Medievalists.net » Social History http://www.medievalists.net Where the Middle Ages Begin Sun, 06 Dec 2015 19:35:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.9 Between A Rock And A Hot Place: The Role Of Subjectivity In The Medieval Ordeal By Hot Iron http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/22/between-a-rock-and-a-hot-place-the-role-of-subjectivity-in-the-medieval-ordeal-by-hot-iron/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/22/between-a-rock-and-a-hot-place-the-role-of-subjectivity-in-the-medieval-ordeal-by-hot-iron/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:48:58 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=62700 This article discusses various forms of ordeals, such as the ordeal of hot iron, and analyzes whether, and to what extent, these ordeals could have served as 'rational' forms of adjudication during the period.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/22/between-a-rock-and-a-hot-place-the-role-of-subjectivity-in-the-medieval-ordeal-by-hot-iron/feed/ 0 England’s Immigrants 1330-1550: Resident Aliens in the Later Middle Ages http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/21/englands-immigrants-1330-1550-resident-aliens-in-the-later-middle-ages/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/21/englands-immigrants-1330-1550-resident-aliens-in-the-later-middle-ages/#comments Sat, 21 Nov 2015 17:26:01 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=62678 Paper by Bart Lambert given at Medieval and Early Modern Records Seminar held in Leeds, on August 2, 2014

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/21/englands-immigrants-1330-1550-resident-aliens-in-the-later-middle-ages/feed/ 0 How to Tell if Your 12th-Century Lover is Just Not That Into You http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/14/how-to-tell-if-your-12th-century-lover-is-just-not-that-into-you/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/14/how-to-tell-if-your-12th-century-lover-is-just-not-that-into-you/#comments Sun, 15 Nov 2015 03:58:49 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=62535 In the twelfth century, courtly love was all the rage with the French nobility. To participate in this trendiest of trends, though, you actually needed to know the rules.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/11/14/how-to-tell-if-your-12th-century-lover-is-just-not-that-into-you/feed/ 0 Penal enslavement in the early middle ages http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/penal-enslavement-in-the-early-middle-ages/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/penal-enslavement-in-the-early-middle-ages/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2015 03:38:09 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=62065 In the specific form it took during the medieval period, penal enslavement therefore amounts to a strikingly new phenomenon. How did such a system come about, and what functions did it serve?

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/penal-enslavement-in-the-early-middle-ages/feed/ 0 Manifestations of psychiatric illness in texts from the medieval and Viking era http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/manifestations-of-psychiatric-illness-in-texts-from-the-medieval-and-viking-era/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/manifestations-of-psychiatric-illness-in-texts-from-the-medieval-and-viking-era/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2015 02:39:57 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=62060 The medicine of medieval Europe was influenced above all by the Hippocratic and Galenic legacies, conveyed through the medical School of Salerno, albeit also to an extent embedded in demonological and supernatural beliefs and folklore customs.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/26/manifestations-of-psychiatric-illness-in-texts-from-the-medieval-and-viking-era/feed/ 0 Down to the Last Stitch: Sumptuary Law and Conspicuous Consumption in Renaissance Italy http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/21/down-to-the-last-stitch-sumptuary-law-and-conspicuous-consumption-in-renaissance-italy/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/21/down-to-the-last-stitch-sumptuary-law-and-conspicuous-consumption-in-renaissance-italy/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2015 18:43:54 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=61914 Fashion and luxury were very important in Italian Renaissance society. One’s appearance indicated more than whether one was simply attractive, it also indicated one’s social standing.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/21/down-to-the-last-stitch-sumptuary-law-and-conspicuous-consumption-in-renaissance-italy/feed/ 0 A Medieval Love Letter (and eat your meat) http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/18/a-medieval-love-letter-and-eat-your-meat/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/18/a-medieval-love-letter-and-eat-your-meat/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2015 16:25:11 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=61857 'I pray you, my own sweet cousin even as you love me, to be happy and to eat your meat like a woman.'

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/10/18/a-medieval-love-letter-and-eat-your-meat/feed/ 0 Marking the Face, Curing the Soul? Reading the Disfigurement of Women in the Later Middle Ages http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/29/marking-the-face-curing-the-soul-reading-the-disfigurement-of-women-in-the-later-middle-ages/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/29/marking-the-face-curing-the-soul-reading-the-disfigurement-of-women-in-the-later-middle-ages/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2015 03:53:21 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=61447 This specific example, and a survey of later medieval texts suggests that the period between 1150 and 1500 was one of increasing attention to the facial features of both men and women within and outside clerical circles, driven partly by increased exposure of western Europeans to peoples of different physical appearance, and partly by the rediscovery of the ancient pseudo-science of physiognomy, which claimed to read character traits from facial features.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/29/marking-the-face-curing-the-soul-reading-the-disfigurement-of-women-in-the-later-middle-ages/feed/ 0 Patrician Purity and the Female Person in Early Renaissance Venice http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/25/patrician-purity-and-the-female-person-in-early-renaissance-venice/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/25/patrician-purity-and-the-female-person-in-early-renaissance-venice/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2015 03:51:41 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=61348 This essay studies the Venetian patriciate’s enforcement of its exclusiveness and superior status by focusing on the purity and social standing on the women of the class.

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]]> http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/25/patrician-purity-and-the-female-person-in-early-renaissance-venice/feed/ 0 Performative Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in England, 900–1500 http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/24/performative-rituals-for-conception-and-childbirth-in-england-900-1500/ http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/24/performative-rituals-for-conception-and-childbirth-in-england-900-1500/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2015 05:07:23 +0000 http://www.medievalists.net/?p=61297 This study proposes that performative rituals—that is, verbal and physical acts that reiterate prior uses—enabled medieval women and men to negotiate the dangers and difficulties of conception and childbirth.

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