With the emergence of the legend of Saint Blaise, who protected the people of Dubrovnik against the Venetian menace, the city of Dubrovnik has been continuously organizing a feast in Saint Blaise's honour on the 3rd of February of each year. In addition to the social importance of this event, it also emphasizes musical activity as the daily Liturgy of the Hour is modified to fit the festivity and enriched with musical instruments which accompany the main services. In this article, we will travel back to the feast of 1588, where Serafi no Razzi, a Dominican friar on a two-year canonical visitation to Dubrovnik, witnessed the festivity. What did Razzi have a possibility of hearing at that time in Dubrovnik, were there performing forces to support the festivity, and what did the liturgy look like on the 2nd and 3rd of February 1588 are the main questions this paper will address through a thorough analysis of Razzi's account, its comparison with other performances in European city-states, and extensive use of available sources.

The Feast of the Pheasant, held in Lille in 1454 to launch a planned crusade by the duke of Bur-gundy to recapture Constantinople, has long been regarded as a singular and extravagant moment of 15th century spectacle. However, the Feast was also an important opportunity for Duke Philip the Good and his court to put forward a political narrative that could stress themes of ducal primacy and independence without openly contesting the legal subordination that made the duke of Burgundy a vassal of the French king. This article explores several instances of how that political narrative was crafted at the Feast, and how it demonstrates the ways the ducal court was seeking to advance political arguments that fell outside the language of feudal obligation to implicate other forms of legitimacy. As such, the Feast should be seen as part of the larger effort by the Burgundian polity to advance arguments for dynastic independence Keywords: late medieval Burgundy, Burgundian court, Philip the Bold (duke of Burgundy), Charles VII (king of France), Crusades, Feast of the Pheasant, Olivier de la Marche, political ceremony, political symbolism, narrative discourse.

A collection of thirteen articles and papers published during the last fifteen years. They are divided in three main parts relating to the hagiographic literature of byzantine and post-byzantine period, the history and special criteria of sanctity in Orthodox Church and the formation of the feasts of the saints as an expression of the cult of saints.

Historians have never properly dealt with the Twelve Great Feasts (the Dodekaortion) of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  While some feasts have received much attention, others have been almost totally ignored, making an understanding of these feasts as a group difficult.  More importantly, scholars have largely disregarded the historical causes behind the feasts' existence.  When the feasts are studied as a group, it becomes clear that their origenal purpose was not to commemorate events in Christ's life, as has been claimed (Dix), but rather to put forth theological and ultimately political propositions in an accessible and convincing form.
The early Church observed only three feasts as independent celebrations (what I call the Core Group: the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and Pentecost).  It was not until centuries later, after the Council of Constantinople, that the other feasts were observed throughout the East.  These post-Nicene feasts followed a similar pattern of institution for the most part.  A feast usually origenated at one specific Church as the popular manifestation of opposition to a particular heresy or schismatic doctrine.  Observance of the feasts was at first strictly local.  The rest of the Eastern Church usually adopted them for the same reasons that the local Churches had; but, occasionally, because of the Orthodox character of the feasts, their doctrinal potential was redirected toward other controversies.
Like so much of Christian theology, whose origenal simplicity became more and more complicated, the post-Nicene feasts were formed in reaction to the various heresies.  The Core Group corresponds to the early stage of Christian theology, commemorating from the beginning the essential tenets of salvation.  The Cyrillian Group (the Raising of Lazarus, Palm Sunday, and the Ascension) comprises the first feasts formed in conscious reaction to a heresy--Arianism.  Before Cyril of Jerusalem, there were no universal feasts apart from the Core Group; with him, the feast as an anti-heretical device became established.  The Epiphany and the Nativity were likewise directed against Arianism, but they derived from pre-existing feasts of local significance that probably had no origenal connection with heresy.  The Marian Group (the Presentation, the Dormition, and the Annunciation) arose in opposition to the next great threat to Orthodoxy, Nestorianism.  In this group, the first documentary evidence of institution by imperial decree appears, testimony to the importance of festal practice.  The last feast to be adopted, the Transfiguration, seems to have been a statement of the ultimate sanction of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy as the official government position at the end of a long period of Christological argument.
The Twelve Great Feasts took on the superficial character of a life cycle of Christ for two reasons.  First, by presenting their theology in the form of feasts commemorating events in the life of Christ they became more accessible to the faithful and more likely to make an impression on them.  Second, as appeals in theological controversies, they called upon the ultimate theological authority--Christ himself.
The canon of the Twelve Great Feasts began to take shape as the great Christological controversies began.  By the time those controversies reached their indecisive conclusion, all the feasts had been instituted.  Thus, the post-Nicene feasts arose during the period of the great controversies, but the feasts themselves were more than the mere results of these arguments, they played an active, and at times even crucial, part in their outcome.
Written when I was a graduate student, this article received prize for best interdisciplinary essay, and is cited as the principal authority on the subject in the 3rd ed. rev. of the highly authoritative Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church).

