Presented to the Scottish Tourist Guides Association: Highland & Island Branch.
This paper expl... more Presented to the Scottish Tourist Guides Association: Highland & Island Branch.
This paper explored how key locations were transformed for the hit TV show, and the ways that heritage was portrayed through set design and story. It also dealt with strategies of how to present the locations, and the show, to visitor-viewers.
A monk chases a goose for its quill. A manuscript is animated for its viewers. A manuscript reque... more A monk chases a goose for its quill. A manuscript is animated for its viewers. A manuscript request is lodged in a library. Vikings attack a monastery. A coffin is carried in a feast day procession. Curators, librarians, and scholars hunt artefacts. Each of these events is something that has happened in the Middle Ages or in Medieval Studies; they are also featured in fictionalized accounts of the Middle Ages and its artefacts. By featuring aspects of the Middle Ages in their narratives, fictional stories create a repository of “knowledge” about the materiality of the Middle Ages.
At the same time, the scholarly project attempts to create repositories through publication and digitization. Open Access publications coupled with the increasing number of library and museum digitization projects allow for a new equity in access that fictional representations have echoed. Yet, does the screen in which an object is encountered through matter for studying it? Does seeing an object on screen in a fictional context change how we encounter it on screen in a digitization?
This paper seeks to interrogate how fictional representations can be used to promote understandings of medieval material culture by exploring how they bring the past into the present. While not representing new technologies, new technologies are informing such use through 3D printed replicas of scanned objects. Moreover, as Film Studies and Digital Humanities both broaden to incorporate different aspects of their respective fields, both present an opportunity to imagine medieval materiality and our encounters with it in different ways. It will argue that to ignore, or belittle fictional representations rejects opportunities to experiment with ideas Digital Humanities emphasizes, as well as misses commentary on the physicality and materiality of the objects in question.
The Benedictional of St Æthelwold features a unique depiction of St Æthelthryth, the seventh-cent... more The Benedictional of St Æthelwold features a unique depiction of St Æthelthryth, the seventh-century Northumbrian virgin-queen turned saint. Designed for Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester and leader of the tenth-century monastic reform, the manuscript contains a number of full-page miniatures alongside an array of benedictions. Robert Deshman and Catherine Karkov have both considered the manuscript’s imagery in terms of its place in the Benedictional and, the latter, in terms of its place in the development of Æthelthryth’s cult in the late tenth century. However, the illumination has not been considered as an important testament to the development of the ideals of Anglo-Saxon virginity and queenship. Further, the conflation of Æthelthryth with the Virgin in order to represent the Anglo-Saxon church has yet to be analysed.
This paper will illustrate how Æthelwold adopted and deployed Æthelthryth in order to communicate ideals important to his view of reformed English monasticism through the depiction of the saint’s body, rather than the deployment of physical remains. By drawing comparisons to the portrayal of the Virgin, Benedict, and Swithun in the Benedictional, it will become clear that the Æthelthryth illumination is part of a complex statement on the body of the Anglo-Saxon church and monasticism. Analysis of the Benedictional’s illuminations alongside consideration of written accounts of Æthelthryth and the contemporary programme of sculpture at Ely elucidate how images of the body could outweigh corporal relics in importance.
Presented at Postgraduate Research Seminar (October 2015) for the Centre for Medieval & Renaissan... more Presented at Postgraduate Research Seminar (October 2015) for the Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of East Anglia
British Library Cotton Claudius B.iv, or the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, contains the first six books of the Bible translated in Old English by Ælfric and a series of anonymous scribes over the course of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. What makes Cotton Claudius B.iv unique in the corpus of surviving Old English biblical translations is its illustrations, of which there are over 500. While the illustrations depict biblical figures, it is clear that Cotton Claudius B.iv’s artist carefully portrayed society as he knew it, subtly hinting at righteous and unrighteous behaviours of both sexes. The special attention the artist gave to the female figures, however, has yet to be fully considered, with scholarship largely focused on male Old Testament Heroes, such as Noah and Abraham.
This paper analyses the depiction of women in the Cotton Claudius B.iv, beginning with the identification of patterns of representation within the 500 plus scenes. Drawing on contemporary writings, the patterns’ outliers (such as the Daughters of Lot) will be used in order to demonstrate how the artist constructed views on (in)appropriate womanhood. The paper will also give brief consideration as to how the depiction of women helps identify whom the intended audience could have been, as well as how the manuscript was used upon its completion.
