Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance studies Proclamations ! The Trident Vol. XXII, Issue 1 Sept/Oct 2014 AMRS ABROAD! Looking for some unholy intellectual fun? Come to the AMRS Roundtable Discussion on Satan, The Devil, and the Demonic at noon on Friday, October 31st!

On Dec. 4th, at 7pm in Milligan Hub (Stuyvesant Hall), Dr. Nieto Cuebas’ students will be performing scenes from 17th. C. Spanish plays! Don’t miss the fun!

Intrepid Sarah Thomas climbs the steepest staircase EVER at Inchcolm Abbey as part of the Castles & Cathedrals Travel Learning Course. Read more about her adventures on page 2! The Staff of the Trident Student Editor: Victoria Licata IN THIS ISSUE Contributing Students: Elizabeth House, Maddie Olsejek, AMRS Abroad—————pg. 2-3, 10 Origin of “Fairy”—————-pg. 9 Sarah Thomas, Ashley Vassar Franks Casket————–--—pg. 4-5 Shakespeare———————-pg. 11 AMRS Chair: Dr. Patricia DeMarco Medieval POC——————pg. 6-8 Announcements——————pg. 12 Want to write a story? Have ideas for the next issue? Complaints? Send them to [email protected].

2 11 Gargoyles, Stained Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Beau- Glass, and Travel mont: Renaissance Drama Kings Learning By Maddie Olsejek By Sarah Thomas When many people think Being a part of Dr. Ar- of Shakespeare they think of star- nold’s Castles and Cathedrals crossed lovers, antiquated lan- Travel-Learning Course has been guage, and the “play that shall not one of my favorite experiences as be named.” Shakespeare’s works an OWU student. It allowed me to have influenced countless novel- truly experience the material that I ists, playwrights, and poets over have spent the past three years the years, yet little is known about learning. To copy from another the Bard of Avon himself. Did he program, I got to put “theory into Gargoyles at York Minster Cathedral have any competition? How did practice.” he become so successful? Really, One of the things I was some understanding of the image who is this guy we give so much most excited about seeing were when they cannot see its location credit to today in the theatre the gargoyles and grotesques on in the cathedral. Being able to world? stand in the nave of a cathedral the cathedrals. Grotesques have To answer the first ques- Engraving of John Fletcher & and experience the relationship always interested me, especially tion simply, yes! Shakespeare was Francis Beaumont and interplay between grotesques after a research paper I wrote for hardly the only writer of his time. and ‘holy’ images for myself was Dr. Livingston’s Medieval Mar- There was a specific dynamic-duo with Fletcher. Between 1660 and one of my favorite parts about the gins class. Their appearance and that gave Shakespeare a run for the end of the century, the duo trip. apparent separation from other his money: John Fletcher and took first rank…above Shake- church imagery fascinated me and Some of my favorite sites Francis Beaumont. speare. By the middle of the 18th inspired me to find out more we visited in relation to gargoyles century, however, Shakespeare’s Fletcher collaborated with about them. I wanted to under- were Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland plays had nearly taken over Lon- Shakespeare several times, result- stand the relationship of the gro- and York Minster Cathedral in don with rival theatres even per- ing in works such as Henry VIII tesque images to the church, be- England. I probably took about 60 forming the same Shakespearean and The Two Noble Kingsmen. yond their practical function as a pictures of Rosslyn Chapel’s exte- works on the same nights. However, he was best known for drain pipe. rior because it was covered with his individual work of The Faith- Some have questioned gargoyles and grotesques of an- During my research, I ful Shepherdess, a tragicomedy whether or not Shakespeare de- gels, animals, Green Men, saints, spent a lot of time looking at im- featuring a chaste woman who serves to rest upon the pedestal on monsters, and demons. I was de- ages of gargoyles and grotesques decides to take up residence near which he has been placed. It is termined to get a picture of them in various cathedrals. But being the grave of her first love. often forgotten that the playwright able to stand outside a cathedral in all. York Minster was also won- had competition in his time, and the United Kingdom and look up derful because I got to see how far Beaumont is well known reached his level of infamy at the grotesques gave me an en- gargoyles really extend out from for his work, The Knight of the through hard work, not just by tirely new perspective. When the wall. I could tell that some of Burning Pestle. This comedy fo- default. looking at images in a book, the these gargoyles were used as cuses on a citizen who is married reader is separated from the whole drain pipes, but there were many to the audience. However, this of the place. The reader loses others that were not. As someone playwright is best known for the who has a mild obsession with fifty plays he wrote in partnership