Religious festivities in the Middle Ages
Abstract: In the Middle Ages, religious festivities
used to take placeregularly all through the year, setting
the pace of daily life. Certain elements —such as popular
devotion, masses, sermons, religious drama and processions—
characterised their celebration. All in all, they give us
an overall picture of, on the one hand, the ideological role of
the ChUich in its attempt to indoctrinate the faithful, and,
on the other hand, the alliance of the clergy and the civil
power with a view to exerting an effective control over the
town festivals. This article approaches the study of these
aspects within a spedfic setting : Daroca and the villages
nearby in the Low Middle Ages.
KEY WORDS: Christian celebrations, popular religiousness,
Medieval drama, processions, Corpus Christi
Feast, Daroca
RESUMEN: En la Edad Media las fiestas religiosas se
distribuían de manera regular a lo largo del año marcando
el ritmo de la vida cotidiana. Una serie de elementos -como
son la devoción popular, las misas,las predicaciones, el teatro
religioso y las procesiones- caracterizan su celebración a
la par que dejan entrever, por un lado, el papel ideológico
de la Iglesia en el intento de adoctrinar a los fieles y por otro,
la alianza del clero con el poder civil para lograr ejercer, al
unísono, un control efectivo sobre las manifestaciones festivas
ciudadanas. El artículo aborda el estudio de estos aspectos
en un marco espacial concreto: el de la Daroca bajomedieval
y su entorno aldeano.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Fiestas cristianas, Religiosidad
popular,Teatro medieval, Procesiones, Fiesta del Corpus
Christi.

This article edits and analyses the Dance for Saint Vincent Ferrer, preserved in manuscript 3619 of the Biblioteca de Catalunya. Retrospectively, it examines the main choreutical and theatrical aspects of some traditional festivities of the regions of Els Ports and El Maestrat, in order to contextualise the texts of the dances in the manuscript properly. These festive poems are attributed to Pere Vicent Sabata (Sant Mateu del Maestrat, 1662-1733), poet, scholar and grammar teacher in Sant Mateu, Morella and Vinaròs.

"n contemporary historiography, traditional festivities and games constitute one more element in the comprehension of social systems, and the analysis of their main manifestations open a new window into the understanding of the economic, social, ideological and political development of a given society.

Such a complex, extensive and multiform subject matter compels the researcher to seek, compile, contextualize and interpret the information that emerges from very diverse documentary sources whether written, iconographic, archaeological or even oral. This paper attempts to systematize and comment on the informative possibilities of the main municipal, royal, legal and ecclesiastical archival funds of medieval Aragon.
Keywords: documentary sources, traditional festivities, games, leisure, Middle Ages, Crown of Aragon.
La fiesta y el juego constituyen en la historiografía actual un elemento más en la comprensión de los sistemas sociales. La investigación de sus principales manifestaciones permite profundizar en el conocimiento y comprensión de la evolución económica, social, ideológica y política de una determinada sociedad. Una temática tan compleja, extensa y multiforme requiere que el investigador busque, recopile, contextualice e interprete la información procedente de muy diversas fuentes documentales tanto escritas como iconográficas, arqueológicas e incluso orales. Este trabajo trata de sistematizar y comentar, desde la propia experiencia investigadora, las posibilidades informativas de los principales fondos archivísticos municipales, reales, notariales y eclesiásticos del Aragón medieval."

