This thesis engages with a broad range archival source from across Flanders to analyse poorly understood urban groups, the archery and crossbow guilds. The development and continuing importance of the guilds, as military and social groups, and as agents of social peace, will be analysed over six chapters. Chapter one traces the guilds’ origins and continuing military service. Proving a foundation date or a definitive origin for most guilds has proved impossible, but their enduring military importance can be established. In contrast to the assumptions of Arnade (1996), stating that after 1436 the guilds rarely served in war, I have shown that guilds served across the fifteenth century. Chapter two examines the guild-brothers themselves, through a prosopographical study of the members of the Bruges guilds. Many writers have assumed guilds to be ‘elite’ but no study to date has attempted to prove the status of guild-brothers. My use of several hundred different sources reveals numerous important details about guilds’ composition. Many ‘elites’ were present, but so too were members of all crafts and, in comparison with the militia records of 1436, many richer crafts were greatly underrepresented, but crucially no profession was excluded. Chapters three and four analyse respectively the devotions and community of the guilds. Both show the centrality of choice; that guilds were reactive and complex groups changing in response to the needs of members, who could include women, children and priests. Chapter five steps back from the guilds to examine their relationships with authorities. The rulers of Flanders granted privileges to guilds, but they also socialised with them. Great lords patronised and joined guilds, helping them gain rights and lands, but such relationships were mutually beneficial. Urban authorities also supported their guilds, through money, wine, cloth and even land the towns cherished their guilds not just as defenders, but as representatives of civic ideology. Chapter six demonstrates the guilds’ displays of honour and civic prestige at their best, through a study of their competitions. Competitions brought hundreds of armed men together, yet they did not provoke violence, rather, through the language of brotherhood and symbols of commensality, competitions rebuilt damaged communities. A study of competitions is far more than a study of spectacles; it is an analysis of the greatest forms of civic representation and the guilds becoming agents of social peace.

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<p> Late medieval English texts often represent unfinished quests for obscurely significant objects. These works create enchanted worlds where more always remains to be discovered and where questers search for an ur-text, an authoritative book that promises perfect knowledge. Rather than reaching this ur-text, however, questers confront rumor, monstrous babble, and the clamor of argument, which thwart their efforts to gather together sacred wholeness. Yet while threatening, noise also preserves the sacred by ensuring that it remains forever elsewhere, for recovering perfect knowledge would disenchant the world. Scholarship on medieval noise often focuses on class: medieval writers tend to describe threats to political authority as noisy. These unfinished quests, though, suggest that late medieval literature&rsquo;s complex investment in noise extends further and involves the very search for the sacred, a search full of opaque language and unending desire. Noise, then, becomes the sound of narrative itself.</p><p> While romance foregrounds questing most clearly, these ideas appear in a variety of genres. Chapter 1 shows that in the <i>House of Fame</i> rumor both perpetuates and undermines knowledge, so sacred authority must remain beyond the poem&rsquo;s frame. Chapter 2 juxtaposes the <i>Parliament of Fowls</i> and the <i>Canon&rsquo;s Yeoman&rsquo;s Tale</i>, in which lists replace missing quest-objects, the philosopher&rsquo;s stone and certainty about love. Chapter 3 centers on <i>Piers Plowman</i>, which becomes encyclopedic as one attempt to &ldquo;preve what is Dowel&rdquo; leads to another, and Will never definitively learns how to save his soul, the knowledge he most wants. Chapter 4 turns to Julian of Norwich&rsquo;s search for divine &ldquo;mening&rdquo; and her confrontation with an incoherent fiend, an anxious moment that aligns her with these less serene contemporaries. Chapter 5 argues that Thomas Malory&rsquo;s elusive, noisy Questing Beast at once bolsters and undermines chivalry. The final chapter looks ahead to Book VI of <i>The Faerie Queene</i>, where the Blatant Beast, a sixteenth-century amalgam of the fame tradition and the Questing Beast, menaces Faery Land yet, as a figure for poetry, also contributes to its enchantment. In trying to locate and maintain the sacred, these unfinished quests evoke worlds intensely anxious about &ldquo;auctoritee.&rdquo;</p>

