Queer Pedagogy (A Roundtable)
A roundtable discussion on teaching Queer Theory with Susannah Mary Chewning (Union County College) Lisa Weston (California State University–Fresno); and Michelle M. Sauer, (University of North Dakota)
Constructions of Gender in Medieval Welsh Literature
The discussion of gender in medieval literary criticism is generally considered
to be a relatively new field, having achieved real momentum only in the latter half of the twentieth century. However, since it was the early fifteenth century when Christine de Pisan wrote a response to Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose, it cannot really be imagined that the medieval audience was too primitive to be fully aware of the subtext inside their stories.
Love, Mercy, and Courtly Discourse: Marguerite de Navarre Reads Alain Chartier
Love, Mercy, and Courtly Discourse: Marguerite de Navarre Reads Alain Chartier Frelick, Nancy (University of British Columbia) Mythes à la cour, mythes pour la four (2010).…
Types of physical exercise in Medieval Serbia (XII-XIV century)
It is often said of a nation that it is as rich as its history. All the efforts and desire to get to the roots of our past lead us inevitably to the Middle Ages and connect us to the spirit of the rule of the House of Nemanjić. A profound influence this dynasty exerted on the history of the people of Serbia points out their greatness and significance. Serbian army from the period of the Nemanjić reign was famed for its bravery, agility, endurance, persistence, wisdom and skillfulness varying by the type of warfare. Brave voivode and warriors were the apple of Serbia’s eye, which in turn caused heroism to become a lifestyle.
Saints and sinners in the works of Marie de France
What was Marie trying to share with her twelfth century audience when she wrote The Lais?
Authentic performance of troubadour melodies
Ancient Rome is remembered as one of the greatest military powers in history, its fame derived from the fearsome reputation of the empire’s legionnaires. Lost in the telling, however, is the important role that espionage played in Rome’s ascent to empire
Mythic Transformations: Tree Symbolism in the Norse Plantation
This thesis explores tree symbolism as interpreted from a selection of Old Norse poetic and prose mythological sources.
The Court of Beast and Bough: Contesting the Medieval English Forest in the Early Robin Hood Ballads
The medieval English forest has long been a space of contested legal meanings. After King William I first created the 75,000-acre New Forest, the English monarchy sought to define the vert, both legally and ideologically, as a multiplicity of sites in which the king’s rights were vigorously enforced.
The Verb in Beowulf
Thus, in a paper of the nature of this thesis, the Beowulfian novice is limited in scope and must be satisfied, at best, to open a small breach in the subject, examine one segment, focus his attention on one aspect, single out one featture of it, and channel the efforts of his research towards some contribution, no matter how small, to the overall scholarship in the field.
The human presence in Robert Henryson’s Fables and William Caxton’s The History of Reynard the Fox
The principal method used is the gathering of specific instances of human presence in the two texts, and the categorising or coding of such instances, with the aid of the qualitative-data computer program QSR N6.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth : the making of a Welsh prince
Finally, this thesis seeks to address the limitations on Llywelyn’s successes, in light of succeeding events and concludes with a discussion of Llywelyn’s legendary status in the modern world.
“Hic Facet Arthurus, Rex Quondam, Rexque Futurus:” The Analysis of Original Medieval Sources in the Search for the Historica King Arthur
The heroic tales of the legendary King Arthur have survived throughout many centuries. Modern society has learned of this celebrated figure through oral and literary tradition, such as the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudo-history Historia Regum Britanniae, Sir Thomas Malory’s romantic epic Le Morte d’Arthur and medieval Arthurian poetry.
Medieval Sicilian lyric poetry : poets at the courts of Roger II and Frederick II
During the twelfth century, a group of poets at the Norman court in Sicily composed traditional Arabic panegyrics in praise of the kingdoms Christian monarchs. Less than a century later, at the court of Frederick II, Sicilian poets wrote the first lyric love poetry in an Italian vernacular.
A survey of the scholarship of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
A survey of the major themes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK) reveals both the poem’s complexity and the poet’s artistry. A general examination of the poem permits commentary upon the work’s historical background, thematic unity, and narrative structure.
VAGANTES: “That is a Long Preamble of a Tale”: Mobile Narratives in Fragment III of the Canterbury Tales
This paper focused on the 12 lines from fragment 3 of the Canterbury Tales of The Wife of Bath.
Reading about Lancelot in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde
This book is the central one of Troilus and Criseyde’s five books, with the sexual union of Troilus with Criseyde forming the climax and turning-point of the entire plot-structure, condensed at the start of the work by Chaucer in the words “fro woe to wele and after out of joie.”
“Kan he speke wel of love?”: Luf talk and Chivalry
In my view, Criseyde’s inquiry about Troilus’s verbal skill in “luf talk” highlights more a problematic issue of Criseyde’s concern about a man’s “loves craft” than that of his class in society. As Chaucer’s narrator remarks in the proem of Book II (22-42), every human activity in love is governed by language conventions, expressive shortcuts that a community agrees to understand and honor…
Hidden Manna and the Holy Grail: The Psychedelic Sacrament in Arthurian Romance
Scholars are generally agreed that Arthurian wonder tales like “Cullhwch and Olwen” must have been widely distributed in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany in advance of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Belief in a living Arthur was then in the air.
The Economics of Lady Mede’s Agency in The Vision of Piers the Plowman
This paper will argue that rather than being controlled by the process of sexual commodification Lady Mede uses the correlation of gender, money, and sex to counter Conscience’s attempts to discount her place in the court and, in so doing, her agency.
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.
VAGANTES: What the Body Said: The Corpse-as-Text in St. Erkenwald
This paper will consider how the speaking corpse of the pagan judge should be read, especially in light of the hagiographic context and medieval theological writings on the resurrection of the body.
VAGANTES: Hālnes and hǽlþ:Anglo-Saxon Bodily Wellness
Since most of the surviving mentions of wellness relate to the health of the soul, it is not clear what constituted a healthy Anglo-Saxon body. This paper will use the Old English poem Soul and Body and Old English medical texts to explore Anglo-Saxon bodily wellness.
“What We Are, So You Shall Be”: Preparation for Death in the Late Middle Ages
It is tempting to explain the late medieval attitude toward death as a direct result of the Black Death, which caused massive loss of life and brought about a new awareness of the fact that death could come at any time. While this generalization is not completely false, there are several issues of timing. The fear of sudden death was not new.
Seduction, Abandonment, and Sorcery in Middle English Lyrics
My purpose in writing this article is to expose a different view of romantic relationships that exist in medieval literature, a view that is in opposition to courtly love.