Stanley Finger and Marco Piccolino
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195366723
- eISBN:
- 9780199897087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195366723.003.0006
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
This chapter is devoted to knowledge about electric fish in the period from the beginning of the 12th century to the end of the 16th century—that is, from the Golden age of the Scholastics in the ...
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This chapter is devoted to knowledge about electric fish in the period from the beginning of the 12th century to the end of the 16th century—that is, from the Golden age of the Scholastics in the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance. It states that there would be no striking advancements in electric fish science during this period: no significant breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of the shocks, their transmission, or their medical applications. In this regard, the material covered has features in common with the Byzantine and Middle Eastern cultures discussed in the previous chapter. Nevertheless, there would be new mindsets, a new appreciation of living nature, and other developments, including the advent of beautifully illustrated fish books and a call for more accurate information, which was to help set the stage for the scientific revolution of the 17th century.Less
This chapter is devoted to knowledge about electric fish in the period from the beginning of the 12th century to the end of the 16th century—that is, from the Golden age of the Scholastics in the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance. It states that there would be no striking advancements in electric fish science during this period: no significant breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of the shocks, their transmission, or their medical applications. In this regard, the material covered has features in common with the Byzantine and Middle Eastern cultures discussed in the previous chapter. Nevertheless, there would be new mindsets, a new appreciation of living nature, and other developments, including the advent of beautifully illustrated fish books and a call for more accurate information, which was to help set the stage for the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
Christopher N. L. Brooke
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205043
- eISBN:
- 9780191676468
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205043.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, History of Ideas
This book looks at marriage, particularly the marriage practices during the mid and late middle Ages. Different disciplines are used and put into play to describe and capture the image of medieval ...
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This book looks at marriage, particularly the marriage practices during the mid and late middle Ages. Different disciplines are used and put into play to describe and capture the image of medieval marriage. Among these disciplines, from which the book found its validity, are history, law, theology, literature, and art. The book covers the entire period of 1000 to 1500 with special emphasis on the 12th and 13th centuries. In this book, the themes of celibacy, marriage, and the significance of Church architecture to marriage are carefully analyzed. Several case-studies including the correspondences of Heloise and Abelard, the writings of Wolfram, the literature of Chaucer and the art of Jan van Eyck are used and referred to illustrate medieval marriage.Less
This book looks at marriage, particularly the marriage practices during the mid and late middle Ages. Different disciplines are used and put into play to describe and capture the image of medieval marriage. Among these disciplines, from which the book found its validity, are history, law, theology, literature, and art. The book covers the entire period of 1000 to 1500 with special emphasis on the 12th and 13th centuries. In this book, the themes of celibacy, marriage, and the significance of Church architecture to marriage are carefully analyzed. Several case-studies including the correspondences of Heloise and Abelard, the writings of Wolfram, the literature of Chaucer and the art of Jan van Eyck are used and referred to illustrate medieval marriage.
Eric Leland Saak
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199646388
- eISBN:
- 9780199949960
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646388.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, Theology
The term ‘Augustinianism’ has been used by scholars for over a century to refer to trends in medieval philosophy, theology, and politics, which had a major effect on the transformations of European ...