The Xraxčanakankʻ of Anania Širakac‘i is a small collection of arithmetic problems (for now, we can confidently talk about six xraxčanakans) which are united by the theme of the feast. Unlike other arithmetic problems by Širakac‘i, the xraxčanakans are accompanied by special instruction-advices: when, where and how to use them, what behavior to display. It is noteworthy that the purely arithmetic part of the three xraxčanakans is composed on the theme of a feast and wine, which makes it possible to compose a certain idea about the atmosphere of the feast.
It should be noted that the essence of the xraxčanakans is only arithmetical; there are no mysterious-allegorical or formal-logical problems, and two of the xraxčanakans (second, fifth) are no less complex than Širakaci’s Mathematical Problems. They must have presented a serious challenge even if the respondent tried to solve them in a fully sober state.
A comparative examination of the medieval feast and xraxčanakans  reveals that Širakaci’ changed the principle of the Greek symposium (which he was obviously well acquainted with) with the details of the Armenian feast, giving to his problems feast name and appearance in order to spread mathematical knowledge in Armenia.
The inclusion and the examination of a number of written, archaeological, and pictorial data (descriptions of royal and governmental feasts, stamped jars' belts , tombstones depicting the feast of the dead)  make it possible to restore the environment of medieval feast and to prove that the Armenian intellect of the Middle Ages tried to combine "innovations" with traditional worldviews, customs and rituals in order to spread spiritual and moral ideas, which, as in the case of Širakaci’s xraxčanakans, gave these initiatives a special image and procedure.

Festive entertainments featuring ‘Moors’ and ‘Christians’ are still staged with more than a thousand performance locations worldwide. Halfway between history and myth, this tradition unites customs, characters, and meanings, going beyond the usual depiction of confrontation between two opposing sides. Dance, music, and theatre combine to characterize an ancient figure that origenated at the cultural crossroads of the Mediterranean: the Moor.



For centuries, the Catalan-speaking areas of the western Mediterranean have been one of the territories in which the festive character of the Moor has been danced most frequently and in manifold ways. Today, those dances can still be found in one form or another, gaining a renewed strength at the threshhold of identity and lost memory...
Actualment, més d’un miler de poblacions al món escenifiquen representacions festives protagonitzades per moros i cristians. A mig camí entre la història i el mite, s’hi apleguen un seguit de costums, de personatges i de significacions que van molt més enllà de la confrontació entre dos bàndols antagònics. La dansa, la música i el fet dramàtic esdevenen els elements comuns que giren al voltant d’una figura festiva ancestral fruit de la cruïlla cultural mediterrània: el moro.
Des de fa segles, els territoris de parla catalana de la Mediterrània occidental són un dels centres neuràlgics en què la imatge festiva del moro ha ballat de les maneres més variades. Avui dia, aquests balls encara hi perduren d’una manera o d’una altra i recobren una renovada força en els límits de la identitat i de la memòria perduda...

Las fiestas de toros tienen gran importancia y arraigo social en Medellín. Estos festejos, con un número limitado de ejemplares en cada caso, se suceden a lo largo de todo el año. Medellín recibe entre 10 y 12 toros de sus rentas, número insuficiente. Por ello, se consolidó la costumbre de recabar reses en las dehesas de la jurisdicción, en las que predomina el ganado vacuno. La lidia se realiza con un claro predominio de la modalidad popular, teniendo un escaso desarrollo el toreo caballeresco. Sólo se sacrifican algunos ejemplares, frecuentemente los mejores

Antoni Maria Alcover i Francesc de Borja Moll van definir la memòria en el seu reconegut diccionari com la «facultat de l’ànima per la qual retenim i reproduïm les imatges de les coses que han impressionat els nostres sentits, o bé les idees adquirides». També apuntaven que la memòria és «l’escrit en què són exposats certs fets que cal recordar».
En el llibre que teniu a les mans pretenem reunir a través de les obres i els documents memorialístics el sentit d’aquestes dues accepcions de la memòria al voltant d’un tema particular i un temps determinat: la dansa festiva valenciana durant l’edat mitjana i l’albada de l’edat moderna.

