No description available.

Marie de' Medici began the 'jardin du Luxembourg' during her Regency for Louis XIII. As Henry IV's queen, she had clung tenaciously to her Italian family heritage and as her upbringing had close associations with the spectacular 'giardino di Boboli', she was thus inspired to utilize it as the prototype for her Parisian garden. The validation of Marie de' Medici's success lies in the investigation of both gardens to determine the recurring features and to ascertain their precise chronology. Evidence suggests that some replicated features were well known to Marie, the 'Grotta Grande', the original layout and the amphitheatre's general form; while other features, the 'Isolotto' and the amphitheatre's stone seating, were not. These were realized either concurrently or even later than similar features at Luxembourg: a factor overlooked by historians who habitually cite the formative role of Boboli at Luxembourg.

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / Background and aim: Managing orthodontic pain traditionally involves the prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs combined with other analgesic medication. Sugar-free chewing gum has been advocated in the control of orthodontic pain due to its mechanical and physiological effects on periodontal tissue; however, the literature is scant. The ‘placebo effect’ that conventional sugar-free chewing gum may have in the relief of orthodontic pain has not been documented. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of conventional sugar-free chewing gum in reducing orthodontic pain associated with fixed appliances with a placebo (sugar-free sweets) medicament. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine if there were differences in pain reporting between the sugar-free chewing gum and the placebo, to ascertain whether gender influenced pain scores and to observe any differences in pain reporting between different orthodontic techniques.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation presents a previously unedited text by one of the most distinguished- yet neglected-Latin writers of the Italian Renaissance, Ercole Strozzi (1471-1508), a poet and administrator in the court of Ferrara. Under the Este Dukes, Ferrara became a major center of literary and artistic patronage. The Latin literary output of the court, however, has received insufficient scholarly scrutiny. The text is a verse funeral elegy of Eleonora of Aragon (1450-1493), the first Duchess of Ferrara. Eleonora was a remarkable woman whose talents and indefatigable efforts on behalf of her husband, her children, and her state, won her accolades both at home and abroad. She also served as a prototype for the remarkable careers of her two daughters, Isabella d'Este, and Beatrice d'Este, who are celebrated for their erudition and patronage of arts and letters. The text is a mirror of the Estense court and reveals to us how its members no doubt saw themselves, at the very peak of its temporal power and the height of its prestige as a center of cultural creativity. It is also important for the striking portrait it presents of Eleonora. Ercole Strozzi chose to call his poem an epicedium, an ancient minor literary genre that had received attention in the two decades prior to its composition, due to the discovery and printing of the silver age Roman poet Statius, whose text includes several epicedia. Strozzi deftly adapts and transcends both his ancient and contemporary models (especially Poliziano), and in the process, creates a new Latin literary genre, the Renaissance epicedium. It is a fine poem, full of both erudition and creativity, and as such is the first fruits of what would be Ercole Strozzi's illustrious poetic career. The work is genuinely worthy of study on both esthetic and historical grounds.

This thesis examines the development the cult of St Margaret at Dunfermline as a royal cult from 1070, the moment when St Margaret married King Malcolm III at Dunfermline, to 1420, the year of the burial of Robert duke of Albany who was the last royal member to be buried at Dunfermline. Scholars have focused on the life of St Margaret and her reputation or achievement from the biographical, institutional and hagiographical point of view. Although recent historians have considered St Margaret as a royal saint and Dunfermline as a royal mausoleum, they have approached this subject with relatively simple patterns, compared to the studies of the cults of European royal saints and their centres, in particular, those of English and French Kingdoms which influenced Scottish royalty. Just as other European royal cults such as the cults at Westminster and St-Denis have been researched from the point of view of several aspects, so the royal cult at Dunfermline can be approached in many ways. Therefore, this thesis will examine the development of Dunfermline Abbey as a royal cult centre through studying the abbey and the cult of St Margaret from the point of view of miracles and pilgrimage, lay patronage, and liturgical and devotional space. The examination of St Margaret’s miracles stories and pilgrimage to Dunfermline contribute to understanding these stories in the context of the development of the cult. The study of lay patronage explains the significance of royal favour and non-royal patrons in relation to the development of the cult, and how and why the royal cult developed and declined, and how the monks of Dunfermline promoted or sustained the cult of the saint. Lastly, the research of the liturgical and devotional space provides an explanation of the change of liturgical space from the point of view of the development of the cult.

