Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Comparative Arts (Fine Arts)

Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori is a seventeenth-century Roman convent that was built between 1642-1667 and was founded by a woman, Duchess Camilla Virginia Savelli Farnese, the wife of Duke Pietro Farnese. It remains as a paradigm that seventeenth-century female monasteries were spaces of freedom and peace for religious women, where the nuns exerted their agency (that is, the power to discern and to choose). They were not penitentiaries with inmates, as some have considered them to be. Camilla's agency created a place in which women could seek the ancient Christian pursuit of purity of heart and experience spiritual perfection. The women at S.M. dei Sette Dolori were not unique. They were following in the footsteps of many women before them as far back as Mary, the sister of Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead. Indeed, the dichotomous nature of convents – confinement and freedom – is a fundamental element of Christian monasticism. This dissertation will contribute to current scholarship regarding female monasticism in order to support and highlight the religious women who exerted their agency to choose a life they so desired; to explicate further how the dichotomous nature of convents is endemic to true ascetic monasticism; and to untangle some of the misperceptions imposed upon this lifestyle. Two art forms will be examined: Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori represents seventeenth-century female monasticism, and Giacomo Puccini's opera, Suor Angelica, represents the persistent and pervading misinterpretations and misconceptions of seventeenth-century convent life as incarceration. An interdisciplinary approach will be employed, utilizing architectural analysis and theory, social history, archival examination, musicology, and feminist theory and rhetoric. Applying these methodologies to the specific artworks mentioned above will expose misinterpretations, clarify misunderstandings, and offer alternative meanings, thus exhibiting that the convent is not a prison and its (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Buchanan (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, English

For much of the past seventy years, discussion of authorial intention has often been seen as taboo in historical literary analysis. Monumental scholars such Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault wrote crucial essays that helped steer critical focus away from questions of intention, encouraging interpretation of the text itself as the ideal. While these contributions to the field were both valuable and necessary, paving the way for the reader-response approach that is now predominant in literary analysis, they had the unfortunate consequence of taking the role of intention out of the realm of interpretation entirely. The difficulty this consequence has presented is that to many literary analysts, “intention” is still viewed as a bad word, or at least one tainted by the idea that considering intentions precludes other readerly or critical interpretations. The field of book history has largely steered clear of the negative imputations of intention, as understanding what an author (or other agents involved in publication) intended by choices made in a primary text is essential for how that publication can be parsed from a material standpoint. The divide between book history and literary analysis has gradually been narrowing, but the reluctance to fully embrace intention as one of many tools to explore the interpretational possibilities of historical literary texts is a problem that I seek to address. This dissertation focuses on four editions of poetry from the mid-seventeenth century to demonstrate how the intentions of authors and other agents in the production of literary works have a direct impact on how those works can be interpreted. My methodology is rooted in book history, but my key objective throughout is to apply that approach to literary analysis by using what we can both definitively know and reasonably establish about intentions to guide close-readings of the works themselves. Doing so reveals that, far from precluding interpretation, considering the orig (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hannibal Hamlin (Committee Chair); Erin McCarthy (Committee Member); Luke Wilson (Committee Member); Karen Winstead (Committee Member) Subjects: British and Irish Literature; Literature

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, History

The late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries saw England experience a dramatic shift; this transformation took place in both the public sphere and print culture. It also occurred in the government's involvement in and management of these two theaters of the social landscape. To grasp this change and gauge how it happened over time this thesis analyzes four instructive events, or in some cases series of events, and the changing political and cultural contexts surrounding them to demonstrate the government's evolving involvement in and management of the public sphere through print media during this period. The specific episodes of interest are the Popish Plot and subsequent Exclusion Crisis, the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689, the Sacheverell “incident” and its aftermath, and the peace campaign that brought about the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Each is examined both quantitatively and qualitatively using a combination of primary sources in the form of newspapers, pamphlets, and other pieces of print media and secondary analysis. This investigation demonstrates that the importance of the public sphere and of print expanded during this timeframe and that to achieve its goals and maintain political stability the government had to expand its participation in and management of these emergent spaces of power brokering – a task it successfully did by 1713.

