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/9780691143385.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter focuses on sword and scabbards. Swords were important visual objects, larger than most other objects in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, and their shape made them visually striking. Two parts ...
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This chapter focuses on sword and scabbards. Swords were important visual objects, larger than most other objects in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, and their shape made them visually striking. Two parts of the sword were especially important in this regard. In the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the hilt and pommel were often the vehicles for elaborate eye-catching ornament. When a sword was in its scabbard, whether worn at the side of the bearer, hanging on a wall, or placed in the burial chamber, the only parts of the weapon that were visible were the handle and its end. During the Middle and Late Iron Age, the scabbard became especially important as a vehicle for decorative elaboration. Bronze and Early Iron Age scabbards were mostly made of wood, and we do not, therefore have much information about how they were decorated. From the end of the Early La Tène period on, however, swords were long, and scabbards of bronze and iron offered extensive rectangular surfaces for decoration.Less
This chapter focuses on sword and scabbards. Swords were important visual objects, larger than most other objects in Bronze and Iron Age Europe, and their shape made them visually striking. Two parts of the sword were especially important in this regard. In the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, the hilt and pommel were often the vehicles for elaborate eye-catching ornament. When a sword was in its scabbard, whether worn at the side of the bearer, hanging on a wall, or placed in the burial chamber, the only parts of the weapon that were visible were the handle and its end. During the Middle and Late Iron Age, the scabbard became especially important as a vehicle for decorative elaboration. Bronze and Early Iron Age scabbards were mostly made of wood, and we do not, therefore have much information about how they were decorated. From the end of the Early La Tène period on, however, swords were long, and scabbards of bronze and iron offered extensive rectangular surfaces for decoration.
Paul Borgman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331608
- eISBN:
- 9780199868001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331608.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Immediately following the slaying of Goliath and Saul's mystifying query about who that young slayer was, David becomes the object of Saul's fear and murderous jealousy, a mini‐drama of cat‐and‐mouse ...
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Immediately following the slaying of Goliath and Saul's mystifying query about who that young slayer was, David becomes the object of Saul's fear and murderous jealousy, a mini‐drama of cat‐and‐mouse that takes up the last half of I Samuel and Saul's suicide. The contrast between David and Saul continues to be spelled out, implicitly but surely, through various repetitions of narrative detail, most conspicuously the motifs of fear and of sword‐and‐spear use. Still another and striking pattern, to be taken up in the following chapter, occurs in the middle of David's fleeing from Saul, when twice David spares the king's life—and spares, as well, the life of a common fool. The two motifs of this chapter plus the triadic pattern of the next serve to further illustrate just what distinguishes David from Saul. Such advancing clarity, of course, functions also to explain better the mind of God in fastening on David rather than Saul.Less
Immediately following the slaying of Goliath and Saul's mystifying query about who that young slayer was, David becomes the object of Saul's fear and murderous jealousy, a mini‐drama of cat‐and‐mouse that takes up the last half of I Samuel and Saul's suicide. The contrast between David and Saul continues to be spelled out, implicitly but surely, through various repetitions of narrative detail, most conspicuously the motifs of fear and of sword‐and‐spear use. Still another and striking pattern, to be taken up in the following chapter, occurs in the middle of David's fleeing from Saul, when twice David spares the king's life—and spares, as well, the life of a common fool. The two motifs of this chapter plus the triadic pattern of the next serve to further illustrate just what distinguishes David from Saul. Such advancing clarity, of course, functions also to explain better the mind of God in fastening on David rather than Saul.
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/9780199290451.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter examines the realities of Renaissance combat in France. Sword fighting during the Renaissance was predominantly offensive — it taught how to kill as rapidly and as efficiently as ...
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This chapter examines the realities of Renaissance combat in France. Sword fighting during the Renaissance was predominantly offensive — it taught how to kill as rapidly and as efficiently as possible. The key to self-defence was to seize the initiative; relentless thrusting and cutting blows prevented the possibility of a counter-attack. The best form of defence is attack — strike first and ask questions later. Without armour combats were likely to be short, and speed and surprise were essential to survival. This is significant because accused under interrogation and supplicants for letters of pardon invariably painted killing as an involuntary act of self-defence. In order to understand the economy of violence, the terminology must be clear to distinguish between battles, encounters, and duels. Paying close attention to the terminology also permits us to study the pace of change in combat techniques and modes of killing.Less
This chapter examines the realities of Renaissance combat in France. Sword fighting during the Renaissance was predominantly offensive — it taught how to kill as rapidly and as efficiently as possible. The key to self-defence was to seize the initiative; relentless thrusting and cutting blows prevented the possibility of a counter-attack. The best form of defence is attack — strike first and ask questions later. Without armour combats were likely to be short, and speed and surprise were essential to survival. This is significant because accused under interrogation and supplicants for letters of pardon invariably painted killing as an involuntary act of self-defence. In order to understand the economy of violence, the terminology must be clear to distinguish between battles, encounters, and duels. Paying close attention to the terminology also permits us to study the pace of change in combat techniques and modes of killing.
