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This thesis is an attempt to shed light on the related questions of how we should read Piers Plowman and of what kind of book its author was trying to write. In the first chapter it is argued that feminine line-endings are an important feature of Langland's metre, and consideration is given to how they affect our reading of the verse. It is suggested that the verse demands a slow and meditative reading, and that Langland's text emerges as a list of items not easily related to each other; the reader is challenged to work out connexions and thus in a sense to compose his own poem. The second chapter is an examination of the medieval conceptions and modes of thought that are associated with the word "reson". The term "reasonable" is later used to refer to these. In the last part of the chapter it is argued that Langland's aim is to make his readers seek salvation, and that he is aware of certain difficulties with the traditional, "reasonable" approaches of other moralists. His own book is "unreasonable"; its mixture of modes of thought, and hence of the thought-worlds they project, makes narrative consistency and definiteness of argument impossible. In the rest of the thesis some of the juxtapositions between modes of thought are examined. The. third chapter deals with "positive” juxtapositions, which create in the reader's mind a sense of satisfying, but nevertheless "unreasonable", illumination; the speech of Wit and the vision of the Passion and Crucifixion are discussed in detail. The fourth chapter deals with "negative" juxtapositions, which provoke a sense of bewilderment and dissatisfaction; discussion centres on Ymaginatiyf's speech in the C text, Need's speech, and the confessions of the Seven Deadly Sins,

A detailed examination of the interactions between individuals and their wider social experiences is the primary aim of this thesis. It is intended that such an investigation will present a picture of local society within which the ties between individuals and families are more multi-faceted than a strict feudal presentation of society would allow. This formulation takes into account a number of components and involves the important consideration of religious patronage as an indicator of local attachments. The investigation of the social role of religious patronage, including consideration of personal motivation and the politics of choice, will be the subject of two chapters and will provide an important indication of the strength of local attachments and social ties. The main theme throughout this work will be that the development of local society involved the integration of a number of social groups within a framework provided by relatively clear geographical boundaries. This thesis thus aims to portray the main characteristics of local society in more three dimensional terms than have been previously attempted, by approaching the subject from a number of different angles. The thesis will accordingly elaborate the existing picture of Scottish society, through the movement of discussion away from the narrow confines of superior lordship.

The thesis begins by exploring the threshold of old age in the Middle Ages. The subjectivity of ageing is rehearsed and the difficulties of identifying the elderly by physical or mental traits. A discussion on fixing the starting point of old age using the aetates hominis and relevant medical and legislative sources follows. The thesis continues with an examination of attitudes towards biological ageing. Chapter Two adopts the physiology of Galen (129-199) in relation to ageing as a starting point and follows its development in the Middle Ages. Ancient and medieval attitudes to the fundamental question of whether ageing is natural or pathological are also considered. The pathologies which were associated with old age in the medieval period are identified and the various lines of treatment which were prescribed for them are assessed. The theological view on ageing in relation to sin is determined next. The attitude of spiritual physicians to elderly penitents is explored by examining the libri poenitentiales. Theological and physiological attitudes are then compared. The theme of wholeness and disintegration which is highlighted by that comparison is carried into the following chapter which considers images of old age in medieval literature. In particular, the old person's proximity to physical corruption is explored against the background of medieval society's fascination with death and the cadaver. Chapter Five attempts to mitigate the harsh view of life in old age in the literary sources by analysing notions of the debt which children owed to aged parents and considering the means of social security which were available to the elderly when the family failed to support them. The ultimate purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of medieval society's understanding of how and why humans aged and the attitude of that society to its liminal members.

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This thesis examines the historia works of Bede in the light of the influence of genre and rhetoric on the construction of their narratives. To do this it reflects upon the importance of understanding and differentiating between Bede's immediate monastic audience and the wider Anglo-Saxon one. It also proposes that the motivation behind Bede's writing was multifaceted and included monastic competition as well as a desire to present Late Antique and Patristic models in a manner readily accessible to his Northumbrian compatriots. To show the extent of influence of genre boundaries and rhetorical devices this thesis examines his well known historia texts, such as the Historia Ecclesiastica, as well as those which have received relatively less attention from historians, particularly the Historia Abbatum, the Chronica Maiora and the Martyrologium. The thesis also illustrates the extent of the use of rhetorical devices and textual constructions through the discussion of two case studies. The first looks at Bede's Northumbrian Saintly Kings; the second, at his Northumbrian Holy Women. The case studies indicate that historical accuracy was of secondary importance to Bede. Rather, they suggest that the dissemination of Christian convention (at the expense of historical accuracy) within an apparently Anglo-Saxon historical framework was Bede's primary aim.

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No description available.