Committee: Michael Graham Dr. (Advisor); Michael Levin Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Spanish and Portuguese

The rich mountain of Potosi, with its famed silver mines, has commanded the attention of Europeans, creoles (Americans of Spanish descent), and indigenous Andeans since the Spanish colonizers of Peru were made aware of its existence in 1545. Soon after its discovery, the rich mountain was represented in a variety of written and visual texts created by writers and artists from the Andes, Spain, and other parts of Europe. Independent of its physical form, in these representations the rich mountain assumed a discursive meaning, functioning as an icon that, depending on the context, represented abstract ideas of wealth, immorality, dominance, and spirituality. This dissertation brings together texts, images, and maps to discuss the multifaceted iconicity of Potosi and its cultural salience in these representations. Besides functioning as an icon that supported Spain's "official history;" a discourse that presented Spanish achievements as heroic and providential, other representations of the rich mountain supported alternative discourses regarding Spanish colonial history. To advance individual and nationalistic agendas, authors, artists, and mapmakers strove to control the meaning associated with the iconic rich mountain. My dissertation shows that for an early modern audience the mountain of Potosi was more than just a source of silver; it was also an icon that contributed to discourses negotiating issues of economy, morality, spatial and political dominance, and spiritual expression.

Committee: Lisa Voigt Dr. (Advisor); Lucia Costigan Dr. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Davis Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Cartography; Comparative Literature; Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, English

This dissertation examines sixteenth- and seventeenth-century printed English poetry books and argues that these books offer important evidence about print's impact on early modern poetry. I begin with the premise that existing literary historical narratives have failed to account for the many and diverse poetry books printed during the period. Scholars of the lyric have long held that a pervasive “stigma of print” discouraged most reputable authors from publishing verse, and though recent scholarship has complicated the idea that poets would have roundly rejected publication, manuscript sources continue to receive far more critical attention than printed poetry books. Nevertheless, poetry was a significant part of the early modern book trade. It was published on single sheets, in pamphlets, and in large folios; in miscellanies and collections with other verse or with works primarily in other genres, like plays and prose romances; and on topics ranging from love and sex to religion to politics and current events. As a ubiquitous cultural phenomenon, printed poetry shaped English literary culture more profoundly than was possible in the elite and exclusive milieu of manuscript circulation. Print did not, of course, change poetry in a single way. “‘Get me the Lyricke Poets': Poetry and Print in Early Modern England” therefore presents a series of case studies that is not meant to tell an overarching story but to show how our understanding of the most fundamental historical concepts in early modern English poetry change in light of the evidence available only in printed poetry books. Each chapter takes as its starting point a significant, canonical publication that presents a bibliographical or critical problem that has puzzled critics. By reading the poems in these editions with an eye to their material appearance in print and the circumstances of their publication, I argue that these publications are not as odd as they might initially appear to be; rather, they sugg (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Dutton (Committee Chair); Alan B. Farmer (Committee Member); Luke Wilson (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, History

This thesis explores the various factors leading to the adaptation of western style scientific cartography by Japanese mapmakers in the employ of the Tokugawa government in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It situates Japan not as a passive recipient of European cartographic techniques, but rather an active producer of geographic information in an exchange that began in the late 16th century. It focuses on the conflict over Ezo (modern day Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril islands) between Russia and Japan as a catalyst for the Tokugawa Shogunate's early 19th century mapping programs. Beginning with an analysis of the development of mapmaking in Europe, I examine the political, military, and economic character of the broader exchange as well as its effect on the mapping of Ezo itself. I conclude that the Tokugawa government actively employed both native and foreign cartographic techniques to solidify its hold over both Ezo and represent Japan as a unified whole. Through continuing cartographic exchange western-style Japanese maps were transmitted to Europe, helping to formalize European representations of Japan.

