Medieval Studies Commons^™

It's Not Whether You Win Or Lose, It's Who Reports The Games: American Media And The Summer Olympics Of The 1950s, Benjamin G. Hardcastle

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Upon their return from the London Olympic Games in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt hosted the United States Olympic athletes at his Oyster Bay, New York retreat. The London Games had been rife with rivalry between the American team and its British hosts, causing the British press to question the sportsmanship of the American athletes after a number of heated events. The US athletes, upset by the accusations, were reassured by the words of Roosevelt. "We don't need to talk," he exclaimed upon receiving them, "we've won!"

Protestant Missionaries Catalysts In The Abolition Of Foot-Binding In China, Aaron Anderson

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Known as the "custom that lasted a thousand years," the binding of women's feet in imperial China was practiced by women of all social classes. 1 When Protestant missionaries began to establish mission stations in Qing Dynasty China during the 1800s, they came face to face with foot-binding at its zenith. 2 In the absence of official statistics documenting how prevalent the custom was, a missionary observer's estimate that roughly 90% of the Chinese women had bound feet serves as a revealing clue of the practice's universal acceptance.3 Considering how widely practiced and long-lasting the tradition of foot-binding was, the …

Preface, Julie Harris

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Each year, the Beta Iota chapter of Phi Alpha Theta publishes The Thetean as an outlet for student papers. We as a staff hope that this year's volume will encourage students to take their scholarly endeavors beyond the classroom, and to revise and refine their term papers as if they were preparing articles. We also hope that the selections in this year's Thetean adequately reflect the BYU History Department faculty's efforts to teach us to think, research, and write critically.

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Robbed In The Wilderness: The Western Odyssey Of John Hoback, Edward Robinson, And Jacob Reznor, Aaron Cobia

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Warned by John Reed that a band of Shoshones were on the war path, Marie Dorion gathered her two young children, got on her horse, and headed to where her husband, Pierre, was hunting. Delayed by darkness, cold, and fear of Indians, Marie finally reached the hut from which Pierre and the other men were hunting. As she approached the hut, she saw Giles Leclerc "staggering as if unwell." Wounded and faint from the loss of blood, Leclerc told Marie that La Chappelle, Reznor, and her husband had been "robbed and murdered that morning. " Marie put LeClerc and one …

Pleas For Toleration Against The Call Of Treason: The 1890 Shanghai Protestant Missionary Conference And The Controversy Over Chinese Rites, Joseph Seeley

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On May 7,1890, a colorful assortment of Western Protestant missionaries, stationed in all corners of late Qing-dynasty China, gathered in Shanghai for a thirteen-day mission conference. Some came to the conference clad in native Chinese dress, complete with Manchu-style ponytails or queues, while others were dressed more formally in the proper Victorian garb preferred by their non-missionary Western counterparts. Regardless of perceived differences in dress or ecclesiastical affiliation in the multi-denominational assembly, all sought to enjoy what was later described by conference organizers as "an occasion of the highest social enjoyment... as well as spiritual profit." As over four hundred …

Domestic And Foreign Opium Regulation In Victorian England: 1830-1900, Zachary Zundel

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

By the nineteenth century, the British Empire had extended its reach all the way around the globe. They did not come to this position easily. Extending their reach required the British to fight wars with many of the major European powers, such as France, both on the mainland and in colonies around the world. China proved to be one of the most difficult areas for the British to extend into. In China the people were resistant to diseases and possessed greater technology than the other areas of the globe. Europeans wanted access to Asia for products such as spices and …

"Concern For ... South Africa Must Not Impel Us To Commit Acts Of Economic Suicide", Michael Milendez

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The early 1970s marked the gradual end of the silent era in the antiapartheid movements in South Africa. The Black Consciousness movement along with other internal anti-apartheid movements began to gain strength and a greater voice. At the same time, the U.S. government continued to ignore, for the most part, South African affairs. This changed with the Angola Conflict in 1975 and the heightening of internal strife of South Africa, which began with the Soweto Uprisings in 1976. The conflicting economic and strategic interests of the U.S. Government led to policies, which allowed apartheid to survive in South Africa throughout …

Persecution Of Catholic Leaders In The Ussr, Jenevra Owen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the early 1900s Russian people sought for change in the government because they were not pleased with the capitalist system under the Tsar. The year 1917 saw the end of the Tsar's reign as he fell to the Bolshevik Party (a socialist group) during the Russian Revolution. This completely altered the face of the Russian government as it ushered in a new era for the Russian people. They had been longing for a transformation within the government, and the revolution served as the means to bring about that change. As a result, the Bolshevik Party was created to provide …

