Intermarriage in fifteenth-century Ireland: the English and Irish in the ‘four obedient shires’
The so-called ‘four obedient shires’ of Meath, Kildare, Louth and Dublin are a fruitful area for a study of marriage between the English of Ireland and the Irish, as these counties comprised the region of the colony most firmly under English control in the fifteenth century. Much of the anti-Irish rhetoric that survives in sources from the period…
Heorot and the Plundered Hoard: A Study of Beowulf
Time and again the Beowulf poet’s choice of words and details reveals that he practised his craft within a tradition in which his creativeness was bound and disciplined by the objectiveness of a particular structure of images. We perceive in all the rich variety of his work the unifying effect of the typological imagination. It is in the typological mode of Beowulf that the key to its meaning and artistry is to be found.
“One Woman with Many Faces”: Imaginings of Mary Magdalen in Medieval and Contemporary Texts
This project explores these contradictory and myriad imaginings of Mary Magdalen, emphasizing particularly the connections to be made between those emerging from the later Middle Ages and in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.
Foolishness and Fools in Aquinas’s Analysis
Fools are legion. This self-evident truth, vouched for by Holy Scripture, is quoted more than twenty times by Thomas Aquinas: ‘stultorum infinitus est numerus’.
The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem as prototypical NGO
While the term non-governmental organization and its definition are modern, the common traits of NGOs today can be found in the equivalents of medieval times.
The Virgin Mary in High Medieval England, A Divinely Malleable Woman: Virgin, Intercessor, Protector, Mother, Role Model
This thesis examines the significance of the Virgin Mary in England between the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. The primary sources selected indicate the variety of ideas circulating about her during this period. Strictly religious texts such as the Bible and early Christian writings ground Late Medieval beliefs about Mary in their historical context.
The Music of the Medieval Body in Pain
In the fifteenth-century Passion d’Auvergne, the rounding up of martyrs for persecution inspires torturer Maulbec to teach his cronies the words of a hunting song which imitates the cries of wounded animals.
A question of time or a question of theology: A study of the Easter controversy in the Insular Church
To date scholarly research has approached this topic from a medieval historical perspective. It has, however, never been approached from a purely theological stance. Questions regarding the Insular 84-year cycle have occupied scholars over the past one hundred years or so. A review of the literature reveals an advance in understanding the techniques of the computus of the Insular church.
Season 3 of Game of Thrones set to begin
For millions of fans, the third season of Game of Thrones could not come fast enough. The hit TV show returns to HBO in the United States and Canada on Sunday, March 31st.
Hug a Medievalist Day
Every March 31st is International Hug a Medievalist Day! We interview Sarah Laseke, who started the day in 2011, on how she came up with the idea.
Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art
A symposium held at the Art Gallery of Ontario offered new insights into the artistic community of 14th-century Florence.
Hades Stabbed by the Cross of Christ
A Byzantine ivory carved with the crucifixion of Christ has long been considered one of the treasures of the medieval collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Delivering stability: Primogeniture and autocratic survival in European monarchies 1000-1800
Although the dominating position of primogeniture at the end of the period might seem natural given primogeniture’s many advantages for the monarch and the ruling elite it was first rather late in history that the principle came to dominate Europe.
Gender Transgression as Heresy: The Trial of Joan of Arc
This paper aims to take the trial of Joan of Arc seriously by arguing that Joan really was a heretic because she was different from orthodox Christians in that she transgressed traditional gender roles.
Sexuality in the Natural and Demonic Magic of the Middle Ages
Throughout the Middle Ages – especially the later Middle Ages – ideas of magic played a large part in the formation of deviant sexual behaviours and it was believed that magic played a main role in sexual malfunctions and abilities.
Chaucer, Gower, and What Medieval Women Want
Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower, friends and colleagues, both chose to retell the same story at roughly the same time in their story collections, The Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis.
Dunluce Castle: History and Archaeology
Dunluce Castle, dramatically positioned on cliffs that plunge straight into the sea, was for centuries at the centre of a maritime lordship encompassing north Ulster and the Western Isles of Scotland.
Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland
By all accounts, Margaret was a beautiful, blond Saxon princess in her twenties who was educated and had learned the art of being a royal wife from Edward’s Queen Edith.
Scotland’s St Oran’s Cross to be restored
One of the most important symbols of medieval Scotland, St Oran’s Cross, will be re-erected for the first time in centuries, as part of the celebrations of the 1450th anniversary of the established of a monastery on Iona in Scotland.
The Sexual Riddles of the Exeter Book
Among the Exeter Book riddle collection there is a group more or less explicitly of riddles which deals sex.
Images of Rodrigo: The construction of past and present in late medieval Iberian chronicles
A return to late medieval narrative accounts of the events surrounding the invasions of 711 suggests that most medieval chroniclers saw the fall of Visigothic Spain in a different light
Sleep paralysis in medieval Persia – the Hidayat of Akhawayni
Sleep paralysis, a rapid eye movement (REM) parasomnia, is characterized by a period of inability to perform voluntary movements at sleep onset (hypnagogic form) or upon awakening (hypnopompic form).
Multi-confessionalism in Medieval and Ottoman Bosnia-Herzegovina
By the fifth century CE, however, the Western Empire was unraveling, and Bosnia, the easternmost outpost of Latin jurisdiction, was being engulfed by throngs of barbarian Slavs.
Vikings – Review of Episode 4: Trial
The war has begun. Aethelstan is right – Ragnar is preparing for the worst and Rollo’s refusal to hand his brother over is going to cost them dearly.