Committee: Philip Brown PhD (Committee Chair); James Bartholomew PhD (Committee Member); Alan Beyerchen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cartography; History

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Theology

Mary's purity has been a subject of theological inquiry for over a millennium. This project's objective is to follow the development of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception historically to the ways it became manifest in the Spanish kingdoms of the Middle Ages, how it was brought and taught to the Nahua and Maya in the sixteenth century evangelization of Central Mexico by Spanish friars, and then how it remained a powerful force of evangelical and political fervor in New Spain through the analysis of three seventeenth century homilies about the Immaculate Conception. Whereas the conquest of the Americas is largely remembered for the brutalities and injustices committed, the Spanish friars who implemented a wide-scale evangelization of the Native Americans were interested in the sincere conversions of people like the Nahua and Maya. This dissertation studies the evangelization methods of the sixteenth century Franciscan friars in Central Mexico with particular attention to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and to Marian belief and devotion. The study also takes into account the cosmologies and ways of living of the Nahua and Maya, the two most prominent cultural groups in Mesoamerica at the time. The interaction between the friars and the natives is viewed in light of their respective cultural heritages. The spiritual concerns of the friars and their indoctrination of the Nahua and Maya are studied in light of the religious heritage of the Spanish kingdoms of the Middle Ages and the defense of the belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Spanish friars make Mary central to their evangelization of Central Mexico, along with Christ and the Cross. The first three chapters deal with the pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican world with respect to Nahua and Maya cosmologies, the Catholicism of the Iberian Peninsula up to the expansion to the Americas, and the development of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception respectively. Chapter four focuses on the ev (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Neomi DeAnda (Advisor); Sébastien (Bakpenam) Abalodo (Committee Member); Sandra Yocum (Committee Member); Dennis Doyle (Committee Member); Gilberto Cavazos-González (Committee Member) Subjects: Latin American History; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies; Middle Ages; Native Americans; Religious Education; Religious History; Spirituality; Theology

BA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

This thesis explores what I have termed the "myth of Bologna" a phrase that refers to an early modern city being renowned for its women citizens, but the reasons as to why remaining shrouded in mystery. Although recent scholarship on women's history in Bologna has covered a variety of topics including women as religious figures, women in the arts, and women in the silk trade, few have attempted to take a wholistic approach to connect the vast and unprecedented influence of female participation in the city. This thesis will argue that women's history in Bologna and, more importantly, as a whole requires a broader lens to be able to fill in the gaps left behind by fragmented documentation, a general lack of sources, and the unique challenges posed by studying women in history. Using traditional written sources, as well as visual and material culture, this thesis attempts to reconstruct the reality of women in Bologna beyond what the mythic perceptions of the city can provide. If we can understand "why Bologna?" through an interdisciplinary lens, we can begin to bridge the gaps between the fractured pieces of women's history and challenge our limited perceptions of women during the early modern era.

Committee: Matthew Crawford Ph.D (Advisor); Gustav Medicus Ph.D. (Advisor); Don-John Dugas Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lindsey Starkey Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kristin Stasiowski Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; European History

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, History

This thesis examines the ways in which early modern medical texts presented the mind-body connection as it impacted child-bearing women in seventeenth century England. The medieval rediscovery of ancient Greek medical knowledge dominated understandings of health and healing for centuries but reached its widest audiences with the explosion of vernacular language printed materials in the early modern period. Foundational to these repurposed ancient medical theories was the belief that the mind and body interacted in complex ways, requiring frequent monitoring of emotional states to achieve good health. For practitioners concerned with women's reproductive health, women's emotional regulation was vital to desirable physical outcomes throughout the period of childbearing, lasting beyond modern designations of conception and childbirth. Thus, this thesis challenges assumptions of how early modern historians should mark the phases of reproduction and argues instead that childbearing, at least for women, continued through the first years of an infant's life.

