Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199230204
- eISBN:
- 9780191710681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230204.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the ...
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The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.Less
The works of Ambrosiaster, a Christian writing in Rome in the late 4th century, were influential on at the time and throughout the Middle Ages. This book starts by addressing the problem of the author's mysterious identity (which scholars have puzzled over for centuries) and places him in a broad historical and intellectual context. Later, it addresses Ambrosiaster's political theology, an idea which has been explored in other late Roman Christian writers but which has never been addressed in his works. The book also looks at how Ambrosiaster's attitudes to social and political order were formed on the basis of theological concepts and the interpretation of scripture, and shows that he espoused a rigid hierarchical and monarchical organization in the church, society, and the Roman empire. He also traced close connections between the Devil, characterized as a rebel against God, and the earthly tyrants and usurpers who followed his example.
Bas van Bavel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199278664
- eISBN:
- 9780191707032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278664.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Each region received its specific social organization during the process of occupation in the early and high Middle Ages. This chapter discusses the social distribution of power and property, and ...
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Each region received its specific social organization during the process of occupation in the early and high Middle Ages. This chapter discusses the social distribution of power and property, and shows the long‐term effects of these regional structures. In the infertile regions, small‐scale landowners remained well‐entrenched, but the fertile regions occupied in the Frankish period saw the build‐up of large‐scale properties of the king and religious institutions. These large properties were often organized by way of manors. The chapter analyses the causes of the rise of manorial organization and its decline in the 12th to 14th centuries. The coastal regions only opened up in the high Middle Ages, like coastal Flanders and Holland, did not see the spread of manorialism at all; they were characterized by the freedom of the population and the ample scope for self‐determination. Ordinary peasants and townsmen organized themselves in villages, towns, guilds, commons, and other associations. Their rise was probably helped by the dissolution of central power, and the rise of competing authorities like princes and banal lords.Less
Each region received its specific social organization during the process of occupation in the early and high Middle Ages. This chapter discusses the social distribution of power and property, and shows the long‐term effects of these regional structures. In the infertile regions, small‐scale landowners remained well‐entrenched, but the fertile regions occupied in the Frankish period saw the build‐up of large‐scale properties of the king and religious institutions. These large properties were often organized by way of manors. The chapter analyses the causes of the rise of manorial organization and its decline in the 12th to 14th centuries. The coastal regions only opened up in the high Middle Ages, like coastal Flanders and Holland, did not see the spread of manorialism at all; they were characterized by the freedom of the population and the ample scope for self‐determination. Ordinary peasants and townsmen organized themselves in villages, towns, guilds, commons, and other associations. Their rise was probably helped by the dissolution of central power, and the rise of competing authorities like princes and banal lords.
Stuart Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199290451
- eISBN:
- 9780191710490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199290451.003.0016
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, ...
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The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.Less
The French nobility was acculturated to violence that coexisted with courtliness. Feuding is indelibly associated with the Middle Ages, with a culture that is opposed to modernity. But, in fact, evidence for feuding in France before 1559 is fragmentary. Among the aristocracy at least private violence was increasingly under control during the late Middle Ages: revenge killing as a feature of high politics had been eradicated by the beginning of the 16th century. Factors often identified with modernity did much to create the conditions for a recrudescence of vindicatory violence: social mobility, Protestantism, and duelling. Vindicatory violence increased in France because of, not in spite of, the social and economic dynamism associated with the Renaissance, as the traditional elite was challenged by the enterprising and socially mobile.
Bas van Bavel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199278664
- eISBN:
- 9780191707032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278664.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The chapter shows how increasing population numbers and manorial organization in the early Middle Ages formed the main motors behind the growing importance of grain growing. The variety of food, ...
