Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Medieval era'

This thesis examines the reception formats of late medieval upper-class literature in English--i.e., how its readers read it. My particular interest is aurality, the reading aloud of literature to one or a group of listeners. I try to show that aurality was not merely the byproduct of technological deficiencies (such as illiteracy and the scarcity of manuscripts) but also represented a contemporary preference for the shared experience of literature. Chapter 1 reviews the evolutionary and polarizing assumptions that underlie, and undermine, many discussions of late medieval, particularly Chaucerian, reception. The popular argument I call 'fictive orality' claims, for example, that Chaucer's references to hearers derive from nostalgia or else are an involuntary holdover of 'minstrel formulas'. But if Chaucer's texts were read aloud, as he keeps assuming they will be, there is nothing 'nostalgic' or anachronistic about references to hearers. Chapter 2 outlines the methodology used to construct the following chapters' 'ethnography of reading', then presents a variety of generalizations to frame the intensive data presented in those chapters. Topics considered include the chronological and functional origins of medieval aurality, the varieties of late medieval English literacy, the role of aurality in generating a public sphere, the 'constellation' of reception-phrases characteristic of late medieval texts, and the crossover of scholarly reading practices into recreational ones.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:12:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IrisFS.pdf: 350369 bytes, checksum: 48d8d7ef4da71e5e1de0f74ded139a84 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-07-07<br>This thesis aims at studying the concept of participation according to John Scotus Eriugena. The development of our research is based on an identification of Eriugena s sources, investigating the concept of participation since Dyonisus and the Greek Christian fathers, until the Periphyseon. To Eri?gena, the terms that are brought together in participation God, causes, and effects are, while everything that falls out of participation is not. Leaning on his understanding of the relation between cause and effect, according to which the effects participate in the cause and somehow are contained in it, he told us that all things and beings subsist eternally in God, and that God can signify Himself through the created things and beings. To Eriugena, creatures exist because they participate in the Divine Nature and receive their being from It, for nothing truly exists outside of It.<br>A presente disserta??o tem como objetivo o estudo do conceito de participa??o em Jo?o Escoto Eri?gena. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa d?-se a partir da identifica??o das fontes do irland?s, investigando o referido conceito a partir de Dion?sio e os padres crist?os gregos, at? chegar ao Periphyseon. Para Eri?gena os termos que se relacionam na participa??o - Deus, causas e efeitos - s?o, enquanto que aquilo que n?o mant?m nenhuma rela??o de participa??o n?o ?. Apoiando-se em sua concep??o da rela??o entre causa e efeito, segundo a qual os efeitos participam da causa e se cont?m nesta de alguma maneira, nos disse que todas as coisas subsistem eternamente em Deus, e que Deus se pode significar pelas coisas criadas. Eri?gena parte do princ?pio que as criaturas existem porque participam da Natureza Divina e dela recebem seu ser, pois fora dela nada existe verdadeiramente.

Little did Hadrian know in 130 A.D. that when he deified his beloved departed Antinous, in order to provide a unifying symbol of worship for his diverse empire, that he was instead creating a lasting symbol of the antique world. This thesis examines the power of nostalgia and its successful use by two formidable men from different eras in Rome: The Emperor Hadrian and the extravagantly wealthy Renaissance merchant Agostino Chigi. Though separated by centuries, each man used the nostalgic allure of the beautiful youthful male figure of Antinous to gain power and influence in his own time and to leave a lasting impact on generations to come. Using the statue known as the Farnese Antinous I will show that these very different men were not so different after all: each understood the human tendency to romanticize the past, and each attempted to evoke a feeling of nostalgia for the past from those they sought to “conquer.” Hadrian used portraits of Antinous to unite an empire and cement his place in history; Agostino used one of those very same portraits in commissioned artworks by Raphael to earn his place among the nobility of his day, and to leave a lasting legacy for his descendants.

