... by its superior historical self-awareness. This essay reassesses these themes through a reading of Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634). This is a play of knighthood and chivalric spectacle, adapted from Chaucer's Knight's Tale , which brings Chaucer on stage in the play's prologue...

... of the title page was intended to demonstrate that it was the book of a gentleman, a “noble book.” This displayed nobility supported Montaigne's moral and pedagogical purpose, it served as the basis of his social authority and literary authorship, and, last but not least, this noble status ensured the success...

... of Iberia’s brutal and widespread Jewish pogroms of 1391, the fifteenth century witnessed the Castilian nobility’s fraught, exclusionary attempt to define themselves as a group. The number of families claiming noble ancestry had increased dramatically; textual theorizations of what it meant to be noble...

... line is said to have developed through Mélusine’s many sons and their offspring who, in the course of the tale have taken over kingdoms in Luxembourg, Bohemia, Cyprus, and Armenia. Jean d’Arras claims to have traced in his romance a line of descent from the peo- ple who founded “the noble...

... with noble fam- ilies, celibacy was Christianity’s great advantage when played out in com- petitive dynastic politics. Nonprocreative ecclesiastical male elites who would not start rival dynasties were trustworthy allies indeed, much like eunuchs at the Byzantine courts.12 Furthermore, to avoid unwelcome...

... of manuscript context, we find that in library collections of royal, aristocratic, and noble audiences, Secretum texts share shelf or chest space with other mirrors for princes, military manuals, and romances, as the example of John Paston II illustrates. Indeed, Steven Williams has noted that while...

... Noble and courtly culture: “The grammar of honor” Francesco Guicciardini warned in one of his pithy Ricordi of the impossibil- ity of “giving an ambassador such precise instructions so as to direct him in every particular.”19 Guicciardini argued that in order to ensure the suc- cess of a mission...

... convents, usually ones with no family connections, demonstrating a preference for postmortem association not with family but with a community of celibate women. noble Italian women and gender death and burial early modern wills and inheritance © 2015 by Duke University Press 2015...

... any cause to grudge at the matter, but great cause hath he to merueyle at the wonderfull prouidence of god therin, and hartely to thanke him to, that he of hys goodnes both hath so auaunced the noble bloude of Englande abroad in the worlde.19 William Paget...

..., Henry, are opaque, not least because he stands above the de casibus structure, never falling, but only causing the downfall of others, as if he were Fortune or God: “’Tis well there’s one above ’em yet,” as he remarks, watching unseen the machinations of various nobles against his current...

... on the page and off in his “riotous youth,” Gas- coigne heralded his reformation with the publication of The Steele Glas.19 He declares in the dedicatory epistle his newfound intent to match the “magna- nimitie of a noble mind” with “industrious diligence.”20 Whereas his earlier work had dallied in sexual...

... silence concerning Henry VIII and his denunciation of the poor’s abusers. After recounting the reasons why the laws of England were first written in French, Rastell launches into a pan- egyric on the present king’s late father:24 But yet besides this, now of late days, the most noble Prince, our...

... diaries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries survive.8 Gio- vanni Ciapelli has argued that “one of the main concerns” of Florentine texts “was to demonstrate the family’s degree of participation in the political life of the city,” because—unlike Venice with its fixed noble class—in Flo- rence...

... of God.” For to this “conceit of being noble & gently born” or what she terms the “eldest daughter of pride” do we owe that hatred & contempt of laborious employments, which . . . hath brought in idleness as the perfection of a brave spirit, so that there’s no shame to them...

... from home, addressed the Count of Split as “our noble and honored neighbor, and friend” and reminded him that “it is better that the friendship among us endures.”30 A letter by Zafir (Cafer), “Captain of Klis” to the Count of Split addressed him as “my neighbor and friend” and emphasized...

... their crowding prevents good trees from bearing fruit. So, too, the abolition of rape and establishment of courtly love in Perceforest is ultimately an avenue to creating advantageous marriages that will produce noble offspring, the ancestors of Arthur and his court. In his management of both land...

...: To Sir Charles Cavendish, My Noble Brother-in-Law” (two pages), “To All Noble, and Worthy Ladies” (two pages), “An Epistle to Mistris Toppe” (three pages), Elizabeth Toppe’s response (one page), “To Naturall Philosophers” (two pages), “To the Reader” (two pages...

... Michael Cornett, Managing Editor Duke University Press Durham, North Carolina 2011 Volume 41 Index Balsamo, Jean Montaigne’s Noble Book: Book History and Biographical Criticism  4 1 7  –  3 4 Birk, Joshua C...

... Mordred than they were with the noble kynge Arthur, and muche people drew unto sir Mordred and seyde they wold abyde wyth hym for bettir and for wars. And so sir Mordred drew with a grete oste to Dovir, for there he harde sey that kyng Arthur wolde aryve, and so he thought...

... maneuvers by Alex- ander Farnese to besiege the city of Antwerp in letters addressed to influen- tial Roman family members.4 The type of information considered worthy of attention was shaped by the instructions and needs of recipients in the Italian states. Members of Italy s ruling and noble families had...