Volumes 1 and 2 have continuous paging (xiii, 1-423 ; 424-746) Bibliography: leaves 738-746 v. 1. Introduction -- v.2. Notes -- v. 3. Texts -- MS Hunter 15 pt. 2 [microfilm]

This thesis finds that Geoffrey of Monmouth¡¦s Historia regum Britanniae includes political arguments that support kingship government and primogeniture. Through analysis of existing academic literature, and through the perspective of cultural change theory, this thesis argues that Geoffrey employs three elements¡Xthe Norman writer Dudo of Saint-Quentin¡¦s work De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum, the historical progress of the Normans after their conquest of Britain, and the Geoffrey¡¦s own support for kingship and primogeniture¡Xto compose diverse information into a political argument. This thesis also discovers that Geoffrey¡¦s political argument for kingship government and primogeniture is discussed by the Anonymous author of The Oldest Anglo-Norman Prose Brut Chronicle. The Anonymous author proposes the idea of contract as solvency for the civil wars which the combination of kingship and primogeniture alone cannot resolve.

Volumes 1 and 2 have continuous paging (xiii, 1-423 ; 424-746) / Bibliography: leaves 738-746 / 3 v. : ill ; 30 cm. + 1 microfilm (positive ; 35 mm) / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English Language and Literature, 1993

Le Roman de Brut, conservé en trente-trois manuscrits, dont dix-sept complets, est une œuvre d'importance capitale pour l'histoire de la littérature en ancien français. La thèse, faisant abstraction de la fortune du texte dans les ouvrages romanesques, se concentre sur le rôle de l'œuvre de Wace dans l'évolution de l'historiographie insulaire en langue française et dans la manière de concevoir l’histoire de la période bretonne en Angleterre, introduite ex nihilo, seulement peu d'années auparavant, par l’Historia regum Britanniae de Geoffroy de Monmouth. En particulier, la thèse vise à mettre en évidence les conséquences de ce processus sur la tradition manuscrite du texte en analysant certains choix d'organisation des codices, certaines variantes et des rédactions partiellement différentes. Cependant, l'œuvre de Wace n'est pas isolée, mais se situe au cœur d'un vaste ensemble de traductions et de réécritures de la chronique de Geoffroy, composées entre le XIIe et le XIVe siècles, qui relèvent de ce même processus. La tradition manuscrite du Roman de Brut s’inscrit alors dans un réseau complexe de traditions littéraires dérivées de l'Historia regum Britanniae, tout en exerçant à son tour une influence sur ce même réseau. À partir d'une analyse des manuscrits du Brut à la fois codicologique, stylistique-littéraire et ecdotique et d'une réflexion d'ensemble concernant les chroniques anglo-normandes consacrées aux rois bretons d'Angleterre, la thèse montre les différents visages de la matière bretonne au sein de cette vaste production et l’affirmation de celle-ci comme "temps des origines" dans l'histoire d'Angleterre. / The Roman de Brut, transmitted by thirty-three manuscripts – seventeen of which are complete – constitutes a fundamental text in Old French literary history. Setting aside the work’s fortune in the sphere of romance, this thesis concentrates instead on Wace’s role in regard to the evolution of French insular historiography and the modes of perception of the Breton era, a subject had been introduced ex nihilo only a few years prior by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae. Specifically,the thesis aims to illustrate the consequences of such a process on the text’s manuscript tradition, by analysing certain choices pertaining to the organization of the codices by their scribes, specific variants, and other global re-adaptations. However, Wace’s oeuvre should not be considered as an isolated entity, but should rather be placed in the context of the vast complex of re-adaptations of Geoffrey’s chronicle that appear during the 12th to 14th centuries, and that should be understood as the expression of the same process. Thus, the manuscript tradition of the Roman de Brut evolves together with the convoluted knot of literary traditions that develop from the Historia Regum Britanniae: these do not only influence Wace’s text in its manuscripts, but are themselves shaped by it in turn. Starting from a codicological, stylistic, and ecdotic analysis of the Brut manuscripts, along with a comprehensive reflection on the entirety of Anglo-Norman chronicles on the subject of the Breton era, this thesis illustrates the various faces that the Breton matter has assumed within this production, and its journey towards affirming itself as the origin myth of England’s history.

Univ., Diss.--Freiburg (Breisgau), 2001.