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Continued from page 3... pigs, the fact that I found a pig I could go on and on gargoyle on the outside of York about this trip, but my last piece made my day. of advice would be take ad- vantage of the opportunities Besides actually visiting OWU has to offer through the the castles and cathedrals, just Travel Learning program. Go walking around the cities was a abroad if you have the chance, new experience. This was my first and you will learn things you nev- time outside the country and it er expected. was educational just interacting with a culture different from my own. I think my favorite part, though, was being able to walk around cities such as York, Can- terbury, and Edinburgh and see- ing architecture from the medie- val period still being used. We bought chocolate from a shop in the Shambles, the old meat dis- trict in York, and had high tea in a former medieval merchant’s (above) Alnwick Castle in house in Canterbury. It’s so dif- Northumbria; (left) stained ferent from the United States. glass window of St. Thomas One of the charms of OWU’s of Becket in Canterbury Ca- campus is its historic architecture. thedral; (bottom left) your However, the buildings here are (above) The Green Man, a popu- humble editor and Sarah only 200 years old or younger. lar architectural motif, at When in relation to buildings that Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland; Thomas on Hadrian’s Wall; th (bottom right) angel gargoyle were built in the 12 century, they (left) A special gargoyle at York at Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland don’t seem that old anymore. Minster Cathedral , see Page 10 for more Travel Learning pictures!

4 9 Frankly, My Dear: A history The Tale of “Fairy”: How We Went from of the franks Casket Sir Orfeo to The Legend of Zelda

By Ashley Vassar magical beings that we recognize today are works such as “Sir Orfeo” The concept of fairies as and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. mischievous, but ultimately benevo- “Sir Orfeo”, a medieval retelling of lent magical beings is one we often the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, come across very early in life. depicts fairies as strange, frightening, Whether through Disney movies like and malevolent, and the realm of the Peter Pan, Cinderella, or Sleeping fairies stands in for the Underworld Beauty, famous ballets like The Nut- of the original tale. Shakespeare’s A cracker, or even video game fran- Midsummer Night’s Dream, a much chises like The Legend of Zelda, it later piece, depicts fairies as benevo- seems that almost anyone can give an lent (mostly for their own amuse- example of an early childhood run-in ment) but also mischievous and self- with this idea of the benevolent fairy. absorbed. Lastly, we get the depiction However, this was not always the that we commonly see today in media case. When the word “fairy” first like Disney movies and other main- originated, it was not used to refer to stream media, where fairies are main- a group of magical beings. ly concerned with using their magical According to the Oxford powers to help humans achieve their English Dictionary, the word “fairy” happy ending. derived from the Middle French farie/ feerie meaning “witchcraft,” or “enchantment”. This is the meaning By Elizabeth House tered on a medieval historian that originally found its way into Middle English. By the 1300s, it had who decodes the secret mes- also expanded to mean a “magical or In 1867, Augustus Wollaston sage of the Casket and finds enchanted land or domain.” From Franks donated a carved herself in a race against time, here, the word became more general- whalebone box to the British supernatural elements, and Na- ized, and referred to the beings inhab- Museum. Called the Franks zis. Historically and culturally, iting this magical realm as well, be- Casket, the box dates from the ings that had “human form” and med- the Casket is important because dled in human affairs. When it did Northumbrian Renaissance— it is a blend of Roman, Chris- become used in this way, the beings it between 690 and 750 AD—and tian, German and even Jewish referred to were depicted as strange was probably created in a mo- influences that brilliantly and were to be feared and placated nastic setting, before it wound demonstrate the interplay be- rather than a people who aimed to up in a shrine and then in a help humans. Lastly, the word be- tween those influences at the came specialized to mean what we family home in Auzon, France, time the Casket was created. typically associate with the word to- where it was used for some day: “a tiny delicate…girl…usually time as a sewing basket. In my See, the Franks Casket with insect-like wings.” These shifts personal opinion the Franks has intricate carvings and in- in definition occurred within only a Casket is delightfully weird, scriptions on all sides. The couple hundred of years. front panel depicts the three Perhaps some of the most and long overdue a dramatic famous early examples of fairies as Hollywood blockbuster cen- Magi visiting the baby Jesus, a

