Mini-Monographs in Medieval and Early Modern Studies – serie

Academic pride, the desire for fame and success, the importance of titles over the teaching practice, the gap between real capabilities and official recognition, the pomp of ceremonies and rituals, scholarly nepotism, and institutional privileges: these issues plagued medieval universities from their very beginnings and were discussed by theologians through the notion of “doctoral halo.” Over the centuries, this concept became a means to praise, criticize, and reflect on the professional category of theology students and teachers (and other culture-related agents as well), providing interesting insights into their intellectual self-awareness. Based on unedited texts and new interpretations, this book offers unique perspectives on the intellectual history of the medieval and pre-modern world.

In Shakespearean tragedy, language is used to bring about the downfall of characters, but there is also a tragedy which affects language itself through the decomposition of the fundamental concepts and mythologies which give identity to both societies and individuals. This book shows how in Shakespeare’s English history plays, Roman plays, tragicomedies, and romances, characters use language to manipulate and destroy others, but also imprison themselves in false reasoning. The misuse of language creates tragedies for individuals but also for society at large, as its conceptual building blocks lose their capacity to function. For Shakespeare, tragedy happens both to individuals and to cultures, and happens both in language and to language.

This volume publishes the content of 133 charters of Saint Louis, issued in the East during his first crusade. They come from the Latin manuscript 9778 of the National Library of France, which went overseas with the monarch. These documents from 1248 to 1254 shed light on the operation of the royal household in the Levant. In particular, they highlight two prosperous periods in 1250 and 1252, which saw the king granting a series of privileges from Acre and Caesarea of Palestine, and allow us to follow the early careers of new men coming from the Holy Land and France.Ce volume publie le texte de 133 chartes de saint Louis, émises en Orient durant sa première croisade. Elles émanent du manuscrit latin 9778 de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, qui accompagna le monarque outre-mer. Ces documents des années 1248 à 1254 éclairent le fonctionnement de l’Hôtel du roi au Levant. Deux périodes fastes se détachent avec les années 1250 et 1252, qui virent le roi concéder des vagues de privilèges à partir d’Acre et de Césarée de Palestine. Le registre de croisade présente le mérite de suivre le début de carrière d’homines novi de Terre sainte et de France.

In this hitherto unpublished treatise, Hugo Grotius examines what kinds of partnerships between Christians and non-Christians are legally permissible. These include public partnerships, such as treaties and alliances, but also private associations, such as commercial contracts, marriages, and relations of servitude. Grotius’s treatise is indispensable for understanding his ideas about legal relations between Christians and non-Christians, both in international and domestic contexts. This is the first edition of the annotated Latin text with an English translation and introduction.

The year 2026 means that 500 years have passed since Albrecht Dürer's monumental Four Apostles was completed, but these two panels continue to attract much scholarly and popular attention. This monograph argues persuasively that Dürer's diptych represents the artist's vision of ideal harmony even as it acknowledges the reality of distinct identities. Even five centuries later, this composition retains an uncanny ability to move viewers who live in very different times and places but still deal with the same issues of division and unity that challenged the artist, his church, and his city in the early sixteenth century.