Committee: P. Renée Baernstein (Advisor); William Brown (Committee Member); Cynthia Klestinec (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Gender; Gynecology; History; Obstetrics; Womens Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

Hans Jakob Christofell von Grimmelshausen personifies the unstable atmosphere of the Thirty Years War as the character Courasche, a chaotic, cross dressing woman, who, through multiple marriages and a “take no prisoners” attitude, traverses the physical landscape and social hierarchy of the war. Part of a trilogy of works, Courasche's impetus for this autobiography is a slanderous description of her after her involvement with Simplicissimus. His accusations of her morally bankrupt existence, made in the first book of the trilogy, are not countered, rather accepted. By bending her gender and challenging the stereotypical gender roles of the seventeenth Century, Courasche's untamed and destructive nature is a personification of the war and a critique of women's lack of a stable place in society and lack of representative voice. Nearly three hundred years later, Bertolt Brecht adapts the character of Courasche, transforming her into a mother of three and the personification of Capitalism as the character Mutter Courage. This is a transformation not only of genre, from prose to drama, but a change in narrative perspective, from a first person perspective to a third person perspective, creating a voice for women. Through this critique of Capitalism, Brecht connects the issues of the early twentieth century to those in the seventeenth century, pointing out congruent historical patterns and social circumstances. A closer look at these texts will highlight their similarities of perspective and differences in agenda, both working from the angle of gender dynamics and the Thirty Years War.

Committee: Tanja Nusser Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Richard Schade Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Spanish and Portuguese

This dissertation examines the relationship between the literary grotesque mode and the growing pains of Madrid during the first century of its status as Villa y Corte, capital of the Spanish empire. The six novels analyzed in this study – Guzman de Alfarache (1599, 1604), El Buscon (1626), Guia y avisos de forasteros (1620), Las harpias en Madrid (1633), El diablo cojuelo (1641) and El Criticon (1651, 1653, 1657) – are significant because their authors employ the grotesque mode to show their perspectives on the changes that they witnessed in Madrid. The central goal of this project is to examine the continued presence of the grotesque mode in these novels and how the use of this mode was motivated by the historical crisis that took place during the years following Philip II's decision to move the court to Madrid. In this vein, Philip Thomson recognizes that moments of change are particularly conducive to the use of the grotesque in art and literature. Using studies on the grotesque by Thomson, Wolfgang Kayser, Henryk Ziomek, James Iffland and Paul Ilie, this dissertation will present a definition of the grotesque mode as it applies to a carefully chosen grouping of seventeenth-century Spanish novels. This definition is based on three pillars. The first is the tension produced by the combination of the comic and a “sphere of negativity,” the term that Iffland utilizes to signify something that is incompatible with the comic. The second is the grotesque conceit, an exaggeration or distortion of the conceit as formulated by Baltasar Gracian. The third pillar of the grotesque mode is distortion of characters and their actions, which is accomplished through a variety of means. In the selected novels, the most frequent device used to distort the subject is zoomorphism, or the combination of elements of the human, plant and vegetative spheres to describe a single object. The first chapter of this study examines the grotesque picaresque images in Guzman de Alfarache. Usi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth B. Davis (Advisor); Jonathan Burgoyne (Committee Member); Donald Larson (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Foreign Language; Literature; Urban Planning

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2014, English

In seventeenth-century England, narratives of earthly perfection often intersected with the pursuit of social power. In response, resistant perspectives arose that challenged the notion of perfection as an achievable or even desirable national and personal condition. Using the work of biopolitical theorists Michel Foucault, Roberto Esposito, and Eric Santner, I track these resistant perspectives in the works of Anna Trapnel and John Milton. In their writing I reveal a significant anxiety surrounding the social immunization of civil power, as well as a vision for enriching the self and the community through exposure to ontological risk. I consider the continuing significance of these early modern authors and their perspectives on self-determination, community, and risk, and relate them to recent works in biopolitical theory.

Committee: Katharine Gillespie PhD (Committee Chair); James Bromley PhD (Committee Member); Andrew Hebard PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

BA, Oberlin College, 2014, History

The changes in the understanding of childhood and children in colonial New England marked a swift and profound departure from English family norms prior to 1630. Casting off the intellectual baggage of childhood and the family mores that had accompanied the Puritans across the Atlantic, New Englanders reconceptualized children as central to the mission in the wilderness. In this thesis, I argue that New Englanders connected, both implicitly and explicitly, the well being of the colony's children directly with the future health of New England and sought to capitalize on this connection in unique, at times self-serving, ways. To best serve their own visions of the future New England commonwealth, religious authorities, secular authorities, and parents and the 'common folk' throughout Massachusetts constructed contested meanings and goals that each group attached to and associated variously with children. Though each group agreed on a new understanding of childhood, their differing interpretations and goals, and the contested ground on which these groups interacted, introduced into New England society intense and ultimately irreconcilable tensions between the community and the family. The interactions between religious authorities, secular authorities, and the 'common folk' introduced fundamental inconsistencies, incompatibilities, and irreconcilable tensions into New England society from an early period.

