This dissertation places a medieval manuscript of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries in a new historical context. Lincoln Cathedral Manuscript MS 114 has, previously, been understudied and where it has been noticed it has been misidentified. Formally, used only for a few studies focusing on St Bridget of Sweden, it has been considered to be of English provenance, perhaps linked to one of the Birgittine monasteries in England.1 By noting the manuscript’s Dutch provenance and exploring its probable connection to the devotio moderna movement, this thesis will consider how MS 114 might have been used in the early years of the movement. It will examine key themes of different explorations of chastity for lay women, and in particular, the nature of female obedience, as portrayed within the manuscript. This devotional manuscript is made up of nineteen different pieces or extracts from larger medieval works of theology and philosophy. The nineteen articles of the manuscript are arranged in two nearly equal parts. The manuscript’s division into two parts is significant to our thinking about how it was intended to be used and read. The first half, which contains Articles 1 through 10, is made up largely of documents relating to St Bridget of Sweden, exploring her life and arguments concerning the legitimacy of her sanctity. The second part of the manuscript is apparently less unified: no individual figure, like Bridget, ties together its apparently disparate pieces. It is made up of extracts from the works of the Church fathers, anonymous theological guidance and sermons from works of the fourth to the fourteenth century. However, that does not mean that it has no cohesion. Rather, its different articles are linked by a thematic approach, with themes it picks up on ideas expressed in the manuscript’s first part. These two parts are further distinguished by the use of two different scribes. It is both important and interesting to note that these two scribes were working on the manuscript simultaneously, as its second half contains marginal notes, usually corrections of errors in the text, written in the hand of the first scribe. Overall, the nineteen articles contained in MS 114, both those focused around Bridget and those which make no mention of her, emphasize the value of the same virtues: those of humility, chastity, and, particularly, of spiritual obedience in general. These virtues are those of the monastic movements. Claire L. Sahlin has, specifically, labelled Bridget as a ‘fountainhead’ who led the way for later prophetic reformers, including Catherine of Siena, Constance of Rabastens, Marie Robine, Jeanne-Marie of Maille, and Joan of Arc. For several reasons, largely the political upheaval of the Papal Schism but also the social catastrophe of the Black Death, St Bridget of Sweden was the only woman canonized in the fourteenth century, and the only fourteenth century saint canonized in Rome—all others were canonized in Avignon. This will be discussed in greater depth in Chapter Two. Many of these articles are attributed to Early Church Fathers, however, we now know many of these articles are actually Pseudo-written articles from the fourteenth century, Middle Ages, but in a lay setting. Especially when focused upon lay women, these virtues were espoused by the devotio moderna movement. This religious movement emphasized the use of literature and, in particular, the examples of holy, female lay lives. Whereas more popular, and later, devotio moderna manuscripts, known as sister books, used devotio moderna sisters as these examples for the movement’s female lay followers. MS 114 was compiled at a time too early in the movement’s history to have deceased sisterly examples. St Bridget is used in MS 114 in a similar fashion to the later sisters of the sister books. Furthermore, the beginning of the devotio moderna movement coincides with the canonization of Bridget, therefore showing how devotio moderna valued contemporary events within their devotion. The articles in this manuscript, complied in the Netherlands during the early fifteenth century, were, therefore, chosen with precise care and purpose to form a single compilation meant to be read as part of a whole and intended as an enhancement of devotion and of individual devotional practice. This thesis takes two of those themes, chastity and obedience, both of which were rooted in the virtue of humility. It will principally consider these through Article 10, the vita (saint’s life) of St Bridget of Sweden. Bridget’s vita makes up both the physical and the intellectual centre of MS 114. As a saint’s life, Article 10 is also most similar to the later centrepiece of teaching and exempla of the devotio moderna movement: the sister book. Like those manuscripts and later printed books, the saint’s life in general provides stories and anecdotes of the life of a pious individual. Wybren Scheepsma analyses both the physical and literary contents of devotio moderna sister books as well as the sisters themselves. In a manuscript, too large for close study within just one doctorate, the vita also stands out for the way in which it has been adapted for inclusion in this manuscript. More than one vita of St Bridget existed in the early fifteenth century, with the longest, most detailed and best attested being that produced as part of her canonization dossier for the papal curia. The version of the vita found in MS 114 is recognizably a version of that canonization vita: it shares its shape and all the stories told about St Bridget. Yet it is a much-abbreviated version of that work, and the anecdotes considered particularly worthy of inclusion within it are those which emphasise the values of MS 114 as a whole. Additionally, the vita has been altered to focus more closely upon Bridget herself, rather than placing her in the general context of her life and society. The majority of names, for example, have been removed, leaving only Bridget and one or two saints specified as named individuals. This reshaping – or chosen reshaped version, for we cannot be certain whose hand made the alterations here – of the vita makes it a particularly clear demonstration of the purpose of the manuscript’s compilers. Bridget’s canonical vita remains the most popular amongst modern scholars. However, several, significantly, different versions of her life exist in various languages including a popular Middle English vita which was particularly popular amongst English Birgittines such as Margery Kempe. Discussions in this thesis of the manuscript’s themes will, therefore, focus around the vita, whilst also putting it in the context of the other texts found within the manuscript. Overall the thesis aims to consider what it meant in the religious movements of the early fifteenth-century Low Countries to be obedient and to whom obedience was owed, at different stages in the female lifecycle, considering in particular the nature of control and how this was to be expressed by women.