Bearing in mind Mary-Catherine Garden’s argument that ‘it is much more useful and rewarding to co... more Bearing in mind Mary-Catherine Garden’s argument that ‘it is much more useful and rewarding to consider how a site uses the components of its tangible landscape to create a distinct place of the past,’ this paper draws on the history of Outlander’s heritage sites in order to explore the ways that history is retold in a fictional story, creating a distinct impression of historical past and fantasised past. Visual analysis using photographs of the locations under consideration is employed to demonstrate that while fictionalised, the cinematic imagery created demonstrates a type of ‘visual textbook’ of heritage.
Thepresentation of heritage in the show is placed alongside the by-product of increased tourism, as witnessed by Doune Castle. Drawing on Film and Television Studies and theories of heritage and tourism, this portion of the paper evaluates the current approaches taken by certain locations, the production, and Scotland’s main tourism board, VisitScotland.
While Outlander is an undeniable ‘love letter to Scotland,’ as Showrunner Ron Moore has called it, the show’s portrayal of the Scottish landscape combined with its insight into Scottish heritage sites underlines the way that Outlander approaches heritage as a romanticised interpretation.
In 1999, a small ring bezel was found in a field outside of Norwich, Norfolk. The obverse feature... more In 1999, a small ring bezel was found in a field outside of Norwich, Norfolk. The obverse features an inscription surrounding a portrait; the inscription identifies the rings as that of Queen Balthilde. The reverse is of an unusual type that draws on an established iconography of betrothal rings and coupling. This paper contextualises the ring’s problematic iconography and demonstrates the ways in which a queenly identity was established and debated in the seventh century.
Adoring Outlander: Essays on Fandom, Genre and the Female Audience
Edited by Valerie Estelle Fran... more Adoring Outlander: Essays on Fandom, Genre and the Female Audience Edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016 Print ISBN: 978-1-4766-6423-1 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2487-7
Outlander fever is sweeping the world. But what is behind the hit television drama’s popularity? Is it author Diana Gabaldon’s teasing posts on social media? Is it the real history reimagined? The highly emotional melodrama? Or is it the take-charge heroine and the sweet hero in a kilt? One of the show’s biggest draws is its multigenre appeal. Gabaldon—whose Outlander novels form the basis of the series—has called it science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction and military fiction, depending on her audience. This collection of new essays explores the series as romance, a ghost story, an epic journey, a cozy mystery, a comedy of manners, a gothic thriller and a feminist answer to Game of Thrones, and considers the source of its broad appeal.
Abstract: Prudentius’ Psychomachia describes the battle between vice and virtue in each Christian... more Abstract: Prudentius’ Psychomachia describes the battle between vice and virtue in each Christian soul; it circulated in England by the late eighth century and survives in around a dozen, including three illustrated, manuscript copies from before 1100. This study will be the first comprehensive art historical study on the Early Medieval English manuscripts. It will establish the unrecognized potential of the manuscripts’ materiality, including the use of silver and unusual gender renderings; it will also resituate the manuscripts in Early Medieval England and prompt scholars to rethink key issues of materiality, gender, and audience across disciplinary divides.
Study Outcome: The main outcome is a monograph that will locate the Psychomachia at the intersection of manuscript production, gender debates, and audiences’ uses through an art historical approach that draws on interdisciplinary methodologies and theories to highlight the importance of the manuscripts to Early Medieval England. The interdisciplinary frameworks for the project will ensure that the research’s importance is evident in fields beyond Art History and Medieval Studies.
Prudentius's popular fourth-century poem describes the internal battle between vice and virtue th... more Prudentius's popular fourth-century poem describes the internal battle between vice and virtue that occurs in every soul. The Anglo-Saxon illustrated manuscripts draw on earlier continental cycles, borrowing the composition of individual scenes while changing the gender of the figures illustrated. In the Latin text, both vice and virtue are feminine; in the continental illustrations virtues are male warriors, and the vices are dangerous women who must be defeated. The Anglo-Saxon cycles attempt to transform the male virtues into female figures, while continuing the tradition of the feminine virtue. Yet, the cycles are not consistent in their representation of male and female. The virtues are often masculine women with long or short hair whose clothing can be interpreted as female attire or male ecclesiastical dress; their enemy vices similarly waver between feminine and masculine iconography. In one case, Libido becomes more feminine as a masculine Pudicitia defeats her. In another, Avaritia's portrayal alternates between a seemingly male vice and breastfeeding mother. By drawing on such instances of ambiguity, this paper will demonstrate how the Anglo-Saxon artists use the inconsistent, often confusing, representations, to make comments on gender roles and identity in Late Anglo-Saxon society in order to stress the dangers of vice and rewards of virtue.
