{"id":87,"date":"2020-10-09T08:35:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T12:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/?page_id=87"},"modified":"2025-08-23T18:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T22:52:12","slug":"first-edition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/editions\/first-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"First Edition (2020\u201321)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Full Volume (PDF)<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
Editorial Staff<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
Letter from the Editors<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
Table of Contents<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
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An Interview with Professor Dimitra Kotoula<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Conducted by Gwen Ellis & Stephanie Taylor, Smith College<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e man\u1e63\u016br\u012b and F\u00fcnfbilderserie: East and West<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Rebekah Glenn Ellis, Hampshire College<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The five illustrations of the Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b, a fourteenth century Persian Galenic anatomy book, and the collection of medieval European images known as the F\u00fcnfbilderserie, are strikingly similar; this similarity without an obvious cause has been a mystery to scholars for over a century. I reopen this question first by reviewing the major theories of origin proposed by Sudhoff, O\u2019Neill, and French, and then I illuminate the potential flaws in their theories by examining the text and context surrounding the images in further detail. In particular, I compare the Latin and Arabo-Persian labels of the Vatican Palat. Lat. 1110 bone man to the Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b\u2019s, and conclude that although the images appear similar, on closer examination they are significantly different. The Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b shows 32 bones in the spinal column while the Vatican Palat. Lat. 1110 features only 27. However, the Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b does not illustrate the coccyx, whereas Vatican Palat. Lat. 1110 almost does. I suggest that the superficial similarities may be due to convergent evolution as opposed to a direct route of image transmission. However, if scholars find older Persian images or Byzantine leaves showing the five images, that could lend credence to theories of a shared common origin. A more thorough index of the F\u00fcnfbilderserie manuscripts would allow for better textual comparisons with Arabic and Persian medical texts, and a serious translation of the Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b would also be useful, as Persian medical language has been neglected in English scholarship.<\/h6>\n
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Desde la Burla Hac\u00eda la Recuperaci\u00f3n: Una Exploraci\u00f3n del Habla de Negros a Trav\u00e9s de las Edades<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Rose A. Poku, Smith College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Este ensayo se enfoca en el habla de negros<\/em>\u2013\u2013una forma de escribir y hablar que representa la manera en que personas africanas y afrodescendientes han hablado en espa\u00f1ol. Esta forma de hablar inici\u00f3 en el siglo XV con la comienza de la trata de personas esclavizadas en Portugal y Espa\u00f1a, y ha viajado con poblaciones afrodescendientes a trav\u00e9s del oc\u00e9ano Atl\u00e1ntico hasta lugares como Cuba. Este art\u00edculo sigue la transmisi\u00f3n del habla de negros desde obras de teatro espa\u00f1olas del Siglo de Oro (XV-XVII) hasta poes\u00eda cubana del siglo XX. Espec\u00edficamente, sostiene que las maneras en que escritores espa\u00f1oles utilizaron el habla de negros en sus obras eran ofensivas y degradantes a personas negras, pero en el siglo XX, hay una recuperaci\u00f3n de esta forma de hablar por un poeta afrocubano, Nicol\u00e1s Guill\u00e9n. Su manera de rescatar el habla de negros muestra la validez en esta forma de hablar. Adem\u00e1s, las traducciones de la poes\u00eda de Guill\u00e9n por poeta afro-americano Langston Hughes, que traduce el habla de negros a un ingl\u00e9s afroamericano, tambi\u00e9n sostienen la importancia y el valor de la lengua negra.<\/h6>\n
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An Interview with Greek Iconographer Panagiotis Markopoulos<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Conducted & Prefaced by Gwen Ellis, Smith College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Locution begets Memory: Spiritual Impetus and the Cosmic Scope of Christian Salvation in The Dream of the Rood<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Brooks Hayden Romedy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This analysis of the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood and its reflexes in material culture incorporates two major pursuits. The first is a reconstruction of a potential, contemporary impetus for religious experience perceived upon an encounter with any iteration of what I term the Rood-corpus; that is, the extant manifestations of a widespread poem, both temporally and spatially, known to us as The Dream of the Rood. This spiritual or religious experience is chiefly predicated on the Rood\u2019s retention of memory from its personal involvement in and experience of Christ\u2019s Crucifixion. My establishment of this Rood-corpus also provides a (to my knowledge) original hypothesis regarding the a priori archetype that begat our extant versions of the poem. The second pursuit seeks to place The Dream of the Rood and the Rood-corpus more broadly in the context of their contemporary and nascent Cross Legends, specifically those that deal with the life of the True Cross before Christ. This second endeavor establishes a grander, more cosmic scope of the Christian salvation story encapsulated within the poem and, following the explication of memory\u2019s role in this body of literature, extends the roots of the Rood\u2019s memory back into the earliest days of the Bible. The cumulative effect of this study is to illuminate the constellation of meaning present within and surrounding the Rood-corpus and establishing the evocative milieu in which it was encountered.<\/h6>\n
