Search Results

Seals

Susan M. Johns

in Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm

The secular women's seals present the historian with unique opportunities to study the portrayal of female identity in twelfth-century England. Seals were visual representations of power, and they ... More

The secular women's seals present the historian with unique opportunities to study the portrayal of female identity in twelfth-century England. Seals were visual representations of power, and they conveyed notions of authority and legitimacy. Women's seals have been particularly poorly served. They also identified women's power in the context of land tenure, lordship, social status and the female life cycle. Additionally, they signified both gender and status in different ways. The representational forms of noblewomen's seals symbolised noblewomen's cultural identities and served to endorse gendered norms of women's role in lordship. The use of seals by twelfth-century noblewomen reinforces the argument that noblewomen had important roles to play within the construct of lordship in the specific context of land transfers.Less

Context

Paul Rorem

in Hugh of Saint Victor

This chapter first introduces Hugh of St. Victor’s context as to early 12th-century Paris, the founding of St. Victor by William of Champeaux, and the leadership of Abbot Gilduin. It then surveys ... More

This chapter first introduces Hugh of St. Victor’s context as to early 12th-century Paris, the founding of St. Victor by William of Champeaux, and the leadership of Abbot Gilduin. It then surveys what little is known of Hugh’s life and discusses how to approach his many and varied writings. The edition of Hugh’s works supervised by Gilduin provides an order for introducing this corpus.Less

Introduction

Alastair Matthews

in The Kaiserchronik: A Medieval Narrative

This chapter introduces the Kaiserchronik and summarizes what is known about the origins of the work, which is generally associated with the Regensburg of the mid-twelfth century. On the basis of ... More

This chapter introduces the Kaiserchronik and summarizes what is known about the origins of the work, which is generally associated with the Regensburg of the mid-twelfth century. On the basis of manuscript transmission and the critical literature, it is suggested that an analysis of narrative technique will allow what Walter Haug called the ‘literary side’ of the Kaiserchronik to be described in more detail. With the help of an analysis of the prologue, the Kaiserchronik is then contextualized in relation to Latin historiography, vernacular religious literature, and the new Middle High German narratives of the later twelfth century, showing that a broader range of narrative techniques are at stake than the preoccupation with questions of fictionality and structure in modern theory and criticism would suggest.Less

The Legal Revival of the Twelfth Century

in The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts

Fundamental changes that began to sweep through the culture, society, and economy of Western Christendom in the closing decades of the eleventh century radically transformed the laws and legal ... More

Fundamental changes that began to sweep through the culture, society, and economy of Western Christendom in the closing decades of the eleventh century radically transformed the laws and legal practices that prevailed during the early Middle Ages. Within the following century-and-a-half, a new legal culture emerged in the West. Specialized schools of civil law whose students studied Justinian's codified Roman law began to appear at Bologna shortly after 1100. In Bologna, too, an innovative textbook of canon law, appearing sometime in the 1140s and commonly known as “Gratian's Decretum,” soon displaced earlier canonical collections, both in the schools and in the courts. Signal developments in the law formed a key element in a larger intellectual movement that Charles Homer Haskins christened the renaissance of the twelfth century. Sir Paul Vinogradoff went on to describe the medieval revival of Roman law as “a ghost story.”Less

Aristocratic Speech, the Gregorian Reform, and the First Troubadour

William M. Reddy

in The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900-1200 CE

This chapter presents evidence in support of a novel explanation of the origins of courtly love. It discusses three features of twelfth-century social life that combined to shape the courtly love ... More

This chapter presents evidence in support of a novel explanation of the origins of courtly love. It discusses three features of twelfth-century social life that combined to shape the courtly love ideal: a specific form of aristocratic speech; a related approach to kinship reckoning, gender identities, and “sexual” relationships; and the impact of the Gregorian Reform.Less

Recuperating the Past (ii): The Encounter with Christian and Roman Antiquity

Francis Oakley

in The Mortgage of the Past: Reshaping the Ancient Political Inheritance (1050-1300)

This chapter discusses Charles Homer Haskins' view of the twelfth century, which described it as “rather a slack period in the history of political theory.” Haskins noted that “the pamphlet ... More