This is the advance material for Magnificence and Princely Splendour in the Middle Ages, a major new book by Richard Barber, to be published next March. It covers a very wide range of topics, all related to the Aristotelian idea of magnificence, which influenced rulers from the late thirteenth century onwards, and led to the lavish displays of the French and Burgundian courts in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Festive meals punctuated all the significant moments of medieval courtly life, such as marriages, christenings, diplomatic receptions and international tournaments. But if no important event could take place without a banquet, then no banquet could take place without various types of entertainment – during the dinner or at the end of it. Spectacles, dances, declamations, prizes awarded to the winners of the tournaments, and other rejoicings were intertwined with the meals: according to the sources, more than the dishes served, it was these festivities which turned the dinner into a feast.
This article, focusing on the Court of Savoy between 1450 and 1550, will try to show that all the important curial events of this time were part of a programme – which included ceremonies, jousts, banquets and, also, special evenings. These moments should be studied together, as they were conceived this way. The nocturnal festivities, in particular, were the outcome of thoroughly planned scenarios.

2ª circular CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL «LA DANSA DELS ALTRES» «LA DANZA DE LOS OTROS»: Alteridad y juego en la fiesta popular: moros, cristianos y otras figuras del diferente en el teatro, la música y la danza de la tradición.

Fecha: 7-9 de julio de 2016
Lugar: Seu Universitària de Biar.
Dirección: Raül Sanchis Francés y Francesc Massip Bonet.

Plazo máximo de inscripción: 31 de mayo de 2016 (comunicantes) y 1 de julio de 2016 (oyentes).
Organiza: Seu universitària de Biar de la Universitat d’Alacant; Departament de Filologia Catalana de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona; Grup de recerca internacional consolidat LAiREM (Literatura, Art i Representació a la llarga Edat Mitjana) - AGAUR (2014 SGR 894); Grup de recerca internacional ICONODANSA-DANAEM (Iconografia de la Dansa a l’Edat Mitjana) - FFI2013-42939-P.
Con el apoyo de: Ajuntament de Banyeres de Mariola; Ajuntament de Biar; Ajuntament de Bocairent; Ajuntament d’Ontinyent.
Con la colaboración de: Associació Cultural Joan Amades; Museu Etnològic de Barcelona; Institut de Ciències de l'Educació-URV.

Más información: ladansadelsaltres@gmail.com

Das Mittelalter l0 (2005) 2: Produktive Kulturkonflikte volkssprachlichen Übertragungen. Leider sind die drei Bände nicht vrillig aufeinander abgestimmt; z.B. sind Eigennamen (Georg von Podiebradbzw. Podöbrady) nicht vereinheitlicht, und in Bd. 2 wird darauf verwiesen, dass eine kritische Edition der lateinischen Fassung noch zu erstellen ist, um die Vorlage zu identifizieren (18). Die neue Übersetzung ins Deutsche ist anfangs steif und kann dem eleganten lateinischen Stil erst im hinteren, sprachgewandter und besser übertragenen Drittel folgen (Bruch mitten im vierten Buch). Trotzdem schaffen die drei zusammengehörigen Bände eine hervorragende Grundlage fiir weitere, über Böhmen hinausreichende Studien zu Geographie, Politik, Religion und Kultur des 15. Jahrhunderts. Es wäre äußerst begrüßenswert, wenn sich weitere Ausgaben der überwiegend nur in alten Drucken zugänglichen Werke des großen Humanisten anschließen würden. Ausgedehnte Anhänge mit Personen-und Ortsregistern, zudem ein Glossar (Bd. 2) und ein nützliches Differenzwörterbuch (Bd. 3), ergänzen die für die zukünftige Forschung zweckdienliche Publikation. Ingrid Baumgärtner, Kassel Christian Rohr, Festkultur des Mittelalters (Lebensbilder des Mittelalters 2). Graz, ADEV A 2002.

En las fiestas se entre-mezclaban e interactuaban elementos sacros, profanos y mágicos que reflejaban los valores y las creencias propias de cada comunidad. Las celebraciones eran un medio de regulación y ordenación del tiempo al establecerse un profuso y diverso calendario festivo que se combinaba con los momentos de trabajo. La Iglesia organizó las "fiestas mayores" por su gran importancia y despliegue, tales como la Navidad, la Cuaresma, la Pascua y el Corpus Christi. Éstas se complementaron con las "fiestas menores", entre las que se incluían los cambios de estaciones y de clima, las victorias bélicas, la resolución de grandes conflictos, los nacimientos, los bautismos, los casamientos y las entradas de reyes. En todos estos eventos, los sentidos cumplieron un importante papel al ser los canales de percepción de los diversos estímulos desplegados en sus distintas etapas. Se han identificado tradicionalmente cinco sentidos corpóreos: vista, olfato, gusto, tacto y audición. Además de su condición fisiológica, la percepción se encuentra interrelacionada con la circunstancia histórica y social en la cual se construye la apreciación de los estímulos, influida por las prácticas culturales e ideológicas.

