Gesturing in the Early Universities

Medieval Universities

A notable feature of research into the early universities is that it usually pays close attention to the oral and literary traditions that underpinned scholastic education. By focusing exclusively upon these logocentric traditions, however, the significance of the word (whether written or spoken) in late medieval pedagogy has often been over- emphasized. In this essay I wish to correct this perspective by investigating the use of gestures in early university education as a non-verbal means of communication.

Bernard Ayglier and William of Pagula: Two Approaches To Monastic Law

Medieval Monks

The paper examines the role of canon law in two monastic works, the Speculum monachorum (SM) (1272×74) of Bernard Ayglier (d.1282), abbot of Montecassino, and the Speculum religiosorum (SR) (c.1322) of William of Pagula, a canonist and secular priest (d.1332)

Dining at King’s College in the 15th century

medieval feast - from Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Perhaps unsurprisingly, fish and seafood formed a major component in the diet of the fellows and scholars.

The Librarius and Libraire as Witnesses to the Evolving Book Trade in Ducal Brittany

Medieval book

In monasteries and cathedrals of the medieval West, the « custos librariae » functioned primarily as a custodian or keeper of bound codices, and we see a similar role emerge from extant medieval registers from Breton cathedral chapters.

“The King’s Library: Construction, Representation and Reception of the Ideal Kingship in the Late French Middle Ages”

Charles V of France

This paper on Charles V of France and his contribution to education was given on October 5th, 2012 as part of a workshop between Freiburg and the University of Toronto.

Got Medieval?

Homoerotic - Homosexual love

Developing queer history through the concept of affective connection—a touch across time—and through the intentional collapse of conventional historical time, I wanted in Getting Medieval to help queer studies re- spond to such desire.

Running Widdershins Round Middle Earth: Why Teaching Tolkien Matters

Tolkien Elves

Returning to Tolkien’s allegory, it is clear that he suggests that his fellow medievalists have taken a work of great imaginative and artistic power, and instead of using it to “see the sea”, they have mined it for words and phrases, and pulled it apart, looking for bits and pieces from other ancient works, and even reworked it after their own notions of how it “ought” to be built.

“Partners in the same”: Monastic Devotional Culture in Late Medieval English Literature

St. Benedict delivering his rule to the monks of his order

To understand this apparent incongruity, it is, I argue, necessary to interrogate more carefully the continuation of monastic literary culture and its gradual diffusion beyond the walls of the cloister.

Curricula and educational process in Mamluk Madrasas

mamluk cairo

This study examined and discussed about the process of education in Egypt and Syria during the Mamluk Era (1250 – 1517).

Science and the Medieval University

Illustration from Biblia moralizada de los Limbourg, ca.1402

It is no exaggeration or distortion to claim that the curriculum of the medieval university was founded on science and largely devoted to teaching about the nature and operation of the physical world.

New Technologies in Teaching Paleography

Medieval manuscript

During last years many instruments for teaching and research in paleography have been planned and carried out; they mostly were dynamic web sites based on information systems, which were used to manage bibliographical data on medieval manuscripts and to implement the processes usually adopted from researchers for the collection of information.

Back to School Books! Medieval Education

Science and Technology in World History: The Black Death, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution

Get back into the school groove with these books on medieval education!

John Hardyng’s Chronicle: a study of the two versions and a critical edition of both for the period 1327-1464

John Hardyng - Chronicle

Part II of the thesis is an edition of the two versions for the years 1327-1464, selected for their relevance to the public and political affairs of late medieval England, and because it is in this section that Hardyng draws together his conclusions about the reigns of previous monarchs in relation to the present governance of England; the edition is supported by full critical apparatus and a commentary for each version, containing background contextual and historical information, and comparative allusions to other contemporary historical and literary texts. The thesis concludes with six appendices, a selective glossary and a bibliography.

Difficulties in Reading the Naples Recipes: Was the Scribe a Woman?

Medieval woman reading

In a previous article, Weldon has argued that the manuscript, which is dated to 1457, was intended for a female audience. Now he has also come to believe that text was also written by a female author.

Unity and Diversity in Early Medieval Canonical Collections

Medieval Monks

This paper details differences and similarities in canon law sources in different regions.

Medieval Urban Literacy: Questions and Possibilities

16th c. women

In the Middle Ages, in towns one seems to have had more chance of being confronted with writing than elsewhere. Certain urban milieus participating in written culture, however, have caught the scholars’ attention more than others. Studies of the urban communes of northern Italy have suggested a direct link between the reception of the written word in daily life and the emergence of literate mentalities.

Lewis Morris and the Mabinogion

Statue - The Two Kings (The Mabinogion)

Lewis Morris (1700/1-1765) was regarded as the foremost Welsh antiquary and authority on Welsh literature of his day. A founding member of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion in 1751his expertise on Welsh literature and history was solicited by Welsh poets and antiquaries alike.

Plenary Session: Learning the Law in the Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Manuscripts

How did Carolingians learn canon law? This paper examines lay knowledge of canon law during the Carolingian period.

History of Mathematics Education in the European Middle Ages

Medieval mathematics

From the point of view of mathematics education, the Dark Ages are even ‘darker’ than other aspects of literate culture.

Modern nationalism and the medieval sagas

Medieval Iceland

Nineteenth-century romanticism had a special interest in both the medieval world and primitive, untainted rural culture. As the nineteenth century progressed and turned into the early twentieth, the Danes fell more and more under the nostalgic spell, tending to look upon the Icelanders through increasingly romantic and patronizing eyes

Innovation in Late Medieval Educational Thought: Vincent of Beauvais, Ramon Lull, and Pierre Dubois

Vincent de Beauvais

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are usually given short shrift by historians of education, who tend to celebrate
the twelfth and fifteenth centuries as eras of immensely significant theoretical and practical innovation in education and ignore the interval between.

Literacy as Heresy: Lollards and the Spread of Literacy

Beginning of the Gospel of John from a 14th century copy of Wycliffe's translation

An examination of the literacy habits of the Lollards, a heretical sect of the Middle Ages, will, I hope, provide a needed historical context for our concern today with literacy, technology, and responsibility.

BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE IN GREAT MORAVIA

Byzantine Emperor Michael III

What could the Byzantine Empire offer to Great Moravia in the field of education? Let’s leave aside the political and theological aspects of the mission for a while and point out, that Byzantium complied with Rastislav’s request out of political reasons as well. They considered Great Moravia a possible ally.

Machiavelli on Christian Education

Machiavelli

My primary point is not to vindicate Christian education as good for the well-being of cities but to complicate the assumptions of the civil religion approach by examining Machiavelli’s reflections on human character and psychology.

Classical and Secular Learning among the Irish before the Carolingian Renaissance

Early medieval Ireland

Classical and secular learn­ ing maintained their close association with each other until the end of antiquity, when they gradually became divorced.

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