Colin Morris
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269250
- eISBN:
- 9780191600708
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269250.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
An enriched vocabulary of papal power was becoming evident. The right of the curia to hear appeals from all church courts was extended. At the same time the effective control of the local churches ...
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An enriched vocabulary of papal power was becoming evident. The right of the curia to hear appeals from all church courts was extended. At the same time the effective control of the local churches was put increasingly into the hand of the bishops. The power of the bishops and the intervention of the popes led to conflicts over the crown's attempts to control the national churches, illustrated in an extreme form in the Becket affair.Less
An enriched vocabulary of papal power was becoming evident. The right of the curia to hear appeals from all church courts was extended. At the same time the effective control of the local churches was put increasingly into the hand of the bishops. The power of the bishops and the intervention of the popes led to conflicts over the crown's attempts to control the national churches, illustrated in an extreme form in the Becket affair.
Paul Younger
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195140446
- eISBN:
- 9780199834907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140443.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The festival of Kotunkalur, the ancient capital of Kerala, engages the worshipers with the Goddess of that region described in the Cilappatikaram epic as Kannaki. This Goddess is understood as ...
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The festival of Kotunkalur, the ancient capital of Kerala, engages the worshipers with the Goddess of that region described in the Cilappatikaram epic as Kannaki. This Goddess is understood as temperamental, and demands erotic pleasure and blood sacrifices from her devotees. The priests close the temple during the festival because the devotees’ insistence on physical contact with the deity violates the restrictions of the priestly system. The many velicapatu or sorcerers who come to the festival have the power of their ritual swords renewed by having them placed on a sacred spot in the home of the Nair family that manages the temple. On the final day, a member of the ancient kingly lineage arrives and negotiates with the priests and the Nairs on behalf of the worshipers, and it is agreed that the temple will be reopened.Less
The festival of Kotunkalur, the ancient capital of Kerala, engages the worshipers with the Goddess of that region described in the Cilappatikaram epic as Kannaki. This Goddess is understood as temperamental, and demands erotic pleasure and blood sacrifices from her devotees. The priests close the temple during the festival because the devotees’ insistence on physical contact with the deity violates the restrictions of the priestly system. The many velicapatu or sorcerers who come to the festival have the power of their ritual swords renewed by having them placed on a sacred spot in the home of the Nair family that manages the temple. On the final day, a member of the ancient kingly lineage arrives and negotiates with the priests and the Nairs on behalf of the worshipers, and it is agreed that the temple will be reopened.
Ronald Hutton
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205708
- eISBN:
- 9780191676758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205708.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Reginald Tiddy wrote the Mummers' Play, a ‘classic’ found all over southern England and the south Midlands, and performed in the Christmas season. Several elements of it were also present in plays ...
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Reginald Tiddy wrote the Mummers' Play, a ‘classic’ found all over southern England and the south Midlands, and performed in the Christmas season. Several elements of it were also present in plays presented in the east Midlands on Plough Monday, in Cheshire in November, and in the north-west at Eastertide, to be described later; and also in the north-eastern Christmastide Sword Dance. Over much of the West Country, Father Christmas made the introduction, while everywhere St George or King George was the most common champion, fighting either a Saracen knight or a swaggering soldier called, most frequently, Slasher. The doctor was ubiquitous, and often had an assistant, and the combats could be single or multiple. A renowned scholar of medieval and Elizabethan drama, Sir Edmund Chambers, published a more detailed appraisal of this play, and added a lengthy discussion of the northern Sword Dance, to which it had already been linked.Less
Reginald Tiddy wrote the Mummers' Play, a ‘classic’ found all over southern England and the south Midlands, and performed in the Christmas season. Several elements of it were also present in plays presented in the east Midlands on Plough Monday, in Cheshire in November, and in the north-west at Eastertide, to be described later; and also in the north-eastern Christmastide Sword Dance. Over much of the West Country, Father Christmas made the introduction, while everywhere St George or King George was the most common champion, fighting either a Saracen knight or a swaggering soldier called, most frequently, Slasher. The doctor was ubiquitous, and often had an assistant, and the combats could be single or multiple. A renowned scholar of medieval and Elizabethan drama, Sir Edmund Chambers, published a more detailed appraisal of this play, and added a lengthy discussion of the northern Sword Dance, to which it had already been linked.
