Stephen Joyce | Monash University (original) (raw)
Book by Stephen Joyce
The Legacy of Gildas: Constructions of Authority in the Early Medieval West, 2022
As this has now been out for over two years, I've added the book reviews (that I've found to date... more As this has now been out for over two years, I've added the book reviews (that I've found to date, in date order of publication) to the book flier. While the material has a focus on Britain and Ireland c. 400-750CE, the book may also be of interest to those studying the broader transition from Roman to Medieval in Western Europe.
Book Chapters by Stephen Joyce
Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic. Edited by Constant J. Mews & Kathleen B. Neal, 2023
This chapter examines the images of authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi. It investigates how... more This chapter examines the images of authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi. It investigates how the treatise merged both hierarchical or vertical relationships with consensus or horizontal relationships between the orders. I argue that its author drew on scripture and Pauline ideas of justice to emphasize a sophisticated model balancing personal responsibility with the need for public correction. This model of authority potentially points to the influence of the Rule of Basil and may represent a profound change in the structuring of authority in seventh-century Ireland.
Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic. Edited by Constant J. Mews & Kathleen B. Neal, 2023
This chapter considers both the scriptural and patristic influences shaping the core themes of th... more This chapter considers both the scriptural and patristic influences shaping the core themes of the De XII abusiuis saeculi and the difffusion of its text between the late eighth and sixteenth centuries. It considers how abusio and abusiua, traditionally understood as misuse of words, were expanded in meaning in this work to refer to abusive behaviour. It introduces the literary context of its composition in seventh-century Ireland, before examining the difffusion of the text on the continent, not just through its being quoted in the canon law collection known as Hibernensis, but through being copied as a work of Cyprian (dominant in the Carolingian period) or of Augustine (increasingly common in the twelfth century).
HISTORY FROM LOSS; A Global Introduction to Histories Written from Defeat, Colonization, Exile, and Imprisonment, Edited by Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Daniel Woolf, 2023
Gildas's De excidio Britanniae or The Ruin of Britain, dating from the late fifth to the mid-sixt... more Gildas's De excidio Britanniae or The Ruin of Britain, dating from the late fifth to the mid-sixth century and written in Latin, is a powerful critique of contemporary British kings and clerics styled in the manner of an Old Testament prophet. Its short historical section, briefly detailing the history of the Britons from the arrival of the Romans and Christianity to an immediate political and spiritual crisis, is the only remotely contemporary account of the devastating impact on British territorial hegemony created by the belligerent arrival of the Germanic peoples subsequently known as the English. Because Gildas relates this crisis to the faults of the Britons, his text is often read retrospectively as an affirmation of this loss in sovereignty. Arguably, however, Gildas's immediate intention was to lament loss in order to exhort success.
Prophecy, Fate and Memory in the Early and Medieval Celtic World , 2020
In examining how the compilers of the Hibernensis remembered the authority of Gildas, this paper ... more In examining how the compilers of the Hibernensis remembered the authority of Gildas, this paper argues that between the mission of Columbanus to the Continent c. 600 and the compilation of the Hibernensis c. 700, the memory of Gildas in Ireland was transmuted from that of a prophet shaping the authority of kings and bishops to that of a respected contributor to canon law, one supportive of the church hierarchy and the right of bishops to shape the authority of kings, as represented on a local level by Patrick.
Papers by Stephen Joyce
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, 2021
This article returns to the surviving texts of Patrick, apostle to Ireland, in order to refine fu... more This article returns to the surviving texts of Patrick, apostle to Ireland, in order to refine further his floruit in the fifth century. It argues that Patrick's use of a classical scheme relating age to status clarifies the contexts for the autobiographical details of his life, and that these details can be correlated with the limited historical records that survive for this period. In connecting his excommunication of Coroticus to an Easter controversy c. 455, and his controversial elevation to an episcopal see to a dislocation in clerical authority in Britain c. 441, I argue that Patrick's formal clerical career c. 427-455 matches Richard Hanson's sophisticated literary arguments made in the latter third of the twentieth century. I also propose that the uncertainty over the date of Patrick's death (in a context of exile), as represented by various reports in the Irish and Welsh annals c. 457-493, is inconsequential to his formal period of authority.
Attitudes to Excommunication in the Early Insular Church: Returning to Gildas’s Letter to Finnian
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 2020
This article re-examines Gildas’s attitude to excommunication in surviving fragments of his lette... more This article re-examines Gildas’s attitude to excommunication in surviving fragments of his letter to Finnian, utilized in Irish canon collections of the seventh and eighth centuries. It compares Gildas’s approach to that of Patrick in his open letter excommunicating the followers of Coroticus and, subsequently, to the two synods attributed to Patrick. While Patrick actively relies on excommunication as a disciplinary tool, Gildas offers an exegetically original critique of the abuse of excommunication. These contrary approaches are also reflected in the two ‘Patrician’ synods. Attempts to rehabilitate the opposing positions of Gildas and Patrick on excommunication in seventh- and eighth-century Ireland suggest memories of a connected intergenerational crisis between secular and ecclesiastical authority in the early insular church.
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, 2019
This paper examines a report describing conflict between Saxons and Britons in the Irish life of ... more This paper examines a report describing conflict between Saxons and Britons in the Irish life of Finnian of Clonard. It connects this report to the battle at Llongborth, remembered in an early medieval Welsh poem, and to the siege of mons Badonicus, reported by a variety of early medieval insular historians. Both battles have been linked to the legendary King Arthur. In connecting these battles to an entry in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and to the immediate context of Gildas' De excidio Britanniae, this article offers a date for mons Badonicus in the early 480s and conjectures that the 'Age of Arthur', if historical, postdates the publication of De excidio.