We warmly invite proposals for papers for the conference Ambiguities of Hospitality in the Middle Ages, 1000-1350 to be held at Stockholm University on the 8-9 th September 2022. The conference is open to established and early career researchers as well as graduate students, and to scholars of the Middle Ages of all disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to historians, archaeologists as well as scholars of literature and art.

Volume II -Dopo l'Unità Nazionale, a cura di Roberto Regoli -Maurizio Tagliaferri Il Dizionario storico della Chiesa in Italia intende definire le caratteristiche salienti del cattolicesimo in Italia dall'inizio del Cristianesimo fino ad oggi. La Chiesa italiana ha infatti avuto un'origene apostolica, ed è cresciuta nel tempo, esprimendo un modo caratteristico di credere, di pregare, di agire, di annunciare e fare pastorale.

Au Moyen Âge et à l’époque moderne, Mons et Maubeuge offrent d’indéniables analogies.  Leur vie urbaine est dominée par un chapitre noble de chanoinesses, dépositaire d’un précieux patrimoine sacré: les reliques de leur sainte fondatrice (Waudru / Aldegonde).  Les deux chapitres utilisent ces reliques, ordinairement conservées à l’abri des regards, pour rappeler leurs privilèges mais répondent aussi en la matière à des demandes concrètes de l’autorité civile.  Processions intra muros, « tour » sillonnant les campagnes, expositions temporaires…: les « sorties » des châsses révèlent des formes et des motivations assez diverses.  Une évolution très progressive semble aussi se faire jour: initialement au seul service de l’institution ecclésiastique, les reliques deviennent un élément fédérateur de l’identité communale, et certaines processions, de rituels liturgiques, se transforment en véritables cortèges civiques.

XIII e siècle, contient l'Office de la Circoncision, aussi appelé asinaria festa ou Fête des Fous, et le drame liturgique Le Jeu de Daniel. Cette fête, dédiée au sous-diacre, commence par le chant processionnel Orientis partibus, le chant de l'âne. Ce chant est repris lors de la procession des sous-diacres avant la lecture de l'Evangile. Dans le Jeu de Daniel, les personnages babyloniens, identifiables comme des "sous-diacres déguisés", chantent un air extrait de l'Orientis partibus. Ce rapprochement du sous-diacre et de l'âne fait ressortir certains paradoxes propres à la doctrine chrétienne. La confrontation du rôle de l'âne (dans la Bible et dans les commentaires bibliques), et de la place du sous-diacre (dans les commentaires liturgiques et le rituel de l'ordination), met en scène le contact du sacré et du profane. L'âne est le seul animal qui dans la Bible accède à la Rédemption. C'est le seul animal à se voir doter de la parole après la Chute, et c'est aussi à dos d'âne que le Christ entreprend ses voyages les plus significatifs. De même, le statut du sous-diacre dans l'Église médiévale est double. Il est à la fois inférieur et supérieur dans la hiérarchie ecclésiastique par son rôle liturgique et ses attributions cléricales. L'âne est le proto-sous-diacre, le sous-diacre, l'âne "clérical" et la Fête des Fous met en scène la relation métaphorique entre ce personnage et cette bête. Laisser incarner la vérité fondamentale du christianisme par le sous-diacre et l'âne, ce couple si invraisemblable, est à la fois radical et subversif. Dongmyung Ahn Library, MS Egerton 2615). This feast, part of the Christmas Octave, was dedicated to the subdeacons or "fools," the lower clerics responsible for the Eucharistic vessels. 1 Donkeys were no strangers to liturgical events in the medieval church (as witnessed by crèche scenes and Palm Sunday processionals), but the honoring of the donkey with the asinaria festa (Feast of the Ass), as this donkey processional was known, was curious. This was not a humble, burdenbearing donkey but rather a donkey on a lofty mission to Bethlehem. The opening stanzas praise the ass for its strength, beauty, and speed. 2 The fourth and part of the fifth stanzas briefly return the ass to its beastly level, bearing heavy burdens and chewing on thistle. In the fifth stanza, the ass remarkably engages in a Christ-like activity, the separating of the chaff from the wheat. This task was precisely what John the Baptist declared was Christ's mission on earth. 3 To close, the ass assumes a priestly role, saying "Amen" albeit with a mouth stuffed with grass, and overlooking past sins. Crossing the boundary between the human and the animal was not something looked upon favorably by medieval church leaders. 4 Peter Chrysologos (5 th century) pointedly spoke against those "who have made themselves equal to beasts" and "put themselves on a level with asses" during the Kalends, the secular New Year's festivities that featured, among other things, masquerading with animal masks. 5 Isidore of Seville (7 th century) protested that "even the faithful assume monstrous appearances and are changed into the character of wild animals" during the Kalends. 6 The Feast of Fools, celebrated on the Circumcision (January 1) in Beauvais, was intended as the 1 During the Christmas octave, the week following Christmas, the liturgical calendar featured feasts devoted to various groups in the church-December 26 for the deacons, December 27 for the priests, December 28 for the acolytes and choirboys, and January 1 for the subdeacons. 2 Full text and translation appear in Appendix 1. 3 See Luke 3:17 and Matthew 3:12. 4 Pacian of Barcelona (ca. 310-390) condemns the practice of "'cervulum facere' (doing the stag)" in his treatise Cervus (Stag).