Cette recherche étudie l'importance de la liturgie et de la paraliturgie dans la société médiévale par le biais des utilisations et de la symbolique de l'encens et du luminaire dans la liturgie romano-gallicane (VIe-Xe s.)et dans les pratiques dévotionnelles du haut Moyen Age occidental. L’importance de l’Église dans tous les aspects de la vie au Moyen Âge est indéniable. Pourtant l’on connaît encore mal la place qu’y occupe la liturgie ; or, la liturgie est au cœur de l’Église puisque elle est définie comme l’ensemble des rites et principes mis en place par une religion – ici chrétienne – pour établir le déroulement des actes cultuels et de la relation au sacré. Elle est dès lors fondamentale à une époque où la majorité du corps social se reconnaît comme chrétien, elle est l’expression de la religion et rythme toute la société médiévale. Depuis plusieurs années, elle suscite l’intérêt justifié de quelques médiévistes. Ceux-ci ont souligné l’importance de considérer la liturgie dans sa globalité, c'est-à-dire de dépasser la simple étude des livres liturgiques pour s’intéresser également à la façon dont la liturgie était perçue, reçue et vécue par les fidèles notamment au travers de leurs pratiques dévotionnelles, c’est ce que l’on appelle la paraliturgie. La liturgie se caractérise par la récurrence des rites qui sont des suites ordonnées de gestes, de sons, d’objets mis en œuvre par un groupe social à des fins symboliques. À ce titre, l’étude des éléments constitutifs de la liturgie se justifie pleinement, puisque le rite ne s’accomplit et n’est efficace que dans la permanence de tous ses éléments. L’encens et le luminaire ont ceci de particulier que leurs fonctions utilitaires, pour éclairer et désodoriser, les rendent indispensables à la liturgie. Par ailleurs, le propre du rituel est de donner sens, or, l’encens et le luminaire, par leurs propriétés naturelles se sont vus conférer un sens symbolique dans toutes les cultures où ils sont utilisés. Ce sont des éléments bénéfiques utilisés particulièrement dans la religion car ils permettent de matérialiser la communication entre le monde terrestre et le monde céleste. Toutefois, dans la religion chrétienne, l’encens et le luminaire ont un statut inférieur ou secondaire par rapport au calice ou à l’hostie par exemple. L’ensemble de ces caractéristiques augurait de l’existence d’un rapport particulier entre ces objets et le fidèle ; leur étude constitue dès lors un outil efficace pour connaître l’impact de la liturgie sur la société médiévale. Sans compter que l’étude des éléments constitutifs de la liturgie n’en est qu’à ses débuts, et si le luminaire a suscité quelques publications récentes, l’encens n’a que peu été abordé ; l’étude de leur couple est, en tous les cas, inédite. Par ailleurs, l’étude de l’encens et du luminaire s’inscrit dans des débats historiographiques plus larges notamment celui des relations commerciales, puisque l’encens est un produit oriental et l’huile d’olive méditerranéen, ce qui en renforce encore l’intérêt. Pour connaître les utilisations de l’encens et du luminaire dans la liturgie, préalables indispensablse à la connaissance de leurs emplois dans la paraliturgie, il faut se tourner vers les sources liturgiques ce qui consitute la première partie du travail. L’analyse de ces différentes sources liturgiques a permis de mettre en évidence les usages officiels et les symboliques donnés à l’encens et au luminaire dans les différents rituels de la liturgie romano-gallicane (la messe, la liturgie pascale, la dédicace, l’office divin, le temps de Noël, les funérailles et les rituels d’admission). En définitive, l’encens et luminaire sont des médiateurs entre le monde terrestre et le monde céleste, ils matérialisent et réifient ce lien réciproque. Ils ont un caractère propitiatoire important, intimement lié à leurs vertus apotropaïques et basé sur leurs propriétés naturelles. Les sources liturgiques ne fournissent pas d’information sur le fonctionnement de l’encens et du luminaire, sur leur économie ou sur la façon dont ils étaient utilisés par les fidèles pour manifester leur dévotion ; même si elles laissent entrevoir de riches possibilités. Le champ des recherches à été élargi par l'étude de « dossiers ». Les recherches ont été focalisées autour de centres religieux bien connus dans l’historiographie grâce à des sources remarquables par leur qualité et/ou leur quantité qui ont suscité une bibliographie conséquente. Toutes les sources relatives au centre religieux ont ensuite été dépouillées et analysées systématiquement. Les dossiers de Tours,Reims, Auxerre et Saint-Riquier ont livré beaucoup d’éléments tant sur les questions de la fourniture et du fonctionnement que sur celles des pratiques dévotionnelles liées au luminaire. Les sources "non-liturgiques" de ces quatre dossiers ont ainsi révélé des pratiques communes pour assurer l’approvisionnement en luminaire, qui constitue une dépense importante. L’approvisionnement en encens est plus difficile à déceler. Les sources non-liturgiques, en particulier les récits hagiographiques, apportent de la densité et de l’atmosphère aux sources liturgiques particulièrement froides et factuelles. Elles donnent incidemment des informations sur la forme et le fonctionnement du luminaire principalement, et elles complètent et corroborent les éléments de la première partie. Les éléments concernant le culte des saints sont nombreux. Les pratiques dévotionnelles relevées (culte des saints, donations pour le luminaire, offrandes de cierges, utilisations apotropaïque du luminaire et de l'encens, etc.) témoignent donc que les symboliques du cierge, plus largement du luminaire, et de l'encens sont communes aux pratiques liturgiques et dévotionnelles. Le travail montre que la cire, l’huile et l’encens sont utilisés de façon régulière par les églises et qu’ils étaient disponibles sur les marchés locaux pour les ecclésiastiques. Il faut vraisemblablement distinguer plusieurs niveaux de qualité conditionnant l’utilisation de ces matières. L’encens et le luminaire sont des outils pertinents pour apprécier la façon dont la liturgie était vécue dans la société médiévale, notamment grâce à leurs usages dans les pratiques paraliturgiques.

