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This thesis argues that the Reformation played a key role in shaping English alchemy between c.1450 and c.1650. Alchemists engaged continuously with intricate details of Reformed theology, with religion being essential for the formation of alchemical theories such as the transformation of corporeal matter, the restoration of corrupt substances to prelapsarian purity, and the relationship between God and nature. Recent historians of alchemy, however, seldom accept religious reform as a driver of change in England. My thesis offers the first study of the relationship between the English Reformation and alchemy. It demonstrates that alchemy was not monolithic but was rather continually reshaped by its relationship to religious reform. Through an in-depth analysis of previously unstudied manuscripts, I uncover hitherto unknown or understudied figures and reveal that the Reformation was fundamental in the shaping of their alchemical thought. I question how these alchemists made sense of alchemical texts by uniting their spiritual beliefs and exegetical methods with the alchemical tradition, and further explore how these individuals responded to broader currents in socio-cultural and geo-political thought, concluding that religious reform shaped English alchemy in significant ways.

This thesis offers new insights into the historiographical value and significance of the annalistic chronicle, challenging the notion that it is only of limited use for the study of the Middle Ages. Far from being simple records of events, annals were sophisticated works, the product of discerning editorial decisions. Multiple levels of meaning were layered throughout annals to create a text which embodied the beliefs, concerns and circumstances of their authors. By assessing the presentation of Thomas Becket in annalistic chronicles, a new perspective can be gained on a notable saint, and a better understanding achieved of the texts themselves and the monks who created them. Frameworks of narrative and memory are employed to create an assessment that is more sympathetic to the idiosyncrasies of annalistic writing. This approach encompasses the commemorative and historical processes at work within an individual annal and across the text as a whole. Each annalist was purposefully choosing what to remember and what to forget, and their creative responses moulded the past to suit their particular circumstances. The chronicles that they produced represent a vital opportunity to consider these authors and their world, and should thus be regarded as an integral component of medieval historiography.

This thesis examines how 'cartularisation' was practiced at the Tironensian abbey of Arbroath over three centuries from c.1250-c.1560. While previous studies have generally focused on single cartularies, this study looks at it from an institutional perspective, by examining the corpus of cartularies surviving from the medieval abbey, focusing on those that related to the community rather than an individual abbot or commendator. In particular, the thesis examines cartularisation in light of the recent work of Joanna Tucker, whose study of two Scottish cartularies (each drawn from a separate institution) demonstrated that it was a community activity in its own right, rather than just the means by which manuscripts were created. This thesis builds upon her findings to better understand how successive generations of scribes engaged with the wider corpus of manuscripts than just the one to which they were contributing. To do so, it is first necessary to fully examine each of the four cartularies chosen for this study and an in-depth analysis of each one can be found in Chapters 1 to 4. Using Tucker's newly established methodology for examining multi-scribe cartularies, the evolution of each cartulary is examined to provide a comprehensive understanding of how the character of each one was shaped by the choices made by contributing scribes. Once the nature of each individual cartulary has been uncovered, the evidence these analyses provide is brought together to demonstrate how scribes worked over the longer period. Chapter 5 charts the timeline of document copying at Arbroath and compares the various 'campaigns' involved in creating each cartulary. Chapter 6 shows that where repeated texts occur (either within a single volume or across the corpus) they were the rarely the result of scribal error, but that scribes had a working knowledge of what had previously been copied. The evidence for scribes as readers of all the abbey's manuscripts is extended in Chapter 7, which examines the cross-references found within all of the extant cartularies of Arbroath that indicate the cartularies were seen as a corpus in their own right, and not just a substitute for the abbey's archive. Through these different analyses it becomes possible to see copying as more than just a method to create single manuscript volumes but as an intergenerational communal activity. Scribes are shown to be deeply aware of what had been copied by their predecessors, a knowledge which influenced their own choices. As time progresses, however, it is also possible to see scribes copying documents that relate to contemporary concerns and interests. By reading across the manuscripts and tracking the patterns of copying over three centuries it becomes possible to see cartularisation at Arbroath not as a series of single projects to create individual bound volumes, but as an ongoing intergenerational conversation which echoed across three centuries.

Medieval Christian artefacts were inherently interactive, engaging both the body and the mind. The prevalent practice of museums, however, to present medieval artefacts as decontextualised works of art engenders an often-irreconcilable distance between viewer and viewed not just physically, through glass vitrines, ropes, and demarcated pathways, but above all, intellectually and emotionally. By bringing together the latest research into the materiality of late medieval art and devotion (c.1250-1550), museology, and digital cultural heritage studies, this thesis investigates how digital technologies may be used to bridge that distance, and foster, instead, enhanced public engagement with medieval devotional artefacts beyond the formal, aesthetic qualities that normative curatorial practices tend to stress. In so doing, this interdisciplinary research investigates the following three research questions: • How are digital technologies currently used in the interpretation of late medieval Christian collections in public display settings? • How can the original reception and use of late medieval Christian objects inform their digital interpretation today? • What is the impact of digital interpretation of late medieval Christian objects on visitors' experience and engagement? To answer these questions, this thesis adopted qualitative research methods with a practice-based approach. Carried out as an Applied Research Collaborative Studentship (ARCS, 2017-22) in collaboration with The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, this practice-based project saw the design, development, and evaluation of the Tears of Our Lady prototype, a digital interpretation devised specially for this project. Based on a digitally augmented replica of The Lamentation of Jesus Christ (ID Number 1.24), a fifteenth-century alabaster relief panel from the Burrell, the Tears of Our Lady prototype was used to explore how the interactive (intellectual, somatic, emotive, and imaginative) engagements medieval devotional objects would have engendered in the past may be used to support digital engagement with them in the present.

This thesis argues that, rather than being viewed as an incidental feature of Old English literary texts, the group of creatures referred to as wyrmas should be viewed as a significant, symbolic feature of early medieval English culture. Wyrmas were a diverse category of creatures which included parasites, snakes, serpents residing in Hell, grave-dwelling creatures and even dragons; it is this diversity that allowed wyrmas to become synonymous with imagery of death and corruption, but also with the hope of resurrection in a developing Christian society. The significance of wyrmas will be demonstrated through an interdisciplinary study of literary and theological sources in Old English and Latin, alongside archaeological material; these sources will be considered alongside theoretical frameworks of taxonomy and categorisation in order to facilitate a greater understanding of the meaning of wyrmas. This thesis will examine the stages of the human experience as understood by early medieval English people - life, death and the afterlife - to demonstrate that wyrmas became a way to express the anxieties and hopes of early medieval people as they reconciled with Christian beliefs and doctrine.

This thesis offers the first examination of the Life Course in the late Byzantine period (1204-1453). The past decade of scholarship has demonstrated that representations of every stage of life - infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity, and old age - can be found in Byzantine texts and visual culture. However, few scholars have examined representations of ageing across the Life Course, though social scientists have demonstrated that it is the transitions from one life-stage to the next that essentially define the process of growing up and growing old. By examining Byzantine authors' and artisans' portrayals of ageing across the Life Course, we may come to understand the importance of age as a component of both identity and of the structure of Byzantine society at large. This study takes as its chronological point of departure the year of the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 and ends with the Ottoman conquest of 1453. This late period of Byzantine history, due in part to the altered nature of the source material after 1204, remains underrepresented in existing scholarship of ageing and the family. Nevertheless, in this thesis I demonstrate that the late Byzantine period offers a rich array of evidence, including biographical literature, visual portrayals of the life-stages, and burial archaeology, from which we can understand how the Byzantines constructed the Life Course during a rapidly fluctuating and dynamic period of the empire's history.

