Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies

This essay discusses the opposite portrayals of the religious Other in both Marlowe's and Chantelouve's play with regard to the 1572 Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris. It was written for a second year BA minor course concerning early European history.

This essay argues Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls - in addition to being a dream-vision - belongs to both the beast epic tradition and beast fable genre, because of the satirical animal allegory in the bird parliament episode, which incorporates a moral lesson. It was written for a second year BA proficiency course on academic writing.

This essay argues that in line with the Modernist spirit, protagonist Stephen in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tries to break away from established societal structures such as religion, but partially fails, as his newly created Aestheticism still employs the language of the religion he tries to leave behind. It was written for a third year BA course on Modernism.

This essay discusses the supernatural and religious aspects in the 2016 RSC theatre productions of Hamlet and Doctor Faustus and argues how each performance changes the supernatural aspects from the original texts in order to make them fit a 21st century theme. It was written for a theatre course concerning (Shakespearean) theatre performances in Stratford-upon-Avon.

In recent years, several cases about the legal personhood of nonhuman animals garnered global attention, e.g. the recognition of ‘basic rights’ for the Argentinian great apes Sandra and Cecilia. Legal scholars have embraced the animal turn, blurring the once sovereign boundaries between persons and objects, recognising nonhuman beings as legal subjects. The zoonotic origins of the Covid-19 pandemic stress the urgency of establishing ‘global animal law’ and deconstructing anthropocentrism. To this end, it is vital to also consider the extensive premodern legal history that humans share with other animals. Over 200 so-called animal trials have been documented in premodern Europe. In these proceedings, certain nonhuman animals—particularly domestic pigs—were prosecuted, often resulting in their capital punishment or anathema. This paper takes a history of ideas approach to these historical instances where Western philosophy of law and philosophical anthropology intersect, problematisin...

Mediaeval encyclopaedias described nonhuman animals in terms of their corporeality and cosmic significance by combining zoological and theological knowledge. Such descriptions were therefore prescriptions of normative parameters for how animals were supposed to function within Christian society, rather than objective observations. As mediaeval conceptualisations of species were highly malleable, particular animals that shared no biological relation could be considered kin, and animals who behaved against their prescribed nature could become a different animal altogether. This paper investigates how several species were implicated in the mediaeval invention of what it meant to be (like) a pig. My counter-hegemonic reading of the Livre des propriétés des choses, a fifteenth-century French encyclopaedia, draws attention to how late mediaeval Christian scripts of porcinity simultaneously defined the nonhumanity of pigs and of ‘other’ humans. These render the idea of the pig inseparable from what it meant to be human. I contend that the Livre des propriétés des choses employs discourses of porcinity to self-define and -stabilise particular notions of human identity by debasing and othering human and nonhuman animals with seemingly porcine traits. Additionally, I underline how such fabrications of humanity are often mired in practices that devaluate and harm real animals, including other humans. Mediaeval studies need to further address the crucial roles of animal suffering in human history. This way, historians can add valuable insights to present debates about anthropocentrism and its devastating socio-ecological consequences.