Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, English/Literature

This thesis puts into conversation the work of four influential late medieval writers whose lives or writings skirted the fringes of Christian orthodoxy - Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, John of Morigny, and Marguerite Porete - in order to explore the way "autobiographical" theological and/or mystical writers asserted spiritual authority and subjectivity under the constraints of both the threat of condemnation for heresy and the inherent inexpressibility of mystical or visionary experiences. Beginning with Marguerite Porete and reverberating out, the performance-based rhetorical strategies in storytelling, in self-narrativization, in discernment, and in revision employed by writers in response to the dynamic, complex, and in many ways increasingly hostile social and religious environments of the long fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries in France and England provide an important window into the relationship between these writers' ideas and the environment which shaped them. Each of these writers struggles with the limitations of the written word to express the truth of their spiritual experiences, and each engages in an experiential and bodily performative, rhetorical, and/or apophatic discourse in order to understand, assert, or make real their encounters with and understanding of themselves, the divine, and the relationship between the two.

Committee: Erin Labbie Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Casey Stark Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Rhetoric; Spirituality; Theology

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2024, History (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis essays to study and interpret a small body of poems from Southern Gaul which respond to the breach of the Rhine frontier and subsequent crises from 406-418 AD. After demonstrating contemporary literary conventions in both secular and Christian discourses, the paper will survey how the poems in question came to terms with recent catastrophe and thereby rearticulated differing ideas of empire and meta-history which drew upon the Latin Epic tradition but deployed them in a context that was increasingly Christian and destabilized. While this will shed limited light on the political events, it will primarily serve to situate the beginnings of the Fall of the Western Empire in their intellectual context and indicate how they served as agents of the transformation of the Classical World and the draining of the secular.

Committee: Jaclyn Maxwell (Committee Chair); Kevin Uhalde (Committee Member); Neil Bernstein (Committee Member) Subjects: Classical Studies; Education History; European History; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Religion; Religious History

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2024, Art History (Fine Arts)

This thesis examines the cultural and religious contexts behind the production of the Girona Apocalypse [Museu de la Catedral de Girona, Num. Inv. 7(11)], a tenth-century copy of Beatus of Liebana's eighth-century Commentary on the Apocalypse. It delves into the ways in which medieval society, guided by the gendered perceptions of the Latin Church, played a pivotal role in categorizing women within a binary framework: either as pure or immoral. The focus is on the portrayal of femininity in the Apocalypse of St. John, where the contrasting figures of the Great Harlot and the Woman Clothed with the Sun are juxtaposed, and how this imagery and symbolism are transformed into feminine archetypes in the Girona manuscript, resulting in a pictorial conflict and shedding light on the nuanced dynamics of gender in medieval Iberia. The Girona Apocalypse was created at the dual monastery at San Salvador de Tabara, and apparently was illuminated by a woman, Ende. Her contribution provides a subtle layer to the understanding of womanhood in medieval Iberia, highlighting the importance of the role she played in a society where women received limited validation and recognition. The Girona Beatus not only offers a unique perspective on the conception of womanhood in the Middle Ages, but also provides valuable insights into how a woman artisan painter navigated her identity within the constraints of a malecentric Christian narrative.