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The chapter shows how increasing population numbers and manorial organization in the early Middle Ages formed the main motors behind the growing importance of grain growing. The variety of food, including meat, dairy, game, fruits, and nuts gathered in the wild, increasingly gave way to the dominance of grain, except for some coastal regions, like Frisia and Flanders, where livestock farming remained important longer. Population pressure, and the rise of lordships and villages, also stimulated the communal organization of farming. These developments pushed up physical output, but mostly had a negative effect on living standards. Production became also more specialized in industries, as these slowly shifted from the individual households to manors and castles, where centralized production developed, linked to the power of lords and religious institutions. From the 12th century, industries shifted to the towns, as in Flanders, connected to further specialization and scale‐enlargement, and promoted by the rise of markets.Less
The chapter shows how increasing population numbers and manorial organization in the early Middle Ages formed the main motors behind the growing importance of grain growing. The variety of food, including meat, dairy, game, fruits, and nuts gathered in the wild, increasingly gave way to the dominance of grain, except for some coastal regions, like Frisia and Flanders, where livestock farming remained important longer. Population pressure, and the rise of lordships and villages, also stimulated the communal organization of farming. These developments pushed up physical output, but mostly had a negative effect on living standards. Production became also more specialized in industries, as these slowly shifted from the individual households to manors and castles, where centralized production developed, linked to the power of lords and religious institutions. From the 12th century, industries shifted to the towns, as in Flanders, connected to further specialization and scale‐enlargement, and promoted by the rise of markets.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0013
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European ...
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This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European provinces practicing Roman culture—in particular, Roman ways of seeing—needs considerable revision. Much evidence suggests that Middle Iron Age modes of visual perception and ways of crafting objects continued throughout the period of Roman political domination to reemerge in the so-called “early Germanic” style of the early Middle Ages, as well as in “Celtic” objects such as the Book of Kells and the traditions known as “Anglo-Saxon” and “Viking” art.Less
This chapter argues that the “Roman conquest” of parts of temperate Europe was not as all-changing as most history books would suggest. The idea of a “Roman Europe,” in the sense of European provinces practicing Roman culture—in particular, Roman ways of seeing—needs considerable revision. Much evidence suggests that Middle Iron Age modes of visual perception and ways of crafting objects continued throughout the period of Roman political domination to reemerge in the so-called “early Germanic” style of the early Middle Ages, as well as in “Celtic” objects such as the Book of Kells and the traditions known as “Anglo-Saxon” and “Viking” art.
John Hatcher and Mark Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199244119
- eISBN:
- 9780191697333
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244119.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Economic History
Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from ...
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Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from intellectual foundations laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Adam Smith, Johan von Thünen, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx. In the hands of twentieth-century historians and social scientists these venerable ideas have been moulded into three grand explanatory ideas that continue to dominate interpretations of economic development. These trumpet in turn the claims of ‘commercialisation’, ‘population and resources’, or ‘class power and property relations’ as the prime movers of historical change. This book examines the structure and tests the validity of these conflicting models from a variety of perspectives. In the course of their investigations the authors provide not only detailed reconstructions of the economic history of England in the Middle Ages and sustained critical commentaries on the work of leading historians, but also discussions of the philosophy and methods of history and the social sciences. The result is an introduction to medieval economic history, a critique of established models, and a treatise on historiographical method.Less
Most of what has been written on the economy of the Middle Ages is deeply influenced by abstract concepts and theories. The most powerful and popular of these guiding beliefs are derived from intellectual foundations laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Adam Smith, Johan von Thünen, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx. In the hands of twentieth-century historians and social scientists these venerable ideas have been moulded into three grand explanatory ideas that continue to dominate interpretations of economic development. These trumpet in turn the claims of ‘commercialisation’, ‘population and resources’, or ‘class power and property relations’ as the prime movers of historical change. This book examines the structure and tests the validity of these conflicting models from a variety of perspectives. In the course of their investigations the authors provide not only detailed reconstructions of the economic history of England in the Middle Ages and sustained critical commentaries on the work of leading historians, but also discussions of the philosophy and methods of history and the social sciences. The result is an introduction to medieval economic history, a critique of established models, and a treatise on historiographical method.