Presented to the Scottish Tourist Guides Association: Highland & Island Branch.
This paper expl... more Presented to the Scottish Tourist Guides Association: Highland & Island Branch.
This paper explored how key locations were transformed for the hit TV show, and the ways that heritage was portrayed through set design and story. It also dealt with strategies of how to present the locations, and the show, to visitor-viewers.
A monk chases a goose for its quill. A manuscript is animated for its viewers. A manuscript reque... more A monk chases a goose for its quill. A manuscript is animated for its viewers. A manuscript request is lodged in a library. Vikings attack a monastery. A coffin is carried in a feast day procession. Curators, librarians, and scholars hunt artefacts. Each of these events is something that has happened in the Middle Ages or in Medieval Studies; they are also featured in fictionalized accounts of the Middle Ages and its artefacts. By featuring aspects of the Middle Ages in their narratives, fictional stories create a repository of “knowledge” about the materiality of the Middle Ages.
At the same time, the scholarly project attempts to create repositories through publication and digitization. Open Access publications coupled with the increasing number of library and museum digitization projects allow for a new equity in access that fictional representations have echoed. Yet, does the screen in which an object is encountered through matter for studying it? Does seeing an object on screen in a fictional context change how we encounter it on screen in a digitization?
This paper seeks to interrogate how fictional representations can be used to promote understandings of medieval material culture by exploring how they bring the past into the present. While not representing new technologies, new technologies are informing such use through 3D printed replicas of scanned objects. Moreover, as Film Studies and Digital Humanities both broaden to incorporate different aspects of their respective fields, both present an opportunity to imagine medieval materiality and our encounters with it in different ways. It will argue that to ignore, or belittle fictional representations rejects opportunities to experiment with ideas Digital Humanities emphasizes, as well as misses commentary on the physicality and materiality of the objects in question.
The Benedictional of St Æthelwold features a unique depiction of St Æthelthryth, the seventh-cent... more The Benedictional of St Æthelwold features a unique depiction of St Æthelthryth, the seventh-century Northumbrian virgin-queen turned saint. Designed for Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester and leader of the tenth-century monastic reform, the manuscript contains a number of full-page miniatures alongside an array of benedictions. Robert Deshman and Catherine Karkov have both considered the manuscript’s imagery in terms of its place in the Benedictional and, the latter, in terms of its place in the development of Æthelthryth’s cult in the late tenth century. However, the illumination has not been considered as an important testament to the development of the ideals of Anglo-Saxon virginity and queenship. Further, the conflation of Æthelthryth with the Virgin in order to represent the Anglo-Saxon church has yet to be analysed.
This paper will illustrate how Æthelwold adopted and deployed Æthelthryth in order to communicate ideals important to his view of reformed English monasticism through the depiction of the saint’s body, rather than the deployment of physical remains. By drawing comparisons to the portrayal of the Virgin, Benedict, and Swithun in the Benedictional, it will become clear that the Æthelthryth illumination is part of a complex statement on the body of the Anglo-Saxon church and monasticism. Analysis of the Benedictional’s illuminations alongside consideration of written accounts of Æthelthryth and the contemporary programme of sculpture at Ely elucidate how images of the body could outweigh corporal relics in importance.
Presented at Postgraduate Research Seminar (October 2015) for the Centre for Medieval & Renaissan... more Presented at Postgraduate Research Seminar (October 2015) for the Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of East Anglia
British Library Cotton Claudius B.iv, or the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, contains the first six books of the Bible translated in Old English by Ælfric and a series of anonymous scribes over the course of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. What makes Cotton Claudius B.iv unique in the corpus of surviving Old English biblical translations is its illustrations, of which there are over 500. While the illustrations depict biblical figures, it is clear that Cotton Claudius B.iv’s artist carefully portrayed society as he knew it, subtly hinting at righteous and unrighteous behaviours of both sexes. The special attention the artist gave to the female figures, however, has yet to be fully considered, with scholarship largely focused on male Old Testament Heroes, such as Noah and Abraham.
This paper analyses the depiction of women in the Cotton Claudius B.iv, beginning with the identification of patterns of representation within the 500 plus scenes. Drawing on contemporary writings, the patterns’ outliers (such as the Daughters of Lot) will be used in order to demonstrate how the artist constructed views on (in)appropriate womanhood. The paper will also give brief consideration as to how the depiction of women helps identify whom the intended audience could have been, as well as how the manuscript was used upon its completion.