Committee: Charles Buchanan (Advisor); Charles Buchanan (Committee Chair); Laura Dobrynin (Committee Member); Jennie Klein (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Bible; Biblical Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Middle Eastern History; Museum Studies; Religion; Religious History; Theology; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation examines the role of the kinship network in late medieval politics. It argues that these networks were often built and maintained by women, along the lines of modern sociological research into kinkeeping. This refutes earlier readings of the medieval family as patrilineal and progressively nuclear. As the chronicles, state papers, letters, conduct texts, and romances all revealed, medieval families were extensive, often held together by the mothers, daughters, and wives who cultivated connections across their natal and marital courts. We cannot assume that these women's loyalty was inevitable, but instead must pay attention to the process by which they were courted, and how the networks were fostered in each new generation. Marriage treaties were investments in future connection and a belief that the daughters who left home would be able to establish secure political alliances for their families. Royal women's use of these extended kinship networks made them powerful friends and foes. More specifically, this dissertation focuses on the way in which royal women's kinship networks impacted the politics of fourteenth-century England. Kings who abused these connections learned that there were dire consequences, including the loss of the crown. On the other hand, when kings and queens operated in partnership, queens could mobilize their networks to support war efforts, recruit allies, or intercede for peace. Edward III's appreciation for not only his wife's relations abroad but also the kinswomen he had within the English dominions were major factors in his success as a king. When Edward III and Philippa then made plans for their children, they considered the entirety of the family network and the prospects for both their sons and daughters to be part of the continued English royal family system. Conversely, Edward II and Richard II learned all too late that their mismanagement of kinship networks, and their subsequent alienation of their kinswomen, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sara Butler (Advisor); Karen Winstead (Committee Member); Heather Tanner (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, English

My dissertation brings together two popular pastimes of the late Middle Ages: dance and romance. I examine a group of Middle English poems that are influenced by the rich social life of late medieval England, c. 1385-1450: Osbern Bokenham's Legend of Holy Women, Thomas Chestre's Sir Launfal, John Lydgate's Troy Book and Siege of Thebes, Geoffrey Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I argue that dance inspires new and innovative poetic experience as I explore how late-fourteenth and fifteenth-century poets use dance to experiment and play with descriptions of motion. Dance was a popular subject in medieval romance. Romanciers created a rhetoric to describe dance and revelry. Rather than approach this rhetoric as simply generic and codified, I read these moments of dance as experimentations with the structural, formal, and rhetorical features of poetic descriptions of motion. These moments of experimentation are further illuminated by the mis-en-page of these passages in their manuscript witnesses. Middle English poets deployed a range of rhetorical strategies to translate dance's relationship with bodies, objects, and community into their poetic descriptions as they experiment with describing bodies in motion. In effect, these poets not only adopted but created an innovative rhetoric to choreograph descriptions of dance.

Committee: Karen Winstead (Advisor); Eric Johnson (Committee Member); Ethan Knapp (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Medieval Literature

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, East Asian Languages and Literatures

Our understanding of what wisdom (zhi 智 in Classical Chinese) is, as well as what it means to be wise or to be seen as wise, is deeply rooted in our local habitation—the spaces, times, cultures, and experiences in which we live. Genres are one way we articulate wisdom as we see it, and some genres form precisely to express that wisdom. Moreover, because our imagination of a genre carries with it an imagination of the writer's identity, “wisdom genres” are often laden with assumptions about who the wise person writing them is or should be. In early medieval China, a genre called lianzhuti 連珠體 (strung pearls) was constructed, which in its earliest instantiations was presented as short remonstrative sets of important principles by ministers to the emperor. Thus, it was invested with ideas about the sort of person most suited to speak wisdom to the ear of power. However, as time passed and the genre was taken up by new and ever-expanding communities of writers, the wise advisor's persona also shifted and expanded—and in some cases was parodied—though it was always a component of the sense of the lianzhu genre. In this thesis, I examine strung pearls from the perspective of genre and practice, covering writings from the Han dynasty to the twentieth century with a focus on the works of Lu Ji 陸機 (261–303), Liu Xiang 劉祥 (451–489), Song Lian 宋濂 (1310–1381), Ye Xiaoluan 叶小鸞 (1616–1634), and Yu Pingbo 俞平伯 (1900–1990). I found my study on the theories of habitus and ritualization advanced by Pierre Bourdieu and Catherine Bell respectively, and I frame it with the work of genre theorists such as Amy Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Thomas Beebee. In doing so, I attempt to show that identity is a core element of how we formulate and use genres and that in the case of strung pearls, the persona conventionally associated with the genre (the wise advisor) continued to surface in the pieces even long after its original function became irrelevant.