Committee: Matthew Bahar (Advisor); Renee Romano (Committee Chair); Carol Lasser (Committee Member); Emer O'Dwyer (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2013, History

This thesis centers on the language of dress and the politics of display during the late Stuart dynasty (1660-88). In the late Stuart courts, fashion and material possessions became an extension of one's identity. As such, this study examines how elite Englishmen and women viewed themselves, and others, through their clothing on the eve of Britain's birth in response to critical moments of identity crisis during the Restoration period. Whitehall courtiers and London gentility utilized their physical appearance, specifically their clothing, accoutrements, and furnishings, to send messages in order to define themselves, particularly their "Englishness", in response to numerous unresolved issues of identity. Therefore, this thesis argues that the roots of English national character were evident in the courts of Charles II and James II as a portion of the English population bolstered together in defiance of the French culture that pervaded late seventeenth-century England.

Committee: Renée Baernstein PhD (Advisor); Andrew Cayton PhD (Committee Member); Katharine Gillespie PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2008, College-Conservatory of Music : Piano

This document traces the development of the solo keyboard barcarolle from its origins in late seventeenth-century opera through its establishment as a popular vehicle for wordless musical expression at the dawn of the Romantic era. Opera composers that were initially inspired by romantic notions of Venice and its surrounding waterways eventually widened the dramatic scope of the barcarolle by adapting the form to a variety of other situations and locales. Felix Mendelssohn drew upon both the vocal origins and the Venetian roots of the genre in crafting his four textless "Gondellieder" for solo piano. At approximately the same time, Frederic Chopin issued a more extended and complex Barcarolle, still regarded as the highest standard in barcarolle composition. The models provided by these two masters ultimately inspired the creation of well over four hundred additional works, many of which are listed in the concluding chapter and appendix.

Committee: Robert L. Zierolf PhD (Advisor); Frank M. Weinstock MM (Committee Member); Stephanie P. Schlagel PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Art History

Dutch family portraits from the seventeenth century have been approached from two scholarly perspectives. One view focuses primarily on the concern to show familial harmony, while the other emphasizes the wish to convey prosperity. In my thesis I will argue that a third scholarly perspective should be combined with the other two viewpoints. I discuss three family portraits, one by Jan Miense Molenaer and two by Jacob Ochtervelt, that exemplify a visual representation of harmony, prosperity, and transience conveyed in the seventeenth-century Dutch family portrait.

Committee: Diane Mankin (Committee Chair); Kim Paice (Committee Member); Teresa Pac (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2007, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Art History

During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic was amid the religious conflict of Protestantism and Catholicism. While the country emerged under the Protestant flag, the conflict inundated the lives and work of the artists especially in town of Utrecht, the Catholic stronghold in a Calvinist nation. Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651), a Catholic artist, and his Calvinist counterpart, Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638) both treated the field of religious history painting as a means to place their religious beliefs into their art in order to further their religious affiliation's mission. I address these artists' work through formal analysis, an iconographical study, as well as placing them inside the socio-historical context of Utrecht from 1590 to 1625. Each chapter is centered on various religious history themes that both artists depicted. Chapter one focuses on the predominantly Protestant theme of Moses Striking the Rock in order to show how both artists took this motif and adapted it to the context of Utrecht. In chapter two, I identify how both Bloemaert and Wtewael take the Catholic theme of Adoration of the Shepherds and infuse the images with multiple levels of meanings. The last chapter is on moralizing genre scenes in which both artists began to place religious messages inside scenes of everyday life.

