Medieval Studies Commons^™

Ofermod And Aristocratic Chivalry In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Amber Dunai

Journal of Tolkien Research

This paper explores connections between J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1953 Essays and Studies publication The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son and representations of ofermod and aristocratic “chivalry” in The Lord of the Rings. Focusing on the motivations and leadership-related decisions of Denethor and Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, this paper argues that Faramir's behavior and motivations, despite Denethor’s implications to the contrary, cannot be described in terms of ofermod regardless of the risk that his choice to reject the Ring appears to pose to Gondor. By contrast, Denethor and his son Boromir represent the pride-motivated decision-making and rash …

Judaiism, Christianity And Islam In Medieval Culture His 378, Amanda Izenstark

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Digital Scholarship: Current Challenges In Hiring, Promotion, And Tenure, Bridget Whearty

English, General Literature, and Rhetoric Faculty Scholarship

This is the performance script and slides (embedded) of my Oct 11, 2019 talk given at the University of Albany Library's Digital Scholarship Conference--Digital Scholarship: Opportunities and Challenges (see https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/dsconf/).

This talk examines how local conditions can strongly discourage pretenure faculty from engaging in innovative digital work. Arguing that individual faculty, larger institutions, local communities, and the humanities themselves lose out when digital scholarship is not adequately valued, I offer an "alternative universe tenure timeline," outlining some of the work I would have done in the past five years if digital scholarship was valued for promotion and tenure.

Imperatrix, Domina, Rex: Conceptualizing The Female King In Twelfth-Century England, Coral Lumbley

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article draws on methods from transgender theory, historicist literary studies, and visual analysis of medieval sealing practices to show that Empress Matilda of England was controversially styled as a female king during her career in the early to mid twelfth century. While the chronicle Gesta Stephani castigates Matilda’s failure to engage in sanctioned gendered behaviors as she waged civil war to claim her inherited throne, Matilda’s seal harnesses both masculine and feminine signifiers in order to proclaim herself both king and queen. While Matilda’s transgressive gender position was targeted by her detractors during her lifetime, the obstinately transgender object …

Medieval Trans Lives In Anamorphosis: Looking Back And Seeing Differently (Pregnant Men And Backward Birth), Blake Gutt

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article employs Lacan’s notion of anamorphosis, and the retrospection which Kathryn Bond Stockton presents as fundamental to the assumption of queer identity, as it demonstrates the functions and value of transgender readings of medieval texts. The article analyses two thirteenth-century literary works, Le Roman de Saint Fanuel and Aucassin et Nicolette, both of which feature pregnant male characters, alongside A.K. Summers’ 2014 graphic novel, Pregnant Butch. This juxtaposition reveals the resonances between these medieval and modern portrayals of gender non-conformity, as well as the highly gendered cultural norms surrounding pregnancy. Finally, attention to Janice Raymond’s transmisogynistic claims …

Modern Intolerance And The Medieval Crusades [Excerpted From Whose Middle Ages?], Nicholas L. Paul

History

Whose Middle Ages? is an interdisciplinary collection of short, accessible essays intended for the non-specialist reader and ideal for teaching at an undergraduate level. Each of twenty-two essays takes up an area where humans have dug for meaning into the medieval past and brought something distorted back into the present: in our popular entertainment; in our news, our politics, and our propaganda; and in subtler ways that inform how we think about our histories, our countries, and ourselves. Each author teases out the stakes of a history that has refused to remain past and uses the tools of the academy …

Linguistic Ideologies In The Performance Of Bulgarian Identity, Chelsey Norman

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

Since the end of Communism in 1989 and joining the European Union in 2007, Bulgarians have experienced much greater mobility and access to the global community. Despite this more global perspective, Bulgarians maintain a strong sense of national identity. Given this interplay between global and national identities, Bulgaria is an apt location to conduct this ideological research. Using a combination of ethnographic observations (June-July 2018) and semi-structured interviews with bilingual Bulgarians in Sofia, this study examines how large-scale phenomena like nationalism and globalization are found in the micro-scale interactional construction of identity. Results show that a great deal of ideological …

The Acquisition Of Diminutives In Moroccan Heritage Speakers In France, Amal El Haimeur