After an introductory chapter, in which the studies of previous scholars are examined, warfare in the Latin East in the period is placed in its historical context. It involved not only crusades: there were long periods of truce when warfare was restricted to raiding expeditions, while many conflicts took place between Christians themselves. The Latin armies are then considered. There were many elements in them - the feudal levy, the Military Orders, mercenaries and other paid troops, confraternities and crusaders - but the armies proved consistently inadequate to deal with the Muslim threat to the Latin East, The Christians, therefore, were dependent on castles and fortified towns for their survival, and it was essential that these should be adequately built, maintained and garrisoned. The Military Orders took increasing responsibility for them during the thirteenth century. Strongpoints had a number of functions, both defensive and aggressive, but lack of manpower meant that their role was often restricted. In the thesis there follows a consideration of the forms armed conflict took. Battles were not a prime factor in the decline of the Latin East, because the Franks were rarely able to raise an army to fight in the open with the Muslims. Battles therefore tended to take place during crusade expeditions, when adequate numbers were available. On some occasions - the First Crusade of Louis IX, and Theobald of Champagne's Crusade, for example - a lost battle seriously impaired a campaign. Battles should be distinguished from raids. The Muslims used raiding expeditions as an integrated part of their efforts to remove the Franks from the east. But the raid was used as an end in itself by the Franks and towards the end of this period it had become their principal means of carrying war to their enemies. Finally, there is a study of sieges. The capture of strongpoints by the Muslims, particularly in the second-half of the thirteenth century, progressively loosened the Franks' grip on the area. Sieges undertaken by the Franks often became matters of attrition, whereas when they were defending themselves, a Muslim assault often proved decisive in a short space of time. The Franks' lack of manpower was again significant.

The career of Aymercle Valence, Earl of Pembroke, is here studied with the intention of determining his part in the politics and the administration of the reign of Edward II. In doing so a special emphasis is placed upon study of his activities during the period between the summer of 1312 when the execution of the royal favourite, Gaveston, by the Earls of Lancaster and karwick caused Pembroke to break with them and their fellow Ordainers and return publically and 'unequivocally to his previous loyalty to the king, and Pembroke's death in 1324. The early part of Pembroke's career, from 1297 to 1312, is treated only in order to draw attention to the political attitudes and forms of experience which are significant for his later career. The choice of the years 1312 to 1324 for close study provides an opportunity to examine the part played by Pembroke in each of the political crises which punctuate the period and, in particular, to decide whether or not he was responsible for the creation of a "middle party" in the years 1317 and 1318. In the process of doing so existing studies of the reign and of Pembroke's part in it have been3re-examined in the light both of existing evidence and of much new material. The results of this study have been to show that throughout Pembroke's career his actions were usually governed by loyalty to the person of the king and that conversely the attitude of Edward II towards him was one of very close trust and personal friendship. Close examination of the events of 1317 and 1318 has shown that the traditional "middle party" interpretation is unsatisfactory in many respects and is best abandoned, and has also made it possible to modify existing ideas on the nature of the baronial opposition in the reign of Edward II.

