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In the Middle Ages, writing was not confined to manuscripts, but inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. This volume presents the first comparative overview of text-bearing artefacts in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian and Iberian literature and offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture.

Das Dissertationsprojekt fragt nach divergenten Konzeptionen von Riesen in mittelalterlichen Texttraditionen. Der Fokus liegt auf mittelhochdeutschen und lateinischen Texten mit gelegentlichen Ausflügen in die Skandinavistik und Anglistik. Der methodische Zugriff besteht aus einer Verquickung von historischer Diskursanalyse und historischer Anthropologie. Das Nebeneinander der Wissensordnungen und diskursiven Formationen wird im Zeitraum von ca. 800 n. Chr. bis etwa 1600 n. Chr. anhand von signifikanten Textausschnitten, bildlichen Darstellungen und materiellen Zeugnissen untersucht. Die Reflexion der Riesenkonzepte gliedert sich thematisch nach der biblischen, enzyklopädischen und legendarischen Tradition, der Antikenrezeption und der Heldenepik, sowie genealogischen Aspekten und der Frage nach der Wahrheit von Riesen im Mittelalter. Im Gegensatz zu früheren vereinheitlichenden oder rein motivgeschichtlichen Forschungsansätzen in der mediävistischen Germanistik rekonstruiert die Studie anhand einer differenzierten Analyse ein Mosaik unterschiedlicher Wahrnehmungen und Vorstellungen von Riesen im Mittelalter. ; Many disciplines have produced major studies about giants in medieval literature. However, Medieval German Literature Studies are lacking sufficient coverage. Therefore, the dissertation aims to fill this void with a conclusive study focusing on German medieval literature, with the occasional reference to Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Studies. The project denies that there is a simple concept of giants in medieval literature and examines the coexistence of discursive formations from 800-1600 A.D. Methodologically, historical discourse analysis and historical anthropology are employed to answer questions such as whether giants were considered real in the Middle Ages, why heroes and giants are blending together semantically, and whether giant size could only be viewed as negative. The study emphasizes the versatile knowledge accessible about giants via biblical, encyclopedic, and hagiographic traditions, and occasionally pictures as well as material objects such as bones. Middle High German heroic epics, the reception of Greek mythology in the Middle Ages, and giants as instruments of political power are also core aspects of the thesis. The diverse nature of the subject requires a multidisciplinary approach and invites a more reflected view on giants when encountered in medieval texts, especially in Middle High German literature.

This dissertation examines motion as a literary trope in several late medieval English texts. The types of movement examined here fall into three categories: physical motion recurring in narrative, mobility of textual form that produces the phenomenon of motion in the reader or listener, and the variety of movements external to the narrative but related to the text. Each chapter is organized around an individual author or genre, and Chapter One explores two of Geoffrey Chaucer's early dream vision poems: The House of Fame and The Parliament of the Fowls . Attention to Chaucer's engagement with motion as a concept of natural philosophy and as a desirable state of being reveals connections between his writing and the physics of William of Ockham, and suggests the centrality of fragmentary and complex movement to Chaucer's own poetics. Chapter Two turns to William Langland's Piers Plowman , analyzing its mobile, convoluted, and jarring form, the compulsive nature of its narrative motion, and the poem's involvement in extra-narrative movements--including those that were subversive and revolutionary. Chapter Three examines movement as it appears in several fourteenth-century metrical romances, primarily surrounding the tropes of the quest and the forest. Finally, Chapter Four analyzes movement in Sir Thomas Malory's fifteenth-century Morte Darthur with a focus on simple narrations of travel, the aesthetics of the motion of battle and journeying, the way this text looks back to earlier romances in relation to this subject, and how it uses motion outside of the primary narrative frame to expand the vision of a randomized, always-moving Arthurian world. The organizing contention running through these chapters is that each text studied here employs motion as a central preoccupation, that the complexity and importance given to the trope in these works relates to the philosophical and scientific context of fourteenth-century England, and that these representations and embodiments of motion tend to have similar features: complexity, fragmentation, randomization, and a form that produces the phenomena of acceleration and jarring transitions. Finally, movement is presented as an impulse: a primary state of existence independent of any defined direction or destination.

The article presents Eiríksdrápa, a poem dedicated to Erik the Good, king of Denmark (1095–1103), written by Markús Skeggjason, an Icelandic poet. The poem graced the visit of Jón Ǫgmundarson in Lund w 1105, where the local archbishop Gizurr ordained him Bishop of Hólar. The poem glorifies King Erik's achievements that indicate the Christian character of his rule, which was additionally confirmed by obtaining consent to create a new Archdiocese in Lund and by the king's pilgrimages to Rome and the Holy Land. The Christian dimension of Erik's rule is also reflected in the motif of his military actions against the pagan Slavs; it occupies a prominent place in Markús's poem and is analysed in the present article. The motif depicts the Slavs as traitors (svikmenn) and pagans (heiðnar), who were a threat to the peace in the kingdom. Erik's lack of mercy to them proved his just and pious rule in Denmark. The motif in question turned out to be very useful in the process of building up an image of a Christian ruler; on the other hand, it shows the artistic skills of Markús, based on the oeuvre of other poets who also described the pagan Slavs.

"Erotic medievalisms expose modern apparatuses of oppression, reclaim histories for marginalized people, and promote more inclusive representations in popular culture. Modern representations of the Middle Ages-including Santiago García and David Rubín's graphic novel, Beowulf; Lil Nas X's music video for "Montero (Call Me By Your Name);" Patience Agbabi's retelling of Chaucer's The Miller's Tale, entitled "The Kiss;" and some BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism) practices-challenge pervasive power structures that privilege heterosexual male dominance commonly associated with medieval origins in popular culture. This comparative study between medieval and modern texts foregrounds the sexual gratification of people who are typically excluded from representations of the Middle Ages, specifically women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Erotic displays of marginalized people in medieval contexts disrupt prevalent forms of oppression rooted in institutions that censor human experiences and they direct sexual desires towards social justice"--

This book describes Socrates as he was depicted in medieval Arabic literature. The body of anecdotes, sayings and evaluations of Socrates existent in Arabic literature leads one to search for an explanation for the popularity of this ancient, Greek, pagan philosopher. The author argues that Socrates played a role of legitimizing authority in the religious controversies between Christians and Muslims on the one hand and between the more rationalistic minded Muslims and the more traditionalistic ones on the other hand. Thus, three approaches are encountered: those belonging to the non-fundamentalistic stream in Islam refer to Socrates as a prophet, historians such as ibn Fātik or ibn Abī Usaib'ah, who relate to Socrates as an exemplary personality with tacit Islamic qualities. The third approach is that of orthodox writers such as al-Ghazālī who attack Socrates as a non-believer