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

This study addresses the acquisition of diminutive forms by Moroccan heritage speakers in France. Diminutive formation depends on stem modification. 15 Moroccan-French participants took part in this study. In a production experiment, participants were asked to form diminutives for 6 types of stems, since the stem type determines the diminutive pattern. The findings of this study show that the mean percentage of source-like use of the diminutive forms is 38%. The results revealed that just two patterns that were acquired by a significant number of participants: CCiCa and CCiCjCjəC. Diminutive forms that do not require complex processes are acquired by …

Exploring The Emotional Language In The Twilight Novel As A Literary Discourse: An Appraisal Theory Analysis, Susan Ataei

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

Emotions have always been a mysterious realm of human beings gaining an understanding of which requires the collaboration of scholars from multiple disciplines. This study employed the Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005) of evaluations and emotions to explore the manifestation of emotions in a popular modern prose fiction, the first book of the twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (2009) - Twilight. The objective of the study was to gain a deep understanding of how a bestselling literary prose fiction, Twilight, employs human emotions, and thus “affect”, to impose its “effect” on the reader. I applied the affect sub-system of …

Optimizing L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: Applied Linguistic Research, George H. Borawski

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

Any acquisition in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) starts as word recognition; as such vocabulary acquisition is integral to language learning as a whole and is a precursor to fluent communication (Ellis, 1996; Moore, 1996). To maximize SLA, vocabulary acquisition must be optimized. However, vocabulary acquisition is understudied and underutilized, especially compared to other aspects of SLA (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997). Cook states, “…the vast bulk of examinations, syllabuses, and course books around the globe show little overt influence from SLA research” (1998, p.10). Courses, teachers, and students would benefit from directly addressing SLA research, rather than utilize inefficient methods (Cook, …

Ellipsis In Iraqi Arabic: An Analysis Of Gapping, Sluicing, And Stripping, Saja Albuarabi

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

The purpose of this paper is to explore the syntax of ellipsis in Iraqi Arabic. The paper sheds light on three types of ellipsis in Arabic and English, namely: sluicing, gapping, and stripping and puts each of them in a comparison between Iraqi Arabic and English languages in addition to Arabic dialects. To the best of my knowledge, these elliptical structures have not been studied in Iraqi Arabic before. Therefore, this study offers the first description of these phenomena from a generative standpoint. The paper argues that the three types of ellipsis mentioned above can be the result of Phonological …

"A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, And So Is An Emojis 🙂" Emojisfication Of Language: A Pragmatic Analysis Of Facebook Discourse, Alienna Kazmi, Arooj Rana, Uzma Anjum, Madiha Khan

Purdue Linguistics, Literature, and Second Language Studies Conference

This research study aims to examine language change occurring in written discourse due to increase in the usage of emojis and the way emojis, in comparison to words, are performing communicative functions on social media platforms such as Facebook. The study focused on Pakistani Facebook users. For the study, Facebook is one of the most authentic social media platforms because 71.75 % (Internet Word Stat) of Pakistani internet users use Facebook which is the highest statistics among all social media applications. In order to investigate the recent language change and communicative functions performed by emojis, we utilized Speech act theory …

Pirates, Merchants, And A Small Battle On The Island Of Kythira In The Later Middle Ages, David D. Terry

The Hilltop Review

Merchants in the later medieval Mediterranean crossed boundaries both geographical and moral. In November 1327 two Mallorcan investors complained to the king’s court that their ship, which they had sent to the eastern Mediterranean laden with tradable goods, had been ransacked by the violent natives of Kythera, an Aegean island at that time ruled by Venice. The Venetians, always conscious of maintaining good trade relations, sent representatives to the island and conducted a full investigation. After interviewing the islanders, the duke of the island sent his conclusions back to Venice: the Catalan “merchants” had come ashore on the island and …

Untitled: Deconstruction And Reconstruction Of Identity In Le Chevalier De La Charrette And The Romance Of Tristran, Devin Louise Moulton

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Questions of identity are a central source of tension within the genre of the chivalric romances. Even among the large collective that is King Arthur’s court, innumerable romances recount the tales of individual knights in search of individual glory and of some way to distinguish their names among the masses of the court and the group of knights across chivalric traditions while simultaneously bound by the confines of that same group and its structures. For most, such a feat is impossible and many knights, though they may earn a name in the course of a single romance, never truly break …

The Saga Of The Jómsvikings: A Translation For Students, Alison Finlay, Þórdís Edda Jóhannesdóttir