Committee: Meow Hui Goh (Advisor); Patricia Sieber (Committee Member); Patricia Sieber (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Literature; Asian Studies; Literature; Medieval Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, English (Arts and Sciences)

Saracens served as stock villains in many of the romances of the Middle Ages and informed representations of Ottoman alterity on the early modern stage. As the contrarians of the East v. West binary, Saracens are often viewed as a monolithic entity. The present study does not seek to abolish the binary but instead to nuance it. Each chapter analyzes a different type of Saracen or role that Saracens played in medieval and early modern English literature. In doing so, the study is more concerned with the function of anti-Saracenic representations than with their historical or anthropological inaccuracies.

Committee: Beth Quitslund (Committee Chair); Loren Lybarger (Committee Member); Jill Ingram (Committee Member); Ghirmai Negash (Committee Member) Subjects: British and Irish Literature; Comparative; Comparative Literature; European History; Islamic Studies; Literature; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Middle Eastern History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Spanish and Portuguese

The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to offer a proposal for a digital edition of the Cantigas de Santa Maria according to the principles of the New Philology. After studying the materiality of the codices that have preserved the Alfonsine collections of Marian miracles, the codices known as Codice de Toledo, Codice Rico, Codice de Florencia y Codice de los musicos, there are two aspects about the nature of the work and its manuscripts that become apparent. First, the codices of the Cantigas de Santa Maria represent three different collections of songs dedicated to the Virgin Mary. As such, each manuscript should be edited on its own and the resulting edition should include all contents of the codices, and not only the Cantigas de Santa Maria proper. As a collection of songs, the presence of musical notation is indispensable in an edition. The second important aspect that transpires from the study of the materiality of the manuscripts is the different functions each of them has and the different modes of reading that they facilitate, which should be transformed into a digital environment. These are a reading for memorization and an encyclopedic reading. The first is evidenced by the size that the musical notation occupies on the page, its only partial inclusion in association with the text, and in the presence of several aspects related to the grammar of legibility of the codices, in which its images are included. The encyclopedic reading is also apparent in the grammar of legibility, which facilitates the location of any given cantiga. Finally, when establishing the text, as songs, performability should be the guiding criteria. Following the principles of the New Philology, the manuscript variants will be studied in their own right to determine to what extent they are susceptible to being included in an edition. Some interventions show evidence of being conscious, while others seem to be mechanical errors; the former should be kept in an edition whil (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Burgoyne (Advisor); Lisa Voigt (Committee Member); Luzmila Camacho-Platero (Committee Member) Subjects: European Studies; Fine Arts; Literature; Medieval Literature; Music; Religious History; Romance Literature

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

No surviving medieval text puts forward an explicit theologia tangendi (a “theology of touching”). Still, the religious literature of the English Middle Ages is nonetheless replete with devotional acts of touching, reaching, grasping, holding, shaping, and caressing. Touch may constitute one small facet of the phenomenology of religion, but it requires more scholarly attention. That the literature and material culture of the Christian Middle Ages were often oriented toward achieving contact with the divine underscores the need to consider the theological implications of touch. This dissertation puts a name to these myriad, disconnected references to touching that crop up across medieval English literature — a “tactile theology” that acknowledges the centrality of the hands in medieval texts, the lives of those texts, and the lives of their writers and readers. Put simply, tactile theology is a reciprocal process: just as theology shaped medieval understandings of touch, acts of touching, in turn, were avenues for approaching theological questions. The dissertation takes as its primary focus the touch and embodied experience of medieval women because gender difference in the Middle Ages was often described in theological and sensory terms. Using tactile theology as a lens for teasing out the significance of tactile language and metaphor, the following chapters explore how medieval readers and writers considered (sometimes in conflicting terms) women's embodiment and women's participation in religious life. Individual chapters offer case studies in the Junius 11 manuscript of Old English biblical poetry (particularly Genesis B, ca. 960–990), the thirteenth-century Ancrene Wisse (ca. 1225) alongside one of its fifteenth-century Latin translations, and the Book of Margery Kempe (ca. 1438). A final chapter on the medievalism of Emily Dickinson further underscores how tactile theology supports productive readings of women's writing beyond the tradi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Leslie Lockett (Advisor); Ethan Knapp (Committee Member); Christopher Jones (Committee Member); Karen Winstead (Advisor) Subjects: Gender Studies; Medieval Literature