The Preface of Gildas, the Book of David, and the British Church in the Sixth Century
Peritia 29 (81-100), 2018
This paper examines the connections between the penitential works attributed to Gildas and David ... more This paper examines the connections between the penitential works attributed to Gildas and David and those of the anonymous author of the Poenitentiale Ambrosianum and Cummian. It argues that the penitential attributed to Gildas should be regarded as a genuine work by Gildas and that the Ambrosianum be considered as ‘the book of David’, from which excerpts were made. Attempts by Cummian to combine these two authorial traditions in seventh-century Ireland point to the continuing strength of a British Church, against the image presented by Bede.
The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and cha... more The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and change, must adapt to meet and serve a range of new pedagogical imperatives and student constituencies in order to ensure both disciplinary integrity and the development of employability skills transferable to work in other fields. In delivering an elective course on Medieval history we have developed the " Medieval Expo, " a team-based assessment task that challenges students to develop a presentation aimed at educating a general audience on a specific aspect of Medieval history. The task aims, primarily, to develop students' ability to communicate complex information to a non-specialist audience as well as develop effective teamwork skills: two valuable characteristics for humanities graduates entering any career, while still reinforcing the importance of historical study. A " scaffolded research " model, providing foundational structures that guide student research, is combined with opportunities for students to exercise creative freedom, providing suitable pedagogical support yet maximizing opportunities for student engagement. The reported benefits of this task include increased student engagement with the course content; smoother transitions to tertiary study through the formation of friendships, which is crucial for retention; and increased awareness of the employability skills embedded in the liberal arts.
As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman empire, monasticism evolved, ... more As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman empire, monasticism evolved, not without tension, from the desert of the fathers to the urban environment of bishops. Doctrinal differences and functional frictions as a source of tension between clerical and monastic interpretations of the ascetic life, as represented by the conflict between Augustine of Hippo and the arch-heresiarch Pelagius, one symptomatic of friction between the personal charisma of ‘holy men’ and the institutional charisma of bishops, have since influenced the discourse. This paper will examine the contested biblical origins of monasticism in order to emphasise competing institutional models of authority as a potential source of political tension between monastic and clerical interpretations of a Christian society.
In his De excidio Britanniae, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt secul... more In his De excidio Britanniae, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt secular and church leaders of partitioned fifth- or sixth-century Britain, calling for repentance, unity, and obedience to God's law in order to restore his beloved patria. Examining Gildas' use of rhetorical and biblical legitimations, this paper will argue that his warning of divine judgement for sin was inspired by a scriptural revelation that directly equated partitioned Britain with a divided biblical Israel just prior to the fall of Judah and Jerusalem to the Babylonians. In doing so, Gildas, drawing on both Jeremiah, prophet to the nations, and Paul, apostle to the nations, strikingly claimed prophecy. It will be argued that Gildas' unique prophecy for Britain, built on respect for romanitas, fear of de praesenti iudicio, and a singular providential claim to the inheritance of Israel, defined the political power of his natio not by gens but by obedience to God's law. In doing so, Gildas appears to draw on cultural, literary, and religious themes more appropriate to the late-fifth century than the mid-sixth century.
Book Reviews by Stephen Joyce
Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400–800 ed. by Yaniv Fox, and Erica Buchberger (Review)
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2021
Fox, Yaniv, and Erica Buchberger, eds, Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 4... more Fox, Yaniv, and Erica Buchberger, eds, Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400–800 (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 25), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. vii, 293; R.R.P. €80.00; ISBN 9782503581132.
Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II ed. by Nancy Edwards, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner (Review)
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Edwards, Nancy, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner, eds, Transforming Landscapes of Belief in t... more Edwards, Nancy, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner, eds, Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 23), Turnhout, Brepols, 2017; hardback; pp. xx, 526; 50 b/w illustrations, 1 b/w table; R.R.P. €120.00; ISBN 9782503568683.
City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages by Maya Maskarinec
Parergon, Journal for the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Maskarinec, Maya, City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages (Middle Ages Series), ... more Maskarinec, Maya, City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages (Middle Ages Series), Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018; hardback; pp. 320; 21 colour, 33 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US$55.00, £42.00; ISBN 9780812250084.
The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan by Ross Balzaretti
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Balzaretti, Ross, The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (Studies ... more Balzaretti, Ross, The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 44), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. xvii, 640; 17 b/w illustrations, 15 maps, 28 b/w tables; R.R.P. €130.00; ISBN 9782503509778.
Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE by John O. Ward
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Ward, John O., Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300... more Ward, John O., Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE (International Studies in the History of Rhetoric, 10), Leiden, Brill, 2019; hardback; pp. xvii, 706; 1 colour illustration; R.R.P. €199.00, US$239.00; ISBN 9789004368071.
St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales ed. by Lynette Olson (review)
Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Vol... more Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Volume 35, Number 1, 2018.
Olson, Lynette, ed., St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales (Studies in Celtic History, 37), Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2017; hardback; pp. vii, 219; 1 b/w map; R.R.P. £60.00; ISBN 9781783272181.
The Introduction of Christianity into the Early Medieval Insular World: Converting the Isles I ed. by Roy Flechner, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (review)
Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Vol... more Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Volume 35, Number 1, 2018.
