18 research outputs found
Engaging the manuscript: new editions and reading the 'whole book' in Chetham's Library MS 8009
Get PDFThis thesis considers the intersection of the manuscript and its literature through an examination of the late fifteenth century manuscript, Chetham’s Library 8009 (Mun. A.6.31) and provides four diplomatic editions. This manuscript contains fourteen texts in Middle English including romance, hagiography, courtesy literature, and a comic text. This thesis argues for the importance of reading medieval literature in its manuscript context. Although there is a growing trend to consider the ‘whole book’ and integrate analysis of the material artefact with interpretation, much work remains to be done.
In Part I, this thesis presents a new paradigm for reading medieval literature, and argues that the manuscript forms a very literal community of texts, and that each text acts as a co-creator of meaning with the others. It then demonstrates four brief contextual readings that may be made within Chetham 8009 across generic boundaries, and that produce a shift in interpretive focus .
Part II provides four diplomatic editions from Chetham 8009: the Life of St Katherine, the Liber Catonis, John Russell’s Book of Carving and Nurture, and the Book of the Duke and Emperor.
This thesis aims to contribute to the study of medieval literature by arguing for a methodological shift in the way the literature is approached and by providing access to four texts either previously unedited or not easily accessible
Soul Recreation: Spiritual Marriage and Ravishment in the Contemplative-Mystical Piety of Isaac Ambrose
Get PDFABSTRACT
Tom Schwanda
Soul Recreation: Spiritual Marriage and Ravishment in the Contemplative-Mystical Piety of Isaac Ambrose
This thesis examines the theology and piety of Isaac Ambrose (1604-1664), a moderate Lancashire Puritan minister. More specifically it raises the question about the nature of his spiritual practices and whether they reflect what Bernard McGinn calls the “mystical element” of Christianity? This research is distinctive since Ambrose has never been the primary focus of research. There are six chapters to this thesis.
Chapter 1 examines the definition of three key terms: “mysticism”, “Puritanism”, and “Puritan mysticism” and then substitutes “contemplative-mystical piety” for McGinn’s mystical element since this language is more familiar to the Reformed community. A review of the literature reveals the prevalence of contemplative-mystical piety within mainstream Puritanism. Chapter 2 explores the biblical and theological foundations of union with Christ, which the Puritans often called spiritual marriage. Contrary to common perception, the Puritans encouraged intimacy and sexual enjoyment in their godly marriage that they often perceived as a reciprocal relationship with their spiritual marriage. The third chapter creates a contemplative biography of Ambrose through his diary entries and examines his relationship with God and his neighbor through his annual retreats, the struggles of his soul, serving as a physician of the soul, times of public fasting and worship, and the significance of specific places or environment to his piety. Chapter 4 narrows the focus to Ambrose’s teaching on meditation and contemplation. The influence of Bernard of Clairvaux is clearly evident as Ambrose contemplatively looks at Jesus throughout all the manifestations of Jesus’ life. The fifth chapter considers Ambrose’s use of ravishment and examines the nature, dynamics and benefits of this ambiguous term of delight and enjoyment. The final chapter moves from the seventeenth-century to the present and inquires whether Ambrose’s contemplative-mystical piety can guide contemporary Reformed Christians. That requires an examination into the resistance of Karl Barth as well as the more receptive possibility of retrieval through Herman Bavinck. This work concludes with seven principles from Ambrose to encourage those who are members of the Reformed tradition
Aspects of the history of the Catholic gentry of Yorkshire from the Pilgrimage of Grace to the First Civil War
No full textThis study looks at the responses of the Yorkshire Catholic gentry to the immense
changes to their religious landscape in the early modem period, between 1536 and
1642. It examines how they continued to adhere to the Catholic religion, despite all
attempts first to induce and then compel conformity and highlights the ways in which
they managed to survive and prosper throughout the period, demonstrating that
previously neglected groups such as women and younger sons had a crucial role to
play in this process. The overwhelming theme to their actions was one of pragmatism,
rather than the heroic and self-destructive behaviour that was much admired by earlier
historians who wanted to identify martyrs to the Catholic cause.