This thesis constitutes the first comprehensive assessment of the north-western frontier province of Liguria in present-day Italy, from the Byzantine reconquest of the region in 553 until its surrender in 643/44 to the Longobards. The work, following an extensive review of archaeological data, both published and unpublished, integrated with the scarce textual sources available, ultimately reassesses the role of Byzantium in its westernmost domains, at times considered of marginal importance and largely disconnected from the broader Imperial system. The study goes beyond the recognized role of Liguria as a militarized frontier province, showing instead the complexity of a region still integrated into the Imperial economic and cultural network inherited from Rome and mediated by Byzantine rule. After an historical overview, subsequent chapters examine key topics such as the transformation of urban centres (Ch. 2), the landscape (Ch. 3), the economic and cultural aspects (Ch. 5), closely related, but not directly controlled, by the military sphere (Ch. 4). Most of these themes were part of the so-called "Byzantine variable", a paradigm postulated by Enrico Zanini in 1998 to distinguish Imperial and Longobard domains across the peninsula. The combined analysis of these elements over the course of this work has led to a redefinition of the "variable", reducing the role of urbanism, and introducing an ex-novo focus on rural landscapes. This new model, potentially applicable to other parts of Byzantine Italy as well as to the wider western Byzantine world, shows how, in spite of the growing cultural and economic fragmentation of the Mediterranean from which Liguria was not immune, the Byzantine presence helped preserve, at least for some time, certain distinctive material and cultural elements. This model is structured to carry out a comparative analysis on urban (Luna, Genoa, Albingaunum, and Albintimilium), rural (Corti and Filattiera-Sorano), ecclesiastical (Noli) and military (Castrum Perti) sites. In the last chapter this is tested through a preliminary comparative analysis with Byzantine (Sicily) and non-Byzantine domains (Provence, Tuscany). This is an essential step to define the patterns of change and resilience which affected Liguria in this period. Such an approach considers the effective role the Eastern Roman Empire had in every part of the "variable", distinguishing the direct and indirect consequences of the policies of Constantinople beyond its hypothetical area of influence. The results offer new insights into the Byzantine West during a time of critical changes throughout the Mediterranean.

This thesis seeks to consolidate and examine the evidence for social and political change in the English county of Cumbria between 400 and 700. This date range covers the period between the end of direct Roman governance of what had long been the north-west frontier of the western Roman Empire and the end of the greatest period of expansion of the kingdom of Northumbria. The two key questions which currently tend to be asked in studies of the post-Roman period are, firstly, the extent to which the social and political structures of the fifth century and beyond represent continuity or change from what had gone before and, secondly, how power and identity were negotiated at a regional and supra-regional level between incursive groups and the Romano-British indigenes. This study seeks to answer those questions at a regional level through a synthesis of the archaeological, place-name and historical evidence. Contrary to established current thinking, it will be argued that a close and targeted study of the evidence calls into doubt the notion that a culturally British Cumbria was ever conquered by a culturally Anglo-Saxon Northumbria. Instead, it will be argued that Cumbria remained a politically distinct area, notwithstanding one that, from the mid-seventh century, may often have been allied to, or a client of, the Northumbrian kings. It is proposed that, notwithstanding the relative paucity of material evidence for Cumbria when compared to other parts of Britain, there is just sufficient when taken in conjunction with other evidence types to identify the cores of a relatively significant number of previously overlooked post-Roman polities across the county. These polities - or regiones, to use the terminology favoured by early medieval writers such as Bede - were resilient and formed the building blocks of the far less resilient hegemonies of the post-Roman centuries.

This thesis examines the responsibilities, remuneration, roles, and representations of manorial officials, those who were unfree peasants who were elected to manage and supervise the lord's lands and tenants. Using a combination of economic, social, and cultural approaches, this work explores how officialdom on the manors of Glastonbury was influenced by a manor's local structure, such as its degree of rurality, as well as how officialdom changed across the period c. 1250 - 1400. The source material used in this thesis has been from an examination of the manorial source material from the Abbey of Glastonbury. This has predominantly been the accounts, court rolls, and custumals, for the manors of Ashbury, Ashcott, Damerham, Glastonbury, and Nettleton. This thesis has also utilised a variety of source material beyond the manorial record, such as art, literature, and treatises, in order to explore the wider cultural representations and perceptions of officialdom in combination with the manorial documentation. Chapter 1 explores the structure of manorial officialdom and the responsibilities of each manorial officer at Glastonbury. Chapter 2 utilises a quantitative methodology to examine how officials were remunerated at each manor. Chapter 3 employs a quantitative and qualitative approach to analyse the activities of officials upon the manor and how they were treated by the hallmoot courts. Chapter 4 explores the variety of ways in which manorial officials were depicted in art and literature in order Ito examine the contemporaneous perceptions of officialdom. A number of key conclusions have been found in this work. The structure of officialdom at Glastonbury was flexible, utilised to adapt to local structures and the impacts of wider socio-economic events in the fourteenth century. Officialdom played a vital role in mediating the carefully negotiated interplay between the central, seigneurial administration and the local manors, and executing important economic and administrative decisions. Officials were both of the peasantry but also distinct in their role as representatives of the seigneurial authority, as is shown in both the manorial record and art and literature of the period. This study has also demonstrated that officialdom can be used as a lens through which to explore and understand the changes and developments on the medieval manor due to external factors.

This thesis offers the first synthetic evaluation of Byzantine stucco between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries. It brings together the results of disparate studies, with new material and textual evidence, to write, for the first time, a coherent narrative of the history of Byzantine stucco during the Middle and the Late Byzantine periods. This thesis demonstrates the uninterrupted use of stucco in Byzantine architecture from the Late Antique period onwards. It sheds light on the techniques used by Byzantine artisans to work stucco and examines their social and legal status in Byzantine society, providing a nuanced vision of both the skills and incomes of people in this period. A wide range of Byzantine patrons chose to decorate their buildings with stucco: from emperors to local officers and ordinary people. They used stucco to convey statements of authority or to underline their participation in networks of power. After having analysed stucco in Byzantine society, the thesis turns to wider Mediterranean stucco production, and examines differences and commonalities between Byzantine stucco and that produced in Medieval Italy and the different regions under Islamic reigns. This thesis is an initial framework. This framework is threefold: the single building, the broader context of Byzantine art, and the stucco production in the Mediterranean. The case-by-case approach used revealed how the study of stucco, in combination with the rest of the materials used in architecture, is crucial to understand the history of buildings and the communities behind them. It is the interaction between micro and macro contexts that provides the core for understanding stucco in Byzantine architecture. This interaction is also what makes stucco a diagnostic material, which provides us with a new insight into Byzantine architecture.

Medieval military terminology in crusading sources from c.1100-1204 is the focus of this study. An interrogation of when knights developed into a coherent grouping is central to the thesis. Definitions of knights on a military, economic and social basis are explored. The approach exposes and emphasises often overlooked nuances of medieval military structure. Due to the terminological basis of the thesis, it considers mainly written sources which focus on crusading expeditions. The methodology is based around the premise that the crusading movement was broadly representative of contemporary medieval society and armies from large swathes of western Christendom. This allows for the use of evidence from the selected sources to support conclusions about domestic structures. As such, the methodology provides a significant and fresh perspective. The thesis makes clear that medieval military history is far more nuanced than has often been represented. It exposes further military categories than have previously been identified. It also opposes the popular misconception of knights as exclusively heavy, shock cavalry and works to dispel this myth. Rather it argues that knights were general-purpose elite soldiers. The key contribution is that it both establishes and emphasises the difference between the knightly grouping and the knightly identity. The former -the knighthood- was a socially coherent grouping as early as 1120, while the latter formed the precursor to chivalry as a set of values. The dating of a coalesced knighthood also represents a departure from previous estimates in the final quarter of the twelfth century. Finally, the adopted approach has wider application than the scope of the thesis. It could be used as a framework for further studies on other facets of the medieval period such as social structure, piety and religious rhetoric.

