Jeffrey T. Kenney
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195131697
- eISBN:
- 9780199785001
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019513169X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their ...
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The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.Less
The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This book has focused on the human and social aspects of castle-building in England, France, and Ireland during the medieval period, to reconcile the civilized with the violent aspects of medieval ...
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This book has focused on the human and social aspects of castle-building in England, France, and Ireland during the medieval period, to reconcile the civilized with the violent aspects of medieval society, as they are perceived today. Writing about the glories of late-medieval architecture, Wim Swaan saw the problem as summed up by Johan Huizinga's remark that medieval life ‘bore the mixed smell of blood and roses’. Perhaps the main contribution to knowledge to be made by studying castles and fortresses in proper breadth is to shed some light on the aspirations and adversities of noblemen and ladies, ecclesiastics, townspeople, and of the great rural majority, and on their civilized achievements, institutional as well as architectural, in the western European middle ages.Less
This book has focused on the human and social aspects of castle-building in England, France, and Ireland during the medieval period, to reconcile the civilized with the violent aspects of medieval society, as they are perceived today. Writing about the glories of late-medieval architecture, Wim Swaan saw the problem as summed up by Johan Huizinga's remark that medieval life ‘bore the mixed smell of blood and roses’. Perhaps the main contribution to knowledge to be made by studying castles and fortresses in proper breadth is to shed some light on the aspirations and adversities of noblemen and ladies, ecclesiastics, townspeople, and of the great rural majority, and on their civilized achievements, institutional as well as architectural, in the western European middle ages.
David N. Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264782
- eISBN:
- 9780191754012
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264782.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History
While it is commonly assumed that slavery, and especially an external slave trade, were significant features of the history of the earlier kingdoms in the Middle Nile, the evidence for this is less ...
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While it is commonly assumed that slavery, and especially an external slave trade, were significant features of the history of the earlier kingdoms in the Middle Nile, the evidence for this is less certain than the confident assertions of earlier scholars might suggest. Drawing on a range of archaeological and historical evidence, this chapter reassesses our current understanding of the development of slavery in this region in the medieval and post-medieval periods. Forms of slavery were clearly ever-present within the Middle Nile region during both periods, with slave taking likely a common practice on the margins of its early kingdoms. A significant external trade in slaves, however, is hard to demonstrate before the sixteenth century. Our perceptions of such a trade as a timeless and eternal feature of the history of the Nile Valley deserve closer scrutiny.Less
While it is commonly assumed that slavery, and especially an external slave trade, were significant features of the history of the earlier kingdoms in the Middle Nile, the evidence for this is less certain than the confident assertions of earlier scholars might suggest. Drawing on a range of archaeological and historical evidence, this chapter reassesses our current understanding of the development of slavery in this region in the medieval and post-medieval periods. Forms of slavery were clearly ever-present within the Middle Nile region during both periods, with slave taking likely a common practice on the margins of its early kingdoms. A significant external trade in slaves, however, is hard to demonstrate before the sixteenth century. Our perceptions of such a trade as a timeless and eternal feature of the history of the Nile Valley deserve closer scrutiny.
David D'Avray (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208143
- eISBN:
- 9780191716522
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208143.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Before the advent of printing, the preaching of the friars was the mass medium of the middle ages. This edition of marriage sermons reveals what a number of famous preachers actually taught about ...
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Before the advent of printing, the preaching of the friars was the mass medium of the middle ages. This edition of marriage sermons reveals what a number of famous preachers actually taught about marriage, teasing out the close connection between marriage symbolism and social, cultural, and legal realities in the 13th century. The relation between genre, content, and gender is analysed, with particular attention to the likely impact of preaching, viewed as a means of intellectual power in competition with vernacular genres and other social forces. Its mass diffusion anticipated printing, but the means of production were those of the monastic scriptorium. The textual criticism and palaeographical analysis of these sermons undermine central assumptions of both medieval and early modern historians of the book, establishing a technique of textual criticism appropriate for texts of this kind. A pragmatic compromise between simple transcriptions which ignore stemmatic relation and full-scale editions attempting to fit all manuscripts into a genealogical table, this book addresses both the sermon literature of the period and the understanding of marriage and its religious and cultural significance in the middle ages.Less
Before the advent of printing, the preaching of the friars was the mass medium of the middle ages. This edition of marriage sermons reveals what a number of famous preachers actually taught about marriage, teasing out the close connection between marriage symbolism and social, cultural, and legal realities in the 13th century. The relation between genre, content, and gender is analysed, with particular attention to the likely impact of preaching, viewed as a means of intellectual power in competition with vernacular genres and other social forces. Its mass diffusion anticipated printing, but the means of production were those of the monastic scriptorium. The textual criticism and palaeographical analysis of these sermons undermine central assumptions of both medieval and early modern historians of the book, establishing a technique of textual criticism appropriate for texts of this kind. A pragmatic compromise between simple transcriptions which ignore stemmatic relation and full-scale editions attempting to fit all manuscripts into a genealogical table, this book addresses both the sermon literature of the period and the understanding of marriage and its religious and cultural significance in the middle ages.