Melissa Mueller
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226312958
- eISBN:
- 9780226313009
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226313009.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 1 considers the uncanny agency of weapons in Sophocles’ Ajax, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, and Euripides’ Heracles. On stage, the sword cues audience awareness of the intertextual factors ...
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Chapter 1 considers the uncanny agency of weapons in Sophocles’ Ajax, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, and Euripides’ Heracles. On stage, the sword cues audience awareness of the intertextual factors conditioning the hero’s decision-making, forcing a reassessment of the Ajax’s rejection of suicide. His expressed desire to be rid of this weapon, which has brought him only pain and misfortune since the day he received it, gains in poignancy when Ajax is seen holding the weapon itself. A gift to Ajax originally from his enemy Hector, the sword continues to channel the animus of the unresolved duel they fought on Homer’s Trojan battlefield in the seventh book of the Iliad. The bow of Heracles in Philoctetes and the weapons in Euripides’ Heraclesprovide valuable comparanda for the animacy and entanglements of tragic weaponry.Less
Chapter 1 considers the uncanny agency of weapons in Sophocles’ Ajax, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, and Euripides’ Heracles. On stage, the sword cues audience awareness of the intertextual factors conditioning the hero’s decision-making, forcing a reassessment of the Ajax’s rejection of suicide. His expressed desire to be rid of this weapon, which has brought him only pain and misfortune since the day he received it, gains in poignancy when Ajax is seen holding the weapon itself. A gift to Ajax originally from his enemy Hector, the sword continues to channel the animus of the unresolved duel they fought on Homer’s Trojan battlefield in the seventh book of the Iliad. The bow of Heracles in Philoctetes and the weapons in Euripides’ Heraclesprovide valuable comparanda for the animacy and entanglements of tragic weaponry.
Roger B. Manning
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199261499
- eISBN:
- 9780191718625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261499.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Professional officers who kept abreast of military innovations understood the need to discipline their soldiers and keep them focused on achieving military goals. Armies which foraged and plundered ...
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Professional officers who kept abreast of military innovations understood the need to discipline their soldiers and keep them focused on achieving military goals. Armies which foraged and plundered often became involved in secondary wars with local communities, and forfeited the goodwill of those who might offer intelligence and assistance. Regular payment of troops and developed systems of supply obviated the need for plunder, while improved discipline reduced the incidence of mutiny. The articles of war of various British and Irish armies — which were based upon mainland European models — attempted to regulate crimes and depredations by soldiers, generally secured the more humane treatment of prisoners of war, and restrained plundering and atrocities committed against civilian populations. Ireland was an exception to this trend to improve discipline and limit the destructiveness of war. Here, the parliamentary forces, which became captives of their own anti-Catholic propaganda and the determination of Cromwell to achieve total victory, pursued a policy of ‘fire and sword’ and committed atrocities which made the war in Ireland more bitter.Less
Professional officers who kept abreast of military innovations understood the need to discipline their soldiers and keep them focused on achieving military goals. Armies which foraged and plundered often became involved in secondary wars with local communities, and forfeited the goodwill of those who might offer intelligence and assistance. Regular payment of troops and developed systems of supply obviated the need for plunder, while improved discipline reduced the incidence of mutiny. The articles of war of various British and Irish armies — which were based upon mainland European models — attempted to regulate crimes and depredations by soldiers, generally secured the more humane treatment of prisoners of war, and restrained plundering and atrocities committed against civilian populations. Ireland was an exception to this trend to improve discipline and limit the destructiveness of war. Here, the parliamentary forces, which became captives of their own anti-Catholic propaganda and the determination of Cromwell to achieve total victory, pursued a policy of ‘fire and sword’ and committed atrocities which made the war in Ireland more bitter.
Grace E. Lavery
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691183626
- eISBN:
- 9780691189963
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691183626.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
From the opening of trade with Britain in the 1850s, Japan occupied a unique and contradictory place in the Victorian imagination, regarded as both a rival empire and a cradle of exquisite beauty. ...