The areas that are to be examined reflect both public and private gentry activities. In
the public sphere the Yorkshire gentry's part in the rebellions of the Tudor and Stuart
eras are studied along with their rejection of plots. The importance of marriage as an
early modem tool for building alliances and social advancement is acknowledged and
the impact that a continuing adherence to Catholicism had on this is considered. The
gentry and the church are examined through a study of the Catholic gentry's
involvement with their local parishes, their reaction to the dissolution and their
continuing adherence to monasticism, as shown through their devotion to English
orders on the continent. To reflect the changes that were occurring in this period
Catholic involvement in education, the law and medicine are also explored showing
that the Catholic community was not isolated from the wider society. Lastly the role
of Catholic women is given specific consideration in order both to redress the
imbalance in previous studies and due to the crucial role that women played in the
continuation of the Catholic community within Yorkshire
The European Trade in Stained Glass, with Special Reference to the Trade between the Rhineland and the United Kingdom 1794-1835
Get PDFThe study is set against a period of cultural and political change in Continental Europe and the United Kingdom at the beginning of the nineteenth century. As a result of the Concordat between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII signed on the 15 July 1801, the Pope agreed that he and his successors would take no action against the buyers of church property. In this way the secularising of church property, firstly in France and later in other countries, was legalised. The wholesale redistribution began during the Peace of Amiens in 1802, one of the “Goods” on offer being stained glass. The United Kingdom was the primary beneficiary of this redistribution with its emerging interest in historical objects, firstly antiquarian, then commercial and later intellectual.
Because of the extent of the trade in stained glass in this period the study concentrates on the trade between the Rhineland and the United Kingdom, with the focus being between 1815-1835, when a new constellation of buyers, sellers and installers of Rhenish stained glass appeared. The function of the appendices is twofold: firstly to remove detailed but relevant data from the main text so as not to obscure the main argument and secondly to provide the reader with data not strictly within the parameters of the thesis.
The analysis of the available and newly discovered data takes three approaches to acquisition and installation and is presented in three case studies. Firstly the activities of the Regency Contractor architects, highlighting Sir Jeffry Wyatville and William Wilkins who were responsible for the most significant Rhenish stained glass installations in this period. The second analyses Edward Spenser Curling (1771-1850) whose newly discovered diary (by the author) of his activities between 1827-36, sheds new light on the detailed mechanics of the stained glass trade of this period and the networks existing in Cologne and the United Kingdom. The discovery of this diary proves that Curling acquired all the Altenberg and St Apern stained glass panels presently in the United Kingdom. The third study analyses a number of facets that influenced the trade in the United Kingdom, particularly the activities of the stained glass painters Betton and Evans
Botanising in Linnaean Britain : a study of Upper Teesdale in northern England.
Get PDFSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN017259 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo
Shakespeare in purgatory : a study of the Catholicising movement in Shakespeare biography
Get PDFThe twentieth and the twenty-first centuries have Catholicised Shakespeare. At the
heart of this movement lie the so-called Lancastrian theories: that Shakespeare spent
some time during his `lost years' in Lancashire and that he is to be identified with
`Will[i]am Shakeshafte' in the will of the Catholic magnate, Alexander Hoghton of
Lea. Although the proponents of the theories - aptly called `Lancastrians' - agree in
terms of the identification of `Shakeshafte' with Shakespeare, their arguments vary
and sometimes even contradict each other. We have, therefore, Lancastrian theories
(plural). They are attempts to investigate the whereabouts of Shakespeare during the
`lost years' and to find out the means by which he entered the London theatre.
The Lancastrian theories can be seen in part as a counter-movement against
recent Shakespeare scholarship that has been preoccupied with theory. Paradoxically,
another stimulus for the revival of biographical studies is literary critics' interest in
early modem history, which materialist criticism, especially new historicism, has
brought in since the 1980s. Religion has become a major issue in Shakespeare studies.
The modem historiography of the English Reformation, especially `revisionism',
which emphasises the continuation of medieval Catholicism after the Reformation,
has provided significant energy for the development of the Lancastrian theories.
Furthermore, the Lancastrians have their own agenda - personal ambitions and
motivations, some of which are not altogether scholarly.