The present thesis is a study of the reality – and the myth – of the ‘Welsh soldier’ in the later middle ages. The final defeat of the Princes of Gwynedd in 1283 was formalised by the division of the principality of Gwynedd and the ‘feudalisation’ of its territory set out in the statute of Wales proclaimed at Rhuddlan in 1284. As Morris long ago demonstrated, and as Davies and others have since reaffirmed the ‘wars of independence’ – at least in the thirteenth century – were conducted as much between Welshmen as between ‘the Welsh’, the Marchers and the English crown. The picture of Edward I’s pragmatism driven by ‘imperial’ principle – ironically achieving Llywelyn ap Gruffudd’s aim of taking Wales into the ambit of the feudal and political structure of England – without Llywelyn painted by Glyn Roberts is appropriate.1 The integration of Welshmen into Edward I’s military machine was swift, but required innovations of military organisation, chiefly, the Commission of Array. Most Welshmen served at a low level in English armies, as archers, and consequently, are far harder to trace as individuals before the regular survival of full muster accounts in the years after 1369.though global figures can be deduced more readily for the armies of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III, more precise detail cannot. Despite this, patterns of the service of Welshmen, both from the Shires of the principality of Wales and the Welsh March can be generally described over the period covered by this thesis. The concentration of military historians on the formation of royal armies has downplayed the role of military lordship and its importance in the March of Wales. Similarly, while the events of the Glyn Dŵr rebellion (1400-1410) are well understood, and the consequences of the rebellion on Welsh society have excited some interest, the immediate impact on the Welsh as soldiers has not been fully explored. The place of the Welsh at the battle of Agincourt provides a bridge between the chronological spine of this thesis and the consideration of what might be termed the cultural impression of the medieval Welsh soldier. Thanks largely to Shakespeare’s depiction of Captain Fluellen in Henry V (1599) the Welsh are inextricably linked with this battle, though contemporary evidence suggests the sum of their involvement was extremely limited. Ironically perhaps, in fifteenth century Welsh culture, Agincourt is the silent battle; uniquely there are no poetic references to this battle in a culture where war against France and the earlier battles of Crécy and Poitiers were staple metaphors for the prowess of individuals and as a source of patronage to the bards themselves. The image of Welshmen at war, and particularly, their skill with the longbow, appears to owe much to Gerald of Wales whose accounts of the men of Gwent as archers in the twelfth century has become the province of folklore rather than a reflection of historical reality. There is a striking difference between the Welsh account of their experience at war and the perspective of outsiders. Fundamentally this was because most external commentators saw the Welsh as an undifferentiated mass. Our evidence for the corresponding Welsh view is based upon literature praising the actions of individuals. The majority of their opponents, in Scotland and in France, but also in much of England, the only Welshmen who would ordinarily be encountered were soldiers. The difference in impression was preserved by later observers and the staple depiction of the Welsh as primitive and backward, ‘Wild men from the woods’ in the words of the author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi would have been recognisable to the pamphleteers of the seventeenth century who were themselves describing soldiers. The aim of this thesis therefore is to bring together these views of the ‘Welsh Soldier’ to give a better understanding of his role in later medieval warfare, and the place of war in fourteenth and early fifteenth century Welsh society.

