Kathleen Neal

Monash University, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Faculty Member

Monash University, School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Department Member

Followers

515

Following

511

Co-authors

Mentions

Public Views

I am a historian of medieval political culture, especially in England and its diplomatic zone. My research interests include rhetoric and political communication, diplomacy, intelligence and espionage, and discourses of justice and political well-being. I am also interested in studies of teaching and learning history at the tertiary level.

less

InterestsView All (40)

Uploads

Papers by Kathleen Neal

Primary sources, pedagogy and the politics of tertiary history in Australia

History Australia, 2022

History education in Australian universities finds itself under increasing pressure in the age of... more History education in Australian universities finds itself under increasing pressure in the age of neoliberalism and the crisis precipitated by COVID-19. Universities and professional associations have been forced to adopt a generic discourse of transferable ‘skills’ in order to justify the place of history in the curriculum. We show, however, that these skills may have specific or even contested meanings within disciplines. Moreover, students can only properly acquire higher-order transferable skills by practising them in disciplinary contexts. Consequently, reinvesting skills with disciplinary meaning is necessary for student outcomes even within a neoliberal rationale, enabling a new defence of the specific nature of historical work. We advance a means of working with primary sources using strategic questioning of increasing complexity as a tool for achieving these twin goals. We show how our approach is embedded in the cognitive processes of historical thinking as defined in both of the major theoretical models that have achieved currency, and posit it as a mode of pedagogical resistance in the neoliberal university landscape.

The Letters of Edward I: Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century

The Letters of Edward I Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century, 2021

Elizabeth, countess of Holland and Hereford (1282–1316), princess

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Aug 7, 2021

Royal women and intra-familial diplomacy in late thirteenth-century Anglo-French relations

Women's History Review

Download

Words as Weapons in the Correspondence of Edward I with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

Parergon, 2013

The correspondence exchanged by Edward I of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, in... more The correspondence exchanged by Edward I of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, in the late thirteenth century has traditionally been read for its legal and jurisdictional implications. However, as Rees Davies noted, language was itself a weapon in medieval Anglo-Welsh conflict. From this assumption, I examine a single letter exchange to investigate the construction and function of royal epistolary language. I suggest that traditional and formulaic elements were adapted to strategic expression of the authority and longevity of royal power, and that silences were equally intentional and rhetorically forceful weapons in the campaign to dominate Wales.

From Letters to Loyalty: Aline la Despenser and the Meaning(s) of a Noblewoman’s Correspondence in Thirteenth-Century England

Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, 2015

, the Countess of Norfolk, Aline la Despenser, sent a letter to the Chancellor of England. 1 This... more , the Countess of Norfolk, Aline la Despenser, sent a letter to the Chancellor of England. 1 This was, in many ways, a completely unremarkable letter concerning a rather banal administrative matter; hardly the place one might naturally look for evidence of intersections between emotion and governance. Yet, as I argue in this chapter, Aline's letter was in fact a finely tuned articulation of affective persuasion. The beauty of its design lay in a delicate weaving between observing the expectations shaping letters of governance, and transgressing them in targeted and gendered ways which become clear when the letter is read against its particular context. Through simultaneous reproduction and disordering of the rules of letter-writing, it sought to evoke a range of positive responses in one person-the chancellor to whom it was addressed-in ways uniquely reflective of the relationship between him and its sender, the countess. Close reading of Aline's letter thus reveals how all senders of letters to royal officers might manipulate affective rhetoric to achieve their political, legal, or fiscal aims: it is a case study of how emotion and governance regularly interacted in medieval England. Further, it illuminates the circumstances in which women could enter epistolary exchange of this kind, and the gendered rhetorical strategies they might use when the opportunity to do so arose. The letter is an especially rich source for interrogating how women accessed this particular

Download

‘The First Parliament, Held 1265’

The Signing of Magna Carta

Review of Chris Jones (ed.), John of Paris: Beyond Royal and Papal Power

A Team-Based "Public History" Assessment for Undergraduates: Rationale, Design and Implementation in a Medieval History Course

The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and cha... more The design of assessment in undergraduate history courses, as university populations grow and change, must adapt to meet and serve a range of new pedagogical imperatives and student constituencies in order to ensure both disciplinary integrity and the development of employability skills transferable to work in other fields. In delivering an elective course on Medieval history we have developed the “Medieval Expo,” a team-based assessment task that challenges students to develop a presentation aimed at educating a general audience on a specific aspect of Medieval history. The task aims, primarily, to develop students’ ability to communicate complex information to a non-specialist audience as well as develop effective teamwork skills: two valuable characteristics for humanities graduates entering any career, while still reinforcing the importance of historical study. A “scaffolded research” model, providing foundational structures that guide student research, is combined with opportun...