Wilson McLeod
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199247226
- eISBN:
- 9780191714610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247226.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter discusses the changing political and cultural context within Ireland and within Scotland. Although Ireland underwent dramatic change during the classical period, it was the fundamental ...
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This chapter discusses the changing political and cultural context within Ireland and within Scotland. Although Ireland underwent dramatic change during the classical period, it was the fundamental restructuring of Scottish Gaeldom and Scottish Gaelic identity that brought about a reworking of the cultural relationship between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland during this era. Scottish Gaeldom came to reorient itself towards Ireland and away from the south and east — areas that were being transformed into the Galldachd or ‘Lowlands’. At the same time, the Norse presence in the Hebrides and adjoining western littoral, established from the 9th century onwards, faded steadily during this era, working a process of re-Gaelicization in what was becoming the Gàidhealtachd or ‘Highlands’. These developments meant that ‘Gaelic’ Scotland in the late medieval period was very different from what it had been at the start of the millennium, and that the connection to Ireland was reshaped accordingly.Less
This chapter discusses the changing political and cultural context within Ireland and within Scotland. Although Ireland underwent dramatic change during the classical period, it was the fundamental restructuring of Scottish Gaeldom and Scottish Gaelic identity that brought about a reworking of the cultural relationship between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland during this era. Scottish Gaeldom came to reorient itself towards Ireland and away from the south and east — areas that were being transformed into the Galldachd or ‘Lowlands’. At the same time, the Norse presence in the Hebrides and adjoining western littoral, established from the 9th century onwards, faded steadily during this era, working a process of re-Gaelicization in what was becoming the Gàidhealtachd or ‘Highlands’. These developments meant that ‘Gaelic’ Scotland in the late medieval period was very different from what it had been at the start of the millennium, and that the connection to Ireland was reshaped accordingly.
PIERRE LERICHE and SHAKIR PIDAEV
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263846
- eISBN:
- 9780191734113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263846.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter discusses the latest developments in the work concerning the first periods of the existence of the ancient city of Termez. It explains the history of Temez in antiquity and during the ...
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This chapter discusses the latest developments in the work concerning the first periods of the existence of the ancient city of Termez. It explains the history of Temez in antiquity and during the medieval period, based on written sources. The chapter describes the site of ancient Termez as consisting of four distinct elements: the citadel or kokendoz, the medieval lower town or shahristan, the fortified suburbs or rabats, and an area covered by archaeological remains.Less
This chapter discusses the latest developments in the work concerning the first periods of the existence of the ancient city of Termez. It explains the history of Temez in antiquity and during the medieval period, based on written sources. The chapter describes the site of ancient Termez as consisting of four distinct elements: the citadel or kokendoz, the medieval lower town or shahristan, the fortified suburbs or rabats, and an area covered by archaeological remains.
Suzanne F. Cawsey
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199251858
- eISBN:
- 9780191719073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199251858.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this ...
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In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this period, a series of energetic and talented rulers sought to maintain royal authority and govern their realms effectively. Their persuasive rhetoric, and that of their advisers, is preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which provide a rich and under-exploited vein of source material for historians. There are long letters to their subjects, historical works, and the proceedings of the courts, where the kings and queens persuaded their reluctant subjects to grant taxes and to support their decisions. This book examines the tradition of royal eloquence, thereby illuminating the nature of political discourse and persuasion in Aragon during the medieval period and exploring the key ideas shared by the king and the political classes of the kingdom.Less
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Crown of Aragon in Spain was a rapidly expanding and powerful political unit with an original form of representative government. Throughout this period, a series of energetic and talented rulers sought to maintain royal authority and govern their realms effectively. Their persuasive rhetoric, and that of their advisers, is preserved in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Barcelona, which provide a rich and under-exploited vein of source material for historians. There are long letters to their subjects, historical works, and the proceedings of the courts, where the kings and queens persuaded their reluctant subjects to grant taxes and to support their decisions. This book examines the tradition of royal eloquence, thereby illuminating the nature of political discourse and persuasion in Aragon during the medieval period and exploring the key ideas shared by the king and the political classes of the kingdom.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Women and children should not be regarded so much as an underclass in a male-dominated society during the medieval period, but rather, as a legally protected majority, as fully vested with property ...
