Contesting Chivalry: James II and the control of chivalric culture in the 1450s

This article focuses on the reign of James II of Scotland (1437–1460) and argues that the Scottish king deliberately attempted to gain a monopoly over chivalry as part of his assertion of royal power. In seeking to integrate the historiographies of state-building and chivalric culture in fifteenth-century Scotland, what is offered here is an account of the principal strategies employed by James II to establish royal authority throughout Scotland, and an assessment of the various means in which chivalry was being patronised and promoted by the Scottish nobility and the political challenge inherent in this activity. James's response to this challenge is examined through a series of incidents in the 1450s and, in this manner, seeks to rethink the role of chivalry in late medieval Scotland. Far from being a peripheral cultural practice, this article argues that it should be seen as an integral part of James II's state-building agenda.     

‘It's well good sitting in the storecupboard just talking about what we do’: considering the spaces/places of research within children's geographies

The power imbalance between adults and young people in research relations has been well documented, including the necessity of adopting appropriate methods when working with young participants. However, the actual spaces and places in which research occurs remains relatively neglected within children's geographies, despite its methodological significance and the important ethical and spatial issues it raises. The purpose of this short article is to offer an intervention into the ways in which the spaces/places of research, even the very small, almost insignificant sites, have to be considered as integral to research planning and implementation. Drawing on recent school-based research with young teenagers, the paper will demonstrate how a storecupboard became constructed as an important research space/place within the school. As an alternative, liminal or ‘thirdspace’ the storecupboard allowed for a more nuanced understanding of teenage practices and performances than previous classroom-based research encounters.     

Transfer of hydrocarbons from natural seeps to the water column and atmosphere

Results from surface geochemical prospecting, seismic exploration and satellite remote sensing have documented oil and gas seeps in marine basins around the world. Seeps are a dynamic component of the carbon cycle and can be important indicators for economically significant hydrocarbon deposits. The northern Gulf of Mexico contains hundreds of active seeps that can be studied experimentally with the use of submarines and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). Hydrocarbon flux through surface sediments profoundly alters benthic ecology and seafloor geology at seeps. In water depths of 500–2000 m, rapid gas flux results in shallow, metastable deposits of gas hydrate, which reduce sediment porosity and affect seepage rates. This paper details the processes that occur during the final, brief transition — as oil and gas escape from the seafloor, rise through the water and dissolve, are consumed by microbial processes, or disperse into the atmosphere. The geology of the upper sediment column determines whether discharge is rapid and episodic, as occurs in mud volcanoes, or more gradual and steady, as occurs where the seep orifice is plugged with gas hydrate. In both cases, seep oil and gas appear to rise through the water in close proximity instead of separating. Chemical alteration of the oil is relatively minor during transit through the water column, but once at the sea surface its more volatile components rapidly evaporate. Gas bubbles rapidly dissolve as they rise, although observations suggest that oil coatings on the bubbles inhibit dissolution. At the sea surface, the floating oil forms slicks, detectable by remote sensing, whose origins are laterally within ～1000 m of the seafloor vent. This contradicts the much larger distance predicted if oil drops rise through a 500 m water column at an expected rate of ～0.01 m s^?1 while subjected to lateral currents of ～0.2 m s^?1 or greater. It indicates that oil rises with the gas bubbles at speeds of ～0.15 m s^?1 all the way to the surface.     

Recovering the histories of women religious in England in the central Middle Ages: Wilton Abbey and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin

Building upon the efforts made by scholars over the past 20 years to enrich our understanding of the vibrancy and sophistication of the literary cultures fostered within English communities of women religious during the central Middle Ages, this article shows that these women kept their communities' histories and preserved their saints' cults through their own writing. The evidence for this is uncovered through comparative analysis of the two extant versions of the post-mortem miracles of the late Anglo-Saxon saint Edith of Wilton (c.961–c.984): the Vita et translatio Edithe, composed c.1080 by the Flemish hagiographer Goscelin of Saint-Bertin (c.1040–d. after 1107), and the early fifteenth-century Middle English Wilton Chronicle. This analysis reveals that the writer of the Chronicle depended on a collection of Edith's and other Wilton saints' miracles that was maintained by their consorors throughout the late tenth and eleventh centuries, independently of Goscelin's account.     

Confronting Incel: exploring possible policy responses to misogynistic violent extremism

ABSTRACT

Sexually and socially frustrated ‘Incels’ have committed acts of violent extremism in North America and pose increasing threat to Australia and other industrialised settings. We consider policy responses to a form of misogynist violence that targets men and women indiscriminately. Provocatively, we advocate securitising Incel. We consider how securitisation need not only emerge from supportive framings in the media and public discourse, but can also be an active agent in creating them. We then engage with the appropriate responses. Reviewing the likely successful policy responses indicates the problematic nature of previous securitisation efforts. We argue that the best response is to try to understand and engage the antagonised other prior to radicalisation, and that this can be successfully enacted through ‘routine’ rather than ‘exceptional’ types of governance. However, securitisation remains a necessary first step in unlocking the resources and political will for tackling the threat that Incel poses.