Flechner, Roy, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, eds, The Introduction of Christianity into the Early Medieval Insular World: Converting the Isles I (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 19), Turnhout, Brepols, 2016; hardback; pp. xx, 510 pages; 9 b/w illustrations, 2 maps; R.R.P. €120.00; ISBN 9782503554624
Isidore of Seville and his Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge [Book Review]
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 13 (2017): Isidore of Seville and hi... more Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 13 (2017): Isidore of Seville and his Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge, Late antique and early medieval Iberia, vol. 2, by Fear, Andrew, and Woods, Jamie (eds), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016, 236 pages, RRP 85.00, ISBN: 9789089648280
The Legacy of Gildas: Constructions of Authority in the Early Medieval West, 2022
As this has now been out for over two years, I've added the book reviews (that I've found to date... more As this has now been out for over two years, I've added the book reviews (that I've found to date, in date order of publication) to the book flier. While the material has a focus on Britain and Ireland c. 400-750CE, the book may also be of interest to those studying the broader transition from Roman to Medieval in Western Europe.
Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic. Edited by Constant J. Mews & Kathleen B. Neal, 2023
This chapter examines the images of authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi. It investigates how... more This chapter examines the images of authority in the De XII abusiuis saeculi. It investigates how the treatise merged both hierarchical or vertical relationships with consensus or horizontal relationships between the orders. I argue that its author drew on scripture and Pauline ideas of justice to emphasize a sophisticated model balancing personal responsibility with the need for public correction. This model of authority potentially points to the influence of the Rule of Basil and may represent a profound change in the structuring of authority in seventh-century Ireland.
Addressing Injustice in the Medieval Body Politic. Edited by Constant J. Mews & Kathleen B. Neal, 2023
This chapter considers both the scriptural and patristic influences shaping the core themes of th... more This chapter considers both the scriptural and patristic influences shaping the core themes of the De XII abusiuis saeculi and the difffusion of its text between the late eighth and sixteenth centuries. It considers how abusio and abusiua, traditionally understood as misuse of words, were expanded in meaning in this work to refer to abusive behaviour. It introduces the literary context of its composition in seventh-century Ireland, before examining the difffusion of the text on the continent, not just through its being quoted in the canon law collection known as Hibernensis, but through being copied as a work of Cyprian (dominant in the Carolingian period) or of Augustine (increasingly common in the twelfth century).
HISTORY FROM LOSS; A Global Introduction to Histories Written from Defeat, Colonization, Exile, and Imprisonment, Edited by Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Daniel Woolf, 2023
Gildas's De excidio Britanniae or The Ruin of Britain, dating from the late fifth to the mid-sixt... more Gildas's De excidio Britanniae or The Ruin of Britain, dating from the late fifth to the mid-sixth century and written in Latin, is a powerful critique of contemporary British kings and clerics styled in the manner of an Old Testament prophet. Its short historical section, briefly detailing the history of the Britons from the arrival of the Romans and Christianity to an immediate political and spiritual crisis, is the only remotely contemporary account of the devastating impact on British territorial hegemony created by the belligerent arrival of the Germanic peoples subsequently known as the English. Because Gildas relates this crisis to the faults of the Britons, his text is often read retrospectively as an affirmation of this loss in sovereignty. Arguably, however, Gildas's immediate intention was to lament loss in order to exhort success.
Prophecy, Fate and Memory in the Early and Medieval Celtic World , 2020
In examining how the compilers of the Hibernensis remembered the authority of Gildas, this paper ... more In examining how the compilers of the Hibernensis remembered the authority of Gildas, this paper argues that between the mission of Columbanus to the Continent c. 600 and the compilation of the Hibernensis c. 700, the memory of Gildas in Ireland was transmuted from that of a prophet shaping the authority of kings and bishops to that of a respected contributor to canon law, one supportive of the church hierarchy and the right of bishops to shape the authority of kings, as represented on a local level by Patrick.
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, 2021
This article returns to the surviving texts of Patrick, apostle to Ireland, in order to refine fu... more This article returns to the surviving texts of Patrick, apostle to Ireland, in order to refine further his floruit in the fifth century. It argues that Patrick's use of a classical scheme relating age to status clarifies the contexts for the autobiographical details of his life, and that these details can be correlated with the limited historical records that survive for this period. In connecting his excommunication of Coroticus to an Easter controversy c. 455, and his controversial elevation to an episcopal see to a dislocation in clerical authority in Britain c. 441, I argue that Patrick's formal clerical career c. 427-455 matches Richard Hanson's sophisticated literary arguments made in the latter third of the twentieth century. I also propose that the uncertainty over the date of Patrick's death (in a context of exile), as represented by various reports in the Irish and Welsh annals c. 457-493, is inconsequential to his formal period of authority.
Attitudes to Excommunication in the Early Insular Church: Returning to Gildas’s Letter to Finnian
Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 2020
This article re-examines Gildas’s attitude to excommunication in surviving fragments of his lette... more This article re-examines Gildas’s attitude to excommunication in surviving fragments of his letter to Finnian, utilized in Irish canon collections of the seventh and eighth centuries. It compares Gildas’s approach to that of Patrick in his open letter excommunicating the followers of Coroticus and, subsequently, to the two synods attributed to Patrick. While Patrick actively relies on excommunication as a disciplinary tool, Gildas offers an exegetically original critique of the abuse of excommunication. These contrary approaches are also reflected in the two ‘Patrician’ synods. Attempts to rehabilitate the opposing positions of Gildas and Patrick on excommunication in seventh- and eighth-century Ireland suggest memories of a connected intergenerational crisis between secular and ecclesiastical authority in the early insular church.
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, 2019
This paper examines a report describing conflict between Saxons and Britons in the Irish life of ... more This paper examines a report describing conflict between Saxons and Britons in the Irish life of Finnian of Clonard. It connects this report to the battle at Llongborth, remembered in an early medieval Welsh poem, and to the siege of mons Badonicus, reported by a variety of early medieval insular historians. Both battles have been linked to the legendary King Arthur. In connecting these battles to an entry in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and to the immediate context of Gildas' De excidio Britanniae, this article offers a date for mons Badonicus in the early 480s and conjectures that the 'Age of Arthur', if historical, postdates the publication of De excidio.