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Women and children should not be regarded so much as an underclass in a male-dominated society during the medieval period, but rather, as a legally protected majority, as fully vested with property and fortresses alike as was possible in their condition. Castles in medieval England, Ireland, Scotland, and France were the women's home territory. Minors, who assumed administrative duties mainly through inheritance, also deserve attention in this regard. Boys and elderly women valiantly upheld their positions and defended their fortresses. They fitted entirely naturally into a system not at all confined to the vigorous adult man. The involvement of women, widows, and children with that peculiar kind of residential property constituted by fortresses was no less conspicuous in regions and episodes of danger than it habitually was at other times and in other places.Less
Women and children should not be regarded so much as an underclass in a male-dominated society during the medieval period, but rather, as a legally protected majority, as fully vested with property and fortresses alike as was possible in their condition. Castles in medieval England, Ireland, Scotland, and France were the women's home territory. Minors, who assumed administrative duties mainly through inheritance, also deserve attention in this regard. Boys and elderly women valiantly upheld their positions and defended their fortresses. They fitted entirely naturally into a system not at all confined to the vigorous adult man. The involvement of women, widows, and children with that peculiar kind of residential property constituted by fortresses was no less conspicuous in regions and episodes of danger than it habitually was at other times and in other places.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Until the conflict between the diffuse reality and the narrow perception is resolved, the centrality of castles (in all their manifestations) to society as a whole will remain obscured. The ...
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Until the conflict between the diffuse reality and the narrow perception is resolved, the centrality of castles (in all their manifestations) to society as a whole will remain obscured. The ‘military’ straitjacket falsifies them. Viewing them as adjuncts to the chivalric lifestyle is better, but still insufficient. Without question, the castellated and fortified style of building was aristocratic, and undoubtedly it spread early and fully as widely as the noble ethos itself. Nearly all the forms, from the Gallo-Roman cathedral city of the 5th century to the gun-forts, built to the order of Henry VIII at the end of his reign (1538-1547) along the south and south-east coast of England, were known to contemporaries as castra or castella. This chapter addresses the problems of nomenclature related to castles and fortresses in England and France during the medieval period.Less
Until the conflict between the diffuse reality and the narrow perception is resolved, the centrality of castles (in all their manifestations) to society as a whole will remain obscured. The ‘military’ straitjacket falsifies them. Viewing them as adjuncts to the chivalric lifestyle is better, but still insufficient. Without question, the castellated and fortified style of building was aristocratic, and undoubtedly it spread early and fully as widely as the noble ethos itself. Nearly all the forms, from the Gallo-Roman cathedral city of the 5th century to the gun-forts, built to the order of Henry VIII at the end of his reign (1538-1547) along the south and south-east coast of England, were known to contemporaries as castra or castella. This chapter addresses the problems of nomenclature related to castles and fortresses in England and France during the medieval period.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
It is because a far broader and looser sense of the castle operated in the medieval sphere, whether the period be early, middle, or late, that the social interactions of fortresses were so diffuse ...
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It is because a far broader and looser sense of the castle operated in the medieval sphere, whether the period be early, middle, or late, that the social interactions of fortresses were so diffuse and pervasive. These elusive connotations, corrections, and resonances are explored in the present chapter. Although as a tool of analysis, even as a hypothesis, the modern construct of the castle carries with it too many false associations to continue to be useful, its dominance of the modern popular mind is not likely to change. Taking their tone from ecclesiastical denunciations of castles used against the Church, historians have supposed that the dukes of Normandy, and the kings of England, restrictively licensed castle-building on a systematic basis. The sometimes obsessive preoccupation of England and north-west France with earthworks as castles par excellence is not due to a different original ‘military’ culture, but to historical accident.Less
It is because a far broader and looser sense of the castle operated in the medieval sphere, whether the period be early, middle, or late, that the social interactions of fortresses were so diffuse and pervasive. These elusive connotations, corrections, and resonances are explored in the present chapter. Although as a tool of analysis, even as a hypothesis, the modern construct of the castle carries with it too many false associations to continue to be useful, its dominance of the modern popular mind is not likely to change. Taking their tone from ecclesiastical denunciations of castles used against the Church, historians have supposed that the dukes of Normandy, and the kings of England, restrictively licensed castle-building on a systematic basis. The sometimes obsessive preoccupation of England and north-west France with earthworks as castles par excellence is not due to a different original ‘military’ culture, but to historical accident.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
That fortresses were a basic ingredient of the medieval period, rather than an instrument of civil war waged by an anti-social minority, appears more fully by considering the medieval ‘arms ban’. ...
