Twelfth Century Archive
-
Was the White Ship disaster mass murder?
Posted on May 21, 2013 | No CommentsIt was perhaps the worst maritime disaster of the Middle Ages, not just because it cost 300 lives, but because one of them was the heir to the Anglo-Norman Empire. One scholar has a theory that the sinking of the White Ship on the night of November 25, 1120 was not a tragic accident, rather a case of mass murder. -
Penance and Peter Abelard’s Move Within
Posted on April 21, 2013 | No CommentsOf the many individuals in the twelfth century whose fame in their own time has reached down to ours, figures like Thomas Becket, Frederick Barbarossa and Bernard of Clairvaux, there is no one whose fame surpassed that of Master Peter Abelard and no figure more public. Indeed, fame was something Abelard coveted, something he consciously built. -
Food Recipes from the 12th-century discovered in manuscript
Posted on April 16, 2013 | No CommentsScholars have found a collection of food recipes dating back to the twelfth-century, making them the oldest western medieval culinary recipes known to exist. -
Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England
Posted on April 16, 2013 | No CommentsMatilda and Stephen were the model medieval couple. -
Visualization in Medieval Alchemy
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsTherefore, rather than attempting to establish an exhaustive inventory of visual forms in medieval alchemy or a premature synthesis, the purpose of this article is to sketch major trends in visualization and to exemplify them by their earliest appearance so far known. -
The Greek Renaissance in Italy
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsFor various reasons north Italy toward the end of the fourteenth century seemed peculiarly adapted to become the seat of another classical renaissance, though of one some what different in character and results from that which had already run its course. -
Teaching the Creed and Articles of Faith in England: Lateran IV to Ignorantia sacerdotum
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsThe broad conclusion of this thesis is that the available evidence shows that the basic principles of Christian doctrine were available both to the lower clergy who would preach and teach the Creed and Articles of Faith and also to the laity who would receive this preaching and instruction. -
Matilda of Scotland, Queen of England
Posted on April 4, 2013 | No CommentsMatilda was to become adept at combining family connections, political alliances and patronization of the Church to her advantage. -
The Metaphysics of Peter Abelard
Posted on March 24, 2013 | No CommentsI’ll begin with Abelard’s antirealism about universals, since it is the key to his irrealism. It provides the foundation for his conviction that only individuals exist, a thesis that calls for further analysis of the nature of individuals -
Colonization activities in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Posted on March 24, 2013 | No CommentsThe following paper is an attempt to describe one important feature of the social and economic problems of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: The colonization activities of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. -
A tale of Wade: The Anglo-Saxon origin myth in an East Saxon setting
Posted on March 23, 2013 | No CommentsIn the past Walter Map's tale of Gado, included in his De Nugis Curialium, written towards the end of the twelfth century, has been merely regarded as a Medieval Latin version of a pre-conquest lay concerning the exploits of the Germanic hero Wade. However, if we look past the fantastic elements which surround him we are left with what appears to be an East Saxon version of the English settlement myth most familiar in the Kentish form involving Hengist and Vortigern, which itself seems to have been adopted from a common Germanic theme. -
Hungary and the Second Crusade
Posted on March 20, 2013 | No CommentsThe aim of the present study is to survey and analyze the role played by Hungary during the Second Crusade and through this scholarly goal it is to bridge the gap which can be observed in Hungarian historiography. -
The Birth of Heloise: New Light on an Old Mystery
Posted on March 18, 2013 | No CommentsSo where did she come from, this extraordinary woman and what was the composition of genes that went into her inheritance? -
Gilbert Foliot and the two swords : law and political theory in twelfth-century England
Posted on March 18, 2013 | No CommentsConsidering the importance of the Church as a driving force in twelfth- century political history, the complex relationship between piety and Church involvement in lay politics during this time period remains surprisingly under-explored. -
Abelard’s Legacy: Why Theology is not Faith Seeking Understanding
Posted on March 17, 2013 | No CommentsIn this paper I will challenge the common definition of the theological task as faith seeking understanding, where the faith of a tradition commandeers the critical enquiry of the theologian. -
BOOKS: Happy St. Patrick Day! New reads to celebrate Medieval Ireland!
Posted on March 17, 2013 | No CommentsBOOKS: Happy St. Patrick Day! New reads to celebrate Medieval Ireland! -
How did the expansion of royal authority affect the traditional ruling institutions during the reigns of Henry II and Philip II Augustus?
Posted on March 17, 2013 | No CommentsThe study of the Angevin kings can be seen as effectivelyseparating Henry II and his successors from mere kings of England and can be seen asresponsible for highlighting the continental origins of these kings. -
The earls in Henry the Second’s reign
Posted on March 10, 2013 | No CommentsThe earldoms of Henry Ills reign can only be understood in the context of their history. The roots of the nature of earldoms in Henry II's reign stretch back beyond the Norman Conquest to England and the Continent before 1066. It was the combination of these two traditions that shaped many of the features of the earldom under the Norman and early Angevin kings of England. -
Bernard of Morlaix: the literature of complaint, the Latin tradition and the twelfth-century “Renaissance”
Posted on March 9, 2013 | No CommentsBernard of Morlaix was a monk of the order of Cluny who flourished around 1140. Excerpts from one of his poems appear in some anthologies of medieval Latin verse1 and he is briefly noticed in some works on the twelfth-century renaissance, but he has received little critical attention and only one of his poems has been translated from the Latin. -
Speculations on the Celtic Origins of Marie de France’s ‘Eliduc’
Posted on March 4, 2013 | No CommentsThe basic plot of the story is fantastic. A good and loyal knight is in exile from his own country, France, and offers his services to a king in England. There he falls in love with the princess even though he has a loyal and loving wife at home.... -
“In Muliere Exhibeas Virum”: Women, Power and Authority in Early Twelfth Century Anglo-Norman Chronicles
Posted on February 24, 2013 | No CommentsThis thesis analyses the relationship of women with power and authority within the context of the evidence provided by early twelfth-century Anglo-Norman chronicles between 1095 and 1154. -
Monarchy and nobility in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1131: establishment and origins
Posted on February 22, 2013 | No CommentsThe Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the victorious crusaders in Palestine in July 1099, was one of the first colonial societies of the Middle Ages. -
Rome During Avignon: Myth, Memory, and Civic Identity in Fourteenth-Century Roman Politics
Posted on February 19, 2013 | No CommentsBroadly conceived, my dissertation examines the traditions of popular government emerging spasmodically in the roughly two hundred and fifty years between the Roman senate’s 1143 revival, and the papacy’s definitive 1377 return to Rome from roughly seven decades in Avignon. The majority of my inquiry, however, is directed toward the much-understudied fourteenth century. -
The Wendish Crusade of 1147
Posted on February 17, 2013 | No CommentsThe so-called Wendish Crusade of 1147 was actually part of the Second Crusade of the same time period. It was fought on German soil, largely by Saxon Germans (some Danes as well) against the pagan tribes of Wends -
Making the martyr: the liturgical persona of Saint Thomas Becket in visual imagery
Posted on February 10, 2013 | No CommentsHow was the historical figure of the worldly chancellor reconciled to the saintly archbishop who was martyred for his faith on the floor of Canterbury Cathedral? One of the most important vehicles of expression in the Middle Ages was the liturgy.
