As a large-scale international cultural phenomenon, the Jerusalem pilgrimage must be approached comparatively. This project compares the pilgrimage accounts of two Germans and two Englishmen who travelled to Jerusalem in the second half of the long fifteenth century. The texts are those of William Wey, (written c.1470), Bernhard von Breydenbach (printed 1486), Arnold von Harff (written 1499) and the 'Pylgrymage of Sir Richard Guylforde', composed by his anonymous chaplain (printed 1511). Each chapter focuses on a pilgrim, and one of four thematic topics: genre, the religious other, curiosity and print. This project treats these works as literary texts which can be approached from the perspective of cultural history, rather than as historical sources. The project, therefore, is more a consideration of how the pilgrimage is represented than it is about the events of each pilgrimage, and so it looks at the pilgrimages created in writing. Pilgrimage writings tend to focus on Jerusalem's spiritual significance, rather than its worldly position. In this sense, textual representations of travel to Jerusalem represent something of a disconnect with travel to other physical destinations, and the conceptual space of pilgrimage will be of key significance to this thesis. This has implications for practice as well as writing, and therefore the thesis will address how the writers consider their journeys, as well as the idea of virtual pilgrimage. The thesis engages with questions of identity, and how it is presented, as well as the authors' relationship with their audiences. This necessitates analysing collective identity, as well as the different audiences for printed and manuscript texts. The most important research question, bringing together these issues, considers whether the authors' different geographical origins affect their self-presentation and understanding of pilgrimage. This leads to my central contention: that pilgrimage must be portrayed as a single, unified experience.

Nicht völlig zu unrecht wird die 1498 ersterwähnte Ratsschulbibliothek Zwickau mit ihren rund 80.000 Drucken des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts vor allem als reicher Fundus für die Forschung zur frühen europäischen Neuzeit wahrgenommen. Weit weniger bekannt hingegen ist, dass sie über den eigentlichen historischen, praktisch alle Wissensgebiete der Frühen Neuzeit umfassenden Buchbestand hinaus auch über eine stattliche Sammlung älterer Notenhandschriften und -drucke verfügt, die seit dem 16. Jahrhundert zum universalwissenschaftlichen Ansehen der Ratsschulbibliothek beiträgt.

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This thesis unites a selection of H. G. Wells’s scientific romances with the theoretical approaches of philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Deleuzian theory provides a challenging yet powerful set of conceptual tools, used to rethink existing texts and critical paradigms, allowing the revaluation of literature, film and other fields. Within specific case studies, various aspects of Wellsian texts are used to exemplify a number Deleuzian concepts; for example, ‘Becoming-Animal’ in The Island of Doctor Moreau, the ‘Body Without Organs’ in The War of The Worlds and ‘Nomadology’ in The Time Machine. Characteristically, rather than simply applying philosophy to the arts, Deleuzian theory attempts to extract philosophy from them, and this approach should aim to engage positively and constructively with a text, serving to demonstrate ‘productive use of the literary machine…that extracts from the text its revolutionary force’ (Anti-Oedipus 116). Via this process, various Wellsian conceits are examined that have subsequently become synonymous with the science fiction genre, such as transhumanism, alien invasion and time travel. In performing this process, Wells is recast as a writer and thinker who demonstrates resonance with Deleuze’s theoretical approach. Having established the value of a Deleuzian reading via the medium of the specific textual case-studies, the thesis concludes with an argument concerning whether Wells himself can be positioned in terms of a Deleuzian ‘conceptual persona’, and ultimately the question of his adherence to the concept of ‘minor’ literature and writing is addressed. Deleuze maintains that any work of art ‘points a way through life, finds a way through the cracks’ (Negotiations 143), and how Wells’s oeuvre engages with this process is demonstrated, taking into account the myriad of ‘mutations’ to which it has been subject. Ultimately, this serves to demonstrate the ‘untimely’ power of Wells’s literature; ‘acting counter to our time and thereby acting on our time and, let us hope, for the benefit of a time to come’ (Difference xix).