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The term ‘Augustinianism’ has been used by scholars for over a century to refer to trends in medieval philosophy, theology, and politics, which had a major effect on the transformations of European culture and society from the Middle Ages to the onset of modernity. Yet in each of these three disciplines ‘Augustinianism’ means something different, and the lack of clarity only increases when the debates over the relationship between a late medieval Augustinianism and Martin Luther are also considered. Based on historical, philological, and iconographic analysis, this study adopts a hermeneutical approach drawn from philosophical hermeneutics, religious studies, and literary and sociological theory to argue for a historical, as distinct from a philosophical or theological referent for the term ‘Augustinianism’. The central argument of the book is that the interpretation of a late medieval Augustinianism can only be based historically on the newly created image of Augustine discerned in the writings of the Augustinian Hermits in the early fourteenth century, rather than on our own interpretations of Augustine himself. Recognizing the diverse dimensions of this created image is requisite to a historical understanding of Augustine’s late medieval reception and impact. As such, the book sets its sights beyond the later Middle Ages to encompass approaches to interpreting Augustine’s influence in general, for Augustine remains, today as in the later Middle Ages, a created saint.Less
The term ‘Augustinianism’ has been used by scholars for over a century to refer to trends in medieval philosophy, theology, and politics, which had a major effect on the transformations of European culture and society from the Middle Ages to the onset of modernity. Yet in each of these three disciplines ‘Augustinianism’ means something different, and the lack of clarity only increases when the debates over the relationship between a late medieval Augustinianism and Martin Luther are also considered. Based on historical, philological, and iconographic analysis, this study adopts a hermeneutical approach drawn from philosophical hermeneutics, religious studies, and literary and sociological theory to argue for a historical, as distinct from a philosophical or theological referent for the term ‘Augustinianism’. The central argument of the book is that the interpretation of a late medieval Augustinianism can only be based historically on the newly created image of Augustine discerned in the writings of the Augustinian Hermits in the early fourteenth century, rather than on our own interpretations of Augustine himself. Recognizing the diverse dimensions of this created image is requisite to a historical understanding of Augustine’s late medieval reception and impact. As such, the book sets its sights beyond the later Middle Ages to encompass approaches to interpreting Augustine’s influence in general, for Augustine remains, today as in the later Middle Ages, a created saint.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0040
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
The medicine that had developed from the pre-Socratic philosophers of nature and which had gone through a significant development between reality and plausibility now lost its importance. The ...
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The medicine that had developed from the pre-Socratic philosophers of nature and which had gone through a significant development between reality and plausibility now lost its importance. The knowledge of reality was hardly of any use and a new theoretical edifice was not in view. The dissolution was observed everywhere at the end of the Roman Empire. The Roman educated class retreated to the new elite stronghold of Constantinople. Galen made significant contributions to the rediscovery of the ancient medicine in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern age. The Renaissance was indeed a new beginning and the enthusiasm and spirit of departure could be felt everywhere in this era. This departure was initially much more indefinite than at the times when a new medicine was created in Chinese and Greek antiquity. There was initially no new image, neither of a new social environment nor of the body. European intellectuals again concerned themselves with redrawing the picture of antiquity.Less
The medicine that had developed from the pre-Socratic philosophers of nature and which had gone through a significant development between reality and plausibility now lost its importance. The knowledge of reality was hardly of any use and a new theoretical edifice was not in view. The dissolution was observed everywhere at the end of the Roman Empire. The Roman educated class retreated to the new elite stronghold of Constantinople. Galen made significant contributions to the rediscovery of the ancient medicine in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern age. The Renaissance was indeed a new beginning and the enthusiasm and spirit of departure could be felt everywhere in this era. This departure was initially much more indefinite than at the times when a new medicine was created in Chinese and Greek antiquity. There was initially no new image, neither of a new social environment nor of the body. European intellectuals again concerned themselves with redrawing the picture of antiquity.
Elizabeth Eva Leach
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449338
- eISBN:
- 9781501704864
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449338.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
At once a royal secretary, a poet, and a composer, Guillaume de Machaut was one of the most protean and creative figures of the late Middle Ages. Rather than focus on a single strand of his ...
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At once a royal secretary, a poet, and a composer, Guillaume de Machaut was one of the most protean and creative figures of the late Middle Ages. Rather than focus on a single strand of his remarkable career, the book encompasses all aspects of his work, illuminating it in a distinctively interdisciplinary light. It provides a comprehensive picture of Machaut's artistry; reviews the documentary evidence about his life; charts the different agendas pursued by modern scholarly disciplines in their rediscovery and use of specific parts of his output; and delineates Machaut's own poetic and material presentation of his authorial persona. The book details Machaut's central poetic themes of hope, fortune, and death, integrating the aspect of Machaut's multimedia art that differentiates him from his contemporaries' treatment of similar thematic issues: music. In restoring the centrality of music in Machaut's poetics, arguing that his words cannot be truly understood or appreciated without the additional layers of meaning created in their musicalization, the book makes a compelling argument that musico-literary performance occupied a special place in the courts of fourteenth-century France.Less
At once a royal secretary, a poet, and a composer, Guillaume de Machaut was one of the most protean and creative figures of the late Middle Ages. Rather than focus on a single strand of his remarkable career, the book encompasses all aspects of his work, illuminating it in a distinctively interdisciplinary light. It provides a comprehensive picture of Machaut's artistry; reviews the documentary evidence about his life; charts the different agendas pursued by modern scholarly disciplines in their rediscovery and use of specific parts of his output; and delineates Machaut's own poetic and material presentation of his authorial persona. The book details Machaut's central poetic themes of hope, fortune, and death, integrating the aspect of Machaut's multimedia art that differentiates him from his contemporaries' treatment of similar thematic issues: music. In restoring the centrality of music in Machaut's poetics, arguing that his words cannot be truly understood or appreciated without the additional layers of meaning created in their musicalization, the book makes a compelling argument that musico-literary performance occupied a special place in the courts of fourteenth-century France.