This study seeks to examine how the unusual and complex situation of a death of a deposed monarch was dealt with by the new ruler and how it was reacted to and in some instances used by wider elements of political society. Depositions of this manner were an English phenomenon in the later medieval period and this study will look at the cases of Edward II, Richard II and Henry VI, who ruled England across the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Dealing with a deposed monarch created a number of issues; overarching all of these was the question of what position the former king was believed to have held at their time of death. Did they still retain their royal status, and therefore it would be expected that they would be treated in death as a king, or had they lost this when their political rule had been ended? In this scenario their position was much more ambiguous and so what was to be done with them following their death was also ambiguous. With there being no definitive way in which the question could be answered, the issue was initially decided on an ad hoc basis depending on how the new king wished to represent their predecessor. The funeral and burial were a way to prominently present the status that was being attributed to the deceased and the presence or absence of royal elements made very clear whether they were being considered as a royal or not. How customs and practices of royal commemoration could be flexible and adaptable to react to the unusual circumstances is a subject that will be examined. Furthermore, this study will examine how the afterlives of the deposed monarchs could be taken out of royal control and could become the subject of popular beliefs which had little to do with any royal promotion, and in some cases there were royal attempts to supress the belief. This created a situation where the new ruler, or possibly even their successor, had to once again engage with their deposed predecessor. As well as considering how this status was represented and used, there is also the question of why new kings chose to represent their predecessor in the way they did. The familial relationship between the two as well as the political circumstances of the deposition will be examined to attempt to find answers to this question. A final area for examination is whether the status initially attributed to the deceased was permanent or if it could change over time or in reaction to specific events. Popular beliefs such as survival rumours or cults and events such as reburials suggest that the deposed monarch could be recreated in a different light and the circumstances and reasons behind why this occurred will be looked at.

This research project places the North Channel at the centre of an active and peopled seascape. Rather than viewing the foundations around its rim as peripheral in relation to more inland centres of power and modern understanding, the goal is to place the North Channel Zone at the centre of an active and connected region. Although modern scholarship widely accepts the existence of an ecclesiastical Community based around Columba and his foundation of Iona, and Dalriadan holdings on both sides of the North Channel, there has been less scholarship surrounding the idea of a North Channel seascape awash in the movement of peoples and community structures. In order to examine this idea more fully, a case study approach is employed on another proposed Community of monasteries linked by the sea: those related to, or potentially related to, St Comgall and his main monastery at Bangor. The main question asked focuses on whether a Community of Comgall wider than the monastery of Bangor itself existed between the sixth to eleventh centuries. This inquiry is made by selecting specific sites in the west of Scotland: Applecross and the islands of Lismore and Tiree, and undertaking an interdisciplinary analysis of the sites, including textual, art historical, archaeological, and toponymic evidence along with a general phenomenological approach. A chapter is devoted to each site in turn. The findings indicate that a Community of Comgall is discernible. Additionally, the importance and influence of Applecross, Lismore, and Tiree within their respective seascapes and landscapes are highlighted by the available evidence. The influence and importance of additional ecclesiastical foundations in the west of Scotland, especially those with connections to the Community of Comgall based at Bangor in Ireland, is brought into clearer focus. This allows a fuller understanding of the movement of people and ideas between the west of Scotland and north of Ireland in the early medieval period.

This thesis investigates the papacy's authority over the preaching of crusades between 1095 and 1216. It connects for the first time the administrative government of the Papal Monarchy with the data relating to known crusade participants to show the varied effectiveness of crusade preaching. The study is divided thematically into four key areas that show the different ways in which crusading was communicated: the role of successive popes as crusade preachers; the significance of epistolary communication of the popes' crusade messages; the impact of the numerous proxy preachers who acted with or without the papacy's authority; and the contribution of magnus rumor, which developed organically from the original crusade message but was not subject to direct papal influence. By inputting data relating to known crusaders into Geographical Information Software, it compares crusade recruits with papal letters and preaching events and proves that crusade preachers' successes varied according to the time and regions in which they preached. The thesis shows that, despite a clear evolution in the methods of communication, the effectiveness of promoting a successful crusade recruitment campaign during a period in which successive popes sought to assert Petrine authority was constrained by external factors.

This thesis questions the effectiveness of "ethnicity" as a prevailing analytical framework in research on medieval Eastern Eurasian history, by the means of a study of the dynastic identities of the Liao 遼 state (907-1125). "Dynastic identities" is primarily used to refer to three aspects: the imperial designations of Liao monarchs, the constructed origins of the Liao imperial and consort clans, and the perceived spatial location of the Liao state in the cosmos. The thesis rethinks assumptions of the Liao identity as either a "conquest dynasty" or a sinicised regime, and the oversimplistic yet deeply engrained ethnic binary of Han/Chinese and non-Han/Chinese behind these assumptions in many scholarly works on regimes with perceived non-Han/Chinese origins. I argue that this ethnic discourse is anachronistic and inappropriate with regard to many aspects of Liao history. Liao dynastic identities were primarily based on appropriating cultural elements with Sinic origins, which nevertheless were perceived by the Liao elite as universal and common legacies rather than those exclusively owned by Han/Chinese, and which they reconstructed in new ways to underscore the Liao preeminence in their contemporary world.

This thesis argues that the Cistercians created a distinctive aesthetic relating to relics in the twelfth century by seeking to restrict the disruptive presence of pilgrims who might introduce an unwelcome element of worldliness and distraction into the cloister. Relics functioned as pegs for corporate memory in internally-focused story-telling, such as exempla collections, but less as attractions for pilgrimage. Compared to contemporary cults managed by other monastic orders, the Cistercian cults limited the dispersal of contact relics and emphasised the role of Cistercian miracle recipients and visionaries in texts. This Cistercian aesthetic had social consequences. Eschewing the promotion of lay pilgrimage to their monasteries, the Order used its aura of exclusivity to attract powerful patrons, and managed their access through limited ad sanctos burials. The importance of audience in the presentation of Cistercian relics and miracles will be demonstrated through a range of sources; hagiography, exempla collections, letter collections, and statutes. It will be shown that the presentation of the miraculous represents an underutilised source for the conceptualisation of Cistercian identity and spirituality in the twelfth century.

This thesis provides the first collective revision of four nearly contemporary eleventh-century historical accounts: Michael Psellos' Chronographia, Michael Attaleiates' History, and John Skylitzes' Synopsis and Continuation. Recent studies have attempted to further contextualise Byzantine historical narratives in order to form a better understanding of the past and the way it was perceived by contemporaries. Of special concern to this thesis is the mishandling of key concepts such as religion, theocracy, authorial originality, and the purposes behind Byzantine history writing. This study analyses how these authors and their literary activity have been framed within misleading dichotomies between either religion and secular, autocratic and republican thought, or traditional writing and original innovation. A narratological framework will be applied to the revision of the sources. Thus, the central chapters are devoted to the narratives' character focus, how the characters' morality is qualified in the sources, and the creative uses of narrative space and time to shape the message aimed at their respective intended audiences. In sum, this narratalogical revisionist appraisal of these accounts provides a new perspective on eleventh-century political thought in Byzantium.

