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Description
This thesis will examine how the Middle Ages are historically interpreted and portrayed in the United States. In order to keep this study within reasonable bounds, the research will exclude films, television, novels, and other forms of media that rely on the Pre-Modern period of European history for entertainment purposes. This thesis will narrow its focus on museums, non-profit organizations, and other institutions, examining their methods of research and interpretation, the levels of historical accuracy or authenticity they hold themselves to, and their levels of success. This thesis ultimately hopes to prove that the medieval period offers the same level of public interest as popular periods of American history.
This focus on reenactment serves to illustrate the need for an American audience to form a simulated connection to a historical period for which they inherently lack geographic or cultural memory. The utilization of hyperreality as described by Umberto Eco lends itself readily to this historic period, and plays to the American desire for total mimetic immersion and escapism. After examining the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of medieval history as high art and culture, the thesis focuses on historical reenactment, as it offers a greater level of visitor interaction, first by analyzing R.G. Collingwood’s definition of “reenactment” and it’s relation to the modern application in order to establish it as a veritable academic practice.
The focus of the thesis then turns to the historical interpretation/reenactment program identified here as historical performance, which uses trained actors in controlled museum conditions to present historically accurate demonstrations meant to bring the artifacts on display to simulated life. Beginning with the template first established by the Royal Armories Museum in the United Kingdom, a comparative study utilizing research and interviews highlights the interpretative methods of the Frazier History Museum, and those of the Higgins Armory Museum. By comparing both museum’s methods, a possible template for successfully educating the American public about the European Middle Ages; while a closer examination of the Frazier Museum’s survival compared to the Higgins Armory’s termination may illustrate what future institutions must do or avoid to thrive.
This focus on reenactment serves to illustrate the need for an American audience to form a simulated connection to a historical period for which they inherently lack geographic or cultural memory. The utilization of hyperreality as described by Umberto Eco lends itself readily to this historic period, and plays to the American desire for total mimetic immersion and escapism. After examining the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of medieval history as high art and culture, the thesis focuses on historical reenactment, as it offers a greater level of visitor interaction, first by analyzing R.G. Collingwood’s definition of “reenactment” and it’s relation to the modern application in order to establish it as a veritable academic practice.
The focus of the thesis then turns to the historical interpretation/reenactment program identified here as historical performance, which uses trained actors in controlled museum conditions to present historically accurate demonstrations meant to bring the artifacts on display to simulated life. Beginning with the template first established by the Royal Armories Museum in the United Kingdom, a comparative study utilizing research and interviews highlights the interpretative methods of the Frazier History Museum, and those of the Higgins Armory Museum. By comparing both museum’s methods, a possible template for successfully educating the American public about the European Middle Ages; while a closer examination of the Frazier Museum’s survival compared to the Higgins Armory’s termination may illustrate what future institutions must do or avoid to thrive.
ContributorsHatch, Ryan R (Author) / Wright, Kent (Thesis advisor) / Warnicke, Retha M. (Committee member) / Fixico, Donald L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Newfoundland is an island on the east coast of Canada that is mostly forgotten to the study of history. This paper looks in depth at the fighting between France and England between 1696 and 1713, which in Europe coincided with the Nine Years’ War and the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1696, fighting broke out on Newfoundland between England and France because of the Nine Years’ War. Pierre le Moyne d’Iberville, a French officer, commanded the attacks on over twenty English settlements. The attacks lasted less than a year. Attacks would happen again because of the War of the Spanish Succession. France and England would attack each other trying to gain control of the prized commodity of the island, the cod fish. This study looks at how French and English fighting on Newfoundland helped to change the landscape and shaped the way the history of the French and English on the island is portrayed today. Historians tend to look more at the modern history of the island such as: soldiers in World War I and World War II, when Newfoundland became a Canadian province, and the English history of the island. This study argues that, by studying French and English fighting on the island, we can better see the historical significance of Newfoundland.
ContributorsGeorge, Jacquelyn Irene-Rose (Author) / Gray, Susan (Thesis advisor) / Thompson, Victoria (Committee member) / Wright, Kent (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Based upon the political components of Norbert Elias’ civilizing process I further examine Louis XIV’s strategies of maintaining and increasing his power through the use of etiquette and manipulation to influence the court. This process is revealed through the drama around the showing of Tartuffe, the king’s image creation, and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes along with the destruction of nobles like the Chevalier de Rohan and the empowering of nobles like Madame de Maintenon. The main purpose of this project is to use the concept of the civilizing process as a means to explain what Louis XIV did to his court and nobility. By looking at the controversy caused by Tartuffe between Moliere, Louis XIV, and the Company of the Holy Sacrament, I explore how it would ultimately come to demonstrate the young king’s authority and centralization of power. Furthermore, the thesis explores how Louis XIV created his image by examining the symbolism within three grand festivals he hosted within Versailles and the daily routines he implemented and built upon at court such as the levee. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes is another demonstration of power by rolling back religious rights and maintaining that the king’s subjects subscribe to Catholicism, a faith deeply entrenched in innate hierarchies and not associated with the king’s foreign enemies. Along with these events I survey how Louis XIV’s disfavor and favor impacted the social and economic standing of particular members of the nobility, and how the king was able to utilize the social structures within Versailles to incentivize behavior he liked and to punish those who did not follow the rules of etiquette. Ultimately, I will use Norbert Elias’ concept of the civilizing process to aid in explaining how Louis XIV centralized the power and state to himself by establishing stricter codes of etiquette and bringing the nobility under his hand.
ContributorsJohnson, Kaetia (Author) / Barnes, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Wright, Kent (Committee member) / Lazer, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021