BA, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron introduces a variety of subversive themes, including those related to gender and sexuality. This subversion is particularly evident in Day 5 Story 10, the tale of Pietro di Vinciolo, his wife, and their mutual infidelity. This thesis explores three routes to queering the text. First, it argues that the story includes queer characters, including Pietro, his wife, their lover, and the well-regarded old woman who helps the wife arrange her affairs. Secondly, it demonstrates that the power structures of the traditional family and Catholic church created panopticism in Boccaccio's time period, but the Black Death caused the collapse of panopticism. Finally, it shows that the story deconstructs the binaries of good versus bad, moral versus immoral, natural versus unnatural, and secrecy versus disclosure. The thesis concludes that these queer elements are included intentionally in the story due to its changes from the source text, The Golden Ass.

Committee: Kristin Stasiowski (Advisor); Jennifer MacLure (Committee Member); Don-John Dugas (Committee Member); Christopher Roman (Advisor) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Literature; Medieval Literature

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, English/Literature

Images have always played an integral role in the formation of identity throughout courtly love literature. This can be seen through the first look between the servant and his Lady as it becomes the foundation for their mutual identities both in relation to one another and apart. They become centered around only truly knowing the self once they have known one another. This initial moment of recognition, following the path of the Hegelian master-slave dialectic, is the moment when self-consciousness is formed by a confrontation with the other (Hegel 541-547). The first look is a pivotal moment that sets the stage for the way the subject perceives the world as he now views himself as merely a part with the image reflected back being the promised ‘whole' he has come to anticipate. When this becomes the central driving force behind the servant's motivations, it becomes a phenomenon that must be examined to better understand the characters and the possible implications of their actions. This thesis investigates the role that identity formation plays within courtly love literature using Jacques Lacan's mirror stage theory and a new framework designed to assist in literary criticism. I engage W. J. T. Mitchell and Michael Camille's debate surrounding images, objects, and desire as a foundation for my examination. The primary texts that I engage are Dante Alighieri's Vita Nuova and Commedia as well as the unknown poet's “Sir Orfeo.” For Dante, I examine his desire for the identity of the servant and his missteps in attempting to reach this goal. In my analysis of “Sir Orfeo,” I shift the focus to an examination of mourning within identity formation, with an emphasis on Sir Orfeo's grief over the loss of Heurodis. Through this engagement, I suggest that the first look between the servant and the Lady is pivotal to the servant's retroactive and anticipated identity.

Committee: Erin Labbie (Advisor); James Pfundstein (Committee Member) Subjects: Medieval Literature; Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

J. R. R. Tolkien has been revered as the father of twentieth century fantasy, however many initially criticized him for his handling of textual matter as male-centric magical lands that did not feature prominent female roles or significant female characters. In this discussion I present the argument that Tolkien created a vast community of powerful female figures within his fantasy writing, that stem from the distinct and dominant female forces he creates within his academic translations and poetry. Therefore, my aim in this discussion is to highlight the powerful and female forward translations Tolkien creates within his writing of original medieval, Norse, and Celtic figures, and unveil how these characters lend shape to the powerful and dynamic female characters that appear within his original poetry and transform into the central figures that shape Middle-earth. My research brings together these women as a culmination of female community, not just singular figures, who comprise the dynamic and prominent figures who shape Tolkien's creative art. Through careful research, study, and using the medieval model of triptych, I illustrate the transient power of the community of female strength; a fluid and diverse repertoire of influential characters that culminate into the Triptych art of women in Tolkien's writing compendium.