Otitis media is one of the most common childhood ailments seen in clinical practice today, yet the condition has rarely been identified in the skeletal remains of past populations. Other diseases of the middle ear and mastoid have been sporadically reported in the archaeological literature but no standardised criteria for their diagnosis in temporal bones have been established. A comparative study of different non-destructive methods of examination of human temporal bones was undertaken in order to determine the optimum strategy for future research. The material for the study consisted of 1244 temporal bones representing 688 individuals from seven English cemeteries dated to the Romano-British, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods. The examination of such a wide range of material facilitated determination of optimum diagnostic criteria while eliminating single site bias. It also allowed a comparison to be made, of the prevalence of ear disease, between populations separated both geographically and chronologically. The inclusion in the study of the human skeletal meterial from a medieval leprosy hospital cemetery at Chichester afforded the opportunity to investigate the possibility that ear disease was more prevalent in those individuals who had suffered from leprosy. A review of the documentary evidence for the treatment of middle ear disease in the past suggests that, prior to the introduction of antibiotic therapy, no truly effective treatment was available and, therefore, palaeopathological evidence is unlikely to have been influenced by therapeutic intervention. In the preparation of skeletal reports the temporal bones should, ideally, be examined using a combination of methods. Two methods are recommended as being the most useful where resources are limited but in the identification of particular pathological conditions other methods proved useful. This research has demonstrated that middle ear disease in ancient populations can, with some certainty, be diagnosed using the proposed criteria, thus removing the barrier to future comparative research in this field.

La thèse étudie le dernier poème écrit par l’humaniste Giovanni Pontano (1429-1503) au tournant du XVIe siècle, le De hortis Hesperidum, une géorgique sur les jardins d’agrumes. Plusieurs chapitres de description de l’œuvre puis une étude historique et pluridisciplinaire s’attachent à jeter de la lumière sur ce testament méconnu de l'humanisme napolitain. Le poème est tout d’abord considéré au regard des diverses lectures qui en furent faites depuis son origine jusqu’à nos jours et, en particulier, de son influence sur la littérature de l’âge classique en Europe. Puis on mène un examen de la versification du poème, de l’histoire du texte et dans l’étude de ses différents témoins, on établit les principes de l’édition qui figure en fin d’ouvrage. Comme le De hortis Hesperidum est le premier texte moderne à suivre la leçon de Virgile en matière de poème didactique, l’étude s’emploie ensuite à dévoiler les ficelles de la recréation du genre géorgique à l’aube de l’époque moderne, en y examinant les formes de narration, le rôle des digressions dans le texte, la présentation du dédicataire et du dédicant. Mais le De hortis Hesperidum est aussi un poème scientifique d’un intérêt précoce pour les agrumes dont il établit les variétés et dont il décrit précisément la culture, avec un tropisme certain pour les jardins d’apparat dont il présage la vogue au XVIe siècle à Naples comme dans toute l’Italie : on y découvre les prémices du jardin maniériste. Ce poème est enfin la peinture d’une vie académique et aristocratique élevée en un idéal que le poète cherche à préserver du tumulte des guerres d’Italie. En complément de l’étude, cette thèse présente la première traduction française intégrale du texte ainsi qu’une nouvelle édition à l’orthographe restituée d’après l’unique manuscrit connu<br>The present thesis studies the last poem written by the humanist Giovanni Pontano (1429-1503) in the latefifteenth century/beginning of the sixteenth century : De hortis Hesperidum, a georgic on citrus gardens.Some descriptive chapters, followed by a more analytical and multidisciplinary study, cast light on thisoverlooked testament of Napolitan humanism. The poem is at first considered through its various readingsover time and in particular through its influence on the literature of European classical age. Then, theversification and the textual history of the poem are assessed and the principles of the current edition areestablished, thanks to a careful examination of its testimonies. Since De hortis Hesperidum is the first moderntext to imitate Vergil’s way of composing didactic poetry, the study deciphers the recreation of the georgicgenre at the begining of the modern period, by considering narrations patterns, digression’s role, the way ofpresenting the dedicatee or the poet himself. De hortis Hesperidum is also a scientific poem that demonstratesan early interest for citrus trees, by establishing their varieties and describing their culture, with an obviousattraction for ornemental gardens that foreteils their popularity in sixteenth century Naples and Italy,foreshadowing the beginnings of manierist gardens. Finally the poem pictures the aristocratical life of thePontanian academy. It gives the aspect of an ideal time, kept safe from the commotion of the Italian wars,thanks to the poet. In addition to this study, the thesis countains the first complete French translation of thetext and a new edition in which spelling has been corrected on the only known manuscript of the poem