Bearing in mind Mary-Catherine Garden’s argument that ‘it is much more useful and rewarding to co... more Bearing in mind Mary-Catherine Garden’s argument that ‘it is much more useful and rewarding to consider how a site uses the components of its tangible landscape to create a distinct place of the past,’ this paper draws on the history of Outlander’s heritage sites in order to explore the ways that history is retold in a fictional story, creating a distinct impression of historical past and fantasised past. Visual analysis using photographs of the locations under consideration is employed to demonstrate that while fictionalised, the cinematic imagery created demonstrates a type of ‘visual textbook’ of heritage.
Thepresentation of heritage in the show is placed alongside the by-product of increased tourism, as witnessed by Doune Castle. Drawing on Film and Television Studies and theories of heritage and tourism, this portion of the paper evaluates the current approaches taken by certain locations, the production, and Scotland’s main tourism board, VisitScotland.
While Outlander is an undeniable ‘love letter to Scotland,’ as Showrunner Ron Moore has called it, the show’s portrayal of the Scottish landscape combined with its insight into Scottish heritage sites underlines the way that Outlander approaches heritage as a romanticised interpretation.
In 1999, a small ring bezel was found in a field outside of Norwich, Norfolk. The obverse feature... more In 1999, a small ring bezel was found in a field outside of Norwich, Norfolk. The obverse features an inscription surrounding a portrait; the inscription identifies the rings as that of Queen Balthilde. The reverse is of an unusual type that draws on an established iconography of betrothal rings and coupling. This paper contextualises the ring’s problematic iconography and demonstrates the ways in which a queenly identity was established and debated in the seventh century.
Adoring Outlander: Essays on Fandom, Genre and the Female Audience
Edited by Valerie Estelle Fran... more Adoring Outlander: Essays on Fandom, Genre and the Female Audience Edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016 Print ISBN: 978-1-4766-6423-1 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2487-7
Outlander fever is sweeping the world. But what is behind the hit television drama’s popularity? Is it author Diana Gabaldon’s teasing posts on social media? Is it the real history reimagined? The highly emotional melodrama? Or is it the take-charge heroine and the sweet hero in a kilt? One of the show’s biggest draws is its multigenre appeal. Gabaldon—whose Outlander novels form the basis of the series—has called it science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction and military fiction, depending on her audience. This collection of new essays explores the series as romance, a ghost story, an epic journey, a cozy mystery, a comedy of manners, a gothic thriller and a feminist answer to Game of Thrones, and considers the source of its broad appeal.
Abstract: Prudentius’ Psychomachia describes the battle between vice and virtue in each Christian... more Abstract: Prudentius’ Psychomachia describes the battle between vice and virtue in each Christian soul; it circulated in England by the late eighth century and survives in around a dozen, including three illustrated, manuscript copies from before 1100. This study will be the first comprehensive art historical study on the Early Medieval English manuscripts. It will establish the unrecognized potential of the manuscripts’ materiality, including the use of silver and unusual gender renderings; it will also resituate the manuscripts in Early Medieval England and prompt scholars to rethink key issues of materiality, gender, and audience across disciplinary divides.
Study Outcome: The main outcome is a monograph that will locate the Psychomachia at the intersection of manuscript production, gender debates, and audiences’ uses through an art historical approach that draws on interdisciplinary methodologies and theories to highlight the importance of the manuscripts to Early Medieval England. The interdisciplinary frameworks for the project will ensure that the research’s importance is evident in fields beyond Art History and Medieval Studies.
Prudentius's popular fourth-century poem describes the internal battle between vice and virtue th... more Prudentius's popular fourth-century poem describes the internal battle between vice and virtue that occurs in every soul. The Anglo-Saxon illustrated manuscripts draw on earlier continental cycles, borrowing the composition of individual scenes while changing the gender of the figures illustrated. In the Latin text, both vice and virtue are feminine; in the continental illustrations virtues are male warriors, and the vices are dangerous women who must be defeated. The Anglo-Saxon cycles attempt to transform the male virtues into female figures, while continuing the tradition of the feminine virtue. Yet, the cycles are not consistent in their representation of male and female. The virtues are often masculine women with long or short hair whose clothing can be interpreted as female attire or male ecclesiastical dress; their enemy vices similarly waver between feminine and masculine iconography. In one case, Libido becomes more feminine as a masculine Pudicitia defeats her. In another, Avaritia's portrayal alternates between a seemingly male vice and breastfeeding mother. By drawing on such instances of ambiguity, this paper will demonstrate how the Anglo-Saxon artists use the inconsistent, often confusing, representations, to make comments on gender roles and identity in Late Anglo-Saxon society in order to stress the dangers of vice and rewards of virtue.