This chapter discusses Charles Homer Haskins' view of the twelfth century, which described it as “rather a slack period in the history of political theory.” Haskins noted that “the pamphlet literature dealing with church and state had just spent its force during the controversy over investiture, and the more systematic discussion awaited the translation of Aristotle's Politics circa 1260 and the Summa of Thomas Aquinas,” as a somewhat indifferent appraisal of the significance of John of Salisbury's Policraticus or Statesman's Book. Even though it is a plausible judgment, one should not underestimate the importance of “the mighty iceberg of change,” especially in relation to the subsequent history of political thinking and the history of intellectual life at large.Less

Introduction

Susan M. Johns

in Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm

This book explores the place of noblewomen in twelfth-century English and, to a lesser extent, Norman society. It also investigates the roles of noblewomen within lordship and in so doing clarifies ... More

This book explores the place of noblewomen in twelfth-century English and, to a lesser extent, Norman society. It also investigates the roles of noblewomen within lordship and in so doing clarifies important aspects of noblewomen's power. The analytical framework upon which the book is constructed draws on recent theoretical developments in the history of women and power and utilises traditional scholarly approaches to the study of the twelfth century. In so doing, it re-defines the nature of twelfth-century lordship. Therefore, it is intended as a contribution to the debate over the role and meaning of female power in the context of the interaction of gender and lordship in twelfth-century society.Less

Royal inquests and the power of noblewomen: the Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus of 1185

Susan M. Johns

in Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm

This chapter investigates the 1185 Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus in order to consider the way that royal authority and the law shaped the experience of noblewomen, but ... More

This chapter investigates the 1185 Rotuli de Dominabus et Pueris et Puellis de XII Comitatibus in order to consider the way that royal authority and the law shaped the experience of noblewomen, but also to provide a cautionary account of the degree to which such sources present an external view of the societies in which noblewomen exercised power. Rotuli de Dominabus is a rich resource for the history of noblewomen in the twelfth century and for the study of social history. It also presents an unusually large sample of information on the value of noblewomen's lands. It confirms that dower was the principal form of the female land tenure of widows in late twelfth-century England. It then affirms that noblewomen had significant and important roles to play in the two dominant power structures of the twelfth-century, kinship and lordship, and the document shows that royal government recognised this.Less

The Making of Powerful Laughter, c.1100–1200

Peter J. A. Jones

in Laughter and Power in the Twelfth Century

Chapter 1 explores laughter’s changing status as a topic of intellectual debate in the 1100s. Investigating a wide range of theological, monastic, philosophical, rhetorical, satirical, and medical ... More

Chapter 1 explores laughter’s changing status as a topic of intellectual debate in the 1100s. Investigating a wide range of theological, monastic, philosophical, rhetorical, satirical, and medical texts available to Henry II’s courtiers, the chapter suggests that by the end of the century laughter was becoming a sign of embodied moral power. Whereas laughter had previously carried diabolical associations, and had been forbidden to monks, condemned by preachers, and reproved by theologians, it now became a monastic virtue, a confirmation of good health, and a potential sign of God’s presence. These ideas of moral laughter were enabled, above all, by a series of shifts in attitudes towards the body. As theologians devised new repertoires of spiritual emotions and gestures, influential monks such as Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153) were able to allocate laughter a role as an expression of the highest internal grace.Less

Pre-Professional Lawyers in Twelfth-Century Church Courts

in The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts

Canon lawyers during the “long twelfth century” gradually began to act more and more like professionals. By the mid-twelfth century clever and enterprising men could already make a living, often ... More

Canon lawyers during the “long twelfth century” gradually began to act more and more like professionals. By the mid-twelfth century clever and enterprising men could already make a living, often quite a comfortable one, from the teaching and practice of civil or canon law. The occupational skills that civilians and canonists possessed opened up opportunities for advancement in the church's hierarchy. One traditional characteristic of professional status is the belief that, unlike those who follow less prestigious trades and occupations, professionals undertake to observe special ethical rules more demanding than those that apply to non-professionals. As canon lawyers became more numerous and more visible in Western Christendom, both they and their detractors searched for acceptable answers to issues such as these. Critics of the jurists grew increasingly abundant and vocal as the twelfth century progressed. By the early decades of the thirteenth century, practitioners of canon law and civilians alike were under verbal assault from all sides. This chapter focuses on pre-professional lawyers in twelfth-century church courts.Less

