<p> Using Michel Foucault's knowledge/power dynamic I demonstrate the ways in which Jane Austen examines the socially constructed nature of truth in her last three novels. In <i>Persuasion</i> competing ideas of power are represented by Captain Wentworth and Sir Walter Elliot, positing the idea that a society based on hierarchy is antiquated as economic, political and social configurations within England change. The detrimental effects of the marriage myth are revealed in <i>Mansfield Park</i>, as the social and sexual limitations of women are seen through the parallel stories of the Ward sisters and Fanny, Julia and Maria. <i>Emma</i> highlights the way in which Mrs. Elton uses Jane Fairfax to build her social identity, while it also promotes writing as a method for counteracting prescribed identity formation. Refocusing the analysis of Austen's work based on Foucault's work illuminates contentious characters and passages while revealing the ways in which people respond to social pressure.</p>

<p> This study seeks to discover what Carolingian monastic hagiography can tell us about monastic rules and customs in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, a time when a court-sponsored reform movement was shaking the foundations of traditional monastic practice. Reform legislation was trying to impose one rule&mdash;the Rule of Benedict&mdash;and one set of customs&mdash;written by the reformers&mdash;upon all monasteries of the realm, rejecting the other rules and customs by which monks had lived for centuries. Hagiography is one of the most important sources that monks produced to reveal the aspirations and self-identity of their order, but scholarship has never systematically used it to examine whether such radical reforms affected the way hagiography defined monastic perfection and the way it discussed rules and customs. This study bridges that gap, to find that hagiography provides a helpful counterbalance to the overly court-centric, legalistic approach to the reforms. Hagiographical evidence shows great continuity between Carolingian monastic ideals and those of earlier centuries, thus proving and contextualizing the fundamental failure of the reforms. Instead of discarding their past traditions to make room for a new, exclusively Benedictine tradition, Carolingian hagiographers portray a pluralistic monastic world in which many monastic rules and traditions can comfortably coexist, in which their own holy founders' customs are as valuable to their communities' spiritual development as the Rule of Benedict is. From the perspective of these monks, the Rule of Benedict is praiseworthy and can be used to legitimize their hagiographical heroes, but it remains merely one rule among many.</p>

Despite the formation of the German Empire in 1871, Germany remained, in theory at least, a federation of the larger German kingdoms, each of which could have its own relations with foreign powers. The British Government naturally conducted its business with the German Empire through the Imperial Foreign Office at Berlin, but it nevertheless found it extremely useful to keep a minister at Munich-Stuttgart. It may be remembered that, while this minister had not the rank of an ambassador, his office was not a mere appendage of the Embassy in Berlin, in the manner of consulates of to-day. It had independent and direct contact with the Foreign Office in London. The practice of sending Ambassadors to all nations, large and small, is a relatively recent one, for in the 19th century and early 20th century Ambassadors were appointed only to the capitals of the great Powers.

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The story of Prussia's defeat at the Battles of Jena and Auerstedt and subsequent reform has dominated the historiography of Napoleonic Prussia. While Napoleon has received the vast majority of historical attention, those who have written on Prussia have focused on the Prussian reform movement or the Prussian army's campaigns against Napoleon. These historians present the Prussian army before 1807 as an ossified relic, a hopelessly backward and rigid army commanded by a series of septuagenarians. Apart from the 1806 campaign, these scholars scarcely address the field operations of the Prussian army during the French Wars (1792-1801). This thesis seeks to prove that the Prussian army during the War of the Bavarian Succession and the War of the First Coalition was still an effective fighting force by examining the field operation of the Prussian army from 1778-1793 and the reactions of Prussian thinkers to it. The history of the Prussian army from 1778-1806 challenges the narrative of the army as a force in decline. The Prussian army struggled in the War of the Bavarian Succession, and the war revealed two of its weaknesses, the lack of light troops and an uncoordinated strategic approach. However, many of the problems of the war were failures of Fredrick and Henry as generals rather than the army as a whole. The army's performance during the War of the First Coalition against the French proved that it was a highly effective force and able to win even when significantly outnumbered. The existence of the reform movement following the war of the First Coalition and the implementation of some changes demonstrated that the army was far from dormant and its officers still sought ways improve it. While the army did not enjoy commanders of the caliber of Frederick the Great in his prime, before 1806 it retained the discipline and effectiveness in battle it displayed under Fredrick.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1941. Adviser: Antoinette Burton. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-261) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2008. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2008. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Germanic Studies, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 7, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-10, Section: A, page: 3870. Adviser: William Rasch.