La prima parte dell’Ottocento ha rappresentato un momento cruciale per il contesto europeo, costretto in un primo momento a fare i conti con le ultime conseguenze della grande ventata rivoluzionaria, e poi – direttamente – con il figlio più spregiudicato di quest’ultima; quel petit diable arrivato dalla Corsica e divenuto imperatore. Anni in cui lo Stato della Chiesa vive alcuni dei momenti più delicati della sua esistenza (basti pensare all’annessione diretta all’impero francese o alla deportazione di Pio VII), senza avere la forza materiale per opporsi a tali vicissitudini. Il lavoro compiuto dai rappresentanti europei a Vienna, durante l’omonimo Congresso, tenta di attuare un “forzato” e precario ritorno al passato, che si rivelerà incapace di resistere allo spirito dei nuovi tempi. Lo Stato pontificio – questa la nuova denominazione adottata dopo la grande adunanza del 1814-1815 (quasi a voler eliminare quell’aura di sacralità destinata a diventare sempre più scomoda nei decenni successivi) – si trova dinanzi all’impellente bisogno di riorganizzare il proprio apparato istituzionale, consapevole di non poter cancellare definitivamente la parentesi degli anni appena trascorsi. In un secolo che vedrà la definitiva scomparsa del dominio temporale dei papi, quanto appena detto è soltanto una delle sfide con cui lo Stato dell’Italia centrale è chiamato a confrontarsi. Tali eventi infatti, si susseguono in uno scenario internazionale in continua evoluzione, dove anche le grandi potenze sono spesso chiamate a confrontarsi con eventi inattesi, ma sempre attente alle dinamiche dell’equilibrio e al bilanciamento degli interessi in gioco. Per una realtà che non è semplicemente un’entità statale, ma anche centro dell’orbe cattolico e sede del successore di Pietro, accettare di stravolgere la propria “natura” non è affatto semplice. Consentire l’accesso dei laici ai vertici della burocrazia, istituire organismi “realmente” rappresentativi, o pensare di promulgare una Carta fondamentale, continua ad essere per anni un ricorrente miraggio. Anche se da più fronti riecheggia la necessità di portare un ammodernamento all’amministrazione interna dello Stato, sul versante amministrativo, economico, e soprattutto giudiziario, sembra trionfare – quasi sempre – la linea dell’intransigenza e dell’immobilità. A volte si interviene, è vero, ma più per compiacenza che per reale convinzione, dovendo tener conto di pressioni interne ed esterne. Spinte talvolta provenienti dal malcontento sempre più diffuso, talvolta dall'ingerenza dei grandi Stati europei. Il presente lavoro di ricerca, si è posto dunque l’obiettivo di analizzare le principali vicende (specialmente giuridiche) – interne ed esterne – che hanno coinvolto lo Stato della Chiesa nella prima metà dell’Ottocento. Un percorso sviluppato lungo molteplici direttrici, partito dallo sfondo dei grandi eventi storici di questi anni, e intrecciatosi con le vicende di alcuni grandi protagonisti: pontefici, segretari di Stato, capi di governo, monarchi. Uno sguardo gettato non solo sul fronte interno, ma anche su quello internazionale. Capire come Roma provi a gestire le proprie relazioni estere in un contesto sovranazionale che in questi decenni vede sorgere nuovi Stati (si prenda l’esempio rappresentato dal Belgio), assiste a mutamenti rilevanti (si pensi alla Francia del 1830, con l’inizio della monarchia orleanista, o all’indipendenza raggiunta dai Paesi del sud America), o a forti dispute dinastiche (come avviene nella Penisola iberica), è importante per capire come essa debba confrontarsi anche con governi che, a seconda dei casi, assumono caratteri marcatamente conservatori o con forti tendenze liberali. E per quanto sia naturale l’inclinazione, o se vogliamo la “vicinanza” della Curia romana verso posizioni reazionarie, ciò non significa che i rapporti con potenze come Russia o Austria, rimangono sempre idilliaci. Tuttavia, quella appena descritta, non è stata l’unica linea seguita nello sviluppo della presente ricerca. Quasi a voler procedere su due binari paralleli, ci si è soffermati anche sulla figura e sul pensiero politico di uno dei giuristi più rilevanti della prima metà del secolo: Pellegrino Rossi. Giurista certo, anche se tale espressione non basta per racchiudere la grandezza di un “figlio italiano”, nato e vissuto quando l’Italia unita ancora non esisteva. Molto è stato già detto, o meglio scritto, su questo poliedrico personaggio, e sulla sua vita spesa tra l’Italia, la Svizzera, la Francia e poi nuovamente nella Penisola, impegnato