Wilderness landscape, a setting common in Romantic literature and painting, is generally overlooked in the art of the Middle Ages. While the medieval garden and the city are well mapped, the medieval wilderness remains relatively trackless. Yet the use of setting to represent interior experience may be traced back to the Neo-Platonic use of space and movement to define spiritual development. Separating themselves as far as possible from the material world, such writers as Origen and Plotinus avoided use of representational detail in their spatial models; however, both the visual artists and the authors who adopted the Neo-Platonic paradigm, elaborated their emotional spaces with the details of the classical locus amoenus and of the exegetical desert, while retaining the philosophical concern with spiritual transition. Analysis of wilderness as an image for spiritual and emotional transition in medieval literature and art relates the texts to an iconographic tradition which, along with motifs of city and garden, provides a spatial representation of interior progress, as the medieval dialectic process provides a paradigm for intellectual resolution. Such an analysis relates the motif to the core of medieval intellectual experience, and further suggests significant connections between medieval and modern narratives in regard to the representation of interior experience. The Divine Comedy and related Continental texts employ both classical and exegetical sources in the representation of psychological transition and spiritual conversion. Similar techniques are also apparent in English texts such as Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon elegies, in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, and Troilus and Criseyde, and in the northern English The Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These literary texts, further, include both ideas and techniques which are analogous to those of visual arts, where frescos and altarpieces show the wilderness as metaphor for transition, and where manuscript illuminations relate this visual concept to texts. Thus, the wilderness as a landscape of personal crisis becomes in the Middle Ages a significant part of the representation of interior experience in painting and in literature.

This thesis aims to explain how politics in 14th century Scandinavia were structured by a set of rules or norms of conduct – rules which were neither codified nor enforced by any outside agency, yet had a very real impact on the patterns by which political action was conducted. Taking inspiration from historical anthropology, the study sets out to analyze the ways in which political tensions and relationships, primarily within the royal elite, were negotiated in various situations. The source material – mainly letters of treaties, but also contemporary literary sources – are treated as remains of political communication within a common discursive framework. The findings of the study go against some established notions about politics in the 14th century that are prevalent in current Scandinavian research. On the whole, patterns of political behaviour during the period show great similarities to those of the earlier Middle Ages, despite the discontinuity implied by the idea of the 13th century as the era of "state formation" in Scandinavia. Rather, the kings and princes of the 14th century appear to have been ruled by quite similar norms of behaviour to those of their predecessors, albeit on a more complex scale. The concepts of peace and justice are shown to have been central to the way that political action was legitimized. No functional difference can be shown to have been made between "feudal" or personal relations, and those of the state. Peace was conceived as a state of harmony, which could only be achieved through the establishment of mutual positive bonds, and an active striving for justice. The latter was achieved, both with the aid of mediators and negotiators, and through the demonstration of force, in patterns largely similar to the practice of feuding. Likewise, acts of supplication and reconciliation are shown to have played an active part in the way that political relations were reified during the process of ending an armed conflict.

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec l'université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3, sous la co-direction de Danièle James-Raoul. / Cette thèse s’intéresse à la manière dont l’oulipien Jacques Roubaud, tout en réécrivant des textes et des motifs venus du Moyen Âge, exhume aussi des pratiques littéraires de l’époque. En effet, tout au long de son œuvre, l’écrivain n’a de cesse d’avouer son penchant pour les lettres médiévales. Non content de publier, en qualité d’érudit, des essais sur la lyrique des troubadours ou le roman arthurien, il considère aussi les textes et les auteurs du Moyen Âge comme autant de modèles à sa propre posture. Il se reconnaît notamment dans cette conception de la littérature où l’originalité se jauge à l’aune, non pas de la pure nouveauté, mais de la récupération incessante du déjà-dit. L’écriture est toujours réécriture, adaptation et transmission d’œuvres anciennes, en un mot résolument médiéval, elle est toujours « translation ». En recomposant la bibliothèque médiévale qu’arpente Jacques Roubaud au gré de ses écrits, ce travail cherche donc à cerner les mécanismes et les enjeux d’une réécriture à la lumière de la poétique médiévale. / This thesis examines how Jacques Roubaud, while rewriting texts and motifs from Middle Ages, also recaptures an ancient practice of literature. Indeed, throughout his work, Jacques Roubaud acknowledges medieval literature as an inspirational field. Not only does he publish, as a true scholar, several essays about troubadours and Arthurian romances, but also considers texts and writers of Middle Ages as examples to be followed for his own material. He seems to recognise himself in the medieval conception of literature, in which originality is not a matter of newness but consists in dealing with what has already been told. Writing is always about rewriting, adapting and passing old tales on, in a medieval word, writing is about “translatio”. By reconstructing the old library that Jacques Roubaud paces, this study therefore analyses the numerous mechanisms of rewriting in the light of medieval poetic.

