Kingship (Medieval History)

L'anello del re e il «Paradiso» dell'Evangelista. Genesi di un episodio della «Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris» di Aelredo di Rievaulx

by Francesco Marzella

published in 'Hagriographica' XVIII (2011), pp. 217-61.

The legend of the ring given by St. Edward the Confessor to St. John the Evangelist is probably the most famous of the... more The legend of the ring given by St. Edward the Confessor to St. John the Evangelist is probably the most famous of the stories that appear in the hagiographical dossier of the English saint, and the first instance of it had seemed to be in Aelred of Reivaulx's Vita sancti Edwardi regis et confessoris. However, a variant version of the story was found by Marc Bloch in an epitome of Osbert of Clare's Vita beati Eadwardi regis Anglorum. Now for the first time the complete text of this variant version (published with this article) is identified in a manuscript kept in Lambeth Palace Library. This discovery leads to new insights, and points to the conclusion that this version, wich derives many motives from visions of the other-world and tales of journeys to the Earthly Paradise, is probably the oldest and was interpolated in the biography written by Osbert before the canonization of Edward the Confessor (1161). Aelred therefore was not the first author to tell the legend, but reshaped it to fit his new biography of the saint.

Les lieutenants généraux des rois d’Aragon de la fin du Moyen Âge : médiateurs de la parole du prince ou voix de la royauté ?

by Alexandra Beauchamp

published in "Cahiers d’Etudes Médiévales Hispaniques", 31 (2008), p. 45-64.

Lorsqu’ils quittent temporairement les territoires de leur Couronne ou sont dans l’incapacité de satisfaire à leurs... more Lorsqu’ils quittent temporairement les territoires de leur Couronne ou sont dans l’incapacité de satisfaire à leurs obligations de gouvernement, les rois d’Aragon de la fin du Moyen Âge procèdent à la nomination d’un (ou d’une) lieutenant général, chargé de les substituer. A travers l’exemple de grands représentants actifs entre le milieu du XIVe et le milieu du XVe siècle, cet article analyse les usages gouvernementaux de la parole pour mesurer l’importance de l’acte de parole dans le quotidien du pouvoir royal délégué. La portée et la nature de cette parole sont aussi questionnées, car bien qu’ils se doivent d’agir à l’image de leur souverain et en alter ego de ce dernier, les lieutenants généraux demeurent aussi soumis à son autorité et aux contraintes pesant sur le pouvoir royal.

Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world (Call for papers)

by Daniel Roach

9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham

Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April... more Call for papers
Orderic Vitalis:
New Perspectives on the Historian and His World

(9-11 April 2013, St John’s College, University of Durham)

The organising committee of the Durham University Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies conference 'Orderic Vitalis: New Perspectives on the historian and his world' invite abstracts from prospective speakers. This event, funded by the Durham University IMRS, will provide a forum for the dissemination of new research into the life and works of the monastic scholar, Orderic Vitalis. With plans already in place to publish a 'companion' volume on Orderic, this conference will aim to re-invigorate existing work and open new lines of research around a figure whose legacy has proven vital to scholars of the Anglo-Norman world.

While the conference welcomes papers on a wide scope of topics, we particularly invite abstracts for papers relating to the following areas:

•The manuscript history of Orderic's Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic's scholarly and scribal career away from the Historia ecclesiastica.

•Orderic’s travels, administrative activities, and studies away from Saint-Évroul.

•Orderic’s world view and his networks of knowledge-exchange and transfer.

•The 'rediscovery' of the Historia ecclesiastica by early modern audiences, and Orderic's subsequent influence on the development of Anglo-Norman studies.

Prospective speakers are invited to submit abstracts of between 250-300 words, and should also include their contact details (name, affiliation, e-mail address). The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2012. Limited bursaries towards travel costs will be offered to postgraduate speakers. If you wish to apply for one of these, please indicate this when submitting an abstract.

For further information about Orderic Vitalis: New perspectives on the historian and his world or to submit an abstract, please email Charlie Rozier, at: c.c.rozier@durham.ac.uk or Dan Roach at: dr229@exeter.ac.uk, or visit:
www.dur.ac.uk/imrs/conferences/orderic_vitalis/

The Role of Bishops in Anglo-Saxon Succession Struggles, 955 x 978

by Dominik Waßenhoven

in: Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church. From Bede to Stigand, ed. by Alexander R. Rumble. (Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies 12.) Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012, pp. 97–107.