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From the opening of trade with Britain in the 1850s, Japan occupied a unique and contradictory place in the Victorian imagination, regarded as both a rival empire and a cradle of exquisite beauty. This book explores the enduring impact of this dramatic encounter, showing how the rise of Japan led to a major transformation of Western aesthetics at the dawn of globalization. The book provides a radical new genealogy of aesthetic experience in modernity. It argues that the global popularity of Japanese art in the late nineteenth century reflected an imagined universal standard of taste that Kant described as the “subjective universal” condition of aesthetic judgment. It features illuminating cultural histories of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, English derivations of the haiku, and retellings of the Madame Butterfly story, and sheds critical light on lesser-known figures such as Winnifred Eaton, an Anglo-Chinese novelist who wrote under the Japanese pseudonym Onoto Watanna, and Mikimoto Ryuzo, a Japanese enthusiast of the Victorian art critic John Ruskin. It also explains the importance and symbolic power of such material objects as W. B. Yeats's prized katana sword and the “Japanese vellum” luxury editions of Oscar Wilde. The book provides essential insights into the modern understanding of beauty as a vehicle for both intimacy and violence, and the lasting influence of Japanese forms today on writers and artists such as Quentin Tarantino.Less
From the opening of trade with Britain in the 1850s, Japan occupied a unique and contradictory place in the Victorian imagination, regarded as both a rival empire and a cradle of exquisite beauty. This book explores the enduring impact of this dramatic encounter, showing how the rise of Japan led to a major transformation of Western aesthetics at the dawn of globalization. The book provides a radical new genealogy of aesthetic experience in modernity. It argues that the global popularity of Japanese art in the late nineteenth century reflected an imagined universal standard of taste that Kant described as the “subjective universal” condition of aesthetic judgment. It features illuminating cultural histories of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, English derivations of the haiku, and retellings of the Madame Butterfly story, and sheds critical light on lesser-known figures such as Winnifred Eaton, an Anglo-Chinese novelist who wrote under the Japanese pseudonym Onoto Watanna, and Mikimoto Ryuzo, a Japanese enthusiast of the Victorian art critic John Ruskin. It also explains the importance and symbolic power of such material objects as W. B. Yeats's prized katana sword and the “Japanese vellum” luxury editions of Oscar Wilde. The book provides essential insights into the modern understanding of beauty as a vehicle for both intimacy and violence, and the lasting influence of Japanese forms today on writers and artists such as Quentin Tarantino.
Kristen B. Neuschel
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501753336
- eISBN:
- 9781501752148
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501753336.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This book sharpens the readers' knowledge of swords as it traverses through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. The book reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ...
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This book sharpens the readers' knowledge of swords as it traverses through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. The book reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ultimate symbol, was deeply rooted in ritual long before the introduction of gunpowder weapons transformed the battlefield. The book argues that objects have agency and that decoding their meaning involves seeing them in motion: bought, sold, exchanged, refurbished, written about, displayed, and used in ceremony. Drawing on evidence about swords in the possession of nobles and royalty, the book explores the meanings people attached to them from the contexts in which they appeared. These environments included other prestige goods such as tapestries, jewels, and tableware — all used to construct and display status. The book draws on an exciting diversity of sources from archaeology, military and social history, literature, and material culture studies to inspire students and educated lay readers to stretch the boundaries of what they know as the “war and culture” genre.Less
This book sharpens the readers' knowledge of swords as it traverses through a captivating 1,000 years of French and English history. The book reveals that warrior culture, with the sword as its ultimate symbol, was deeply rooted in ritual long before the introduction of gunpowder weapons transformed the battlefield. The book argues that objects have agency and that decoding their meaning involves seeing them in motion: bought, sold, exchanged, refurbished, written about, displayed, and used in ceremony. Drawing on evidence about swords in the possession of nobles and royalty, the book explores the meanings people attached to them from the contexts in which they appeared. These environments included other prestige goods such as tapestries, jewels, and tableware — all used to construct and display status. The book draws on an exciting diversity of sources from archaeology, military and social history, literature, and material culture studies to inspire students and educated lay readers to stretch the boundaries of what they know as the “war and culture” genre.
Timothy Chesters
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199599806
- eISBN:
- 9780191723537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599806.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, European Literature
Could ghosts be touched and, if so, were they susceptible to violence? Theological discussion of ghosts usually found in the negative, especially after Trent. But the neoplatonic tradition had long ...
