Die Dissertation hat zu ihrem Gegenstand den Kult der Drachenkönige, longwang, im China der späten Kaiserzeit, namentlich der Dynastien der Ming und vor allem der Qing, genommen. Bei den Drachenkönigen handelt es sich um funktionale Gottheiten, welche nahezu im gesamten chinesischen Kaiserreich verehrt wurden und deren wesentliche Aufgabe in der Gewährung und Kontrolle von Niederschlägen verstanden wurde. Darüber hinaus konnten und haben sie in regionalen Variationen noch über weitere Funktion verfügt, welche jedoch alle mit dem Element Wasser in Verbindung standen. Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, für den genannten Zeitraum darzulegen, welche prägenden Einflussfaktoren auf die Vorstellung von den Drachenkönigen und den mit diesen verbundenem Kult einwirkten. Es wurden die Faktoren herausgearbeitet, welche maßgeblich dazu beitrugen, den Kult der Drachenkönige zu verbreiten und welche für die konkrete Ausgestaltung der Inhalte, Glaubensvorstellungen und Praktiken dieses Kults besonders auf lokaler Ebene als ursächlich angenommen werden können. Da man die Drachenkönige aufgrund ihrer Hauptfunktion, nämlich der Kontrolle der Niederschläge, treffend als Naturgottheit charakterisieren kann, war die Arbeit, inspiriert von den Überlegungen der sogenannten cultural ecology, von der These ausgegangen, dass der Kult der Drachenkönige in seinen regionalen und lokalen Ausprägungen hauptsächlich durch die jeweils vorherrschenden geographischen und hier besonders die klimatischen (und meteorologischen) sowie topographischen Umweltbedingungen geprägt wurde. Zur umfassenden Beantwortung der oben genannten Fragestellung beruht die Arbeit auf einer Kombination mehrerer Quellen und der zur jeweiligen Auswertung geeigneten Methoden. Dabei zieht sich durch die gesamte Arbeit ein Vergleich zweier Regionen des spätkaiserzeitlichen Chinas. Es handelt sich dabei um die Regionen von Jinzhong im Zentrum der nordchinesischen Binnenprovinz Shanxi und von Jiangnan südlich des Unterlaufs des Flusses Changjiang, das zum Teil die im südlicheren China gelegene Küstenprovinz Jiangsu umfasste. Beide Regionen unterscheiden sich in Bezug auf ihre topograpischen und klimatischen Gegebenheiten deutlich voneinander. Die Quellengrundlage, auf welche sich dieser Vergleich im Wesentlichen stützt, sind zum einen Lokalbeschreibungen, fangzhi oder difangzhi, sowie Quellen der spätkaiserzeitlichen xiaoshuo-Literatur (vor allem zhiguai und biji) und moderner Volkserzählungen, minjian gushi. Die methodische Vorgehensweise spiegelt sich auch im Aufbau der Arbeit gemäß ihren Hauptkapiteln wider. Darüber hinaus gibt sie einen Überblick über die historische Entwicklung des Kults der Drachenkönige sowie die bestimmenden geographischen Grundlagen des spätkaiserzeitlichen Chinas. Ein ausführlicher Anhang ist der Arbeit beigefügt. Die grundlegenden Ergebnisse lassen sich überblicksartig folgendermaßen zusammenfassen: - Die Drachenkönige sind keine originären chinesischen Gottheiten. Vielmehr entstand die Vorstellung über sie und damit ihr Kult aus einer Vermischung des indisch-buddhistischen Glaubens an nāgarāja genannte Schlangengottheiten sowie der chinesischen Vorstellung von Drachen, long, ohne dabei letztere zu verdrängen oder zu ersetzen. - Darüber hinaus konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Drachenkönige als funktionale Gottheiten zu verstehen sind. Das soll heißen, dass ihr Kult und dessen Inhalte ebenso wie ihre Bedeutung für die Gesellschaft der späten Kaiserzeit und die Ursachen dafür, dass sie als Gottheiten und daher als heilige Wesen betrachtet und verehrt wurden, darin begründet waren, dass sie eine wichtige Funktion erfüllten, welche eng mit den Lebensbedürfnissen der Menschen dieser Zeit verbunden war. - Der hauptsächliche Inhalt des Kults der Drachenkönig, wie er vor allem in der Region Jinzhong hervortrat, lag in ihrer Funktion als Bringer und Kontolleure der Niederschläge begründet. Jedoch erfuhren sie darüber hinaus eine funktionale Erweiterung und Ausdifferenzierung, welche sich vor allem in der Region Jiangnan zeigte und auf die Anpassung des Kultes an die vorherrschenden lokalen Gegebenheiten in Hinblick auf Topographie und Klima zurückzuführen war. - Gleichwohl in der Arbeit geographische Einflussfaktoren für die Untersuchung des Kults der Drachenkönige von besonderem Interesse waren, zeigte sich doch deutlich, dass diese allein nicht genügten, um die Inhalte dieses Kults und die damit verbundenen Glaubensvorstellungen und Praktiken zu erklären. Dies betraf sowohl die Betrachtung einer allgemeinen, gesamtchinesischen Ebene als auch die hier angestrebte lokale Perspektive. Statt daher den Blick durch unzulässige monokausale Erklärungsansätze zu verengen, muss die Vielzahl der natürlichen wie auch anthropogenen Einflussfaktoren auf die Ausprägung des Kults der Drachenkönige betont werden. Natürliche beziehungsweise geographische Faktoren, wozu in diesem Falle vor allem Topographie und Klima zu zählen sind, waren jedoch in Hinblick auf den Kult der Drachenkönige von besonders prägender Bedeutung. - Schließlich konnte noch festgestellt werden, dass den Drachenkönigen ein sehr ambivalenter Charakter innewohnte, da diese sowohl als segensreich als auch als schädlich erachtet werden konnten. Auch hierin spiegelt sich die natürliche Umwelt der Menschen des spätkaiserzeitlichen Chinas wider, welche einerseits reiche Ernten liefern konnte, andererseits auch von schweren Dürren und Überschwemmungen geprägt war. Die Drachenkönige brachten gemäß der verbreiteten Vorstellungen den notwendigen und rechtzeitigen Regen für eine erfolgreiche Landwirtschaft, doch waren sie gemäß den herrschenden Vorstellungen gleichzeitig für Dürren und Überschwemmungen sowie die daraus resultierenden Ernteausfälle und Hungersnöte verantwortlich.