Explaining The Stigma: Emma Smith's Reputation Among Latter-Day Saints, 1860 To Present, Dallan Petersen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In 1874 Brigham Young declared that Emma Smith, the widow of Joseph Smith, would "be damned as sure as she is a living woman. " Few people have ever elicited enough controversy to be publicly condemn by an LDS Church President, but Emma Smith is among them. Today, Emma Smith is a controversial figure among Mormons, but the reason she became so is less well known. Since the 1980s, LOS books and magazines have claimed her reputation is a product of her refusal to follow her husband's church to Utah in 1846. However, there is no evidence that Emma's reputation …

Manchester And The Lit And Phil, Nik Vigil

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In writing his extensive History, Directory, and Gazetteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster, Edward Baines wrote, "When the increase of wealth and population lead to the establishment of societies for the improvement of the mind and the extension of science, they produce their legitimate influence; of this nature is the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society." The Lit and Phil, as it was most commonly known, was established in 1781 as a society intended for the discussion of topics as diverse as experimental chemistry and the commercial arts. The Lit and Phil was unique in that it was begun …

Protest And The Pri: Examining Us-Mexican Relations, 1968-1971, Jake Glenn

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

A green flare shot up in the air, lighting the sky. A red flare shortly followed. As a suprised crowd looked up, "a hail of bullets" turned a pepaceful student protest into a massacre at Tlatelolco.

"Dish For An Epicure": Spanish Perceptions Of Indigenous Food In Mexico And Central America, 1517-1577, Timothy Boyer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Upon Arrival in Veracruz, Mexico in 1520, the conquistadors were exposed to the sights, sounds, and tastes of the New World. In Cuba they had subsisted on a mostly European diet, but in Mexico they would have to learn to make do with indigenous foods. Their leader, Hernan Cortes, ordered the ships burned to prevent deserters, destroying any hope they had of receiving supplies of European foods during their conquest of what would later become known as Nueva Espana. This left them highly dependent on either their own ability to properly identify food sources or, as was usually the case, …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Bahrdt' S Psychological Portrait Of The Dogmatic Priest In Das Religions-Edikt And Herr Pastor Rindvigius, Timothy Wright

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

'What is enlightenment?' This question, posed to German reading audiences in the autumn of 1783 by the journal Berlinische Monatsschrift, ignited a debate that lasted a decade. While the famous answer, given by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, emphasized enlightenment as, above all else, self-emancipation, others stressed the role of external factors-education and institutions-in promoting the individual's ability to think for himself. Through correct upbringing, education, and laws, the individual and society can be brought to enlightenment, so the thinking went. This latter model accented the importance of human development (Bildung) and institutional reform as a means to facilitate this …

Lds Women And The Teton Dam Disaster Of 1976, Emily Willis

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

June 5, 1976, started like any other spring day in southeastern Idaho. After the cold winter, most of the residents of the numerous farming towns that lie throughout the Upper Snake River Valley found the beautiful Saturday ideal for farm work, gardening, or spring cleaning. About twenty miles northeast of Rexburg, the largest town in the area, the Teton Dam neared completion. A Bureau of Reclamation project, the dam promised to stop the annual flooding that so often decimated portions of farmers' fields along the Teton River. Around 11 o'clock that morning, however, came a terrifying report: the Teton Dam …

Spiritual Chemistry: The Theosophic Roots Of Newtonian Alchemy, Jeffery Tucker

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The popularization of mathematics in the Modern Era and the subsequent proliferation of technologies have created a cultural environment in which the meaning of 'science' is often assumed to be self-evident. Philosophically, this presumptive consensus derives many of its arguments from Popperian criteria, which seek to delineate the critical differences between 'science' and 'non-science.' These demarcations imply that 'science' is an empiric reality, discoverable in both its methods and qualities. Although Kuhnian relativism has attenuated the robustness of these assertions, the fact remains that many individuals purport to have an intuitive ability to state definitively, "This is science." Such claims …

On History As Such And Historical Practice, Drew Mecham

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In his essay "On History Again," Thomas Carlyle asks: "Were there no brave men, thinkest thou, before Agamemnon?" Carlyle probably sought to reference the idea that history is incapable of uncovering the past completely: the documents simply fail to create a full image of the past that we desire. It seems that his answer to his question would be that yes, there were brave men before Agamemnon, but they are lost to us. He reaffirms this point later: "The Life of Nero occupies some diamond pages of our Tacitus; but in the parchment and papyrus archives of Nero's generation how …

Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Annales School: On The Conflict Between Pope Boniface Viii And Philip Iv Of France, Jonathan Luke

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In the introduction to his book On History,

