‘No Milkless Cow’: The Cross of Christ in Medieval Irish Literature

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 83-106
Author(s):  
Salvador Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Irish Literature ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Religious Verse ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross

The cross of Christ in the Middle Ages was the most powerful symbol of God’s victory over sin, death and the forces of evil, while also representing the most abject suffering and degradation of Jesus Christ, the God-Man. A simplistic reading of the evolution of the theology of the cross during this period posits a transition from the early medieval victorious and heroic Christ figure, reigning and triumphant upon the cross, to a late medieval emaciated and tortured object of pity whose ignominious death was supposed to elicit heartfelt compassion for his plight and sincere sorrow for the sin which placed him on the beams of the tree of crucifixion. Of course, there is a great deal of value in this argument, and much evidence might be brought forward to support its central thesis. However, it should not be pushed too far; it might also be remembered that the essential paradox of Christ the victor-victim is a constant theme in Christian theology, expressed in the sixth-century Vexilla regis in its identification of the cross as ‘victim of the passion’s glory, by which life brought death to an end, and, by death, gave life again’ and in the hymn Victimae paschali laudes from the central medieval period: ‘Death with life contended, combat strangely ended, life’s own champion slain yet lives to reign’. The image of the victorious cross of Christ, conceived of as simultaneously an instrument of triumph and of torture, would persist right through the late medieval period, despite the development of a greater emphasis on the physical sufferings of Christ in his passion and their ever more graphic depictions. This essay, which examines the way in which the cross of Christ is presented in medieval Irish literature, provides sufficient examples to make this point clear; these are drawn from a variety of sources including religious verse, saints’ lives, medieval travel accounts and sermon material. Of course, these examples are best viewed within the context of a broader medieval European devotional culture from which Ireland was certainly not immune.

Moltmann's Eschatology of the Cross

1977 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-311
Author(s):  
Richard Bauckham
Keyword(s):  
Hard Core ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Theology Of The Cross ◽  
Major Work ◽  
Fresh Start ◽  
The Future ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Th 16

In Theology of Hope Jürgen Moltmann made the now wellknown claim that, ‘From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology… The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set’ (TH 16). In his second major work, The Crucified God, he claims that ‘Theologia crucis is not a single chapter in theology, but the key signature for all Christian theology’ (CG 72). Superficially, therefore, it might seem that The Crucified God is a fresh start in Moltmann's theology, substituting the cross for eschatology as the unifying theme in theology. In reality this is not the case. Moltmann's theology in The Crucified God remains eschatologically structured, while already in Theology of Hope he claimed that Christian theology must be an eschatologia crucis (TH 160, cf. HP 147f., CG 5) founded on the resurrection of the crucified Christ. ‘Theology of hope is at its hard core theology of the cross’ (EH 57). Conversely, the theology of the cross is the ‘reverse side’ of the theology of hope, giving it ‘a more profound dimension’ (CG 5). For the form of the future of Christ in this world is the cross of Christ and the sufferings of Christians: only this emphasis can save Christian hope from escapism or naive utopianism (cf. M 44, EH 57f 72). The two works therefore display an essentially continuous theological development.

scholarly journals Reigning as partners? Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor Plantagenet

De Medio Aevo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 5-16
Author(s):  
José Manuel Cerda Costabal
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Power And Authority

The marriage of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Leonor Plantagenet was not only the first political alliance between a Spanish kingdom and England in the Middle Ages, but it is also a very interesting case of study for the collaborative and corporate nature of twelfth-century royal rulership in Europe. Queen Leonor was described in the sources as a very capable and virtuous ruler and the study of her reign as consort reveals that she exercised queenship as an active political companion and partner in rule to her husband, thus contributing significantly to one of medieval Spain’s most successful reigns and perhaps setting a model for queens in the late medieval period.  Una cum uxore sua, the king did not simply exercise his power and authority in the passive company of Leonor, but with her consort reigned over the kingdom as one body, thus making the most of her family prestige and networks, and fully availing her capacity and virtues for Castile’s political, dynastic and cultural prospects. 