Eremitism is a broad movement and took many different forms during the course of the middle ages. This thesis is a comparative study of the eremitic life in England and France during the period when it had, arguably, reached the height of its popularity. While eremitism in both countries shared many common characteristics, there were also differing interpretations of how this ideal should be achieved. That is most noticeable in the way eremitic communities were structured and in the activities with which they engaged. Inevitably, modem perceptions of medieval eremitism are shaped by the sources available, notably the writings of the hagiographers, all of whom had their own objectives when choosing to write the Life of a particular hermit. Modem historians, therefore, view medieval eremitic practices through the words of these hagiographers rather than through the actions of the hermits themselves. Using extant Vitae and other relevant texts, this study begins with an assessment of the primary sources, and how the language they use has affected both medieval and modern perceptions of the hermit. The terminology adopted for differentiating between a hermit, recluse and anchorite, if indeed, this is necessary, is significant to this debate and is discussed in the first two chapters. The following three chapters (3-5) examine how hermits lived, the support structures they created and how these differed in England and France. While hermits established their own 3 networks, they were still reliant on sponsorship from both the Church and society, which helped them to lead lives in accordance with their high ideals. The final three chapters (6-8) offer an analysis of the broad range of activities which hermits undertook, both spiritual and temporal, and explores how they interacted with the Church and society through these activities. It was due to such interaction that they were seen as channels for divine power and regarded by contemporaries as 'living saints'.

Who were the Wydeviles? The family arrived with the Conqueror in 1066. As followers in the Conqueror’s army the Wydeviles rose through service with the Mowbray family. If we accept the definition given by Crouch and Turner for a brief period of time the Wydeviles qualified as barons in the twelfth century. This position was not maintained. By the thirteenth century the family had split into two distinct branches. The senior line settled in Yorkshire while the junior branch settled in Northamptonshire. The junior branch of the family gradually rose to prominence in the county through service as escheator, sheriff and knight of the shire. These roles enabled them to meet and work with men who had influence at court. The Wydevile that gave the family their entrée into royal service was Richard (ii), appointed steward to King Edward III’s daughter Isabella and then as steward at the king’s castle of Moor End. His son John (iii) maintained a similar pattern of service within the county and managed to negotiate the difficult years of Richard II’s reign and the usurpation of Henry IV without diminishing the family standing within the county. It was his sons who were to work closely with the royal family. Thomas and Richard (iii) served the Lancastrian royal princes loyally. Richard (iii)’s position led to a knighthood for his son Richard, so that by 1426 the family were at the highest level of the gentry, just below the aristocracy. Accused of being an ignoble family their status is traced from 1066 to the early fifteenth century. In 1448 Sir Richard Wydevile brought the family into the ranks of the nobility through an advantageous marriage. His secret marriage to Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of the duke of Bedford made him a member of the royal family, albeit a minor member. This connection led to his creation as lord Rivers in 1448. Rivers continued the family tradition of loyal service to the crown. His service in France and in England enabled him to find suitable marriages for three of his children by 1460/61 into baronial families. Like his great-grandfather Richard (ii), he managed to negotiate a change in king, moving smoothly from service to the Lancastrians to service with the Yorkists under Edward IV. In 1464 his daughter Elizabeth secretly married King Edward IV. It was this second secret marriage that led to the assault on the Wydeviles’ reputation and questioned their status. The political instability of the period required scapegoats each time a king was overthrown. The propaganda this generated is traced to establish if there is any truth in the charges of greed and covetousness made against the Wydeviles.