No description available.

No description available.

Very little critical work has been done on collections of charters surviving from medieval Scotland. Using cutting-edge methodologies, this study deconstructs the largest of these collections, namely the Kelso Abbey cartulary, and attempts to answer questions such as when, why and how was it produced, and is its content authentic? Ultimately, it concludes that the manuscript is not a straightforward, objective transcript of the monastery’s charters, and evidence to support this is presented in four chapters, a conclusion and two commentary sections. Chapter one demonstrates that the production of the cartulary was tied to a specific period in the abbey’s history and was certainly produced as part of a campaign to rebuild after the wars of the early fourteenth century and their ramifications. These ramifications included the destruction of the monks’ charters, the destruction of their home and property, and the upheaval of the native landholding establishment by King Edward I and King Robert I. Chapter two reinforces the above suggestions by dating the production of the manuscript between 1321 and 1326 - i.e. the precise years in which King Robert was working to help many of the religious houses in Scotland to reassert themselves after the war. Apart from contextual considerations, chapter two also establishes that the cartulary is not a completely accurate representation of the documentation in the monastery’s archive. Among other things, portions of the manuscript appear to be missing, and the scribes who produced it adopted selection criteria which led to the omission of charters or of diplomatic. Thereafter, chapters three and four evaluate the authenticity of the material in the manuscript. Chapter three demonstrates that there are severe problems with the information, diplomatic, witness lists and other features found in a number of its charters, and chapter four demonstrates that these items share a number of conspicuous features in common, including their locations, conditions and the circumstances which appear to have led to their production. In combination, chapters three and four build a strong case against the authenticity of a number of items in the manuscript, and both of these discussions are complemented by exhaustive commentaries which discuss each of the problematic charters in detail. Finally, this study concludes by demonstrating that certain features of the Kelso Abbey cartulary appear to call into question the veracity of several well-established paradigms, including the notion that cartularies were created for the sole use of the inhabitants of religious communities. It also suggests that the consequences of the Anglo-Scottish wars in the early fourteenth century may be comparable to the consequences of the Norman Conquest of 1066 in terms of inspiring religious houses, like Kelso, to forge charters, and it builds a strong case that this needs to be an area of future inquiry.

Research on medieval Iceland--focusing on the period of the Commonwealth, from the establishment of the National parliament of 36 chiefdoms in 930 to submission to the Norwegian King in 1264--generally assumes a perennial subsistence economy, neglects the significance of trade, and lacks focus on changes in farming systems and tributary relations. This dissertation deals with the formation of chiefdoms, communities, ecclesiastical institutions and state, and with production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland in the context of climatic change and ecological succession. Based on the integrative use of narrative, legal and economic documents, and archaeological and ethnographically derived data, it is argued that foreign markets and domestic credit exchanges were key to productive relations and land tenure and farming systems prior to 1200. This dissertation describes (1) chiefdom formation in terms of the economic rule of merchant-farmers, (2) the integration of a broad-based subsistence economy supporting specialized sheep production and yielding surplus wool for export, (3) freeholder production intensification in the context of mercantile activity, (4) disintensification and a change to a farming system emphasizing sheep reared for efficient milk and meat production, (5) the rise of rent tenure, communal property rights, and tributary systems in contexts of developing ecclesiastic institutions and colonial relations with Norway. The sagas are examined to show how trade enterprises were facilitated through class, transmission of property, a cognatic ego-centered kinship system, marriage, fostering, and household networks. An extensive analysis of Bjarnar saga Hitdaelakappa reveals changes in the modes and means of production and shows the saga employing symbolism relating to marriage and kinship that reflects successive formation of different institutions and professional careers, as well as historically transforming links between Iceland and Norway, secular and ecclesiastical authority, and wealth accumulation and succession. A new model is proposed for looking at the 'secondary exploitation' of livestock and for characterizing levels and means of intensification and specialization in Northern farming. This model is applied to evidence from England pertaining to the period from Iron Age to the 15th century.

The ten rectangular red clay tiles which comprise the collection known as the "Tring Tiles" depict stories from the apocryphal Infancy of Christ Gospels and are dated to before the second century. The eight tiles held at the British Museum and the two tiles and fragments at the Victoria and Albert Museum are believed to be the remains of a longer series which were mounted as a wall frieze in Tring Parish Church. The images on the tiles portray Jesus, from ages three to eight, performing miracles of killing and revival, trickery, and acts of charity. The final tile depicts a wedding feast similar to the feast at Cana. Explanation for the placement of these tiles, produced with a rare technique and containing unusual portrayals of Jesus, in a parish church, is dependent upon the examination and interpretation of religious and social perspectives in early fourteenth-century England.

No description available.