Writing the History of Merovingian Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 51-76
Author(s):  
Agnès Graceffa
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Political Realities

The Merovingian period has long been contested ground on which a variety of ideologies and approaches have been marshaled to debate the significance of the “end” of antiquity and the start of the Middle Ages. Particularly important to these discussions has been the role of this period in shaping national identity across western Europe; interpretations of the Merovingians have varied as political realities have changed in Europe, going back, in some cases, as far as the late medieval period. This chapter focuses mainly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but offers examples as early as the seventeenth century as to how the Merovingian period has been harnessed for a large number of purposes and how these sometimes polemical interpretations have encouraged or stymied our understanding of this period.

Benedictines After 1100

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Heale
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Monastic Life ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
Mendicant Orders ◽  
Architecture And Music

Although many of the greatest monasteries in Europe during the High Middle Ages and late medieval period were Benedictine, historians have often presented the black monks as in crisis or decline for much of the post-1100 period. New Benedictine foundations were relatively rare after this date, and much lay patronage was redirected to new expressions of the monastic life, such as the Cistercians or regular canons. The rhetoric of new monastic orders, which presented themselves as “reformed” versions of or necessary departures from traditional Benedictine monasticism, has also influenced historians’ interpretations of the black monks. Thus general surveys of medieval monasticism, such as Lawrence 2001 and Melville 2016 (both cited under General Europe-Wide Surveys), focus almost entirely on new monastic and mendicant orders after c. 1100. But as much recent historiography has shown, the Benedictines remained highly influential throughout the entire medieval period. In many parts of Europe, they retained the support of kings and aristocratic patrons into the 16th century. Collectively, they possessed very substantial estates and urban properties. They served the social and spiritual needs of their lay neighbors through (for example) their hospitality, almsgiving, and pilgrimage sites. And although no longer preeminent in intellectual and artistic life, they remained committed to intellectual studies and continued to be major patrons of art, architecture, and music. The later Middle Ages also saw projects for Benedictine renewal, particularly in the form of reformed congregations in continental Europe. This bibliography contains work on all these areas of research. It does not include the Cluniac branch of the black monks or Benedictine nuns, which are covered in separate Oxford Bibliographies articles.

Verwoest ende verdestrueerd

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43
Author(s):  
DANTE DE RUIJSSCHE
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Multidisciplinary Study ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Disappeared

Destroyed and destructed. A multidisciplinary study of the disappeared village of Coxyde In the high Middle Ages the village of Coxyde developed and joined the economic success of the Zwin trade during the late medieval period. Due to a combination of factors it shrank during the 15th and 16th centuries and is abandoned with the inundations during the Eighty Years’ War. A multidisciplinary study enabled to trace the location of the village and reveal the main phases of its development.

Arbitration and the Law in England in the Late Middle Ages (The Alexander Prize Essay)

1983 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Powell
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Prize Essay

The central problem facing the student of public order in England in the late middle ages is to reconcile two conflicting lines of research. On one hand the institutional historians, through their studies of the central courts at Westminister, the provincial circuits of assize and gaol delivery and the justices of the peace and coroners in the counties, have proved beyond doubt the sophistication of the late-medieval legal system. On the other hand the historians of crime have shown equally clearly that the courts were often incapable of keeping the peace or of doing justice. Indeed the late-medieval period has long been notorious as one of widespread uncontained disorder. Reviewing the secondary literature on the subject Professor Bellamy concluded: ‘Not one investigator has been able to indicate even a few years of effective policing in the period 1290–1485.’

scholarly journals The origins and evolution of Cypriot glazed ware productions during the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries CE

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Ting ◽  
Thilo Rehren ◽  
Athanasios Vionis ◽  
Vasiliki Kassianidou
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Thin Section Petrography ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Full Consideration

AbstractThis paper challenges the conventional characterisation of glazed ware productions in the eastern Mediterranean, especially the ones which did not feature the use of opaque or tin-glazed technology, as technologically stagnant and unsusceptible to broader socio-economic developments from the late medieval period onwards. Focusing on the Cypriot example, we devise a new approach that combines scientific analyses (thin-section petrography and SEM-EDS) and a full consideration of the chaîne opératoire in context to highlight the changes in technology and craft organisation of glazed ware productions concentrating in the Paphos, Famagusta and Lapithos region during the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries CE. Our results indicate that the Paphos production was short-lived, lasting from the establishment of Frankish rule in Cyprus in the thirteenth century to the aftermath of the fall of the Crusader campaigns in the fourteenth century. However, glazed ware production continued in Famagusta and Lapithos from the late thirteenth/fourteenth centuries through to the seventeenth century, using technical practices that were evidently different from the Paphos production. It is possible that these productions were set up to serve the new, local demands deriving from an intensification of commercial activities on the island. Further changes occurred to the technical practices of the Famagusta and Lapithos productions around the 16th/17th centuries, coinciding with the displacement of populations and socio-political organisation brought by the Ottoman rule.