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That fortresses were a basic ingredient of the medieval period, rather than an instrument of civil war waged by an anti-social minority, appears more fully by considering the medieval ‘arms ban’. Militant architecture and weaponry of all kinds have much in common as icons of rank and power. But whereas fortifying itself was rarely an act of force and did not ordinarily endanger the peace or jeopardize the public interest, the unrestrained use of weapons might well do both. New castles were peacefully sanctioned by local seignorial authority, with or without royal involvement in France, most often with it in England but preventing the associated noble liberty of arms-bearing from wreaking the havoc occasionally caused by large-scale state-sponsored violence called for constant vigilance. For good and for ill, castles were an integral feature of the noble and larger society which produced them, participating as much in its economic and cultural life as, albeit marginally overall, in its military activities.Less
That fortresses were a basic ingredient of the medieval period, rather than an instrument of civil war waged by an anti-social minority, appears more fully by considering the medieval ‘arms ban’. Militant architecture and weaponry of all kinds have much in common as icons of rank and power. But whereas fortifying itself was rarely an act of force and did not ordinarily endanger the peace or jeopardize the public interest, the unrestrained use of weapons might well do both. New castles were peacefully sanctioned by local seignorial authority, with or without royal involvement in France, most often with it in England but preventing the associated noble liberty of arms-bearing from wreaking the havoc occasionally caused by large-scale state-sponsored violence called for constant vigilance. For good and for ill, castles were an integral feature of the noble and larger society which produced them, participating as much in its economic and cultural life as, albeit marginally overall, in its military activities.
ANDREA HOPKINS
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117629
- eISBN:
- 9780191671029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117629.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter provides a summary of the information, analysis, and comparisons made of the four romantic poems in this book. The discussions focus mostly on penitence and its role in the romantic ...
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This chapter provides a summary of the information, analysis, and comparisons made of the four romantic poems in this book. The discussions focus mostly on penitence and its role in the romantic poems during the medieval period.Less
This chapter provides a summary of the information, analysis, and comparisons made of the four romantic poems in this book. The discussions focus mostly on penitence and its role in the romantic poems during the medieval period.
Wilson McLeod
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199247226
- eISBN:
- 9780191714610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247226.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
One of the most basic problems complicating the study of relations between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the late medieval period is the dearth of surviving Gaelic writings from Scotland, ...
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One of the most basic problems complicating the study of relations between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the late medieval period is the dearth of surviving Gaelic writings from Scotland, especially writings of a literary nature. This scarcity of source material is a major obstacle to the study and interpretation of cultural outlooks; but at the same time the very fact of this lack is an important issue in itself, demanding explanation. This chapter examines the dynamics of literary and intellectual culture in Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland, and marks out the nature of their interaction.Less
One of the most basic problems complicating the study of relations between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the late medieval period is the dearth of surviving Gaelic writings from Scotland, especially writings of a literary nature. This scarcity of source material is a major obstacle to the study and interpretation of cultural outlooks; but at the same time the very fact of this lack is an important issue in itself, demanding explanation. This chapter examines the dynamics of literary and intellectual culture in Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland, and marks out the nature of their interaction.
R. B. Dobson
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510122
- eISBN:
- 9780191700941
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510122.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more ...
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This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more profoundly formed by its religious houses than by any other institutional buildings. It also describes Oxford's ten religious communities. It discusses the influence of Oxford's educated university theologians during the late medieval England.Less
This chapter evaluates the contribution of the religious orders to the life of Oxford University in the years from 1370 to 1530. It discusses that the university's physical appearance had been more profoundly formed by its religious houses than by any other institutional buildings. It also describes Oxford's ten religious communities. It discusses the influence of Oxford's educated university theologians during the late medieval England.
Christina Harrington
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208235
- eISBN:
- 9780191716683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208235.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had ...
