The area of early music, especially of its performance, is yet young. Classes in early music performance are offered in only approximately a quarter of the nations colleges and universities, and these are found to vary widely in levels of both faculty and student proficiency, and in the authenticity achieved, resulting from available instruments and knowledge of styles and performance practices affecting interpretation. Although standard sources exist on performance practice, their information on the baroque period highly outweighs that on the Middle Ages or Renaissance. All three periods are encompassed by this writer within early music. Sources regarding practical concerns of an early music program are quite rare., and it is primarily in the few schools granting degrees in early music that a student might learn administrative skills. The lack of funds for instruments or for a faculty specialist often deters the inception of such a program. This guide is intended to serve as a resource tool for the non-specialist already on a faculty, who may happen into the position of collegium director., as well as the interested early musician who cannot attend one of those specializing schools, and who may not have the background to pursue the interest authentically. The hope is to fill a perceived need for a single source, treating both practical matters of directing a program and performance practice of all three.Each of the chapter topics is riled with conflict., both from early and modern writers, so that often concrete solutions cannot be given., and many questions remain unanswered. This work is meant to be a compendium of the many ideas and interpretations,, offering suggestions where possible, otherwise directing the reader to further sources for his own pursuit of solutions. It is hoped that through this work and its reference directions, readers may gain information to help recreate the sounds of early music with as much efficiency., and particularly, authenticity as possible.

The objective of the present study is to investigate the historical development of negative constructions in ME verse and to provide a descriptive account of it. The central issues analyzed in this thesis are: (1) the usage of the negative adverbs 'ne', 'not' and some other negative elements such as 'never', 'no', etc.; (2) the occurrence of negative contraction as illustrated by 'nam' (< ne am) and 'nolde' (< ne wolde); and (3) the development and the decline of multiple negation. The thesis has both a chronological and a geographical perspective, since it examines changes in usage which took place during the ME period and various dialectal types. The thesis also includes a discussion of pleonastic negation and the omission of negative elements (termed 'unexpressed negation'). For the purpose of these analyses, twenty manuscripts of eighteen verse texts ranging chronologically from early ME to later ME are selected from various geographical areas of England. The texts investigated are: (1) Poema Morale, (2) The Owl and the Nightingale, (3) King Horn, (4) Havelok, (5) The South English Legendary, (6) English Metrical Homilies, (7) The Middle English Genesis and Exodus, (8) The Poems of William of Shoreham, (8) Cursor Mundi, (10) Sir Ferumbras, (11) Confessio Amantis, (12) Handlyng Synne, (13) Kyng Alisaunder, (14) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, (15) The Affiterative Morte Arthure, (16) Alexander and Dindimus, (17) The Destruction of Troy, and (18) The Stanzaic Morte Arthur. Due to the paucity of suitable material for linguistic analysis at the beginning of the ME period, Poema Morale is investigated in three selected manuscripts (MS Lambeth, MS Trinity, and MS Digby), all of which are localized in different areas of England.

The first Englishmen to write about the city-state of Venice were the pilgrims passing through on their way to the Holy Land. Their impressions are recorded in the travel diaries and collections of advice for prospective fellow pilgrims between the early fourteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the most substantial being those of William Wey, Sir Richard Guylforde and Sir Richard Torkington, who visited Venice in 1458 and '62, 1506, and 1517 respectively. In the 1540s arrived the men who saw Venice as part of the new Europe--Andrew Borde and William Thomas. Thomas's study of the Venetian state emphasized the efficiency of its administration, seeing it as an example of constructive government, where effective organisation for the common good led directly to national stability and prosperity. The mid-sixteenth century saw the beginnings of Venice as a tourist centre; the visitors who came between 1550 and the end of the century described the sights and the people, the traditions and way of life. Fynes Moryson's extensive account details what could be seen and learned in the city by an observant and enquiring visitor. In addition to information available in first-hand accounts of Venice, much could be learned from the work of the late sixteenth-century English translators. Linguistic, cultural, geographical, historical and literary translations yielded further knowledge and, more importantly, new perspectives, Venice being seen through the eyes of Italians and, through Lewkenor's comprehensive work, The Commonwealth and Government of Venice, of Venetians themselves. Finally, to assess the general impressions of Venice and the Venetians, we consider the literature of the turn of the sixteenth-seventeenth century; what, and how much, of the three-hundred year accumulation of knowledge of the city and people of Venice had most caught the attention and imagination of the English mind, and how close was the relationship between the popular impression and the documentary information from which it had largely developed.

