Thèses sur le sujet « Mary, Virgin, in literature, Polish »

This thesis is concerned with the didactic function of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century vernacular religious literature and art in contemporary medieval English society, and particularly the ways in which texts and images participate in emergent lay religious culture and inform social practices of the time. The focus is on apocryphal and legendary depictions of episodes in the Life of the Virgin Mary in vernacular works of the later Middle Ages and special consideration is given to the ways in which certain female audiences in England may have received and responded to Mary narratives. An introductory chapter outlines the process and means by which biblical and extra-biblical knowledge was disseminated to the late medieval laity via the range of literary and pictorial material brought into comparison in this thesis. Additionally, the introductory chapter surveys existing research on the socio-economic and spiritual circumstances that made accounts of Mary’s life particularly useful to ‘merchant-class’ wives whose way of life, it is argued, is emblematic of change in the period. Five central chapters each provide interpretations of common motifs in a key event in Christian history involving Mary and assess their engagement with the experiences and aspirations of lay unlearned audiences, primarily (though not exclusively) domesticated bourgeois women. The events referred to and discussed in chronological order in this thesis are the Annunciation, Nativity, Passion of Christ, and the Death, Assumption and Coronation of Mary. The material analysed comprises biblical drama, sermons, poetry, lyrics, wall-paintings, manuscript illustrations, and tapestries. A number of core works are referred to throughout and, as detailed in the introduction, include texts such as the four extant mystery cycle plays, Nicholas Love’s Mirror, John Mirk’s Festial, the Cursor Mundi, and art works such as contained in the Biblia Pauperum, and books of hours.

This interdisciplinary study of devotional literature, drama and the visual arts examines the representation of Mary and her mother, Saint Anne, as wives in England between 1200 and 1540, and women's responses to these images. The thesis addresses a lacuna in modem Marian and Anne scholarship which has, hitherto, paid little attention to the fact of both saints' representation as wives in this period, and reclaims the meaning, function and reception of these forgotten images. The thesis commences with a synopsis of Marian and Anne devotion up until the central Middle Ages in order that English awareness of Mary and Anne as wives might be contextualised. Chapter Two presents evidence of this awareness; a chronological catalogue of medieval English representations of Mary and Anne as wives, in a variety of media. Chapter Three presents an historical account of the social context of medieval marriage; it examines the legal, social and canonical definition of marriage and demonstrates how this instruction reached the laity for whom it was intended. Chapter Four articulates how the representations of Mary and Anne as wives fitted into both contemporary marital discourse and its social practice. Chapter Five returns to the representations and interrogates their meaning and function, using medieval ars memorativa as the critical tool with which to do so, and demonstrates how real women responded to these images. The thesis concludes that Mary and Anne's wifely status was invoked by some theologians, canon lawyers and clerics to serve as an aide memoire and marital exemplar : of the Church's ideal wedding ceremony and of desired wifely behaviour(s) but that women's responses to these representations were less and other than that which their producers might have intended : generally they were met with silence.

The cult of the Virgin Mary reached its climactic point in Europe during the Middle Ages, and was particularly strong in Spain. Literature became a concrete expression of Marianism because it reflected the beliefs of the populace. Gonzalo de Berceo, a Castilian monk, greatly influenced by the ever-growing Marian piety, wrote a collection of poems in which the activity of the Blessed Mother in everyday human life is documented. I propose to do a detailed miracle-by-miracle analysis of Mary's interactions with others by focusing on Berceo's characterization of her in her principal role as a mother. In addition, I will analyze the characters to whom Mary renders assistance since they are representative of Berceo's audience and are people to whom the common people were able to relate. Finally, I will consider the visions of Mary that occur during the miracles, particularly whether or not she appears, to whom she appears, and why. Through this study of the Milagros, it will become apparent that while Berceo incorporates elements of the predominating theology into his miracles, the stories are primarily a reflection of the popular belief. Berceo demonstrates the influence of theology by depicting in his miracles all of the maternal qualities Mary embodied that appealed to people looking for a motherly figure to turn to in time of need. In addition, the role of Mary as an all-powerful intercessor who decides on her own who receives miracles, and who does not, reflects the common faith of the people living in the Middle Ages.