ՆՈՐԱՀԱՅՏ ՈԻՇՄԻՋՆԱԴԱՐՅԱՆ ԵԿԵՂԵՑԻ ԹԵՂՈՒՏՈՒՄ (2010 թ. պեղումների արդյունքները)

2021 ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
Astghik Babajanyan
Keyword(s):  
Medieval Period ◽  
Metal Artifacts ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Evil Eye ◽  
Grave Markers

THE NEWFOUND CHAPEL OF THE LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD IN TEGHUT (The Results of the Excavations in 2010) In 2010 in the results of the excavations carried out at the site of "Lands of Gharakotuk" in Teghut a cemetery chapel with almost a square floorplan (8.7x7.7 m2) was uncovered. The chapel has a rectangular apse highlighted from both inside and outside which is not common in Armenian architecture. The architectural plan of the chapel was distorted in the result of multiple and often incorrect reconstructions. The excavations revealed a variety of tombstones of the 14th17th centuries, including two grave markers with Georgian inscriptions (deciphering and commentaries by Temo Jojua), two complete and two dozen fragmentary khachkars (two of them dated 1513 and 1604), ceramic and metal artifacts. Based on the analysis of the found materials and the architectural structure, the chapel dates to the 16th-17th centuries. According to the environment ‒ sacred trees (Celtis caucasica) growing around the chapel and the cemetery, as well as a collection of specially hidden metal objects (human figurines, animal shoes, lock etc.) which had protective significance from the evil eye or various diseases, the chapel served also as a place for pilgrimage.

scholarly journals Jesuit Sanctity: Hypothesizing the Continuity of a Hagiographic Narrative of the Modern Age

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Franco Motta ◽  
Eleonora Rai
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
History Of

Abstract The introduction to this special issue provides some considerations on early modern sanctity as a historical object. It firstly presents the major shifts in the developing idea of sanctity between the late medieval period and the nineteenth century, passing through the early modern construction of sanctity and its cultural, social, and political implications. Secondly, it provides an overview of the main sources that allow historians to retrace early modern sanctity, especially canonization records and hagiographies. Thirdly, it offers an overview of the ingenious role of the Society of Jesus in the construction of early modern sanctity, by highlighting its ability to employ, create, and play with hagiographical models. The main Jesuit models of sanctity are then presented (i.e., the theologian, the missionary, the martyr, the living saint), and an important reflection is reserved for the specific martyrial character of Jesuit sanctity. The introduction assesses the continuity of the Jesuit hagiographical discourse throughout the long history of the order, from the origins to the suppression and restoration.

scholarly journals Paradoks Salib: Keindahan Wajah Kemuliaan Allah

MELINTAS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Joko Umbara
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Tree Of Life ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
God's Love ◽  
Cross Of Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Tragic Drama

An experience of the cross of Jesus Christ in Christian theology brings the sense of paradox. Christ’s death on the cross reflects the fate of humanity within the context of Christian faith. The cross is also seen as a mystery that tells the tragic story of humans who accept their punishment. However, the cross of Jesus Christ also reveals meanings that challenge Christians to find answers in their contemplation of the cross. The cross becomes a stage for human tragic drama, which might also reveal the beauty of death and life. It is the phatos of humanity, for every human being will die, but it is also seen as the tree of life hoped for by every faithful. On the cross is visible God’s self-giving through the love shown by the crucified Christ. God speaks God’s love not only through words, that is, in the teachings of Jesus Christ, but also through Christ’s loving gesture on the cross. The cross of Christ is the culmination of God’s glory and through it, God’s glory is shown in the beauty of divine love.

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