The Order of Fontevraud, founded in 1100 by the hermit/preacher Robert of Arbrisssel was the only twelfth-century women's order incorporating into its structure a group of chaplains and lay brothers whose specific role was to serve the nuns. This thesis examines the origins of the order and demonstrates that the English foundations were a stage in its development, closely linked to its Angevin connections. Each of the two houses established in England c.l 150 was founded and patronised by supporters of Henry Plantagenet. Westwood, founded by the de Say family, lesser barons from Herefordshire, received a modest endowment. Nuneaton, founded by the magnate Robert, earl of Leicester, was richly endowed. Twenty years later Henry II expelled the Benedictine community from Amesbury replacing it with a group from Fontevraud, thus founding the third house. A fourth, Grovebury, is not treated; it was never a foundation for women. I have studied the process of endowment and shown that the wealth and status of the founder in no small measure determined the future prosperity of the foundation. The internal organisation of the Fontevraud houses has been explored, in particular the balance between local autonomy and dependence on the mother house. As well, I have examined recruitment and shown that this, too, reflected on the circumstances of foundation. My main focus has been on the economy of these three houses, their income and expenditure and the exploitation of their assets. The nuns are seen as a group of women who were dynamic and creative in managing their affairs. This has not precluded an investigation into the spiritual, and in particular, the liturgical dimension of life in the English foundations. Fundamentally the Order of Fontevraud is presented as an opportunity for noble women of England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to live religious life in a new order, one renowned for its strict interpretation of the Rule of St Benedict and for the prayerfumess of its members, and one in which women were manifestly in control of their own destinies.

Visitatio, however, is driven by the same forces that drive equally dramatic liturgical commemorations year-round, climaxing in but not exclusive to the period around Easter. Beginning with an account of late Anglo-Saxon baptism, I examine the liturgy for the high festivals from Christmas to Ascension Day. For each chapter, I describe the liturgical forms for the day and their intended relationships with the participants, focussing on the establishment of dramatic associations between the celebrants and certain figures in the commemorated events. I then compare the liturgical forms with vernacular treatments of a particular festival, looking both for overt instruction and more subtle influence of the liturgy on the preaching texts. Anglo-Saxon preachers and homilists openly assumed the themes and symbolic images of the dramatic ritual in their attempts to make their congregations understand and take on Christian imperatives. Recursively, vernacular preaching helped solidify the meanings of the symbolic elements of the dramatic ritual and their significance to the lives of Christians. Anglo-Saxon appreciation of the dramatic potential of the liturgy was realized both in creative expansion of the liturgy and in the vernacular preaching texts that identified and enhanced this dramatic dynamic.

