One of the more obvious syntactic changes in the development of the Romance languages involved a switch in basic word order from the Latin SOV to the Romance SVO, a change still underway in early Old Romance. I
Nicolette : action transvestite, or, who and what is the heroine of Aucassin et Nicolette?
August 24, 2014 By
In this paper, I will show how Nicolette is constantly, deliberately, changing, in appearance and identity, from the beginning of the story, and how she is thus Izzard’s action transvestite.
Caught in Love’s Grip: Passion and Moral Agency in French Courtly Romance
August 12, 2014 By
French royal courts in the late twelfth century were absolutely smitten with love. Troubadaours traveled from place to place reciting stories of knights and the ladies they wooed.
Worldly Unease in Late Medieval European Travel Reports
January 11, 2014 By
Comparing the Book of John Mandeville with Jean de Jeanville’s Vie Saint Louis and William of Rubruck’s Journey, this chapter argues that cosmopolitan perspectives in these texts seem to emerge in spite of rather than because of their contacts with other cultures.
Cheating and Cheaters in German Romance and Epic, 1180 – 1225
December 31, 2013 By
An Alsatian poet named Heinrich, writing around 1180, composed a beast epic, based on French sources, about a trickster fox named Reinhart. Some sixty years later, a poet known to us only as Der Stricker composed a work of similar length and structure, about a trickster priest named Amis, and his diligent efforts to cheat various anonymous individuals out of their money.
Losing the null subject : a contrastive study of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (Medieval) French
December 30, 2013 By
This paper deals with the development and the use of subject pronouns in Portuguese and discusses the question of whether or not Brazilian Portuguese is a language which is losing its null subject property or which has already lost it
Impregnable friendship : locating desire in the middle English ‘Amis and Amiloun’
July 24, 2013 By
Scholarship on Amis and Amiloun has generally been divided into two critical schools. The majority of critics have read the work as an exemplar of perfect friendship, overlooking (or ignoring) any trace of homoeroticism, citing the possibility itself as anachronistic, or explaining away its presence by offering historical or theoretical justification for intimacy among medieval men.
The Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick: From Ireland to Dante and Beyond
March 17, 2013 By
“Yes by Saint Patrick …. Touching this vision here It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you” (Hamlet, Act I, Scene 5)
Women in Troubadour Song: Of the Comtessa and the Vilana
December 30, 2012 By
Since we have melodies for both songs, the question of what “feminine” voices we are hearing is a musi- cal as well as a poetic issue.
The Evolution of the Saladin Legend in the West
November 18, 2012 By
William of Tyreʼs account of the history of the Crusades stops suddenly in 1184. As he lays down his pen he is in despair at the inevitable outcome which he foresees for the struggle with Saladin. It was fortunate for him that he did not live to see the triumph of Saladin at Hattin and Jerusalem. Williamʼs judgement of Saladin, there- fore, is one of fear and admiration but he is also able to criticize his faults, especially his ruthless ambition.
The Arthur of the chronicles
September 30, 2012 By
Even if we cannot accept the claim made by Geoffrey in his introduction that his putative source was ‘attractively composed to form a consecutive andorderly narrative’, he certainly made extensive use ofWelsh genealogies andking-lists.
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
Scholars discover fragments of French medieval epics
September 13, 2012 By
The larger fragment is a section of text from the Chanson de Guillaume, one of the earliest surviving Old French texts, known until now in only one manuscript. The smaller fragment comes from a manuscript of Foulque de Candie, a late twelfth-century poem.
The Importance of Being English: A Look at French and Latin Loanwords in English
July 1, 2012 By
This essay examines twenty six synonym pairs in English, looks at their etymology and briefly explains where they come from and how they work in a sentence.
The Methods of Medieval Translators: A Comparison of the Latin Text of Virgil’s Aeneid with its Old French Adaptations
April 25, 2012 By
This monograph examines the medieval French translation/adaptation of Virgil’s Aeneid. The work employs Relevance Theory, second language pedagogy and hermeneutics in its analysis.
The Manuscript Context of the Middle Dutch Fabliaux
December 6, 2011 By
Busby’s conclusion with regard to Old French fabliaux might just as well apply to Middle Dutch tales: “Reading fabliaux in their manuscript context reveals an important aspect of their significance for early readers or listeners which would otherwise remain concealed.”
Terror in the Old French Crusade Cycle: from Splendid Cavalry to Cannibalism
November 21, 2011 By
This paper examines representations of fear inspired by battle tactics: when do the Franks imagine they have terrified the Saracen?
Homo Sacer: Power, Life and the Sexual Body in Old French Saints’ Lives
November 13, 2011 By
It might of course be argued that the comfort for this torture that Christine receives by God’s grace draws attention away from the cruelty of her punishments…
The Uses of Torture and Violence in the Fabliaux: When Comedy Crosses the Line
October 2, 2011 By
The Uses of Torture and Violence in the Fabliaux: When Comedy Crosses the Line Tracy, Larissa Florilegium, vol. 23.2 (2006) Abstract Comic violence is a device used in the Old French fabliaux to mete out just punishments, to castigate transgression, and to amuse a mixed audience for whom violence was all too common. Yet despite […]
Was there Really Such a Thing as Feud in the High Middle Ages?
September 28, 2011 By
The pull toward the taking of personal vengeance is at least as evident in the medieval West as at other times and in other places. It is, indeed, a staple theme of entertainment literature.
Displacement and redemption in the Lais of Marie de France
September 18, 2011 By
Displacement and redemption in the Lais of Marie de France Dunkel, Sharon Lynn M.A. Thesis (French), University of British Columbia, April (1988) Abstract In the endless cycle of life and death, the issues of love and marriage are a constant and recurrent theme of literature. The man, as a foreigner, comes to court the woman […]
The status of French in medieval England: evidence from the use of object pronoun syntax
September 15, 2011 By
The status of French in medieval England: evidence from the use of object pronoun syntax Ingham, Richard (UCE Birmingham) Vox Romanica 65 (2006) Abstract The special status of Anglo-Norman (AN) in relation to continental French has recently been subject to renewed debate, one perspective emphasising its sui generis status as a second language in England […]
Odo of Bayeux At War: Linking The Bayeux Tapestry And “The Song Of Roland”
September 13, 2011 By
Odo of Bayeux At War: Linking The Bayeux Tapestry And “The Song Of Roland” Jameson, Carl (University of Delaware) Thesis: B.A., University of Delaware, Spring (2009) Abstract In 1066 England was conquered by Duke William of Normandy, and during the next ten years a magnificent work of art was created to glorify the conquest: the […]
Ovide moralisé to be translated from Old French to English
September 6, 2011 By
The 14th-century text Ovide moralisé will be translated into English by Dr. Sarah-Jane Murray, of Baylor University. She has received a $210,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to make this seminal work available to a broad audience in the humanities and popular readers for the first time. “It is so rewarding […]
Sir Launfal: A Portrait of a Knight in Fourteenth Century England
July 24, 2011 By
Sir Launfal may follow the footsteps of its ancestor, but probably with a different intent.
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