Books in the Studies in Medieval History and Culture series

This work examines a centuries-long intellectual tradition in the early Latin church linking the imaginary associated with the opening of the Seven Seals of the Apocalypse with programs of ecclesiastical expansion and ascetic reform.

This volume examines the method of meditative reading encouraged by John Cassian (c. 360-435) in his ascetic writings, the bulk of which are fictive dialogues that purportedly record the instruction he had received from Egyptian Christian monks.

By critically and carefully combining traditional philology with modern theoretical analysis, this study provides a much needed re-evaluation of the role of pain and suffering in Hartmann von Aue.

This book takes a fresh look at the problems surrounding courtly love as seen in the body of literature that emerged in the twelfth century, whose obsessions included courtship, marriage and adultery.

The first comprehensive study of the classical legend of Thebes in the Middle Ages.

Tells the story of Johannes Kepler's "Somnium", a narrative referred to as the first science-fiction story. This title explores the generic qualities of the fabulous narrative as well as the dream categories formulated by Macrobius and Artemidorus.

This book deals with medieval literary criticism of the Bible; it centers on the paradoxical interdependence of the literal and spiritual senses through examination of Nicholas of Lyra's literal commentary.

Focusing on the mystical writings of Bernard of Clairvaux and Hadewijch of Brabant, this work shows how each exploits the language of taste and touch to articulate the possibility of the mystical experience, the union with God.

Presenting an eclectic account and drawing upon a variety of sources, this book situates 14th-century literature within the visual culture of the later Middle Ages to re-invigorate our critical approach to art and literature of this period.

The rise and establishment of the theological authority of Thomas Aquinas, something that ran counter to every current running through the late thirteenth-century Church is investigated in this work.

This book explores the historical and imaginary representation of the Saracen, or Muslim, in French writings from 1100 to 1500. Literary relationships between Christians and Muslims are placed side-by-side with historical accounts of changing socio-political interactions.

The book reviews scholarly literature and archival sources including maps and diagrams, to better situate Siena's achievement in urban history and broadens our understanding of medieval technology and urban life.

A study of Early Middle High German religious literature arguing that far from preaching traditional, other worldly ideals, the authors of these works were deeply engaged in the social, political, and spiritual issues of their time.

Filling a major gap in medieval English history, whilst grappling with major theories of change, this book examines the changing relations between lords and peasants in post-Black Death Durham.

Drawing together social and medical history and literary studies, this book shows that medieval and early modern men and women had to negotiate a conflict between opposing cultural ideologies wanting them to procreate and yet remain virginal.

In his "Plaint of Nature (De planctu Naturae)", Alan of Lille bases much of his argument against sin in general and homosexuality in particular on the claim that both amount to bad grammar. This book explores the philosophical uses of grammar that were so formative of Alan's thinking in major writers of the preceding generations.

Chretien de Troyes uses repeated references to Spain throughout his romances. Demonstrating that these allusions to Spain occur at pivotal moments in the romances and are often coupled with linguistic 'riddles', this book states that these references seem to support the idea that some of their themes in his romances are of "Andalusi" origin.

Analyzes the gendered transformation of magical figures occurring in Arthurian romance in England from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. This work explores both the literary and the social motivations for this transformation, seeking an answer to the question, 'why did the witch become wicked?'

Lauryn Mayer examines chronicle histories that have been largely ignored by scholars, bringing these neglected texts into dialogue.

What makes English literature English? This question inspires Stephen Harris's wide-ranging study of Old English literature. From Bede in the eighth century to Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth, Harris explores the intersections of race and literature before the rise of imagined communities.

This work offers an examination of religious texts written by twelve women over three centuries in two languages and three genres, showing the variety and complexity of gendered images available to medieval women.

Exploring the ways in which discourses of religious, racial, and national identity blur and engage each other in the medieval West, this book studies depictions of Muslims in England during the 1330s. It also argues that these depictions, although historically inaccurate, served to enhance and advance assertions of English national identity.

In her thorough examination of Gower's work, Ellen S. Bakalian shows how Gower emphasizes and illustrates a belief that reason much rule man inn all things, including his natural instincts to love.