XXIII.—The Young Man Betrothed to a Statue

PMLA ◽  
1919 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paull Franklin Baum
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Miracles Of The Virgin ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
William Of Malmesbury

One of the many interesting stories current in the Middle Ages is that of a young man who puts his marriage ring on the finger of a statue of Venus and is surprised to find that the image, taking the matter au sérieux, jealously forbids him the embraces of his earthly bride. Its relation to a large group of miracles of the Virgin has been frequently noticed (for example, by Mussafia and by Ward and Herbert ); it has received some attention from students of Mérimée as the source of his Vénus d'Ille; and Massmann, in his edition of the Kaiserchronik (1849-1854) collected a large number of variants (together with an almost equal number of faulty references). But Graf is the only scholar who has studied it in any detail, and his treatment is far from complete. I propose here to bring together the scattered materials of previous students, both of the story of the ring-betrothal to the Venus statue and of the Virgin miracle. I shall add no new versions of either story, but I shall discuss the former from a point of view radically different from Graf's, and shall endeavour to follow the tale from its obscure beginnings before William of Malmesbury, through its adaptation as a miracle of the Virgin, down to some of its present literary forms.

scholarly journals English texts with parable elements, dating from the XIII-XIV centuries: synergetic approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Pilgui
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Poetic Form ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
First Results ◽  
Individual Style ◽  
The Middle Ages

The scientific article presents the first results of the study of the English parable in the diachronic aspect from the synergetic point of view. The research started from the Middle Ages, illustrated and analyzed the first English texts with parable elements, dating from the XIII-XIV centuries. The scientific work is based on historical events, specific writers and their individual style; the development of a parable as an independent type of text and discourse took place under the influence the mentioned above. It is determined that during this period it is difficult to distinguish the English parable in a separate genre of literature of that time, but the authentic English parable confidently functioned as metatext in the great texts of the Middle Ages. Several parable contexts were observed in one text. The article outlines the results of the study and gives examples of texts of a certain era. The general stylistic and synergetic characteristics of the investigated texts are singled out and their classification according to thematic groups is presented: condemnation of negative human traits, relations of God and mankind, interpretation of spiritual truth and moral values. From the synergetic point of view, thematic groups are thematic attractors that contribute to the development and existence with its functional meta-texts with parable elements. The study of English parable texts allowed us to identify of a number of stylistic devices and stylistic features. It is noted that stylistic attractors of the Middle Ages parables are as follows: prose and poetic form, rhetorical and logical-expressive style. The results of scientific work determine the broad perspectives of further research, in particular the study of the English parable in diachrony from the synergetic point of view, as well as the analysis and comparison of the texts of the following centuries with the systematization of their general and specific features

The Periodic System

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Scerri
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Platonic Solid ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Platonic Solids ◽  
System P ◽  
Chemical Inertness ◽  
Dimensional Shape ◽  
The Many

In ancient Greek times, philosophers recognized just four elements—earth, water, air, and fire—all of which survive in the astrological classification of the 12 signs of the zodiac. At least some of these philosophers believed that these different elements consisted of microscopic components with differing shapes and that this explained the various properties of the elements. These shapes or structures were believed to be in the form of Platonic solids (figure 1.1) made up entirely of the same two-dimensional shape. The Greeks believed that earth consisted of microscopic cubic particles, which explained why it was difficult to move earth. Meanwhile, the liquidity of water was explained by an appeal to the smoother shape possessed by the icosahedron, while fire was said to be painful to the touch because it consisted of the sharp particles in the form of tetrahedra. Air was thought to consist of octahedra since that was the only remaining Platonic solid. A little later, a fifth Platonic solid, the dodecahedron, was discovered, and this led to the proposal that there might be a fifth element or “quintessence,” which also became known as ether. Although the notion that elements are made up of Platonic solids is regarded as incorrect from a modern point of view, it is the origin of the very fruitful notion that macroscopic properties of substances are governed by the structures of the microscopic components of which they are comprised. These “elements” survived well into the Middle Ages and beyond, augmented with a few others discovered by the alchemists, the precursors of modern-day chemists. One of the many goals of the alchemists seems to have been the transmutation of elements. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the particular transmutation that most enticed them was the attempt to change the base metal lead into the noble metal gold, whose unusual color, rarity, and chemical inertness have made it one of the most treasured substances since the dawn of civilization.

The Coronation in Medieval England: The Evolution of the Office and the Oath

Traditio ◽  
1960 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 111-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

An explanatory foreword seems to be demanded by the studies in the English coronation ceremony here presented. I am conscious that on a number of points, views are now put forward incompatible with those I have expressed on other occasions since first I began to write on the subject. Further scrutiny of the evidence and the redating of some of the more important documents have, however, led me inevitably to conclusions at variance not only with those of other scholars, but with some that seemed plausible to me at the time of writing. What is principally in question is the history of the English coronation before 1308; but I have revised and elaborated the story of the evolution of the Fourth Recension of the English coronation office as it was presented by Professor Sayles and myself a good many years ago. It would be presumptuous on my part to pretend that I have given final answers to the many questions the tangled history of the English coronation provokes. I have changed my own mind too often to permit me to imagine that there may not be answers to those questions more satisfying than mine. But what I have written will, I trust, advance the study of obscure and complicated problems which have an important bearing upon the history of kingship in the Middle Ages and therefore upon medieval polity.