TOM SINCLAIR
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264423
- eISBN:
- 9780191734793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264423.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter compares the administration of the Lake Van region under the Ottomans and that of the same region in the late Middle Ages. This required a well-defined region whose boundaries would ...
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This chapter compares the administration of the Lake Van region under the Ottomans and that of the same region in the late Middle Ages. This required a well-defined region whose boundaries would suggest a certain degree of internal coherence and a certain degree of isolation from surrounding regions; and mountain ridges seemed the best natural boundaries to take for this purpose. Defining such a region meant that one could analyse the manner in which successive overlords dealt with the same political entities on the ground, in this case the local Kurdish principalities. Given that the territory of the Safavid empire lay immediately adjacent to the east, this chapter examines the effect the position of the border exercises on the methods of control on the administration and the internal relationships in question.Less
This chapter compares the administration of the Lake Van region under the Ottomans and that of the same region in the late Middle Ages. This required a well-defined region whose boundaries would suggest a certain degree of internal coherence and a certain degree of isolation from surrounding regions; and mountain ridges seemed the best natural boundaries to take for this purpose. Defining such a region meant that one could analyse the manner in which successive overlords dealt with the same political entities on the ground, in this case the local Kurdish principalities. Given that the territory of the Safavid empire lay immediately adjacent to the east, this chapter examines the effect the position of the border exercises on the methods of control on the administration and the internal relationships in question.
Stephen Mossman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199575541
- eISBN:
- 9780191722226
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199575541.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This is a study of the intellectual history and religious culture of German‐speaking Europe in the late Middle Ages. Its focus is the bilingual oeuvre of the Franciscan Marquard von Lindau (d. 1392), ...
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This is a study of the intellectual history and religious culture of German‐speaking Europe in the late Middle Ages. Its focus is the bilingual oeuvre of the Franciscan Marquard von Lindau (d. 1392), arguably the most widely read author in the German language before the Reformation. His most successful works were those which were aimed at a broad implicit audience and dealt with pragmatic issues of the Christian life. This book deals with three of those pragmatic issues most central to late medieval religious life: Christ's Passion, the sacrament of the Eucharist, and devotion to the Virgin Mary. Marquard's approach is understood and contextualized in each case in comparison with the works of his predecessors, his contemporaries, and his successors, in Germany and in the wider European world, in order to locate his contribution ‐ and theirs ‐ in this way within a wide temporal framework. It is argued that the dominant approaches hitherto taken towards these aspects of fourteenth‐century religious life, and the patterns of behaviour and thought which those approaches had fostered, represented problematic challenges to Marquard. These were challenges which he met in a distinctive and influential manner, often in direct and remarkable opposition to the affectively charged devotional practices encouraged by many within and without his order, and which have been considered normative for the religious culture of the late Middle Ages in modern historiography. The ethos projected by his works determined a new trajectory for intellectual life in Germany into the fifteenth century and beyond.Less
This is a study of the intellectual history and religious culture of German‐speaking Europe in the late Middle Ages. Its focus is the bilingual oeuvre of the Franciscan Marquard von Lindau (d. 1392), arguably the most widely read author in the German language before the Reformation. His most successful works were those which were aimed at a broad implicit audience and dealt with pragmatic issues of the Christian life. This book deals with three of those pragmatic issues most central to late medieval religious life: Christ's Passion, the sacrament of the Eucharist, and devotion to the Virgin Mary. Marquard's approach is understood and contextualized in each case in comparison with the works of his predecessors, his contemporaries, and his successors, in Germany and in the wider European world, in order to locate his contribution ‐ and theirs ‐ in this way within a wide temporal framework. It is argued that the dominant approaches hitherto taken towards these aspects of fourteenth‐century religious life, and the patterns of behaviour and thought which those approaches had fostered, represented problematic challenges to Marquard. These were challenges which he met in a distinctive and influential manner, often in direct and remarkable opposition to the affectively charged devotional practices encouraged by many within and without his order, and which have been considered normative for the religious culture of the late Middle Ages in modern historiography. The ethos projected by his works determined a new trajectory for intellectual life in Germany into the fifteenth century and beyond.