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Could ghosts be touched and, if so, were they susceptible to violence? Theological discussion of ghosts usually found in the negative, especially after Trent. But the neoplatonic tradition had long suggested otherwise, especially in the writing of the tenth-century Greek theologian, Michael Psellus. This chapter examines Psellus' reception in sixteenth-century France, and how his heterodox thesis of spiritual corporeality is gradually made subject to revision and reform. Against that background, the chapter then considers two literary instances of violence towards spirits. The first takes us to the battles with spirits imagined and theorised by Panurge in Rabelais's Tiers Livre. Then, in the light of Rabelais's story, and of the grander narrative of changing attitudes to the ghostly encounter charted in the opening section, the last section examines a constellation of similar moments in Ronsard, centred around the poet's celebrated verse translation of Psellus, the ‘Hymne des daimons’Less
Could ghosts be touched and, if so, were they susceptible to violence? Theological discussion of ghosts usually found in the negative, especially after Trent. But the neoplatonic tradition had long suggested otherwise, especially in the writing of the tenth-century Greek theologian, Michael Psellus. This chapter examines Psellus' reception in sixteenth-century France, and how his heterodox thesis of spiritual corporeality is gradually made subject to revision and reform. Against that background, the chapter then considers two literary instances of violence towards spirits. The first takes us to the battles with spirits imagined and theorised by Panurge in Rabelais's Tiers Livre. Then, in the light of Rabelais's story, and of the grander narrative of changing attitudes to the ghostly encounter charted in the opening section, the last section examines a constellation of similar moments in Ronsard, centred around the poet's celebrated verse translation of Psellus, the ‘Hymne des daimons’
Sylvie Magerstädt
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781784995324
- eISBN:
- 9781526144614
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784995324.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
TV antiquity explores representations of ancient Greece and Rome throughout television history. It is the first comprehensive overview of the genre in television. More specifically, the author argues ...
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TV antiquity explores representations of ancient Greece and Rome throughout television history. It is the first comprehensive overview of the genre in television. More specifically, the author argues that serial television set in antiquity offers a perspective on the ancient world quite distinct from their cinematic counterparts. The book traces the historic development of fictional representations of antiquity from the staged black-and-white shows of the 1950s and 60s to the most recent digital spectacles. A key argument explored throughout the book is that the structure of serial television (with its focus on intimacy and narrative complexity) is at times better suited to explore the complex mythic and historic plots of antiquity. Therefore, the book consciously focusses on multipart television dramas rather than made-for-TV feature films. This enables the author to explore the specific narrative and aesthetic possibilities of this format. The book features a range of insightful case studies, from the high-profile serials I, Claudius (1976) and Rome (2005-8) to lesser known works like The Caesars (1968) or The Eagle of the Ninth (1976) and popular entertainment shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-9) and STARZ Spartacus (2010-3). Each of the case studies also draws out broader issues in the specific decade under consideration. Consequently, the book highlights the creative interplay between television genres and production environments and illustrates how cultural and political events have influenced the representations of antiquity in television.Less
TV antiquity explores representations of ancient Greece and Rome throughout television history. It is the first comprehensive overview of the genre in television. More specifically, the author argues that serial television set in antiquity offers a perspective on the ancient world quite distinct from their cinematic counterparts. The book traces the historic development of fictional representations of antiquity from the staged black-and-white shows of the 1950s and 60s to the most recent digital spectacles. A key argument explored throughout the book is that the structure of serial television (with its focus on intimacy and narrative complexity) is at times better suited to explore the complex mythic and historic plots of antiquity. Therefore, the book consciously focusses on multipart television dramas rather than made-for-TV feature films. This enables the author to explore the specific narrative and aesthetic possibilities of this format. The book features a range of insightful case studies, from the high-profile serials I, Claudius (1976) and Rome (2005-8) to lesser known works like The Caesars (1968) or The Eagle of the Ninth (1976) and popular entertainment shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995-9) and STARZ Spartacus (2010-3). Each of the case studies also draws out broader issues in the specific decade under consideration. Consequently, the book highlights the creative interplay between television genres and production environments and illustrates how cultural and political events have influenced the representations of antiquity in television.
A. J. Minnis
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0019
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
At Luke 22:38, the disciples are presented as saying to Jesus, “Lord, behold, there are two swords”. The significance of the “two swords” (one drawn and the other undrawn) doctrine was debated from ...
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At Luke 22:38, the disciples are presented as saying to Jesus, “Lord, behold, there are two swords”. The significance of the “two swords” (one drawn and the other undrawn) doctrine was debated from time to time in the early Middle Ages. In patristic exegesis, the undrawn and drawn swords are often interpreted as signifying, respectively, spiritual and temporal, or ecclesiastical and lay, power. During the Middle Ages, Luke's remarks about them became a battleground on which many issues relating to regnum and sacerdotium were fought out. This chapter examines certain aspects of William of Ockham's contribution to the debate which raise general hermeneutic issues, centering on the extent to which sound doctrine can rest on spiritual interpretation as opposed to literal declaration. Here, exegesis and politics intersect crucially, with potentially very serious consequences. The focus is on the status of allegory in William of Ockham's Breviloquium on the power of the pope. The argument of the Breviloquium depends heavily on the Bible as a source of authority for what should be believed about the nature of papal power.Less
At Luke 22:38, the disciples are presented as saying to Jesus, “Lord, behold, there are two swords”. The significance of the “two swords” (one drawn and the other undrawn) doctrine was debated from time to time in the early Middle Ages. In patristic exegesis, the undrawn and drawn swords are often interpreted as signifying, respectively, spiritual and temporal, or ecclesiastical and lay, power. During the Middle Ages, Luke's remarks about them became a battleground on which many issues relating to regnum and sacerdotium were fought out. This chapter examines certain aspects of William of Ockham's contribution to the debate which raise general hermeneutic issues, centering on the extent to which sound doctrine can rest on spiritual interpretation as opposed to literal declaration. Here, exegesis and politics intersect crucially, with potentially very serious consequences. The focus is on the status of allegory in William of Ockham's Breviloquium on the power of the pope. The argument of the Breviloquium depends heavily on the Bible as a source of authority for what should be believed about the nature of papal power.
