If sodomy/homosexuality was 'unmentionable' in the Middle Ages, how can we write its history?

If sodomy/homosexuality was 'unmentionable' in the Middle Ages, how can we write its history? The study of gender, specifically homosexuality, is a relatively new invention. Tied up in the rise of feminism and the documentation of females in history, as a tributary of this, is the study of homosexuality through the ages. This essay is therefore part of an ongoing field of relatively new study. John Boswell, in my opinion clearly describes the difficulty of the study in such an "unexplored" area. Indeed, writers are often forced down "wrong paths" as well as "dead ends". However the comfort lies in the knowledge that we have "opened trails" and "posted landmarks" so others can "reach destinations beyond his furthest advance".1 In order to answer this question, one needs to ascertain, clearly, what this question is demanding. Within this essay I am going to clearly define "homosexuality" and "sodomy" within the boundaries of the Middle Ages. Whether, it was "unmentionable" and to what extent this contributes to our ability to record its history. Of the evidence available to us, we must also deem its effectiveness, in enabling us to accurately access homosexuality in the Middle Ages. In this essay, I am going to argue, that, through the study of primary sources relating to the existence of homosexuality, we can, indeed, write its history. However the evidence available to

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Response to Pandemic Death: The Black Death in Europe

Response to Pandemic Death: The Black Death in Europe In his what some perceive to be his best known work, The Decameron, Boccaccio writes about his experience as a witness to the infamous 1348 pandemic known as the Black Death. The Decameron is a collection of stories about the Black Death, in one of which he wrote "The healthiest of all humans ate breakfast in the morning with their relatives, companions or friends, and had dinner that evening in another world with their ancestor"(Boccaccio)! This image suggests the rapid and serious nature of the Black Death that killed nearly 25 million people in Europe from 1347-1352(Janis, Rice, Pollard). As would be expected, a pandemic such as this had immense effects on the people of Europe who witnessed it; people reacted in a variety of ways, some rejected religion and lived a more "sensual life," others lived in seclusion, or even resorted to self-inflicted punishment. So how exactly did the Black Death effect the people of Europe? What were their responses to the pandemic? How did these responses effect the social, religious, political and economic structures of medieval Europe? Some, like Zeigler would say that the course of Europe "changed by the coming of the Black Death, which did but accelerate a movement already in being,"(258) suggesting that the Black Death was merely a catalyst for change. Perhaps this is true, but

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T o what extent does the Demographic Transition Model provide a reliable and accurate representation of Europe's demographic past? What are the main problems of measuring the chief variables in the model?

T o what extent does the Demographic Transition Model provide a reliable and accurate representation of Europe's demographic past? What are the main problems of measuring the chief variables in the model? The demographic transition is a term that describes the complex process of passage from disorder to order and from waste to economy. Demographic growth takes place with varying degrees of intensity within a fairly large strategic place, therefore rates of growth or decline can lead a population to rapid expansion or extinction. During the past two centuries western populations have passed through all phases of the trajectory of the modern demographic cycle. In Europe population has multiplied fourfold, life expectancy has increased from 25-35 to 75-80, the average number of children per woman has declined from 5 to less than two and both fertility and mortality rates have declined from 30-40 per 1000 to approximately 10 per 1000. Thus significantly altering the demographic structure. In this essay I intend to discuss the extent to which the Demographic Transition Model provides a reliable and accurate representation of Europe's demographic past. Demographers describe the history of population growth in Western Europe in terms of a process of "demographic transition," a model that charts three aspects of population growth. The model describes how the separate factors that

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Did the state of the English Church by the 1530s mean that it was "ripe for reform"?

Did the state of the English Church by the 1530s mean that it was "ripe for reform"? Before the 16th century, nearly without exception, the whole of English society adhered to Catholicism and as R.N. Swanson states; "the church in medieval England was closely integrated into the life of the nation." The Reformation that occurred in the 16th century drastically changed this situation, eventually producing a system where both Catholicism and Protestantism existed and competed. This change in the religious aspect of society was not as severe, violent or fast-paced as the reformations witnessed on the continent and there has been some debate as to its existence in English history. There is little doubt that it was indeed a process that occurred, in English history Christopher Haigh uses the concept of reformation to represent the collection of social and political changes that eventually contributed to the alteration of the religious system. These changes are essentially indicative of a suppression of Catholicism, the growth in secularism and the general Protestantisation of society. This was achieved through a break from a church controlled by the Pope and a codified prohibition of Catholic practices, fundamentally reformation was a process linked with the development of the state and its relentless incursion on society. If it is reasonably clear how the reformation

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What were the main causes of population decline in England from the beginning of the fourteenth century?

What were the main causes of population decline in England from the beginning of the fourteenth century? In the fourteenth century there was a huge demographic crisis and England's population fell dramatically taking centuries to fully recover. The most obvious cause for this was the Black Death that swept through Europe arriving in England in the summer of 1348. However the population of England was already falling by the time the plague arrived. Figure 1 shows that the population reached a high around 1300 but started to decline for the next 50 years until the plague where population drops and by 1525, when these figures end, the population has not even reached half of the 1300 levels. In his early work Postan argues that the decline cannot be purely blamed on the plague but that there must have been other more fundamental reasons such as over population and exhaustion of the land. I will examine other causes of population decline such as famine, war and fertility rates as well as disease to determine the main cause of this decline. However this is complex to examine as this was "a period with no parish registers, no hearth taxes, no large scale censuses excepting Doomsday book and few serviceable taxation returns excepting those of 1377."1 The records left are mainly of the wealthy and the monks who kept detailed records which although useful is frustrating as

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The second industrial revolution.