The Preface of Gildas, the Book of David, and the British Church in the Sixth Century
Peritia 29 (81-100), 2018
This paper examines the connections between the penitential works attributed to Gildas and David ... more This paper examines the connections between the penitential works attributed to Gildas and David and those of the anonymous author of the Poenitentiale Ambrosianum and Cummian. It argues that the penitential attributed to Gildas should be regarded as a genuine work by Gildas and that the Ambrosianum be considered as ‘the book of David’, from which excerpts were made. Attempts by Cummian to combine these two authorial traditions in seventh-century Ireland point to the continuing strength of a British Church, against the image presented by Bede.
The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and cha... more The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and change, must adapt to meet and serve a range of new pedagogical imperatives and student constituencies in order to ensure both disciplinary integrity and the development of employability skills transferable to work in other fields. In delivering an elective course on Medieval history we have developed the " Medieval Expo, " a team-based assessment task that challenges students to develop a presentation aimed at educating a general audience on a specific aspect of Medieval history. The task aims, primarily, to develop students' ability to communicate complex information to a non-specialist audience as well as develop effective teamwork skills: two valuable characteristics for humanities graduates entering any career, while still reinforcing the importance of historical study. A " scaffolded research " model, providing foundational structures that guide student research, is combined with opportunities for students to exercise creative freedom, providing suitable pedagogical support yet maximizing opportunities for student engagement. The reported benefits of this task include increased student engagement with the course content; smoother transitions to tertiary study through the formation of friendships, which is crucial for retention; and increased awareness of the employability skills embedded in the liberal arts.
As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman empire, monasticism evolved, ... more As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman empire, monasticism evolved, not without tension, from the desert of the fathers to the urban environment of bishops. Doctrinal differences and functional frictions as a source of tension between clerical and monastic interpretations of the ascetic life, as represented by the conflict between Augustine of Hippo and the arch-heresiarch Pelagius, one symptomatic of friction between the personal charisma of ‘holy men’ and the institutional charisma of bishops, have since influenced the discourse. This paper will examine the contested biblical origins of monasticism in order to emphasise competing institutional models of authority as a potential source of political tension between monastic and clerical interpretations of a Christian society.
In his De excidio Britanniae, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt secul... more In his De excidio Britanniae, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt secular and church leaders of partitioned fifth- or sixth-century Britain, calling for repentance, unity, and obedience to God's law in order to restore his beloved patria. Examining Gildas' use of rhetorical and biblical legitimations, this paper will argue that his warning of divine judgement for sin was inspired by a scriptural revelation that directly equated partitioned Britain with a divided biblical Israel just prior to the fall of Judah and Jerusalem to the Babylonians. In doing so, Gildas, drawing on both Jeremiah, prophet to the nations, and Paul, apostle to the nations, strikingly claimed prophecy. It will be argued that Gildas' unique prophecy for Britain, built on respect for romanitas, fear of de praesenti iudicio, and a singular providential claim to the inheritance of Israel, defined the political power of his natio not by gens but by obedience to God's law. In doing so, Gildas appears to draw on cultural, literary, and religious themes more appropriate to the late-fifth century than the mid-sixth century.
Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400–800 ed. by Yaniv Fox, and Erica Buchberger (Review)
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2021
Fox, Yaniv, and Erica Buchberger, eds, Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 4... more Fox, Yaniv, and Erica Buchberger, eds, Inclusion and Exclusion in Mediterranean Christianities, 400–800 (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 25), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. vii, 293; R.R.P. €80.00; ISBN 9782503581132.
Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II ed. by Nancy Edwards, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner (Review)
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Edwards, Nancy, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner, eds, Transforming Landscapes of Belief in t... more Edwards, Nancy, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Roy Flechner, eds, Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 23), Turnhout, Brepols, 2017; hardback; pp. xx, 526; 50 b/w illustrations, 1 b/w table; R.R.P. €120.00; ISBN 9782503568683.
City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages by Maya Maskarinec
Parergon, Journal for the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Maskarinec, Maya, City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages (Middle Ages Series), ... more Maskarinec, Maya, City of Saints: Rebuilding Rome in the Early Middle Ages (Middle Ages Series), Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018; hardback; pp. 320; 21 colour, 33 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US$55.00, £42.00; ISBN 9780812250084.
The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan by Ross Balzaretti
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Balzaretti, Ross, The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (Studies ... more Balzaretti, Ross, The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan (Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 44), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. xvii, 640; 17 b/w illustrations, 15 maps, 28 b/w tables; R.R.P. €130.00; ISBN 9782503509778.
Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE by John O. Ward
Parergon, Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 2020
Ward, John O., Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300... more Ward, John O., Classical Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: The Medieval Rhetors and their Art 400–1300, with Manuscript Survey to 1500 CE (International Studies in the History of Rhetoric, 10), Leiden, Brill, 2019; hardback; pp. xvii, 706; 1 colour illustration; R.R.P. €199.00, US$239.00; ISBN 9789004368071.
St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales ed. by Lynette Olson (review)
Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Vol... more Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Volume 35, Number 1, 2018.
Olson, Lynette, ed., St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales (Studies in Celtic History, 37), Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2017; hardback; pp. vii, 219; 1 b/w map; R.R.P. £60.00; ISBN 9781783272181.
The Introduction of Christianity into the Early Medieval Insular World: Converting the Isles I ed. by Roy Flechner, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh (review)
Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Vol... more Parergon, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.), Volume 35, Number 1, 2018.