Kristen B. Neuschel
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501753336
- eISBN:
- 9781501752148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501753336.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter explores warrior families and their material surroundings in the late Middle Ages, the late thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries, set in the contexts of the politics and warfare of ...
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This chapter explores warrior families and their material surroundings in the late Middle Ages, the late thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries, set in the contexts of the politics and warfare of the age as well as in that of the changing conditions of material life and the documentation that recorded it. It first considers changes in clothing and its ripple effects in the creation and use of other belongings and then treats the changes in metallurgy that permitted new varieties of armor as well as the production of swords in much greater number. The significance of swords must be weighed against the importance of and attention to these other goods that warrior bodies also carried and displayed. Often overlooked is the importance of tournament life for the way warriors invested in, and how they valued, armor. Finally, the chapter argues that written records barely capture the continued importance of a warrior's signature swords. Amid more belongings, and more swords, elites demonstrated their capacity to make a commonplace accoutrement, as swords increasingly were, into a signature belonging emblematic of their special status, by means of special decoration, deliberate collecting, or calculated display.Less
This chapter explores warrior families and their material surroundings in the late Middle Ages, the late thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries, set in the contexts of the politics and warfare of the age as well as in that of the changing conditions of material life and the documentation that recorded it. It first considers changes in clothing and its ripple effects in the creation and use of other belongings and then treats the changes in metallurgy that permitted new varieties of armor as well as the production of swords in much greater number. The significance of swords must be weighed against the importance of and attention to these other goods that warrior bodies also carried and displayed. Often overlooked is the importance of tournament life for the way warriors invested in, and how they valued, armor. Finally, the chapter argues that written records barely capture the continued importance of a warrior's signature swords. Amid more belongings, and more swords, elites demonstrated their capacity to make a commonplace accoutrement, as swords increasingly were, into a signature belonging emblematic of their special status, by means of special decoration, deliberate collecting, or calculated display.
Joe Bray and Alison Gibbons (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719099335
- eISBN:
- 9781781708613
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099335.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This edited collection is the first book-length study of Mark Z. Danielewski, an American novelist who has established himself as a leading figure in the landscape of contemporary literature. It ...
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This edited collection is the first book-length study of Mark Z. Danielewski, an American novelist who has established himself as a leading figure in the landscape of contemporary literature. It places his firstthree major works, House of Leaves, The Fifty Year Sword and Only Revolutions, in their literary-historical context, and considers them alongside the media platforms which they have inspired, including internet forums and popular music. Leading critics examine Danielewski’s pioneering novels, generating new insights into their innovative interplay of word and image. A variety of critical perspectives are adopted, from the close analysis of the poetic form of Only Revolutions to the consideration of the effects of his work on the reader. Danielewski’s use of epic tropes is explored, as too is the relationship of his work to that of his most influential predecessors (including James Joyce) and his most relevant contemporaries (including David Foster Wallace). His radical reappraisal of the dynamic possibilities that the printed book has to offer in this digital age is a common theme. The book will be of significant interest to all scholars working on Danielewski, as well as to students of the American novel, contemporary literature, and twenty-first century media culture. It will also appeal to Danielewski’s many fans, and all those, who like the contributors to this volume, have been inspired by his work.Less
This edited collection is the first book-length study of Mark Z. Danielewski, an American novelist who has established himself as a leading figure in the landscape of contemporary literature. It places his firstthree major works, House of Leaves, The Fifty Year Sword and Only Revolutions, in their literary-historical context, and considers them alongside the media platforms which they have inspired, including internet forums and popular music. Leading critics examine Danielewski’s pioneering novels, generating new insights into their innovative interplay of word and image. A variety of critical perspectives are adopted, from the close analysis of the poetic form of Only Revolutions to the consideration of the effects of his work on the reader. Danielewski’s use of epic tropes is explored, as too is the relationship of his work to that of his most influential predecessors (including James Joyce) and his most relevant contemporaries (including David Foster Wallace). His radical reappraisal of the dynamic possibilities that the printed book has to offer in this digital age is a common theme. The book will be of significant interest to all scholars working on Danielewski, as well as to students of the American novel, contemporary literature, and twenty-first century media culture. It will also appeal to Danielewski’s many fans, and all those, who like the contributors to this volume, have been inspired by his work.
