Browsing by Subject "Medieval history"

This study argues that Chaucer's poetry belongs to a far-reaching conversation about the forms of consolation (philosophical, theological, and poetic) that are available to human persons. Chaucer's entry point to this conversation was Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, a sixth-century dialogue that tried to show how the Stoic ideals of autonomy and self-possession are not simply normative for human beings but remain within the grasp of every individual. Drawing on biblical commentary, consolation literature, and political theory, this study contends that Chaucer's interrogation of the moral and intellectual ideals of the Consolation took the form of philosophical disconsolations: scenes of profound poetic rupture in which a character, sometimes even Chaucer himself, turns to philosophy for solace and yet fails to be consoled. Indeed, philosophy itself becomes a source of despair. In staging these disconsolations, I contend that Chaucer asks his readers to consider the moral dimensions of the aspirations internal to ancient philosophy and the assumptions about the self that must be true if its insights are to console and instruct. For Chaucer, the self must be seen as a gift that flowers through reciprocity (both human and divine) and not as an object to be disciplined and regulated.

Chapter one focuses on the Consolation of Philosophy. I argue that recent attempts to characterize Chaucer's relationship to this text as skeptical fail to engage the Consolation on its own terms. The allegory of Lady Philosophy's revelation to a disconsolate Boethius enables philosophy to become both an agent and an object of inquiry. I argue that Boethius's initial skepticism about the pretentions of philosophy is in part what Philosophy's therapies are meant to respond to. The pressures that Chaucer's poetry exerts on the ideals of autonomy and self-possession sharpen one of the major absences of the Consolation: viz., the unanswered question of whether Philosophy's therapies have actually consoled Boethius. Chapter two considers one of the Consolation's fascinating and paradoxical afterlives: Robert Holcot's Postilla super librum sapientiae (1340-43). I argue that Holcot's Stoic conception of wisdom, a conception he explicitly links with Boethius's Consolation, relies on a model of agency that is strikingly similar to the powers of self-knowledge that Philosophy argues Boethius to posses. Chapter three examines Chaucer's fullest exploration of the Boethian model of selfhood and his ultimate rejection of it in Troilus and Criseyde. The poem, which Chaucer called his "tragedy," belonged to a genre of classical writing he knew of only from Philosophy's brief mention of it in the Consolation. Chaucer appropriates the genre to explore and recover mourning as a meaningful act. In Chapter four, I turn to Dante and the House of Fame to consider Chaucer's self-reflections about his ambitions as a poet and the demands of truth-telling.

The Biblical drama that was popular in England from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries is a fruitful site for exploring the dissemination of political discourse. Unlike Fürstenspiegeln (mirrors for princes literature) or the tradition of royal civic triumphs, Biblical drama, whether presented as ambitious "history of the world" civic cycles or as individual plays put on by traveling companies or parish actors, did not attempt to define or proscribe ideals of kingly behavior. On the contrary, the superstars of the early English stage were tyrants, such as Herod, Pharoah, Pilate, and Lucifer. These figures were dressed in the most lavish costumes, assigned the longest and most elaborate speeches, and often supplied the actors who brought them to life with a substantial wage. This dissertation argues that these tyrants helped to ensure the enduring popularity of Biblical drama well into the Tudor period; their immoderation invited authors, actors, and audiences to imagine how the role of a king ought to be played, and to participate in a discourse of virtue and self-governance that was applicable to monarchs and commoners alike.

This work builds upon a growing scholarly awareness of what Theresa Coletti and Gail McMurray Gibson have called "the Tudor origins of medieval drama": namely, that our modern knowledge of "medieval" plays reflects and relies upon the sixteenth-century context in which they were preserved in manuscripts and continued to flourish in performance. The popularity of the tyrant-figures in these plays throughout the Tudor period - particularly in parts of the country that were reluctant to adapt to the ever-changing economic, judicial, and religious policies of the regime - suggests an enduring frustration with royal power that claimed to rule in the name of "the common good" yet never hesitated to achieve national obedience at the expense of economic, judicial, and religious continuity. Through an examination of surviving play-texts from the Chester Mystery Cycle and Digby MS 133 as well as documentation of performances in Cheshire and East Anglia, this dissertation chronicles Biblical drama's ability to serve as an important site of popular resistance to the Tudor dynasty, both before and after Protestantism became a matter of state policy.

