Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-92).

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as fontes conceituais de um manuscrito anônimo tradicionalmente atribuído a Thomas Hobbes e conhecido na literatura como A short tract on first principles (Breve tratado sobre os primeiros princípios). Mostra-se, contrariamente à opinião dos principais comentadores, que a teoria física sobre a natureza da luz, elaborada na segunda seção do manuscrito, situa-se em um campo anti-aristotélico e está alinhada a uma perspectiva atomista, o que se evidencia a partir dos fortes e estreitos vínculos que a teoria mantém com as concepções corpuscularistas de Sir Kenelm Digby e de Sir Walter Charleton. / The aim of this work is to investigate the conceptual sources of an anonymous manuscript traditionally attributed to Thomas Hobbes and known on literature as A short tract on first principles. It shows, contrary to the opinions of leading commentators, that the physical theory of the nature of light, elaborated in the second section of the manuscript, is located in an anti-Aristotelian field and is aligned to an atomistic perspective, which is evident from the close and strong ties that the theory holds with the corpuscularianisms conceptions of Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir Walter Charleton.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as fontes conceituais de um manuscrito anônimo tradicionalmente atribuído a Thomas Hobbes e conhecido na literatura como A short tract on first principles (Breve tratado sobre os primeiros princípios). Mostra-se, contrariamente à opinião dos principais comentadores, que a teoria física sobre a natureza da luz, elaborada na segunda seção do manuscrito, situa-se em um campo anti-aristotélico e está alinhada a uma perspectiva atomista, o que se evidencia a partir dos fortes e estreitos vínculos que a teoria mantém com as concepções corpuscularistas de Sir Kenelm Digby e de Sir Walter Charleton. / The aim of this work is to investigate the conceptual sources of an anonymous manuscript traditionally attributed to Thomas Hobbes and known on literature as A short tract on first principles. It shows, contrary to the opinions of leading commentators, that the physical theory of the nature of light, elaborated in the second section of the manuscript, is located in an anti-Aristotelian field and is aligned to an atomistic perspective, which is evident from the close and strong ties that the theory holds with the corpuscularianisms conceptions of Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir Walter Charleton.

<p>The Biblical drama that was popular in England from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries is a fruitful site for exploring the dissemination of political discourse. Unlike Fürstenspiegeln (mirrors for princes literature) or the tradition of royal civic triumphs, Biblical drama, whether presented as ambitious "history of the world" civic cycles or as individual plays put on by traveling companies or parish actors, did not attempt to define or proscribe ideals of kingly behavior. On the contrary, the superstars of the early English stage were tyrants, such as Herod, Pharoah, Pilate, and Lucifer. These figures were dressed in the most lavish costumes, assigned the longest and most elaborate speeches, and often supplied the actors who brought them to life with a substantial wage. This dissertation argues that these tyrants helped to ensure the enduring popularity of Biblical drama well into the Tudor period; their immoderation invited authors, actors, and audiences to imagine how the role of a king ought to be played, and to participate in a discourse of virtue and self-governance that was applicable to monarchs and commoners alike. </p><p>This work builds upon a growing scholarly awareness of what Theresa Coletti and Gail McMurray Gibson have called "the Tudor origins of medieval drama": namely, that our modern knowledge of "medieval" plays reflects and relies upon the sixteenth-century context in which they were preserved in manuscripts and continued to flourish in performance. The popularity of the tyrant-figures in these plays throughout the Tudor period - particularly in parts of the country that were reluctant to adapt to the ever-changing economic, judicial, and religious policies of the regime - suggests an enduring frustration with royal power that claimed to rule in the name of "the common good" yet never hesitated to achieve national obedience at the expense of economic, judicial, and religious continuity. Through an examination of surviving play-texts from the Chester Mystery Cycle and Digby MS 133 as well as documentation of performances in Cheshire and East Anglia, this dissertation chronicles Biblical drama's ability to serve as an important site of popular resistance to the Tudor dynasty, both before and after Protestantism became a matter of state policy.</p><p>Chapter One considers the Crown's surprisingly active involvement in the civic government of Chester between 1495 and 1521 in counterpoint with the early sixteenth century restructuring of the city's mystery cycle, and argues that the cycle's new opening pageant, The Fall of Lucifer, embodies Chester's fears about losing its traditional civic identity. Chapter Two examines Biblical drama's surprising ability to encourage resistance to tyranny through a reading of The Killing of the Children, which highlights the fleeting and unprofitable nature of earthly power in such a way as to resonate with audiences in the wake of Henry VIII's initial religious reforms of 1536. Chapter Three explores the capacious Mary Magdalen play, which addresses issues of succession, of national religious identity, and of female rule in ways that seem prescient of the controversial crowning of Henry VIII's eldest daughter in 1553. Chapter Four discusses the aftermath of the final performance of the Chester cycle in 1575: the city's mayor was accused of being no less of a tyrant than Herod himself for encouraging performance of a cycle seen by the Crown as "popish idolatry." The project concludes with a Shakespearean envoi: a consideration of Richard III that demonstrates that questions of tyranny and rightful governance remained as important at the end of the Tudor period as they were at the accession of Elizabeth's grandfather in 1485.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis argues that 17th century polymath Sir Kenelm Digby treats his scientific discourses as psychological romances in his works Loose Fantasies and Two Treatises, with his use of courtly romantic tropes, and that a contemporary audience would have read Digby's scientific treatises as literary. I first argue that science and romance in Digby's narrative romance Loose Fantasies are literary modes of the text's narrative form and that these modes are not mutually exclusive, since science is a "pyschodrama" to Digby, who is both the audience and author of these putative "private memoirs." I then relate Digby's "romantic science" in Loose Fantasies to his "poetike Idea of science" in Digby's Two Treatises in order to argue that while the treatise is traditionally received as a philosophical discourse, it is also a work of literary criticism. I conclude that Digby's "poetike Idea of science" is always unstable, because Digby cannot choose between the primacy of language and ideas in human cognition, due to the rapid rationalistic developments in epistemology during his time.