Download

Letters and Political Discourse under Edward I

Edward I: New Interpretations, 2020

From Latin to the Vernacular: Medieval Women’s Letters, 1000–1400

This chapter discusses medieval women's uses of epistolarity, c. 1000-1400 in political, admi... more This chapter discusses medieval women's uses of epistolarity, c. 1000-1400 in political, administrative and religious contexts, revealing the ways in which some women – typically elites – were able to negotiate the world in which they lived, and the hierarchies into which they were born. The chapter also examines changes and continuities between the expression and function of Latin and vernacular epistolary forms.

Download

Kathleen Neal - Orality and Literacy in the Middle Ages: Essays on a Conjunction and its Consequences in Honour of D. H. Green (review) - Parergon 24:2

<i>What is Medieval History?</i> (review)

Parergon, 2010

From Letters to Loyalty

Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, 2000

Marian Devotion in Thirteenth-century French Lyric [Book Review]

Kathleen Neal - Transforming the Medieval World: Uses of Pragmatic Literacy in the Middle Ages (review) - Parergon 24:2

Letters close: political communication in Thirteenth-Century England

Mapping 5-HT inputs to enteric neurons of the guinea-pig small intestine

Neuroscience, 2007

Targets of myenteric interneurons in the guinea-pig small intestine

Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 2008

Polarized outputs of myenteric interneurons in guinea-pig small intestine have been well studied.... more Polarized outputs of myenteric interneurons in guinea-pig small intestine have been well studied. However, the variety of motility patterns exhibited suggests that some interneuron targets remain unknown. We used antisera selected to distinguish interneuron varicosities and known myenteric neuron types to investigate outputs of three interneuron classes in guinea-pig jejunum; two classes of descending interneurons immunoreactive (IR) for somatostatin (SOM) or nitric oxide synthase (NOS)/vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and one class of ascending interneurons [calretinin/enkephalin (ENK)-IR]. Varicosities apposed to immunohistochemically identified cell bodies were quantified by confocal microscopy. Intrinsic sensory neurons (calbindin-IR) were apposed by few varicosities. Cholinergic secretomotor neurons (neuropeptide Y-IR) were apposed by many SOM-IR varicosities. Longitudinal muscle excitatory motor neurons (calretinin-IR) were apposed by some VIP- and ENK-IR varicosities, but few SOM-IR varicosities. Ascending interneurons (calretinin-IR) were apposed by many varicosities of all types. NOS-IR interneurons and inhibitory motor neurons were apposed by numerous VIP-IR and SOM-IR varicosities. NOS-IR short inhibitory motor neurons were apposed by significantly fewer ENK-IR varicosities than other NOS-IR neurons. Based on the specific chemical coding of ascending (ENK) and descending (SOM) interneurons, we conclude that cholinergic secretomotor neurons and short inhibitory neurons are located in descending reflex pathways, while ascending interneurons and NOS-IR descending interneurons are focal points at which ascending and descending pathways converge.

Primary sources, pedagogy and the politics of tertiary history in Australia

History Australia, 2022

The Letters of Edward I: Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century

The Letters of Edward I Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century, 2021

Elizabeth, countess of Holland and Hereford (1282–1316), princess

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Aug 7, 2021

Royal women and intra-familial diplomacy in late thirteenth-century Anglo-French relations

Women's History Review

Download

Words as Weapons in the Correspondence of Edward I with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

Parergon, 2013

From Letters to Loyalty: Aline la Despenser and the Meaning(s) of a Noblewoman’s Correspondence in Thirteenth-Century England

Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, 2015

Download

‘The First Parliament, Held 1265’

The Signing of Magna Carta

Review of Chris Jones (ed.), John of Paris: Beyond Royal and Papal Power

A Team-Based "Public History" Assessment for Undergraduates: Rationale, Design and Implementation in a Medieval History Course

Download

Letters and Political Discourse under Edward I

Edward I: New Interpretations, 2020

From Latin to the Vernacular: Medieval Women’s Letters, 1000–1400

Download

Kathleen Neal - Orality and Literacy in the Middle Ages: Essays on a Conjunction and its Consequences in Honour of D. H. Green (review) - Parergon 24:2

<i>What is Medieval History?</i> (review)

Parergon, 2010

From Letters to Loyalty

Authority, Gender and Emotions in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, 2000

