David Crouch of the University of Hull will be able to explore the origins of chivalry in the Middle Ages after being award a Research Fellowship of £137,629 from the Leverhulme Trust.
Lay Writers and the Politics of Theology in Medieval England From the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries
January 3, 2013 By
My intention is not to continue the discourse on such practices but to analyze narrative content in relation to the politics of theology that had an impact on lay writers and their artistic creativity concerning the search for selfhood from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries.
Sir Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica: a medieval chronicle and its historical and literary context
December 20, 2012 By
Sir Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica is almost unique amongst medieval English chronicles in having been written by a knight, and it is therefore surprising that so little work has been done on it; this thesis attempts to remedy that omission.
Fools, Devils, and Alchemy: Secular Images in the Monastery
December 9, 2012 By
The fool is one of the most popular and stable character types throughout cultures and times. This is especially true of medieval Europe. The fool, sometimes a jester, sometimes a clown or a trickster, is always recognizable through his abnormal appearance.
Hot Holiday Reads!
November 23, 2012 By
Put down those turkey left-overs and check out some of these hot holiday reads!
“At the Tip of a Sword”: A Study of the Introduction of the Knight into Anglo-Saxon England
November 21, 2012 By
Nevertheless the introduction of the knight into England still remains a controversial topic of discussion among military historians, since the people who inhabited England prior to 1066 were part of warrior culture as well: the Anglo-Saxons.
The Knighting of Henry, son of William the Conqueror, in 1086
November 19, 2012 By
This paper was part of SESSION VIII: Power & Politics in the Long Twelfth Century, at the Haskins Conference at Boston College.
Salutare Animas Nostras: The Ideologies Behind the Foundation of the Templars
November 18, 2012 By
The meteoric rise of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon (more commonly known as the Knights Templar) and their equally swift fall has fueled fanciful tales and scholarly research. The order promoted their mythological origins and the extreme charges leveled against them by Philip IV of France (1285-1314) created an atmosphere of speculation.
How to be a Man, Though Female: Changing Sex in Medieval Romance
November 12, 2012 By
Gender participates in a series of taxonomies that structure the social order, and it therefore participates in processes beyond itself, such as Christianity and knighthood, which are equally about identity within the world of chivalric romance. Therefore, the inscription of one often helps to define the other.
SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege
November 6, 2012 By
These are two papers from SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege given at Boston College’s Haskin’s Conference. The first paper examined knightly interaction during sieges and the second paper delved into the actions of the besieged and besiegers during times of war.
Religion, Warfare and Business in Fifteenth Century Rhodes
October 25, 2012 By
How did a military-monastic order manage the resources of an island commercially asimportant as that of Rhodes while overcoming the limitations due to its patrimonial struc-tureto cover their defensive needs? In this essay weattempt to answer this question interms of practice and in the light of relationsthatthe Knights maintained with two distinctgroups of merchants: the Catalan-Aragonese and the Florentines.
Mandeville’s Intolerance: The Contest for Souls and Sacred Sites in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
October 3, 2012 By
While Chaucer‟s knight has traveled to and fought in Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor, Sir John claims to have visited the entire known world from Constantinople and the Holy Land to the farthest reaches of Asia.
Maculate Conceptions
September 30, 2012 By
For the greater part of human history…disease has been understood in terms of its manifestations on the outside of the body. more than any other sign, t has been spots that have signified the onset of disease…
Monstrous transformations: loyalty and community in four medieval poems
September 23, 2012 By
I will examine two forms of transformation, the werewolf transformation and the monstrous human transformation, both of which feature shape shifters who presumably cannot be trusted
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament – a Review
September 10, 2012 By
What is Medieval Times? Medievalists.net decided to see for ourselves and go to the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in Toronto, Canada. Here is our review of the show:
Practical Chivalry in the Twelfth Century: The Case of William Marshal
August 24, 2012 By
William Marshal (c.1147-1219) is among the most extraordinary individuals in medieval English history.
‘Images of the Other: Venice’s Perception of the Knights of Malta’
August 15, 2012 By
The hostile perception which Venice generally entertained of the Knights Hospitallers on Rhodes and Malta was not an attitude which the Republic secretly assumed and secretly endeavoured with much effort to disguise.
Female Hospitallers in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
July 31, 2012 By
These Hospitaller brothers had sisters. The first known sister was Adelaide, who became a female Hospitaller during a chapter meeting of the Hospitallers of Saint-Gilles and Trinquetaille in 1146.
Henry of Lancaster and Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines
July 15, 2012 By
Lancaster’s range of activities suggests the best elements of the fourteenth-century pattern of knighthood. This was rather more secular, both in theory and practice, than that which had inspired a thirteenth-century knight.
The negotiation of gender and power in medieval German writings
July 8, 2012 By
The Christian religion plays a most important role in the internalization and re-enforcement of patriarchy in the Western world. As will be seen later in this thesis, the relationship between a patriarchal God and his “children” is reflected in the relationship between the male head of the family and his wife, children and servants.
Reflections on The Malleus Maleficarum in Light of the Trial of Joan of Arc
June 27, 2012 By
Although Joan’s trial took place in France and The Malleus Maleficarum was published in Germany, they are suitable for comparison because this text became the definitive manual for witchcraft inquisitors across Europe.
Cogs, Sails and Longbows: Implications of Naval Tactics and Technology in the Hundred Years War
June 24, 2012 By
There were several naval engagements during the Hundred Years War. The three that will be looked at in this work are the battle of Sluys in 1340, the battle of Les Espagnols-Sur- Mer in 1350, and the capture of a French fleet from La Rochelle. The battle of Sluys is the best known of these, but it can be argued that subsequent engagements are of equal or greater importance. Many historians have downplayed these events.
“Thus he rode sorowyng”: Travel Narratives and the Ethics of Sexual Behavior in Le Morte d’Arthur
June 23, 2012 By
The Arthurian oeuvre traditionally maintains a plot structure that requires knights to depart from the Round Table, either as a response to a challenge or in quest of chivalric “aventure,” followed by a return to Camelot. Within this narrative framework, there exists an intricately designed logic to descriptions of movement and travel. In particular, sex and travel appear inseparable.
False knights and true blood: reading the traitor’s body in Medieval England
June 20, 2012 By
From the late thirteenth century, traitors in England were subjected to spectacular rituals of public execution that could include drawing, hanging, disembowelling, beheading, quartering and bodily display.
Figures of Female Militancy in Medieval France
May 25, 2012 By
These days when chivalry is everywhere on the decline, and no one dares to tourney anymore, and all knights are cowards, women are all the more courageous in battle.’
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