scholarly journals The Individual and Society in the Middle Ages.

Man ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Robert M. Goldstein ◽  
Walter Ullmann
Author(s):  
Martin McLaughlin

During the period of 1300–1600, autobiography and biography flourished in Italy despite the controversial thesis of the ‘rise of the individual’ during the Italian Renaissance. In the same period, a typology of biographical works emerged distinguishing the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Italy. These three strands of biography are: collection of lives, a De viris illustribus tradition, revived in Petrarch's work of the same name and inspired by Classical lives of famous rulers, by medieval Viri illustres, and by famous writers and artists; individual biographies, again either of a single ruler or of an individual, and once more derived from Classical models, such as Boccaccio's De vita et moribus Francisci Petrarcchi and Trattatello in laude di Dante; and autobiography, which was pioneered by Petrarch through his Secretum, a purportedly secret dialogue in which St. Augustine was the subject. This chapter discusses distinctive examples of the three strands of biography, with emphasis on the biographies and autobiographies of the writers. It charts the rise and principal developments of these genres during 1350 to 1550.


Traditio ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 91-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Powers

In modern society, enmeshed with confrontations involving the individual, military service and the state, historians are often inclined to make comparisons with the distant past which offer relief from the pressures of contemporary history. Regarding military service, the Middle Ages are occasionally suggested as an age when combat was sporadic, when only the small feudal aristocracy encountered a martial obligation, and when the remainder of society could concentrate on the other burdens of life, free of the paraphernalia of war, hot or cold. As with many romantic generalizations concerning the period, the comparative bliss of the medieval non-combatant is open to question. Many would note, however, that the feudal classes did possess a monopoly on warfare for several centuries in parts of Continental Europe, and would tend to place all discussion of military institutions within a feudal context.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD W. IRELAND

This article approaches the medieval law of theft from a ‘functional’ perspective. It seeks, that is, to consider the rules of law principally in relation to the social circumstances which give rise to them and upon which they, in turn, have an impact. Concentrating primarily upon material from England and Wales, the essay considers general issues of definition, jurisdiction and proof in the law of the middle ages before concentrating specifically upon the rules respecting theft. The ideas of manifest and non-manifest theft are explored in an attempt to discover why the law distinguished between them. Potential difficulties concerning the bringing of theft actions and the defences which might be offered to them are also examined and related to the practical world in which perpetrators and victims of theft found themselves. Finally, the possible tension between the satisfaction of the demands of the individual victim and the wider desire to maintain public order is investigated.


Author(s):  
Варвара Евгеньевна Добровольская

В мировом фольклоре сюжетный тип ATU «The Prince as Bird / Принц-птица» 432 представлен у многих народов. Историю сюжета принято связывать с рыцарской поэзией Средневековья. Сюжет популярен в европейских, американских и азиатских сказочных традициях, однако русская версия имеет ряд особенностей. Помимо зафиксированных в указателе вариантов данного сюжетного типа, автор статьи выявил еще ряд текстов данного сюжетного типа. Выявлены и тексты, ошибочно причисляемые к сюжетному типу 432. Русская версия сюжета «Финист Ясный Сокол» популярна в устной и письменной традиции. Это полностью сформированный сюжет, который практически не подвергался трансформациям с 1795 г., когда один из вариантов сказки был впервые опубликован. Существуя в устном бытовании, сюжет редко соединяется с другими сюжетными типами. В основном такие контаминации являются проявлением индивидуального мастерства сказочника или свидетельством разрушения традиции. Сказка оказалась привлекательной и для авторской литературы, однако только Андрей Платонов сохранил структуру сказочного текста. В своем произведении писателю удалось продемонстрировать тенденции, происходящие с фольклорным текстом в 40 годы ХХ в. Другие авторы (Шестаков, Прокофьева, Токмакова, Шерман, Рубанов) активно использовали мотивы, присущие данному сюжетному типу, но не сохранили в своих произведениях сюжетного каркаса сказки. In world folklore, the plot type ATU “The Prince as Bird / Prince-Bird” 432 is represented in traditions of many peoples. The story is usually associated with the chivalry poetry of the Middle Ages. The plot is popular in European, American and Asian fairy - tale traditions, but the Russian version has a number of specific features. In addition to the variants of this plot type fixed in the index, the author of the article revealed a number of other texts of this plot type. In addition, texts erroneously assigned to plot type 432 were found and excepted. The Russian version of the plot “Finist the bright falcon” is popular in the oral and written tradition. This is a fully formed plot that has not undergone any transformation since 1795, when one of the versions of the tale was first published. While existing in purely oral tradition, the plot rarely connects with other plot types. Basically, such contamination is a manifestation of the individual skill of the storyteller or evidence of the destruction of tradition. The tale turned out to be attractive for the author’s literature; however, only Andrei Platonov retained the structure of the fabulous text. In his work, the writer was able to demonstrate the trends that occur with this folklore text in the 40s of the XX century. Other authors (Shestakov, Prokofiev, Tokmakova, Sherman? Rubanov) actively used the motifs inherent in this plot type, but did not save the fairy - tale story plot in their works.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 442
Author(s):  
LIGIA CRISTINA CARVALHO

