Lire pour apprendre? A propos de la litterature didactique des derniers siecles du Moyen Age

A travers l'exemple d'un recueil de miracles attribués à saint Jacques, dont il confronte l'original latin et la traduction castillane, l'auteur s'interroge sur la place de la littérature didactique dans l'enseignement religieux à la fin du Moyen Age. Après avoir étudié comment les transformations apportées par le traducteur castillan à la version latine faisaient évoluer le texte de la sphère de la littérature miraculeuse vers celle de la littérature didactique, il tente de montrer que si cet ouvrage semble offrir aux fidèles un accès direct au savoir doctrinal, il ne libère pourtant pas ses lecteurs de la tutelle ecclésiastique. Cette démonstration prétend remettre en cause l'idée selon laquelle la diffusion des ouvrages didactiques au XVe siècle aurait permis une appropriation individuelle du savoir et donc une remise en cause du contrôle par l'Eglise de l'enseignement religieux.     

Interpreting the expansion of sea fishing in medieval Europe using stable isotope analysis of archaeological cod bones

Archaeological fish bones reveal increases in marine fish utilisation in Northern and Western Europe beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. We use stable isotope signatures from 300 archaeological cod (Gadus morhua) bones to determine whether this sea fishing revolution resulted from increased local fishing or the introduction of preserved fish transported from distant waters such as Arctic Norway, Iceland and/or the Northern Isles of Scotland (Orkney and Shetland). Results from 12 settlements in England and Flanders (Belgium) indicate that catches were initially local. Between the 9th and 12th centuries most bones represented fish from the southern North Sea. Conversely, by the 13th to 14th centuries demand was increasingly met through long distance transport – signalling the onset of the globalisation of commercial fisheries and suggesting that cities such as London quickly outgrew the capacity of local fish supplies.     

Australian Seventh-day Adventism and World War One: A Different Path

The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church in Australia differed from most Christian churches in its response to World War One, openly condemning the war as an evil to be avoided while attempting to remain focused on its evangelistic mission. This article explores the philosophy of the SDAs that allowed them to stand apart from the bulk of the churches, and the evolving nuanced path forward negotiated between the ideals of the church and the needs of the government. The success of the SDA church in maintaining its spiritual focus broadens our understanding of the relationship between churches and state in Australia in World War One, and adds a level of subtlety in understanding the government's response to a church that had an ambivalent response to the state's war goals.     

‘Unlawful Warfare is Uncivilised’: The International Debate on the Punishment of War Crimes, 1872–19181

The issue of the punishment of war crimes has had a long history of debate in the twentieth and even already in the twenty-first century. Not much, however, is known about the debate on the issue before and during the First World War. This article tries to explore the debate among Western European jurists and publicists on the issue in the period between 1872 and 1918, linking it to the idea of civilised behaviour in wartime, as many jurists and publicists of the time believed that civilised states would in general not violate the laws of war. If that was nevertheless the case these violations were considered to be the consequence of an uncivilised behaviour, which was the more problematic the more the power concerned had been considered a part of the international community of civilised states. Crimes committed by nations that had been considered fully civilised before 1914 were therefore highlighted in the debate, whereas crimes committed in so-called semi-civilised or uncivilised areas of the world were only taken up if specific political or propagandistic reasons made it seem appropriate.     

How Political Support Influences Red Tape through Developmental Culture

This study examines the interrelationship between external political support, internal organizational factors, and red tape, using a sample of information managers from state health and human service agencies. The study defines a red tape model and tests the model by structural equation modeling method. The study finds that political support has a direct effect on red tape. The higher the political support, the lower the level of red tape. The study also confirms an indirect effect of political support on red tape, mediated by developmental culture. Indirect effect through goal clarity has the correct sign but is not statistically significant. Practical recommendations are made for the political environment to provide the opportunity for managerial reforms that are often advocated.     

Balancing and Limiting Episcopal Power: Bishop Thomas Barlow’s Use of Common Law in Disputes with Arminian Anglican Clerics

Thomas Barlow was a Reformed theologian simultaneously fighting on three fronts against Catholic, Dissenting Protestant and Arminian Anglican opponents. The first two of these groups threatened the Church of England from the outside, while the last group was transforming Anglican doctrine through its domination of the most important posts in the episcopal hierarchy. Barlow could not argue directly against the power of bishops without assisting the external opponents, yet he had to find a way to prevent other bishops from interfering in his continued support for Reformed theology. In order to reduce their power within the Church of England, Barlow had to look outside the institution for ways to limit his superior’s power. This essay examines two arguments in which Barlow ventured into polemics about the secular law of England in an effort to maintain limits on his Anglican opponents’ exercise of power.