Flechner, Roy, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, eds, The Introduction of Christianity into the Early Medieval Insular World: Converting the Isles I (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 19), Turnhout, Brepols, 2016; hardback; pp. xx, 510 pages; 9 b/w illustrations, 2 maps; R.R.P. €120.00; ISBN 9782503554624
Isidore of Seville and his Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge [Book Review]
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 13 (2017): Isidore of Seville and hi... more Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 13 (2017): Isidore of Seville and his Reception in the Early Middle Ages: Transmitting and Transforming Knowledge, Late antique and early medieval Iberia, vol. 2, by Fear, Andrew, and Woods, Jamie (eds), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016, 236 pages, RRP 85.00, ISBN: 9789089648280
Pope Gregory’s Letter-Bearers: A Study of the Men and Women who Carried Letters for Pope Gregory the Great by John R. C. Martyn (review)
Martyn, John R. C., Pope Gregory’s Letter-Bearers: A Study of the Men and Women who Carried Lette... more Martyn, John R. C., Pope Gregory’s Letter-Bearers: A Study of the Men and Women who Carried Letters for Pope Gregory the Great, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars, 2012; hardback; pp. x, 135; R.R.P. £34.99; ISBN 9781443838863.
Christians shaping identity from the Roman empire to Byzantium: Studies inspired by Pauline Allen [Book Review]
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): Christians shaping identi... more Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): Christians shaping identity from the Roman empire to Byzantium: Studies inspired by Pauline Allen, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 132 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015), e-book, xv + 520 pages, RRP US $223.00, ISBN 9789004301573.
Churches and social power in early medieval Europe: Integrating archaeological and historical Approaches [Book Review]
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): Churches and social power... more Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): Churches and social power in early medieval Europe: Integrating archaeological and historical Approaches, by Sanchez-Pardo, Jose C., and Shapland, Michael G. (eds), Studies in the Early Middle Ages, vol. 42 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015) hardcover, xvi + 553 pages, 120 b/w illustrations, RRP 125.00, ISBN 9782503545554.
A companion to Gregory of Tours [Book Review]
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): A companion to Gregory of... more Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association, Volume 12 (2016): A companion to Gregory of Tours, by Murray, Alexander Callander (ed.), Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition, vol. 63 (Leiden: Brill, 2016) e-book, xviii + 667 pages, illustrations, maps, RRP US $297.00; ISBN 9789004307001
A companion to Gregory the great [Book Review]
Review(s) of: A companion to Gregory the great, by Neil, Bronwen and Dal Santo, Matthew (eds), Br... more Review(s) of: A companion to Gregory the great, by Neil, Bronwen and Dal Santo, Matthew (eds), Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition, vol. 47, (Leiden, Brill, 2013) hardcover, xxv + 427 pages, 2 b/w figures, 1 colour figure, RRP $237.00, ISBN 9789004257757.
Pohl, Walter and Gerda Heydemann, eds, Strategies of Identification: Ethnicity and Religion in Early Medieval Europe
Parergon Volume 31, Number 2, 2014
![Research paper thumbnail of Dey, Hendrick W., The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome AD 271-855. (2011) [Book Review]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/33757021/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](ERAS Journal: Edition Fifteen – March 2014
Basileia: Essays on Imperium and Culture in Honour of E. M. and M. J. Jeffreys by Geoffrey Nathan and Lynda Garland, eds (review)
Christians and Pagans: The conversion of Britain from Alban to Bede [Book Review]
Christianity’s Quiet Success: The Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon Collection and the Power of the Church in Late Antique Gaul (review)
Samuel & Saul or Galla Placidia & Valentinian? Recontextualising the textual sources for the British Isles in the fifth century
The lack of sources that describe the significant transition from the Roman and Christian provinc... more The lack of sources that describe the significant transition from the Roman and Christian province of Britannia (and the satellite political entities of the pagan Picts and Scots) to the beginnings of medieval
‘kingdoms’ contributes to contested narratives for Britain and Ireland in the early medieval period. Of the surviving sources that describe events in the fifth century, for instance, there are only three texts originating from the British Isles, namely Patrick’s Confessio and Epistola ad Coroticum, assigned different dates in fifth-century Ireland, and Gildas’s De excidio Britanniae, dated variously to a late fifth- or mid sixth-century
Britain. From a continental perspective, only one text narrates events in the British Isles in this period: Constantius of Lyon’s Vita Germani, dated to late fifth-century Gaul, with Germanus active against the influence of Pelagius in Britain in the second quarter of the fifth century. However, the lack of connection between these rare witnesses to this profound transition, hinging on differing visions of the present and the past, continues to contribute to uncertainty.
This paper re-examines the interrelationship between Gildas’s De excidio, Patrick’s Confessio and Epistola, and Constantius’s Vita Germani. It will offer a fresh interpretation of the context of these texts on the basis of an argument over the structuring and wielding of authority. Whilst Gildas emphasises a political and ecclesiastical model based on the Old Testament kingdoms of Judah and Israel, Constantius connects
the British Isles to a ‘golden-age’ in Christian imperial governance, as represented by the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III (425-455) and his devoutly Christian mother, Empress Galla Placidia (d. 450).
The outcome of this re-examination is to place these ‘insular’ texts within wider debates over authority in the second half of the fifth century.
