Æthelstan, “King of all Britain” : royal and imperial ideology in tenth-century England
This thesis examines how King Æthelstan legitimized and systematized his claims of power and status through a royal ideology, how that ideology emerged, what it consisted of, and how it manifested itself in his kingship and diplomacy.
Justinian’s reconquest of the West : ideology, warfare, religion, and politics in sixth-century Byzantium
This thesis will examine the guiding ideology of Justinian’s emperorship and how that ideology especially manifested itself in terms of Justinian’s diplomacy and his relationship with the former provinces of the Western Roman Empire.
Depositions of rulers in the later middle ages: on the theory of the “useless ruler” and its practical utilization
The fact that in late medieval times more or less changes of rulers by force increased in nearly all European kingdoms, may indeed be read as a symptom of change in kingship as well as in the basic order of lordship.
VAGANTES: “What has Beowulf to do with a Christian King?” Heroic Legend as Poetic Speculum Principis
Through a rhetorical analysis based in grounded theory that analyzes fifteen speeches and their contexts made by Hroðgar, Beowulf, and Wiglaf, I will show how the poet appropriated the Beowulf legend to present a dramatized speculum principis using the rhetorical devices common to oral-traditional narratives to articulate the three traits of kingship most highly valued by both secular and sacred authorities: generosity, faith, and protectiveness.
Olaf Haraldsson’s Relics – an Example of ‘Hagiocracy’ in Scandinavia
The model of “the suffering leader” was quite a common model of saint-hood in the medieval North. Throughout the Middle Ages, the majority of the saints venerated in the West (especially in non-Mediterranean countries), were kings and princes.
Penda the Pagan: Royal sacrifice and a Mercian king
Regicide was a common occurrence in the early Middle Ages. It was a fairly routine way for a victorious usurper or conqueror to rid himself of a potential source of trouble. Penda’s reputation in this field would almost certainly have been viewed with some approval had he been a Christian, and his foes pagan…
‘Viking Empires’? Scandinavian Kingship and the nature and orchestration of Viking raids, c.800-c.950
To what extent were Viking raids part of a more general process of expansion by Scandinavian rulers? Were the Franks simply receiving a taste of their own medicine in the ninth and tenth centuries?
Sacred Kingship among the Peoples of the Steppes
eurThe vast belt of the Steppes, located between the Hungarian plains and the Great Wall of China,
runs along the southern edge of the Eurasian arboreal zone. Starting in the 1st millenium B.C. this region has been inhabited by Iranian, Hunnish, Turkish and Mongol mounted nomads who, at various times, unified a large portion of the Steppes into a single empire.
BBC show on The Private Lives Of The Medieval Kings to begin airing next week
In Illuminations: The Private Lives of the Medieval Kings BBC Four will tell the story of the Medieval monarchy as preserved through stunning illuminated manuscripts from the British Library’s Royal Manuscripts collection which contains some of the most priceless documents in the country’s history.
Trojan Wars: Genre and the Politics of Authorship in Late Medieval and Early Modern England
In the Middle Ages, Troy was not ancient history. As a living myth that continued to evolve along with the English nation, Troy functioned as a site for examining England’s cultural and political questions.
Charlemagne: the making of an image, 1100-1300
Why was Charlemagne, a figure from the distant past, able to achieve such high status and command such enormous respect?
Researchers puzzled as grave did not hold remains of medieval Swedish king
DNA tests have revealed that the bodies of nine people buried in the tomb actually died sometime between 1430 and 1520.
Alfred the Great: The Most Perfect Man in History?
Barbara Yorke considers the reputation of King Alfred the Great – and the enduring cult around his life and legend.
Anglo-Saxon Double Monasteries
Monks and nuns living together: not a cause for scandal but, as Barbara Mitchell explains, an intriguing window onto the variety of monastic life – under the aegis of remarkable abbesses – before the Conquest.
Regnal succession in early medieval Ireland
Many scholars have written about ‘the Irish law of dynastic succession’ since Eoin Mac Neill published an article with that title in 1919.
Medieval biographies and the geography of power: the Historia Gruffud vab Kenan
Medieval biographies and the geography of power: the Historia Gruffud vab Kenan Jones, Rhys (Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales) Journal…
An Armory of Writs: The Rewriting of the English Social Contract, 1066-1290
An Armory of Writs: The Rewriting of the English Social Contract, 1066-1290 Blau, Zachary S. B.A. Thesis (Medieval Studies),Wesleyan University, April (2009) Abstract…
The transformation of kinship and the family in late Anglo-Saxon England
In this article it is suggested that the emergence of new kinship values was connected to the investment of aristocratic energy and resources in monastic programmes, and to subtle changes in lay involvement with the rituals associated with death and the salvation of souls.
The Justification of the Conquest Chapter 1 of Conquered England: Kingship, Succession, and Tenure 1066-1166
The Justification of the Conquest Chapter 1 of Conquered England: Kingship, Succession, and Tenure 1066-1166 Garnett, George Abstract The author of the D manuscript…
Early state formation in native medieval Wales
Early state formation in native medieval Wales Jones, Rhys(Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales,Aberystwytb, Ceredigion) Political Geography, Vol. 17.No.6, (1998)…
All the Queen’s Men: Perceptions of Women in Power
All the Queen’s Men: Perceptions of Women in Power Burkett, Mona Master’s Thesis, University of Minnesota, (2009) Abstract Throughout the middle Ages, women…
Cum consilio et deliberatione episcoporum, comitum, et baronum nostrorum’: institutional consultation and cooperative governance in the Spanish kingdoms and England (1100-1188)
Cum consilio et deliberatione episcoporum, comitum, et baronum nostrorum’: institutional consultation and cooperative governance in the Spanish kingdoms and England (1100-1188) Cerda, José Manuel (University of…