England primer improved, for the more easy attaining the true reading of English. To which is added the Assembly of Divines, and Mr. Cotton's catechism. Boston, Printed by E. Draper and sold by J. Boyle, 1777

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The Wonder Of Wonders, Or, The Remarkable Discovery Of An American Hermit; : Who Lived Upwards Of 200 Years, James Buckland, John Fielding

Albert A. Howard Book History Collection

Chapbook description:

The hermit was purportedly discovered by Capt. James Buckland and Mr. John Fielding, who in 1785 "agreed to travel into the western parts of this vast country, to explore the regions which belong to the United States which are yet unknown to us."

Printed in Kennebunk prior to Maine's statehood.

For more information, please refer to the library catalog.

Prieres Ordinaires Des Soldatz De L'Armee Conduite Par Monsieur Le Prince De Condé, Accommodees Selon L'Occurrence Du Temps, Louis Prince De Condé (1530-1569)

Albert A. Howard Book History Collection

Morning and evening prayers for the use of soldiers, according to Calvinist rites.

Full title: Prieres ordinaires des soldatz de l'armee conduite par Monsieur le Prince de Condé, accommodees selon l'occurrence du temps = Zwey schone Gebet welche die Soldaten die unter dem herrn Printzen von Conde ligen beide Abends vnd Morgens wenn sie auf vnd von der Wacht zihen sprechen

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Bulla Reductionis Generalis Concilii Ad Civitatem Tridentinam Cum Monitione & Requisitione Prælatorum, Pope Julius Iii

Albert A. Howard Book History Collection

Pope Julius III's bull announcing the re-opening of the Council of Trent in 1551 following the death of Paul III in 1549.

Full title: Bulla reductionis generalis concilii ad civitatem Tridentinam cum monitione & requisitione Prælatorum, ad illius prosecutionem p. S. D. N. D. Iulium III. pont. max

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