Northern Medieval World

Unique among the Icelandic sagas, part-history, part-fiction, the Saga of the Jómsvikings tells of a legendary band of vikings, originally Danish, who established an island fortress of the Baltic coast and launched and ultimately lost their heroic attack on the pagan ruler of Norway in the late tenth century. The saga's account of their stringent warrior code, fatalistic adherence to their own reckless vows and declarations of extreme courage as they face execution articulates a remarkable account of what it meant to be a viking. This translation presents the longest and earliest text of the saga, never before published in …

Queer Authority In Old And Middle English Literature, Elan J. Pavlinich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I argue that select early English texts queer normative authorizing conventions to authorize Old English and Middle English literatures. During the European Middle Ages, Latin cultures and literatures were privileged with authority that extended to and subverted the cultural capital of the inhabitants of England at the edge of the known Western world. I identify four exceptional English texts that employ authorizing conventions to disrupt normative networks of power that traditionally privilege Latin and to authorize English literature instead. The Norman Conquest had altered the English language and social structures; still, these altered networks of power continued to marginalize English …

Carolingian Commentaries On The Apocalypse By Theodulf And Smaragdus, Francis X. Gumerlock

TEAMS Commentary Series

In the early ninth-century Theodulf of Orleans and Smaragdus of Saint Mihiel served as advisers to Charlemagne. This book provides English translations of a Latin commentary on the Apocalypse written by Theodulf and three homilies on the Apocalypse by Smaragdus. A comprehensive essay introduces these texts, their authors, sources, and place in ninth-century biblical exegesis.

Darkness, Depression, And Descent In Anglo-Saxon England, Ruth Wehlau

Richard Rawlinson Center Series

This collection of essays examines the motifs of darkness, depression, and descent in both literal and figurative manifestations within a variety of Anglo-Saxon texts, including the Old English Consolation of Philosophy, Beowulf, Life of Saint Guthlac, the Junius manuscript, the Wonders of the East, and the Battle of Maldon. Essays deal with such topics as cosmic emptiness, descent into the grave, and recurrent grief. In their analyses, the essays reveal the breadth of this imagery in Anglo-Saxon literature as it is used to describe thought and emotion, as well as the limits to knowledge and …

Words Speak Louder Than Actions: The Power Of Vocality And Oral Communication In Medieval Viking Literature, Yasmine Abdel-Jawad

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the nature of oral communication within medieval Nordic societies, specifically focusing on the usage of various speech acts in classic Viking literary texts. This essay explores the language employed by Viking characters, noting the ways in which they could demonstrate their power/authority through words as well as the way in which verbal ability could either elevate or diminish one’s social status.

Martin Luther King Jr.: The Ideal Medieval Preacher, Chloe Diaz

Andrews Research Conference

When scholars interpret the sermons of Martin Luther King Jr., such as his last sermon, they investigate his delivery of the speech and how it has stood the test of time. A common example is “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which King delivered on the eve of his death. Many say that he delivered this sermon like it was his last one—as if he were fully aware. Because of scholarship, this sermons has survived, but there is a lens that has not been explored extensively—the influence of medieval rhetorical theory on his scholarship as a theologian. There is a common …

John Gardner’S Grendel: The Importance Of Community In Making Moral Art, Catherine C. Cooper

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

John Gardner’s Grendel examines the ways in which humans make meaning out of their lives. By changing the original Beowulf monster into a creature who constantly questions the conflicting narratives set before him, Gardner encourages us to confront these tensions also. However, his emphasis on Grendel’s alienation helps us realize that community is essential to creating meaning. Most obviously, community creates relationships that foster a sense of moral obligation between its members, even in the face of the type of uncertainty felt by Grendel. Moreover, community cannot exist without dialogue, which perpetually stimulates the imagination to respond to the tensions …

Physicality And Spirituality In Riddle 26, Corinne Mccumber

Honors Capstone Projects

Riddle 26, an otherwise-unnamed poem in the 10th-century Old English collection known as The Exeter Book, suggests tension and interplay between its physical form and its meaning. Scholars accept that the riddle’s speaker describes the creation of a religious manuscript, but while physical processes drive the poem’s narrative structure, the speaker ends by focusing on the knowledge that the described religious text contains. As John Hines summarizes, the Old English riddles “demonstrate a keen eye for and dramatically imaginative appreciation of the real world in which the authors and readers lived: both its natural and its manufactured components” (974). …

From Bird-Woman To Mermaid: The Shifting Image Of The Medieval Siren, Claire Cannell

