A medieval literature professor tweets as Beowulf after the style of Donald Trump:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/09/01/if-donald-trump-was-a-mythic-anglo-saxon-hero/?postshare=1371441123032941

For early music concerts in Rochester, see the following link:

http://www.pegasusearlymusic.org/11th-season-2015-2016/

The Tenth Moravian College Undergraduate Conference in Medieval and Early Modern Studies will be held on Saturday December 5, 2015. We sincerely welcome contributions from all departments in explorations of connection to the period between approx. 500 C.E. and 1800 C.E. In the past, we’ve had some great papers, panels, and poster presentations that began as coursework, in addition to engaging performances in music, drama, and dance.

The typical presentation format consists of a 15-minute paper or a 45-minute group performance, but alternative formats would certainly be considered. The deadline for the submission of proposals is Nov. 6. Registration will again be free for both presenters and attendees. Registration and submission of proposals opens October 1, via the conference website. For a brief preview of this year’s conference and a look at past conferences, please visit our website at: http://www.moravian.edu/medieval/ The conference has generally drawn over 200 people and typically features presentations and performances by approximately 100 students from 30 schools or so. Other highlights of this year’s conference will be a plenary presentation by Prof. Michael Drout (Dept. of English, Wheaton College); a performance entitled “Perpetual Motion” by Galileo’s Daughters (http://www.galileosdaughters..com/programs.html); and demonstrations and exhibits by artisans. We’ll be updating the website in the fall with additional details for this year’s conference.

A letter has been discovered that attests to the historical veracity of Margery Kempe’s book, often considered a work of fiction.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/08/archive-find-shows-medieval-mystic-margery-kempes-autobiography-doesnt-lie

In February 2015, the New York Times released a post titled “Rats may be Exonerated in European Plague, Say Scientists with a Gerbil Theory.” In the short post, they detailed the possibility that the origins of the Black or Bubonic Plague that ravaged Europe periodically in the 1300’s up to the 1800’s when it disappeared had its origins in Asia, rather than Europe. In terms of evidence, researchers cite the ease at which the plague kills the would-be Rat carriers rather than their Asian Great Gerbil kin, as well as the fact that climate change patterns in Asia, not Europe, match the Plague surges most closely. It is likely that the plague spread via trade routes from across Asia all the way to Europe via trade routes and within the small rodents that would travel these routes either by accidentally falling into caravans or taking victims along the way.

It is interesting that while we are learning about the customs of Medieval times and literature, we have not yet seen reference to illness or famine, or strife in general. We’ve read about religion in “Caedmon’s Hymn”, about love and women in Chaucer’s works, but have not yet seen a piece written about the plight of the human vulnerability to pain and sickness. Whether we have not yet made it there in the course yet, or rather that such a topic was not common or looked down upon as “low register” and vulgar to latin poets and their old english peers would be fascinating to discuss. However, given that sexuality has been referenced in both light and also vulgar allusions, such as in Chaucer’s work as well as one of the Exeter Book riddles, I am more apt to believe that the absence of works on the human existence may be of greater meaning, given how devastating diseases such as the Bubonic Plague, aptly named the Black Death, was to almost the entirety of the Eastern Hemisphere during the time period- thus leading me to believe that it had to have hadsome influence on literature of the time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/science/rats-may-be-exonerated-in-european-plague-say-scientists-with-a-gerbil-theory.html?_r=0

~Taylor Knowles

As modern society grows more and more comfortable with the reality of same-sex love, it’s interesting to look back on the history of homosexual relationships. Indeed, homosexuality has existed as long as heterosexuality. Although the Middle Ages are well known for their persecution of same-sex relationships, I stumbled upon an interesting article while sifting through ideas for this post.

The historian Allan Tulchin explains that a ritual, very similar to marriage, existed for men. They called it “Brotherment” Technically, this brotherment was intended to allow two males to own property together and live together. However, it was likely a ritual used for more than just property sharing. For some men, this may have been a non-sexual arrangement, but there were probably many sexual relationships formalized with this brotherment ritual. Of course, over time the Roman Church rejected same-sex love relationships and persecuted those participating in them. Yet it is significant to look before the rejection of homosexuality and see that there was once a community acceptance of same-sex relationships.

Original article:

http://www.livescience.com/7344-gay-civil-unions-sanctioned-medieval-europe.html

With the popular HBO series Game of Thrones recently kicking off the release of it’s fourth season, a spark of interest in medieval history has been lit into our modern day media culture. At the root of this rebirth, can be seen many connections to stories, themes, and motifs often found in Medieval Literature.

PBS.org recently published an article entitled “What does a medieval literature scholar read into Game of Thrones?” This article included a short video of clips of the series voiced over by Brantley Bryant, associate professor of medieval literature at Sonoma State University. In this video, he discussed the many connections that he has drawn between the hit TV series and famous Medieval works such as The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf. 

In terms of Beowulf, he drew significant connections between John Snow’s joining of the Knight’s Watch in order to protect the kingdom from monsters, as battling unfamiliar creatures is a theme found in the tale. The closest connection being made in the instance when John Snow finds himself battling a seemingly alive corpse-like figure. Bryant compares this encounter to that of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, the demon-monster that has terrorized the Danes for many years prior to his arrival.

