The Progression of the Fork: From Diabolical to Divine
This paper is about ‘Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500–2005’ curated as part of the Cooper Hewitt exhibit on utensils.
Sir John Fortescue and the French Polemical Treatises of the Hundred Years War
Inevitably Fortescue had to adopt new arguments for the defence of Henry VI. To this end he asserted that the Lancastrians now had a just title through divine and ecclesiastical approbation, popular consent and prescription, but the core of his case was a direct response to the Yorkist claim that they had a superior hereditary title to the throne.
Dreaming in Dante’s Purgatorio
Three successive nights on the mountain of Purgatory, Dante pauses to rest, engaging in regenerative sleep. As he sleeps, he experiences three distinct morning-dreams, describing each in detail.
The Epistemological Function of Monsters in the Middle Ages
In this paper I will first outline the history of teratology (the study of monsters) from antiquity to the late Middle Ages in order to lay the foundation and to help the reader grasp the larger cultural-historical context.
From Anglorum basileus to Norman Saint: The Transformation of Edward the Confessor
In the following pages I explore the transformation of the visual and textual expression of Edward’s rule (1043-66) through the reign of Henry II (1154-89).
Mi Suete Leuedi, Her Mi Béne: The Power and Patronage of the Heroine in Middle English Romance
The Middle English Romances are somewhat difficult to study as a group. In order to examine these works accurately, one must take into consideration other literature produced at the same tirne, as well as that which preceded it.
The teaching of astronomy in medieval universities, principally at Paris in the fourteenth century
Obviously, however, learned men of antiquity and the Middle Ages showed the greatest interest in such genuinely astronomical activities as the observation of the skies, of the heavenly bodies and of their movements, positions, orbits, and anomalies.
Solem a Tergo Reliquit: The Troublesome Battle of Bosworth Field
The first major point upon which we disagree concerns the nature of existing evidence about the Battle. Richardson points to a number of sources, but the central problem here is that, with one ex- ception, they are not contemporary with the Battle itself.
Literal and Symbolic: the Language of Asceticism in Two Lives of St Radegund
Since Radegund was never martyred, it is through her ascetic practice, a vicarious martyrdom, that her sanctity must be constructed. Both Fortunatus and Baudonivia treat Radegund’s ascetic practices as a means of creating the powerful body of a saint, a living relic, but the differences in the two writers’ approaches are notable.
Making the martyr: the liturgical persona of Saint Thomas Becket in visual imagery
How 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.
Ritual and cultural change: Transformations in rituals at the junction of pagan religion and Christianity in early medieval Poland
The paper aims at presenting an interpretation of the changes in ritualsagainst the background of the general political and social transformation witnessed by the early Polish state between the 10th and 12th centuries.
The Princess and the Gene Pool: The Plantagenet rebel who held the secret to Richard III’s DNA
Richard III is perhaps the most controversial figure in British history and historians will long be discussing what new light the finds cast on his story. But the long-forgotten Anne was herself a creature of scandal – a woman who openly took a lover; divorced her husband; and kept his family lands anyway.
Oh, for Shame: Public Perception and Punishment in Chretien’s Cliges
To develop this argument, a basic understanding of medieval society’s conventions is necessary in order to outline the parameters of this honor/shame culture.
Basil II and the government of Empire (976-1025)
The reign of Basil II (976-1025) is widely accepted as the apogee of medieval Byzantium.
The tailors of London and their guild, c.1300-1500
The unusually full medieval records of the guild of London tailors, known from 1503 as the Merchant Taylors’ Company, provides a rare opportunity to assess the variety of roles which these organisations played in late-medieval London.
Medievalists @ Penn: 5th Annual Graduate Conference
Conference taking place at University of Pennsylvania, on February 15, 2013
Medieval Europe in Motion International Conference
Conference taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 18-20, 2013
The Legendary Fate of Pontius Pilate
The Christian texts can be divided into two separate branches: the Western textual tradition written in Latin usually demonizes Pilate, while in the Eastern tradition Pilate’s character has totally metamorphosed: the praefectus became a confessor, saint, and martyr of the Church.
The Search for King Richard III News Conference
Speakers include Richard Buckley, Lead Archaeologist, Jo Appleby, Project Osteologist, Lin Foxhall, Kevin Schurer, Project Geneaologist, and Turi King, Project Geneticist, and Richard Taylor of the University of Leicester.
The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England
However the alchemical source of the early fourteenth century also explicitly maintained that knowledge of the secret of secrets involved an understanding of the hidden forces within the earth, and this in turn would bring earthly power. The most obvious manifestation of this interest in alchemical secrets lay in the belief that controlled experimentation with mercury and sulphur could effect transmutation of base metals into gold.
Riding To The Afterlife: The Role Of Horses In Early Medieval North-Western Europe
In order to establish the role of horses in the pre-Christian religions of Anglo-Saxon England, Viking-Age Scandinavia and other Germanic regions in mainland Europe, this dissertation will look for evidence of burial, sacrifice and other rituals involving horses in both archaeological and literary sources
Edith of Wessex, Queen of England
We would like examine the life of a woman who was a contemporary of Queen Emma, Queen Matilda and mentor of Saint Margaret of Scotland.
Understanding terrorism and radicalisation: a network approach
Our most recent work with this model has concentrated on the suppression of a network in the case of the Inquisition and the Cathar heresy in France in the 13th century; and on the spreading of a network in the case of the conversion to Protestantism of England in the mid-16th century.
The speaking cross, the persecuted princess and the murdered earl: the early history of Romsey Abbey
The Old-English note may have begun life as an endorsement, either to the grant of privileges or (what is perhaps more likely) to the agreement about the woodland belonging to Romsey, a notice of which has become attached to it; it was not uncommon when diplomas were collected into cartularies for such endorsements to be used as ‘headings’ for the text.
Why history matters – and why medieval history also matters
The middle ages has in fact been implicit to all arguments about modernity – it is that which is silently invoked by everything which proclaims itself ‘modern’ and ‘western’. But too often the idea of what is ‘medieval’ owes more to Walter Scott and Hollywood than anything found in pre-modern archives.