Royal Consorts and Royal Power

by Stephen Donnachie

Paper given at Bath-Spa University Conference, Kings and Queens: Power, Politics, Personalities and Patronage in Medieval and Early Modern Monarchy April 20th 1212.

This paper seeks to examine the role played by the King Consorts of Jerusalem between the years 1186-1243, and how... more This paper seeks to examine the role played by the King Consorts of Jerusalem between the years 1186-1243, and how they attempted to overcome the situation of declining royal power in the Latin East during this tumultuous and important period in the history of the Crusader States. These individuals have largely been ignored or glossed over in traditional accounts of royal and baronial power in the 12th and 13th centuries. This paper seeks to begin to gill that void, and find a place for them.

"Un modelo monárquico legislativo y jurídico para la Orden de Santiago. El maestre Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa y los establecimientos de Uclés (1395) y Mérida (1403)" ........... English Title: "A Royal Legislative and Legal Model for the Order of Santiago. Master Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa and the Statutes of Uclés (1395) and Mérida (1403)"

by Gonzalo Carrasco

Published in 'Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval,' 24 (2011), pp. 13-68.

Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, Master of the Order of Santiago, launched a new model of statutes which combined two types... more Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, Master of the Order of Santiago, launched a new model of statutes which combined two types of provisions: Spiritual and temporal measures for the brethren, and laws and ordinances for his vassals. Their approval took place in the previously ill-known General Chapter of Uclés in 1395 and in the Mérida Chapter of 1403 and were essentially inspired by laws enacted in the Cortes of Juan I and Enrique III of Castile. This study shows how the Master, an advocate of the royal authoritarian cause, managed to include many characteristics of kingship in his own project of monarchical mastership in the Order. (The edition of the Mérida Statutes of 1403 is included in the appendix along with a reconstruction of those approved in Uclés in 1395).

‘The Unicorn, St Andrew and the Thistle: Was there an Order of Chivalry in Late Medieval Scotland?’,

by Katie Stevenson

Scottish Historical Review, 83 (2004), pp. 3-22.

All the King's Men

by Matthew Hammond

Paradox of Medieval Scotland Feature of the Month for January 2010.

Royal and Aristocratic Attitudes to Saints and the Virgin Mary in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Scotland

by Matthew Hammond

„Our Norwegian Friend: The Role of Kings in the Family Sagas,“ Arkiv för nordisk filologi 117 (2002), 145–60.

by Ármann Jakobsson

"Déofles Cræftum ond Dracan Fellum": Grendel’s "Glóf" and Early Welsh Tradition

by James Ryan Gregory

Accepted for publication in "The Heroic Age."

Thought to derive from motifs in Scandinavian mythology, Grendel’s "glóf" (l. 2085b) is paralleled by a... more Thought to derive from motifs in Scandinavian mythology, Grendel’s "glóf" (l. 2085b) is paralleled by a similar object in the Middle Welsh "Mabinogion." Comparison with the function of magical vessels in Celtic tradition reveals the "glóf" as an object that tests kingly sovereignty.

Hákon Hákonarson: friðarkonungur eða fúlmenni?

by Ármann Jakobsson

Konungasagan Laxdæla.

by Ármann Jakobsson

Í leit að konungi: konungsmynd íslenskra konungasagna

by Ármann Jakobsson

Nokkur orð um hugmyndir Íslendinga um konungsvald fyrir 1262.

by Ármann Jakobsson

Tra Lega Lombarda e pars Ecclesie. L’evoluzione della seconda Lega Lombarda e la leadership dei legati papali negli anni a cavallo della morte di Federico II (1239-1259)