Introduction The First Industrial Revolution, as called in the narrower sense the revolution of coal and iron, started in Britain in the manufacture of textiles in the middle of seventeenth century. It implied the gradual extension of the use of machines, the employment of men, women, and children in factories, a fairly steady change from a population mainly of agriculture workers to a population mainly engaged in making things in factories and distributing them when they were made. By the mid nineteenth-century, Britain became the world's industrial leader--the "workshop of the world." After the age of coal and iron (the first industrial revolution), there came the following age of steel and electricity, of oil and chemicals. The second industrial revolution began around the last decade of the nineteenth century. It was far more deeply scientific, far less depended on the "inventions" of "practical" men with little if any basic scientific training. It was also far quicker in its impact, far more prodigious in its results and far more revolutionary in its effects on people's lives and outlook. The second industrial revolution was a new thing in human experience and it went on corresponded with the economic, social and political consequences it produced. Economical issues on Productivity and technology The second industrial revolution witnessed the growth in some

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The scale of the raids, the density of the settlements and the degree of destruction have been greatly exaggerated'. Discuss this assessment of Viking activity in England in the ninth and tenth centuries

'The scale of the raids, the density of the settlements and the degree of destruction have been greatly exaggerated'. Discuss this assessment of Viking activity in England in the ninth and tenth centuries. The entry in the northern version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 793 tells how "In this year terrible omens appeared over the land of the Northumbrians...: these were immense lightning flashes and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky". It goes onto describe how "the ravaging of heathen men miserably destroyed God's church in Lindisfarne through plundering and slaughter". These apocalyptic images helped to support a view of the Vikings, whose name means literally 'pirates', as a mass of (pagan) barbarian invaders who overwhelmed the British Isles. This interpretation of events, notably accepted by Frank Stenton in the 1940s, was (in)famously questioned by Peter Sawyer in an essay of 1958, who argued that the number of invaders, the density of the Danish settlements and, to a certain extent, the degree of Viking destruction had been greatly exaggerated. Sawyer's theory then led to a wave of 'post-revisionism' by historians, including Alfred Smyth, who claim Sawyer's argument is flawed and paints too rosy a picture of Viking activity in England. We must now set out to forge a middle ground between these two sides (for which, Patrick Wormald reminds us, it is necessary

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How did people explain the 'Black Death' ?

How did people explain the 'Black Death' ? -INTRODUCTION: After a period growth of population and prosperity in agriculture, politics and technology in the High Middle Ages, Europe seemed to be stable which led to a sense of security among people. However, by the end of the thirteenth century Europe entered a period of changes in temperatures known as the ''little ice age'' which caused a shortage in growing seasons and terrible weather conditions. The food shortage caused hunger and starvation. Europe seemed to have reached an upper limit to population growth and the number of poor appeared to have increased clearly. Famine caused chronic malnutrition which led to the increase of infant mortality, lower birthrates and as well higher susceptibility to disease because malnourished people are unable to resist infection. This also help us to explain the high mortality of the Black Death, which is a devastating horrific and terrifying disease or plague which was responsible for millions of death in Europe . The population of Europe became increasingly poor . The origin of the Black Death is not agreed upon by all historians. It is believed to have been originated from Central Asia. The plague was both spread by the Mongols as they expanded across Asia, and by Central Asian rodents that moved westward when ecological changes made their environment inhospitable. The plaque was

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  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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This paper examines the appeal of the school of Zen to the warrior class and what it offered the changing society of Japan. The main point of appeal of this new religion was that it brought new ideals and values to the people of Japan. Zens focus on

The Kamakura period is particularly important in the history of Japanese religion as it was part of the period of the great religious reforms. Through these various social and religious developments, came the rapid growth of the Zen Buddhist monastic movement. This new Zen Buddhist religion derived from Chinese Ch'an teachings which focused on the use of meditation to gain spiritual enlightenment. The school of Zen largely appealed to the bushi (warrior) class in Japan during this time and a good part of its success was dependant on this factor. This paper examines the appeal of the school of Zen to the warrior class and what it offered the changing society of Japan. The main point of appeal of this new religion was that it brought new ideals and values to the people of Japan. Zen's focus on meditation is especially important as it changed this sect from others in embracing that "enlightenment can only come by direct intuitive perception" (Sansom, 1978, p.338). It does not rely on any sacred foundation, but rather on the individuals understanding of their environment and surroundings (Sansom, 1978, p.339) and it sought to convey this enlightenment non-verbally. The sect of Zen Buddhism offered a different and simpler was of achieving spiritual blessing which allowed them to come to terms with the warrior life and death. At the same time, it opposed the complicated and

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  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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The Plague

Liga Cimermane Jackie Bartz 20th Century Literature April 29, 2005 The Plague "Through a core of characters, Camus describes their fear, their confusion, their isolation from the loved ones and the outside world, their self-sufficiency, their compassion, and their ultimately inherent humanism as a metaphor for existence." (Tony Bing) Camus knows how to diagnose the emotional and attitude trend that develops in the plague stricken Oran. During the course of a year he takes us through a detailed analysis of how the mood of the society changes with the spread of plague. Yet to me, even more engaging than the development of character of the society, was the individual feelings and transformation of Camus heroes. Camus uses a tactics of a doctor: he takes his heroes, and observes the symptoms of their behavior, letting us judge about their emotions: their fear, confusion, longing for the loved ones. The author show the humanist part of their character and reveals their feelings towards each other and the society by how actively they are participating to fight the plague. Rieux, one of the main heroes of The Plague, is a doctor. He is one of the first heroes that notice the spread of the plague: "inside the room a word was echoing still; the plague." (Camus 36) Doctor knows about the disease, but does not run away to escape it, he wants authorities to close the diminish the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Historical and Philosophical studies
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