As historicist as it is materialist, my dissertation both reads the fictional queens portrayed in romance against the fraught positioning of historical queens such as Isabella of France, Anne of Bohemia and Margaret of Anjou, and traces the ambivalent function in late medieval English society of objects including the sacring-bell, the Lollard bible and the royal sword. Merging the traditionally historicist field queenship studies with typically postmodern fields like thing theory and sound theory, I investigate how queens in late medieval romances coopt, queer and reconfigure material objects of masculine power. Each chapter examines a literary queen typically dismissed by subject-oriented ontologies as insubstantial. Analyzing romances that include Richard Coer de Lyon, Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale, Malory's Morte D'Arthur and the Marian romance of "The Child Slain by Jews" from the Vernon Manuscript, I argue for the overlooked significance of literary queens as figures whose circulation illuminates the construction of medieval masculinities. Through contact with charged material objects that are pivotal to romance plots, queens query patriarchal materials, exposing their underlying "thingness" and malleability. Whether tracking the disturbing afterlife of a church bell used to exorcise the hero's queen mother in Richard Coer de Lyon, or analyzing links between the "Britoun book" that rescues Chaucer's Custance and Anne of Bohemia's vernacular books, my chapters tell a new story about the foreign queens of late medieval English romances by showing how they blur boundaries between male and female, subject and object, West and East, priest and parish, Christian and Jew, orthodox and heterodox, mother and child.

Charles de Valois (1446-1472) was a prince in fifteenth-century France. During his short lifetime, Charles endeavored to gain more authority while in conflict with his brother Louis XI, who was king. Although a minor political character in French history, Charles did demonstrate his power in several artistic ways. One commission by the young royal was a manuscript now known as the Hours of Charles of France. Two pages of this text, the Annunciation to the Virgin, are decorated with rich imagery and iconography used to exhibit Charles' desire for greater authority. The manuscript has only been discussed stylistically, and therefore this thesis examines the content of these pages in terms of secular imagery, religious symbolism, and the prince's connection to the priestly Virgin Mary. These aspects all relate to Charles' display of authority. To fully understand Charles' propaganda, this thesis first examines secular imagery within the manuscript pages. The analysis of worldly symbols of power, such as knighthood, fashion, ornamentation, and architecture, present Charles' desire for greater wealth and power. In addition, this thesis discusses the Virgin Mary in connection with the prince's political imaging. By looking at religious imagery that supports Mary in her role as priestess, this thesis considers how Charles attaches himself to her heightened power. Through both secular and spiritual characteristics, Charles' authority was elevated during a period of political uncertainty and monarchical unrest.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2009.
Title from screen (viewed on August 28, 2009). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Eric L. Saak. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 540-548).

The subject of my thesis is a little-studied hagiographical work that gives important insights into rewriting processes and their significance in medieval textual culture. The anonymous Life of Christina of Hane, a thirteenth-century Premonstratensian nun from the Palatinate, is an example of bridal mysticism which combines the medieval tradition of the reception of the Song of Songs with hagiographic elements. A codicological and palaeographical analysis of the only manuscript shows it to be a sixteenth-century copy, but the type of mysticism and the theological questions that it discusses suggest that the text was initially composed in the thirteenth century, when Christina is thought to have lived. The theological and spiritual ideas in the text belong to the wider context of communicating the transcendental within the world. My thesis uses performative language analysis to address the problems of textuality and authorization in the Life of Christina of Hane. It yields new insights into the ways in which this mystical text makes use of hagiographic strategies, how gender and vernacular theology are linked, how liturgical elements support the text’s pragmatic nature, and how somatic spirituality is reflected on an allegorical level in the embodiment of God’s bride. An assessment of three communicative aspects – medial, narrative, and allegorical – highlights the textualization of the mystical experience. The appellative structure of Christina’s text invites the reader to engage with the text. This study provides the first comprehensive interpretation of the text on Christina of Hane. It compares it to other mystical texts, to a German–Latin prayerbook, and to a fragmentary legend about Mary Magdalene. It challenges existing judgments about Christina’s biography and offers alternative solutions founded in the latest scholarship on female mystical literature.