Michael D. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451447
- eISBN:
- 9780801467318
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451447.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter charts the long tradition of superstition in late medieval Europe, with a particular eye toward how it was used in the period. What distinguishes the later Middle Ages from earlier ...
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This chapter charts the long tradition of superstition in late medieval Europe, with a particular eye toward how it was used in the period. What distinguishes the later Middle Ages from earlier periods is the heightened level of attention given to superstition and the urgency with which authorities addressed the matter in very practical ways. Rather than muse only on definitions and abstract categories, they increasingly singled out specific instances of questionable practice or belief, whether they addressed them in brief, focused tracts or in more expansive treatises. This outpouring of writing affords us the opportunity to hear multiple voices in the debate over superstition and to peer somewhat through the veil of learned discourse and perceive at least the outlines of actual practices that authorities condemned as superstitious, or on occasion defended against such charges.Less
This chapter charts the long tradition of superstition in late medieval Europe, with a particular eye toward how it was used in the period. What distinguishes the later Middle Ages from earlier periods is the heightened level of attention given to superstition and the urgency with which authorities addressed the matter in very practical ways. Rather than muse only on definitions and abstract categories, they increasingly singled out specific instances of questionable practice or belief, whether they addressed them in brief, focused tracts or in more expansive treatises. This outpouring of writing affords us the opportunity to hear multiple voices in the debate over superstition and to peer somewhat through the veil of learned discourse and perceive at least the outlines of actual practices that authorities condemned as superstitious, or on occasion defended against such charges.
Margaret Connolly and Raluca Radulescu (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265833
- eISBN:
- 9780191771996
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265833.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This volume aims to rethink critical assumptions about a particular type of medieval manuscript: the miscellany. A miscellany is a multi-text manuscript, made up of mixed contents, often in a mixture ...
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This volume aims to rethink critical assumptions about a particular type of medieval manuscript: the miscellany. A miscellany is a multi-text manuscript, made up of mixed contents, often in a mixture of languages; such a volume might be the work of one compiler or several, and might have been put together over a short period of time or over many years (even over several generations). Such variety proves problematic when attempting to form critical judgements, particularly in terms of terminology and definitions. These issues are explored in the introduction, and the fifteen essays that follow discuss a great number of manuscript miscellanies produced in Britain in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Some of the chapters offer new insights into very well-known miscellanies, whilst others draw attention to little-known volumes. Whilst previous studies of the miscellany have restricted themselves to disciplinary or linguistic boundaries, this collection uniquely draws on the expertise of specialists in the rich range of vernacular languages used in Britain in the later Middle Ages (Anglo-French, Middle English, Older Scots, Middle Welsh). As a result, illuminating comparisons are drawn between miscellany manuscripts that were the products of different geographical areas and cultures. Collectively the chapters in Insular Books explore the wide range of heterogeneous manuscripts that may be defined as miscellanies, and model approaches to their study that will permit a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the production of these assemblages, as well as their circulation and reception in their own age and beyond.Less
This volume aims to rethink critical assumptions about a particular type of medieval manuscript: the miscellany. A miscellany is a multi-text manuscript, made up of mixed contents, often in a mixture of languages; such a volume might be the work of one compiler or several, and might have been put together over a short period of time or over many years (even over several generations). Such variety proves problematic when attempting to form critical judgements, particularly in terms of terminology and definitions. These issues are explored in the introduction, and the fifteen essays that follow discuss a great number of manuscript miscellanies produced in Britain in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Some of the chapters offer new insights into very well-known miscellanies, whilst others draw attention to little-known volumes. Whilst previous studies of the miscellany have restricted themselves to disciplinary or linguistic boundaries, this collection uniquely draws on the expertise of specialists in the rich range of vernacular languages used in Britain in the later Middle Ages (Anglo-French, Middle English, Older Scots, Middle Welsh). As a result, illuminating comparisons are drawn between miscellany manuscripts that were the products of different geographical areas and cultures. Collectively the chapters in Insular Books explore the wide range of heterogeneous manuscripts that may be defined as miscellanies, and model approaches to their study that will permit a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the production of these assemblages, as well as their circulation and reception in their own age and beyond.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0051
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
China and Europe both looked back to antiquity, but with totally different preconditions. The rulers in China separated pharmacy from medicine. The physicians in China were employees, dependents of ...