This thesis investigates the emergence of Medina in the Ḥijāz as a widely-venerated holy city over the first three Islamic centuries (seventh to ninth centuries CE) within the appropriate historical context, with special attention paid to the town’s ḥaram. It focuses in particular upon the roles played by the Prophet Muḥammad, Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, and early Islamic legal scholars in this development. It shows that Medina’s emergence as a widely-venerated holy city alongside Mecca was a gradual and contested process, and one that was intimately linked with several important developments concerning legitimate political, religious, and legal authority in the Islamic world. The most important sources for this study have been Medina’s local histories, and Chapter One investigates the development of a tradition of local history-writing there. The Prophet Muḥammad first created a form of sacred space, a ḥaram, at Medina, and Chapter Two seeks to provide the context for this by investigating some forms of sacred and protected space found in the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula. Chapter Three then examines a rare early document preserved in the later Islamic sources, which deals in part with Muḥammad’s creation of Medina’s ḥaram, the so-called “Constitution of Medina”, and investigates why and how Muḥammad created that particular form of sacred space at Medina. The remaining two chapters deal with the history of Muḥammad’s ḥaram at Medina after his death as its original raison d’être disappeared. Chapter Four analyses some aspects of Muslim legal scholars’ discussions concerning Medina’s ḥaram, and demonstrates that certain groups disputed its existence. Chapter Five then seeks to understand why caliphs and other scholars invested so heavily in actively promoting its widespread veneration and Medina’s status as a holy city. It concludes that caliphs from the late first/early eighth century patronised Medina to associate themselves with legitimate political authority inherited from Muḥammad, and that from the late second/eighth century certain legal scholars argued for the continued existence of Medina’s ḥaram because of its association with the Prophet and his Companions who had come to be for them the ultimate source of legal authority.