This thesis analyses the medieval ceramics circulating in Rome between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries, using quantitative methods for fitting ceramic data into the wider economic history of Rome. Even though the importance of Rome during the Middle Ages is undeniable, it is still difficult to fit the numerous archaeological data into an overall analysis of the city. In particular, with ceramics as the most numerous find, it is crucial to fully understand what kinds of information these might return: the ceramic assemblages found in three sample-sites (Vicus ad Carinas, Colosseum, and church of S. Omobono) have been fully studied and compared, in order to reach a diachronic level of analysis. In fact, each site has a different chronology, thus this diachronic approach clearly shows differences and similarities of each period. Finally, the results of such analysis have been put together again and reanalysed regarding the economy of medieval Rome. The final aim is to demonstrate the importance of ceramics as a source, as these increase our knowledge of medieval trades, production, and diet. The thesis is divided into different sections: the first part is an overview of sources for medieval Rome, its people and economy, and medieval ceramics of Rome; in the second part each site has been analysed, from its earliest phases to the medieval ones, assessing both archaeological evidence and written sources; the third part focuses on quantification methods, particularly those used for analysing the three assemblages; finally, the conclusions fit the results of these quantifications into the broader context of medieval Rome.

In light of the recent literature on the polyphonic settings of the Ordinarium Missae in the fifteenth century, and of new discoveries regarding the figure of Firminus Caron, a reassessment of his corpus of Masses has become necessary. This thesis seeks to examine the five settings composed by Caron, as well as to re-evaluate modern attribution to him of a further seven Masses; these reveal to be a useful case study that allows a scrutiny of some of the most debated issues of Medieval and Renaissance musicology. Chapter 1 examines the situation of the textual tradition, describing the manuscripts that transmit Caron's Masses, and provides an analysis of the cantus firmi used and their treatment. Chapter 2 assess the modern attribution to Caron of the Missa Thomas cesus transmitted in the manuscript VatSP B80, the context put forward for the composition of this Mass, and the implications it would have on Caron's biography. Both the attribution and the context are rejected on the basis of an examination of the historical and cultural context, and of the stylistic methodology used. Chapter 3 and 4 deal with the fifteenthcentury tradition of L'homme armé settings, from both a musicological and historical point of view. In Chapter 3 the origins and early chronology of the tradition are discussed, along with a new analysis of Caron's Missa L'homme armé. There is also a discussion on the modern attributions, to Caron and others, of the six anonymous settings transmitted in NapBN 40. Chapter 4 explores the fifteenth-century crusading movement, its propaganda, and the link with L'homme armé tradition. The manuscript NapBN 40 is used as a case study: a new identification of the coat of arms in the manuscript is proposed, with an assessment of its donation to Beatrice of Aragon. Chapter 5 evaluates the methodologies adopted by critical editions of fifteenth-century sacred music, in order to find methodologically sound criteria for the edition of Caron's Masses. Chapter 6 and 7 focus in detail on some philological issues related to text underlay and accidental inflections, arguing that in some case they reveal an authorial intervention. These are followed by a new complete critical edition of Caron's Masses. These chapters contribute towards a new understanding not just of Caron's Masses but also of some general matters concerning the history of fifteenth-century music. Also, the critical edition provides a methodologically up-to-date text that can be used for any further investigation on this topic.

The historiographical record of the Liao dynasty (907-1125) is limited due to the contingencies of manuscript survival, and so excavated epitaphs have come to be a vital primary source for study of Liao history. This thesis analyses the epitaphs of the Liao as a whole and considers the contingent social factors behind their production. This is done over four thematic chapters that roughly map onto four periods in the Liao where the themes are most apparent: geography, culture and the tenth century; territorial reforms, the expansion of the imperial examinations and the early-to-mid eleventh century; genealogy, the Kitan aristocracy and the mid-to-late eleventh century; and court politics, historiography and the late Liao (1085-1125). Taken together these themes explain the increased production of epitaphs over the course of the dynasty and in different regions of the empire. I argue that epitaphs were not a cultural signifier of ethnic categories but a medium through which people not only commemorated the dead, but also signalled their status to others. It is this function of epitaphs as texts that could influence others perceptions that explains the growing demand for them against the backdrop of the changing social structures.

This thesis investigates Henry II's relationship with the Church in his continental domains focusing on Normandy, Anjou, Maine, the Touraine, and Aquitaine during his reign as king of England from 1154 to 1189. To examine this relationship the thesis uses traditional methods which historians have long used in studies focusing on the Church in England, but only rarely applied to the Continent. These methods include an investigation of bishops' backgrounds, familial links, and relationships with the king as demonstrated through their attendance at court, royal service, and positions in local society. It will examine how religious institutions, both secular and monastic, sought out the authority of Henry II and how as patron Henry expressed his authority through the extant royal charter corpus. It employs over 350 royal charters for religious institutions to assess royal patronage, the nature of the king's patronage, and to determine the demand for royal patronage and charters as both reflect ecclesiastical views of the king and his authority. Henry II's acta form the main resource for this research, but this thesis also makes use of the charters and letters of the institutions and individuals it investigates alongside contemporary narratives to create a fuller picture of his episcopal relationships. Through these methodologies and the in-depth analysis provided, this thesis offers a better understanding of Henry's relationship with the Church on the Continent and the recognition of his authority.

This thesis examines the representation and function of masculinity in crusade narratives 1200-1309. It specifically considers elite masculinity as this was the concern of the authors of these narratives. This addresses an important scholarly gap and will demonstrate that masculinity was a vital concept to the historical representation of these crusades. To achieve this a close of analysis of the following texts will be undertaken: Richard of Templo’s account of the Third Crusade, Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi. Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay’s history of the Albigensian Crusade, Historia Albigensis. Robert of Clari’s Fourth Crusade recollection, La Conquête de Constantinople. The final text is John of Joinville’s memoir and personal account of the Seventh Crusade, Vie de Saint Louis. A gendered analysis of these texts will reveal that the representation and function of masculinity served a practical purpose either as a didactic tool or narrative device. The use of a variety of narratives about different crusades authored by a diverse selection of people reveal universal understandings of the importance of gender performance during the period under investigation. To achieve this both medieval ideas of gender and the following sociological theory will be applied to these texts: hegemonic masculinity, performativity, homosociality and hypermasculinity. This will demonstrate that crusade narratives are a rich and valuable source of information regarding elite masculinity and make a useful knowledge to our understanding of gender in the Middle Ages that have hitherto been overlooked.

The thesis is an examination of the phenomenon of the relic-quest or fund-raising tour with relics in England and France, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the thirteenth century. Using a variety of sources, it aims to present a complete study of an important but overlooked subject. The first ambition of this thesis is to fill a historiographical gap for relic-quests in southern England, to match with their well-observed counterparts in northern France The second is to reveal the social and religious value of the practice, to find out why and how it influenced the decisions made in the thirteenth century by the Church to regulate it, and to follow its fortunes into the fourteenth century, through the writings of religious and lay literary critics, and the actions of the Church. Split in five chapters, the thesis follows a chronological and diachronic order. The first two chapters are devoted to the forms and functions of the relic-quest, and to its origins and development. The third chapter dwells on the aspects of the relic tour as opus pietatis, while the fourth chapter examines the shift in approaches and attitudes to relic tours in the thirteenth century, when the Church was prompted to regulate the practice. The fifth and last chapter analyzes the criticism of relic tours by religious and lay writers, reveals the nature of the changes, and investigates the role ecclesiastical authorities played in the fourteenth century, particularly in the multiplication of tours and indulgences.