Chapter One considers the Crown's surprisingly active involvement in the civic government of Chester between 1495 and 1521 in counterpoint with the early sixteenth century restructuring of the city's mystery cycle, and argues that the cycle's new opening pageant, The Fall of Lucifer, embodies Chester's fears about losing its traditional civic identity. Chapter Two examines Biblical drama's surprising ability to encourage resistance to tyranny through a reading of The Killing of the Children, which highlights the fleeting and unprofitable nature of earthly power in such a way as to resonate with audiences in the wake of Henry VIII's initial religious reforms of 1536. Chapter Three explores the capacious Mary Magdalen play, which addresses issues of succession, of national religious identity, and of female rule in ways that seem prescient of the controversial crowning of Henry VIII's eldest daughter in 1553. Chapter Four discusses the aftermath of the final performance of the Chester cycle in 1575: the city's mayor was accused of being no less of a tyrant than Herod himself for encouraging performance of a cycle seen by the Crown as "popish idolatry." The project concludes with a Shakespearean envoi: a consideration of Richard III that demonstrates that questions of tyranny and rightful governance remained as important at the end of the Tudor period as they were at the accession of Elizabeth's grandfather in 1485.

This dissertation explores how the combination of pious practice, economic activity, and religious poverty shaped the architecture of the mendicants in medieval Verona. It also examines how the presence of the friars affected the city. By the thirteenth century, the populated centers of northern Italy were fertile grounds for heretical movements, religious skepticism, and anti-clerical attitudes. The mendicant orders developed as a response to the crisis of the medieval church in the city and provided a new concept of the religious vocation, one committed to voluntary poverty and the conversion of heretics. The most important representatives of the new orders were the Franciscans and Dominicans, who centered their religious mission in an urban context where the growth of commerce and a literate and numerate middle class required a new approach to pastoral care, one that directly addressed both doctrinal and social issues. The friars revolutionized traditional religious practice: they used exterior sites as extensions of liturgical space and their innovative approach to church architecture emphasized function and utility.

Existing studies on mendicant building have traditionally emphasized the formal characteristics of the monuments, examining churches in isolation, with little concern for context, use, and sequence of construction. This dissertation moves beyond this approach to consider the broader circumstances that frame the appearance of mendicant houses. It examines how the Franciscan church of S. Fermo Maggiore, the Dominican church of S. Anastasia, and their respective communities, responded to the dynamics of urban Verona. The study includes revised construction narratives and new dates for S. Fermo and S. Anastasia that emphasize the process of construction--how the friars approached their building projects--and the role of lay patronage in the configuration of architectural space. As research reveals, the friars began to erect their conventual complexes before instigating construction or reconstruction of the churches themselves, and this sequence had significant implications for how the friars used the spaces in and around their convent for preaching and liturgical celebrations. They planned or reconfigured their architectural space to both appeal to and accommodate the lay public and their pious practices, including sermon attendance, burial, and the veneration of local saints. Modifications to the exterior spaces around the convents likewise indicate their liturgical importance. By investigating the specific interactions between the mendicants and the city of Verona, this dissertation explores how the architecture of the friars expressed aspects of the society in which they operated.

The Credo is a liturgical and musical outlier among the movements of the mass ordinary. It is the longest text of the ordinary, was the latest addition to the mass, and is the locus of several odd musical phenomena, such as the proliferation of dozens of new monophonic settings of the creed between the years 1300 and 1500. These musical and liturgical phenomena have been noted but little studied; furthermore, the reasons underlying these changes have not been explained or studied. This dissertation analyzes the musical features of the Credo in monophony and polyphony, and sets the music within a broader late medieval cultural background.The research herein is multidisciplinary, using the primary sources of the music—much of which remains unedited in manuscripts—as well as the works of medieval writers, theologians, liturgists, clergy, canon lawyers, and laypeople. The overarching goal is to contextualize the musical Credo by examining the Credo’s place in late medieval religious and devotional culture. The argument and conclusion of this dissertation is that the odd musical phenomena surrounding the late medieval Credo can be illuminated and explained by placing it within its context. Specifically, the Credo is a major aspect of catechism, devotion, and liturgy, and musical, literary, and theological treatments of the Credo text within each of those categories help to explain its musical status.

The 12th- and 13th-century cathedral of S. Corrado in Molfetta (Apulia) illuminates the effects of Mediterranean trade on architectural production. The town's engagement with long-distance commerce supported professional travel and prompted new institution-building strategies in ecclesiastical and lay society. In these ways trade reshaped the finances, building process, and specialized expertise of S. Corrado.

This study applies a combination of approaches to the written record and built fabric of the church. Documents are examined for their financial structures and symbolic ramifications. The building fund is found to have manifested the competitive relationships of many large institutions, producing a multiplicity of forms and functions in the cathedral. A new chronological analysis informed by construction archaeology (detailed photography, on-site measurement, digital modeling, and diagrammatic visualization) suggests that the cathedral was designed in a series of flexible episodes, and not in accordance with an original plan. New technical comparisons suggest that the specialized knowledge of the work force of S. Corrado was transmitted from a range of contexts (including the northern Adriatic and southern France).

These dynamics can be related, more precisely than before, to specific conditions of the commercializing economy. Thus the findings of this study can inform the methods and frameworks of architectural history in the larger Mediterranean context.