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Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had Christian evangelism been. A handful were women's monasteries, and one at least was a double house. Though the sources on large female monasteries are patchy, a good deal can be gleaned: the rules, daily activities, ministry to the laity, as well as attitudes on nuns' chastity. This chapter looks at nuns in large women's monasteries in Kildare, Killeedy, Killevy, and Clonbroney. Ceremonials in large Irish nunneries are also discussed, along with claustration, and the openness of nunneries in the 7th to 9th centuries.Less
Monasteries in early medieval Ireland resembled nothing so much as slightly miniaturised villages. By the 7th century, there were many places resembling this general description, so successful had Christian evangelism been. A handful were women's monasteries, and one at least was a double house. Though the sources on large female monasteries are patchy, a good deal can be gleaned: the rules, daily activities, ministry to the laity, as well as attitudes on nuns' chastity. This chapter looks at nuns in large women's monasteries in Kildare, Killeedy, Killevy, and Clonbroney. Ceremonials in large Irish nunneries are also discussed, along with claustration, and the openness of nunneries in the 7th to 9th centuries.
E.J. Ashworth and P. V. Spade
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199510122
- eISBN:
- 9780191700941
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199510122.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter discusses three main periods in the history of Oxford logic that occurred approximately between 1330 and 1500. It talks about three Merton authors who were accountable for the course of ...
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This chapter discusses three main periods in the history of Oxford logic that occurred approximately between 1330 and 1500. It talks about three Merton authors who were accountable for the course of much subsequent medieval logical theory — Thomas Bradwardine (1295–1349), William Heytesbury (1313–1372 or 1373), and Richard Billingham. This chapter also evaluates the logical activities that occurred during the late medieval period in Oxford by looking at the collections of texts that circulated in manuscript and were eventually printed as the two libelli sophistarum. It argues that the libelli sophistarum shows a disappointing picture of English logic in the fifteenth century. However, Oxford logic was excellent for it reached a level of sophistication and insight that was not gained anywhere else until the end of the seventeenth century with Leibniz, and not surpassed until the middle of the nineteenth century.Less
This chapter discusses three main periods in the history of Oxford logic that occurred approximately between 1330 and 1500. It talks about three Merton authors who were accountable for the course of much subsequent medieval logical theory — Thomas Bradwardine (1295–1349), William Heytesbury (1313–1372 or 1373), and Richard Billingham. This chapter also evaluates the logical activities that occurred during the late medieval period in Oxford by looking at the collections of texts that circulated in manuscript and were eventually printed as the two libelli sophistarum. It argues that the libelli sophistarum shows a disappointing picture of English logic in the fifteenth century. However, Oxford logic was excellent for it reached a level of sophistication and insight that was not gained anywhere else until the end of the seventeenth century with Leibniz, and not surpassed until the middle of the nineteenth century.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
The difficulties inherent in the female tenure of a fortress in England and France during the medieval period might appear greater than with an ordinary fief. Castles were female preserves as ...
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The difficulties inherent in the female tenure of a fortress in England and France during the medieval period might appear greater than with an ordinary fief. Castles were female preserves as long-stay residences and as administrative commitments. In nearly all respects, and in all but exceptional circumstances, they were indistinguishable from manor-houses not dignified with ostentatious fortification nor styled castle. Given their interests, great women undoubtedly influenced, where they did not determine and commission, all types of building in fortresses. More central to present concerns are the elements introduced into castle relations by female castellans — who assumed their position as heiresses or dowagers. The ability of the female castellan to efficiently supervise the keeping of a castle in her lord's interest depended on her own activity, personality, age, residence, and experience — qualities all required for the normal running of the estate, rarely on the condition of the peace in the locality.Less
The difficulties inherent in the female tenure of a fortress in England and France during the medieval period might appear greater than with an ordinary fief. Castles were female preserves as long-stay residences and as administrative commitments. In nearly all respects, and in all but exceptional circumstances, they were indistinguishable from manor-houses not dignified with ostentatious fortification nor styled castle. Given their interests, great women undoubtedly influenced, where they did not determine and commission, all types of building in fortresses. More central to present concerns are the elements introduced into castle relations by female castellans — who assumed their position as heiresses or dowagers. The ability of the female castellan to efficiently supervise the keeping of a castle in her lord's interest depended on her own activity, personality, age, residence, and experience — qualities all required for the normal running of the estate, rarely on the condition of the peace in the locality.
CHARLES L. H. COULSON
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208242
- eISBN:
- 9780191716676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208242.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Because the lords of castles were public figures involved in local and even ‘national’ government during the medieval period, none of them can be regarded as what today would be a ‘private citizen’. ...