The Legacy of Gildas: Authority and the Monastic Ideal
Gildas’s most significant surviving work, De excidio Britanniae (De excidio), addressing a politi... more Gildas’s most significant surviving work, De excidio Britanniae (De excidio), addressing a political and spiritual crisis in Britain sometime between the late fifth and the mid-sixth century, provides the earliest surviving instances of several medieval literary conventions. The De excidio is the earliest surviving text to construct a ‘national’ history (as Britannia) of a former Roman province; Gildas is the first author to identify a post-Roman gens or ‘nation’ (the Britones) as a Chosen People of God; the De excidio is the earliest surviving work describing the legal expectations, in a scriptural sense, of the authority of Christian kings and bishops, the emerging polity of post-Roman Western Europe. In relating Gildas’s political innovations in his De excidio – a merging of the monastic authority of Jerome (c. 347-420) and Cassian (c. 360-435) that allowed him to criticise his seniors in the manner of an Old Testament prophet – I will suggest that medieval kingship did not derive from ‘barbarian’ or pre-Christian models, but was a political and ecclesiastical innovation theorised by ascetics within the Roman world (and in Britannia in particular) from the biblical kingdom of Israel.
Dystopia Now: Interventions in the Future from the Historic Present
Whilst the role of fiction in shaping the future has received much attention, the role of History... more Whilst the role of fiction in shaping the future has received much attention, the role of History - or providential History - in shaping the future is not well understood. This paper looks at two case studies from the distant past - the Briton Gildas (fl. fifth or sixth century), and the English Bede (c. 673-735) - who each shaped their histories to respond to an immediate crisis in Britain, and subsequently profoundly shaped the future so that crisis was avoided. In doing so, I will examine present efforts to shape history in ways that might also determine our future by exploring the paradigm of 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' and the subsequent attachment of barbarism and superstition to the Middle Ages, promoted since Edward Gibbon's 18th century historical intervention on behalf of the Enlightenment, one calling for a return to a rational Rome. Images of the Roman Empire have since been profoundly attached to the major conflicts of the 19th and 20th centuries, and continue to dominate the 21st century. This paper will move away from Kaisers and Legions to examine another dystopic vision that the Enlightenment drew from Rome: the return of slavery.
The Legacy of Gildas: Patrick, Prophecy and the Collectio Canonum Hibernensis
Elements of a letter written by the monk-deacon Gildas (fl. 5th or 6th C.) to [Bishop] Finnian (d... more Elements of a letter written by the monk-deacon Gildas (fl. 5th or 6th C.) to [Bishop] Finnian (d. c. 549 or c. 579) were used in a significant collection of Irish canon law, the Collectio Canonum Hibernensis, compiled around 700. This paper will argue that this select use of Gildas, one drawn solely from this letter emphasising the primacy of episcopal authority in matters of ecclesiastical discipline, was used to support the episcopal claims to the role of speculator or watchman in the prophetic traditions of the Old Testament. Within this specifically Irish context, the authority of Gildas was transmuted from a critic of kings and bishops in the prophetic tradition (as represented by his De Excidio Britanniae) to one supportive of the authority of bishops to criticise kings, as linked to the Apostle of Ireland, Patrick.
Apocalypse Now: Bede and the reshaping of Britain
With the appearance of the twin comet of 729, and the resultant eschatological crisis in Northumb... more With the appearance of the twin comet of 729, and the resultant eschatological crisis in Northumbria, Bede radically reshaped his former vision of the island of Britain in his momentous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum or the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, published c. 731. This paper examines the former exclusive concept of the island of Britain, a nation defined by one Christian people as expressed by the ascetic Briton Gildas and subsequently taken up by Bede, and the changes this view of Britain undertook when Bede was faced with the distinct possibility of the End of Times, as represented by the comet. Bede’s construction of a new inclusive concept of the island of Britain, as a nation of many Christian peoples and one fundamentally inspired by his interpretations of the churchfather Augustine of Hippo, still impacts on our modern perception of Britain as an island and the legitimacy of the peoples it contains.
Contested origins of monasticism: divergent models of authority?
As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman Empire, monasticism... more As Christianity moved from the periphery to the centre of the Roman Empire, monasticism evolved, not without tension, from the desert of the Fathers to the urban environment of Bishops. Doctrinal interpretations as a source of tension between clerical and monastic models of an ascetic life, as represented by the conflict between Augustine of Hippo and the arch-heresiarch Pelagius, as well as functional frictions, as represented by tension between the charismatic roles of ‘holy men’ and bishops, have since influenced the discourse. This paper will examine the contested biblical origins of monasticism in order to emphasise competing models of authority as a potential source of tension between monastic and clerical interpretations of a Christian society.
The legacy of Gildas: prophecy, asceticism and the evolution of Christian culture in the British Isles 450-750
This investigation into the legacy of Gildas and the impact of prophecy on the shaping of clerica... more This investigation into the legacy of Gildas and the impact of prophecy on the shaping of clerical authority in the Christian culture of the British Isles from 450-750 will explore the possibility that differences and tensions between the Christian culture of the British Isles and that of the continental Roman Church were influenced by attempts to defend on older ascetic tradition, one resistant to the authority of Augustine, and one that had institutionalised prophetic authority as complementary to the clerical and secular hierarchies. In doing so, I will attempt to ask whether it is possible to speak of the Christian culture of the British Isles in the early medieval period as the Celtic Church or Celtic Christianity.
Rome and Israel: Gildas and the Fall of Empire
In his _De excidio Britanniae_, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt sec... more In his _De excidio Britanniae_, Gildas systematically set out to admonish the morally corrupt secular and church leaders of partitioned 5th- or 6th-century Britain, calling for repentance, unity, and obedience to God's law in order to restore his beloved _patria_. In doing so, Gildas - straddling the transition between the antique and the medieval - was strikingly original: E.A. Thompson notes that Gildas was the first man in the entire west to write a provincial history; Michael E. Jones notes that this provincial history must have been a conscious rhetorical innovation; D.R. Howlett notes that no-one before Gildas had identified a single Christian people as praesens Israel; Thomas O'Loughlin notes that this perception of a people as a distinct baptised nation marks an important break in the history of theology. This session will examine the historical, rhetorical, and religious innovations of Gildas within the context of the topos, 'The Fall of the Roman Empire'.