This thesis focuses on the political turbulence that unfolded in late fourteenth-century London, interrogating the nature of authority and power of London's civic elites, with particular focus on John of Northampton and Nicholas Brembre, both mayors of London. It does so through an investigation of the use of the ideology of common profit - the idea that a community should work for the profit, or good, of the whole. The scope of this thesis extends from c. 1376 to c. 1391, a period in which there was a conscious move towards establishing the common good within London, yet a period which also saw constant tumult in the form of a large scale rebellion, disputes between rival guilds in the City, and the execution of Nicholas Brembre following the Merciless Parliament of 1388. This was not a period of peace but one in which the prosperity of the City was challenged and on the brink of destruction. These events were preserved primarily within the records of London's Guildhall, which provide detailed narratives of the experiences, mentalities and motivations of those involved in these quarrels. By examining urban administrative documents through the lens of the discourse of common profit, we can question the extent to which this ideology was used as a negotiating tool to legitimise the authority of leading civic figures. This thesis considers the multiple contexts in which common profit rhetoric could be used by those involved in civic life. The context for the production of these texts is especially important, giving an insight into both the reasons for their creation and circulation, and into the institutions they represented. London, the capital city, was thus envisioned by contemporaries as serving as an example of good civic governance for the rest of the realm, despite, in reality, being a place that experienced intense corruption. This dual identity for the capital city is represented in these sources in the way in which, through the use of political language, political players interacted with ideas of governance, the concept of the body politic, and the relationship between rulers and ruled. Language is thus considered in this thesis as a reflection of social practice and circumstance. From this, this investigation exposes how common profit principles shaped these documents and was used by London officials to consolidate their authority in a period when factional conflict saw this undermined.

This thesis looks at the diplomatic relationship between Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261) and King Henry III of England (1216-1272). Using Anglo-papal correspondence, English administrative records and thirteenth-century narrative sources, it will explore the political relationship between these two rulers as well as the diplomatic and administrative practices and procedures which underpinned this relationship, with a particular focus on the agents who conducted these exchanges between England and the papacy in the mid-thirteenth century. Until recently, diplomatic relations between rulers have largely been understood through the outcomes of their interactions. Yet, this thesis seeks to highlight the methods, agents and language underpinning this relationship in order to better understand how diplomatic practices were conducted and how the machinery of government was utilised in diplomatic exchanges between these two rulers. There has been very little study into the pontificate of Alexander IV, as such, this thesis will shine light on his political activities and style of rulership through his relationship with the English king and the English realm. Indeed, Alexander's pontificate was particularly shaped by his relationship with the English as it covered a period of political turbulence in both England and the Italian peninsula. This thesis has been arranged into three sections addressing the themes of: (1) 'mediation and arbitration', (2) 'representation' and (3) 'communication and correspondence'. The first section on 'mediation and arbitration' comprises of Chapter One which highlights the key political events effecting England within which this pope intervened. The second section, 'representation', consists of Chapters Two, Three and Four which shed light on the variety of agents who significantly shaped Anglo-papal relations through their activities. Finally, section three, 'communication and correspondence', covers Chapter Five which explores the production, structure and language of the diplomatic letters, exploring the development of letter-writing practices between England and the papacy as well as the political relationship between Henry III and Alexander IV through the correspondence.

This thesis attempts to chart the changing face of the Fairy King between the Middle Ages and the early modern period from a mysterious, sinister, partially diabolical figure of inscrutable motivations to the renowned paterfamilias of illustrious dynastic families. The thesis has been organised into four chapters which are prefaced and concluded by an Introduction and a Conclusion respectively. The Introduction to the thesis sets out the rationale for undertaking the study and offers a detailed explanation of the theoretical apparatus used to support the overall argument. Building upon Yuri Lotman’s theory of culture as a ‘semiosphere’ and Niklas Luhmann’s neo-Darwinian reformulation of evolution within social systems, this chapter situates the literary metamorphosis of the Fairy King from a pagan god to a creative tool of political legitimation within the wider complex of cultural change, religious reorientation, and socio-economic restructuring. Chapter 1 traces the provenance of the fairies to the pagan gods of classical Greece and Rome within the specific context of the myth of Orpheus. Focusing particularly on the reformulations of the Orpheus myth, first at the hands of the Augustan poets Virgil (in Book IV of the Georgics) and Ovid (in Book X of the Metamorphoses) and later by Boethius (in the Consolation of Philosophy) in post-Christian Italy, this chapter explores how the representation of the chthonic god of the Underworld transformed over time. Chapter 2 shifts the focus from continental Europe to the British Isles, examining how treatments of analogous fairy figures in early and late medieval insular literature were influenced by currents of development in indigenous mythography. The chapter argues that the mythological corpora of the classical Graeco-Roman and the Celtic worlds were not really discrete and isolated cultural blocs but participants in a dynamic tradition of cross-cultural interaction mediated by factors both economic (the context of trade) as well as political (Roman imperial ambitions and military conquest). Having explored these interconnections, the chapter proceeds to an analysis of the figure of Midir in the medieval Irish saga Tochmarc Étaíne and the Pygmy King in the tale of Herla in Walter Map’s De nugis curialium. The first two chapters also trace the revisionary changes worked upon pantheons of pagan deities in the wake of the radical religious transition from paganism to Christianity and establish the foundations for the subsequent recuperation of such heathen figures into indigenous traditions of folk belief in the supernatural, particularly to the class of the fairies, liminal beings who constituted a unique conceptual subset of the ambiguous supernatural. The processes by which such recuperation took place are investigated in Chapter 3 through a detailed discussion of the fourteenth-century Middle English romance Sir Orfeo. The chapter concludes with a brief exploration of two alternative developments of the Fairy King in late medieval poetry, focusing on the figure of Pluto in both Geoffrey Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale and Robert Henryson’s Orpheus and Eurydice, explicitly identified as a fairy in the former while occupying a more nebulous ontological niche in the latter. Chapter 4 begins with a survey of the nature of fairy ‘belief’ in England in the sixteenth century before moving to a consideration of how dynastic houses, building upon matrices of associations drawn between fairy founders and genealogy in the Middle Ages (especially the cycle of legends centred on the figures of Mélusine in France and Arthur in the British Isles) exploited fairylore for political purposes. Subsequently, the chapter traces the emergence of the Fairy King in sixteenth-century England under the prototypical name of ‘Oberon,’ first in John Bourchier’s English translation of the medieval French chanson de geste of Huon of Burdeux and then in Robert Greene’s play The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the part played by Oberon in Book II of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene which, together with Bourchier’s prose translation and Greene’s play, constitute the most significant pre-Shakespearean developments of the figure of the Fairy King-as-Oberon. The Conclusion brings the thesis to a close by offering a brief account of the post-Spensarian trajectories of evolution of the Fairy King figure and highlights the possible avenues still available for further academic exploration. Taken together, the thesis constitutes a unique academic achievement, not only in view of the chronological, geographical, and generic scope of the texts surveyed but also in view of its interdisciplinary nature, melding together a variety of different and distinct theoretical approaches with an examination of contexts that span multiple semantic and ontological fields (literary, cultural, political, historical, socioeconomic, and religious).

What is the line between the “ancient” world and the “medieval” world? Is it 476? 330? 632? 800? Most historians acknowledge there is no crisp line and that these are arbitrary distinctions, but they are made anyway, taking on lives of their own. I believe they are much the same world, except for the pervading influence of one flavor of monotheism or another. This thesis endeavors to study top-down, monotheistic conversions in Pontic-Caspian Eurasia and their respective mythologizations, preserved both textually and archaeologically, which serve as a primary factor for what we might call “state formation.” These narratives also function, in many cases, as the bases of many modern nationalisms, however haphazard they may be. I have attempted to apply this idea to Christian Rome (Byzantium)’s diachronic missionary policy around the Black Sea to reveal how what we today call the “Age of Migrations” (the so-called “Germanic” invasions of the Roman Empire), was actually in perpetual continuity all the way up to the Mongolian invasions and perhaps even later. In this way, I hope to enhance the context by which we understand the entirety of not only Western history, but to effectively bind it to a broader context of global monotheization.