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Because the lords of castles were public figures involved in local and even ‘national’ government during the medieval period, none of them can be regarded as what today would be a ‘private citizen’. This chapter discusses the more personal aspects of noble architectural ambition in medieval England and France so as to show more of the practical implications and individual vicissitudes, and examines how closely jurisdictional powers were associated with castle-status. It also presents a range of case-studies involving relationships between greater lords in which fortresses were crucial. Some 13th- and 14th-century examples are presented showing that in England, the social, tenurial, and economic eminence of the castle conferred power, but also imposed responsibilities. The chapter also explores castellation and jurisdiction as insignia of nobility.Less
Because the lords of castles were public figures involved in local and even ‘national’ government during the medieval period, none of them can be regarded as what today would be a ‘private citizen’. This chapter discusses the more personal aspects of noble architectural ambition in medieval England and France so as to show more of the practical implications and individual vicissitudes, and examines how closely jurisdictional powers were associated with castle-status. It also presents a range of case-studies involving relationships between greater lords in which fortresses were crucial. Some 13th- and 14th-century examples are presented showing that in England, the social, tenurial, and economic eminence of the castle conferred power, but also imposed responsibilities. The chapter also explores castellation and jurisdiction as insignia of nobility.
Brian Vickers
- Published in print:
- 1989
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117919
- eISBN:
- 9780191671128
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117919.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter discusses the ‘fragmentation’ of medieval rhetoric. Medieval rhetoric is fragmented, first, in the obvious sense that many of the major rhetorical texts either disappeared or survived ...
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This chapter discusses the ‘fragmentation’ of medieval rhetoric. Medieval rhetoric is fragmented, first, in the obvious sense that many of the major rhetorical texts either disappeared or survived only in damaged form. Even more damaging was the fragmentation of their contexts.Less
This chapter discusses the ‘fragmentation’ of medieval rhetoric. Medieval rhetoric is fragmented, first, in the obvious sense that many of the major rhetorical texts either disappeared or survived only in damaged form. Even more damaging was the fragmentation of their contexts.
Rosalind Brown-Grant
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199554140
- eISBN:
- 9780191721069
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554140.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Whilst French romances of the 12th and 13th centuries enjoy a privileged place in the literary history of France, romances from the later middle ages have been neglected by modern scholars. In ...
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Whilst French romances of the 12th and 13th centuries enjoy a privileged place in the literary history of France, romances from the later middle ages have been neglected by modern scholars. In particular, although this genre has been seen as providing a forum within which contemporary ideas about masculine and feminine roles were debated, little work has been done on the gender ideology of 14th- and 15th-century texts. This book's aims is to fill this gap in the scholarship by analysing how the views of gender found in earlier romances were reshaped in the texts produced in the moralising intellectual environment of the later medieval period. In order to explore these topics, the book discusses sixteen historico-realist prose romances written between 1390 and 1480, many of which were commissioned at the court of Burgundy. It addresses key issues in recent studies of gender in medieval culture including the construction of chivalric masculinity, the representation of adolescent desire, and the social and sexual roles of husbands and wives. In addition to offering close readings of these texts, it shows how the romances of the period were informed by ideas about gender which circulated in contemporary works such as manuals of chivalry, moral treatises, and marriage sermons. It aims to question the critical consensus on the role of gender in medieval romance that has arisen from an exclusive focus on earlier works in the genre.Less
Whilst French romances of the 12th and 13th centuries enjoy a privileged place in the literary history of France, romances from the later middle ages have been neglected by modern scholars. In particular, although this genre has been seen as providing a forum within which contemporary ideas about masculine and feminine roles were debated, little work has been done on the gender ideology of 14th- and 15th-century texts. This book's aims is to fill this gap in the scholarship by analysing how the views of gender found in earlier romances were reshaped in the texts produced in the moralising intellectual environment of the later medieval period. In order to explore these topics, the book discusses sixteen historico-realist prose romances written between 1390 and 1480, many of which were commissioned at the court of Burgundy. It addresses key issues in recent studies of gender in medieval culture including the construction of chivalric masculinity, the representation of adolescent desire, and the social and sexual roles of husbands and wives. In addition to offering close readings of these texts, it shows how the romances of the period were informed by ideas about gender which circulated in contemporary works such as manuals of chivalry, moral treatises, and marriage sermons. It aims to question the critical consensus on the role of gender in medieval romance that has arisen from an exclusive focus on earlier works in the genre.