8 5 Media is the lens scene from the adventures of cated, and very important piece through which we see our soci- Weland the Smith (a figure of early English history. ety, and as a result, we are sus- from Germanic legend), and an Remind me again why Lucas ceptible to the way it changes Old English riddle about decided to go with inter dimen- our vision. Ancient, Medieval, whales while the back panel sional aliens? and Renaissance Studies, being depicts the sacking of Jerusa- the interdisciplinary fields they lem. The other two sides show Sources are, are especially receptive to the suckling of Romulus and the artistic representations of Remus by the she-wolf and Webser, Leslie. The Franks these time periods by the me- two probably Germanic leg- Casket. London: British Mu- dia, both historical and con- ends that to this day have not seum Press, 2012; temporary. It cannot be empha- been satisfactorily identified. “The Franks Casket” The sized enough how important it The inscriptions that border the British Museum, accessed 29 is to think critically about the scenes, and in most cases de- October 2014. images and stories we are pre- scribe them, are written mainly sented with, not just when we in Old English in the futhorc http://www.britishmuseum.org/ go to the movies, but when we (runic alphabet), but there are explore/highlights/ highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/ go to class as well. points where the inscription is in Latin in the Roman alpha- the_franks_casket.aspx bet, and places that switch be- tween the two, sometimes mid- inscription. In some spots the inscription even seems to be in code. Add in the fact that much (above) Trés of the Casket’s history is Riches Heures murky, and that its exact pur- du Duc de Ber- pose is still unclear to histori- (below) Front panel of the ry; The Lim- ans (possibly a reliquary, or to Casket depicting The Adora- bourg Brothers, hold an important book), and tion of the Magi and Weland France, ca. you have a fascinating, compli- the Smith 1412; (left) The Great Last Judgment, Peter Paul Ru- bens, Nether- lands, 1617

6 7 “Historically Accurate”: Medieval PoC roactive whitewashing is also to emphasize the cognitive dis- highly prevalent in academia. sonance in the way this is re- & the myth of an all-white Europe As a result, people of color flected in media produced to- have to fight to be represented day.” Though it focuses pri- By Victoria Licata both in popular media and aca- marily on art dating from the demic dialogues, and defend fall of Rome until about 1650, We all know there are the little representation they do the blog also features Baroque some pretty frustrating factual receive from people who and Early Modern pieces, such errors when it comes to popular should know better. Fortunate- as Rubens’ “The Great Last conceptions of the Middle Ag- ly, there are those willing to Judgment,” and the works of es. Explaining that no, medie- intervene in that discussion. Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit val people didn’t just drink Medievalpoc.org is a missionary painter in China beer because the water was un- blog that showcases works of who came to the attention of safe and no, medieval people art from European history fea- the Qianlong emperor and didn’t just marry little girls to turing People of Color. Ac- served as an artist for the court. old men all the time and no, cording to its mission state- Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and math, science, art and literature ment, medievalpoc.org is dedi- Celtic pieces can also be found didn’t just take a millennium- cated to challenging “common among the collection. long nap between the fall of misconceptions that People of (continued on p. 8…) Rome and the Renaissance (above) Inauguration Portrait of Color did not exist in Europe again and again is exhausting. Emperor Qianlong, Giuseppe before the Enlightenment, and One of the most insidi- Castiglione, 1736 ous of these errors that crops up often in popular conceptions of via the Crusades and the Mon- the Middle Ages is the belief in gol Empire. Yet these people an all-white medieval Europe. who contributed so much to the Africans, Arabs, Mongols, and medieval landscape are rarely Jews made up a crucial part of depicted in movies, television, (left) The the medieval world. The Re- and other forms of entertain- Black Ma- naissance’s obsession with ment centered on that time pe- donna of Classical literature and philoso- riod. Beilstein, phy would have been severely Worse, media portray- ing this fictitious whitewashed 12th. C., limited without the Islamic uni- Germany versities and libraries that took Europe is often justified from the time to preserve these texts, criticism as “historically accu- especially the works of thinkers rate.” This kind of rhetoric re- like Aristotle. It probably sults in the erasure of huge would not have happened at all chunks of history and skewed without the economic and cul- perceptions of race relations, tural exchange stemming from both historically and in contem- Europe’s contact with the East porary society. What’s espe- cially troubling is that this ret-