Comptant parmi les figures les plus éminentes de la littérature arthurienne, célèbre au Moyen Âge comme dans les périodes postérieures, Merlin demeure pourtant un personnage polymorphe et contradictoire. Un double angle d’étude permettra de saisir ses ambiguïtés et de constituer une poétique du personnage. D’abord, dans une perspective relationnelle, le bestiaire, c’est-à-dire la faune littéraire, constitue un élément de sa définition. Dans les Suites rétrospectives du Merlin en prose (la Suite dite « Vulgate » la Suite dite « Post-Vulgate » et le Livre d’Artus), romans qui constituent l’aboutissement des proses arthuriennes du XIIIe siècle, cet axe relationnel rencontre ensuite une perspective intertextuelle. Par son extension et sa nature, le bestiaire merlinien se révèle extrêmement variable et difficilement classable, à l’image du personnage. Présidant aux relations entre le personnage et le bestiaire, les paradigmes de l’incarnation et de la voix, ainsi que la dialectique intus/foris, laissent percevoir une complexification croissante de Merlin, qui allie un rôle de vates responsable de la fiction et du bestiaire prophétique et une dimension proprement romanesque à l’issue du Merlin en prose. Enfin, dans les Suites du Merlin en prose, le bestiaire rend aussi bien compte du (re)développement et de la fin conjoints de ces deux aspects du personnage que de la poétique des textes. Par le biais de relations métonymiques, métaphoriques et analogiques avec Merlin, le bestiaire construit ainsi trois conceptions synchroniquement contrastées du personnage, en adéquation avec la tonalité et les objectifs poétiques différents des Suites. Il participe alors du message moral et des réflexions poétiques que chacun de ces romans, conscient de ses enjeux, véhicule. / One of the most eminent figures of Arthurian literature, renowned in the Middle Ages as in later periods, Merlin remains however a polymorphous and contradictory character. A study focusing on two aspects will allow us to perceive his ambiguities and to form the poetics of the character. Firstly, from a relational perspective, the bestiary, that is to say the literary fauna, constitutes an element of this definition. In Prose Merlin’s retrospective prose sequels (the “Vulgate” Suite, the “Post-Vulgate” Suite and the Livre d’Artus), romances which constitute the apex of thirteenth century Arthurian texts in prose, this relation axis encounters an intertextual perspective. By its extent and its nature the Merlin bestiary reveals itself to be extremely variable and difficult to categorize, as is the nature of the character. The paradigms of incarnation and voice, together with the intus/foris dialectics, that govern the relations between the character and the bestiary, show that Merlin becomes increasingly complex, because he combines a role of vates responsible for the fiction and the prophetic bestiary with a distinctly romantic dimension by the end of the Prose Merlin. Finally, in the Prose Merlin sequels, the bestiary also explains both the (re)development and the end of these two aspects of the character, as well as the poetics of the texts. Through the metonymical, metaphorical and analogical relations with Merlin, the bestiary thus builds up three different synchronically contrasting conceptions of the character, matching the tone and the various poetical purposes in the Suites. It contributes thus to the moral message and the poetical thoughts that each of these romances, aware of their portent, consciously carry.

L’étude ici présentée porte sur les origines des royaumes de León et de Castille dans la culture historique de l’Espagne médiévale (XIIe-XIIIe siècles). Il s’agit de saisir les fondements politiques de ces royaumes par l’analyse d’un mythe fondateur qui a émergé et s’est construit au sein de la production historiographique du Nord péninsulaire : le mythe néo-wisigothique. Mythe de fondation, cette représentation historique soutient la thèse d’une continuité ethnique, dynastique, idéologique et spirituelle entre le royaume wisigothique de Tolède qui s’effondre lors de l’invasion musulmane de 711 et les royaumes léonais et castillan. À l’occasion du récit des règnes de Witiza et de Rodrigue, les derniers rois des Wisigoths, et des batailles mythifiées du Guadalete et de Covadonga, les chroniqueurs manipulent le discours sur l’histoire et glissent des interpolations qui infléchissent le sens de leurs sources, parvenant à gommer toute solution de continuité entre Rodrigue et le premier restaurateur, Pélage. Ainsi, par un discours aux accents souvent providentialistes, les chroniqueurs contribuent à restaurer la patrie hispanique, que saint Isidore de Séville définit dans son œuvre par l’union entre rex, gens et regnum, et à doter la communauté politique d’une éthique collective, de valeurs idéales et de modèles à imiter. C’est aussi l’apport de l’historiographie du point de vue de la sémiologie socio-historique que nous souhaitons mettre en lumière. Le mythe évolue en fonction du contexte géopolitique et chaque chroniqueur interprète ses sources, surexploitant et politisant ce motif légendaire. Ces variations successives permettent de définir le mythe comme un système imaginaire qui révèle l’intentio des chroniqueurs ou de leurs commanditaires, comme une stratégie doctrinale du pouvoir et même comme le lieu d’un profond débat idéologique.Source de légitimité, le mythe est remployé au service des royaumes en construction au XIIe siècle dans l’Historia legionensis (dite silensis), la Chronica naiarensis et le Libro de las generaciones y linajes de los reyes (olim Liber regum) qui défendent la continuité ethnique et dynastique à León, la continuité idéologique en Castille et la continuité territoriale en Navarre. Au XIIIe siècle, le mythe bascule dans l’idéologie. L’Estoire d’Espagne d’Alphonse X le Sage hérite la vision historique du très léonais Chronicon mundi de Luc de Tuy et du très castillan De rebus Hispaniae de Rodrigue Jiménez de Rada, et lui associe la vision plus globale – et presque « nationale » – du Poema de Fernán González. Le roi Sage voit dans le mythe néo-wisigothique le moyen de légitimer ses prétentions impériales en Espagne et en Europe. / The study hereby presented tackles the origins of the kingdoms of León and Castile in the historic culture of medieval Spain (12th and 13th centuries). The aim is to understand the political bases of these kingdoms by analyzing a founding myth which emerged and took shape within the historiographical production in the north of the peninsula: the neo-Visigoth myth. A founding myth, this historic representation upholds the argument of an ethnic, dynastic, ideological and spiritual continuation between the Visigoth kingdom of Toledo, which collapsed in 711 when it was invaded by the Muslims, and the kingdoms of Léon and Castile. When recounting the stories of the reigns of Witiza and Rodrigo, the last Visigoth kings, and of the mythicised battles of the Guadalete and of Covadonga, chroniclers are manipulating views on history and slip interpolations which modify the meaning of their sources, thereby erasing any possibility of continuation between Rodrigo and Pelagius, the first restorer. Consequently, thanks to a discourse often tinged with providential undertones, the chroniclers help restoring the Hispanic country, which Saint Isidore of Seville defines in his work as the union of rex, gens and regnum, but they also contribute to endowing the political community with collective ethics, ideal values and role models. In addition, we would like to bring to light the contribution of historiography from the point of view of socio-historic semiology. The myth evolves according to the geopolitical context and each chronicler interprets their sources, thus overdoing and politicizing this legendary motif. These successive variations allow us to define the myth as an imaginary system revealing the intentio of the chroniclers or of their sleeping partners, but also as a doctrinal strategy of power, or even as the place for a profound ideological debate.A source of legitimacy, the myth is re-used to serve the kingdoms being founded in the 12th century in the Historia legionensis (also known as silensis), the Chronica naiarensis and the Libro de las generaciones y linajes de los reyes (olim Liber regum) which champion ethnic and dynastic continuation in León, ideological continuation in Castile and territorial continuation in Navarre. In the 13th century, the myth turns into ideology. Estoria de España by Alphonso X the Wise inherits the historical vision of typically Leonese Chronicon mundi by Luc de Tuy and of typically Castilian De rebus Hispaniae by Rodrigue Jiménez de Rada, and a more comprehensive – even almost « national » – vision is associated to it with Poema de Fernán González. The Wise king then starts to see in the neo-Visigoth myth a means to legitimate his imperial claims both in Spain and in Europe.

