Artur, Tristão e o Graal. A escrita romanesca no ciclo do Pseudo Boron é uma tentativa de reconstituição dos processos de escrita que terão estado na origem deste conjunto textual e que o individualizam face ao primeiro ciclo arturiano em prosa, geralmente designado «Lancelot-Graal». O estudo do motivo da fonte (cap. I), da figura da Besta Ladrador (cap. II), da personagem régia (cap. III) e do tema do ódio entre linhagens (cap. IV) permitiu a detecção de muitosaspectos que unem os textos do ciclo mas levou também à constatação da heterogeneidade de alguns dos romances que o constituem, nomeadamente ao longo Tristan en Prose, onde foi possível identificar pelo menos quatro redactores com técnicas de escritra e objectivos bem diferenciados. A Suite du Merlin e a primeira fase de redacção de TP, que partilham inúmeros traços ideológicos e processos de escrita, terão sido os primeiros textos propositadamente redigidos para integrar o novo ciclo, associando-se aos romances do primeiro ciclo arturiano em prosa (Estoire del Saint Graal, Merlin, Lancelot en Prose, Queste del Saint Graal e Mort Artu primitivas). A segunda fase de redacção do Tristan en Prose é uma tentaiva de autonomização deste romance, tendência que os terceiro e quarto redactores contrariam fortalecendo os laços com a Suite e a Queste. A demanda do Santo Graal (refundição da Queste primitiva paralela à Queste da Vulgata), por fim, une habilmente fios temáticos e narrativos (por vezes divergentes) oriundos da Suite du Merlin e de várias fases de redacção do Tristan en Prose, mas apresenta também algumas especificidades no tratamento de personagens e temas herdados destes textos.

Roscelin of Compiegne (ca. 1050-ca. 1121) usually is regarded as the founder of nominalism. I show that Roscelin did not originate this position on the question of universals, but instead is an early Mediaeval representative of a tradition of anti-realism which has its roots in the Early Stoa, and perhaps earlier in the Sophists. / In the first chapter I trace the origins of anti-realism to the relativistic humanism and empiricism of the Sophists. I lay out Plato's early theory of Forms as a response to the Sophists, and then I examine Aristotle's criticisms of the Forms from the Topics and the Categories. I then introduce the Stoics' rejection of the Forms as the origin of what in the Middle Ages became anti-realism. / Chapters II through IV trace the development of the question of universals as a distinct philosophical problem, and anti-realism as an answer, in the context of Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, and Roman Grammatical traditions. I examine the works of major figures, from Porphyry to Berengar of Tours, to show the development of the various answers to the question of universals. / In Chapter V, I take a close look at the only book devoted to Roscelin's life and thought, Roscelin Philosophe et Theologien, written in 1911 by Francois Picavet. I show that there was a tradition of dialectical anti-realism of which Roscelin was but one early twelfth century representative. / By showing that Roscelin was not the originator of anti-realism, I am suggesting that an examination of the early Mediaeval debate on universals in light of its descent from much earlier traditions demonstrates the philosophical richness of the early Middle Ages and is greater than is commonly supposed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-08, Section: A, page: 3159. / Major Professor: C. David Gruender. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

“The English Inheritance of Biblical Verse” explores the transmission of late antique Latin biblical poetry to England and the subsequent development of the genre in the vernacular. This study offers close readings of the most important contributions to a genre that produced more than twenty major compositions between AD 400 and 1500. For over a millennium, this literature effectively represented the Bible in popular form, yet this is the first study to explore the stylistic and thematic affinities between the Latin and English traditions. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to ‘biblical verse,’ defines the term and offers a broad outline of the genre, including a summary of general stylistic features and critical trends. The first chapter also provides an overview of the subject matter in each of the following chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the Latin beginnings of the genre in the fourth century, beginning with the poetry of Juvencus, whose stylistic choices regarding the appropriation of classical literature establish many of the generic norms for later poets. Among them is Cyprianus, who reflects the Juvencan model in his Heptateuch, while Prudentius, though not a biblical poet per se, anticipates a movement toward stylistic freedom in later versifications of the Bible. Chapter 3 examines the growing stylistic freedom among biblical versifications at the end of late antiquity. Sedulius, Avitus and Arator break the silence imposed by epic conventions of detachment and begin to comment on the underlying significance of biblical episodes such as the crossing of the Red Sea at length. Biblical exegesis and figural allusions to Christ abound in the poetry of this period. Chapter 4 shifts the focus to Anglo-Saxon England and the study of Juvencus, Sedulius and Arator in the monastic schools of the time. Many Anglo-Latin writers, especially Aldhelm, Bede and Alcuin, borrow heavily from the style of late antique biblical verse. My purpose here is to deepen our understanding of the specific ways in which this is the case. Chapter 5 makes another transition, to Old English biblical poetry. My goal here is to explore the ways in which the Latin and vernacular traditions overlap. My approach is mainly stylistic, and I focus in particular on the biblical verse of the Junius manuscript, containaing Genesis A/B, Exodus, Daniel and Christ and Satan. Chapter 6 offers some conclusions about the variety of functions and audiences of this literature. I also suggest what work remains to be done and how knowledge of the Latin tradition informs our understanding of the literature of the Anglo-Saxon period. My goal, therefore, is to examine various ways in which poets of different eras versify the Bible by considering what is omitted from, elaborated upon and unique to a given period or author. Ultimately, I aim to show that Latin and Old English biblical verse have more in common that not and that knowledge of the former enriches understanding of the latter.