Student Research Symposium

During the Middle Ages, the siren transforms from its classical status as grotesque bird-woman into an alluring mermaid. A female monster, the siren represents what is considered monstrous in women. I plan to examine the unstable image of the siren in order to better understand the religious and social status of the medieval European woman. The siren is contextualized among contemporary secular images of female sexuality and the writings of religious authorities such as Leander of Seville, who wrote that all women were either nuns or sirens. I plan to analyze the implications of the nun-siren binary created by Leander …

The Singular Voice Of Being [Table Of Contents], Andrew Lazella

Philosophy & Theory

The Singular Voice of Being reconsiders John Duns Scotus’s well-covered theory of the univocity of being in light of his less explored discussions of ultimate difference. Ultimate difference is a notion introduced by Aristotle and known by the Aristotelian tradition, but one that, the book argues, Scotus radically retrofits to buttress his doctrine of univocity. Ultimate difference for Aristotle meant the last difference in a line of specific differences whereby all the preceding differences would be united into a single substance rather than remain a heapish multiplicity. LaZella argues that Scotus both broadens and deepens the term such that, in …

The Manuscript Copy Of Sfera In The Morgan Library, Dana Hart

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the literary origins of the fifteenth century text Sfera, a rhyming Italian treatise by Gregorio Dati, and considers the patronage, creation, and function of the manuscript copy in the Morgan Library and Museum, focusing on the illustrated maps and cities.

The Problem With Page To Screen Adaptation: A Case Study Of King Arthur And Tristan And Isolt, Christina Miller

Honors College Theses

The legends of King Arthur and Tristan and Isolt have been popular for centuries, leading to multiple translations and versions of each text. Modern filmmakers have added to this legacy. Though audiences have enjoyed various contemporary film adaptations of these medieval romances, several essential elements are lost while translating the works to screen. This paper identifies a central motif in each work—King Arthur’s Round Table and Isolt’s love potion—that shapes the subsequent love triangle, and by extension, the representation and motivation of honor. While tracing the continued appearance of such components and their importance in the text sources of Geoffrey …

Vision Literature And The Monetization Of Purgatory In Twelfth- And Thirteenth-Century Europe, Peter Colon

Theses and Dissertations

In twelfth- and thirteenth-century Europe, the creation and rise of Purgatory had a tremendous religious, economic, and social impact; but as it spread throughout Christendom, the phenomenon of paid indulgences did too. By analyzing the vision literature of this period, an understanding of Purgatory’s monetization is ultimately arrived at.

Opportunism & Duty: Gendered Perceptions Of Women's Involvement In Crusade Negotiation And Mediation (1147-1254), Gordon M. Reynolds

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

Women’s involvement in negotiation and mediation during the Middle Ages has received close scrutiny. However, few scholars have concentrated their investigations on the trends in female-led negotiations during the crusades in the Near East, and the significance of the religious connotations of such leadership in this theatre. There were dramatic societal shifts in the Latin East during the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, most significantly in the aftermath of the Battle of Hattin and loss of Jerusalem in 1187. The destruction of much of the Latin East’s crusader states that followed Jerusalem’s fall displaced many individuals, and with a plethora of Christian nobles …

Demonic Pedagogy And The Teaching Saint: Voice, Body, And Place In Cynewulf's Juliana, Christina M. Heckman

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

In Cynewulf’s Old English poem Juliana, the saint frames her encounters with her adversaries as pedagogical confrontations, refusing the lessons they attempt to “teach” her and ultimately adopting the identity of a teacher herself. These confrontations depend on three key tropes in the poem: Juliana’s voice, as a material manifestation of language deployed by the saint; her body, both as living body and as relic; and place, especially the place of the saint’s martyrdom and/or burial. Viewed through theories of material feminism, these tropes reveal diverse forms of agency in the poem, as both human and non-human agents make …

“A Drunken Cunt Hath No Porter”: Medieval Histories Of Intoxication And Consent, Carissa M. Harris

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This essay traces medieval representations of intoxication and consent and links them to contemporary cases, including Brock Turner’s 2016 rape trial and the 2017 slew of lawsuits filed against Baylor University. Through an examination of medieval texts from a range of genres, including the Biblical stories of Lot and Noah, the Digby Mary Magdalene play, proverbs, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Prologue, the 1292 legal case of Isabella Plomet, and Robert Mannyng’s Handlyng Synne, this essay explores past views of gender, perpetrators, culpability, alcohol, and consent. It argues that victim-blaming those who have been assaulted while intoxicated has …