Dans le sillage des révolutions intellectuelles qui marquent l’avènement de l’époque moderne, Sir Kenelm Digby, catholique anglais, poursuit avec ardeur la connaissance du monde matériel et spirituel au gré des événements politiques qui ponctuent son époque tourmentée. À Londres comme à Paris où il est exilé, mais aussi au fil de ses nombreux voyages, Digby communique inlassablement des livres, échange des idées, et correspond sans relâche avec les savants de son époque comme Descartes, Hobbes, et Mersenne. Au sein du vaste réseau européen que constitue la jeune République des Lettres, il occupe une place de choix qui lui permet de produire une synthèse des idées en vogue. Digby participe à la sensibilité baroque que l’on définit non seulement par l’expression d’une crise liée à l’instabilité du monde et à la contradiction des choses mais aussi par la tentative de surmonter cette crise. Par ses intérêts variés pour l’alchimie, l’atomisme, la logique et la métaphysique, il tente de rendre compte, de façon baroque, du fonctionnement du monde et de l’homme afin d’en permettre la maîtrise et le gouvernement. Dans Two Treatises, il adopte et adapte l’hypothèse atomiste qui lui permet de dépeindre un monde fondamentalement chaotique, en changement permanent et agité d’une myriade de collisions invisibles qui expliquent la gravité et le magnétisme, mais aussi la reproduction ou la sympathie. Son approche démonstrative se veut un rempart contre la crise sceptique de son temps, et il ne cesse d’affirmer que la certitude est atteignable par les seuls moyens humains. Soucieux de prosélytisme, il met en relief la qualité orale de la tradition catholique et justifie la résurrection des corps, amenant au premier plan le sujet et ses perceptions, mais aussi la métamorphose comme principe explicatif clé. / In the wake of the intellectual revolutions of the early modern period, Sir Kenelm Digby, an English Catholic, endeavoured to increase the knowledge of the world, both physical and spiritual, against a backdrop of political turmoil. From London as from Paris, where he was in exile, the well-travelled Sir Kenelm sent books, communicated, and discussesd ideas tirelessly with the main thinkers of the time such as Descartes, Hobbes and Mersenne. His prominent place within the dense network of the incipient Republic of Letters allowed him to produce a seminal synthesis of the ideas then in circulation.Digby partook in the baroque sensitivity that we can define as the expression of a crisis linked to instability and contradiction, as well as the attempt to overcome it. Delving into alchemy, atomism, logic, and metaphysics, he strove to account for the secret workings of the world and of man in order to enable their mastery and government. In Two Treatises, he adopted and adapted the atomist hypothesis that allowed him to depict a deeply chaotic world, ridden with permanent change and fraught with innumerable and invisible clashes that explained all physical phenomena such as gravity, magnetism, generation, and sympathy. He aimed to proceed in a demonstrative manner so as to stave off the rampant crisis of scepticism, and he hammered through the idea that certainty was achievable by mere human means. In a proselyte effort, he tackled burning issues in the wake of the Reformation, promoting the oral quality of the Catholic tradition and the resurrection of bodies, while bringing forward the thinking individual and his perceptions, as well as the concept of metamorphosis, as key explanatory principles.

Jag visade min då nya installation ”I wrote pen” för en klasskamrat som reagerade med en påminnelse om att jag har rätt att vara självsäker. Att jag borde vara försiktig med att ursäkta mina verk i och med att jag är kvinna. Jag sa att min inre konflikt var ett material och inte en ursäkt. Hon blev rädd att hon varit för hård. Jag fick dåligt samvete för att jag fick henne tro att hon varit för hård.

This dissertation engages with the production and use in late medieval England (c.1200–c.1500) of manuscript codices copied, in whole or in part, on offcuts: cheap, low-quality parchment scraps created as a byproduct of parchment manufacturing. After presenting a method for identifying offcuts, it explores the material through statistical techniques and case studies. Applying this mixed methodology to a corpus of 140 offcut-bearing production units spread across 75 handwritten books, it delineates a range of manuscript production stages, examining the sociocultural contexts of books recruiting offcuts as writing support. The dissertation pursues this study in four chapters. Opening with a terminological discussion, chapter one describes medieval parchment-making, clarifying how offcut traits arose during manufacture, distinguishing offcuts from similar types of parchment, and describing medieval uses for offcuts. Chapter two discusses quantitative codicology, justifying the mixed quantitative–qualitative approach, then delineates its dual-stage methodology: (i) establishing offcut diagnostic traits via linear regression analysis; (ii) assembling the corpus and analyzing it via a descriptive statistical lens. It finishes with an overview of the analysis’ main findings, noting that the corpus is dominated by Fachliteratur; lacking in texts often regarded as ‘popular’ (e.g., vernacular romances); and largely copied for personal consultation in professional, educational, or domestic contexts. Chapters three and four take up the primary subcorpora—one comprising common law books; another, miscellaneous, but chiefly theological and medical, provisionally sorted based on the medieval division of disciplines, quadrivium and trivium—engaging each via descriptive statistical overviews and case studies of representative books: London, British Library, Harley MS 912, Harley MS 1261, Harley MS 6644; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Ashmole 1378, Digby 2, Digby 24. / Graduate / 2023-09-09