Sexuality, Sociality, and Cosmology in Medieval Literary Texts

Sexuality, Sociality, and Cosmology in Medieval Literary Texts
Author: J. Brown
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2013-01-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137037415

Exploring the relation between sexuality and cosmology in a variety of literary texts from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries, the essays reveal that medieval authors, whether lay or religious, Christian or Jewish, were grappling with the same sets of questions about sexuality as people are today.

Berenguela of Castile (1180-1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages

Berenguela of Castile (1180-1246) and Political Women in the High Middle Ages
Author: M. Shadis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2009-10-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230103138

The women in the family which ruled thirteenth-century Castile used maternity, familial and political strategy, and religious and cultural patronage to secure their personal power as well as to promote their lineage. Leonor of England, and her daughters Blanche of Castile (queen of France), Urraca (queen of Portugal), Costanza (a Cistercian nun of Las Huelgas) and Leonor, (queen of Aragon) provide the context for a study focusing on Berenguela of Castile, queen of Leon through marriage and of Castile by right of inheritance, whose most significant accomplishment was to enable the successful rule of her son Fernando.

Strange Beauty

Strange Beauty
Author: A. Siewers
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2009-09-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 023010052X

Strange Beauty provides a new perspective on early Celtic stories of the Otherworld and their relevance to today's ecological concerns, arguing for a contemporary re-reading of the Otherworld trope in relation to physical experience.

The Letters of Heloise and Abelard

The Letters of Heloise and Abelard
Author: M. McLaughlin
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2009-12-21
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230101879

The letters of Heloise and Abelard will remain one of the great, romantic and intellectual documents of human civilization while they, themselves, are probably second only to Romeo and Juliet in the fame accrued by tragic lovers. Here for the first time in Mart Martin McLaughlin's edition is the complete correspendence with commentary.

Julian of Norwich's Legacy

Julian of Norwich's Legacy
Author: S. Salih
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2009-11-09
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230101623

Julian of Norwich the best-known of the medieval mystics today. The text of her Revelation has circulated continually since the fifteenth century, but the twentieth century saw a massive expansion of her popularity. Theological or literary-historical studies of Julian may remark in passing on her popularity, but none have attempted a detailed study of her reception. This collection fills that gap: it outlines the full reception history from the extant manuscripts to the present day, looking at Julian in devotional cultures, in modernist poetry and present-day popular literature, and in her iconography in Norwich, both as a pilgrimage site and a tourist attraction.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life

Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life
Author: Philip Daileader
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1137532939

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of tumultuous change in medieval Europe; they witnessed the Black Death, the Great Papal Schism, heightened fears of the apocalypse, and the elimination of Spain's non-Christian population. Few figures were as widely and as intimately involved in late medieval Europe's struggles as Saint Vincent Ferrer. Perhaps the foremost preacher of his day, Ferrer spent the final two decades of his life traversing Europe, preparing the world for its imminent destruction. Saint Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419), His World and Life reassesses the controversial preacher's motives, methods, and impact, tracing Ferrer's journey from obscure logician to angel of the apocalypse, as he came to be known. At the same time, the book offers new insights into the depth and breadth of late medieval apocalyptic anticipation, and into the processes that ultimately led to the expulsions of Spain's Jews and Muslims.

Saint Margaret, Queen of the Scots

Saint Margaret, Queen of the Scots
Author: C. Keene
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137035641

Margaret, saint and 11th-century Queen of the Scots, remains an often-cited yet little-understood historical figure. Keene's analysis of sources in terms of both time and place – including her Life of Saint Margaret , translated for the first time – allows for an informed understanding of the forces that shaped this captivating woman.

Visual Power and Fame in René d'Anjou, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Black Prince

Visual Power and Fame in René d'Anjou, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the Black Prince
Author: S. Gertz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2010-04-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230106536

Reading semiotically against the backdrop of medieval mirrors of princes, Arthurian narratives, and chronicles, this study examines how René d Anjou (1409-1480), Geoffrey Chaucer s House of Fame (ca. 1375-1380), and Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) explore fame s visual power. While very different in approach, all three individuals reject the classical suggestion that fame is bestowed and understand that particularly in positions of leadership, it is necessary to communicate effectively with audiences in order to secure fame. This sweeping study sheds light on fame s intoxicating but deceptively simple promise of elite glory.

Street Scenes

Street Scenes
Author: S. Aronson-Lehavi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2011-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230118119

Street Scenes offers a theory of late medieval acting and performance through a fresh and original reading of the Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge. The performance theory perspective employed here, along with the examination of actor/character dialectics, paves the way to understanding both religious theatre and the complexity of late medieval theatricalities. Sharon Aronson-Lehavi demonstrates the existence of a late medieval discourse about the double appeal of theatre performance: an artistic medium enacting sacred history while simultaneously referring to the present lives of its creators and spectators.