Based on the author's Ph. D thesis. / Published by York Medieval Press in association with Boydell & Brewer and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (M.A. (Philosophy))--Rhodes University, 2005. / "A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the department of Philosophy" -T.p.

This graduation theses deals with the conditions of reconstruction of the Krivoklat castle by the noble family of the Fürstenbergs. Their reconstruction activities are viewed according to the temporal way of thinking of the historical noble families and common attitude to architecture and rising movement of care of historical monuments in the 19th century. The castle plays the role of the Fürstenbergs possession and the other society changed according to the raising of nationalistic moods and the great personalities of the community. Another important part of this work is a survey of the architects who changed the appearance of the castle, particularly J. B. Urban who was the chief of Fürstenberg´s building section. His memories serves as a worth source of information.

The goal of this diploma thesis, Marriage Strategies of the Czech Aristocracy in the Pre-White Mountain Period, is to introduce strategies, which the members of aristocracy, especially the high nobility, exploited in the period before the battle of White Mountain. The choice of partner is understood in this context as a means of self-presentation of an individual and his or her family, and as symbol of the aristocracy's identity in the early modern period. This diploma thesis is based on a database of marriages of Czech aristocrats between 1500 and 1650, utilising available literature and published sources. The thesis analyses these known facts and observes how the above mentioned strategies differed in dependence on the social and property status of the family. Firstly, the requirements when choosing a partner related to social aspects: for example the social group of the bridesroom and bride; whether their marriage was within their social group, or if marriages between a man from knighthood and woman from nobility and vice versa were common; whether brothers and sisters married partners from the same social group or first-borns married partners from higher social groups than their younger siblings, or vice versa. Secondly, there are geographical aspects: for example the region from which men chose their brides; and whether they preferred women of Czech or foreign origin. Finally, the role of religion will be discussed, to determine whether it was a crucial factor when choosing a partner, and whether marriages of people of different beliefs were possible.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The aim of this thesis is to clarify the relationship of Czech nobility towards Austria, but also towards Czechoslovakia in the 1930s. That is because it's not possible to clarify the nobility's relationship with Austria without specifying its approach towards the Czechoslovak Republic. Since there was a plenty of noble families, more or less known, living on the territory of Czechoslovakia during the age of the First Republic, it was necessary to choose only some of them. This thesis focuses on the houses of Buquoy, Czernin of Chudenice and both ancestral lines of Schwarzenbergs (Hluboká-Krumlov branch and Zvíkov-Orlík branch). The objective of this thesis is to establish what kind of relationship did the noble families take towards the newly formed republics, and also to which extent did they deal with the dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy, both based on an analysis of sources mainly of personal nature (correspondence and diaries). Their relationship ended up showing mainly in the late 1930's, when the families had to decide, whether they were going to stay loyal to the Czechoslovak Republic or whether they were going to side with the nazi Germany.

This dissertation is a cultural and social history of healing in Japan from the tenth to the thirteenth century. In particular, in this work I examine the connection between Buddhism and healing, and the interactions between Buddhist healers and other technicians involved in the treatment of illness, such as onmyōji and court physicians. This direction of research is informed by historical anthropology and microhistory, and constitutes and attempt towards an ethnography of early medieval Japan, an era in which Buddhism constituted the most pervasive cultural force. The study of Buddhism in its therapeutic dimension among the court elites thus doubles as a study of Buddhism in its everyday dimensions, and of its contributions to the understanding of the forces that shaped everyday life, with an emphasis on facets that are often overlooked in Japanese and western Buddhology, including the interpretation and treatment of illness, discourses on etiology, spirit possession and iatromancy (divination on disease).While generally treated as discrete entities, Buddhism, onmyōdō, kami cults, and court physicians and their therapeutic technologies existed side by side and intersected in complicated ways when seen in the daily life of court aristocrats. Through an analysis of the journals that these figures have left behind, I aim to complicate the boundaries separating these cultic realms by arguing that while distinct at the level of professional practitioners, Buddhism, onmyōdō and other spheres of specialized knowledge all functionally contributed to the culture of everyday life of court aristocracy. Focusing on practices and discourses that blur the boundaries between ritual and physical endeavors, and dealing with themes that range from spirit possession and its political implications to the relationship between kami and buddhas, from the ritual implications of an expanded access to the levers of power to the transformation of a foundational Buddhist ritual into a therapeutic practice, I criticize the tendency displayed by scholars to partition the activities of Buddhist monks, onmyōji and court physicians in epistemic terms, so that while court physicians would be concerned with the physical body, the others — and Buddhist monks in particular — would not. This distinction, which clearly echoes the modern differentiation between “medicine” and “religion,” is however inadequate to account for the complexity of the therapeutic arena of early medieval Japan. Through an examination of various practitioners of healing from the tenth to the thirteenth century, I will argue for the need to rethink neat taxonomies and sanitized epistemological spaces; rediscover the centrality of practice and redefine its relationship with normative texts and theorizations; and explore, on the ground, the complexity of daily life and its processes.