<b><u>Introduction:</b></u> Some cancer survivors are known to have an elevated risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease. An important cause of this elevated risk is recognised to be irradiation of normal tissues during radiotherapy received as part of cancer therapy. There are substantial difficulties in studying radiation-related cardiovascular disease (RRCD). The reasons for this include the complexities of measuring radiation normal tissue doses retrospectively and the prolonged latencies of many of the cardiovascular endpoints. A variety of complimentary research methodologies can help provide additional knowledge to guide the appropriate management of patients treated in the past and of new patients in the future. <b><u>Methods:</b></u> 1) A cohort study of mortality from circulatory disease in the nationwide British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS). 2) A case-control study of valvular heart disease (VHD) in Dutch Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors, including retrospective radiation dosimetry to estimate the radiation dose to heart valves. 3) A dosimetric study of cardiovascular radiation doses in patients entered into the UK NCRI Lymphoma Study Group RAPID trial, including predictions of 15-year cardiac mortality using innovative methods. 4) A modelling study to predict mean whole heart dose (MWHD) from involved field radiotherapy (IFRT) for HL using anatomical measures. 5) A prospective study using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to characterise the heart in women receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer. <b><u>Results:</b></u> 1) The risks of all types of circulatory mortality are elevated in survivors of childhood cancer. The absolute excess risks continue to increase 40+ years following diagnosis. The risk of death from cardiomyopathy and heart failure increased substantially with the introduction of anthracycline chemotherapy. There is no evidence of a reduction in risk of circulatory mortality in more recent eras of diagnosis. 2) There is a strong relationship between estimated radiation dose to the affected heart valve and the risk of subsequent VHD (p<0.001). This effect was modelled to allow prediction of the risk of VHD. 3) A proportion of patients treated with IFRT received a substantial cardiac radiation dose (MWHD = 8.8 Gy, SD = 5.6) but, on average, the predicted 15-year cardiac mortality following treatment is low (absolute risk 0.2%, range 0.0 to 2.7%). 4) It is possible to estimate the mean whole heart dose from IFRT prior to detailed radiotherapy planning based on pre-treatment diagnostic imaging to an accuracy of 5-6% of the prescribed dose. 5) Although women received low cardiac doses (MWHD = 1.5 Gy, SD = 0.8) and have a low predicted risk of cardiac radiation-related morbidity and mortality, there is some evidence of subclinical effects on strain and strain rate imaging of the anterior portions of the left ventricle that receive the highest radiation dose. <b><u>Conclusions:</b></u> Using a variety of methods these studies have all succeeded in adding to knowledge about the nature, magnitude and timing of RRCD. This knowledge can be used to help the future management of cancer patients. In addition, each of the studies has natural and planned extensions and will continue to contribute further knowledge into the future.

Despite the political disunity of early Irish society, theories and expressions of national identity abounded in the work of the learned classes of clerics, genealogists, poets and lawyers. This thesis examines texts from two crucial periods in the evolution of these theories. Focusing initially on the seventh and eighth centuries, the first part of the thesis argues that Irish national identity was created as part of a campaign to assert the joint authority of the Uí Néill kings of Tara and their ecclesiastical allies in Armagh. Drawing inspiration from biblical and patristic sources, and possibly also from contemporary developments elsewhere in Europe, these ecclesiastico-political allies asserted the national unity of the Irish in linguistic, genetic and territorial terms in pursuit of their own particular objectives. The influence of biblical and patristic beliefs on many of these early expressions of Irish identity highlights the outward-looking nature of the Irish scholarly tradition. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, this international dimension intensified as the histories and identities of foreign peoples became subjects of study in Ireland, and new source materials filtered into the country from overseas. With reference to two texts composed during this period, the Irish Sex Aetates Mundi and a poem on national characteristics beginning Cumtach na nIudaide n-ard – the second part of this thesis discusses the influence of newly acquired sources on contemporary Irish scholarship. It also examines how the information contained in these sources was adapted and rationalised to conform to the basic assumptions of Irish society.