Adam T. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163239
- eISBN:
- 9781400866502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163239.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The ...
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This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The operation of the war machine entailed not only the reproduction of political violence but also the dissection of social orders, severing a sovereign body from the bodies of subjects—those who command from those who obey. Through the conspicuous consumption of Middle Bonze Age mortuary ritual, the war machine reproduced the terms on which social order was predicated—charisma, violence, and distinction. However, built into the conjoined operations of the civilization and war machines was a contradiction. As the one (the erstwhile sovereign) pulled away from the many (the constituted public), demands upon material resources exceeded capacities. Territorial fragmentation and military stalemate—consequences of the war machine's proliferation—threatened to undermine the workings of the civilization machine, dissecting a previously expansive public into smaller and smaller segments. As a result, the central principle of charismatic authority was put at risk insofar as political power flowed from the provision of needs through conflicts successfully waged.Less
This chapter examines the breakdown and redevelopment of the civilization machine during the Middle Bronze Age alongside a fearsome new assemblage that is best described as a “war machine.” The operation of the war machine entailed not only the reproduction of political violence but also the dissection of social orders, severing a sovereign body from the bodies of subjects—those who command from those who obey. Through the conspicuous consumption of Middle Bonze Age mortuary ritual, the war machine reproduced the terms on which social order was predicated—charisma, violence, and distinction. However, built into the conjoined operations of the civilization and war machines was a contradiction. As the one (the erstwhile sovereign) pulled away from the many (the constituted public), demands upon material resources exceeded capacities. Territorial fragmentation and military stalemate—consequences of the war machine's proliferation—threatened to undermine the workings of the civilization machine, dissecting a previously expansive public into smaller and smaller segments. As a result, the central principle of charismatic authority was put at risk insofar as political power flowed from the provision of needs through conflicts successfully waged.
Frederick Quinn
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195325638
- eISBN:
- 9780199869336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325638.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam ...
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This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam that emerged, later Catholic views of Islam, the Protestant view, positive strains of interpretation of Islam, and depictions of Islam in Western literary works of the Middle Ages.Less
This chapter discusses the changing Western perceptions of Islam from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics covered include images of Islam, Christian-Islamic contact in history, accounts of Islam that emerged, later Catholic views of Islam, the Protestant view, positive strains of interpretation of Islam, and depictions of Islam in Western literary works of the Middle Ages.
Bas van Bavel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199278664
- eISBN:
- 9780191707032
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278664.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The Low Countries—an area roughly embracing the present‐day Netherlands and Belgium—formed a patchwork of varied economic and social development in the Middle Ages, with some regions displaying a ...
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The Low Countries—an area roughly embracing the present‐day Netherlands and Belgium—formed a patchwork of varied economic and social development in the Middle Ages, with some regions displaying a remarkable dynamism. Manors and Market charts the history of these vibrant economies and societies, and contrasts them with alternative paths of development, from the early medieval period to the beginning of the seventeenth century. Providing a concise overview of social and economic changes over more than a thousand years, Bas van Bavel assesses the impact of the social and institutional organization that saw the Low Countries become the most urbanized and densely populated part of Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. By delving into the early and high medieval history of society, van Bavel uncovers the foundations of the flourishing of the medieval Flemish towns and the forces that propelled Holland towards its Golden Age. Exploring the Low Countries at a regional level, van Bavel highlights the importance of localized structures for determining the nature of social transitions and economic growth. He assesses the role of manorial organization, the emergence of markets, the rise of towns, the quest for self‐determination by ordinary people, and the sharp regional differences in development that can be observed in the very long run. In doing so, the book offers a significant contribution to the debate about the causes of economic and social change, both past and present.Less
The Low Countries—an area roughly embracing the present‐day Netherlands and Belgium—formed a patchwork of varied economic and social development in the Middle Ages, with some regions displaying a remarkable dynamism. Manors and Market charts the history of these vibrant economies and societies, and contrasts them with alternative paths of development, from the early medieval period to the beginning of the seventeenth century. Providing a concise overview of social and economic changes over more than a thousand years, Bas van Bavel assesses the impact of the social and institutional organization that saw the Low Countries become the most urbanized and densely populated part of Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. By delving into the early and high medieval history of society, van Bavel uncovers the foundations of the flourishing of the medieval Flemish towns and the forces that propelled Holland towards its Golden Age. Exploring the Low Countries at a regional level, van Bavel highlights the importance of localized structures for determining the nature of social transitions and economic growth. He assesses the role of manorial organization, the emergence of markets, the rise of towns, the quest for self‐determination by ordinary people, and the sharp regional differences in development that can be observed in the very long run. In doing so, the book offers a significant contribution to the debate about the causes of economic and social change, both past and present.
