Introducing the Medieval Swan

Introducing the Medieval Swan
Author: Natalie J. Goodison
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2022-02-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781786838391

What comes to mind when we think of swans? Likely their beauty in domestic settings, their preserved status, their association with royalty, and possibly the phrase 'swan song'. This book explores the emergence of each of these ideas, starting with an examination of the medieval swan in natural history, exploring classical writings and their medieval interpretations.

Introducing the Medieval Swan

Introducing the Medieval Swan
Author: Natalie Jayne Goodison
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2022-07-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786838400

Birds have always been a popular and accessible subject, but most books about medieval birds are an overview of their symbolism generally: owl for ill-omen, the pelican as a Eucharistic image and the like. The unique selling point of this book is to focus on one bird and explore it in detail from medieval reality to artistic concept. This book also traces how and why the medieval perception of the swan shifted from hypocritical to courtly within the medieval period. With special attention to ‘The Knight of the Swan’, the book traces the rise and popularity of the medieval swan through literature, history, courtly practices, and art. The book uses thoroughly readable language to appeal to a wide audience and explains some of the reasons why the swan holds such resonance today by covering views of the swan from classic to early modern times.

Introducing the Medieval Dragon

Introducing the Medieval Dragon
Author: Thomas Honegger
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2019-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786834707

Arnold, Martin. 2018. The Dragon. Fear and Power. London: Reaktion Books. My book is much shorter and focusses on the medieval (European) dragon, while Martin’s book covers all centuries and also the Asian tradition.

Nature in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times

Nature in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Times
Author: Albrecht Classen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2024-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 3111387631

The study of pre-modern anthropology requires the close examination of the relationship between nature and human society, which has been both precarious and threatening as well as productive, soothing, inviting, and pleasurable. Much depends on the specific circumstances, as the works by philosophers, theologians, poets, artists, and medical practitioners have regularly demonstrated. It would not be good enough, as previous scholarship has commonly done, to examine simply what the various writers or artists had to say about nature. While modern scientists consider just the hard-core data of the objective world, cultural historians and literary scholars endeavor to comprehend the deeper meaning of the concept of nature presented by countless writers and artists. Only when we have a good grasp of the interactions between people and their natural environment, are we in a position to identify and interpret mental structures, social and economic relationships, medical and scientific concepts of human health, and the messages about all existence as depicted in major art works. In light of the current conditions threatening to bring upon us a global crisis, it matters centrally to take into consideration pre-modern discourses on nature and its enormous powers to understand the topoi and tropes determining the concepts through which we perceive nature. Nature thus proves to be a force far beyond all human comprehensibility, being both material and spiritual depending on our critical approaches.

Arthurian Literature XXXIX

Arthurian Literature XXXIX
Author: Megan G Leitch
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2024-06-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1843847183

"Delivers fascinating material across genres, periods, and theoretical issues." TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT This volume is a special issue dedicated to Professor Elizabeth Archibald, who has had such an impact on, and made so many significant contributions to, the field of Arthurian Studies. It maintains its tradition of diverse approaches to the Arthurian tradition - albeit on this occasion with a particular focus on Malory, appropriately reflecting one of Professor Archibald's main interests. It starts with the essay awarded this year's D.S. Brewer Prize for a contribution by an early career scholar, which considers the little-known debt owed by early modern sailors to Arthurian knighthood and pageantry. The essays that follow begin with a wide-ranging account of manuscript decorations and annotations in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, before turning to the Evil Custom trope in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Further contributions explore the formalities of requests and conditions in Malory's '"Tale of Gareth", emotional excess and magical transformation in several scenes across the Morte Darthur, tensions between public and private and self and identity in Malory's "Sankgreal", and friction between the (external and imposed) law and (internal and subjective but honourable) code of chivalry, especially apparent in Malory's final Tales. The last article examines the ways in which Mordred's origins in modern Arthurian fiction build on Malory's false, or forgotten, promise to relate Mordred's upbringing. The volume closes with a short tribute to Elizabeth Archibald, highlighting her leadership in the field and her encouragement of scholarly collaboration and community.

Author:
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 481
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

An Introduction to Medieval History

An Introduction to Medieval History
Author: Dorothy Dymond
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2023-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1003824668

First Published in 1929 An Introduction to Medieval History presents a comprehensive overview of the social, political, and religious movements that inspired medieval civilization and still influence the civilization of our own day. It brings crucial themes like the heritage of Rome; church and the Empire; the peasant and his Lord; nations and kings; empire and papacy; the eastern empire and the Crusades; transition to modern times; decline of empire and papacy; decline of feudalism and development of trade; and towns and the Renaissance. This introductory book is useful for history students in secondary schools and training colleges and general readers interested to know about the medieval times.

An Introduction to the Medieval Bible

An Introduction to the Medieval Bible
Author: Franciscus Anastasius Liere
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2014-03-31
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0521865786

An accessible account of the Bible in the Middle Ages that traces the formation of the medieval canon.

Introducing the Medieval Ass

Introducing the Medieval Ass
Author: Kathryn L. Smithies
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786836238

Introducing the Medieval Ass presents a lucid, accessible, and comprehensive picture of the ass’s enormous socio-economic and cultural significance in the Middle Ages and beyond. In the Middle Ages, the ass became synonymous with human idiocy, a comic figure representing foolish peasants, students too dull to learn, and their asinine teachers. This trope of foolishness was so prevalent that by the eighteenth century the word ‘ass’ had been replaced by ‘donkey’. Economically, the medieval ass was a vital, utilitarian beast of burden, rather like today’s ubiquitous white van; culturally, however, the medieval ass enjoyed a rich, paradoxical reputation. Its hard work was praised, but its obstinacy condemned. It exemplified the good Christian, humbly bearing Christ to Jerusalem, but also represented Sloth, a mortal sin. Its potent sexual reputation – one literary ass had sex with a woman – was simultaneously linked to sterility and, to this day, ‘ass’ and ‘arse’ remain culturally-connected homophones.