The Languages of Diaspora and Return

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 1-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Spolsky
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
South Asians ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

Abstract Until quite recently, the term Diaspora (usually with the capital) meant the dispersion of the Jews in many parts of the world. Now, it is recognized that many other groups have built communities distant from their homeland, such as Overseas Chinese, South Asians, Romani, Armenians, Syrian and Palestinian Arabs. To explore the effect of exile on language repertoires, the article traces the sociolinguistic development of the many Jewish Diasporas, starting with the community exiled to Babylon, and following through exiles in Muslim and Christian countries in the Middle Ages and later. It presents the changes that occurred linguistically after Jews were granted full citizenship. It then goes into details about the phenomenon and problem of the Jewish return to the homeland, the revitalization and revernacularization of the Hebrew that had been a sacred and literary language, and the rediasporization that accounts for the cases of maintenance of Diaspora varieties.

The Mediæval Setting of Chaucer's Monk's Tale

PMLA ◽  
1931 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-213
Author(s):  
R. W. Babcock
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
General Type ◽  
Canterbury Tales ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

The purpose of this paper is not to establish definite sources for Chaucer's Monk's Tale but to consider it as a representative of a general mediæval type. Professor Lounsbury declared that the Monk's Tale belonged to a “species of composition to which the men of Chaucer's age were exceedingly addicted.” In the Canterbury Tales, he continues, “the Monk's tale is introduced as a specimen of these collections of stories, and largely and perhaps entirely for the sake of satirizing, or at least of censuring, the taste that created and enjoyed them.” “In the Middle Ages,” writes Mr. J. E. Wells, “it was not at all uncommon to make collections of a single general type.…. These collections were.… of an encyclopædic character.” So Mr. E. Greenlaw: “It [the Monk's Tale] is.… an example of the many collections of tales having a didactic purpose which were characteristic of mediævalism.”

The "Disgusting" Spider: The Role of Disease and Illness in the Perpetuation of Fear of Spiders

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham C. L. Davey
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Response ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Spider Phobia ◽  
Disease Avoidance ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

AbstractRecent studies of spider phobia have indicated thatfearof spiders is closely associated with the disease-avoidance response of disgust. It is argued that the disgust-relevant status of the spider resulted from its association with disease and illness in European cultures from the tenth century onward. The development of the association between spiders and illness appears to be linked to the many devastating and inexplicable epidemics that struck Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, when the spider was a suitable displaced target for the anxieties caused by these epidemics. Such factors suggest that the pervasive fear of spiders that is commonly found in many Western societies may have cultural rather than biological origins, and may be restricted to Europeans and their descendants.

scholarly journals Russia. Muslim Christian dialogue. Stages of development

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-214
Author(s):  
R. A. Silantiev ◽  
A. R. Krganov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Stages Of Development ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Future ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Middle Ages

Russia has always been a country with large Islamic population. From the Middle Ages the dialogue between Christians and Muslims has always been an integral part of the Russian culture. The article highlights the stages of the Christian-Muslim dialogue in Russia. From the point of view of its authors, this dialogue became fully developed by the middle of 19th century. In its subsequent development it has already passed the three main stages, which are labelled as the “tsarist”, the “Soviet” and the “early post-Soviet”. According to the authors the present situation can be described as the “late post-Soviet” stage. The article comprises a description and definition of this stage as well as a prognosis of its development in the future.

scholarly journals Studying the History of the Slavic Stishnoy Prologue: New Opportunities and Prospects

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Shcheglova
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Textual Criticism ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Important Stage ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Middle Ages

In this review, the author analyses the Tarnovo Edition of the Stishnoy Prologue. Texts: Lexical Index (published by Bulgarian researchers Georgi Petkov and Maria Spasova) and focuses on the structure of the publication, providing a detailed description of the parts of each volume: prologue texts, prologue poems, the lexical index, and the index of saints’ names. The review evaluates the work from the point of view of its academic contribution. The reviewer largely agrees with the authors’ point of view on the history and the study of the Stishnoy Prologue set forth in the preface to the publication. While objecting to some points, the reviewer evaluates the work highly, considering it an important stage in the process of studying the history of the Stishnoy Prologue, one of the most widespread hagiographic calendar collections of the Middle Ages. The publication of the texts of the Stishnoy Prologue, even those in just the Tarnovo edition, can be a powerful catalyst for further textual criticism and linguistic studies of the numerous Russian, Serbian, and Bulgarian copies that have survived to the present day. Ultimately, the reviewed publication can become the basis for a full-scale critical edition of the Stishnoy Prologue. The review emphasises the timeless significance of this publication for Slavic studies, its innovative character, its structural integrity, its theoretical sophistication, and the enormous practical importance of the work for Bulgarian philologists.

scholarly journals The Monobloc Chair: Democratising the Practice of Sitting

Res Mobilis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Carsten Kullmann
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article examines the cultural history of chairs to understand the many meanings the Monobloc can acquire. The history of chairs is traced from post nomadic culture through the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment period and the French Revolution. Subsequently, I will examine the Monobloc from a Cultural Studies perspective and demonstrate how its unique characteristics allow multiple meanings, which are always dependent on context and discourse. Thus, the Monobloc becomes an utterly democratic symbol of popular culture that can be appropriated for any use.

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