Marian Devotion in Thirteenth-century French Lyric [Book Review]

Kathleen Neal - Transforming the Medieval World: Uses of Pragmatic Literacy in the Middle Ages (review) - Parergon 24:2

Letters close: political communication in Thirteenth-Century England

Mapping 5-HT inputs to enteric neurons of the guinea-pig small intestine

Neuroscience, 2007

Targets of myenteric interneurons in the guinea-pig small intestine

Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 2008

Political Communication and Political Community in Thirteenth-Century England

Edward I of England (1272-1307), best known to modern audiences as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’ and ... more Edward I of England (1272-1307), best known to modern audiences as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’ and the founder of the English Parliament, corresponded with hundreds of aristocrats and officials. Several thousand of these letters survive. Letters were a crucial part of his political strategy. They facilitated governance by directing royal representatives scattered over a large realm, and thus enabled the king to consolidate power in the wake of the baronial rebellion that occupied the last decades of his father’s rule. Adopting a case study approach, this paper argues that the rhetoric of such administrative correspondence was politically meaningful despite its often formulaic appearance. Reading hitherto unexamined letters in light of both contextual detail and the standard epistolary structures advocated by medieval theorists I interpret these sources as social artifacts that both reflected and sought to influence the relationship of the political community to the crown. In so doing, I suggest a new understanding of how kingly authority was made and maintained in the 13th century.

Edward I and the Three Queens: Literae de Statu and Anglo-French Diplomacy in the Late Thirteenth Century

This paper proposes a politicized reading of litterae de statu, enquiries about health, which ena... more This paper proposes a politicized reading of litterae de statu, enquiries about health, which enables correspondence between Edward I and three queens of France to be read as instances of Anglo-French diplomacy. On 12th August 1295, fifteenth months after Philip IV’s confiscation of Gascony, a set of draft letters was written in Edward’s name to Marguerite of Provence, widow of Louis IX, Marie of Brabant, widow of Philip III, and Jeanne of Navarre, wife of Philip IV. While they are otherwise unremarkable specimens of the de statu genre which is easily dismissed as merely formulaic, the historical and archival contexts of the drafts point to an underlying, specific political motivation for their composition, and suggest Edward attributed real diplomatic agency to the three queens. With reference to a wide literature on patronage and intercession, and through a critical appraisal of their construction and vocabulary, I will argue that these letters provide evidence that Edward attempted to use his familial connections with Marguerite, Marie and Jeanne, as part of his wider diplomatic and military response. This reading gives greater texture to female involvement in this major international crisis and contributes to the growing understanding of the political rôles of medieval queens. It also demands that a more imaginative interpretation be extended to other litterae de statu in the context of European royal networks.

Power and the Pleasure of Prose: The Correspondence of Edward I and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

The construction of kingship developed in Edward I’s letters to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of W... more The construction of kingship developed in Edward I’s letters to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, was a more autocratic, robust one than that of contemporaneous correspondence with his English barons, who shared many of his assumptions about the bases of good governance and the relationship between king and subject. Because Welsh assumptions about this relationship were different, Llywelyn’s letters challenged and affronted Edward’s kingly dignity, and provoked a strident construction of kingship in return. The most striking example of this is a letter represented in three successive drafts extant at The National Archives. The unusual survival of a set of drafts of such ideologically important correspondence provides the opportunity to examine how epistolary prose was refined to fit within chancery and dictaminal forms, pragmatic political considerations, and the simple concern for pleasing use of language.

How to Construct a King: The Correspondence of Edward I with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd

The conflict between Edward I and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, between the Welsh Wars o... more The conflict between Edward I and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, between the Welsh Wars of the late thirteenth century was as much a conflict of discourse as it was a conflict of laws. In this paper I extend this position to examine in detail the language of letters exchanged between the two rulers. I argue that the construction of kingship developed in Edward’s letters to Llywelyn was a more autocratic, robust one that that of contemporaneous correspondence with his English barons, who shared many of his assumptions about the bases of good governance and the relationship between king and subject. Because Welsh assumptions about this relationship were different, Llywelyn’s letters challenged and affronted Edward’s kingly dignity, and provoked a strident construction of kingship in return. However, since the power of letters was intimately tied to the real power of letter writers, Llywelyn’s attempt to carve an epistolary space for his own authority was doomed to fail. Even by engaging in correspondence with the English king, he had already recognised the chancery’s dominance of the discourse of kingship.

