Monasticism Archive
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Beasts and Buildings: Religious Symbolism and Medieval Memory
Posted on May 20, 2012 | No CommentsFar from being a rare or special practice, the use of this mnemonic system was the universal foundation of medieval monastic education. -
Perfect Virgins and Suicidal Maniacs: Monks in Early Thirteenth-Century Pastoralia
Posted on May 18, 2012 | No CommentsThis summary is of a paper that was the last in the English Cistercian series at Kalamazoo. -
The Treasure of the Knight Hospitallers in 1530: Reflections and Art Historical Considerations
Posted on May 18, 2012 | No CommentsIn 1530 the crusading brotherhood of the Hospitaller Knights of St. John of Jerusalem accepted the offer of the Emperor Charles V to occupy the Maltese Islands and hold them against the Ottomans who were seeking to control the Central Mediterranean -
Aereld of Rievaulx and the Creation of An Anglo Saxon Past
Posted on May 18, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper summary is part of a session on English Cistercians and focused on Aelred of Rievaulx and the abbey of Hexum. -
Total St Gall: Medieval Monastery as a Disciplinary Institution
Posted on May 16, 2012 | No CommentsHow much was a medieval monastery reminiscent of a modern prison? Or insane asylum? -
Glass discovered at Glastonbury Abbey dates back to 7th century, researchers find
Posted on May 8, 2012 | No CommentsGlass furnaces recorded in 1955-7 were previously thought to date from before the Norman Conquest. However, radiocarbon dating has now revealed that they date approximately to the 680s, and are likely to be associated with a major rebuilding of the abbey undertaken by King Ine of Wessex. -
Visual-Kinetic Communication in Europe Before 1600: A Survey of Sign Lexicons and Finger Alphabets Prior to the Rise of Deaf Education
Posted on May 6, 2012 | No CommentsVisual-kinetic communication systems are mentioned in a wide variety of texts up through the early Renaissance, but not often described in any detail. What seems to us such a strange and frustrating omission results from the very different nature and purpose of scholarly writing in premodern times. -
What can dirt on pages tell us about medieval manuscripts and their readers?
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsFor the first time a new scientific technique has allowed us into the minds and motivations of medieval people – through their dirty books. -
Sin, Penance and Purgatory in the Anglo‐Norman Realm: The Evidence of Visions and Ghost Stories
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsHistorians have tended to explore these two changes of the ‘long twelfth century’ — the reinvention of penance and the rise of purgatory — in isolation from each other. Here I intend to focus on the relationship between the two, and to look in particular at one aspect of it: the implications of theological change for perceptions of the fate of the dead. -
The origin of chantries
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No CommentsThroughout Western Europe, the chantry and the chantry chapel represented a characteristic form of late medieval piety, to which large resources were committed, both spiritual and temporal. -
A medieval Arabic analysis of motion at an instant : the Avicennan sources to the forma fluens/fluxus formae debate
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe first and foremost topic of classical and medieval physics is the concept of motion (Grk. kine ̄sis, Arb. h ̇ araka, Lat. motio). Within the complex of issues and problems associated with motion, the question ‘in which category does motion itself belong?’ occupied a position of considerable importance in scholastic natural philosophy. -
Oda: An Extraordinary Example of a Medieval Woman’s Religious Authority and Economic Power
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No Commentshristianity posed as a shackle for many women in the early Middle Ages. Though sexism and female subordination were prevalent prior to the emergence of this monotheistic religion, Christianity established its own justifications for continuing in the male domination. -
Medieval treasures discovered in English abbey
Posted on April 20, 2012 | No CommentsAn archaeological investigation at Furness Abbey in northwest England has uncovered the grave of an abbot, which includes an extremely rare medieval silver-gilt crozier and bejewelled ring. -
A historiographical and artistic survey of confraternities from the later Middle Ages to the early Renaissance
Posted on April 17, 2012 | No CommentsOverall, the analysis will allow for a closer examination of not just the culture of a particular confraternity, but also the cultural values, ideals, and practices of an entire community in one period of time. Furthermore, the examination of confraternal artwork will prove important, as it will demonstrate the unique power of confraternities. -
The female body, animal imagery, and authoritarian discourse in the Ancrene Riwle
Posted on April 17, 2012 | No CommentsThrough close reading and rhetorical analysis of numerous passages in the guide, this dissertation re-examines the importance of the body and authority in this work and notes the points at which the discourse of the Ancrene Riwle tends to place restrictions on its audience of medieval women religious.
