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Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) is often assumed to have an oeuvre that is authori-ally and textually well defined and neatly delimited, an oeuvre, that is, in keeping with his distinctive, well-defined biographical persona. This essay argues that this sense of a well-defined oeuvre is a convenient myth and that, if we are interested in a more accurate assessment of the extent and preservation of his writings, we first need to dis-integrate Marlowe. Where we may wish to find either plain Marlowe or not Marlowe, we may instead have collaborative Marlowe, revised Marlowe, doubtful Marlowe, and mutilated Marlowe. The early editions of Doctor Faustus end with the words, " terminat auctor opus ," and each of these words turns out to be characteristic of the myth this essay investigates and may have played a role in constructing it. Marlowe did not single-handedly complete all his writings, several of them are not sole-authored, and his collaborative and partly fragmented writings may not amount to what we usually consider an opus. Instead, they turn out to be fully embedded in the exigencies of the messy, collaborative world of the early modern theater and book trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the presentation of the Commons' Speaker in the Tudor age. It traces the medieval origins of this ceremony, arguing that it served not only as an opportunity for flamboyant rhetoric, but also as a politically significant event designed to impress upon the Commons its inferiority in the parliamentary hierarchy. The article also suggests that Elizabethan Speakers used their orations as a means of presenting counsel to the queen herself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the presentation of the Commons' Speaker in the Tudor age. It traces the medieval origins of this ceremony, arguing that it served not only as an opportunity for flamboyant rhetoric, but also as a politically significant event designed to impress upon the Commons its inferiority in the parliamentary hierarchy. The article also suggests that Elizabethan Speakers used their orations as a means of presenting counsel to the queen herself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the case—hitherto virtually unknown—of an anonymous French master mason from St.-Denis, active around 1416–30 in the wealthy town of Legnica in Silesia. Invited to Central Europe in the turbulent times of the Hundred Years' War by the local duke Louis II, in Legnica he executed several works, foremost among them the von der Heyde Chapel at the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul, featuring an impressive stellar vault with a hanging boss. Attributed to the French master on stylistic grounds, it constitutes a unique example of a remarkably mature design from the early phase of Flamboyant architecture, in some respects predating its geographically distant yet stylistically proximate parallels in France itself. This article reconstructs the master's oeuvre, discusses the chapel's artistic origin in the Île-de-France of the early fifteenth century, and shows its surprising importance in the history of French late medieval architecture. In this context, the Silesian monument is all the more important because so little architecture survives from the Parisian milieu of the early fifteenth century. The works of the French master active in Legnica analyzed here should be considered as representative examples of the rapid stylistic development that occurred within the initial phase of Flamboyant architecture in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Second World War, the communist regime supported by Moscow started building the New Order and environment for the New Man/Woman. After a few projects that were in line with the Stalinist architecture and had Moscow's approval, the New City tried to find its own way in. The political context had had no direction in constructions until Nikita Khrushchev's discourse in 1954. In the 1950's, communism started building the neighborhood of tomorrow. This project involved two cities: Hunedoara, located in the largest heavy industry area of the country, and Bucharest, the capital of Romania. A young architect, Nicolae Porumbescu, started working on the new project: a building with a cultural function, a theatre seen as the greatest object erected in “Piata infratirii intre popoare” (“The Fraternization between Peoples Square”) in Bucharest, and another similar structure in the main square of Hunedoara. Porumbescu's inspiration for the object was the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. The project was developed in the two cities, but at a different scale and relation with the surrounding blocks of flats built for the New Communist Man. The Communist rulers were in search for a new identity of the communist city. The House of the New Man of the 1950's was a pastiche of composite style inspired from classical values. The five-pointed red star ruled in the flamboyant decoration of a hypostyle classical hall. Why does history repeat itself in architecture? Why is the Hellenistic style the only style applied when the idea of dominating the crowds occurs? Nicolae Porumbescu tried to work against the Stalinist style which a few years later, in the 1960's, was to be considered “without utility” because of its decoration, space and urban composition. Why is the classical option always considered the right path of a new ideology of image? Why does one always employ the classical style when one wants to impose oneself? What did Nikita Khrushchev do to the new way? This paper intends to provide answers to such questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large drawing on parchment of a Flamboyant façade, now housed in the Archives Départementales du Puy-de-Dôme in Clermont-Ferrand (series 3G, armoire 18, sac B, côte 29), was created as part of a concerted late fifteenth-century effort to complete the construction of the cathedral of Clermont. Although it cannot be dated precisely, the façade apparently was designed in close connection with a 1496 estimate of the cost of the remaining work on the cathedral. Intended as a finished working plan, the Clermont façade elevation sheds valuable light on Late Gothic drawing and design. A study of the drawing reveals that its author was concerned both with pragmatic architectural considerations and with the creation of a visually exciting and impressive image that seems to have been aimed at arousing the interest and financial participation of wealthy benefactors—in this case, the king of France and the bishop of Clermont. This appeal to a few aristocratic patrons, rather than to the general populace, represents an important shift in the pattern of building finance at Clermont. The description and analysis of the forms of the façade project suggest that its designer was a local architect, perhaps Pierre Montoloys, who was nevertheless familiar with contemporary Flamboyant developments in France. The new project was designed to harmonize with the existing structure by honoring the established disposition and even the earlier forms of the cathedral. However, the author of the Clermont façade project, liberally drawing motifs from contemporary monuments and striving consciously for originality, created a design which is unique in Late Gothic architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]