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The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and discuss the changing ways in which the visual art of heraldiy was perceived by the feudal aristocracy of twelfth- and thirteenth-century England. It shows how the aristocracy evolved from a military class to a courtly, chivalric class, and how this change affected art and culture. The shifts in the perceptions of heraldry reflect this important social development of the knightly class.

Nonviolent campaigns often extend beyond national boundaries, attracting the attention and involvement of international actors. However, our understanding of the effects of external support on the outcomes of nonviolent protests remains limited. Existing research mainly focuses on internal factors of success or concentrates on one or few cases. This paper aims to provide a generalizable theory of the effects of Black Knights – foreign powers supporting an incumbent government against opposition at home – on movement success. Through a large- N, quantitative analysis based on cross-sectional time-series data from 1980 to 2013, I find support for the hypothesis that foreign sponsorship negatively impacts the prospects of nonviolent victory. Additionally, this paper tests the mechanisms theorized against the case of the Belarusian uprising of 2020-2021. By formulating an extensive theory of the effects of Black Knights and adding depth to the measurement of external assistance by taking into account different types of support, my research expands the current knowledge base on the impacts of support to regimes.

Much has been written about various aspects of the long presence of the Knights of the Order St John on the island of Malta. Nonetheless, throughout this literature there is one noticeable omission - a study of the commercial development of the harbour area during the first decades of the Order’s rule. Despite Malta’s small size, the presence of the Order of St John (1530 -1798) ensured an inflow of foreign resources which eventually permitted very dense human settlement and an international projection beyond the island’s shores which was largely disproportionate to what would normally have occurred in such a small and sterile island. The maritime nature of the Order and the heavy dependence on imports hastened the creation of an efficient maritime communication system. The development of all these economic activities resulted in a prime economic means of generating wealth and served as a pull factor to a large number of enterprising individuals, both local and foreign. Early modern Hospitaller Malta eventually saw the consolidation of an enterprising business class, which, out of sheer necessity, grew accustomed to operating well beyond its narrow confines. In turn, this contributed to the island becoming more open to connectivity with the outside world. Hence, the main aim of this thesis is to explore in detail various economic activities taking place in Malta during this particular period which spans from 1530 to 1565. The year 1565 has been chosen as a marker since during this year there was a break in the normal chain of events due to the turmoil created by the Great Siege. In order to reach this goal the practical functioning of commerce with its agreements and disputes, its currencies, its trading posts and its nodal points shall be analyzed. Furthermore, this thesis strives to show how notarial evidence, together with that derived from records of various tribunals set up on the island at the time, supplement each other and help to fill in gaps. While discussing different methodological approaches to the study of the Mediterranean, the first chapter of this study shall also assess Malta’s place within the wider Mediterranean historiographical framework. It shall also trace the development of Maltese historiography and its contribution to the study of legal, economic and social issues relating to the sixteenth century. Furthermore, this study shall place the various series of primary sources used for its compilation in their proper context, thus allowing the reader to evaluate better the significance of the information provided. The second chapter shall evaluate how the arrival of the Order provided for the setting up of new institutions and for the promulgation of new laws in order to consolidate its authority over the island despite repeated promises to respect and honour ancient rights and privileges. The following three chapters shall each be dedicated to a particular case study which will try to address specific topics that have been largely neglected in Maltese historiography. Thus, starting with an analysis of the grain trade, which was of the utmost importance for a sterile island with an ever-increasing population, it will be followed by another case study which seeks to evaluate the role of women, their legal persona and how this affected their contribution to the island’s economic activities. The final chapter will try to establish whether there were any commercial links between Malta, often described as the frontier and bulwark of Christianity, and its neighbouring Ottoman North African territories. If such trade existed, how did merchants, both Christian and Muslim, manage to overcome religious antagonism which should have inhibited the easy flow of trade? The objective of this study shall therefore be to shed much-needed light on economic activities taking place in and around the harbour area during a largely unexplored period in Maltese history. Moreover, it shall seek to provide a better understanding of Mediterranean commercial relations since the Maltese harbour was a point of intersection not only for people of different nationalities, but even for people of different faiths, such as Muslims, Jews and Christians of different denominations. All had one common goal which unified them, that is, trading and making profit out of it.

Originally issued as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-302) and index.

Originally issued as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-302) and index.

Thesis--Université de Paris I. / Published in 1979 under title: La pensée alchimique et le Conte du Graal. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 625-639.

Dissertation abstract This dissertation deals with the lowest segment of administration in Bohemia - regional offices - with respect to their personnel staffing in 1537-1848. The chronological limits of the work were determined by surviving archival sources of the central institutions and printed calenders and "schematizations" which enabled, with exceptions of a part of problematic years of the Thirty Years'War, to compile the line of the regional governors in this period. The first two chapters briefly discuss the development of the regions and regional governors'duties, and in this way delimit the frames of their activities in the society. The next two chapters form the basis of the study. They are focused on the participation of nobility in the administration of the regions in chronological order. Firstly, the share of the high nobility and particulary aristocracy within in holding the office is observed, dividing the period into three parts, first the period before the White Mountain Bettle, the second within the years 1631-1713 and last is limited by the years of the regions'reforms in 1714 and 1751. The reason for adopting the chronological division was the used method which enabled to specify the biggest land possesors in the regions after the White Mountain period and to clarify the involment of...

This thesis explores representations of wild nature in two Arthurian texts – one British and one American – produced in an age characterised by rapid social transformation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859-1885) and Howard Pyle’s Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903). By investigation of the textual descriptions of wilderness and the portrayals of characters living there, the study aims to investigate what attitudes towards unkempt nature are displayed in the two texts. While both narratives give evidence of a powerful nostalgia for a vanishing paradise, the yearning for Eden is expressed quite differently. Pyle’s text fuses the concepts of wilderness and paradise together by depicting the unkempt landscape as a place of splendour and spiritual enjoyment. Such a celebration of nature might well be seen a reaction against the rapid loss of wild spaces across America (and Britain) during the life-time of the author. In the Idylls, paradise is represented in the domesticated yet green landscape of the faraway fairy island of Avilion. Wilderness, on the other hand, is depicted as a harmful disease progressively spreading across the realm, arguably bringing about a moral degeneration among the human characters. In the end, however, it is not wilderness, but the corruption of the supposedly civilised characters that causes the collapse of Arthur’s empire. On closer inspection, the real danger thus seems to come from culture and material conditions rather than from nature.

The purpose of this study is to introduce the ten documents, written in the Italian language, registered by Riksarkivet, Stockholm. The oldest document being written in 1346 and the last one in 1520, they all belong to the European medieval period. The study provides the texts (sometimes contracted, sometimes partly translated from Latin), the cultural backgrounds to the texts and possible reasons why they are written in Italian. An additional question concerning the existence of people in Medieval Sweden who were able to read and understand Italian texts is discussed. The importance of the extension of the Italian language in the Mediterranean area as well as in the Levant is referred to as an explanation of the use of Italian in the documents. Important motives of the fact that some of the documents are being found in the Swedish archive are the activities of the Swedish Expeditions to the Vatican library as well as the life of Bridget of Sweden, who played an outstanding role in the political, cultural and political life in Europe in the fourteenth century. A short background to the studies at the Studio of Siena of a number of Swedish students is given and also to the foundation of the University of Uppsala. The study is concluded by presenting an evaluation of the ten documents.