Morgan Pitelka
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824851576
- eISBN:
- 9780824868277
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824851576.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This book investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in Japan’s sixteenth century, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the ...
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This book investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in Japan’s sixteenth century, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Using letters, diaries, and historical chronicles, as well as a wide range of visual and material evidence, the book links the extreme violence of this age of civil and international war to the increasing significance of samurai social rituals and cultural practices. It argues that warlords accrued power and reinforced hierarchy both in tea houses and on the battlefield, and that the resulting logic of “spectacular accumulation” had a profound effect on the creation and character of Japan’s early modern polity. Moving from the Ashikaga palaces of Kyoto to warlord collections of tea utensils, to the hostage exchanges of internecine military conflicts, to the tea gatherings and gift rituals of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Spectacular Accumulation traces the growing power of Japan’s military rulers over famous artworks as well as objectified human bodies. This innovative and eloquent history of a transitional age in Japan’s premodern past reframes the relationship between art and politics, between culture and war, in a readable and thoroughly-researched narrative.Less
This book investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in Japan’s sixteenth century, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Using letters, diaries, and historical chronicles, as well as a wide range of visual and material evidence, the book links the extreme violence of this age of civil and international war to the increasing significance of samurai social rituals and cultural practices. It argues that warlords accrued power and reinforced hierarchy both in tea houses and on the battlefield, and that the resulting logic of “spectacular accumulation” had a profound effect on the creation and character of Japan’s early modern polity. Moving from the Ashikaga palaces of Kyoto to warlord collections of tea utensils, to the hostage exchanges of internecine military conflicts, to the tea gatherings and gift rituals of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Spectacular Accumulation traces the growing power of Japan’s military rulers over famous artworks as well as objectified human bodies. This innovative and eloquent history of a transitional age in Japan’s premodern past reframes the relationship between art and politics, between culture and war, in a readable and thoroughly-researched narrative.
F. Brett Cox
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780252043765
- eISBN:
- 9780252052668
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252043765.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The chapter discusses Zelazny’s career from 1969 to 1971, the period that marks his transition into full-time writing, primarily novels. The chapter concentrates on the novels Isle of the Dead, ...
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The chapter discusses Zelazny’s career from 1969 to 1971, the period that marks his transition into full-time writing, primarily novels. The chapter concentrates on the novels Isle of the Dead, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Nine Princes in Amber, and Jack of Shadows. It argues that Isle shows Zelazny’s increasing control over the craft of the novel while connecting strongly with issues of the author’s day, especially environmentalism; that Creatures marks an apotheosis of Zelazny’s fascination with mythology and experimental narrative techniques; that Princes, although his most traditional fantasy novel to date, still plays with genre expectations through its cynical, hardboiled narrator; and that the even more straightforward narrative of Jack of Shadows marks a transition to the more commercial novels of the 1970s.Less
The chapter discusses Zelazny’s career from 1969 to 1971, the period that marks his transition into full-time writing, primarily novels. The chapter concentrates on the novels Isle of the Dead, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Nine Princes in Amber, and Jack of Shadows. It argues that Isle shows Zelazny’s increasing control over the craft of the novel while connecting strongly with issues of the author’s day, especially environmentalism; that Creatures marks an apotheosis of Zelazny’s fascination with mythology and experimental narrative techniques; that Princes, although his most traditional fantasy novel to date, still plays with genre expectations through its cynical, hardboiled narrator; and that the even more straightforward narrative of Jack of Shadows marks a transition to the more commercial novels of the 1970s.
Kristen B. Neuschel
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501753336
- eISBN:
- 9781501752148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501753336.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter discusses the relationship between swords and oral culture in the early Middle Ages. It sketches the history of the manufacture of early medieval swords, then looks at evidence of those ...