Committee: Diane Mankin (Advisor) Subjects: Art History

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2008, History

At the end of the seventeenth century Western Europe, and perhaps the wholeworld, had experienced a ‘general crisis' within the economy. It is the purpose of this dissertation to analyze the responses of England and Portugal with respect to these changes. Within the conceptual framework of the world-capitalist system, which arguably began in the sixteenth century with European expansion, we can see that not all were able to respond effectively to the changes that were taking place. While Portugal had dominated for nearly a century the trade between Asia and Europe that position of dominance was quickly eroded as a result of Spanish domination from 1580 through 1640, the virtual destruction of its navy, and most importantly—as this dissertation will argue—the continued adherence to a socio-political and intellectual perspective that would not meet the challenges of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. England, on the other hand, would develop a thoroughly secular perspective of the world which was made possible by the full acceptance of humanist scholarship, the break with the Roman Catholic Church, the alternative to canon law in the form of common law, and the development of a premier naval force that would allow them to dominate trade around the world. Had Portugal been able to break free from the seigneurial system of land tenure and the stilted intellectual tradition of scholasticism they might have had a chance to participate fully in the capitalist economic development of the world. However, Portugal's ability to do so was limited not only by their socio-political and intellectual milieu but also by the contstraints of geography, culture, and international politics. It is for this reason that this work argues that the structural impediments to change in Portugal were simply too overwhelming for them to seriously contemplate participation in the world-capitalist system; and, that even had they been able to eliminate these domestic impediments they would st (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Glenn Ames PhD (Committee Chair); Richard Boyer PhD (Committee Member); Michael Jakobson PhD (Committee Member); David Black PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Economic History; History; Social Structure

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2009, History

Recent scholarship on the seventeenth-century Jesuit-Amerindian encounter in New France has emphasized the cultural disruptiveness and loss of the various native groups as a result of the missionary project. Crucial to understanding this loss of traditional Amerindian culture, however, is a parallel understanding of the cultural and intellectual forces coming from Europe which shaped and often restricted the Jesuits' attitudes toward native customs. Examining the first fifty years of the cross-cultural encounter through the lens of dream interpretation, this paper argues that the Jesuits made several adjustments to their initial assumptions and responses toward native dreams. Although the Jesuits originally denounced all native dreams as superstitious, the advent of native convert dreams forced the Jesuits to recognize the placement of at least some native dreams within traditional Christian categories of visions and miracles, even though some of these dreams retained characteristics which they condemned in traditional native dreams. Over time, however, the Jesuits' accommodating policy drew criticisms from competing missionaries. Because the dispute centered on events in China rather than Canada, the acceptability of convert dreams was resolved first by a silence on the issue in public records and later by a retraction of the papal condemnation of the Chinese Rites ruling and certain accomodationist practices. Ultimately, the issue of dreams reveals the deep tensions faced by the Jesuits in evaluating and accepting practices, even in part, that did not fit precisely into orthodox categories during a period when the Catholic Church, an institution that, like many other European centers of power, strove to buttress their institutional authority and to reduce the varieties of acceptable worship and belief in the face of enormous expansion in intellectual ideas and varieties of cultural practices around the world.

Committee: Dale K. Van Kley (Advisor); Matt Goldish (Committee Member); Alice Conklin (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; History; Native Americans; Religion; Religious History

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2008, History

Infanticide was rare in early modern England, yet it occupied a prominent position in English culture. Ambiguities surrounding the birth and death of an infant permitted multiple interpretations of suspicious evidence. At times communities, the justice system, and the law formed competing narratives of birth and death. Narratives circulating in popular print promoted yet another interpretation of suspicious events.This essay explores narratives of infanticide, real and imagined, official and unofficial, in order to understand why the English were so preoccupied by infanticide. What was at stake? As communities dealt sympathetically with many suspected murderers, popular print demonized them. We can better understand the competing constructions of infanticide by placing them in the context of the demographic crisis of the seventeenth century. Communities and the justice system had to cope with real people with real problems. Popular print provided an outlet for administering justice that appeased divine wrath.

Committee: David Cressy PhD (Advisor); Geoffrey Parker PhD (Committee Member); Daniel Hobbins PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Families and Family Life; Gender