Love and Marriage on the Medieval English Stage: Using the English Cycle Plays as Sources for Social History

The art of courtly love

Much scholarship concerning the concept of “companionate” marriage traces its origins to the early modern period as clergymen, especially Protestant ones, began to publish “guides” to the relationships and respective duties of husbands and wives in the 1500s and 1600s.

‘There is more to the story than this, of course’: Character and Affect in Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen

The White Queen

Philippa Gregory has critiqued gendered representations of Elizabeth Woodville and has stated that her 2009 novel The White Queen fictionalises Woodville’s history with the aim of challenging such depictions.

Grainne Uaile: The Movie

Grainne Uaile - the Movie

An up and coming movie about Grace O’ Malley (Grainne Uaile), Ireland’s famous female pirate!

(Re)casting the Past: The Cloisters and Medievalism

The Cloisters - NYC.

In this essay, I focus on a variety of texts printed using Anglo-Saxon type between 1566 and 1623 in an effort to explore the use of Anglo-Saxon typeface in the early modern period as the use of the Old English language progressed from polemical truncheon to historiographical instrument.

BOOK REVIEWS: “The Chalice” by Nancy Bilyeau

The Chalice

My book review of Nancy Bilyeau’s, “The Chalice”.

Christmas Books: Great Medieval Fiction Reads for the Christmas Holidays!

Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders

Some medieval stocking stuffers for the historians on your Christmas list!

Twilight Tours at the Tower of London!

The White Tower - The Tower of London

A review of the Twilight Tour at the Tower of London!

Great Medieval Fiction 2013!

Dangerous Women

For those of you who enjoy some fantasy or a historical novel – this list is for you!

Danse Macabre’ Around the Tomb and Bones of Margaret of York

Margaret of York

Over 500 years ago on 23 November 1503, at Malines, in present day Belgium, died Margaret of York, sister to Edward IV and Richard III of England and third and last wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, whom she survived by a quarter of a century.

Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales

Arthur Prince of Wales c. 1500, 39.1 x 28 cm., oil on panel, in the Royal Collection

Arthur Tudor was born shortly after midnight on September 20, 1486, just eight months after his parent’s marriage. King Henry was optimistic and insisted his son be born at Winchester, the legendary capital of King Arthur’s Camelot.

The Enduring Appeal of Richard III

The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878

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.

Shakespeare’s Richard II: Machiavelli for the Good of England

Richard II

The name Machiavelli has negative connotations, and this way of thinking is not new. Throughout Europe, in Shakespeare’s time and earlier, Machiavellianism was associated with unscrupulous abuse of power, and Machiavellian methods were seen as immoral and evil.

The Sad Death of a King: The Legacy of Richard the Second

Richard II the play

This thesis will examine the manner in which Shakespeare drew upon existing sources material to depict a king whose inherent character flaws made him unworthy of his crown.

“Partners in the same”: Monastic Devotional Culture in Late Medieval English Literature

St. Benedict delivering his rule to the monks of his order

To understand this apparent incongruity, it is, I argue, necessary to interrogate more carefully the continuation of monastic literary culture and its gradual diffusion beyond the walls of the cloister.

Gender Equality in Wage Labour Relations: the example of statutory regulation in late medieval and early Tudor England

medieval working women

The first question, not yet raised in labour historiography, is about the impact of wage labour relations on gender equality.
The second question is related to the first one: what role did women play as protagonists of wage labour relations.

‘The inordinate excess in apparel’: Sumptuary Legislation in Tudor England

Sumptuary Laws

Sumptuary legislation can be defined as a set of regulations, passed down by legislators through statutory law and parliamentary proclamations, that sought to regulate society by dictating what contemporaries could own or wear based on their position within society.

The German Reformation and Medieval Thought and Culture

Martin Luther

After Luther’s death in 1546, it was said, the seeds mostly fell dormant in Germany, where leaders failed to rally around the philosophical core of Luther’s message, retreating into political division and older authoritarian patterns of thought.

Seeking the Supernatural: The Exorcisms of John Darrell and the Formation of an Orthodox Identity in Early Modern England

Early Modern Witchcraft

This thesis examines the questions raised by Darrell‘s exorcisms and the ways in which they were shaped by relations of power. I hope that it will shed new light on the ways in which people formed their religious and ideological identities in this pivotal period in English history.

The City of York in the time of Henry VIII

York Walls

During this period, the role of the landed aristocracy was changing. With the creation of a professional standing army, in which soldiers were paid a wage, and the use of foreign mercenaries (think of the Swiss Guard), the traditional military function of the nobility receded.

Neville, Percy, and York, 1461-1485 : a study in the subordination of the North

Choosing the Red and White Roses - The War of the Roses

It is my intention, therefore, to re-examine the standard interpretation of northern history by focusing on the important achievement of the Yorkists in the North.

Enduring Borderlands: the Marches of Ireland and Wales in the Early Modern Period

Welsh art

Despite the successes of the ‘New British History’ in encouraging a less Anglocentric view of the early modern period, there have been few direct comparisons between Wales and Ireland.

The Marlowe-Shakespeare Authorship Debate: Approaching an Old Problem with New Methods

Shakespeare

The facts surrounding the life and death of the men called Shakespeare and Marlowe are murky at best. Both men had births recorded in 1564. Before Shakespeare’s name became widely known, Marlowe had already produced several major works in various genres, including Tamburlaine the Great and Dr. Faustus.

The Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture: Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700

Ars Moriendi

The Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture:Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700 McKeever, Amanda Jane PhD Thesis, Philosophy, University of Sussex, September 27, (2010) Abstract My thesis seeks to address the continuity, change and the syncreticism of ideas regarding post-mortem existence in the wake of the Reformation. Prior to reform, the late Medieval world view […]

Utopia Pre-Empted: Kett’s Rebellion, Commoning, and the Hysterical Sublime

Utopia Pre-Empted: Kett’s Rebellion, Commoning, and the Hysterical Sublime Holstun, Jim (State University of New York, Buffalo) Historical Materialism, 16 (2008) Abstract In 1549, on Mousehold Heath, outside Norwich, the campmen of Kett’s Rebellion created the greatest practical utopian project of Tudor England. Using a commoning rhetoric and practice, they tried to restore the moral […]

Promoting ‘English Civility’ in Tudor Times

Promoting ‘English Civility’ in Tudor Times Ellis, Steven G. (National University of Ireland, Galway) Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective,  (University of Pisa, 2003) Like states everywhere, the 16th-century English monarchy regulated the conduct of its subjects by promoting a series of political, cultural and religious norms to which subjects were expected to conform. These norms related […]

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