This thesis develops an analytical approach to the instrumental music of Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) based on close readings of historical theory sources, primarily by Thomas Morley, John Coprario and Thomas Campion. Music of the early seventeenth century can be difficult to analyse, since it falls between the more extensively studied and theorised practices of classic vocal polyphony and common-practice tonality. Although English music theory of this period is recognised as strikingly modern in many respects, innovative aspects of English compositions from the same period receive little attention in standard accounts of the seventeenth century. I argue that concepts taken from this body of historical theory provide the basic terms of a technical vocabulary for analysis, which should be further refined through application to real compositions. Successive chapters deal with common counterpoint models or patterns, imitative invention and disposition, cadential progressions, and overall tonal structure. I argue that these analyses show Gibbons's music to be a contribution to new ways of conceiving of instrumental polyphony and tonal structure, which deserves re-evaluation in the context of broader seventeenth-century trends. In particular, Gibbons's use of extended cadential expectations as an expressive element, fascination with sequential progressions, and sectional structuring by harmonic area have clear parallels with later practices. At the same time, early seventeenth century style allows the composer considerably more freedom of harmonic procedures and implications than the musical styles which immediately followed it. Analysis grounded in historical theory provides the best approach to understanding and appreciating this unique musical language.

This dissertation examines representations of legal, theological, and medical modes of case thinking and case narration in the novella collections of four early modern authors: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549), Matteo Bandello (c.1485-1562), and Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). It further investigates how these collections perform and problematize practices of narrating and interpreting cases while framing such practices within the context of the navigation of daily news. Indeed, keen observers of the capacity of informal and formal networks to circulate information and opinions in unpredictable ways and on scales unprecedented, these authors also used the novella genre—and the polysemy of the term “novella”—to intervene in contemporary debates on the value of novelty and on the merits of popularizing expert knowledge. I argue that the early modern novella’s role as a literary mediator between professional forms of the case and popular forms of the news report was instrumental to its durable transnational European success. Over the course of this dissertation, I show how these collections depict the art of storytelling qua case narration as an essential ethical component of professional casuistries and of everyday information exchanges. I draw attention to specific professional inflections of the case-novella-news nexus, in order to highlight how each author conceives—and makes the case for—the indispensability of storytelling to spiritual and civic life. I demonstrate that a juridical approach to cases and novelty takes precedence in Boccaccio’s Decameron. I show that, in contrast, Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron relies on distinctly theological conceptions of cases and news. I proceed to compare the type of moral casuistry found in the Heptaméron to that found in Matteo Bandello’s Novelle. Finally, I investigate the consequences of Cervantes’ predilection for a medical approach to case analysis, novelty, and news in his Novelas ejemplares. The broader ambition of this investigation is twofold: first, to contribute a literary and historical perspective to contemporary methodological debates on the value of case thinking in the human sciences and in the liberal professions, and second, to pave the way for an exploration of the casuistical foundations of modern journalism at a time when its epistemological and ethical priorities are sorely in need of being reassessed.

Anna of Denmark (12 December 1574 - 2 March 1619), the wife of King James VI/I of Scotland, England, and Ireland, was an intelligent and interesting woman who has, up until recently, been largely ignored by history. It has only been within the past two decades that any in-depth analysis of Anna has been done, and most of that analysis has focused on Anna's work with the Stuart court masque. The intent of this thesis has been to expand upon current scholarship regarding Anna, as well as to synthesize the various facets of Anna's life in order to put together a more comprehensive understanding of who Anna was and the various ways in which she expressed personal agency and autonomy as a queen consort as opposed to a queen regnant, and how she used the roles of royal wife and mother to further her own goals and interests. The work is divided into an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction offers a brief analysis of the primary and secondary sources, and details how these sources were used within the broader scope of the paper. This introductory section also examines Anna's early life in Denmark, her wedding, and her initial journey to Scotland. The second chapter focuses on Anna's relationships with her husband and children, and particularly how Anna established a niche for herself within first the Scottish, and later the English courts. By studying these relationships it is possible to study the ways in which Anna, as a queen consort, was able to create a court presence for herself. Chapter three analyzes Anna's relationships with other courtiers and, more specifically, what these relationships tell modern scholars about how Anna was able to exercise political influence and power both directly and indirectly. Anna's interactions with her courtiers illustrate how well she understood not only human nature, but the nature of court culture and politics. The fourth chapter presents an in-depth study of Anna's masquing career, and looks at how Anna used the court masque to not only establish a female presence on the stage, but also to fashion a public image for herself. Anna used the Stuart court masque in a way that no one had previously: she used it to express her social and political opinions, and through the court masque Anna was able to portray both who she was and how she wanted to be perceived. The final chapter covers Anna's final days and her lasting impact on English history. Anna of Denmark deserves to be brought out of the shadows of history, and this thesis has attempted to do just that. She was a bright, engaging young woman who, unfortunately, has largely been overshadowed by her husband and children. By studying Anna's various roles as wife, mother, friend, benefactor, and patron, it has been possible to bring forth a much more complete understanding of who this queen consort was and why she is important to a broader understanding of early modern English history.