Axel Hadenius
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246663
- eISBN:
- 9780191599392
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246661.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was ...
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Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was a state built on pluralism, power sharing and constitutionalism. Certain institutional and societal conditions contributed to this development, which laid the ground for the so‐called ‘European miracle’.Less
Analyses the development of a new mode of state in the Middle Ages in Europe. This was the emergence of an interactive state, signified by a regulated intercourse between state and society. This was a state built on pluralism, power sharing and constitutionalism. Certain institutional and societal conditions contributed to this development, which laid the ground for the so‐called ‘European miracle’.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings ...
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‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.Less
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.
Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186304
- eISBN:
- 9780191674501
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186304.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have ...
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Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.Less
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.
Robert H. F. Carver
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199217861
- eISBN:
- 9780191712357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199217861.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that ...
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This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that the most educated minds of the period could (re-)create Apuleian effects through their imitation of narrative and descriptive sources (such as the De nuptiis), which were themselves suffused with Apuleian themes and diction.Less
This chapter explores Apuleian influence in the Middle Ages. The importance of Monte Cassino in preserving (and providing early responses to) Apuleius' works is discussed. Evidence is presented that the most educated minds of the period could (re-)create Apuleian effects through their imitation of narrative and descriptive sources (such as the De nuptiis), which were themselves suffused with Apuleian themes and diction.
DAVID GARY SHAW
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204015
- eISBN:
- 9780191676086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204015.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions ...
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Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.Less
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.
T. N. Bisson
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202363
- eISBN:
- 9780191675294
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202363.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. History played her customary tricks on the Crown of Aragon. It kept alive the memory of a golden age while allowing people to forget ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. History played her customary tricks on the Crown of Aragon. It kept alive the memory of a golden age while allowing people to forget who enjoyed it and when. The Aragonese took early refuge in the myth of an ancient constitution, placing its genesis just before the beginnings of recorded (medieval) time. The Catalans likewise gloried in their privileges, which they associated with their Corts, the Generalitat, and resistance to Castile. Few anywhere remembered the grim realities of the later Middle Ages, which were succeeded by recoveries, crises, and disasters of equally momentous impact; few entirely forgot that an age of independence had preceded their own.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. History played her customary tricks on the Crown of Aragon. It kept alive the memory of a golden age while allowing people to forget who enjoyed it and when. The Aragonese took early refuge in the myth of an ancient constitution, placing its genesis just before the beginnings of recorded (medieval) time. The Catalans likewise gloried in their privileges, which they associated with their Corts, the Generalitat, and resistance to Castile. Few anywhere remembered the grim realities of the later Middle Ages, which were succeeded by recoveries, crises, and disasters of equally momentous impact; few entirely forgot that an age of independence had preceded their own.
Richard H. Steckel
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199280681
- eISBN:
- 9780191602467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280681.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred ...