The thesis is a comparative and multidisciplinary study of legendary genealogies in the historical writing of northern England and Iceland c. 1120 – c. 1241. Historical writing was produced in abundance over this period in both areas and the frequent contact between England and Scandinavia, as well as shared use of early medieval insular sources make them especially suitable for comparison. The Viking invasions and settlement in England had a significant impact on English culture, language and literature and changed attitudes to their own legendary past. The Danish conquest of England in the early eleventh-century also brought the insular and Scandinavian worlds closer together, and even after the Norman Conquest in 1066, England and Scandinavia engaged in scholarly and textual exchange The theoretical framework for the thesis combines approaches from religious history, art history, political history, literature history and gender history. The main research questions of the thesis consider the dissemination, development, and purpose of legendary genealogies. The sources are a collection of Durham related manuscripts with illuminations of the pagan god Woden (c. 1120–88) in two historical works De Primo Saxonum Aduentu and De Gestis Regum; Genealogia Regum Anglorum (Rievaulx, 1153x54) by Aelred of Rievaulx; two works attributed to Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda (Iceland, 1220s) and Heimskringla (Iceland, 1225x35). Common to the sources is the inclusion of genealogies that stretch from legendary generations to living individuals at the time of writing. Thus, genealogies connected dynasties and civilisations in mutual descent from pagan, Trojan and biblical ancestors. By analysing textual dissemination as well as political contexts, literary patronage and mechanisms in legitimisation of power, the thesis address amalgamations of origin myths, the use and significance euhemerised pagan gods, and female generations in genealogies.

In and around the 870s, Britain was transformed dramatically by the campaigns and settlements of the Great Army and its allies. Some pre-existing political communities suffered less than others, and in hindsight the process helped Scotland and England achieve their later positions. By the twelfth century, the rulers of these countries had partitioned the former kingdom of Northumbria. This thesis is about what happened in the intervening period, the fate of Northumbria's political structures, and how the settlement that defined Britain for the remainder of the Middle Ages came about. Modern reconstructions of the era have tended to be limited in scope and based on unreliable post-1100 sources. The aim is to use contemporary material to overcome such limitations, and reach positive conclusions that will make more sense of the evidence and make the region easier to understand for a wider audience, particularly in regard to its shadowy polities and ecclesiastical structures. After an overview of the most important evidence, two chapters will review Northumbria's alleged dissolution, testing existing historiographic beliefs (based largely on Anglo-Norman-era evidence) about the fate of the monarchy, political community, and episcopate. The impact and nature of ‘Southenglish' hegemony on the region's political communities will be the focus of the fourth chapter, while the fifth will look at evidence for the expansion of Scottish political power. The sixth chapter will try to draw positive conclusions about the episcopate, leaving the final chapter to look in more detail at the institutions that produced the final settlement.