The subject of this thesis is the relationship between hagiography and cult in the early medieval west taken through the example of the Passiones of St. Kilian of Würzburg († 689) in the period from circa 700 to circa 1000 AD. Through examining a cult which developed east of the Rhine, this thesis will assess these developments taking place in a region without a strong Christian-Roman history. Thuringia produced new saints and cults in this period, yet they all operated within the overarching framework of the well-established religious phenomenon of saints' cults. In its approach, this thesis builds upon the insights of Ian Wood, James Palmer and others, in which saints' Lives are viewed as ‘textual arguments' which could operate beyond cultic contexts. This is combined with the cultural context approaches advocated in geographically specific studies by the likes of Julia Smith, Thomas Head and Raymond Van Dam. By paying particular attention to the impact of updating saints' Lives this thesis provides an in depth comparison of the relatively overlooked two earliest passiones of St. Kilian and their place in the history of the Würzburg community. It therefore addresses the nature and function of hagiography and its relationship with the institutional memory and identity of that community. The spread of cult through texts and relics is compared with the distribution of the hagiography in order to form a picture of the relationship between these different facets of cult. The question of the way in which these passiones engaged with their wider political and religious contexts is also addressed in order to demonstrate the functions of hagiography outwith an immediate cultic context.

Cette étude vise à définir le débat comme un genre, qui se constituerait à la fin du quatorzième siècle dans le sillage des jugements de Guillaume de Machaut. Une approche chronologique du corpus met en valeur la manière dont le débat se détache dans l’ensemble composite de la littérature de dispute : il développe une structure qui lui est propre, fondée sur un dialogue conflictuel s’achevant par un appel au jugement du lecteur, qui laisse en suspens la question. Il s’inscrit dès lors dans des pratiques ludiques qui lui donnent sens, et qui parodient la dialectique et la rhétorique pour faire émerger une parole individuelle, en prise avec un public : dialogue à décrypter entre des êtres ambivalents, où l’auteur-narrateur se fait personnage et abdique son autorité, le genre appelle une diction, voire une mise en scène. Le débat entretient donc un rapport étroit avec l’évolution de la lyrique courtoise vers une forme de poésie morale, qui fait vaciller les catégories de pensée grâce au jeu du dialogue et à la possibilité de lectures multiples. Il met en avant une forme de savoir qui se constitue dans un rapport personnel du lecteur au texte, tout en conservant la musique de la parole vivante et la richesse dramatique du jeu. / The aim of this study is to establish a definition of the debate as a literary genre, that would establish itself as such at the end of the fourteenth century in the wake of the Jugements by Guillaume de Machaut. A chronological approach of the corpus shows how the debate can be identified in the midst of the different kinds of dispute literature : it develops its own structure, based on an antagonistic dialogue ending with a plea to the reader’s wisdom, which leaves the issue open. It comes within the scope of recreational practices that give it meaning, and that parody dialectic and rhetoric in order to let an individual voice be heard directly by an audience : this genre consists in a dialogue between ambiguous beings, which has to be decrypted, where the author-narrator is a character and relinquishes his authority ; it needs to be spoken, or even performed. The debate has to do with the evolution of courtly lyricism, which tends to become a poetry dealing mainly with ethics and upsetting traditional categories of thought through the use of dialogue and the possibility of multiple meanings. It privileges a form of knowledge which consists in a personal relationship of the reader with the text, while still retaining the music of oral speech and the dramatic intensity of play.

