The aim of this thesis is to provide an overview of the period 1509-1515 in England, this being the first six years of the reign of Henry VIII. Within this timespan it is possible to witness the rise of Thomas Wolsey and also to examine the political situation before his ascendancy. Reaction to the new king will be examined on a number of fronts. His succession and the expectations placed on him will be looked at, expectations not only from his own people but also from those abroad. The highly visual natural of Henry VIII's court heightened this sense of expectancy and set the boundaries of the succeeding years. That group of men which attached itself to the king at work and play provides the starting point for this thesis. These were the middling courtiers, the men who sought favours and provided services. The desire for promotion at court provided a common bond for this diverse group. Young courtiers on the up, seasoned campaigners seeking rejuvenation and men of service, all sought promotion, through patronage, pedigree, personal ability or the grace of the king. Many men continued in positions of responsibility as held under Henry VII, creating a certain amount of continuity in administration. Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson felt the wrath of a monarch anxious to clear the air at the start of the reign and stamp his own brand of kingship on the court. Their associate Thomas Lovell continued and prospered under a king with no intention of embarking on a purge. William Compton rose from humble beginnings to become one of the king's closest confidants, recognised by many as the man to befriend. Opportunities were available for the ambitious courtier.

This thesis examines the céli Dé, individual ecclesiastics who constituted the intellectual and spiritual elite in the early medieval Irish church. The period covered by the thesis is restricted in A.D. 700-900 and focusses most fully on the late eighth and early ninth centuries. A distinction is drawn between those individuals referred to as céli Dé during this period under study and those ‘communities within communities’, concerned for the welfare of the sick and the poor, to whom the name is later attested. The thesis examines the primary source material, considers past and present theories regarding these ecclesiastics and refutes the consensus of opinion that the céli Dé were a reform movement who emerged in reaction to a degenerate clergy in a church under secular influence. It discusses what was intended by the designation céli Dé and proffers the opinion that the céli Dé were instead concerned with advancing all aspects of the duties and responsibilities of the church. Particular developments in ecclesiastical organisation during the period under study are discussed and the extent of the role of individual céli Dé in these are examined, but will conclude that it should not be assumed that these developments, or concern for their introduction, was wholly restricted to the céli Dé. There was a change in the basis of the source of royal authority from popular to divine sanction, during the course of the eighth century, and the political repercussions of this more abstract concept of kingship would ultimately culminate in the emergence of Irish national identity. The potential extent of céli Dé involvement in the promulgation of ecclesiastical law, a contributory factor in establishing centralised ecclesiastical authority, is discussed and an examination of attempts by kings of Tara to control the appointment of the abbots of Armagh is provided in an effort to indicate how they sought to establish a centralised secular authority on the basis of the acknowledged authority of Armagh.

This thesis sets out to investigate the activities of Edward I and his officials in Scotland during the period from the conquest of 1296 up until the settlement of September/October 1305. To this end, the administration established by the English king in 1296 is discussed to provide a starting-point from which to assess the events of the following decade. Following the renewal of the war in 1297, the investigation centres primarily on the activities of the English garrisons in Scotland in order to establish where, and to what extent, Edward could describe himself as ruler of Scotland. The campaigns of 1297, 1298, 1300, 1301 and 1303-4 form a necessary part of that investigation as the English sought to expand and consolidate their hold in south-west Scotland particularly. As a complement to the above, the administration of Scotland outwith English control - for which there is very little direct evidence - is also considered, as is the role of the fleet, vital to the survival of Edward's garrisons. The role of these garrisons - which defined the limit and extent of the English administration - is of such importance that an account is then given of the history of each castle held for Edward, however briefly. The final section of the thesis describes Edward's second settlement of Scotland. Between the submission of the Guardian in February 1304 and the ordinances of September 1305, the king devoted much time and energy to his Scottish subjects: a large number of disputes resulting from the war, largely concerned with lands and property, required to be decided and a new administrative system palatable both to Edward and the Scottish nobility to be worked out. This activity thus reflects the problems of the previous decade and the lessons learned from them.

This thesis explores aspects of the transitions from post-Roman British to Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman society in south-western Britain in the period c.400 to c.1200. It uses a multidisciplinary approach that focuses mainly on Exeter and a surrounding 'hinterland area' in Devon, and it also considers whether the models associated with the 'minster hypothesis' can contribute to our understanding of the area's history during this period. Four case studies are presented that examine the surviving evidence within the framework of 'conceptual boundaries' fossilised by ecclesiastical parishes; these suggest that a 'mother church system' comprising large 'original parishes' existed in the Exeter area in the late Anglo-Saxon period, although its origins remain uncertain. A possible context is explored through a re-evaluation of the evidence for local continuity of population and landscape occupation throughout the period, which provides the basis for a reinterpretation of the political and cultural metamorphoses by which the eastern part of British Dumnonia became Anglo-Saxon Devon and an exemplification of the process by which the Primitive Cornish language and toponymy of the Exeter area were replaced by Old English. The thesis concludes with a discussion of evidential and methodological problems that need to be addressed before further progress can be made.

