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This dissertation explores the role of Absolutist states in the transition from feudalism to capitalism in Western Europe. Three general questions are addressed: (1) what are the determinants of variations in the autonomy of rulers? (2) what are the consequences of variations in autonomy for states policies? and (3) what are the effects of various state policies on economic development? A new theoretical framework, based on a synthesis of the neoclassical economic literature on principal-agent relations and current organizational theory in sociology, is developed to answer these three questions. Case studies of Absolutism in England, France, Sweden, and Spain are used to illustrate the explanatory power of the theory.

Commentaries on the medieval notion of the "conjugal debt" have often emphasized its reciprocal nature, but its inequality becomes apparent when re-embedded into its theological, medical, and legal contexts. By tracing the theology that accompanied 1 Cor 7:3-4 through selected theologians, I will demonstrate that Paul's words did not function in equivalent ways for both spouses. By examining medieval medical understandings of human physiology, I will ask what it means to 'have authority over a body' when the bodies themselves are not equal. Finally, by demonstrating ways in which consent and coercion blurred together in twelfth-century legal debates, I will ask how meaningful it is to grant spouses equal rights to sex when their marriage may have been coerced. The topic will serve as a broader meditation on what it means to 'have authority over a body' and to conceive of marital sexuality as a system of debt.

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This thesis discusses early modern European perceptions of body and soul in association with the increasing stringency of civilized behaviour and state formation in an effort to provide motivation for the increased severity of the witch hunts of that time. Both secondary and primary sources have been used, in particular the contemporary demonologies by such authors as Bodin, and Kramer and Sprenger. The thesis is divided into five chapters, including an Introduction and Conclusion. The body of the thesis focuses on religious, scientific, and secular beliefs (Ch. 2), appearance and characteristics of witches (Ch. 3), and the activities and behaviours/actions of witches, (Ch. 4). This study concentrates on the similarities found across Europe, and, as the majority of witches persecuted were female, my thesis emphasizes women as victims of the witch hunts.

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Cardinal Bessarion came from his native Byzantium and settled in Rome in the mid fifteenth century. He was a Basilian monk and, at the time, a Greek Archbishop. His cultural background was in the rationalist tradition of Greek theology. As the Byzantine Empire succumbed to the invading Turks he made it his mission to preserve as much of Greek cultural heritage as possible. Part of this mission was to set out for the Italians (or Latins as he called them) the teachings of Plato of which they had only scanty knowledge. His work in Calumniatorem Platonis was intended as a defence of Plato's teachings against the criticisms of the militant Aristotelian George of Trebizond. This thesis examines Bessarion's exposition of Plato's teachings in that work on a range of philosophical questions that were litmus tests of theological orthodoxy at the time. It argues that Bessarion's exposition of Plato is heavily interpreted through a prism of later commentaries and thinkers particularly the Neo-Platonists. It shows how these interpretations and Bessarion's use of his sources is determined by his aim of showing that Plato's philosophy was closer to Christian orthodoxy than Aristotle's and, therefore, provided a firmer philosophical base than the prevailing Aristotelianism.

Voyages of discovery could not be entertained until the advent of three-masted ships. Single-sailed ships were effective for voyages of short duration, undertaken with favourable winds. Ships with two masts could make long coastal voyages in the summer. Both these types had more or less severe limitations to sailing to windward. To sail any ship successfully in this mode it is necessary to be able to balance the sail plan accurately. This method of keeping course could not reach its full development until more than two sails were available for manipulation. Rudders never were adequate to hold ships to windward courses. Ships with three or more masts could be sailed in all weather with very little dependence on the power of the rudder and the freedom from this limitation made it possible to build ships large enough to carry sizable crews, their stores and spare gear over ocean crossings. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This study examines the systemic function and public role of "Sailor Princes" within the context of the nineteenth-century revival of monarchy. It explores how, between 1850 and 1914, the reigning families of Britain, Denmark, Germany and Greece chose to educate their younger sons in the navy and thereby created powerful links with a mythically invested symbol of national identity and modernity, of bourgeois virtue, imperial integration and exotic adventure. All four countries perceived themselves as maritime powers defined by their long seafaring traditions and/or great hopes for a naval future, by their possession of (in)formal seaborne colonial empires and/or by their substantial imperial ambitions. By latching onto the prominent trend of the nineteenth-century lure of the sea and of naval enthusiasm, the dynasties of Saxe-Coburg, Glücksborg and Hohenzollern were able to adapt these mental geographies for their own purposes and thus to generate an appealing brand image for the emerging political mass market. Prince Alfred of Britain (1844-1900), Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862-1929), Prince Valdemar of Denmark (1858-1939) and Prince Georgios of Greece (1869-1957) all became powerful personality brands of their respective monarchies. This study investigates the mechanisms and the agents responsible for their success. It examines the role of the sea and of maritime imageries in nineteenth-century national identities; the myths and realities of naval education and naval professionalism; the processes by which seaborne colonial empires and diaspora communities were integrated into larger imperial units and represented to each other via interimperial diplomacy; as well as the public reception, appropriation and recreation of the "Sailor Prince" brand in various popular media, e.g. family magazines, adventure fiction and consumer goods.