Sponsor: Prato Consortium for Medieval & Renaissance Studies
Organiser: Stephen Joyce
Moderator/Chair: Luca Larpi, Manchester
Paper-a: Gildas and the End of Roman Britain
Speaker: Christopher Doyle, NUI
Paper-b: Gildas and the Historiographical Imagination
Speaker: Shane Lordan, UCC
Paper-c: Gildas and His Prophecy for Britain
Speaker: Stephen Joyce, Monash
Paper-d: The Manuscript Reception of Gildas's _De excidio_
Speaker: Kirstie McGregor, Oxford
Growth or decay? A prophetic reading of Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae
Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from ‘Dark Age’ Britain, ... more Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from ‘Dark Age’ Britain, and its context is significant in constructing a narrative for 5th- and 6th-century Britain. Shaped by biblical prophecy, Gildas used both the Old Testament and the Book of Jeremiah, and the New Testament and Paul’s Letter to the Romans, to construct and legitimate a providential history of partitioned Britain based directly on the providential history of a partitioned Israel just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians. This paper will argue that Gildas’s educational background and patristic influences, influences that directly link his prophecy to the restoration or destruction of romanitas, suggest a context for his prophecy not of the 6th century, as traditionally believed, but within the later 5th century. This new context places Gildas’s prophecy and its anticipated providential outcomes of divinely ordained growth or decay not in a period of stagnation and decline but at a time when the audience addressed by the DEB, the secular authorities and church leaders of partitioned Britain, still had the political means to restore romanitas and reunite the partitioned province of Brittannia. It will be argued that a continued retrospective reading of Gildas’s prophecy has placed it in a context of decay, and that this new context points to the possibility of the DEB influencing a period of growth.
Translating Jeremiah: Gildas and his Prophecy for Britain
Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) – On the Ruin of Britain – written sometime in the fifth or ... more Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) – On the Ruin of Britain – written sometime in the fifth or sixth centuries was a letter to his patria, the former Roman province of Britannia, exhorting the morally corrupt secular and church leaders to repent in the face of God’s judgement. In doing so, Gildas drew on the rich patristic traditions of romanitas and the Church, as well as his own personal revelations from the Bible. This paper will explore how Gildas used both the Old Testament and the Book of Jeremiah, and the New Testament and Paul’s Letter to the Romans, to construct and legitimate a providential history of Britain based directly on the providential history of Israel just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians. The result is a striking claim by Gildas on behalf of his patria to the divine legitimacy of Israel and the Chosen People of God. It will be proposed that Gildas, translating the role of Jeremiah, prophet to the nations, and Paul, apostle to the nations, into his immediate present, claimed the role of prophet and constructed a prophecy for Britain that had a significant impact on the subsequent history of the British Isles.
Rome burns brightly still – contextualising Gildas’s De excidio Britanniae
Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and i... more Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and its context is significant in constructing a narrative for fifth- and sixth-century Britain. . This paper will seek to identify Gildas's DEB as a call to reestablish Romano-British identity within the context of romanitas and a continental struggle between Catholic and Arian aristocracies, shaped in a biblical prophetic tradition. It will argue that Gildas's educational background and patristic influences suggest a context not of the sixth century, as traditionally believed, but within the later fifth century.
Growth or decay? A prophetic reading of Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae
Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from ‘Dark Age’ Britain, ... more Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from ‘Dark Age’ Britain, and its context is significant in constructing a narrative for 5th- and 6th-century Britain. Shaped by biblical prophecy, Gildas used both the Old Testament and the Book of Jeremiah, and the New Testament and Paul’s Letter to the Romans, to construct and legitimate a providential history of partitioned Britain based directly on the providential history of a partitioned Israel just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians. This paper will argue that Gildas’s educational background and patristic influences, influences that directly link his prophecy to the restoration or destruction of romanitas, suggest a context for his prophecy not of the 6th century, as traditionally believed, but within the later 5th century. This new context places Gildas’s prophecy and its anticipated providential outcomes of divinely ordained growth or decay not in a period of stagnation and decline but at a time when the audience addressed by the DEB, the secular authorities and church leaders of partitioned Britain, still had the political means to restore romanitas and reunite the partitioned province of Brittannia. It will be argued that a continued retrospective reading of Gildas’s prophecy has placed it in a context of decay, and that this new context points to the possibility of the DEB influencing a period of growth.
Translating Jeremiah: Gildas and his Prophecy for Britain
Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) – On the Ruin of Britain – written sometime in the fifth or ... more Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) – On the Ruin of Britain – written sometime in the fifth or sixth centuries was a letter to his patria, the former Roman province of Britannia, exhorting the morally corrupt secular and church leaders to repent in the face of God’s judgement. In doing so, Gildas drew on the rich patristic traditions of romanitas and the Church, as well as his own personal revelations from the Bible. This paper will explore how Gildas used both the Old Testament and the Book of Jeremiah, and the New Testament and Paul’s Letter to the Romans, to construct and legitimate a providential history of Britain based directly on the providential history of Israel just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians. The result is a striking claim by Gildas on behalf of his patria to the divine legitimacy of Israel and the Chosen People of God. It will be proposed that Gildas, translating the role of Jeremiah, prophet to the nations, and Paul, apostle to the nations, into his immediate present, claimed the role of prophet and constructed a prophecy for Britain that had a significant impact on the subsequent history of the British Isles.
