Download or read book Philippe de Vigneulles and the Art of Prose Translation written by Catherine M. Jones and published by DS Brewer. This book was released on 2008 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cultural agenda of Philippe de Vigneulles, translator of the Lorraine epic cycle into Middle French prose. Over fifty chansons de geste were reworked into prose between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries for patrons and audiences who demanded updated, de-rhymed versions of heroic songs. While most prose translations were commissioned by noble patrons, Philippe de Vigneulles (1471-1527), a cloth merchant of Metz, operated outside the system of patronage on self-imposed projects with a pronounced civic bias. His translation of the monumental Lorraine epic cycle into Middle French prose afforded him an opportunity to reconfigure the city's legendary past and validate the concerns of a prosperous merchant class. The craft of mise en prose is examined in the context of the author's larger cultural agenda as he weaves the epic legend into his civic, personal and aesthetic preoccupations. This perspective illuminates a previously neglected sphere of medieval literary production, revealing fundamental assumptions about the epic tradition and the power of prose in urban culture. CATHERINE M. JONES is Associate Professor of French and Provençal at the University of Georgia.

Download or read book Must We Divide History Into Periods written by Jacques Le Goff and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-08 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We have long thought of the Renaissance as a luminous era that marked a decisive break with the past, but the idea of the Renaissance as a distinct period arose only during the nineteenth century. Though the view of the Middle Ages as a dark age of unreason has softened somewhat, we still locate the advent of modern rationality in the Italian thought and culture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Jacques Le Goff pleads for a strikingly different view. In this, his last book, he argues persuasively that many of the innovations we associate with the Renaissance have medieval roots, and that many of the most deplorable aspects of medieval society continued to flourish during the Renaissance. We should instead view Western civilization as undergoing several "renaissances" following the fall of Rome, over the course of a long Middle Ages that lasted until the mid-eighteenth century. While it is indeed necessary to divide history into periods, Le Goff maintains, the meaningful continuities of human development only become clear when historians adopt a long perspective. Genuine revolutions—the shifts that signal the end of one period and the beginning of the next—are much rarer than we think.

Download or read book Monsters and the Monstrous in Medieval Northwest Europe written by Karin E. Olsen and published by Peeters Publishers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this book examine various manifestations of monstrosity in the early literatures of England, Ireland and Scandinavia. The dates of the texts discussed range from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries and were written either in Latin or in one of the vernaculars. The present contributions shed light on the physical, mental and metaphysical qualities that characterize medieval monsters in general. How do such creatures relate to accepted physical norms? How do their behaviours deviate from established cultural practices? How can their presence in both fictional and non-fictional texts be explained either in terms of a textual tradition or as a response to actual events? Such issues are examined from literary, philological, theological, and historical points of view in order to provide a thorough, multifaceted depiction of the sub- and supernatural monsters of medieval Northwest Europe.

Download or read book The Plow the Pen and the Sword written by Rudi Künzel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-22 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book compares the cultures of the different social groups living in the Low Countries in the early Middle Ages. Clergy, nobility, peasants and townsmen greatly varied in their attitudes to labor, property, violence, and the handling and showing of emotions. Künzel explores how these social groups looked at themselves as a group, and how they looked at the other groups. Image and self-image could differ radically. The results of this research are specified and tested in four case studies on the interaction between group cultures, focusing respectively on the influence of oral and written traditions on a literary work, rituals as a means of conflict management in weakly centralized societies, stories as an expression of an urban group mentality, and beliefs on death and the afterlife.

Download or read book Annales written by Stuart Clark and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1999 with total page 590 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection reprints key articles written within the past 30 years on the Annales school, their journal, their influence on history, historiography and other academic fields.

Download or read book Beyond the Bible Beyond the West written by Hanz Gutierrez Salazar and published by Mimesis. This book was released on 2023-12-01T00:00:00+01:00 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading can become the grave of meaning or the place of its resurrection. It becomes a tomb when meanings follow one another uninterruptedly, but in an automatic, mechanical, predictable and tautological way. It becomes a tomb when reading becomes calculation, when the result excludes and erases surprise and mystery. Instead, it’s the place of resurrection when meanings are not automatic, but intermittent, unpredictable, fragile and fragmentary; when reading becomes like childbirth, an experience marked by fatigue and suffering, but in the expectation of something new and unique. Our reflection is an essay of ontological hermeneutics: it is critical of “textual positivism”–which makes the univocity and clarity of a text the main goal of its task–and also of “cultural positivism”–a cultural matrix that elevates univocity and clarity as the ultimate goal of contemporary systems. This essay indirectly sketches a cultural critique and not only a theological one. Means, medium and guarantor of this ontological indelible reserve are ambivalence and paradox. We will try to follow the trace of these throughout the hermeneutic arc–and not only at its beginning.