This dissertation is generally concerned with Plato's conception of philosophy, as the conception is ascertainable from the Republic and certain ‘post-Republic' dialogues. It argues that philosophy, according to Plato, is multi-disciplinary; that ‘philosophy' does not mark off just one art or science; that there are various philosophers corresponding to various philosophical sciences, all of which come together under a common aim: betterment of self through intellectual activity. A major part of this dissertation is concerned with Plato's science par excellence, ‘the science of dialectic' (he epistêmê dialektikê). The science of dialectic is distinguished in Plato by being concerned with Forms or Kinds as such; the science of dialectic, alone amongst the philosophical sciences, fully understands what it means for Form X to be a Form. I track the science of dialectic, from its showcase in Republic VI and VII, and analyze its place in relation to the other philosophical sciences in certain post-Republic dialogues. Ultimately, I show that, whilst it is not the only science constituting philosophy, Plato's science of dialectic represents the intellectual zenith obtainable by man; the expert of this science is the topmost philosopher. In this dissertation I also argue that Socrates, as variously depicted in these dialogues, always falls short of being identified as the philosopher par excellence, as that expert with positive knowledge of Forms as such. Yet I also show that, far from being in conflict, the elenctic Socrates and the philosopher par excellence form a complementary relationship: the elenctic philosopher gets pupils to think about certain things in the right way prior to sending them off to work with the philosopher par excellence.

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published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis provides a new consideration of the late twelfth-century legal treatise commonly known as Glanvill. Detailed analysis of the extant Glanvill manuscripts has enabled a number of important new conclusions about the nature of the treatise itself and its textual history and development over time relative to the changing common law. The function and ongoing usage of the treatise are discussed in detail and conclusions are drawn about how, when and why the treatise continued to be copied and/or engaged with and what this may reveal about the history of the English common law. Some traditional views about the treatise and its textual history have been challenged, not least the general perception of its two textual traditions as monolithic. This study adds substantively to the scholarship on the two so-called 'versions' of the treatise, Glanvill Continued and Glanvill Revised, both of which have been reassessed. The traditional view that Glanvill Continued represented a significant and 'official' attempt at modernizing the treatise for a mid thirteenth-century audience has been challenged. In contrast, new study of the nature and text of Glanvill Revised has re-emphasized its importance in the treatise's history and the uniqueness of its bipartite revision and re-revision, differentiating and describing these clearly for the first time. An attempt has also been made to see the treatise in the context of the later legal literature that followed it and to link such literature back to Glanvill. It is suggested that the explosion of English legal literature in the thirteenth century at once represents the treatise's success as the written starting point of the common law and its failure, given that, with the notable exception of Bracton, such literature moves substantively away from the earlier treatise. Having said this, Glanvill arguably continued to play a role, direct and indirect, through the later literature of the law and continued to be copied, read and used alongside it. More systematic study has been undertaken of the Scottish text based upon Glanvill, the Regiam Majestatem, and it is argued that the Regiam is a much more genuine attempt at re-editing Glanvill than has traditionally been thought and that the twelfth-century English treatise may have been surprisingly applicable in early fourteenth-century Scotland. Finally, this study has involved a new assessment of the later history of Glanvill from the fifteenth century to today, considering both the later ownership and use of its manuscripts and early printed editions and its legal and political citations. Consideration of the varying function and usage of the treatise over time enables light to be thrown upon Glanvill, the later periods in which it was read and used and the beginnings of legal history.

During the nineteenth century there was a series of reforms in the Swedish poor relief system. These changes laid the basis for the Swedish social policies implemented in today’s modern society. It is also during this period of time this paper has its focus. There were specific gender roles and citizenship ideals in the society and the aim of this paper is to illustrate how these roles and ideals took place in the poor relief system as well. This will be done by a comparative study of the poor relief organization in Karlstad and Kristinehamn in the county of Värmland. When the poor relief board had meetings they kept strict protocol of the discussions and those protocols are the subject of this qualitatively interpretive study.   In this paper the study is chronologically presented from the year 1871 to 1918. Previous research shows that there were strict roles and ideals in the society and in the poor relief system as well and the material of this study shows that it comprises these two cities also. This paper shows that gender-related discrimination in fact did exist within the poor relief. The poor relief did offer some chores to the poor people in exchange for care and these chores were gender-related as well. The conclusions of this paper are based on comparison with previous research and the theoretical basis presented in the study.