Where the Middle Ages Begin
This article grew out of a project with our drama students at Bergen University College, Norway, in December 2002. I wanted to introduce the students to pre-Christian roots of Yule, and to give them an historical introduction to extant dramatic/ritual Christmas customs in our country.
Richard and Anne’s first Christmas as king and queen in 1483 was happy, even though they were in London and their only son Edward had to remain at Middleham, too sickly to travel.
Henceforth, I became a snapper-up of everything relating to Christmastide, utilised every opportunity of searching libraries, bookstalls, and catalogues of books in different parts of the country…
If previous manuscripts offered helpful remedies to soothe women’s suffering, these new works studied reproduction for theoretical gain, not practical application.
Tony Robinson’s Gods and Monsters, a new five-part series, begins on British television on Saturday night with a look at a history of the undead in Britain over the last two thousand years.
The apocrypha are one of the most important phenomena of the Middle Ages. They provide a different perspective and a valuable insight to the mentality of the period.
In this essay I examine the location in the material world that calls forth that cognitive frontier: the page.
According to an obscure medieval legend, the Countess Margaret of Henneberg, a notable Dutch noblewoman, gave birth to 365 children in the year 1276.
The Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture:Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700 McKeever, Amanda Jane PhD Thesis, Philosophy, University of Sussex, September 27, (2010) Abstract My thesis seeks to address the continuity, change and the syncreticism of ideas regarding post-mortem existence in the wake of the Reformation. Prior to reform, the late Medieval world view […]
Elfland Revisited: A Comparative Study of Late Twentieth Century Adaptations of Two Traditional Ballads Giebert, Stefanie PhD Dissertation, Philosophy, University of Trier, (2009) Abstract Once upon a time there was a minstrel. He travelled the land, stopping at the halls of noblemen to entertain their households. He sang old songs he had learned as a child, songs he had […]
Ships, Fogs, and Traveling Pairs: Plague Legend Migration in Scandinavia By Timothy R. Tangherlini Journal of American Folklore, Vol.101 (1988) Abstract: This article examines the various forms the plague assumes in the legend traditions of Scandinavia. Eight new legend types are proposed in an effort to expand the existing type-index to more adequately describe the […]
PETERBOROUGH MONASTERY AND ITS CHRONICLE: ANNALISTIC HISTORY AS AN EXPRESSION OF INDEPENDENT IDENTITY Hall, J. Megan M.A. Thesis, The University of Georgia, December (2003) Abstract The fenlands of East Anglia are rife with superstition and folklore and are home to a highly independent culture of people. The character and qualities of these fen-dwellers have been […]
Two skeletons discovered with large stones wedged into their mouths, were buried in this way around 1300 years ago to stop them rising from their graves to haunt the living, according to new documentary featuring the work of archaeologists from the Institue of Technology Sligo and St.Louis University.
The Folk-Tale Element in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight By Claude Luttrell Studies in Philology, Vol.77:2 (1980) Introduction: Ever since Kittredge published his fundamental study of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and its analogues in 1916, discussion of the models for this romance has been almost entirely conducted in terms of the beheading […]
In northern regions much prominence is given to two kinds of shape-shifting: the ability to change into either a bear or a wolf, although the latter seems to have been more popular.
Gylfaginning and Early Medieval Conversion Theory By Christopher Abram Saga-Book, Vol. 33 (2009) Introduction: Snorra Edda’s attitude towards pagan religion, and its possible antecedents in medieval Christian thought, have been the subject of much debate. For the most part, these discussions have centred on the Prologue to Snorra Edda, although Gylfaginning and the early parts […]
A Syrian-Christian Perspective on the Supernatural By Silke Trzcionka Paper given at the Western Pacific Rim Patristics Society Inaugural Conference (2004) Introduction: Whenever anyone looks with envy upon beautiful objects, the ambient air becomes charged with a malignant quality, and that person’s breath, laden with bitterness, blows hard upon the person near him. This breath, […]
Supernatural Abductions in Japanese Folklore By Carmen Blacker Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 26:2 (1967) Introduction: The belief that children may in an unguarded moment be kidnapped by a subtle and malignant enemy of supernatural description is a fairly widespread one throughout the world. In western Europe fairies and korrigans were widely credited with powers of […]
The Symbolic Nature of Gold in Magical and Religious Contexts By Charlotte Behr Paper given at the Staffordshire Hoard Symposium, held at the British Museum, March, 2010 Introduction: Gold can adopt many different meanings. In economic contexts it can acquire material value, in social contexts it can gain significance for status and position within a […]
Child Guardian Spirits (Gohō Dōji) in the Medieval Japanese Imaginaire By Irene H. Lin Pacific World Journal, Third Series No.6 (2004) Introduction: The rise of the cult of gohō dōji, guardian or servant spirits in the form of boys, was a particular medieval Japanese phenomenon vividly captured in both narrative accounts and visual representations. In […]
The 31st Annual Canadian Conference of Medieval Art Historians A New Vision of Death: Re-Evaluating Huizinga’s Views on the Late Medieval Macabre Kralik, Christine (University of Toronto) Abstract In The Waning of the Middle Ages, first published in the Netherlands in 1919, Johan Huizinga explored the late medieval art of France and the Netherlands and […]
A medieval scholar has uncovered an Irish account of the murder of Abel by Cain that explains how the descendants of Cain were turned into mermaids and leprechauns. This short account was found in a fifteenth-century Irish legal text, but the story itself seems to date from between the 10th and 12th centuries. The text […]
A Knightly Sword with Presentation Inscriptions NICKEL, HELMUT (Curator of Arms and Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 2 (1969) Abstract Though inscriptions on medieval swords are com-mon enough, most of them have religious or magic protective meaning; presentation inscriptions are exceedingly rare. The only example antedating the fifteenth century hitherto known […]
One of the most important medical developments of this time was the introduction of medieval monastic hospitals, which arose as a source of medical care in the early Middle Ages.
THE CHANGING MEANING OF ‘THUNDERBOLTS Johanson, Kristiina Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, Issue no.42 (2009) Abstract The article concentrates on the widespread belief in the phenomenon of ‘thunderbolts’. Stone artefacts like Stone Age axes, adzes, chisels, daggers, sickles, spear- and arrowheads as well as Iron Age strike-a-lights are mainly understood by the name ‘thunderbolt’, but no […]
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