Download or read book Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion Volume 5 2014 written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast with the growing belief in society that traditional religious institutions are losing credibility, there has been renewed interest in monasteries going beyond what is strictly defined as religious. There are, for example, increasingly numerous requests for cooking and gardening courses as well as guided tours in monasteries, the appeal of monastic products and media interest in the subject. In parallel with a strong crisis in its recruitment, monasticism in the Western world is experiencing a period of innovation and experiments accompanied by unexpected popularity, as is evidenced by numerous films and publications. We hope that this book will deepen the understanding of the specificity of monastic life in the in the contemporary world, in a religious area, and from a sociological point of view.

Download or read book Folklore Magic and Witchcraft written by Marina Montesano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-08-19 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers 18 studies linked together by a common focus on the circulation and reception of motifs and beliefs in the field of folklore, magic, and witchcraft. The chapters traverse a broad spectrum both chronologically and thematically; yet together, their shared focus on cultural exchange and encounters emerges in an important way, revealing a valuable methodology that goes beyond the pure comparativism that has dominated historiography in recent decades. Several of the chapters touch on gender relations and contact between different religious faiths, using case studies to explore the variety of these encounters. Whilst the essays focus geographically on Europe, they prefer to investigate relationships over highlighting singular, local traits. In this way, the collection aims to respond to the challenge set by recent debates in cultural studies, for a global history that prioritises inclusivity, moving beyond biased or learned attachments toward broader and broadening foci and methods. With analysis of sources from manuscripts and archival documents to iconography, and drawing on writings in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and other languages, this volume is essential reading for all students and scholars interested in cultural exchange and ideas about folklore, magic, and witchcraft in medieval and early modern Europe.

Download or read book Cities Texts and Social Networks 400 1500 written by Caroline Goodson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities, Texts and Social Networks examines the experiences of urban life from late antiquity through the close of the fifteenth century, in regions ranging from late Imperial Rome to Muslim Syria, Iraq and al-Andalus, England, the territories of medieval Francia, Flanders, the Low Countries, Italy and Germany. Together, the volume's contributors move beyond attempts to define 'the city' in purely legal, economic or religious terms. Instead, they focus on modes of organisation, representation and identity formation that shaped the ways urban spaces were called into being, used and perceived. Their interdisciplinary analyses place narrative and archival sources in communication with topography, the built environment and evidence of sensory stimuli in order to capture sights, sounds, physical proximities and power structures. Paying close attention to the delineation of public and private spaces, and secular and sacred precincts, each chapter explores the workings of power and urban discourse and their effects on the making of meaning. The volume as a whole engages theoretical discussions of urban space - its production, consumption, memory and meaning - which too frequently misrepresent the evidence of the Middle Ages. It argues that the construction and use of medieval urban spaces could foster the emergence of medieval 'public spheres' that were fundamental components and by-products of pre-modern urban life. The resulting collection contributes to longstanding debates among historians while tackling fundamental questions regarding medieval society and the ways it is understood today. Many of these questions will resonate with scholars of postcolonial or 'non-Western' cultures whose sources and cities have been similarly marginalized in discussions of urban space and experience. And because these essays reflect a considerable geographical, temporal and methodological scope, they model approaches to the study of urban history that will interest a wide range of readers.

Download or read book Honor and Personhood in Early Modern Mexico written by Osvaldo F. Pardo and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2015-09-24 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osvaldo F. Pardo examines the early dissemination of European views on law and justice among Mexico’s native peoples. Newly arrived from Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, mendicant friars brought not only their faith in the authority of the Catholic Church but also their reverence of the monarchy. Drawing on a rich range of documents dating from this era—including secular and ecclesiastical legislation, legal and religious treatises, bilingual catechisms, grammars on indigenous languages, historical accounts, and official reports and correspondence—Pardo finds that honor, as well as related notions such as reputation, came to play a central role in shaping the lives and social relations of colonists and indigenous Mexicans alike. Following the application and adaptation of European ideas of justice and royal and religious power as they took hold in the New World, Pardo sheds light on the formation of colonial legalities and long-lasting views, both secular and sacred, that still inform attitudes toward authority in contemporary Mexican society.

Download or read book Medieval Piety from Relics to the Eucharist A Process of Mutual Interaction written by Godefridus J.C. Snoek and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-12-06 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a major advance in the study of medieval piety the interrelationship between the veneration of relics and of the Eucharistic Host is presented here for the first time. Traced through Christian Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the veneration of the Host proves to be closely associated with the piety focused on relics of the Saints. Both were kept in the sleeping area of private homes, carried on journeys and placed in graves. They were buried together in altar tables and monks called on both for help in threatening circumstances. Like the relics, the sacred Host was later carried in procession, shown to the people for veneration and used to give blessings. This book offers a rich account of one of the most revealing dimensions of medieval belief and practice.

