The 3 papers featured here looked at the development of the civic identities of Florence, Genoa and Rome through art, architecture and foundation legends.
The Prologue to Alfred’s Law Code: Instruction in the Spirit of Mercy
November 9, 2014 By
The Prologue to Alfred’s Law Code: Instruction in the Spirit of Mercy Michael Treschow Florilegium: Volume 13 (1994) Abstract Alfred’s law code tends to receive scant attention in discussions of the char- acter of his reign. It lacks the distinctive stamp of his other writings and acts. It is a conservative code that seeks not […]
Medieval Perspectives: Jean de Waurin and His Perception of the Turks in Anatolia in the Late Middle Ages
September 2, 2014 By
This paper discusses the reasons Wavrin wrote his account of the crusade of Varna and Walerin de Wavrin’s expedition into the Balkans, which was later published within his history of Britain and how he perceived and accordingly presented the Turks to the renaissance readers.
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 By
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
The Uses Made of History by the Kings of Medieval England
July 7, 2014 By
The kings of medieval England, besides using history for the entertainment of themselves and their courts, turned it to practical purposes. They plundered history-books for precedents and other evidences to justify their claims and acts. They also recognised its value as propaganda, to bolster up their positions at home and strengthen their hands abroad.
Warfare and propaganda: the portrayal of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282 – 1328) as an incompetent military leader in the Histories of John VI Kantakouzenos (1347-1354)
February 9, 2014 By
The Histories of Kantakouzenos is the main source for the civil war between Andronikos II and Andronikos III which was fought intermittently from 1321 until 1328.
Queer times: Richard II in the poems and chronicles of late
January 7, 2014 By
The article focuses on the representation of deviant sexual behavior in 14th-century English poetry and other chronicles. The portrayal of King of England Richard II as a rebellious youth, which is interpreted as perverse and lacking manliness, and the propaganda needed to offset this perception are discussed. Historical information is given about the political culture and power of the church. The murder of Edward II after being accused of sodomy by the Bishop of Hereford is mentioned.
The Enduring Appeal of Richard III
April 14, 2013 By
It has indeed been confidently asserted that [Richard the 3d] killed his two Nephews & his Wife, but it has also been declared that he did not kill his two Nephews.
Robert Bruce’s Bones: reputations, politics and identities in nineteenth-century Scotland
October 13, 2012 By
‘We, on the whole, do our Hero-worship worse than any other Nation in this world ever did it before.’ Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881).
The Holy Roman Empire, the Schmalkald League, and the Idea of Confessional Nation-Building
October 12, 2012 By
Recent research on nationalism draws a fundamental heuristic distinc- tion between political and cultural nationalism. Scholars define the his- torian’s task as the analysis of political and cultural nationalism in each historic context.
“The King’s Library: Construction, Representation and Reception of the Ideal Kingship in the Late French Middle Ages”
October 6, 2012 By
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.
‘Nation’ Consciousnesses in Medieval Ireland
September 28, 2012 By
A unified sovereignty never came into existence in Ireland throughout the middle ages. Nevertheless, the native inhabitants of this island have been reported as being of one nation in several different documents since the seventh century.
The Magnificence of Borso and Ercole d’Este: Princes of Ferrara (1450-1505)
September 28, 2012 By
During the second half of the fifteenth century, Ferrara became the seat of one of the more prominent Italian courts and it achieved a reputation as a leading cultural centre.
King Pedro IV of Aragon, royal propaganda and the tradition of royal speechwriting
August 15, 2012 By
In the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona is preserved the autograph manuscript of a speech against the rebellion of the Judge of Arborea in Sardinia made by King Pedro IV of Aragon to open the corts, probably that held in Sant Mateu, Valencia in 1369.
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