Growth or decay? A prophetic reading of Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae
Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and i... more Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and its context is significant in constructing a narrative for 5th- and 6th-century Britain. Shaped by biblical prophecy, Gildas used both the Old Testament and the Book of Jeremiah, and the New Testament and Paul’s Letter to the Romans, to construct and legitimate a providential history of partitioned Britain based directly on the providential history of a partitioned Israel just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians. This paper will argue that Gildas's educational background and patristic influences, influences that directly link his prophecy to the restoration or destruction of romanitas, suggest a context for his prophecy not of the 6th century, as traditionally believed, but within the later 5th century. This new context places Gildas’s prophecy and its anticipated providential outcomes of divinely ordained growth or decay not in a period of stagnation and decline but at a time when the audience addressed by the DEB, the secular authorities and church leaders of partitioned Britain, still had the political means to restore romanitas and reunite the partitioned province of Brittannia. It will be argued that a continued retrospective reading of Gildas's prophecy has placed it in a context of decay, and that this new context points to the possibility of the DEB influencing a period of growth.
A Late Fifth-century Crisis in Roman ‘Catholicism’?: Contextualising Constantius’s 'vita Germani'
Constantius’s vita Germani, written in the late fifth century, was arguably the most influential ... more Constantius’s vita Germani, written in the late fifth century, was arguably the most influential vita or 'saint's life' since Sulpicius Severus's Life of Saint Martin of Tours, written some hundred years before in the late fourth century. Cleverly eliding the aristocratic and organised Rhone Monasticism of Lérins with the common and charismatic Touraine Monasticism of Martin, Constantius had created the ultimate episcopal Christian hero, one that, significantly, took the role of the Saint back within the control of the aristocratically dominated Gallo-Roman Church hierarchy. The effect, arguably, was to place the bishop as confessor-saint at the heart of local episcopal strategies.
The life story of Germanus, both a literal and theological defender of romanitas and orthodoxy, connected 'Catholic' (and subsequently partitioned) Britain, Ireland and Northern Gaul to Rome and Ravenna, and from there to the imperial and 'Catholic' authorities of the East Romans in Constantinople. The timing of the publishing of the vita Germani, c. 480, was critical: imperial authority had just ceased in the West, and many of the western provinces were dominated by Germanic and Arian aristocracies. Western Europe was on the verge of becoming both 'barbarised' and heretic.
It will be argued that the vita Germani, deliberately constructed and widely published, was a direct result of its context - a crisis in late fifth-century Roman 'Catholicism' that was not only political and cultural, as defined by a loss of romanitas, but also theological, as defined by a dominant and militant Arianism and the need to construct and support a militant alliance of 'Catholic' nationes to combat it.
Gildas and the crisis of Romano-British identity in the late fifth century
Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from 'Dark Age' Britain, ... more Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive from 'Dark Age' Britain, and its context is significant, not only in dating archeological and cultural changes, but in constructing an identity for fifth and sixth-century Britain. Studies of this text have identified a Latinity, an education, patristic influences, and a fundamental ‘Theodosian’ connection of Christianity with romanitas that possibly contextualizes Gildas not within the first half of the 6th century, as commonly believed, but within the later 5th century. This paper will seek to identify Gildas's DEB not as a passive lament situated within the insular Romano-British identity of the 6th-century 'Celtic Church', but as an active and political epistle or sermon: a call to reestablish Romano-British identity within romanitas and a continental struggle between ‘Catholic’ and Arian aristocracies in the latter half of the fifth century. It will be argued that this epistle, reflecting the late fifth-century orthodoxy of the Gallican Church and situated within ascetic, episcopal and political tensions created by the ‘devolved’ structures of the Patrician church, brought about significant and generational change within Romano-British identity, and a fundamental realigning with romanitas that may have had significant influence on events on the continent.
A late fifth-century crisis in Catholicism? – contextualising Constantius’s vita Germani
Constantius’s vita Germani, written in the late fifth century, was arguably the most influential ... more Constantius’s vita Germani, written in the late fifth century, was arguably the most influential vita or ‘saint’s life’ since Sulpicius Severus’s Life of Saint Martin of Tours, written some hundred years before in the late fourth century. It will be argued that the vita Germani, deliberately constructed and widely published, was a direct result of its context - a crisis in late fifth-century Catholicism that was not only political and cultural, as defined by a loss of romanitas, but also theological, as defined by a militant Arianism and the need to construct a militant Catholicism to combat it.
Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association
The Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association (JAEMA) is a double-blind peer reviewed ... more The Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association (JAEMA) is a double-blind peer reviewed journal published annually (ISSN 1449-9320) distributed to members and institutional subscribers. The JAEMA publishes articles, reviews and short notes relating to all aspects of the early medieval period from late antiquity and the end of the Roman empire to about the end of the eleventh century. The JAEMA seeks engaging, original work, that contributes to a collective understanding of the early medieval period. It welcomes papers on any theme, such as history, art history, archaeology, literature, linguistics, music and theology, and from any interpretive angle – memory, gender, historiography, medievalism, consilience and beyond. The whole of the JAEMA's content (from 2005 onwards) is available for purchase from the Association's online content publisher Informit. https://www.informit.org/product-details/615/JAEMA/titles
Rome burns brightly still: contextualising Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae
Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and i... more Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (DEB) is one of the few texts to survive 'Dark Age' Britain, and its context is significant in constructing a narrative for fifth- and sixth-century Britain. This paper will seek to identify Gildas's DEB as a call to reestablish Romano-British identity within the context of romanitas and a continental struggle between Catholic and Arian aristocracies, shaped in a biblical prophetic tradition. It will argue that Gildas's educational background and patristic influences suggest a context not of the sixth century, as traditionally believed, but within the later fifth century.