Christianity, as a religion centered on the Incarnation of a spiritual being, is always necessarily a religion of embodiment, but its attitude toward that embodiment has always been one of distrust. The juxtaposition of seemingly opposing forces—flesh and spirit, affect and intellect—results in problematic but inevitable troubling of binary oppositions. Late medieval devotion is replete with mediators that serve to focus meditation and prayer in order to bring the individual closer to God, but they can also represent the physical presence of God and bring God closer to the individual. A study of these various modes of mediation will reveal how the connections between spiritual and physical were conceived. Mediation—whether of language, the senses and emotions, texts and objects, or saints—reveals and reestablishes our connection to the divine. Using the depictions of the Virgin Mary, the Mediatrix, found in the devotional literature of medieval England as a starting point, this study explores the mechanism of mediation in medieval Christian thought. The first two chapters examine the problem of the erotic in religious discourse, focusing primarily on architectural allegory and imagery and language borrowed from the Song of Songs. Architectural allegories representing the female body of the Virgin Mary and the female religious draw on both spiritual allegories and allegories found in secular love poetry and romance. The use of eros in devotional discourse creates a tension between the prescribed chastity and sensory restriction and the highly sensual, sexual language and heightens the emotional effect of the text. The second two chapters focus on compassion, first looking at planctus Mariae, or Marian laments, to examine how a meditating reader is drawn into the scene of the passion through dialogue with Mary and through Mary’s control of the meditative gaze. The final chapter examines how devotional images can be used as mediators because of their ability to represent (and in some sense be) an invisible, divine reality.

Christianity, as a religion centered on the Incarnation of a spiritual being, is always necessarily a religion of embodiment, but its attitude toward that embodiment has always been one of distrust. The juxtaposition of seemingly opposing forces—flesh and spirit, affect and intellect—results in problematic but inevitable troubling of binary oppositions. Late medieval devotion is replete with mediators that serve to focus meditation and prayer in order to bring the individual closer to God, but they can also represent the physical presence of God and bring God closer to the individual. A study of these various modes of mediation will reveal how the connections between spiritual and physical were conceived. Mediation—whether of language, the senses and emotions, texts and objects, or saints—reveals and reestablishes our connection to the divine. Using the depictions of the Virgin Mary, the Mediatrix, found in the devotional literature of medieval England as a starting point, this study explores the mechanism of mediation in medieval Christian thought. The first two chapters examine the problem of the erotic in religious discourse, focusing primarily on architectural allegory and imagery and language borrowed from the Song of Songs. Architectural allegories representing the female body of the Virgin Mary and the female religious draw on both spiritual allegories and allegories found in secular love poetry and romance. The use of eros in devotional discourse creates a tension between the prescribed chastity and sensory restriction and the highly sensual, sexual language and heightens the emotional effect of the text. The second two chapters focus on compassion, first looking at planctus Mariae, or Marian laments, to examine how a meditating reader is drawn into the scene of the passion through dialogue with Mary and through Mary’s control of the meditative gaze. The final chapter examines how devotional images can be used as mediators because of their ability to represent (and in some sense be) an invisible, divine reality.

“The English Inheritance of Biblical Verse” explores the transmission of late antique Latin biblical poetry to England and the subsequent development of the genre in the vernacular. This study offers close readings of the most important contributions to a genre that produced more than twenty major compositions between AD 400 and 1500. For over a millennium, this literature effectively represented the Bible in popular form, yet this is the first study to explore the stylistic and thematic affinities between the Latin and English traditions. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to ‘biblical verse,’ defines the term and offers a broad outline of the genre, including a summary of general stylistic features and critical trends. The first chapter also provides an overview of the subject matter in each of the following chapters. Chapter 2 discusses the Latin beginnings of the genre in the fourth century, beginning with the poetry of Juvencus, whose stylistic choices regarding the appropriation of classical literature establish many of the generic norms for later poets. Among them is Cyprianus, who reflects the Juvencan model in his Heptateuch, while Prudentius, though not a biblical poet per se, anticipates a movement toward stylistic freedom in later versifications of the Bible. Chapter 3 examines the growing stylistic freedom among biblical versifications at the end of late antiquity. Sedulius, Avitus and Arator break the silence imposed by epic conventions of detachment and begin to comment on the underlying significance of biblical episodes such as the crossing of the Red Sea at length. Biblical exegesis and figural allusions to Christ abound in the poetry of this period. Chapter 4 shifts the focus to Anglo-Saxon England and the study of Juvencus, Sedulius and Arator in the monastic schools of the time. Many Anglo-Latin writers, especially Aldhelm, Bede and Alcuin, borrow heavily from the style of late antique biblical verse. My purpose here is to deepen our understanding of the specific ways in which this is the case. Chapter 5 makes another transition, to Old English biblical poetry. My goal here is to explore the ways in which the Latin and vernacular traditions overlap. My approach is mainly stylistic, and I focus in particular on the biblical verse of the Junius manuscript, containaing Genesis A/B, Exodus, Daniel and Christ and Satan. Chapter 6 offers some conclusions about the variety of functions and audiences of this literature. I also suggest what work remains to be done and how knowledge of the Latin tradition informs our understanding of the literature of the Anglo-Saxon period. My goal, therefore, is to examine various ways in which poets of different eras versify the Bible by considering what is omitted from, elaborated upon and unique to a given period or author. Ultimately, I aim to show that Latin and Old English biblical verse have more in common that not and that knowledge of the former enriches understanding of the latter.

Marginal annotation in medieval romance manuscripts| Understanding the contemporary reception of the genre

Elphinstone's embassy and Poona affairs

Sir Arthur Wellesley(Duke of Wellington) in India

Taluqdars of oudh