This thesis explores the use made by Lyly, Spenser, Chapman and Marston of the idea of metamorphosis, with a brief epilogue on Jonson. The two preliminary chapters define certain important contexts for the theme of metamorphosis in this period. Chapter I briefly considers Ovid's use of the theme, the Pythagorean and Platonic theory of transmigration, and the allegorization of metamorphosis. Medieval commentaries on the Metamorphoses are examined, but it is argued that Renaissance attitudes to Ovid and to metamorphosis are significantly different, being uniquely sensitive to both the poetic and metaphysical aspects. Renaissance responses to Apuleius' Golden Ass are also examined. Chapter II studies other Renaissance contexts: in the philosophy of man, in magic, witchcraft and alchemy, and in the love-poetry of Petrarch and Ronsard. Neither Elizabethan lyric poetry nor the epyllion, however, make suggestive use of theltheme: it is explored more fully in larger structures or different poetic modes. The next four chapters deal with the English writers. Lyly's plays use the theme of metamorphosis in two contexts: love, and the adulatory myths of the court. Chapter IV considers the complex and varied uses of metamorphosis in Spenser's Faerie Queene. It examines the treatment of of myth, the concepts behind the Garden of Adonis, and transformation as related to the theme of mutability. Chapter V examines the idea of form, set against deformity or transformation, in Chapman's poetry: especially The Shadow of Night and Hero and Leander. Here the basic philosophic or metaphysical assumptions behind Renaissance views-of the myth of metamorphosis are defined. Chapter VI deals with the satiric use of transformation by Marston. His Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image is analysed as parodying the common image of metamorphosis as an effect of love. The satires present a negative image of transformation caused by man's guilt and folly. The Epilogue, dealing with the negative image of transformation in Jonson's. plays and the positive one in the masques, concludes the study while suggesting further directions for exploration.

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This study concerns the concept of sacred architectural imitation, using the Platonic notion of mimesis which then later finds expression in the medieval idea of imitatio. In Religious as well as in artistic and architectural forms of expression, the notion of imitation is indeed a very central and complex issue. At the heart of this concept is the question of meaning, or, more precisely, the transference or translation of meaning; from original to copy, from prototype to reproduction. / In order to better illustrate and understand the principles guiding the notion of medieval sacred architectural imitation I have chosen to focus on five specific instances surrounding the replication of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, arguably the most revered landmark in Christendom. / A close examination of the relationships which exist between model and copy will bring to the fore the dynamics which govern the process of mimesis by which meaning is reproduced in the architectural replicas. / From this comparative analysis will emerge a more universal picture of the medieval concept of religious imitation. Indeed, if anything, a preliminary survey of the great many imitations of the Holy Sepulcher spread throughout Europe reveals to the observer a surprising trend, namely a consistency of inconsistencies in their effort to "copy". / The present study will demonstrate that these seeming inconsistencies within the application of the mimetic process nevertheless reveal a somewhat unexpected structure. / From the pattern of these inconsistencies will emerge a clearer picture of the principles governing the transfer of sacred meaning via the method of imitatio during the Middle Ages.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Revised September, 2007 / This study examines the continuity of mediaeval literary tradition in selected rhymed narrative verse. These verses were composed for entertainment at various times prior to 1648. At or shortly before this date, they were collected into The Percy Folio: BL. Add. MS. 27,879. Selected texts with an Historical or Romance topic are examined from two points of view: modification of source material and modification of traditional narrative stylistic structure. First, an early historical poem is analysed to establish a possible paradigm of the conventions governing the mediaeval manipulation of fact or source material into a pleasing narrative. Other texts are compared with the result of this analysis and it is found that twenty paradigmatic items appear to summarize early convention as their presence in other poems is consistent — no text agreeing with less than twelve. The second step is the presentation of the results of an analysis of some fifty mediaeval Romances. This was undertaken in order to delineate clearly selected motifemic formulae inherent in the composition of these popular narratives. It is shown that these motifemes, found in the Romances, are also present in the historical texts of The Percy Folio. The findings, derived from both strands of investigation, are that mediaeval continuity exists in the texts studied. The factors which actually comprise this ‘mediaeval continuity’ are isolated: it is then seen that rather than discard tradition as society grew further and further from the early circumstances that gave rise to it, later poets have chosen to contrive modifications designed to fit new requirements as they arise. Such modifications, however, are always within the established conventional framework. In short, no text examined failed to echo tradition, and mediaeval continuity is an important feature of the popular rhymed narrative in 1648 and The Percy Folio.