However, these theories are for the most part based on a chain of speculations,
and tend to state them as fact. The biographers, whether Lancastrians or not, who
believe Shakespeare and his family to have been Catholics are unfamiliar with the
religious condition in Elizabethan England, including anti-Catholic acts and the
penalties imposed on recusants. Their arguments also neglect other Elizabethan
customs. These biographers' lack of profound knowledge of socio-political and
religious history of Elizabethan England has produced inaccurate dramatisation of
Shakespeare's life. One other disabling tendency among these biographers is to
neglect negative evidence and disregard alternative interpretations. Their approaches
to Shakespeare biography simplify the complexity of documentary evidence and
produce narrowness of view.
In Elizabethan England a series of continuous religious negotiations and
renegotiations took place. Through this struggle, the clear-cut division between
Catholicism and Protestantism was deconstructed, and there emerged `religious
pluralism' -a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism. It was in this
complex matrix that Shakespeare was born, grew up and wrote plays and poems. It is
against this cultural background that we should study Shakespeare's life (or lives)
Theology and natural philosophy in late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Britain
Get PDFA number of historians of science have claimed that the early Boyle Sermons provided a platform for the promotion of a moderate-Anglican social and political ideology underpinned by Newtonian natural philosophy. However, by examining in detail the texts of Richard Bentley, John Harris and Samuel Clarke, this thesis argues that their Sermons should not be characterised as 'Newtonian'. These texts were highly complex literary productions constructed with the intention of achieving victory over the enemies of Christianity. An examination of their rhetorical strategies
focuses attention on the use to which various cognitive materials - including natural philosophy - were put. Thus the presence of Newtonian concepts in the texts is
explained by the aims and overall scholarly programmes of the Lecturers. It will also be argued that the term 'Boyle Lectureship' is problematic and that the main elements of the Lectureship - Robert Boyle's bequest, the Trustees, the
Lecturers, and the Sermons - cannot be conflated into a single historical unit. Therefore, throughout this study, emphasis is placed on the contingent and singular
behaviour of individuals located within an ecclesiastical and scholarly community, where career promotion and the notion of scholarly credit were important. The brief
in Boyle's last will and testament stipulated that the Lecturers must defend Christianity using the scholarly tools to hand. In this thesis it will be shown that the
personnel of the Lectureship conformed to Boyle's brief and that they utilised all available methods and materials in the pursuance of their legal and institutional
responsibilities. This approach removes the analysis of the Lectureship from an overarching sociological perspective; instead the Sermons are interpreted as exemplary texts in the rhetorical prosecution of the enemies of Christianity. This study, therefore, acknowledges the complex nature of theological texts in early modern England
Free Town Libraries, their Formation, Management, and History ; in Britain, France, Germany and America. ; Together with brief Notices of Book-collectors, and of the respective Places of Deposit of their surviving Collections
Get PDF« Document numérisé pour l\u27ENSSIB » - L\u27auteur de ce document, Edward Edwards, fut l\u27un des instigateurs et défenseurs des " Free Town Libraries " (bibliothèques municipales publiques) en Grande-Bretagne au milieu du XIXe siècle. Son ouvrage s\u27inscrit dans un contexte historique important pour le pays, faisant suite aux " Libraries Acts " de 1850, instaurant les bibliothèques publiques dans les villes anglaises. Edwards fut d\u27ailleurs le premier bibliothécaire de la bibliothèque publique de Manchester. L\u27objectif de son livre est de servir de manuel quant à l\u27organisation de ce type de bibliothèque et de promouvoir celui-ci plus largement. Dans un second temps, il vise à comparer les différents systèmes mis en place dans quelques pays étrangers, spécialement la France, l\u27Allemagne et les États-Unis. Composé de quatre livres, l\u27ouvrage offre une étude comparative des diverses expériences menées et s\u27appuie sur les textes législatifs, notamment en ce qui concerne la Grande-Bretagne. Cette oeuvre est fondamentale pour l\u27historien s\u27intéressant au développement des bibliothèques publiques au XIXe siècle. Elle est complétée par de précieuses notices sur les grands collectionneurs européens et américains (qui forment le quatrième livre)