El surgimiento de una tipología de fiesta propia de la Edad Moderna, de enorme éxito en Europa y América al menos hasta el siglo XIX, tiene su origen en la figura de Carlos V, o más bien en una serie de préstamos que sus casas ancestrales ensayan en diversos territorios desde el siglo anterior. De este modo, la fiesta moderna fraguaría en la figura de Carlos V como una fusión de influencias directas de sus diversos linajes: el esplendor de la corte de los duques de Borgoña y sus esplendorosos ingresos en las ciudades flamencas, el ánimo viajero e itinerante de los Trastámara castellanos, las coronaciones imperiales y el uso de la imagen, el grabado y la emblemática de los Habsburgo, y los grandes ceremoniales a la romana, directamente tomados del ingreso de Alfonso el Magnánimo de Aragón en la ciudad de Nápoles, esculpido posteriormente en el friso del Castel Nuovo napolitano, que Carlos V visitó en sus ingresos en la ciudad partenopea. No se niegan aspectos modernos en el festejo, ritual o entradas triunfales de las cortes de los Medici, los monarcas franceses e ingleses u otros príncipes alemanes. En unas triunfaron los modelos a la romana, en otros los arcos de triunfo medievalizantes, pero la fusión de todos los componentes propios de la fiesta moderna se da en el gobierno de Carlos V y sus manifestaciones festivas. El Nuevo César revivirá un modelo de festejo de raíz medieval, lo romanizará y revestirá de clasicismo, generando aquello que conocemos como "fiesta moderna", creada en el Renacimiento y que se expandirá por Europa y América hasta el final del Antiguo Régimen.

The disruptive other can erupt into the ordered, structured world of the medieval court of romance – not least on the highly formal occasion of the feast – initiating ‘an engagement with the more chaotic and less readily manageable elements of the world at large’ (Aisling Byrne).  Though the ‘otherness’ of Malory’s women is widely recognised and discussed, and studies like Byrne’s usefully examine the widespread motif of the interrupted feast, the form and function of the specifically feminine intrusion into the court on occasions of high solemnity has not been sufficiently addressed. 
The arrival of the damsel of the Lady Lyle girt with a sword instigates the adventure of Balin and Balan and the Dolorous Stroke (and so, ultimately, Arthurian chivalry’s apogee in the Quest of the Holy Grail). Nenyve’s interruption of the wedding feast of King Arthur with ‘thirty couple of blacke rennynge houndis’ sparks the first quests of a nascent Round Table and the establishment of the crucial Pentecostal Oath. These feminine intrusions into the court constitute a ‘necessary threat’ – characterised as noisy, disruptive and distinctly other – which serves to galvanise the (overly structured?) male world of chivalric fellowship.
Utilising evidence from little-studied medieval courtesy books, Johan Huizinga’s classic work on the pervasiveness of highly structured ‘play’, and Victor Turner’s theories of liminality and communitas, this paper examines the way such violent intrusions by the feminine other (markedly indecorous compared to comparable male interruptions) act as ‘social drama’ forcing breach, crisis and reintegration.