This doctoral dissertation investigates the writings of the Venerable Bede (673-735) in the context of miracles and the miraculous. It begins by exploring the patristic tradition through which he developed his own historical and hagiographical work, particularly the thought of Gregory the Great in the context of doubt and Augustine of Hippo regarding history and truth. It then suggests that Bede had a particular affinity for the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as models for the writing of specifically ecclesiastical history. The use of sources to attest miracle narratives in six hagiographies known to Bede from Late Antiquity are explored before applying this knowledge to Bede and five of his early Insular contemporaries. The research is rounded off by a discussion of Bede’s use of miracles in the context of reform, particularly his desire to provide adequate pastoral care through his understanding of the ideal bishop best exemplified by Cuthbert and John of Beverley. By examining Bede and the miraculous not only through the lens of his predecessors but also among his contemporaries, this thesis ultimately positions Bede as an innovative Anglo-Saxon scholar, though one clearly conscious of the traditions within which he was working.

This thesis poses a simple but intriguing and powerful question. Can Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) continue to be described as a reforming or reform-minded pope? The approach taken rethinks Leo and rethinks reform and the analysis of each, taken together, leads to a fresh evaluation of what Leo did and how he went about it. This thesis focusses on his pontificate and is not a full life biographical portrait. The historiographical background of the last one hundred and thirty years is comprehensively analysed. This analysis shows that the descriptor of reform has been applied to Leo consistently over that period but that only one attempt has been made to define reform. This thesis puts forward a new definition of reform which is used to provide a framework for evaluation and for clarifying the answer to the thesis question. Leo’s extant papal letters and other sources provide the basis for a new and full analysis of what Leo actually did in his Synods. This analysis shows that Leo used his Synods for complex and multi-faceted purposes. These purposes were not so much to push a reform agenda but more to resolve disputes, to deal with simony and to deal with very many issues related to Church governance. Leo’s letters are also used to analyse afresh the reasons for his many journeys. The analysis shows that Leo’s journeys were undertaken for multiple reasons and were not specifically related to the long standing view that the journeys relate to Leo’s attempt to Europeanise the papacy. Finally the letters are utilised to ask questions of Leo’s overall policy approach to papal governance. This analysis puts forward new ideas about the team in the papal office and reveals a complex landscape of influences. Taken together these strands of analysis show a complex picture and highlight a new perception of Leo and that the long held premise of seeing Leo through the single prism of reform confuses and obscures the real nature of his policy approach and his pontificate. The conclusion of this thesis is that Leo can no longer be accurately described as a reforming pope but rather as an important one who was both a conservative and traditionalist. The implications of this for the grand narrative of the history of eleventh century Europe are considerable. The roles of the other principal actors need to be thought out afresh; the notion of reform itself needs to be reconsidered and the antecedents of the so-called Gregorian reform fall to be re-evaluated.

This thesis explores the infrastructure and mechanics of Latin Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Jerusalem was an important religious site for Christians, though it did not gain large-scale popularity among pilgrims until the capture of the city by the crusaders in 1099. Despite the vast and ever expanding quantity of literature on the topic of medieval pilgrimage in Europe and to the Holy Land, the infrastructure and mechanisms for pilgrims has received little attention. This thesis addresses the following core questions: How did pilgrims maintain themselves en route to the Holy Land in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries? How important were pilgrimage infrastructure and mechanisms for pilgrims? How did the infrastructure develop over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries? What impact did the changing political situation over the course of the crusades have on this network? Medieval pilgrim and travel narratives, canon law, cartularies, charters and other legal documents, chronicles, exemplars, hagiography, liturgical texts, and papal records are analysed to answer these questions. The thesis follows the pilgrim’s journey to the Holy Land, starting with mechanisms of protection associated with preparations for pilgrimage, continuing on to investigate those who provided infrastructure and mechanisms to pilgrims along the way, before focusing on infrastructure within the Holy Land itself. It demonstrates the scale of the infrastructure, showing the intertwining nature of real world mechanisms of protections with those of a spiritual kind, and how everyone from every level of society could participate and benefit from providing aid to pilgrims. This network is ultimately reflective of concepts such as poverty and charity associated with twelfth-century western Christian spirituality. Indeed, charity was at the heart of pilgrimage infrastructure.

Previous historiography on propaganda has focused on particular themes or time periods; this thesis provides a comprehensive and inclusive analysis drawing on a multidisciplinary approach to encompass the period c.1377-1485. The main conclusion is that propaganda was more prevalent and involved a larger proportion of the polity than previously thought. A conceptual framework based upon certain criteria used in Jacques Ellul’s, Propaganda the Formation of Men’s Attitudes, has been adopted to help define and identify propaganda. One of the dominant themes is the prerequisite of communication to enable the propagandist to reach his audience and the opportunities available to do so. An examination of the various methods available, from official sources to rebel manifestoes, together with the physical communication network required demonstrates that there existed a nationwide environment where this was possible. The literary media used for propaganda include proclamations, poetry, letters, and bills. The political audience was broad in terms of understanding of literary and visual forms of communication and their ability to use the available mechanisms to convey their opinions. Whether it was a disgruntled magnate, merchant or yeoman farmer, there was a method of communication suited to their circumstances. Visual propaganda was particularly important in politically influencing an audience, particularly for a largely illiterate population. This is an area that is often overlooked in terms of political influence until the Tudor period. The use of the human body will be a particular focus along with the more traditional aspects of art, such as heraldry. The thesis considers the relationship between kings’ personality, policy and propaganda. What emerges is that the personality of the monarch was essentially more influential than the use of propaganda. Finally, incorporating the analysis of the previous chapters, the North, is examined as a regional example of the presence and impact of propaganda. The North was a subject of propaganda itself and there was a two-way flow of communication and propaganda between the North and Westminster revealing the political consciousness of the region and its role as an audience. The overall argument of the thesis is that communication within the late medieval polity was essential and extensive. Propaganda was frequently used through a variety of media that could reach the whole polity, whether literate or not and not only in times of crisis.

In the eleventh century the arrival of the Turks from Central Asia resulted in complex socio-economic and political changes in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazīra), Diyār Rūm (Asia Minor) and part of Syria (Diyār Shām). The social, cultural, military and economic life of the Turks intertwined with the native culture and heritage of Greeks, Armenians and Syrians living in those territories. Having as starting point the multifaceted encounters some of the important issues I am addressing in my thesis are the important trade routes that crossed Turkmen-dominated areas in the late middle ages; monetary traffic; mines and mints in operation under the Turkmen rule. As the history of that multicultural environment can best be understood and explained through the coin evidence, a big part of my project will cover numismatic evidence. In this context, my study will focus on the socio-economic and cultural relations and interactions between the Byzantines, old inhabitants, the Turkish newcomers and the western powers in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the light of the coins and investigate some questions: Why did the Turkmens issue the Greek and bilingual (Greek-Arabic) coins and seals? Why did the Turkmens borrow images (particularly Byzantine style imagery) from the cultural heritage of the areas they ruled?

This thesis is a study of the literary representation of St Margaret of Scotland in England and Scotland from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. Drawing both on existing developments made towards the understanding of the historical Margaret - and other medieval queens - and on advances in the wider theoretical field of queenship studies and feminist scholarship, it demonstrates the usefulness of reading the textual representation of Margaret as a reflection of contemporary ideas about queens and queenship in England and Scotland across the five centuries it covers. It identifies two key strands in the literary representation of Margaret - Margaret as dynastic mother and Margaret as ideal queen - and reveals how these were used both individually and together on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. This thesis demonstrates both that Margaret is something of a lightning-rod for ideas of good queenship and Scottish independent sovereignty, and that these ideas exist in symbiosis with her sanctity. This thesis ends with a consideration of how my literary analysis of the textual representation of Margaret might be used as a case-study to further understanding of the literary representations of other medieval queens.