by Gianluca Raccagni

Società e storia, forthcoming

L’autore esamina i mutamenti strutturali della Lega Lombarda dopo la saldatura dell’alleanza col Papato contro... more L’autore esamina i mutamenti strutturali della Lega Lombarda dopo la saldatura dell’alleanza col Papato contro Federico II nel 1239. Alla luce di fonti che sono passate inosservate da questo punto di vista, tra le quali le opere del maestro di retorica Guido Faba, si mostra come, in concomitanza con l’escalation che portò il conflitto con l’imperatore a prendere le forme di una vera e propria crociata nel 1240, da soggetto giuridico dotato di propri organi di governo la Lega si trasformò in un’alleanza multilaterale dedita per lo più a questioni militari e diplomatiche. Allo stesso tempo la Lega si trovò inserita in una più vasta pars ecclesie guidata da una serie di legati papali, che però non assunsero una carica formale all’interno della societas. La Lega tuttavia conservò alcune vestigia di una propria identità all’interno della pars Ecclesie almeno fino al 1252, e sono riscontrabili tracce di attriti tra alcuni dei suoi membri (soprattutto Bologna) e il legato papale. Infine anche la leadership del legato, almeno nelle forme assunte nel 1239, venne meno intorno al 1258-9, sia a causa del fallimento della crociata contro Ezzelino da Romano, che per una precisa politica di disimpegno del Papato.

The author examines the structural changes of the Lombard League after the welding of its alliance with the Papacy against Frederick II in 1239. In the light of overlooked sources such as the works of the Bolognese rhetorician Guido Faba, the paper argues that the escalation that brought the conflict against the emperor to take on the trappings of the crusade in 1240 coincided with the transformation of the League from a corporate body into little more than a multilateral alliance devoted to military and diplomatic matters. Moreover, the League came to be included in a larger pars ecclesie and fell under the leadership of a series of papal legates. The League, however, kept some vestiges of its identity inside the Pars Ecclesie at least until 1252, and there is evidence of frictions with the papal legate, especially from Bologna, while the leadership of the legate, at least in the forms acquired after 1239, came to an end in 1258-9, after the failure of the crusade against Ezzelino da Romano and following a deliberate policy of the Papacy.

The schools of arts and the Magna Carta of the Lombard cities: the Peace of Constance, the Empire and the Papacy in the works of Guido Faba and other rhetoricians of the first half of the thirteenth century

by Gianluca Raccagni

Journal of Medieval History, forthcoming

Historiography has attributed to the Italian rhetoricians of the central Middle Ages a very significant role in the... more Historiography has attributed to the Italian rhetoricians of the central Middle Ages a very significant role in the development of political discourse, but their testimony concerning the
momentous struggle fought from 1226 to 1250 between the Lombard League, the Papacy and Emperor Frederick II has not been studied in depht. This paper approaches it by focusing on the works of Guido Faba, starting from a papal privilege issued to the Lombard cities that only features in his Dictamina Rhetorica, but also comparing them to those of his main colleagues, Boncompagno and Bene da Firenze, and considering the impact of the above-mentioned struggle upon Italian universities. It argues that the privilege is a verisimilar didactic exercise supporting the contested validity of the Peace of Constance (the settlement reached between the League and Frederick Barbarossa in 1183) and of its recognition of the League, that the conflict between the Empire and the League attracted considerable attention in contemporary arts schools, which were deeply involved in it, but that Faba's works are particularly rich in evidence covering it and the involvement of the Papacy, which should be linked to his strong Bolognese background.

Reintroducing the emperor and repositioning the city republics in the “republican” thought of the rhetorician Boncompagno da Signa

by Gianluca Raccagni

Historical Research. Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, forthcoming

This paper reconsiders the political thought of Boncompagno da Signa in the light of his overlooked praise for the... more This paper reconsiders the political thought of Boncompagno da Signa in the light of his overlooked praise for the holy roman emperor and his equally overlooked criticism for the city republics. It argues that rather than just supporting the city republics, he addressed kingship, backing constitutional monarchy and the rule of law. This is contextualised in the aftermath of the Peace of Constance, and the similarities with the views of contemporary jurists are examined, underlining neglected contractual aspects in their theories of government and the use of the Ius Italicum to justify the prerogatives of the Italian cities within the Empire. Finally, concerning Boncompagno‟s legacy, connections are underlined with the sixth canto of Dante's Purgatory.

„En plats i en ny värld: Bilden av riddarsamhället i Morkinskinna,“ Scripta Islandica 59 (2008), 27–46.

by Ármann Jakobsson

John Hardyng's Chronicle

by Sarah Peverley

In The Albina Casebook, ed. by Margaret Lamont and Christopher Baswell (Broadview Press, 2012).

A critical edition of the two versions of John Hardyng's founding of Albion. Supported by introduction and commentary... more A critical edition of the two versions of John Hardyng's founding of Albion. Supported by introduction and commentary assessing Hardyng's approach to the pre-Brutian foundation myth of Albina and her thirty sisters.