Committee: Christopher Roman (Committee Chair) Subjects: Comparative Literature; Gender Studies; Germanic Literature; Language; Literature; Medieval Literature; Modern Literature; Womens Studies

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2021, English

Gold is a central figure in early medieval northern European literature. In early English and Icelandic cultures, it theoretically served as a system stabilizer and maintained social bonds. In practice, however, as seen in Volsunga Saga and Beowulf, gold is clearly a volatile substance that serves only to sow discord and create violence. In its truest form of the hoard, gold operates as a site of both psychological and physical transformation. It is a threat to the very societies it is meant to protect. Ultimately, its use shows the inevitability of the decline of the societies that heavily relied upon it.

Committee: Mary Kate Hurley (Advisor) Subjects: British and Irish Literature; Icelandic and Scandinavian Literature; Literature; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages

Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.), University of Dayton, 2021, International Marian Research Institute

DENIS the Carthusian affirms Mary as the summa contemplatrix, interpreting the plenitude of grace of Luke 1:28 to include the theological gift of wisdom. In Dionysian thought, the gift of wisdom equates to mystical theology, unitive wisdom, or contemplation by negation, the highest form of prayer possible in this life to a wayfarer. Denis the Carthusian makes an original contribution to Marian studies by positing the exemplarity of Mary's prayer, in accord with Denis's notion of contemplation, suggesting that Mary enjoyed a singular perfection in Her intellectual knowledge of God before the Incarnation; was later instructed in mystical theology by Her Divine Son, the God-Man; and attained to the contemplative vision of God while still on earth as a foreshadowing of the beatific vision Mary now possesses in heaven. This doctoral dissertation, written by a cloistered monk not unlike Denis the Carthusian, seeks to penetrate the silence and solitude of contemplative monastic life lived by one of Christianity's most prolific authors and popularly hailed "the last of the schoolmen" to explore the notion of Marian contemplation and the incomparability of Mary's prayer for twenty-first century imitation and pastoral application.

Committee: Deyanira Flores STD (Advisor); Sébastien B. Abalodo S.M., STD (Committee Member); Maura Elizabeth Hearden Fehlner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ancient Languages; Bible; Biblical Studies; Classical Studies; Clergy; Clerical Studies; Cultural Anthropology; European History; European Studies; Foreign Language; Germanic Literature; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious Education; Religious History; Social Research; Spirituality; Theology

M.A. (Master of Arts in English), Ohio Dominican University, 2021, English

This paper examines Geoffrey Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale using one of Chaucer's most important sources: Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy. Chapter one examines Boethius' contributions to philosophy, his contributions to education, and most importantly, his impact on Chaucer's literary art. Chapter one uses Boethius' Consolation to describe the consolatio genre and provides a contrast between authors like Dante, who use similar philosophical material to place judgement, and Chaucer, who uses philosophical material to promote questions instead of answers, shedding light on individual human choice. Chapter two analyzes the effects of Boethius' Consolation on The Pardoner's Tale. It examines Chaucer's translation of the Consolation, reveals the Boethian question addressed in the Tale—what is the outcome of the wicked?—and demonstrates Chaucer's ability to use medieval sermon structure to arrive at consolation. Chapter three surveys a flurry of scholarship surrounding perceptions of the Pardoner's audience and resulting character. This chapter encourages readers to apply a Boethian lens, considering consolation genre in addition to medieval sermon structure in order to ascertain a more contextually complete, and therefore hopeful, view of the Pardoner that is at odds with the predominant view of the character's ultimate fate.