This thesis examines the form and function of the miraculous as it appears in Latin narrative histories of the crusades of 1095-1204. It addresses an important scholarly lacuna by approaching crusading through the lens of the miraculous, a theme of critical importance to many historical representations of the crusades. Three core lines of analysis are pursued: how the miraculous, as the ultimate epistemological tool for the discernment of divine will, was employed by the authors of crusade narratives as a component in their rhetorical strategies; how representations of the miraculous can reflect changing contemporary attitudes towards the crusading movement; and whether the miraculous of crusade texts can mirror parallel changes to the intellectual landscape of western Europe. The importance of supernatural themes to the narrativisation of the crusades is revealed through the exploration of three thematic dichotomies: miracles and marvels; visions and dreams; and signs and augury. It will be shown that the miraculous represents a previously undervalued source for understanding how the crusades were conceptualised, represented, and memorialised in this period. Further, the findings of the thesis exemplify how crusade narratives represent rich and hitherto largely overlooked sources for the study of medieval western European intellectual culture more broadly.

This thesis provides a detailed and interdisciplinary analysis of one of medieval England’s most enduring saints’ cults: that of St Edmund of East Anglia. Focussing largely on the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the surviving material, literary and visual evidence is examined through the twin lenses of matter and narrative, thus offering a novel means of perceiving medieval saintly devotion. Borrowing elements from Alfred Gell’s distributed agency theory, Michel Callon and Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) and notions of ‘object biography’, chapter one develops a bespoke means of modelling the spatial, temporal and material dimensions of cult. Saints’ cults are imagined as expansive and entangled phenomena, focussed around a central ‘relic nexus’. Following this, chapter two employs these ideas to analyse the historical and material growth of Bury St Edmunds as a cult centre. This chapter demonstrates that Edmund’s materiality both played a significant role in determining the form his cult took and positioned him within an elite cadre of incorrupt saints. Switching to the narrative lens, chapter three contrasts early chronicle texts with later hagiography and charter evidence. This chapter shows that, across succeeding generations, Edmund’s legend shifted in line with contemporary historical circumstances to become entwined with the institutional identity of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. Chapter four expands the narrative analysis to consider the consequences of literary and oral dissemination. Tracing the literary transmission of a story implicating Edmund in the death of Swein Forkbeard, this chapter reveals how a series of twelfth-century, historical and political writers adapted this legend for their own purposes. Yet, far from being limited to literature, the chapter further argues that Edmund’s narrative was couched within a fluid oral context. Chapter four concludes by employing the theoretical structures developed in chapter one to model the narrative environment of Edmund’s cult. Chapter five focusses on how Edmund was visualised at his cult centre. A particular example of pictorial storytelling produced at Bury, the miniature sequence in Pierpont Morgan MS M.736, is analysed to reveal that visual representations provided a means of expounding both the material and narrative sensibilities of cult. Chapter six expands the visual and material discussion. A range of media, from large-scale wall art to small-scale archaeological finds, are used to show that Edmund and his narrative could be presenced in personal and idiosyncratic ways through a variety of objects. Chapter seven draws together the interrelated strands from the preceding sections and discusses what we can say about the relationship between matter and narrative in cult. It concludes that combinations of Edmund’s materiality and narrative could be combined, to create the unique truths that fashioned personal and corporate identities. Edmund’s cult, it is suggested, was a multi-faceted and expansive phenomenon which, although based around his shrine at Bury St Edmunds, held meaning well beyond. Following this, some concluding thoughts are offered on how the theoretical framework developed in this thesis might be adapted and applied to similar cult structures.

This thesis examines a corpus of vernacular wisdom literature from early Ireland that is often referred to as tecosca ríg ‘instructions for kings’, or specula principum ‘mirrors for princes’. It reappraises some of the major theories and perceptions relating to this corpus in an effort to bring scholarly understanding up to date. The thesis begins by examining how and why modern scholars have read this corpus as wisdom literature for kings. It then looks at the development of modern theories of early Irish kingship and kingship ideology in relation to changing perceptions of vernacular literature. Special attention is paid to the concept of sacred kingship, with which this corpus been associated. Finally, this thesis examines the evidence of the tecosca against some of the major themes and debates raised in relation to the perception that these texts constitute advice for kings.

Medieval cartularies have been the focus of many studies in the past few decades. Rather than simply repositories for charter texts, cartularies are now regarded by those who study them as carefully curated collections of texts whose contents and arrangement reflect the immediate concerns and archival environment of the communities that created them. One feature of cartularies which has not received attention is the ‘growth’ of their manuscripts beyond the initial phase of creation. This growth refers not only to the addition of fresh gatherings but also to the piecemeal addition of texts into the available spaces, often in a haphazard order and by many scribes working across a number of decades. ‘Manuscript growth’ is not an uncommon feature of cartularies from the central middle ages, particularly from the thirteenth century onwards. As a phenomenon, however, it has not been recognised or studied, for the good reason that it is difficult to discuss haphazard manuscript growth in a systematic way. This thesis offers a new methodology which engages with multi-scribe contributions to ‘active’ cartularies. It takes a holistic approach which integrates the textual and ‘physical’ evidence of cartularies, and embraces all forms of scribal activity. By studying the growth of cartulary manuscripts, we can gain significant insights into the contemporary use and perception of these valuable objects. This thesis therefore takes a fresh look at the ‘genre’ of medieval cartularies through the eyes of the manuscript evidence itself, and what this can reveal about its medieval scribes and readers. Two manuscripts are taken as the basis of this study: the older cartulary of Glasgow Cathedral (AUL SCA MS JB 1/3) and the older cartulary of Lindores Abbey (in private ownership in Caprington Castle). Chapter 1 introduces the field of cartulary studies, with reference to new work in this area (particularly in relation to cartularies in France and England). Central questions in this field are introduced, such as the definition of a cartulary, their creation and function. It also discusses approaches to analysing complex codices and multi-scribe activity within other manuscript genres. In Chapter 2, a new methodology will be introduced for analysing manuscript growth. This involves rethinking our approach to some familiar elements of manuscripts: their codicology, binding history, the scribes, as well as the challenge of dating the various contributions to the cartularies. New concepts and terminology will be introduced (such as ‘relative dating’ and ‘series’) that have been developed in response to these two complex cartularies. By applying this new methodology, the creation and subsequent growth of each manuscript can be examined in detail in Chapter 3 (for Glasgow Cathedral’s cartulary) and Chapter 4 (for Lindores Abbey’s). It is shown that the contemporary experience of these two cartularies was as a collection of simultaneously ‘active’ units (either unbound or in temporary bindings), offering new scribes a choice of where to place their material. Chapter 5 draws together the analysis, and focuses on the initial creation of the cartularies, the nature of their growth by piecemeal additions, and the reasons for this growth. This reveals two communities that took an active approach to reading and extending their cartularies, treating these manuscripts as a shared space. The vexed question of ‘repeated’ texts within cartularies is reconsidered in this light. The analysis allows us to develop a deeper understanding of the cartularies’ function and the role of their scribes as primarily readers, whose interactions with the manuscript were responsive and dynamic. The institutional setting is also discussed. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of this study for our understanding of the function and typology of cartularies, their relationship to archives of single-sheet documents, and as sources for institutional identity, as well as the potential of the methodology to act as a starting point for studying scribal interactions and scribes as readers in other manuscript genres with multi-scribe growth.

The subject of this doctoral study is the satirical figure known as the ‘galaunt’, as depicted in English literature and visual art c.1380–c.1550. It combines close textual analysis with investigation of established youth tropes, contemporaneous material culture, and socio-political concerns. It begins by establishing the breadth of the galaunt corpus and the figure’s significance, before tracing the etymology of galaunt and the cultural antecedents of the late medieval tradition in order to establish its hitherto unidentified Classical origins. The study goes on to explore the fundamental aspects of the galaunt’s semiotic makeup: youth; licentiousness; sartorial extravagance; and problematic masculinity. Despite the cultural significance of the late medieval galaunt, it has received little scholarly attention and the true significance of the figure’s role as Wayward Youth is yet to be established. This doctoral thesis moves away from previous scholarship, which has interpreted the figure as an instance of social-mobility discourse, and instead unravels the tradition’s complex conflation of established youth stereotypes and socio-political concerns to reposition the galaunt as a Vice figure symbolising errant youth. The thesis argues for a reappraisal of the significance of youth to late medieval social discourses, particularly in regard to questions of masculinity and status.