Este trabalho analisa o aspecto lírico-religioso de três canções marianas, recolhidas do Cancioneiro Popular do imigrante italiano na Região de Colonização Italiana e se propõe revelar, sob o aspecto das metáforas e das metonímias, a representação de Maria. Para tanto, este estudo dialoga com temas imprescindíveis para a obtenção de resultados, como História, Cultura, Identidade, Regionalidade, Mariologia, Metáforas, Metonímias (a Teoria de Metáforas Conceituais) e música. Assim sendo, a dissertação está estruturada sobre quatro capítulos que norteiam a análise e a interpretação. A saber: o Primeiro Capítulo entrelaça a História e a Cultura, procurando fazer uma revisão de aspectos relevantes da história da imigração italiana na RCI na Região Nordeste do Estado, focando a importância da religião e ou da fé desde os primórdios desse processo. A partir disso, há a análise sobre Região, Identidade e Religiosidade. O Segundo Capítulo destaca o Cancioneiro Popular e assim, o aspecto da Tradição Oral Popular. Aprofunda o aspecto da cultura popular expressada com o canto e traz em evidência a caracterização do Canto Mariano (origens, ritualismo e devoção do imigrante italiano). Demonstra, ainda, aspectos da devoção mariana, tão presente e viva junto ao imigrante, pois Maria é descrita como sendo a mãe que está sempre presente e junto aos seus filhos (povo). O Terceiro Capítulo, por sua vez, concentra a análise dos aspectos da Teoria da Metáfora Conceitual, da Simbologia e, também, da interpretação e pesquisa sobre as Virtudes, objetivando a análise da figura da mulher idealizada , ou ainda, da representação da mãe - Maria (Madonna). Por fim, no Quarto Capítulo, tem-se a Metodologia e a Análise das canções marianas, ou seja, a análise do corpus das canções: Beléssa di Maria; Maria Consolatrice; O Bèla mia Speransa, que motivam este estudo. Esta parte segue o método da análise semântica com base em George Lakoff (e colaboradores) que permeiam o estudo das metáforas conceituais. Há, também, a posição etnográfica, onde é destacada a pesquisa de campo realizada para conhecer opiniões e perspectivas do povo, indo além da análise do pesquisador. Após isso, é feita a síntese com os resultados obtidos pela pesquisa/estudo.
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This study analyzes the religious lyrical aspect of three Marian songs, collected from the book Cancioneiro Popular do Imigrante Italiano na Região de Colonização Italiana, and also intends to clarify, using metaphors and metonymies, the representation of Mary. To do that, this study takes into consideration imprescindible issues such as History, Culture, Identity, Religiosity, and Mariology, Metaphors, Metonymies (Conceptual Metaphor Theory) and music. This dissertation is structured upon four chapters as follows: the first chapter links History and Culture, trying to revise some relevant points of the history of the Italian immigration on the RCI in the Northeast Region of our state, focusing on the importance of religion and/or faith since the beginning of that process. Therefore, there is the analysis about the Region, Identity and Religiosity. The second chapter highlights the Cancioneiro Popular and then, the Popular Oral Tradition. Also, it deepens the aspect of popular culture expressed by the songs and brings into evidence the characterization of the Marian Songs (origins, ritualism and devotion of the Italian immigrant). Moreover, it shows some aspects of the Marian devotion, so present and alive within the immigrant, because Mary is described as the mother who is always with her children (the people). The third chapter, in turn, focus on the analysis of aspects of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory , of the Symbolism, and also of the interpretation and research regarding the Virtues, aiming at analyzing the idealized woman´s portrait , or still, the representation of the mother Mary (Madonna). At last, presented in the fourth chapter are the Methodology and the Analysis of the Marian Songs, that is, the analysis of the corpus of songs: Beléssa di Mary, Mary Consolatrice and O Bela mia Speransa that motivate the study. This part follows the method of semantic analysis, based on George Lakoff (and collaborators) that permeates the study of the conceptual metaphors. There is the ethnographic position as well, where is emphasized the field work carried out to know opinions and perspectives of the people, going beyond the researcher´s analysis. After that, the synthesis is done with the obtained results by the research/study.

This interdisciplinary dissertation, integrating the fields of history, art and literature, examines the historical and cultural contexts surrounding a small sample of comedias in which the Virgin Mary is presented as a strong maternal figure and feminine role model in seventeenth-century Spanish theater. I focus in detail on three works: Lope de Vega's La limpieza no manchada (1618), Angela de Azevedo's Dicha y desdicha en el juego o devocion a la Virgen (1640?) and Agustin Moreto's and Pedro Lanini's Santa Rosa del Peru (1669) Chapter One, Cleaning with Virgin Power: Lope's La limpieza no manchada (Purity Unblemished) analyses the role of the University of Salamanca in endorsing Philip III's project of proclaiming as dogma the religious doctrine on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. This chapter weaves into the close reading the circumstances of its commission and performance, religious iconography, the burning theological debates surrounding the doctrine and the ideological interests implicated therein Chapter Two, The Immaculate Craftings of Angela de Azevedo: Writing about the Queen in Heaven for the Queen on Earth focuses on the how the iconography of the Immaculate Conception sheds light on the staging and ideological underpinnings of the drama as performed at Phillip IV's court theater. This drama presented the Virgin as a model of active feminine leadership and motherhood absent in male-authored drama. I propose that Mary served as a model of propriety and piety for the earthly queen, Isabel of Bourbon. Azevedo discreetly praised the Habsburg queen during her years of regency and brought to the surface the queen's conflicts with the very influential Count-Duke of Olivares Chapter Three, Spanish Mother to an American Daughter: The Virgin Mary in Moreto's and Lanini's Santa Rosa del Peru analyzes how the Virgin Mary is used to authorize the beatification and canonization of the first American saint. Santa Rosa of Lima's life and miracles are staged for a Spanish audience that accepts and understands the American saint as a source of Spanish pride and nostalgia
acase@tulane.edu