This dissertation is the first architectural history devoted to Beverley Minster, a large and ambitious Gothic church located in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Beverley is one of the most important medieval buildings in England, but it has been almost entirely ignored in the literature. The church is composed of three parts: choir and transepts (c. 1225-1260), nave (c. 1308-c. 1370), and west façade (c. 1380-1420).

The thesis begins with a description of the destroyed buildings that occupied the site during the Saxon and Romanesque periods. The remainder of the dissertation focuses on the work completed at the Minster during the fourteenth century, in the so-called Decorated style. First, the nave is analyzed and its construction is assigned to six campaigns between the years c. 1308-c. 1370. Much discussion is devoted to the "historicism" of the nave's conservative design, which is a subtly modernized version of the east end that preceded it. Contemporary documents also permit discussion of the financial contributions of the laity, canons, and municipal leaders who paid for the nave to be built.

Finally, a detailed analysis is offered for the furnishings made at Beverley between 1292 and c. 1340: the reredos (high altar screen), sedilia (seating for priests), and the destroyed shrine which once contained the relics of St. John of Beverley. Like the nave, they are all neglected masterpieces of the Decorated style.

This dissertation examines the “memory economy” of church reform from the late ninth through thirteenth centuries. It argues that monastic communities and aristocratic households of the period used the human body as a touchstone for the discussion of memory as a key stake in the social and political life of the high middle ages. The argument centers around several key sites of analysis: excommunication, burial, bodily wounding and mutilation, and liturgical cursing. Centering the analysis on these sites of cultural activity allows close readings of the complex dialectic which develops around memory. Using memory as the central focus of the study allows insight into the ways in which the semi-literate communities of the secular nobility participated in and drove the course of church reform, rather than functioning as mere sources of converts or sources of gifts. Doing so allows an intervention that shits the field of medieval memory studies away from manuscripts and narratives, and towards a methodology that puts activity and social practice at center stage.

The challenge is the Roman Catholic Church's need for a bit more aggiornamento in the ecclesiology of parochial ministry. The persistent priest shortage has been met with provisional solutions, harboring hopes that increased ordinations of new presbyters would replenish the altars now empty. The restoration of the deacon in the United States has resulted in ordination of nearly eighteen thousand older Caucasian men to a service more attuned to the subordinated liturgical diaconate that fell into extinction a millennium ago. Instead, I believe that the model of the first deacons called to serve by the apostles to steward the temporal administration of the church shows this order's true calling, as personified by the great service of their medieval archdeacon successors. The challenge is to draw from this history a theology intended for the diaconate, seek out its canonical limitations and establish a new ecclesiology ready for implementation in praxis today.

In this work I will first explore today's challenges to ministry in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and the circumstances surrounding the priest shortage. A brief quantitative analysis of the church and its ordained ministers will be contrasted to the sociological trends they paralleled. Then the historical church legislation and the leaders that influenced it will be examined to ferret out theological and canonical possibilities and limitations for the restored diaconate's service. Analyzing the ordination, approved diaconate functions, and possible roles in a parish where a priest is not serving as pastor will be addressed by investigating Vatican II Conciliar documents, the codes of canon law, and guidelines from both church wide universal law and the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.

In examining this history of the origin of the diaconate, its greatest success came in serving the temporal works of the church. The diaconate in theological and canonical terms suffers no divine legal blockades from being populated by a truer more experientially matched cross section of God's people in the pews. The possibilities for the role of the deacon in the future are married to the seriousness of the commitment to the permanence of its restoration; it is here that I propose the church must seek the theological possibilities for a more fully evolved sphere of ministry for the deacon and a canonical approach to a new ecclesiology implementing an ecclesiastical role for the deacon in the parish reporting to his bishop. The prescriptive elements will then seek out these supportive structures in order to insure beneficial orthopraxis in diaconal ministry. My conclusion is that the deacon can once again, as a phoenix rise or fall to ashes, raised by the ecclesiology of the Apostle's first calling of the seven to serve or left to fall as a subordinated solely liturgical order.

This dissertation analyzes the roles of emotions in the first century of the English common law. It complicates the view that the growth of law excluded emotions from the process of disputation. Instead, it argues that throughout the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, litigants and justices relied on emotions such as love, anger, and sadness to make sense of the law and to navigate the common law’s developing procedures. The importation of emotions created more continuity in approaches to dispute and relationship management before and after the advent of the common law than appears on the surface of legal records. The dissertation focuses on multiple facets of law: law books, the king’s court, monastic disputes, and out-of-court settlements. It also combines sources from a range of genres, including court records, chronicles, letters, charters, and literature in order to analyze law within its cultural context. The result is a new interpretation of the growth of the common law centering cultural values over administrative initiatives. Overall, the dissertation shows how emotions remained essential to how Anglo-Normans navigated the law. The common law’s ability to make space for these emotions was an important part of how it was able to expand through popular usage. Over time, the compatibility of the common law and emotions granted legal institutions, and the royal government behind them, more power over the personal lives of England’s subjects.