The earldom of Ross was a dominant force in medieval Scotland. This was primarily due to its strategic importance as the northern gateway into the Hebrides to the west, and Caithness and Sutherland to the north. The power derived from the earldom’s strategic situation was enhanced by the status of its earls. From 1215 to 1372 the earldom was ruled by an uninterrupted MacTaggart comital dynasty which was able to capitalise on this longevity to establish itself as an indispensable authority in Scotland north of the Forth. By the fifteenth century the earldom had passed to an equally powerful dynasty, the MacDonald lords of the Isles, and became a part of one of the most powerful regional hegemonies of medieval Scotland. The earldom and the power of its earls are acknowledged by most scholars, yet it remains a relatively under-analysed subject, as scholarship tends to gravitate towards viewing Ross through the MacDonald lordship of the Isles, or through the Scottish kings. This has led to Ross being treated as a secondary subject. Moreover, little has been done to compare the two principal dynasties that ruled the earldom and explore issues of continuity between the two. This thesis will study Ross through the comital dynasties that ruled it and the important local magnates within it, and will provide a Ross-centred platform from which to analyse the political development of the earldom. The thesis will also address issues of continuity, beginning with the origins of the Mac ant t-sagairt earldom and trace its political evolution until the MacDonald claim to Ross was finally extinguished in the early sixteenth century. This thesis will be the first long duree study of this Scottish earldom, and will increase our understanding of Ross and its earls who were so vital to Scotland’s medieval history.

Warfare has long been associated with Scottish Highlanders and Islanders, especially in the period known in Gaelic tradition as ‘Linn nan Creach’ (the ‘Age of Forays’), which followed the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493. The sixteenth century in general is remembered as a particularly tumultuous time within the West Highlands and Isles, characterised by armed conflict on a seemingly unprecedented scale. Relatively little research has been conducted into the nature of warfare however, a gap filled by this thesis through its focus on a series of interconnected themes and in-depth case studies spanning the period c. 1544-1615. It challenges the idea that the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century was a time of endless bloodshed, and explores the rationale behind the distinctive mode of warfare practised in the West Highlands and Isles. The first part of the thesis traces the overall ‘Process of War’. Chapter 1 focuses on the mentality of the social elite in the West Highlands and Isles and demonstrates that warfare was not their raison d'être, but was tied inextricably to chiefs’ prime responsibility of protecting their lands and tenants. Chapter 2 assesses the causation of warfare and reveals that a recurrent catalyst for armed conflict was the assertion of rights to land and inheritance. There were other important causes however, including clan expectation, honour culture, punitive government policies, and the use of proxy warfare by prominent magnates. Chapter 3 takes a fresh approach to the military capacity of the region through analysis of armies and soldiers, and the final thematic chapter tackles the conduct of warfare in the West Highlands and Isles, with analysis of the tactics and strategy of militarised personnel. The second part of this thesis comprises five case studies: the Clanranald, 1544-77; the Colquhouns of Luss and the Lennox, 1592-1603; the MacLeods of Harris and MacDonalds of Sleat, 1594-1601; the Camerons, 1569-1614; and the ‘Islay Rising’, 1614-15. This thesis adopts a unique approach by contextualising the political background of warfare in order to instil a deeper understanding of why early modern Gaelic Scots resorted to bloodshed. Overall, this period was defined by a sharp rise in military activity, followed by an even sharper decline, a trajectory that will be evidenced vividly in the final case study on the ‘Islay Rising’. Although warfare was widespread, it was not unrestrained or continuous, and the traditional image of a region riven by perpetual bloodshed has been greatly exaggerated.

This thesis seeks to understand the impact of the locality on the lordships of the North-Sea world. Historians, previously, have focussed on aristocrats and lordship through a lord’s relationship to a central authority. Medievalists, moreover, have focussed on central Europe when investigating the aristocracy and nobility, the consequence of this is that lordships were fixed in central kingdoms, which have been perpetuated from a twentieth-century idea of nationhood. Also such a perception causes us to describe the period in structuralist terms and negates the possibility of a fluid society in the tenth and eleventh centuries. ‘Lords of the North-Sea World’ will, however, show that society was not ‘feudal’ or rigid, by contrast it was flexible and subject to change. This thesis intends to investigate lordships in a seascape that has been relatively untouched by historians. I use a comparative methodology which has remained an underused medium by medieval historians. I begin by outlining the topic and justifying my approach, which will explore the huge historiographical background of aristocratic studies. Four key themes will be examined; these are territory, solidarities, inheritances and ‘Noble Texts’. All will reveal how important the locality was to the identity, relationships and perception of the aristocracy in medieval society. The thesis, moreover, will suggest that local factors were a key component in the decision making of lords when they had choices. This has been achieved by drawing on narrative and documentary evidence to consider the levels of regional distinctiveness in lordships. The thesis also appeals to the global versus local debates throughout academic disciplines by suggesting that in the early middle ages, global vehicles of power were attempting to blunt the unmistakable authority of localism.

Little research has been devoted to studying the interconnections between the ambiguous border identities along the so-called ‘Celtic fringe’ in the UK. It is important to explore whether, in the new context of the devolved Welsh and Scottish states, people resident in the border areas of Wales and Scotland will increasingly come to identify with the Welsh or Scottish “nation” and with its official “nationality”. Using the sociological approach advocated by Robert K. Yin, this thesis draws on ethnographical research to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary national identity, nationalism, borderlands and football fandom. It examines supporters in three border towns: Oswestry (Shropshire), Hay-on-Wye (Powys), and Berwick-upon-Tweed (Northumberland). Focus groups were conducted with match-going supporters of Welsh league champions The New Saints of Oswestry Town, Scottish League Two side Berwick Rangers and Hay St. Mary’s Football Club, who compete in both the Herefordshire and Mid Wales leagues. Examining football fans’ expressions of identity, this study discusses national sentiment and explores identity – local, regional and national – in the England-Wales and England-Scotland border regions from a theoretical and comparative perspective. A detailed and grounded study of national identity and nationalism amongst fans in the borderlands of Wales and Scotland will appeal to academics and students of sports history and with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, football fandom, debatable borderlands and contemporary national identities.

With the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 and the subsequent establishment of four Frankish states in the Middle East, individuals of European descent came to control and administer areas of the Levant. Frankish regional authority persisted until 1291, when their diminished coastal territories fell to the Mamluks. Yet, despite a Frankish assumption of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, what e↵ect this had on communities in the countryside is still unknown. The purpose of this thesis is to resolve some of this uncertainty, by examining the Frankish impact on rural settlements in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Frankish impact on communities was investigated through an exploration of the medieval landscape and seigneurial obligations, two attributes that affected all rural sites in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, regardless of other settlement characteristics. Investigating physical qualities of the countryside through palaeoenvironmental information, medieval views of landscape, and the connection between natural attributes and settlement sites, suggested that despite a favourable climate, Frankish impact on rural communities was limited and regional. Likewise, exploration of seigneurial obligations imposed on settlements similarly implied that Frankish impact was localised to specific areas; however it also suggested that the Franks maintained a sound understanding of indigenous agricultural customs outside of areas they significantly a↵ected. It showed Frankish disinterest in intervening with local traditions when established conventions benefited landlords. This thesis contributes to the field of Crusader Studies by nuancing the current view of the e↵ect the Franks had on communities in the countryside. Frankish impact in rural environments is presented as localised and restricted, but consciously imposed in the settlements that were a↵ected.