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Exeter Book Riddle 29<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Olivia Davis, Smith College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A translation of the Exeter Book\u2019s Riddle 29. This creative translation goes beyond the literal, offering a more poetic interpretation that plays into and extends the themes and ideas of the original Old English version. Accompanying the riddle and its translation is a short introduction to the Exeter Book for historical context.<\/h6>\n
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Book Review: Arvind Thomas: Piers Plowman and the Reinvention of Church Law in the Late Middle Ages<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Gwen Ellis and Alexandra Domeshek, Smith College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Chivalry and Performance in Medicean Jousts of the 15th Century<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Emma Iadanza, Vassar College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Jousts and other tournaments have existed in Europe since the early 1000s, but they began to take a different form in the Italian Renaissance, particularly in Florence during the fifteenth century. Rather than serving as demonstrations of military prowess, they become performative events that exhibited the patrons\u2019 and competitors\u2019 wealth as well as their devotion to the city.\u00a0 Descriptions of these tournaments tended to focus on the spectacular processions and visuals that were put on display during these occasions, rather than on the competitive portion of the events themselves. The joust of Giuliano de\u2019 Medici in 1475 embodies these characteristics to the fullest, as reflected in the wealth of descriptions in chronicles, letters, and poems that it inspired.\u00a0 In turn, the florid nature of these accounts themselves reference the joust\u2019s importance as a spectacle more than a military event, and the attitude to tournaments in Medicean Florence as a whole.<\/h6>\n
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Within Reason\u2019s Garden: Dante Alighieri and the Redefinition of Courtly Love<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Katherine Rabogliatti, Wellesley College<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dante Alighieri\u2019s Divine Comedy <\/em>constitutes one of the most famous disavowals of courtly romance and courtly love in Western literary history. Although the entirety of Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy <\/em>can be read as a commentary on the nature of love, he prefigures later writers with the creation of the so-called anti-roman, <\/em>a deliberately stereotypical and critical presentation of common tropes of courtly love in the narrative of the damned Francesca da Rimini in Inferno <\/em>5. It is in this canto, as well as Purgatorio <\/em>18, that he most clearly rebukes the contemporary notion of courtly love and redefines it in his own terms. Whereas courtly literature presents love as an overpowering storm that eclipses reason, Dante proposes that true love exists in harmony with free will and rational thought. He critiques the genre of courtly romance as a whole, while simultaneously reconceptualizing and offering his own definition of \u2018love\u2019 that aligns with Christian morality.<\/h6>\n
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Masculinity, Power, and Death: Cleopatra in Boccaccio\u2019s De Mulieribus Claris<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Emily Aguilar, Bryn Mawr College<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

While the Roman Republic collapsed, Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt as the most powerful woman in the world. Nearly 1400 years later, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote De Mulieribus Claris <\/i>to honor women who overcame the limitations of their sex with a virilis animus, <\/i>a \u201cmanly spirit.\u201d <\/i>Cleopatra was a puzzle to Boccaccio: while she undeniably displayed the \u201cmanly\u201d characteristics of intelligence and bravery, Boccaccio\u2019s Roman sources portrayed her as an uncontrollable corrupting influence. In this paper I will explore Cleopatra\u2019s masculinity and power in De Mulieribus Claris, <\/i>specifically through her interactions with men. By comparing Boccaccio\u2019s work to his classical sources and examining the differences between them, we discover how Boccaccio used Cleopatra\u2019s story to articulate his views on women who were not only \u201cmasculine,\u201d but too<\/i> \u201cmasculine.\u201d Because Boccaccio\u2019s intended audience was educated men, his Cleopatra could not seem to justify female sexuality and ambition, lest she be seen as a threat to her male reader\u2019s power. The result is a vilified and demeaned Cleopatra, who must be destroyed by honorable men.<\/h6>\n
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Full Volume (PDF) Editorial Staff Letter from the Editors Table of Contents An Interview with Professor Dimitra Kotoula Conducted by Gwen Ellis & Stephanie Taylor, Smith College The Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e man\u1e63\u016br\u012b and F\u00fcnfbilderserie: East and West Rebekah Glenn Ellis, Hampshire College The five illustrations of the Ta\u0161r\u012b\u1e25-e Man\u1e63\u016br\u012b, a fourteenth century Persian Galenic anatomy book, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1383,"featured_media":0,"parent":33,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-87","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","empty-entry-meta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87\/revisions\/370"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/dies-legibiles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}