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China and Europe both looked back to antiquity, but with totally different preconditions. The rulers in China separated pharmacy from medicine. The physicians in China were employees, dependents of the pharmacist. The nature of the new healing that originated in the High and Late Middle Ages is also noteworthy. Practical concerns predominated and prescription books were written and widely disseminated. The celebrated Antidotarium Nicolai originated as early as the second half of the twelfth century and it replaced the older and useless Antidotarius magnus. The arrangement of the prescriptions in the Antidotarium Nicolai did not follow indication groups or a theoretical classification of illnesses, but rather a simple morphologic scheme, from the head down. The profession of pharmacist did not originate in Europe until the twelfth century. Pharmacists were responsible for producing medications. In Europe, since Galen, no one had even dissected an animal, let alone a human, to study its structure and function. There is no evidence that the Church officially prohibited dissection.Less
China and Europe both looked back to antiquity, but with totally different preconditions. The rulers in China separated pharmacy from medicine. The physicians in China were employees, dependents of the pharmacist. The nature of the new healing that originated in the High and Late Middle Ages is also noteworthy. Practical concerns predominated and prescription books were written and widely disseminated. The celebrated Antidotarium Nicolai originated as early as the second half of the twelfth century and it replaced the older and useless Antidotarius magnus. The arrangement of the prescriptions in the Antidotarium Nicolai did not follow indication groups or a theoretical classification of illnesses, but rather a simple morphologic scheme, from the head down. The profession of pharmacist did not originate in Europe until the twelfth century. Pharmacists were responsible for producing medications. In Europe, since Galen, no one had even dissected an animal, let alone a human, to study its structure and function. There is no evidence that the Church officially prohibited dissection.
Hans Peter Broedel
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719064401
- eISBN:
- 9781781700419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719064401.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
In a universe where God and the devil had, to such an extent, abandoned their traditional roles, learned theologians had plenty of space in which to carve out the new category of witchcraft. Although ...
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In a universe where God and the devil had, to such an extent, abandoned their traditional roles, learned theologians had plenty of space in which to carve out the new category of witchcraft. Although the broad contours of late-medieval learned conceptions of witchcraft were determined by basic metaphysical assumptions, the specific form these conceptions took was primarily the result of the evidence and experience available to various authors. This chapter discusses the epistemological problems posed by belief in witchcraft. It examines how motifs drawn from traditional beliefs about spectral night-traveling women informed the construction of learned witch categories in the late middle Ages. In the case of Institoris and Sprenger, their category ‘witch’ responded to their experience as inquisitors, which included extensive familiarity with the oral testimony of victims of witchcraft and of accused witches themselves. Their witches were the common people's witches, those unpleasant and unpopular individuals held responsible for damaging crops, souring milk and causing illness out of petty malice. Institoris and Sprenger were predisposed to accept almost any consistent body of testimony at face value. Their notion of witchcraft retained congruence with traditional beliefs lacking in the constructions of authors with different experience or epistemological orientations.Less
In a universe where God and the devil had, to such an extent, abandoned their traditional roles, learned theologians had plenty of space in which to carve out the new category of witchcraft. Although the broad contours of late-medieval learned conceptions of witchcraft were determined by basic metaphysical assumptions, the specific form these conceptions took was primarily the result of the evidence and experience available to various authors. This chapter discusses the epistemological problems posed by belief in witchcraft. It examines how motifs drawn from traditional beliefs about spectral night-traveling women informed the construction of learned witch categories in the late middle Ages. In the case of Institoris and Sprenger, their category ‘witch’ responded to their experience as inquisitors, which included extensive familiarity with the oral testimony of victims of witchcraft and of accused witches themselves. Their witches were the common people's witches, those unpleasant and unpopular individuals held responsible for damaging crops, souring milk and causing illness out of petty malice. Institoris and Sprenger were predisposed to accept almost any consistent body of testimony at face value. Their notion of witchcraft retained congruence with traditional beliefs lacking in the constructions of authors with different experience or epistemological orientations.