Is language a tool of empire or is empire a tool of language? This thesis examines the cultivation of Carolingian hegemony on a pan-European scale; one defined by a renewed interest in the study of language and its relationship to Carolingian eagerness for moral and spiritual authority. Intended to complement previous work on Carolingian cultural politics, this thesis reiterates the emergence of active philosophical speculation during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. Prior research has ignored the centrality of linguistic hermeneutics in the Carolingian literate programme. This thesis addresses this lacuna, demonstrating the symbiotic relationship between spirituality, language, and politics within the Carolingian world. The work appropriates prior investigations into the connection of semiotics and Christian philosophy and proposes the development of a renewed interest into ontology and epistemology by Carolingian scholars, notably Alcuin of York and Theodulf of Orléans. The correlation between linguistic philosophy and spiritual authority is confirmed by the 794 Synod of Frankfurt, at which accusations towards both the Adoptionist movement of northern Spain and the repeal of Byzantine Iconoclasm were based on the dangers of linguistic misinterpretation. The thesis also explores the manifestation of this emergent philosophy of language within the manuscript evidence, witnessed by the biblical pandects produced by Alcuin and Theodulf. Desire for the emendation of texts, not to mention the formation of a uniform script (Caroline Minuscule), abetted the larger goal of both infusing a text with authority (both secular and divine) and allowing for broader spiritual and intellectual understanding of a text. Increasing engagement with classical philosophy and rhetoric, the nature of Carolingian biblical revision, and the cultural politics as seen at the Synod of Frankfurt depict the primacy of language to the Carolingians, not only as a tool of imperialism, but the axis of their intellectual and spiritual world.

The period from c.718 to c.1000 oversaw the reconquest of a significant part of the Iberian Peninsula by the Kingdom of Asturias (718–910) and its successor in León (910–1037); the study of this process of Reconquista has in recent years focused on two broader social changes: the increasing exploitation of the peasantry, and the eclipse of public power. In the Introduction, I argue that it is necessary to integrate the study of peasant societies with analyses of royal and aristocratic power; reframing the subject in this way, we are able to appreciate the diversity of social experience which characterized both peasant and aristocratic life across the two case studies here examined, Southern Galicia, and the Liébana. I argue that the tenth century must be seen on its own terms, and without the benefit of hindsight, if we are to characterize it fairly. Chapter Two discusses the source material I have used in the elaboration of this thesis, highlighting its uses and problems from a critical perspective. In Chapter Three I show that fluid social structures allowed a family to rise to power from amongst the village inhabitants of the Liébana. Public officials such as counts were not able to impose themselves frequently upon this society. In Chapter Four, I show how a rich and aristocratic family of lay magnates, based in southern Galicia, were major political operators from the ninth century, but only came to exercise significant social influence amongst local society after the construction of the monastery of Celanova in 936. My Conclusion contextualizes these changes; it also argues that more nuanced and less schematic approaches to social relations demonstrate that peasants retained considerable autonomy in this period, and that factional politics influenced the stability of kingship far more than the supposed eclipse of public power.

This thesis seeks to understand the changing place of angels in the religious culture of Anglo-Saxon England between AD 700 and 1000. From images carved in stone to reports of prophetic apparitions, angels are a remarkably ubiquitous presence in the art, literature and theology of early medieval England. That very ubiquity has, however, meant that their significance in Anglo-Saxon thought has largely been overlooked, dismissed as a commonplace of fanciful monkish imaginations. But angels were always bound up with constantly evolving ideas about human nature, devotional practice and the workings of the world. By examining the changing ways that Anglo-Saxon Christians thought about the unseen beings which shared their world, it is possible to detect broader changes in religious thought and expression in one part of the early medieval West. The six chapters of this thesis each investigate a different strand from this complex of ideas. Chapters One and Two begin with Anglo-Saxon beliefs at their most theological and speculative, exploring ideas about the early history of the angels and the nature of their society – ideas which were used to express and promote changing ideals about religious practice in early England. Chapters Three and Four turn to the ways that angels were believed to interact more directly in earthly affairs, as guardians of the living and escorts of the dead, showing how even apparently traditional beliefs reveal changing ideas about intercession, moral achievement and the supernatural. Lastly, Chapters Five and Six investigate the complicated ways that these ideas informed two central aspects of Anglo-Saxon religion: the cult of saints, and devotional prayer. A final Conclusion considers the cumulative trajectory of these otherwise distinct aspects of Anglo-Saxon thought, and asks how we might best explain the changing importance of angels in early medieval England.