presso la corte romana come rappresentante francese, e poi come ministro di sua santità. Eppure, proprio tali aspetti sono stati utili per lo svolgimento del presente lavoro, guardando a sfumature meno indagate, ma di assoluto rilievo. Tali sono stati ad esempio i momenti più rilevanti trascorsi dal Rossi in terra elvetica (in quanto membro del Consiglio rappresentativo di Ginevra e inviato alla Dieta di Lucerna del 1832), o i maggiori interventi tenuti presso la camera dei Pari a Parigi, tra il 1840 e il 1844. Lo stesso dicasi per le delicate vicende che coinvolsero il giurista durante il suo incarico presso la corte papale, o la particolare congiuntura storica in cui assunse l’incarico di ministro dell’interno di Pio IX. Proprio qui, prima nei panni di ambasciatore, e poi come perno del nuovo governo nato nel settembre 1848, il poliedrico italiano avrebbe cercato di scuotere lo Stato romano dal suo torpore, per trainarlo verso un assetto più moderno e realmente costituzionale.<br>The first part of the nineteenth century was a crucial moment for the European context, which was first forced to reckon with the last consequences of the great revolutionary wave, and then - directly - with France's most unscrupulous son; that petit diable arrived from Corsica and become emperor. In these years the Papal States experienced some of the most delicate moments of their existence (suffice it to think of the direct annexation to the French Empire or the deportation of Pius VII), without having the material strength to oppose such vicissitudes. The work carried out by the European representatives in Vienna, during the famous Congress, attempts to implement a “forced” and precarious return to the past, which will prove to be incapable of withstanding the spirit of the new times. The Papal State - this was the new denomination adopted after the great meeting of 1814-1815 (as if to eliminate the aura of sacredness destined to become increasingly uncomfortable in the following decades) - was faced with the urgent need to reorganise its institutional apparatus, aware that it could not definitively cancel the parenthesis of the years that had just passed. In a century that will see the disappearance of the temporal dominion of the popes, it was only one of the challenges with which the State of central Italy was called to confront. In fact, these events took place in a constantly evolving international scenario, where even the great powers were often called upon to deal with unexpected events, but were always attentive to the dynamics of balance and the balancing of interests at stake. For a reality that is not only a state entity, but also the centre of the Catholic world and the seat of the successor of Peter, accepting to change its “nature” is not easy. Allowing lay people access to the upper echelons of the bureaucracy, setting up “truly” representative bodies, or thinking of promulgating a fundamental charter, has been a recurring mirage for years. Although the need to modernise the internal administration of the State is echoed on many fronts, on the administrative, economic and, above all, judicial fronts, the line of intransigence and immobility seems to triumph almost always. It is true that action is sometimes taken, but more out of complacency than real conviction, having to take account of internal and external pressures. Pressure that sometimes comes from increasingly widespread discontent, sometimes from the interference of the large European states. The aim of this research work was therefore to analyse the main (especially legal) events - internal and external - that involved the Church State in the first half of the nineteenth century. A path developed along multiple lines, starting from the background of the great historical events of recent years, and intertwined with the vicissitudes of some great protagonists: popes, secretaries of state, heads of government, monarchs. A look not only at the domestic front, but also at the international one. Understanding how Rome tries to manage its foreign relations in a supranational context that in recent decades has seen the emergence of new states (e.g. Belgium), significant changes (e.g. France in 1830, with the beginning of the Orleanist monarchy, or the independence achieved by the countries of South America), or strong dynastic disputes (e.g. the Iberian Peninsula), is important to understand how it must also deal with governments that, depending on the case, take on markedly conservative characteristics or with strong liberal tendencies. Despite the Roman Curia's natural inclination, “closeness” to reactionary positions, relations with powers such as Russia or Austria don’t remain idyllic. However, the line just described was not the only one followed in the development of this research. As if wishing to proceed on two parallel tracks, we have also focused on the figure and political thought of one of the most important jurists of the first half of the century: Pellegrino Rossi. A jurist of course, although this expression is not enough to encapsulate the