The subject of this thesis is the social significance of knighthood in England during the reign of Edward I. The introduction outlines the process whereby knightly rank became associated with landed wealth. Evidence discussed in the second chapter points to the existence of many knights. The personal relationships between them indicate a defined social group. Next it is argued that the failure from the late 13th century of many landholders to take knighthood was prompted by financial considerations but the group retained its integrity. The fourth and fifth chapters investigate the nature of the knights ' lordship and reveal great variations in their social and economic power. The following chapter shows that inheritance underpinned the changing composition of the knightly group into which freemen might prosper. It is then suggested that territorial and family solidarities were more instrumental in determining alliances between knights and greater landholders than feudal tenurial ties. It is next shown that military and administrative service occasionally overlapped but those aspects of service were crystallizing respectively around the retinues of the magnates and the lesser knights active in the counties. The conclusion suggests that the cult of knighthood legitimized the social position of all knights.

This dissertation seeks to understand the relations between the Ottoman central administration and the Eastern Patriarchates. Against the current literature submitting these patriarchates to the authority of the Constantinopolitan patriarchs in the period following the Ottoman conquest, we suggest that such exclusive focus on the role of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate prevents one from seeing the true networks of power in which the Eastern Patriarchates were engaged. To that end, in addition to the major patriarchal and missionary sources a large corpus of unpublished and unused Ottoman archival documentation has been consulted. During the first centuries of the Ottoman rule the Eastern Patriarchs benefited largely from the local Ottoman legal and administrative bodies, semi-autonomous provincial rulers, and foreign courts. In early 18th century, alongside the rise of Catholic missions among the Orthodox flock and hierarchy, and of a wealthy and powerful lay class supported by the central administration, a patriarchal elite class with close affinities to Istanbul began to interact with the Eastern Patriarchates. Getting closer to the offers of the central administration, in both administrative and economic terms, these patriarchates’ relations which were formerly dependent on local and foreign dynamics were largely replaced by the new networks supported by the central administration.

This thesis examines a corpus of vernacular wisdom literature from early Ireland that is often referred to as tecosca ríg ‘instructions for kings’, or specula principum ‘mirrors for princes’. It reappraises some of the major theories and perceptions relating to this corpus in an effort to bring scholarly understanding up to date. The thesis begins by examining how and why modern scholars have read this corpus as wisdom literature for kings. It then looks at the development of modern theories of early Irish kingship and kingship ideology in relation to changing perceptions of vernacular literature. Special attention is paid to the concept of sacred kingship, with which this corpus been associated. Finally, this thesis examines the evidence of the tecosca against some of the major themes and debates raised in relation to the perception that these texts constitute advice for kings.

This study examines the development of artillery used in and around the Latin East during the period of the crusades. It begins with an examination of the broader historiography of medieval artillery, an overview of the spread of swing-beam siege engines (trebuchets) across Europe and the Levant in the Early Middle Ages, and the mechanical physics that govern such machines. From these foundations, the development and significance of the engines are investigated. Incorporating as much textual and archaeological evidence as possible, the use of artillery by Frankish and Muslim forces is examined on a case-by-case basis. With an appreciation of the power of these machines, the influence of artillery on the design of twelfth- and thirteenth-century-fortifications is analysed. Both Frankish and Muslim forces were familiar with the traction trebuchet by the end of the eleventh century. While these engines remained relatively light throughout the period of the crusades, the counterweight trebuchet appears to have been introduced by the end of the twelfth century. Initially rather primitive and little stronger than the traction variety, these engines developed fairly quickly. The appearance of new vocabulary for identifying these engines in the early thirteenth century indicates their increasing strength and physical evidence from the middle of the century confirms that they had become much more powerful by the start of the Mamluk period. Although counterweight trebuchets appear to have grown steadily throughout the thirteenth century, these had a relatively limited impact on the design of most fortifications. Trebuchets, large and small, were an important part of Frankish and Muslim siege arsenals in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but even the largest were not effective breaching engines by the time the Franks were pushed out of the Holy Land.