Download or read book Forms and Meanings written by Roger Chartier and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative work, Roger Chartier continues his extraordinarily influential consideration of the forms of production, dissemination, and interpretation of discourse in Early Modern Europe. Chartier here examines the relationship between patronage and the market, and explores how the form in which a text is transmitted not only constrains the production of meaning but defines and constructs its audience.

Download or read book The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross written by Laura de Mello e Souza and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-05 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in Brazil as O Diabo e a Terra de Santa Cruz, this translation from the Portuguese analyzes the nature of popular religion and the ways it was transferred to the New World in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Using richly detailed transcripts from Inquisition trials, Mello e Souza reconstructs how Iberian, indigenous, and African beliefs fused to create a syncretic and magical religious culture in Brazil. Focusing on sorcery, the author argues that European traditions of witchcraft combined with practices of Indians and African slaves to form a uniquely Brazilian set of beliefs that became central to the lives of the people in the colony. Her work shows how the Inquisition reinforced the view held in Europe (particularly Portugal) that the colony was a purgatory where those who had sinned were exiled, a place where the Devil had a wide range of opportunities. Her focus on the three centuries of the colonial period, the multiple regions in Brazil, and the Indian, African, and Portuguese traditions of magic, witchcraft, and healing, make the book comprehensive in scope. Stuart Schwartz of Yale University says, "It is arguably the best book of this genre about Latin America...all in all, a wonderful book." Alida Metcalf of Trinity University, San Antonio, says, "This book is a major contribution to the field of Brazilian history...the first serious study of popular religion in colonial Brazil...Mello e Souza is a wonderful writer."

Download or read book Animal to Edible written by Noélie Vialles and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-06-16 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do we find it necessary to slaughter living animals in order to enjoy their flesh? And why does this act offend our sensibilities, without necessarily making us into vegetarians? We no longer tolerate sacrifices, public butchering during festivals, butchers operating openly in the middle of our cities. Today, animals are killed in invisible abattoirs, set a good distance from our normal activities. This recent separation between the slaughter-house and the butcher's establishment is somehow essential to the modern meat diet. In her study of abattoirs in south-west France, Noélie Vialles brings to light a complex system of avoidances. Her analysis reveals that beyond the specific denial of the work of the abattoirs lies a whole system of symbolic representations of blood, human beings and animals, a symbolic code that determines the way in which we prepare domestic animals for the table.

Download or read book Writing the City Square written by Martin Zerlang and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-03 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of cities is also the history of city squares. The agora, the forum, the piazza, the plaza: All presuppose the idea of a center. It’s a material and mental phenomenon. Literature is an important part of this history, and the interplay between the square as physical space and the square as literature is the topic of this book. This is an encyclopedic book combining an overview of the history of city squares with a plethora of analytical examples of its reflection in literature: Literature uses the city square as a frame; city squares serve as frames for drama; novels and other kinds of literature comment on city squares; city squares are sources of inspiration for all sorts of literary activities. Socrates in the agora, Cicero in the Forum, Calderón in the Plaza Mayor, Corneille in the Place Royale, Richardson in Grosvenor Square, James in Washington Square, Woolf in Bloomsbury Square, Döblin and Gröschner in Alexanderplatz, Rodoreda in Diamond Square in Barcelona, DeLillo in Times Square, Al Aswany in Tahrir Square, the Maidanistas in the Maidan of Kyiv: These are just some of the examples presented and analyzed in this book. The book is of direct interest for researchers, students, and professionals such as architects and urban planners, but it is written in a way that makes it accessible for all readers with an interest in urban culture, architecture, history, literature, and cultural studies.

Download or read book Lived Religion and the Long Reformation in Northern Europe c 1300 1700 written by Raisa Maria Toivo and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lived Religion and the Long Reformation in Northern Europe puts Reformation in a daily life context using lived religion as a conceptual and methodological tool: exploring how people "lived out" their religion in their mundane toils and how religion created a performative space for them. This collection reinvestigates the character of the Reformation in an area that later became the heartlands of Lutheranism. The way people lived their religion was intricately linked with questions of the value of individual experience, communal cohesion and interaction. During the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era religious certainty was replaced by the experience of doubt and hesitation. Negotiations on and between various social levels manifest the needs, aspirations and resistance behind the religious change. Contributors include: Kaarlo Arffman, Jussi Hanska, Miia Ijäs, Sari Katajala-Peltomaa, Jenni Kuuliala, Marko Lamberg, Jason Lavery, Maija Ojala, Päivi Räisänen-Schröder, Raisa Maria Toivo

Download or read book Sacred and Secular in Medieval and Early Modern Cultures written by L. Besserman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2006-02-04 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illuminates the pervasive interplay of 'sacred' and 'secular' phenomena in the literature, history, politics, and religion of the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods. The essays gathered here constitute a new way of applying a classic dichotomy to major cultural phenomena of the pre-modern era.