Fourteenth-Century Music

Review of several newly released recordings of fourteenth-century music

Quintilian and Juvenal's Fourteenth Satire

Working paper, first published in 2013 on the Literary Interactions website, hosted at the University of St Andrews (https://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/literaryinteractions/?page_id=4).This working paper explores Juvenal's fourteenth satire (published c. 127 CE), and its connections with Quintilian's monumental, first-century treatise on education, the 'Institutes of Oratory'

The Effects of Regional Separatism on Late Roman Identity in Fourteenth-Century Byzantium

This thesis explores how tendencies of regional separatism affected the political and ethnic contexts of late Roman identity during the course of the fourteenth century in the Byzantine Roman Empire. Fourteenth-century Byzantium was characterized by political fragmentation, significant sociopolitical changes and alterations, and subsequently a crisis of the Roman identity. The major question that the research will answer is: who was considered to be a Roman during the fourteenth century, and what did it mean for someone to hold that identity? The thesis will focus on two major and important geographical areas in the fourteenth century: the Principality of Achaia (Morea) and the Despotate of Epirus through the analysis of the writings of historians such as John VI Kantakouzenos (d. 1383 A.D.) and Nikephoros Gregoras (d. 1360 A.D.), as well as the chronicles of Morea and Tocco. The goal of this thesis is to prove that Roman identity during the fourteenth century developed strong territorial and political elements that resulted in a disjointed and fluid affiliation with the Roman ethnonym. There was no longer one unified understanding of “Roman” identity throughout the empire, but rather Romanness differed from region to region

Palamas and Florensky: The Metaphysics of the Heart in Patristic and Russian Philosophical Tradition

Тhis paper focuses on the philosophical issue known as the metaphysics of the heart within Orthodox Christianity – both Russian and Byzantie versions. Russian religious thought is based on patristic tradition. Influences and connections can be seen in Florensky’s philosophy of All-Unity. This Russian philosopher was highly inspired by Gregory Palamas, fourteenth-century Eastern Church. These two Orthodox thinkers, mainly their metaphysics of heart are objects of interests

From a master to a laywoman : a feminine manual of self-help

This article analyzes master Joan's Tròtula, a late fourteenth-century Catalan text on women's health addressed to an infanta of Aragon which survives in one late fourteenth-century manuscript. It presents a hypothesis regarding its genre, its composition and use at the Catalan-Aragonese Court, and its later fortuna. It considers how Master Joan inscribed in the text a conception of women's medical needs, while also defininglay women's involvement in maintaining their health

And We cast upon his throne a mere body: A Historiographical Reading of Q. 38:34

This paper focuses on Q. 38:34 from the perspective of early and medieval works of Islamic historiography and collections of tales of the prophets: the early tenth century works of 'Umara b. Wathima and Tabari, the eleventh century Tales of the Prophets by Tha'labi, the twelfth century folkloric collection of Kisa'i, along with Ibn 'Asakir's History of Damascus, the thirteenth century world history by Ibn al-Athir, and the fourteenth century historiographical work by Ibn Kathir. These various works are viewed not as any particular stage in the development of a genre, but as variations on a (Qur'anic) theme, and the avenue of medieval historiographers and storytellers is utilised as a bridge to explore various possible interpretations of the Qur'anic passage. Historiographers and storytellers provide us with an illustration of how lessons of admonition implied in the Qur'anic text were perceived in medieval Islamic society. They also, as will become clear, provide a picture of Solomon that is consistent with the Qur'anic figure as a whole

Property rents in medieval English towns: Hull in the fourteenth century

This paper examines whether property rents varied within the medieval town of Hull. Scholars have been deterred from analysing medieval urban rents because of a belief that they were ‘fossilised’ from an early stage in town development, and therefore did not reflect economic forces that guided the later development of towns. Hull rents reported in the 1347 rental had been set only recently, however. Statistical analysis of these rents reveals the economic topography of the town and leads to a reconsideration of its economic development

Jón the Fleming: Low German in Thirteenth-Century Norway and Fourteenth-Century Iceland

Low German influence is one of the most prominent characteristics of Old Norse in the later medieval period, but the processes whereby this took place are little evidenced. However, Laurentius saga, Einarr Hafliðason’s fourteenth-century Icelandic biography of Bishop Laurentius Kálfsson, provides anecdotal evidence for this that has been overlooked by researchers. The anecdotes concern the linguistic (mis)adventures of a Low German-speaker in thirteenth-century Norway—the otherwise unknown Jón flæmingi (Johannes the Fleming)—and, perhaps uniquely in medieval Scandinavian texts, they also provide a representation of L2 Norse. Problematic and brief though this source is, it affords us valuable perspectives both on fourteenth-century Icelandic metalinguistic discourses and on the processes whereby Low German influence took place in thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Norse. Contrary to some recent assumptions, Laurentius saga suggests that Low German and Old Norse were not seen as mutually intelligible; it provides some support for the idea that Low German influence was responsible not only for loan words into Old Norse, but also for morphological levelling; and emphasises that in seeking vectors of Low German influence on Old Norse we should look not only to Hanseatic traders, but also to the Church

Kingship, parliament and the court: the emergence of "high style" in petitions to the English crown, c.1350-1405

In the second half of the fourteenth century, petitioners hoping to secure royal grace began addressing the king in an increasingly obsequious and ostentatious manner. A strong historiographical tradition is now established which regards this development in very narrow terms, as part of Richard II’s attempt to create a new type of authoritarian kingship in the late 1390s. Close analysis of the incidence of these new language forms shows, however, that they emerged much earlier in the fourteenth century. This discussion explores the reasons for this shift in language use, arguing that much broader political, cultural and institutional factors must be taken into account. The emergence of more elaborate ways of addressing the king is, in fact, of great consequence in revealing important developments in the nature of the fourteenth-century parliament, a dramatic shift in the culture of the royal court and, ultimately, a reconfiguration of the expectations of kingship itself. The discussion has at its heart an exploration of the way that language shaped and reflected political authority in the late Middle Ages