Baronial courts in Scotland, 1150–1350

Cynthia J. Neville

in Land, Law and People in Medieval Scotland

This chapter explores the early evidence associated with lordly courts in the late twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, both those of the Anglo-Norman and European newcomers, and more particularly, ... More

This chapter explores the early evidence associated with lordly courts in the late twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, both those of the Anglo-Norman and European newcomers, and more particularly, those of the great native dignitaries. It then examines, compares, and contrasts the ways in which native aristocrats adopted and adapted English and European concepts of justice within these courts down to the mid-fourteenth century. It focuses on the ways in which Gaelic lords used the ceremony and ritual associated with the dispensation of justice to perpetuate — and enhance — uniquely native concepts of lordly authority.Less

The Early Twelfth-Century Perspective in English Historical Writing

George Garnett

in The Norman Conquest in English History: Volume I: A Broken Chain?

Chapter 1 explains why, about 40 years after the Conquest, a number of English monastic historians tried to construct the first histories of England to be written since Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. ... More

Chapter 1 explains why, about 40 years after the Conquest, a number of English monastic historians tried to construct the first histories of England to be written since Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. According to William of Malmesbury, English historical writing has been a chain broken at Bede’s death. The sudden initiative to mend that chain at the beginning of the twelfth century was prompted by the need, consequent on the Conquest, to validate title to ecclesiastical land and to authenticate the claims of English saints to sanctity. The chapter argues that the wholesale rebuilding of major English churches in the half century after the Conquest also played a key part. It explains why most of the historians were precentors (or cantors) of their institutions. By examining in detail their treatment of the Conquest itself, it shows how they connected post-Conquest England with what had preceded it. The effect was to create a continuous history of England which transcended the Conquest.Less

Introduction

Irene O'Daly

in John of Salisbury and the medieval Roman renaissance

This chapter provides an introduction to the life and works of John of Salisbury, as well as an overview of existing scholarship on this key figure of the twelfth-century Renaissance. It presents the ... More

This chapter provides an introduction to the life and works of John of Salisbury, as well as an overview of existing scholarship on this key figure of the twelfth-century Renaissance. It presents the method of the study, namely to look at John of Salisbury’s writings in the context in which they were produced, as well as introducing the principal argument of the monograph - that John’s works were influenced by Roman Stoic writing to a degree that has thus far been underestimated. It concludes by investigating annotations appended to early examples of John’s Policraticus, suggesting they provide an insight into how the text was first read.Less

Trobairitz and Troubadours and the Shadow Religion

William M. Reddy

in The Making of Romantic Love: Longing and Sexuality in Europe, South Asia, and Japan, 900-1200 CE

This chapter examines the original cultural context of the songs of the trobairitz and troubadours, who first popularized the courtly love ideal. It shows that “courtly love,” as developed by William ... More

This chapter examines the original cultural context of the songs of the trobairitz and troubadours, who first popularized the courtly love ideal. It shows that “courtly love,” as developed by William IX and his imitators, was the only tradition that justified love by its sublime, heroic contrast with desire-as-appetite. The kind of love that William IX wrote about and the genre of song he employed in praising the beloved—usually referred to as a canso—enjoyed a growing popularity, first in southern France, spreading from there to Iberia, Italy, and most of western and central Europe. Twelfth-century Occitan society and the canso as aristocratic speech are discussed.Less

The Experience of Empire

David Bates

in The Normans and Empire

After an explanation of the value of importing the methodology of life histories into the study of the history of the Normans, the English, and other peoples, the chapter is divided into two ... More

After an explanation of the value of importing the methodology of life histories into the study of the history of the Normans, the English, and other peoples, the chapter is divided into two sections. The first sets out multiple life-stories to illustrate the many possibilities that empire opened up and the second is an analysis of the contribution of the main contemporary narrative historians of the cross-Channel empire. It uses all this material to explore values, norms, scripts, rules, and factors other than the ethnic and the imperial as explanations of behaviour. It emphasizes the significance of locality and region, and also the significance of norms and scripts that range from gender to religious rules such as the Rule of St. Benedict. Alongside an argument for a continuing cross-Channel dynamic, the chapter also emphasizes evident early disillusion with empire in Normandy, the mixing and assimilation of peoples, and the continuing economic and cultural distinctions associated with the enduring power of the cross-Channel elite.Less