Annales School founder Fernand Braudel remarked that "Annales has been received, like any other outstanding thing, with both violent enthusiasm and obstinate antipathy." Indeed, many scholars reacted both positively and negatively to Braudel's call that history be reborn. The Annales School announced that, in the face of the unprecedented atrocities committed during the World Wars, traditional history as written by Leopold van Ranke and his followers, which stresses "political and military events as the story of the great deeds of great men," was grossly insufficient for describing the human condition. In …

"Nobody Whups Me Now": Emancipation And Slave Identity In Mississippi, Daniel Hoer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Long before the CIvil War drew to a close, slaves had been looking steadfastly towards the day they would be set free. Like Abe McKlennan, who anticipated the arrival of his freedom many years before it came, Dora Franks similarly recalled one day when she overheard her master telling his wife, Emmaline, "dat dey was gwinter have a bloody war and he was afeared dat all de slaves would be took away." Dora heard Emmaline declare that if this were true "she feel lak jumpin' in de well," and although Dora hated to hear her mistress say such things, she …

Vainglory Or The True Glory Of Christ: The Life Of Saint Catherine Of Siena, Dana Hallstrom

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On April 29,1380, Saint Catherine of Siena lay dying in Rome surrounded by her closest disciples. An eyewitness account of the scene reports that in the midst of her death throes Catherine suddenly exclaimed, "Vainglory? Never! But the true glory of Christ crucified," seemingly compelled in her last moments to offer a final justification for her unusual life. Several years prior to her death, after having spent more than three years in selfimposed solitude and severe asceticism in a small room underneath the stairs of her father's house, young Catherine Benicasa experienced a vision in which Christ appeared to her …

"Across The Atlantic": How World War Ii Changed British Public Opinion Of Americ, Lexi Edgar

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was July 4,1951. Exactly 175 years earlier, America had boldly proclaimed its independence from Great Britain and entered a fierce and desperate struggle to separate itself from the mother country. Yet on this day, reminiscent of the division of the two nations, Americans and Brits came together in London to celebrate their unity. They gathered to dedicate the Roll of Honor, a book containing the names of the 28,000 American soldiers who gave their lives in Great Britain during World War II.

Satorial Manipulation Within Historical Politics, Heather Dew

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Fashion's impact on the course of history largely unexplored. Herbert Blumer, a noted sociologist at UC Berkeley, accurately credits this oversight to

"a failure to observe and appreciate the wide range of operation of fashion; a false assumption that fashion has only nivial or peripheral significance; a mistaken idea that fashion falls in the area of the abnormal and irrational and thus is out of the mainsneam of human group life; and, finally, a misunderstanding of the nature of fashion."

Blumer was criticizing sociologists, but he may as well have been criticizing historians; scholarly works analyzing fashion's impact are rare …

Slavery And The Second Party System: The Senate Gag Rule As A Test Case, Lee J.F. Deppermann

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

By December 18, 1835, James Henry Hammond, freshman representative from South Carolina, had endured long enough. Hammond insisted that instead of discussing and tabling antislavery petitions, the House of Representatives should not even receive them. The result was the most intense and divisive slavery debate since the Missouri Compromise. When it became apparent that abolitionist tracts would not be allowed to penetrate the South, abolitionists brought their crusade for public opinion to the halls of Congress, claiming their constitutional right of petition. It was these petitions that drove many Southerners, especially the impulsive and fiery Hammond, to lash out and …

Preface, Peter Wright

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The eminent Russian humanist and novelist Leo Tolstoy once quipped, "Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them." Although Tolstoy intended this to be a criticism of contemporary historical trends, his thought reveals an important truth about the value of historical studies: historians often investigate questions that others never think to explore and thus provide new and unique perspectives on past human experience. Does the fact that the majority deigns not to entertain these questions decrease their significance? On the contrary, I believe that this is precisely what gives historical inquiry its …

Front Matter

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Vision, Repetition And Redemption: Envisioning Universal Salvation In A Group Of Six Carolingian Ivory Book Covers, Valerie Thai

Theses and Dissertations

Six Carolingian ivory plaques share almost identical imagery. This thesis focuses on the figures of Synagoga and the rising dead repeated in the compositions. As the ivories are Gospel covers used in Mass, this study demonstrates how these motifs appeal to the congregation, conveying the Christian tenet of universal salvation.

Chaucer’S Contradictory Representations Of Fourteenth Century Knighthood In The Canterbury Tales, Nicholas Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

Differences in interpretation have long dominated scholarship regarding knighthood in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. But these differences fail to consider the nuance of the text and the historical realities of the period in which Chaucer wrote. Chaucer’s depiction of knighthood represents the institution as filled with tensions and contradictions.