This thesis examines urban political conflict in the late Middle Ages (c. 1370-1440) in Europe’s most heavily urbanised regions, Italy and the Southern Low Countries. Conflicts have frequently been viewed in the context of an emerging state-controlled political order, and have been interpreted either as forms of disruptive disorder, or as affirmations of political processes shaped by states. This thesis suggests that urban conflict should be studied not in the context of a state-controlled political order, but within the political framework provided by the numerous semi-autonomous jurisdictional institutions inside and outside cities (such as guilds, parishes or contending outside powers). This pluralistic order of politics gave rise to a form of political order sui generis which expressed itself in two ways. According to a general logic of conflict (Part One), particular rationales for justifying conflict (Chapter One) and specific political practices ranging from concealed protest to urban warfare (Chapter Two) were embedded in this multi-faceted and shifting political framework. Action groups could be negotiated and renegotiated around the resources provided by the city’s multiple legitimating institutions (Chapter Three). At the same time, such political institutions were configured differently in different cities, and this also generated a particular logic which lay at the basis of different systems of conflict (Part Two). Levels of conflict could, in fact, vary greatly between Bologna and Liège (Chapter Four), Florence and Tournai (Chapter Five), and Lille and Verona (Chapter Six), where, on the basis of different underlying political institutions, diverse practices of conflict and forms of association prevailed. The pluralistic order of politics itself was, therefore, a form of political organisation which crystallised around conflict. It gave rise to a logic which put conflict at the centre of the political order of late medieval cities.

Exposure to interparental conflict has been implicated in children's development. Research suggests that underlying mechanisms, such as neuropsychological indicators of cognitive processes, may shed light on how exposure to interparental conflict differentially influences children's outcomes over time. Event-related potentials (ERP), extracted from electroencephalogram data, allow for examination of neuropsychological markers of cognition based on precise timing and scalp topography of electrical activity in the brain. For example, the late positive potential (LPP) ERP component has been implicated in the timing and magnitude of sustained attention and emotion regulation processes elicited in response to emotionally salient stimuli. LPP amplitudes and peak latencies were compared for a community sample of 23 children (9-11 years of age, 12 females) during an oddball task, which used images of couples looking angry, happy, and neutral toward each other. Linear mixed models were used to analyze whether children's perceptions of interparental conflict, and whether they were from high- compared to low-conflict homes, influenced their level of neuropsychological resources directed toward angry compared to happy emotionally-charged interpersonal images. Significant results were found for when children were directed to respond to angry images. Differences emerged in LPP amplitudes for all children in the sample, with the greatest amplitudes produced for happy images compared to neutral and angry images. Regarding conflict exposure and perceptions of conflict, children from homes with greater levels of conflict and children who blamed themselves for conflicts they witnessed between parents produced greater LPP amplitudes when happy trials were presented compared to neutral trials. Finally, females reached their maximum LPP amplitude faster than males for neutral trials compared to angry trials. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for children's processing of interpersonal emotions as it is related to underlying neuropsychological mechanisms for sustained attention and emotion regulation.

A great deal is known and has been written about the difficulties that high IQ children can experience in the classroom when their special educational needs are not met. Evidence suggests that these difficulties can result in poor academic performance. This study is different from the research carried out in this field so far in that it expresses an hitherto unheard adult voice. It does so by examining the causes and the long-term effects of academic underachievement, as perceived by high IQ adults, on reflection. A mixed quantitative/qualitative methodological approach was used. 158 members of British Mensa, the High IQ Society, completed one semi-structured open ended questionnaire about their perceptions of the causes and long-term effects of their academic underachievement. A second questionnaire was completed by 50 of the previous sample who had revealed that they had reversed their underachievement in adulthood. This highlighted the differences between their educational experiences as children and as adults. It also revealed the impact that their delayed academic achievement had had on their life trajectory. Out of those 50 participants, ten took part in semi-structured one-to-one interviews which allowed for more in-depth enquiry. The conclusions of the study were that, if not nurtured, an innate ability such as a high IQ can become a disadvantage over time. It suggests that not catering for the special educational needs of high IQ children by not providing the mental stimulation they need is 'intellectual neglect'. Such neglect, like physical and emotional neglect, may affect mental well-being in adulthood. In the study sample, most of the participants' long-term economic and mental health had been negatively affected by their academic underachievement, even when it had been reversed in adulthood. This is an area which seems to have been little researched so far, perhaps because of the difficulty of locating high IQ underachieving adults. Yet, the issues highlighted by the research are of great importance not only to the individuals concerned but also to society. The desired outcomes of this study are that the dissemination of the results will raise awareness amongst educators and policy makers of the potential negative long-term effects of neglecting high IQ children's intellectual needs. It will also provide a platform for further research.