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This paper explored how key locations were transformed for the hit TV show, and the ways that heritage was portrayed through set design and story. It also dealt with strategies of how to present the locations, and the show, to visitor-viewers.
At the same time, the scholarly project attempts to create repositories through publication and digitization. Open Access publications coupled with the increasing number of library and museum digitization projects allow for a new equity in access that fictional representations have echoed. Yet, does the screen in which an object is encountered through matter for studying it? Does seeing an object on screen in a fictional context change how we encounter it on screen in a digitization?
This paper seeks to interrogate how fictional representations can be used to promote understandings of medieval material culture by exploring how they bring the past into the present. While not representing new technologies, new technologies are informing such use through 3D printed replicas of scanned objects. Moreover, as Film Studies and Digital Humanities both broaden to incorporate different aspects of their respective fields, both present an opportunity to imagine medieval materiality and our encounters with it in different ways. It will argue that to ignore, or belittle fictional representations rejects opportunities to experiment with ideas Digital Humanities emphasizes, as well as misses commentary on the physicality and materiality of the objects in question.
This paper will illustrate how Æthelwold adopted and deployed Æthelthryth in order to communicate ideals important to his view of reformed English monasticism through the depiction of the saint’s body, rather than the deployment of physical remains. By drawing comparisons to the portrayal of the Virgin, Benedict, and Swithun in the Benedictional, it will become clear that the Æthelthryth illumination is part of a complex statement on the body of the Anglo-Saxon church and monasticism. Analysis of the Benedictional’s illuminations alongside consideration of written accounts of Æthelthryth and the contemporary programme of sculpture at Ely elucidate how images of the body could outweigh corporal relics in importance.
British Library Cotton Claudius B.iv, or the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, contains the first six books of the Bible translated in Old English by Ælfric and a series of anonymous scribes over the course of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. What makes Cotton Claudius B.iv unique in the corpus of surviving Old English biblical translations is its illustrations, of which there are over 500. While the illustrations depict biblical figures, it is clear that Cotton Claudius B.iv’s artist carefully portrayed society as he knew it, subtly hinting at righteous and unrighteous behaviours of both sexes. The special attention the artist gave to the female figures, however, has yet to be fully considered, with scholarship largely focused on male Old Testament Heroes, such as Noah and Abraham.
This paper analyses the depiction of women in the Cotton Claudius B.iv, beginning with the identification of patterns of representation within the 500 plus scenes. Drawing on contemporary writings, the patterns’ outliers (such as the Daughters of Lot) will be used in order to demonstrate how the artist constructed views on (in)appropriate womanhood. The paper will also give brief consideration as to how the depiction of women helps identify whom the intended audience could have been, as well as how the manuscript was used upon its completion.
Thepresentation of heritage in the show is placed alongside the by-product of increased tourism, as witnessed by Doune Castle. Drawing on Film and Television Studies and theories of heritage and tourism, this portion of the paper evaluates the current approaches taken by certain locations, the production, and Scotland’s main tourism board, VisitScotland.
While Outlander is an undeniable ‘love letter to Scotland,’ as Showrunner Ron Moore has called it, the show’s portrayal of the Scottish landscape combined with its insight into Scottish heritage sites underlines the way that Outlander approaches heritage as a romanticised interpretation.
Edited Anthologies
Edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel
Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016
Print ISBN: 978-1-4766-6423-1
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2487-7
Outlander fever is sweeping the world. But what is behind the hit television drama’s popularity? Is it author Diana Gabaldon’s teasing posts on social media? Is it the real history reimagined? The highly emotional melodrama? Or is it the take-charge heroine and the sweet hero in a kilt? One of the show’s biggest draws is its multigenre appeal. Gabaldon—whose Outlander novels form the basis of the series—has called it science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction and military fiction, depending on her audience. This collection of new essays explores the series as romance, a ghost story, an epic journey, a cozy mystery, a comedy of manners, a gothic thriller and a feminist answer to Game of Thrones, and considers the source of its broad appeal.
Research Projects
Study Outcome: The main outcome is a monograph that will locate the Psychomachia at the intersection of manuscript production, gender debates, and audiences’ uses through an art historical approach that draws on interdisciplinary methodologies and theories to highlight the importance of the manuscripts to Early Medieval England. The interdisciplinary frameworks for the project will ensure that the research’s importance is evident in fields beyond Art History and Medieval Studies.