Cribra orbitalia represents one of the most frequent bone pathologies in skeletal remains of past populations. This lesion is characterised by porous, furrowed even trabecular disruption on the outer table of the compact bone on the orbital roof. Although the origin of cribra orbitalia is linked to marrow hyperplasia as a consequence of iron deficiency anemia, even other causes are not ruled out. Both occurences cribra orbitalia alone and coincidence with other signs of diseases have been recorded. Research of this study applies to cribra orbitalia as a long- term stress indicator on the skeleton and a symptom of specific diseases or anemic syndroms. Skeletal remains from Czech medieval sites with presence of cribra orbitalia as well as whole graveyard from Oškobrh were analysed. Macroscopical investigation did not demonstrate periodic coincidence of cribra orbitalia and specific bone signs of the diseases. However, the following bone changes have been observed: hyperostosis porotica, increased vascularization, supranasal porosity, inflammatory- hemorrhagic reaction on the endocranium which can in terms of differential diagnosis help to clarify the nature and/or cause of the origin of cribra orbitalia. Comparison of the population from Oškobrh with other medieval graveyards showed that frequency of...

Administration of the City of Rakovnik in the Late Middle Ages This work deals with the administration of the city of Rakovnik in the Late Middle Ages as it is reflected in the contemporary municipal books and records of the time. The focus of this work is on the development and operation of the municipal administration, with special attention being given to the existence and activities of city officials, as well as the purpose of individual aspects of the city's administrative life, and the control over such activities maintained by municipal authorities.

- 5 - Abstract: The diploma thesis "Coronation of Byzantine Emperors in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages" deals with gradual changes of the ceremonies associated with the imperial accessions. Using narative, legal, artistic and numismatic evidence, it attempts to identify crucial components of each coronation ceremony, analyses gradual transformation these components underwent and points out new developments that helped each emperor to estabilish his right to the throne. The thesis also deal with the imperial insignia used both during coronation ceremonies and during other court rites.

Cette thèse s'intéresse à la manière dont l'Oulipien Jacques Roubaud, tout en réécrivant des textes et des motifs venus du Moyen Âge, exhume aussi des pratiques littéraires de l'époque. En effet, tout au long de son œuvre, l'écrivain n'a de cesse d'avouer son penchant pour les lettres médiévales. Non content de publier, en qualité d'érudit, des essais sur la lyrique des troubadours ou le roman arthurien, il considère aussi les textes et les auteurs du Moyen Âge comme autant de modèles à sa propre posture. Il se reconnaît notamment dans cette conception de la littérature où l'originalité se jauge à l'aune, non pas de la pure nouveauté, mais de la récupération incessante du déjà-dit. L'écriture est toujours réécriture, adaptation et transmission d’œuvres anciennes, en un mot résolument médiéval, elle est toujours "translation". En recomposant la bibliothèque médiéval qu'arpente Jacques Roubaud au gré de ses écrits, ce travail cherche donc à cerner les mécanismes et les enjeux d'une réécriture à la lumière de la poétique médiévale. / This thesis examines how the Oulipian Jacques Roubaud, while rewriting texts and motifs from Middle Ages, also recaptures an ancient practice of literature. Indeed, throughout his work, Jacques Roubaud acknowledges medieval literature as an inspirational field. Not only does he publish, as a true scholar, several essays about troubadours and Arthurian romances, but also considers texts and writers of Middle Ages as examples to be followed for his own material. He seems to recognise himself in the medieval conception of literature, in which originality is not a matter of newness but consists in dealing with what has already been told. Writing is always about rewriting, adapting and passing old tales on, in a medieval word, writing is about "translatio". By reconstructing the old library that Jacques Roubaud paces, this study therefore analyses the numerous mechanisms of rewriting in the light of medieval poetic.

The author of this dissertation addresses the motif of magic figuring in Spanish medieval short prose. The researched works of art are the following titles: Calila y Dimna, Sendebar, El Conde Lucanor, Libro del Caballero Zifar and Libro de los Gatos. Out of the aforementioned anthologies the author further analyses specific selected short stories which contain the motif of magic. The introduction describes medieval history and literary genres and more closely analyses the interpretation of magic on the basis of both period and current literary works and publications. Author presupposes medieval didactic literature for the most part describes real world which the reader is acquainted with. The motifs of magic are divided into five sections:Devil, Afterlife, Magical Realm, Fake Magic and Medical Superstitions. Each chapter addresses one particular topic, analyzing it in the context of the researched stories but also in the context of medieval culture as a whole. The end of each chapter offers a comprehensive summary. In contrast with publications dealing with the topic of magic in the Spanish literature, the dissertation focuses more closely on the element of magic used as trickery as this view of magic is widely represented in the literature. The conclusion discusses the issue of faith in a life of a...