Committee: Jeremy Glazier (Advisor); Martin Brick (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Medieval Literature; Philosophy

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Germanic Languages and Literatures

The study of monuments has been a widely researched topic in the context of nineteenth-century German nationalism, as well its role in national remembrance. Monuments are physical representations of collective understandings of an event, person or cultural object. Oftentimes, these physical representations of the past are instituted by larger, governmental or national bodies and are guided through the use of narrative. This master thesis engages with nationalist narratives and the presentation of these narratives through physical space and commemoration; focusing on the narratives that guided much of Nazi-Germany's political development in the 1930s as well as the beginnings of these narratives in early Weimar-Germany. In particular, the myth of the Dolchstoss and its utilization to explain Germany's loss of World War I will be analyzed in connection with the portrayal of sacrificed and heroic soldiers through the mythic figure "Siegfried" in the form of commemorative monuments.

Committee: Anna A Grotans Dr (Advisor); Katra A Byram Dr (Committee Member) Subjects: Germanic Literature; Medieval Literature

M.A. (Master of Arts in English), Ohio Dominican University, 2020, English

The four poems found in the Cotton Nero A.x. manuscript, Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, have gone unattributed for 600 years. This paper examines possible reasons why there have been no definitive names assigned to the poems. Suggestions are also made as to the type of person who may have written them, and reasons for his anonymity, based on who he was. Christianity, the medieval time period, and King Arthur's court are explored to help explain attribution for monastic authorship.

Committee: Jeremy Glazier (Advisor); Imali Abala (Committee Member); Martin Brick (Committee Chair) Subjects: Literature; Medieval Literature; Religion

Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, 2019, Humanities

The following thesis presents new perspectives on the representation of Byzantine generals during the eleventh century, focusing specifically on parallel representations of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder. I will argue that Byzantine chroniclers routinely employed the language of Byzantine military manuals as a template to describe the generals who populate the pages of their works. This tendency created a shared language of praise and censure which chroniclers applied to the generals whose reputation they sought either to exalt or to tarnish. The career of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder as it is presented in the History of Michael Attaleiates and the Materials for a History of Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger vividly demonstrates this tendency as Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger attempts to salvage the reputation of his grandfather.

Committee: Jeannette Marchand Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Paul Lockhart Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aaron Wolpert M.A. (Other); Valerie Stoker Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Foreign Language; History; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages; Military History; Military Studies

BA, Oberlin College, 2019, History

Echo epidemics would sweep through Europe well into the eighteenth century, yet none would parallel the terror and drama particular to the Black Death (1348-1351), nor would they inflict as violent an injury upon paradigms of historical writing. This thesis explores and evaluates how the Black Death affected medieval historical narrative.

Committee: Ellen Wurtzel (Advisor) Subjects: Epidemiology; European History; Health; History; Medicine; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages

MA, Kent State University, 2019, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This thesis examines queer identity in the twelfth-century theological treatise Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx, and the anonymous thirteenth-century Aucassin and Nicolette. I argue that these texts queer medieval and contemporary understandings of gender and sexuality, both spiritually and narratively. In Part One of this project, I focus on Rievaulx Abbey in the North of England as a space for free expression from strict social binaries of sex and gender. Here I focus on Aelred, an abbot who promoted close, intimate bonds with others as a means of understanding theological notions of God in his text, Spiritual Friendship. Rather than contributing to the exploration of Aelred sexuality as a gay man, my aim in this chapter is to offer a shift in focus towards Aelred's gender expression and performance. Ultimately, I argue, Aelred queers traditional notions of love, God, and Cistercian theology through his emphasis on community and shared love in Spiritual Friendship. In Part Two, I move from English mysticism to French chantefable, or “song-story,” in Aucassin and Nicolette. I argue that the text engenders in its two main characters queer identity through the inversion of traditional gender roles. Further, I argue that the performative aspect of the text allows for a dispersal of transgressive, queer identity via performance. In doing so, I push the definition of queer further than the tale's characters, arguing that the text itself becomes queer in its interaction with the reader. In expanding the genre and scope of this project from twelfth-century England to thirteenth-century France, I illustrate how expansive queer identity was in the Middle Ages.

Committee: Christopher Roman (Advisor); Ryan Hediger (Committee Member); Ann Martinez (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Literature; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Ages