He also speaks of Geoffrey Chaucer’s depiction of the Monk’s Tale in the Canterbury Tales in terms of the way they both deal with mortality and the fragility of life. In Chaucer’s work, the Monk delivers a story of short tragedies, regarding the down fall of famous literary figures such as Lucifer, Adam, and Hercules. Bryant makes the argument that George R.R Martin’s Story, the book series which inspired that television show, follows the same pattern as people often criticize Martin for his tendency to kill off his characters constantly. Nonetheless– the inability of a viewer to get to really know a character in the series due to story lines cut short by deaths definitely exhibits the awareness of medieval literature in terms of the feebleness of life.

I found that one aspect of Bryant’s analysis of the character Jamie Lannister to be enticing. Bryant drew a comparison between Jamie and the character Lancelot in that he appears to be the “ideal knight figure”, yet has a layer of dishonorable characteristics underneath. This started my thinking about the work that we have been doing in ENGL 366–Chaucer’s Ventriloquism, with a critical approach to the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. In an essay “Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire”, Jill Mann argues that Chaucer essentially draws on stereotypes of social estates from that time and then inserts his own character traits to make each tale-teller personable within the text. In this light, Lannister can be viewed as a character with similarities to those that Chaucer depicted in his works.

In fact, I believe that Jamie Lannister bares resemblance to the characters that go on the journey to Canterbury in Chaucer’s work in a multitude of ways. In the Tales, it is often seen that the character’s have a duality in traits that contrasts their exterior persona to a greatly differing interior persona. Although Lannister may first appear most similar to the Knight in that he is seemingly honorable, chivalrous, well-adversed in battle, and always well-intentioned, he actually holds a dual undertones in his character. This is most comparable to the Prioress, who excessively weeps when she sees a mouse caught in a trap, yet has no trouble feeding flesh to her hounds. She is obsessed with the way the outside world views her, much like Lannister in Game of Thrones. 

Another connection between the TV series and Chaucer’s Tales is between Daenerys and the female characters of the Tales, particularly the Wife of Bath. In Medieval Literature, the women often received a backseat role, due to the nature of the times that the work was written. At first, Daenerys exhibits this same back seat roll, marrying only so that her brother can gain an army.  She then falls into a life where she is viewed merely as a sexual object to her new husband. It is only when she learns to take control of her sexuality towards the middle of the first season, that she then begins to gain confidence and power over her husband and brother. This mirrors the Wife of Bath’s Prologue, in which she speaks of the way that she was able to gain power over her five husbands through manipulating them sexually.

Bryant makes the argument that the “fairy tale”, “pure”, “chaste” world that people tend to view medieval times as is quite far off from what actually was. Game of Thrones in terms of themes and motifs correctly exhibits what life was like according to readings of Medieval Literature. It delves into themes often addressed such as the fragility of life, the battling of monsters, honor, pride, government, justice and corruption. It also exhibits concern with duality of character exhibited in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, as well as a struggle for power in terms of female presence of the times.

PBS Article Link–http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/medieval-literature-scholar-see-game-thrones/

Recent Medieval combat has become a form of mixed martial arts in Russia. This article talks about the M-1 series of MMA in Russia. This new series is where two men enter the ring dressed entirely in chainmail and/or plate, complete with helmets and shields. The ultimate goal is to beat their opponent. This was first trialed in Moscow, and the first official M-1 Medieval match was a couple of weeks ago.

Below is the link to the article, where you can also watch the match:

Medieval Combat

The study of medicine has been and continues to be a very interesting topic. In a recent study by researchers at the University of Nottingham, they discovered that an ancient medieval ‘potion’ found in a book contained a potential cure to the MRSA infection. The potion was a homespun recipe for eye salve, found in a book called Bald’s Leechbook – a medieval medical text. After conducting a variety of lab experiments on the eye salve and the MRSA superbug, they found that the eye salve surprisingly helped killed it, stating “We were absolutely blown away by just how effective the combination of ingredients was.”

This article proves that medieval texts are not only helpful and interesting to those of us studying English, but to others as well. The fact that it can span such a broad range of subjects and even aid in current day medical research shows how influential and relevant medieval texts remain.

To read the full article click on the following link: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/medieval-garlic-potion-kills-mrsa-researchers-find-1.2159166

The European Research Council has granted Professor David Stifter of Maynooth University a 1.8 million Euro grant for his project Chronologicon Hibernicum. The goal of the project is to more accurately date Irish texts varying from the 7th to 10th centuries. There are long-term goals as well, in that Professor Stifter, along with his team of five researchers, hopes to identify language trends so that future dating projects will be easier.

With these methods, identifying and dating other texts will be easier, as well. This project is focused only on Irish texts from the Medieval period, but the techniques developed will be applicable to texts outside this range of dates, as well as from other cultures. The texts in question are written in Old Irish, the complexity of which has made previous attempts at dating them difficult. Professor Stifter and his team hope to use modern methods and technologies to determine more accurate dates.

The full article is here, at the Irish Times website:

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/treibh/groundbreaking-research-to-establish-chronology-of-medieval-irish-literature-1.2136957