David Stone
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199247769
- eISBN:
- 9780191714818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247769.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book uses manorial account rolls innovatively to reconstruct the economic mentalities of medieval farmers and, by so doing, argues that they have been unfairly stereotyped. It overturns the ...
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This book uses manorial account rolls innovatively to reconstruct the economic mentalities of medieval farmers and, by so doing, argues that they have been unfairly stereotyped. It overturns the traditional view of medieval countrymen as economically backward and instead reveals that agricultural decision-making was as rational in the 14th and 15th centuries as in modern times. It investigates agricultural mentalities first in a detailed case study of the exceptionally well-documented demesne farm of Wisbech Barton, analysing the sale and consumption of produce, cereal-cropping strategies, crop rotations, the use of agrarian techniques, and livestock husbandry in four periods between 1313 and 1429. The last third of the book then tests the findings of this case study across medieval England as a whole. The book argues that human action shaped the course of the rural economy to a much greater extent than has hitherto been appreciated, and challenges the commonly held view that the medieval period was dominated by ecological and economic crises. In particular, it argues that rational decision-making rather than soil exhaustion or climatic change lay behind declining arable and pastoral yields at this time, and that the change in demesne management from direct cultivation to leasing during the later Middle Ages was partly the result of a managerial crisis. Although focused chiefly on well-documented farms of great landlords, the book also has crucial implications for our understanding of medieval peasant farming, not least the yield of their land, which may well have been significantly higher than is generally assumed.Less
This book uses manorial account rolls innovatively to reconstruct the economic mentalities of medieval farmers and, by so doing, argues that they have been unfairly stereotyped. It overturns the traditional view of medieval countrymen as economically backward and instead reveals that agricultural decision-making was as rational in the 14th and 15th centuries as in modern times. It investigates agricultural mentalities first in a detailed case study of the exceptionally well-documented demesne farm of Wisbech Barton, analysing the sale and consumption of produce, cereal-cropping strategies, crop rotations, the use of agrarian techniques, and livestock husbandry in four periods between 1313 and 1429. The last third of the book then tests the findings of this case study across medieval England as a whole. The book argues that human action shaped the course of the rural economy to a much greater extent than has hitherto been appreciated, and challenges the commonly held view that the medieval period was dominated by ecological and economic crises. In particular, it argues that rational decision-making rather than soil exhaustion or climatic change lay behind declining arable and pastoral yields at this time, and that the change in demesne management from direct cultivation to leasing during the later Middle Ages was partly the result of a managerial crisis. Although focused chiefly on well-documented farms of great landlords, the book also has crucial implications for our understanding of medieval peasant farming, not least the yield of their land, which may well have been significantly higher than is generally assumed.
Bernhard Maier
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748616053
- eISBN:
- 9780748672219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748616053.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter focuses on the close political, social and literary relations that bound the Celtic-speaking regions of Ireland and Scotland in the late Middle Ages and early modern age. It discusses ...
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This chapter focuses on the close political, social and literary relations that bound the Celtic-speaking regions of Ireland and Scotland in the late Middle Ages and early modern age. It discusses the political history of Scots and Picts, early Christianity in Scotland and the languages of Scotland in the Middle Ages.Less
This chapter focuses on the close political, social and literary relations that bound the Celtic-speaking regions of Ireland and Scotland in the late Middle Ages and early modern age. It discusses the political history of Scots and Picts, early Christianity in Scotland and the languages of Scotland in the Middle Ages.
J. I. Catto and T. A. R. Evans (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510122
- eISBN:
- 9780191700941
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510122.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The History of the University of Oxford will be an authoritative and comprehensive history of one of Britain's most important and influential institutions. This book, Volume II, examines ...