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Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred from skeletal remains. From an average of 173.4 cm in the early Middle Ages, the heights of men fell approximately 6.4 cm, reaching a minimum sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, and recovery to levels of a millennium earlier was not attained until the 1920s. The decline that began in the late Middle Ages may be linked with a cooler and more variable climate; growing inequality; urbanization; fluctuations in population size that impinged on nutritional status; the global spread of diseases associated with European expansion and colonization; and wars over state building or religion. The upturn well underway by the nineteenth century was associated initially with dietary improvements and later with reduced exposure to disease related to public health measures and better housing.Less
Gives perspective to the debate over living standards during industrialization by examining health and nutrition over the past 1200 years using stature either recorded on military records or inferred from skeletal remains. From an average of 173.4 cm in the early Middle Ages, the heights of men fell approximately 6.4 cm, reaching a minimum sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, and recovery to levels of a millennium earlier was not attained until the 1920s. The decline that began in the late Middle Ages may be linked with a cooler and more variable climate; growing inequality; urbanization; fluctuations in population size that impinged on nutritional status; the global spread of diseases associated with European expansion and colonization; and wars over state building or religion. The upturn well underway by the nineteenth century was associated initially with dietary improvements and later with reduced exposure to disease related to public health measures and better housing.
W. David Myers
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195178067
- eISBN:
- 9780199784905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195178068.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. ...
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This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. Modern devotion to the sacrament signaled by frequent reception is a relatively recent phenomenon that has varied greatly since the Council of Trent.Less
This chapter explores changes in sacramental penance. It is shown that the form of confession prevalent today is a product of the High Middle Ages and the religious reforms of the Council of Trent. Modern devotion to the sacrament signaled by frequent reception is a relatively recent phenomenon that has varied greatly since the Council of Trent.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in ...
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This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe would likewise lead to a natural progression of attitudes from medieval severity to Early Modern toleration. The reality, as the chapter shows, defies such expectations, and this unchangingness is remarkable, because according to almost every historical account, the three centuries involved were a time of epochal change, of the transition to what is called ‘modernity’, and the most emblematic event of the new era, Columbus's voyages, had a direct bearing on the Problem of Paganism. After expounding on this point, the chapter suggests a new way of approaching philosophy from the Long Middle Ages — ‘Historical Synthesis’.Less
This concluding chapter provides some final insights into the history surrounding the Problem of Paganism. First, the chapter considers how the progress of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe would likewise lead to a natural progression of attitudes from medieval severity to Early Modern toleration. The reality, as the chapter shows, defies such expectations, and this unchangingness is remarkable, because according to almost every historical account, the three centuries involved were a time of epochal change, of the transition to what is called ‘modernity’, and the most emblematic event of the new era, Columbus's voyages, had a direct bearing on the Problem of Paganism. After expounding on this point, the chapter suggests a new way of approaching philosophy from the Long Middle Ages — ‘Historical Synthesis’.
G. Geltner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639458
- eISBN:
- 9780191741098
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639458.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
The mendicant orders—Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and several other groups—spread across Europe apace from the early thirteenth century, profoundly influencing numerous aspects ...