No description available.

Através deste trabalho, pretendemos analisar o poema Beowulf e sua importância na sociedade da Inglaterra anglo-saxônica, em especial no que se refere às imagens aristocráticas e régias. Estabelecemos paralelos das personagens encontradas no poema e demais referencias do corpo poético anglo-saxão, com o quadro sócio-cultural do momento tendo por foco o período chamado em nossa pesquisa por período alfrediano. Segundo nossa hipótese, teria sido dentro deste período (final do século VIII e início do século XI) que provavelmente Beowulf teria sido composto, assim como outras obras de cunho heróico. A idéia central seria de que tais obras teriam uma finalidade modelar para a aristocracia guerreira durante o momento da reconquista dos territórios ocupados pelos escandinavos desde o início das primeiras invasões. Assim, as imagens encontradas nessas obras e em especial Beowulf, estariam espelhando um ideal aristocrático germânico, mas profundamente influenciado pela tradição cristã. Desta forma, o que teremos será uma produção poética incentivada pela ascensão da Casa de Wessex (iniciada pelo rei Alfred, o Grande) que irá refletir o ideário germânico de glória e honra unido a elementos cristão, principalmente do Velho Testamento. Ao reforçar tais elementos, o período alfrediano estabeleceria um modelo aristocrático e régio, tendo o poema Beowulf como um reflexo desta retomada cultural numa Inglaterra pré-conquista normanda / With this work, we intend to study the Beowulf poem and its importance on Anglo-Saxon society, mainly about the kingship and aristocratic images. We established some parallels of what could be found in the poem and other references of the Anglo-Saxon poetic staff, with the socio-cultural scenario of the age keeping on focus the moment that we call alfredian period. Following our hypothesis, it would have been on this period (end of 8th century and early 11th century) that Beowulf would have been composed, as other works of heroic style. The central idea is that such works had the purpose to be a role model to the warrior-aristocracy in a moment of reconquering of the territories occupied by the Scandinavians since the beginning of the invasions. So, the images found on this kind of work, and specially Beowulf, would have been a resemblance of a Germanic aristocratic ideal, but deeply influenced by the Christian tradition. With this in mind, what we have are a poetic enterprise supported by the ascension of the House of Wessex (started by king Alfred, the Great) which will reflect the Germanic ideal of glory and honor joined with Christian elements, mainly from the Old Testament. With the stressing of this elements, the Alfredian period would established an aristocratic and kingly model, having the Beowulf poem as a sign of this cultural renascence on an England before the Norman conquest.

This thesis argues that in the wake of the Decembrist Revolt in Russia in 1825, the British Foreign Office was forced to address the tension between two conceptions of stability-one domestic and one international. It contends that the aristocratic ethos of the British diplomatic corps both magnified the fragile social condition of the Russian Empire and organized the political response which subordinated this concern to the international equilibrium of Europe. Ambassadors such as Lord Strangford and Edward Cromwell Disbrowe helped interpret the events of the Decembrist conspiracy while stationed in St. Petersburg and reported back to their Foreign Secretary, George Canning, who used the revolt as an attempt to realign British interests with Russia. In the end, elite Britons chose to protect the international balance of power in post-Napoleonic Europe instead of the traditional social hierarchies believed to be under siege in Russia. / by Kenneth Posner. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.