greatness of an “Italian son”, born and raised when united Italy did not yet exist. Much has already been said, or rather written, about this multifaceted character, and about his life spent between Italy, Switzerland, France and then back on the peninsula, working at the Roman court as a French representative, and then as a minister of His Holiness. And yet these aspects have been precisely useful in this work, looking at lesser-known but absolutely important aspects. These were, for example, the most important moments Rossi spent in Switzerland (as a member of the Geneva Representative Council and as an envoy to the Diet of Lucerne in 1832), or the major speeches he made at the Chamber of Peers in Paris between 1840 and 1844. The same can be said about the delicate events that involved the jurist during his tenure at the papal court. It was here, first as ambassador, and then as the pivot of the new government formed in September 1848, that the multifaceted Italian tried to shake the Roman State out of its torpor and pull it towards a more modern and truly constitutional order.

This thesis deals with the historical memory in the context of Bulgarian medieval history. Its main objective is to evaluate the role played by the historical memory of the first Bulgarian state in the period of Byzantine domination and the Second Bulgarian Empire. In the first part of this work the current view of the Bulgarian historiography on this topic is critically reviewed. A section, which focuses on historical memory during period of the Byzantine rule aims to assess how and in what form could the historical memory of the First Bulgarian state preserve. It tries to describe this memory as a dynamic process. It aims at the causes that led to the gradual disintegration of historical memory after the end of the First Bulgarian State, such as the decay of higher domestic political elites and loss center. It also analyzes the factors that helped to store memory about the state. In the third part of the thesis deals with the way how was the historical memory of the first Bulgarian state treated in the Second Bulgarian Empire. It examines the way in which historical memory has been used to legitimize the very existence of the Second Bulgarian State. It also describes on the basis of contemporary sources the scope and knowledge of the history of the First Bulgarian State in the Second Bulgarian...

Stress, a feeling of pressure, tension, strain or threat, is a problem for contemporary female participants in the primary and secondary educational milieus who automatically respond to stressors (causes of stress), in the same way as women and girls in the past, since human beings have not changed psychologically and biologically over the millennia. Like their ancestors many female educators, learners and caregivers today do not return to a calm mental and physical state after an initial stress reaction. They often remain under stress, which results in emotional, behavioural, physical and cognitive manifestations of stress. Moreover, females may be predisposed to stress because of psychological, biological and social factors that have underpinned their response to time-related stressors that have faced them throughout history. Yet, history has also shown that women and girls taught and learnt successful stress coping mechanisms. Insight into these universal truths may provide educational solutions to a universal problem<br>Educational Studies<br>D.Ed. (History of Education)

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze various texts from Japanese literary history and extract the instances of trans-gender performances from those texts. I define “trans-gender” behaviors as actions that are culturally expected of the gender opposite that of the gender assigned to the performer at birth. In each text, I identify which character or characters perform actions that go against the expectations of the gender they were assigned at birth. I analyze how their performance is portrayed within the narrative, as well as how other characters in the narrative react to their performance. In this way, nuances are extracted that relate to the trope of gender play in these four historical eras. The literary representations of this trans-gender play respond to the needs and values systems of the time periods within which they exist. In the Heian period, this play is caused by external forces and ends due to sexual acts. In the Muromachi period, the character chooses to perform, but eventually revokes the world. By the Edo period, performance is more widely accepted and culturally ingrained because of the availability of spaces where trans-gender performance is allowed. The performers in Edo period literature usually perform in the context of receiving privileges or being allowed into gendered spaces. Finally, In the Meiji period, heteronormative gender roles are strictly enforced, and the literature reflects negative reactions to non-normative behavior. Trans-gender performers in the Meiji period are often punished in the narratives they inhabit.