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The mendicant orders—Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and several other groups—spread across Europe apace from the early thirteenth century, profoundly influencing numerous aspects of medieval life. But, alongside their tremendous success, their members (or friars) also encountered derision, scorn, and even violence. Such opposition, generally known as antifraternalism, is often seen as an ecclesiastical inhouse affair or an ideological response to the brethren’s laxity: both cases registering a moral decline symptomatic of a decadent church. Challenging the accuracy of these views, The Making of Medieval Antifraternalism contends that the phenomenon exhibits a breadth of scope that, on the one hand, pushes it far beyond its accustomed boundaries and, on the other, supports only tenuous links with Reformation or modern forms of anticlericalism. Based on numerous sources, from theological treatises, to poetry, to criminal court records, this study shows that people from all walks of life lambasted and occasionally assaulted the brethren, orchestrating in the process detailed scenes of urban violence. Their myriad motivations and diverse goals preclude us from associating antifraternalism with any one ideology or agenda, let alone allow us to brand many of its proponents as religious reformers. At the same time, it demonstrates the friars’ active role in forging a medieval antifraternal tradition, not only by deviating from their founders’ paths to varying degrees, but also by chronicling their suffering inter fideles and thus incorporating it into the orders’ identity as the vanguard of Christianity. In doing so, The Making of Medieval Antifraternalism illuminates a major chapter in Europe’s social, urban, and religious history.Less
The mendicant orders—Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and several other groups—spread across Europe apace from the early thirteenth century, profoundly influencing numerous aspects of medieval life. But, alongside their tremendous success, their members (or friars) also encountered derision, scorn, and even violence. Such opposition, generally known as antifraternalism, is often seen as an ecclesiastical inhouse affair or an ideological response to the brethren’s laxity: both cases registering a moral decline symptomatic of a decadent church. Challenging the accuracy of these views, The Making of Medieval Antifraternalism contends that the phenomenon exhibits a breadth of scope that, on the one hand, pushes it far beyond its accustomed boundaries and, on the other, supports only tenuous links with Reformation or modern forms of anticlericalism. Based on numerous sources, from theological treatises, to poetry, to criminal court records, this study shows that people from all walks of life lambasted and occasionally assaulted the brethren, orchestrating in the process detailed scenes of urban violence. Their myriad motivations and diverse goals preclude us from associating antifraternalism with any one ideology or agenda, let alone allow us to brand many of its proponents as religious reformers. At the same time, it demonstrates the friars’ active role in forging a medieval antifraternal tradition, not only by deviating from their founders’ paths to varying degrees, but also by chronicling their suffering inter fideles and thus incorporating it into the orders’ identity as the vanguard of Christianity. In doing so, The Making of Medieval Antifraternalism illuminates a major chapter in Europe’s social, urban, and religious history.
Diana Kuh and Rebecca Hardy (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780192632890
- eISBN:
- 9780191723629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192632890.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
How far is the health of middle-aged and older women shaped by biological, social, and psychological processes that begin in pre-natal development, childhood, adolescence, or early adult life? Do ...
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How far is the health of middle-aged and older women shaped by biological, social, and psychological processes that begin in pre-natal development, childhood, adolescence, or early adult life? Do health risks gradually accumulate over the life course or do experiences as a child and young adult have interactive effects on health in midlife and beyond? Are women now reaching middle age in better health than those from previous generations? This book reviews the latest scientific evidence on biological and social factors at each stage of life that have long-term effects on reproductive outcomes, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal ageing, depression, body weight, and body dissatisfaction. There is growing evidence that the sources of risk to physical and mental health occur across the course of life, not just in adult life, and in some instances reach right back to pre-natal development, or the previous generation. Contributors in this book draw on their varied expertise in epidemiology, endocrinology, physiology, developmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology to identify the pathways that link early life experiences, reproductive events, adult lifestyle and lifetime socio-economic circumstances to later health. This book looks for connections between development and ageing, and between the childhood and adult social environment.Less
How far is the health of middle-aged and older women shaped by biological, social, and psychological processes that begin in pre-natal development, childhood, adolescence, or early adult life? Do health risks gradually accumulate over the life course or do experiences as a child and young adult have interactive effects on health in midlife and beyond? Are women now reaching middle age in better health than those from previous generations? This book reviews the latest scientific evidence on biological and social factors at each stage of life that have long-term effects on reproductive outcomes, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal ageing, depression, body weight, and body dissatisfaction. There is growing evidence that the sources of risk to physical and mental health occur across the course of life, not just in adult life, and in some instances reach right back to pre-natal development, or the previous generation. Contributors in this book draw on their varied expertise in epidemiology, endocrinology, physiology, developmental psychology, sociology, and anthropology to identify the pathways that link early life experiences, reproductive events, adult lifestyle and lifetime socio-economic circumstances to later health. This book looks for connections between development and ageing, and between the childhood and adult social environment.