This thesis provides a detailed and interdisciplinary analysis of one of medieval England’s most enduring saints’ cults: that of St Edmund of East Anglia. Focussing largely on the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the surviving material, literary and visual evidence is examined through the twin lenses of matter and narrative, thus offering a novel means of perceiving medieval saintly devotion. Borrowing elements from Alfred Gell’s distributed agency theory, Michel Callon and Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) and notions of ‘object biography’, chapter one develops a bespoke means of modelling the spatial, temporal and material dimensions of cult. Saints’ cults are imagined as expansive and entangled phenomena, focussed around a central ‘relic nexus’. Following this, chapter two employs these ideas to analyse the historical and material growth of Bury St Edmunds as a cult centre. This chapter demonstrates that Edmund’s materiality both played a significant role in determining the form his cult took and positioned him within an elite cadre of incorrupt saints. Switching to the narrative lens, chapter three contrasts early chronicle texts with later hagiography and charter evidence. This chapter shows that, across succeeding generations, Edmund’s legend shifted in line with contemporary historical circumstances to become entwined with the institutional identity of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Chapter four expands the narrative analysis to consider the consequences of literary and oral dissemination. Tracing the literary transmission of a story implicating Edmund in the death of Swein Forkbeard, this chapter reveals how a series of twelfth-century, historical and political writers adapted this legend for their own purposes. Yet, far from being limited to literature, the chapter further argues that Edmund’s narrative was couched within a fluid oral context. Chapter four concludes by employing the theoretical structures developed in chapter one to model the narrative environment of Edmund’s cult. Chapter five focusses on how Edmund was visualised at his cult centre. A particular example of pictorial storytelling produced at Bury, the miniature sequence in Pierpont Morgan MS M.736, is analysed to reveal that visual representations provided a means of expounding both the material and narrative sensibilities of cult. Chapter six expands the visual and material discussion. A range of media, from large-scale wall art to small-scale archaeological finds, are used to show that Edmund and his narrative could be presenced in personal and idiosyncratic ways through a variety of objects. Chapter seven draws together the interrelated strands from the preceding sections and discusses what we can say about the relationship between matter and narrative in cult. It concludes that combinations of Edmund’s materiality and narrative could be combined, to create the unique truths that fashioned personal and corporate identities. Edmund’s cult, it is suggested, was a multi-faceted and expansive phenomenon which, although based around his shrine at Bury St Edmunds, held meaning well beyond. Following this, some concluding thoughts are offered on how the theoretical framework developed in this thesis might be adapted and applied to similar cult structures.

No description available.

This thesis seeks to understand the impact of the locality on the lordships of the North-Sea world. Historians, previously, have focussed on aristocrats and lordship through a lord’s relationship to a central authority. Medievalists, moreover, have focussed on central Europe when investigating the aristocracy and nobility, the consequence of this is that lordships were fixed in central kingdoms, which have been perpetuated from a twentieth-century idea of nationhood. Also such a perception causes us to describe the period in structuralist terms and negates the possibility of a fluid society in the tenth and eleventh centuries. ‘Lords of the North-Sea World’ will, however, show that society was not ‘feudal’ or rigid, by contrast it was flexible and subject to change. This thesis intends to investigate lordships in a seascape that has been relatively untouched by historians. I use a comparative methodology which has remained an underused medium by medieval historians. I begin by outlining the topic and justifying my approach, which will explore the huge historiographical background of aristocratic studies. Four key themes will be examined; these are territory, solidarities, inheritances and ‘Noble Texts’. All will reveal how important the locality was to the identity, relationships and perception of the aristocracy in medieval society. The thesis, moreover, will suggest that local factors were a key component in the decision making of lords when they had choices. This has been achieved by drawing on narrative and documentary evidence to consider the levels of regional distinctiveness in lordships. The thesis also appeals to the global versus local debates throughout academic disciplines by suggesting that in the early middle ages, global vehicles of power were attempting to blunt the unmistakable authority of localism.

<p> Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century saint, penetrated the Italian political scene ranging from local politics to the papal seat of Pope Gregory XI. Scholars have depicted her success as a living saint on her relationship with her confessor, Raymond of Capua. However, through analysis of her letters and background texts, it is clear that Catherine created a network of families and individuals even before she met Raymond in 1374. To what extent did this network that she actively created contribute to her success as a public figure in medieval Italy? What impact did this group of people have on Catherine and what impact did Catherine have on the network of followers? What information can be extrapolated from studying Catherine&rsquo;s letters, hagiography, and testimonial works post-mortem? And, how does Raymond&rsquo;s miniscule presence in the network change our interpretation of the basis of Catherine&rsquo;s success?</p><p>