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This chapter discusses the relationship between swords and oral culture in the early Middle Ages. It sketches the history of the manufacture of early medieval swords, then looks at evidence of those swords' symbolic lives revealed by archaeological finds, namely grave goods and the reconstruction of rituals that accompanied their deposit. The chapter then considers written evidence of swords, particularly in early wills that record both the bequeathing but also the prior circulation of a sword among allies and kin. Finally, it turns to literature, to Beowulf and its near-contemporary, The Battle of Maldon, to explore the roles those poems ascribe to warriors' (and monsters') swords. Early medieval literature is filled with references to the aesthetic qualities and the mysterious origin of swords and their constituent parts, as well as to their power to strike fear, to wound, and to kill.Less
This chapter discusses the relationship between swords and oral culture in the early Middle Ages. It sketches the history of the manufacture of early medieval swords, then looks at evidence of those swords' symbolic lives revealed by archaeological finds, namely grave goods and the reconstruction of rituals that accompanied their deposit. The chapter then considers written evidence of swords, particularly in early wills that record both the bequeathing but also the prior circulation of a sword among allies and kin. Finally, it turns to literature, to Beowulf and its near-contemporary, The Battle of Maldon, to explore the roles those poems ascribe to warriors' (and monsters') swords. Early medieval literature is filled with references to the aesthetic qualities and the mysterious origin of swords and their constituent parts, as well as to their power to strike fear, to wound, and to kill.
Kristen B. Neuschel
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781501753336
- eISBN:
- 9781501752148
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501753336.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This concluding chapter explains that if swords remained firmly and richly expressive of warrior identity, it was in part because they had already served as a vehicle for change and adaptation ...
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This concluding chapter explains that if swords remained firmly and richly expressive of warrior identity, it was in part because they had already served as a vehicle for change and adaptation through time. Throughout, the material characteristics of the sword were always central to its significance. Thus, the construction of a sword meant it could convey immediate, personalized messages and yet have a longevity celebrated and recognized across generations. Swords did not mean just one thing, ever, but they were always good for thinking with, good for representing the timelessness of warrior identity and the security of one warrior's stature, and good for appealing to some imagined past for purposes of any present. But it is important to realize that swords became a focal point for warrior identity only gradually, over time. As it developed its power in elite culture, “memory” of earlier times when swords were larger than life grew also.Less
This concluding chapter explains that if swords remained firmly and richly expressive of warrior identity, it was in part because they had already served as a vehicle for change and adaptation through time. Throughout, the material characteristics of the sword were always central to its significance. Thus, the construction of a sword meant it could convey immediate, personalized messages and yet have a longevity celebrated and recognized across generations. Swords did not mean just one thing, ever, but they were always good for thinking with, good for representing the timelessness of warrior identity and the security of one warrior's stature, and good for appealing to some imagined past for purposes of any present. But it is important to realize that swords became a focal point for warrior identity only gradually, over time. As it developed its power in elite culture, “memory” of earlier times when swords were larger than life grew also.
Marisa Galvez
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226693217
- eISBN:
- 9780226693491
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226693491.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
A study of various manuscripts permits us to track the movement of the idiom from lyric phenomenon to material archive. The chapter first illustrates descriptive historical poetics with two objects ...
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A study of various manuscripts permits us to track the movement of the idiom from lyric phenomenon to material archive. The chapter first illustrates descriptive historical poetics with two objects that embody typical monuments of the crusader and whose meanings seem clear in their respective disciplines of study—a crusader sword in the armored gisant of Jean d'Alluye, and the epitaph on the Frankish stele of Barthélemy Caïn. Understanding the Chinese sword and epitaph as two versions of speaking crusades, we can locate lyrical translations of crusades within and across texts and various possible situations through time and space. The chapter applies this method to manuscripts through modes of adjacency (Thibaut de Champagne, his inquest rolls and chansonnier), genre-existence (Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, his lyric and genres such as the Epic Letter, and their existence in chansonniers), and performative reconfigurations in the Latin East through contrafacture and adaptation of genres (Jehan de Journi's Disme de Penitanche, the lyric of the Templar of Tyre compared to Rutebeuf). The idiom becomes visible through descriptions strategically situated within historical discourses of language, culture, and materiality.Less
A study of various manuscripts permits us to track the movement of the idiom from lyric phenomenon to material archive. The chapter first illustrates descriptive historical poetics with two objects that embody typical monuments of the crusader and whose meanings seem clear in their respective disciplines of study—a crusader sword in the armored gisant of Jean d'Alluye, and the epitaph on the Frankish stele of Barthélemy Caïn. Understanding the Chinese sword and epitaph as two versions of speaking crusades, we can locate lyrical translations of crusades within and across texts and various possible situations through time and space. The chapter applies this method to manuscripts through modes of adjacency (Thibaut de Champagne, his inquest rolls and chansonnier), genre-existence (Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, his lyric and genres such as the Epic Letter, and their existence in chansonniers), and performative reconfigurations in the Latin East through contrafacture and adaptation of genres (Jehan de Journi's Disme de Penitanche, the lyric of the Templar of Tyre compared to Rutebeuf). The idiom becomes visible through descriptions strategically situated within historical discourses of language, culture, and materiality.