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The History of the University of Oxford will be an authoritative and comprehensive history of one of Britain's most important and influential institutions. This book, Volume II, examines the University during the late Middle Ages, when scholasticism was at its height. The expert contributors explore the academic pursuits of the scholars of Oxford: theology, pre-eminently, but also philosophy, mathematics, law and medicine. They examine the nature of everyday life during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — the finances and administration of the colleges, their architecture, and the individuals who lived and worked in them. This is the definitive study of the medieval University of Oxford and a major contribution to scholarship.Less
The History of the University of Oxford will be an authoritative and comprehensive history of one of Britain's most important and influential institutions. This book, Volume II, examines the University during the late Middle Ages, when scholasticism was at its height. The expert contributors explore the academic pursuits of the scholars of Oxford: theology, pre-eminently, but also philosophy, mathematics, law and medicine. They examine the nature of everyday life during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries — the finances and administration of the colleges, their architecture, and the individuals who lived and worked in them. This is the definitive study of the medieval University of Oxford and a major contribution to scholarship.
Thomas N. Bisson
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202363
- eISBN:
- 9780191675294
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202363.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This book surveys this history of a great Mediterranean federation whose homelands were Catalonia and Aragon. Based on recent research, it seeks to convey a sense of the energy, drama, and colour of ...
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This book surveys this history of a great Mediterranean federation whose homelands were Catalonia and Aragon. Based on recent research, it seeks to convey a sense of the energy, drama, and colour of a creative and expansionist people between the 12th and the 15th centuries. This book lays due stress on individual achievement and personality, while at the same time providing a balanced survey of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural matters, and the socio-economic weaknesses which led eventually to a crisis in the federated realms of the late Middle Ages.Less
This book surveys this history of a great Mediterranean federation whose homelands were Catalonia and Aragon. Based on recent research, it seeks to convey a sense of the energy, drama, and colour of a creative and expansionist people between the 12th and the 15th centuries. This book lays due stress on individual achievement and personality, while at the same time providing a balanced survey of political and dynastic evolution, institutional foundations, economic and cultural matters, and the socio-economic weaknesses which led eventually to a crisis in the federated realms of the late Middle Ages.
Frances Courtney Kneupper
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190279363
- eISBN:
- 9780190279387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190279363.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
In the conclusion, the author considers the relationship of late medieval German prophecies to sixteenth-century events. In particular, she considers the relationship of the prophecies to the ...
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In the conclusion, the author considers the relationship of late medieval German prophecies to sixteenth-century events. In particular, she considers the relationship of the prophecies to the Reformation and the German Peasant’s War. She asserts that, while a relationship exists between prophecies and these later events, the creators and consumers of the prophecies were envisioning a quite different kind of reform from what actually occurred. At the same time, she concludes that the sense that the world was ending was in some ways accurate: in the Late Middle Ages old institutions and systems of thought were transforming, as was the media in which ideas were conveyed.Less
In the conclusion, the author considers the relationship of late medieval German prophecies to sixteenth-century events. In particular, she considers the relationship of the prophecies to the Reformation and the German Peasant’s War. She asserts that, while a relationship exists between prophecies and these later events, the creators and consumers of the prophecies were envisioning a quite different kind of reform from what actually occurred. At the same time, she concludes that the sense that the world was ending was in some ways accurate: in the Late Middle Ages old institutions and systems of thought were transforming, as was the media in which ideas were conveyed.
Bernhard Maier
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748616053
- eISBN:
- 9780748672219
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748616053.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This history of the Celts from origins to the present draws on archaeological, historical, literary and linguistic evidence. It is divided into three parts. Part One covers the continental Celts in ...