Reason and Right: Letters of Request to Chancery in Thirteenth-century England

This paper examines the language of early letters addressed to the Chancellor, and argues that a ... more

To her own very dear son: Familial rhetoric in the letters of Eleanor of Provence

In late medieval England, queens drew power from their relationship to the king, and their own (o... more In late medieval England, queens drew power from their relationship to the king, and their own (often powerful) family connections. But this does not mean that they acted as uncomplicated ciphers for ‘mother’, ‘sister’, or ‘wife’. This paper offers a case study of the correspondence of Eleanor of Provence which illustrates some of the complexities of ‘family’ as a feature of and influence on queenly literate culture in the late thirteenth century. Around 160 letters from Eleanor of Provence, dowager queen of England (1272-1291), survive in The National Archives (UK). Of these, more than 30% are letters to her son, Edward I, but these are not her only letters which evoke family relationships. In letters to the king, her son, and to various of his senior ministers, Eleanor exploited references to family in both open and subtle ways to convey her requests and instructions effectively. Familial language was, in fact, an important rhetorical device of her correspondence. Furthermore, the relationship between family, kinship and lines of communication influenced her pattern of letter writing generally as she sought to deploy her influence in her son’s kingdom, just as they had done during the reign of his father. In this paper, I will pursue two goals. First, I will examine references to family relationships in these letters with the intention of exposing how Eleanor used family to demonstrate her authority, and to persuade her readers. Second, I will show how ‘family’ governed what Eleanor wrote to whom, and how she was able to use her epistolary access to the ‘great men’ of the kingdom in her own causes and those of men and women who sought her patronage.

To dictate or delegate? The language of governance in English royal letters, 1272-1307

Anxiety about the actions and reliability of government agents recurred throughout the reign of E... more Anxiety about the actions and reliability of government agents recurred throughout the reign of Edward I stimulating a range of special commissions and general policies aimed at increasing their accountability, and simultaneously, increasing the personal authority of the king. This period also saw an exponential growth in the production of records of government, which itself may reflect the desire to document (or to have documented) its delegated responsibilities. Among The National Archives collection 'Ancient Correspondence' survive a substantial number of letters of this period addressed to government agents in the name of Edward I. This paper will offer a close analysis of the language of these letters, addressing such questions as: did rhetoric of command or request predominate, and in what contexts? How did royal power interact with the authority of its agents through the medium of the written word? Did this change as Edward's reign progressed? Through such analysis this paper will assess the location and nature of the balance between delegated and personal wielding of royal authority during this controversial period in the development of administrative monarchy.

Women’s Words: How did women’s letters come to be written in 13th-century England?

This paper proceeds from the assumption that to write a letter in late medieval Europe was a powe... more This paper proceeds from the assumption that to write a letter in late medieval Europe was a powerful act, demonstrating in a physical form the sender’s participation in a dominant (and literate) cultural mode. What, then, were the conditions of production and the material facts that shaped the possibilities and outcomes of letter writing by women? These issues will be addressed with reference to a sample of letters written to the royal chancellor by a range of women in thirteenth-century England: from queens and great ladies, to humble supplicants and distant relatives. How did each of these women come to write to the chancellor: why did they write, and what formulae governed how they did so? Can any link be demonstrated between the circumstances and form of their letters and the success of their requests? What features were common to the letters of all these women, and what separated them? Finally, in writing, did these women demonstrate power, and what was its nature? Were their letters gendered ‘feminine’, or were they indistinguishable from men’s letters of this type?

The Letters of Edward I: Political Communication in the Thirteenth Century

Detailed examination of the letters of Edward I reveals them to be powerful and sophisticated po... more Detailed examination of the letters of Edward I reveals them to be powerful and sophisticated political tools.

As formulaic in appearance as they are abundant in the archives, it is easy to underestimate the power of the letters generated by medieval governments, but these acts of communication were more than mere containers of information. Operating at the intersection of the spoken and the written, the performed and the observed, they produced a discourse that maximized royal authority and promoted solidarity between sender and recipient.
This book situates letters within medieval theories of composition and habits of reception, to argue that even mundane letters of governance were rhetorical texts. It focuses on the example of Edward I of England, whose rhetorical prowess was noted, often critically, by contemporaries. It shows how the king's correspondence varied in tone, vocabulary and structure across his reign and between recipients, revealing an unexpected dynamism of political discourse. Moving between historical context and close readings of individual letters, this volume identifies letter-writing as an art through which the king and his government attempted to negotiate and mould relationships with political communities and diplomatic interlocutors alike.

Download

Kathleen Neal

Uploads

Papers by Kathleen Neal

Log In