Publications
This paper explored how key locations were transformed for the hit TV show, and the ways that heritage was portrayed through set design and story. It also dealt with strategies of how to present the locations, and the show, to visitor-viewers.
At the same time, the scholarly project attempts to create repositories through publication and digitization. Open Access publications coupled with the increasing number of library and museum digitization projects allow for a new equity in access that fictional representations have echoed. Yet, does the screen in which an object is encountered through matter for studying it? Does seeing an object on screen in a fictional context change how we encounter it on screen in a digitization?
This paper seeks to interrogate how fictional representations can be used to promote understandings of medieval material culture by exploring how they bring the past into the present. While not representing new technologies, new technologies are informing such use through 3D printed replicas of scanned objects. Moreover, as Film Studies and Digital Humanities both broaden to incorporate different aspects of their respective fields, both present an opportunity to imagine medieval materiality and our encounters with it in different ways. It will argue that to ignore, or belittle fictional representations rejects opportunities to experiment with ideas Digital Humanities emphasizes, as well as misses commentary on the physicality and materiality of the objects in question.
This paper will illustrate how Æthelwold adopted and deployed Æthelthryth in order to communicate ideals important to his view of reformed English monasticism through the depiction of the saint’s body, rather than the deployment of physical remains. By drawing comparisons to the portrayal of the Virgin, Benedict, and Swithun in the Benedictional, it will become clear that the Æthelthryth illumination is part of a complex statement on the body of the Anglo-Saxon church and monasticism. Analysis of the Benedictional’s illuminations alongside consideration of written accounts of Æthelthryth and the contemporary programme of sculpture at Ely elucidate how images of the body could outweigh corporal relics in importance.
British Library Cotton Claudius B.iv, or the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, contains the first six books of the Bible translated in Old English by Ælfric and a series of anonymous scribes over the course of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. What makes Cotton Claudius B.iv unique in the corpus of surviving Old English biblical translations is its illustrations, of which there are over 500. While the illustrations depict biblical figures, it is clear that Cotton Claudius B.iv’s artist carefully portrayed society as he knew it, subtly hinting at righteous and unrighteous behaviours of both sexes. The special attention the artist gave to the female figures, however, has yet to be fully considered, with scholarship largely focused on male Old Testament Heroes, such as Noah and Abraham.
This paper analyses the depiction of women in the Cotton Claudius B.iv, beginning with the identification of patterns of representation within the 500 plus scenes. Drawing on contemporary writings, the patterns’ outliers (such as the Daughters of Lot) will be used in order to demonstrate how the artist constructed views on (in)appropriate womanhood. The paper will also give brief consideration as to how the depiction of women helps identify whom the intended audience could have been, as well as how the manuscript was used upon its completion.
Thepresentation of heritage in the show is placed alongside the by-product of increased tourism, as witnessed by Doune Castle. Drawing on Film and Television Studies and theories of heritage and tourism, this portion of the paper evaluates the current approaches taken by certain locations, the production, and Scotland’s main tourism board, VisitScotland.
While Outlander is an undeniable ‘love letter to Scotland,’ as Showrunner Ron Moore has called it, the show’s portrayal of the Scottish landscape combined with its insight into Scottish heritage sites underlines the way that Outlander approaches heritage as a romanticised interpretation.
Edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel
Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2016
Print ISBN: 978-1-4766-6423-1
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2487-7
Outlander fever is sweeping the world. But what is behind the hit television drama’s popularity? Is it author Diana Gabaldon’s teasing posts on social media? Is it the real history reimagined? The highly emotional melodrama? Or is it the take-charge heroine and the sweet hero in a kilt? One of the show’s biggest draws is its multigenre appeal. Gabaldon—whose Outlander novels form the basis of the series—has called it science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical fiction and military fiction, depending on her audience. This collection of new essays explores the series as romance, a ghost story, an epic journey, a cozy mystery, a comedy of manners, a gothic thriller and a feminist answer to Game of Thrones, and considers the source of its broad appeal.
Study Outcome: The main outcome is a monograph that will locate the Psychomachia at the intersection of manuscript production, gender debates, and audiences’ uses through an art historical approach that draws on interdisciplinary methodologies and theories to highlight the importance of the manuscripts to Early Medieval England. The interdisciplinary frameworks for the project will ensure that the research’s importance is evident in fields beyond Art History and Medieval Studies.