Male Saints and Devotional Masculinity in Late Medieval England

This article considers the ways in which the lives of male monastic saints circulating in late medieval England (and the cults of male saints more widely) were underpinned by certain ideas and ideals of masculinity and the functions which these performed. It argues for the significance of male saints serving as devotional models for the lay audience of these texts (both men and women). The two main sources are William Caxton's Golden Legend (published in 1483) and his Vitas Patrum (published after his death by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495). It therefore seeks to make a contribution to our understanding of the ways in which piety was used to assess masculinity, but also the extent to which piety as a social identity (both public and private in nature) was informed by notions of manliness.     

Razi on Reason and Political Authority: A Study in Medieval Persian Political Thought

The Philosopher of Rey, Mohammad-e Zakariya-ye Razi and his Ismaili adversaries, Abu Hatam-e Razi and Naser-e Khosrow, share a political understanding of religion according to which religion is a theologico-political system of domination. However, they are at odds over the political philosophy appraisal of religion qua a system of authority. The paper explicates the latter disagreement in part based on Razi's and his opponents' conflicting ideas about the nature of the faculty of Reason and its distribution among men. Consequently, the paper underlines a democratic implication of Razi's thesis on the makeup of the human intellect.     

The Medieval Building Sequence and Dating of Clevedon Court,North Somerset

The construction date of the medieval manor house at Clevedon Court has long been said to be ‘c. 1320’, but no explanation or justification has ever been published. Stylistic, documentary and archaeological evidence is assembled to show that, following three distinct building phases, the house was completed during the decade ending in 1320. Analysis of the development of reticulated tracery helps to determine the date of the iconic chapel window. Other elements of the medieval house are considered and explained.     

Fences, Boats and Teas: Engendering Patient Lives at Peel Island Lazaret

Within institutions, a separate social world comes into existence. Gender is a crucial shaper of relations in this new world, defining status, relationships to others and personal identity. Understanding the gendered conditions of, and responses to, institutional care is an important social contribution of historical archaeology to contemporary society. Research on the Peel Island Lazaret in Moreton Bay, Queensland, uses a model for engendering archaeology, with modifications pertinent to historical archaeology. Analysis builds on the work of others who have investigated the ways in which men and women of the confined and confining classes experienced institutions and interacted with each other. This study also extends beyond these approaches in exploring the areas of “interpersonal agency” and relationship building, and the ways in which disadvantage minimization was mediated by the structuring principle of gender.     

Outward Appearance of Children in Medieval Muslim Legal Texts: Modesty,Adornment and Gender

This article focuses on some aspects of boys' and girls' outward appearance in pre-modern Muslim societies according to medieval legal sources. These compendiums are analysed as the product of a continuing, two-way dialogue between law and reality, and as reflecting the desired norms side by side with existing customs. They were not created in a vacuum but are anchored in a local, socio-economic, cultural and political reality. Muslim jurists followed the physical and psychological changes of children, classified them, and concluded that these changes will be followed by changes in their outward appearance. They have constructed children's appropriate outward appearance according to age, gender distinctions, norms of modesty and manners of adornment. A careful examination of this legal discussion presents a case study of pre-modern traditional societies in which components of outward appearance reflect and construct at the same time norms of modesty, means of adornment and gendered socialisation of children's outward appearance.     

Engendering Debate: Animals and Identity in Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

WITH THE GROWING popularity of theoretical approaches within medieval archaeology, identity has become a central area of research. Although such studies frequently expound upon the role of the material world in negotiations between individuals and society, there is a tendency to overlook what were fundamen- tal agents within this process: animals. This is especially true of Anglo-Saxon England, where farming determined the daily experiences of most people and the exchange of animals was fundamental to the struc- turing of social relations. Adopting an integrated approach, this paper explores the ways in which differing interactions with animals, in their assorted forms, affected human identities. Particular emphasis is placed on gender perceptions, but the mutual linkages between varying forms of identity necessitate the contextu- alisation of gender against other aspects of social personas. In doing so, the need to adopt a holistic approach to the study of interactions amongst people, and between people and their surroundings, is highlighted.     

England's interwar suburban landscapes: myth and reality

An investigation of suburbs created by private enterprise in interwar England reveals that their development was more problematic, and their physical characteristics were more diverse, than has been widely assumed. Differences between initial proposals for the development of an area and the reality that eventually emerged on the ground were widespread. Though architectural styles, building types and road patterns were generally distinct from those of the period before World War I, they varied considerably both within and between cities. Two main types of process affecting the landscape can be recognized. The first is systemic change, exemplified by the practically universal adoption, during the course of the 1920s, of the garden-suburb ethos and the creation of markedly different landscapes from those that existed previously. The second is adaptive change, involving adjustments, usually piecemeal, before, during and after developments, but conforming to the dominant period characteristics of the layouts; for example, reductions in plot sizes associated with increases in land values. Though conceptually fairly distinct, the two types of change may not in practice be separable.     

权威、法律权威与权威制约

权威范式是任何国家及其民众之必需。然而,权威具有创益和损益的双面孔,其不仅成为世人的福音,也可能转化为明的灾难。理性的态度应为：既要固守与阐发权威的专长,同时也要防止权威在界域之外的泛滥。同时,我们也需要塑造法律权威,并以此实现以权威制约权威,形成权威制约之循环圈,以符合生生相克之理。