<p><strong>Resumo</strong>: Por ter sido elaborado dentro de uma sociedade religiosa cristã medieval, que tem a Bíblia como paradigma e a Igreja como norteadora espiritual e comportamental, pelo menos desde o século V, o amor cortês caracteriza-se pela tensão dos contrários que marca tão singularmente o perfil histórico e cultural da Idade Média. Para Santo Agostinho, o amor eleva o indivíduo à verdade, ao conhecimento unitivo de Deus. Em conformidade com a ideia de Santo Agostinho, o amor cortês era tido como fonte de todo o bem. Entretanto, na literatura cortês, não era o conhecimento de uma verdade transcendente que se consegue com o amor, mas um enobrecimento do próprio ser em sua realidade terrena e, além disto, este amor não se dirige a Deus, mas ao próximo de sexo oposto. Dito isto, neste artigo discutiremos o cruzamento entre o sagrado e o profano na temática do amor cortês.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave</strong>: Idade Média Central – Literatura cavaleiresca – Amor cortês.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract</strong>: Because of drawning into a medieval Christian religious society, which has the Bible as a paradigm and the Church as a spiritual and behavioral guiding, at least since the fifth century, courtly love is characterized by the tension of opposites that mark the historical and cultural profile of the Middle Ages so singularly. For St. Augustine, love elevates the individual to the truth, to the unitive knowledge of God. In accordance with the idea of St. Augustine, courtly love was taken as the source of all good. However, in courtly literature, the knowledge of a transcendent truth was not achieved by love, but an ennoblement of the self in its earthly reality and, moreover, this love is not addressed to God but to others of the opposite sex. Said that, this article will discuss the intersection between the sacred and the profane in the theme of courtly love.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Central Middle Ages – Chivalric literature – Courteous love.</p>


Archaeologia ◽  
1864 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Morgan Nichols

It is not without reason that singularities in the tenure of land have always excited considerable interest among antiquaries. For in that state of society which prevailed in Europe during the middle ages, the relation of the individual to the soil on which he lived determined his most important relations with his fellow men and his political and social condition. An accurate and minute acquaintance with the nature of tenures is therefore an object of no slight consequence with the student of medieval history.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 480-488
Author(s):  
Claire Trenery

This monograph provides a fresh perspective on how madness was defined and diagnosed as a condition of the mind in the Middle Ages and what effects it was thought to have on sufferers. Records of miracles that were believed to have been performed by saints reveal details of illnesses and injuries that afflicted medieval people. In the twelfth century, such records became increasingly medicalized and naturalized as the monks who recorded them gained access to Greek and Arabic medical material, newly translated into Latin. Nonetheless, by exploring nuances and patterns across the cults of five English saints, this book shows that hagiographical representations of madness were shaped as much by the individual circumstances of their recording as they were by new medical and theological standards.


PMLA ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Weinberg

Literary endeavor in the Middle Ages, as in the Renaissance, was essentially an art of imitation. Since little emphasis was placed upon originality of subject-matter, since praise went rather to the combination and interpretation of familiar materials—or to stylistic qualities —the author felt free to appropriate whatever themes or episodes best suited his fundamental conception. Thus an Arthurian romance was usually a tissue of commonplace incidents and motifs, developed in accordance with the purpose or the taste of the individual writer. To distinguish between the narrative content of a work and the particular interpretation applied to it by the artist, the Middle Ages employed the terms matière and sens. The matière might come from any source; the sens alone was the contribution of the latest reworker.


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