The following study of history through literature uses a French text composed by and for the court of Burgundy in the mid fifteenth century: the Cent nouvelles nouvelles. It demonstrates that philological interpretation of the text has floundered when it has ignored the historical context in which the work was composed. Alongside this critique, the thesis comes to the positive conclusion that it is valuable to restore an appreciation of the benefits of historical scholarship to the discipline of philology. In the first chapter, the case is made for reclaiming the text as a historical document on the basis of its context. Recent studies, which have insisted that the historical context of the work is unimportant, are examined critically, to establish the need for a historical reappraisal of the text, beginning where the pioneer archiviste-palaeographe Pierre Champion left off. In the second chapter, we see that both the traditional and more recent assumptions about the text, its authorship, date, and place in the canon of western European literature have to be reassessed. Through close study of manuscript and printed text, the textual tradition is asserted, and the Cent nouvelles nouvelles is restored to its historical milieu. Antecedents and analogue texts are examined in the context of the moral vision of the work as one which is similar to the Decameron's, though it involves an unrecorded deliberative process, which allows it to be considered as more of an aesthetic unity than philologists have recognised. The question of the Nouvelles' relationship to the contemporary literary context is examined in detail, particularly through an analysis of the issues of fashions in literary style, and the interplay of courtly with popular culture. This section is partly based on archival work. The third chapter, which is heavily based on chronicles and unpublished archival material, moves from the world to the text, to consider the men who made the text, and for whom the text was made. The immediate political context in which the work was conceived is shown to have a bearing on its form, and the raconteurs are replaced in their courtly milieu. We see that they were the closest to the duke, serving him in his household, his political network, his armies, his ideological aspirations, and his diplomacy. The network of sociability which underpinned the text made the Cent nouvelles nouvelles what it is: a Burgundian work from a particular time and place. Lastly, this chapter considers the raconteurs' contributions to the collection as extensions of their personalities, and as extensions of their careers of service, giving two particular examples in detail. The fourth chapter moves from the text to the world using the literature to throw light on the circumstances under which it was created. A sequence of individual stories (Nouvelles 2, 19, 53, 60, 63, 78, 83) are examined in their historical context, and explained in terms of the meaning they had when they were first recounted. The raconteurs' historical backgrounds, established in the previous chapter, prove invaluable in unlocking the particular significance of motifs, plots and jokes in the stories. We also see that philological appraisals which lack historical awareness are unable to appreciate the texts on their own terms. Nouvelles which have a basis in historical fact are considered alongside those which form part of a longstanding textual tradition. Both sorts of texts are shown to have a Burgundian specificity - a historical accent. The fifth chapter argues, on the basis of what has preceded it, that the method of restoring literary texts to a historical milieu is universal, even though not all texts may be as susceptible to such detailed analysis which was brought to bear on the Cent nouvelles nouvelles. It is contended that the evidential value of literature as historical document is more specific than it is general. Moreover, it is vital to ascertain what the literary text is most informative about, as well as what its limitations are as historical evidence. We see how postmodern ideas have taken root in philological theory. Cutting against postmodern theories about textuality and evidence, which have insisted that the historical context of the work is not merely unimportani but that it is irrelevant and unascertainahle, the conclusion argues for a return to the practice of setting texts in context. Appendix 1 deals with the codicology of MS Hunter 252, and compares the Verard text. Appendix 2 presents transcriptions of Nouvelle 63 from the manuscript, and two early printed versions. Appendix 3 demonstrates Verard's reuse of the woodcuts with which he decorated the Cent nouvelles nouvelles and emphasises that the commercial nature of his business impacted on aesthetic concerns. Appendix 4 deals with the question of the raconteurs that are difficult to identify, particularly the lords of Beauvoir and Villiers, and Caron.

The cult of St Patrick in the medieval period has been largely neglected in modern scholarship, which has predominantly tended to favour analysis of the saint’s own fifth-century writings; the troublesome area of fixing exact dates for his fifth-century career and context; the seventh-century Patrician vitae in the context of political rivalries between Armagh, Kildare and Iona; and Patrick’s status as an icon of modern Irish identity. My thesis represents the first full-length study of Patrick’s relic cult between the seventh and the late twelfth centuries by primarily concentrating on the evidence from his various Latin and Irish Lives belonging to this period. Each of the Lives of Patrick provide us a lens through which we can observe a vibrant and diverse array of Patrician relics during our period, many of which survive only in these texts; however, these Lives also act like mirrors of the historical realities in which they were conceived. By studying the Lives over a broad chronological period we gain invaluable information on several key aspects: why authors have chosen or not to retain or omit certain stories featuring relics; whether the numerous and various miracles and functions that these relics perform in the narratives indicate the type of role they had in and their value to wider society; if there is a growth in the number of Patrician relics in the texts at any given point in our period. By placing these aspects in their historical contexts, this thesis musters a better understanding of the broader ecclesiastical and secular political fortunes in Ireland and elsewhere that helped shape the development of Patrick’s cult as we know of it today.