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This history of the Celts from origins to the present draws on archaeological, historical, literary and linguistic evidence. It is divided into three parts. Part One covers the continental Celts in prehistory and antiquity, complete with accounts of the Celts in Germany, Italy, Iberia, and Asia Minor. The second part follows the Celts from the departure of the Romans to the late Middle Ages, including the migrations to and settlements in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Discussions of the Celtic kingdoms and the rise and fall of Celtic Christianity are also given. The final part brings the history of the Celts up to the present, covering the assimilation of the Celts within the national cultures of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. Included in this consideration are the suppression of Gaelic; the declines, revivals and survivals of languages and literatures; and the histories of Celtic culture. The book concludes with a discussion on the recent history of the meaning of Celtic in contrast to, for example, Germanic, and the effect this has had on modern perceptions of the Celtic past and attempts at Celtic cultural renewal.Less
This history of the Celts from origins to the present draws on archaeological, historical, literary and linguistic evidence. It is divided into three parts. Part One covers the continental Celts in prehistory and antiquity, complete with accounts of the Celts in Germany, Italy, Iberia, and Asia Minor. The second part follows the Celts from the departure of the Romans to the late Middle Ages, including the migrations to and settlements in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Discussions of the Celtic kingdoms and the rise and fall of Celtic Christianity are also given. The final part brings the history of the Celts up to the present, covering the assimilation of the Celts within the national cultures of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. Included in this consideration are the suppression of Gaelic; the declines, revivals and survivals of languages and literatures; and the histories of Celtic culture. The book concludes with a discussion on the recent history of the meaning of Celtic in contrast to, for example, Germanic, and the effect this has had on modern perceptions of the Celtic past and attempts at Celtic cultural renewal.
Francis Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300194432
- eISBN:
- 9780300213799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300194432.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter concludes that the most fundamental among all interrelated themes of this research is the desacralization of “the political.” One of the great themes running through the political ...
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This chapter concludes that the most fundamental among all interrelated themes of this research is the desacralization of “the political.” One of the great themes running through the political thinking of the high and later Middle Ages is the gathering force of the desacralizing process confining the supernatural within narrower boundaries and enlarging the arena within which natural reason and the operation of natural causes were reputed to hold sway. Without the separation of the Church and the State, the lineaments of the social world would be teased out from the natural. Moreover, if the state had not been extruded in the later medieval centuries from the order of redemption, then political theorizing in the modern West would have been inconceivable.Less
This chapter concludes that the most fundamental among all interrelated themes of this research is the desacralization of “the political.” One of the great themes running through the political thinking of the high and later Middle Ages is the gathering force of the desacralizing process confining the supernatural within narrower boundaries and enlarging the arena within which natural reason and the operation of natural causes were reputed to hold sway. Without the separation of the Church and the State, the lineaments of the social world would be teased out from the natural. Moreover, if the state had not been extruded in the later medieval centuries from the order of redemption, then political theorizing in the modern West would have been inconceivable.
Francis Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300194432
- eISBN:
- 9780300213799
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300194432.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This is the third volume in a trilogy which engages in the political thinkers of the later Middle Ages, Renaissance, Age of Reformation, and religious wars, and the era that produced the Divine Right ...
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This is the third volume in a trilogy which engages in the political thinkers of the later Middle Ages, Renaissance, Age of Reformation, and religious wars, and the era that produced the Divine Right Theory of Kingship. This study probes the continuities and discontinuities between medieval and early modern modes of political thinking and dwells at length on the roots and nature of those contract theories that sought to legitimate political authority by grounding it in the consent of the governed.Less
This is the third volume in a trilogy which engages in the political thinkers of the later Middle Ages, Renaissance, Age of Reformation, and religious wars, and the era that produced the Divine Right Theory of Kingship. This study probes the continuities and discontinuities between medieval and early modern modes of political thinking and dwells at length on the roots and nature of those contract theories that sought to legitimate political authority by grounding it in the consent of the governed.
José Rabasa, Masayuki Sato, Edoardo Tortarolo, and Daniel Woolf (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199219179
- eISBN:
- 9780191804267
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199219179.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the development of historical writing from 1400 to 1800, the four hundred years from Europe's late Middle Ages/early Renaissance to the end of its ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the development of historical writing from 1400 to 1800, the four hundred years from Europe's late Middle Ages/early Renaissance to the end of its Enlightenment, from pre-Columbian America to the early post-Revolutionary era (in the United States) and the eve of independence for many Latin American nations, from the early decades of the Ming regime in China to the middle part of the successive — and final imperial — Qing dynasty.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the development of historical writing from 1400 to 1800, the four hundred years from Europe's late Middle Ages/early Renaissance to the end of its Enlightenment, from pre-Columbian America to the early post-Revolutionary era (in the United States) and the eve of independence for many Latin American nations, from the early decades of the Ming regime in China to the middle part of the successive — and final imperial — Qing dynasty.
