Abstract: The scholastic-Aristotelian concepts of the soul ('anima') and God were introduced into East Asia by Jesuit missionaries in the late sixteenth century. Tasan Chŏng Yagyong 茶山 丁若鏞 (1762–1836) creatively embraced the Aristotelian concept of soul, which he related to the neo-Confucian concept of heart-mind (xin 心). Tasan established a logical chain to prove that heart-mind, ghosts-spirits (guishen 鬼神), and Shangdi 上帝 are immaterial and spiritual entities. For Tasan, Shangdi, as the sovereign of heaven, is not a quiet, hidden being which merely endows human beings with a noble nature, but constantly warns people not to act inappropriately during their daily life by commanding the guishen.
For animals that are not known to have lived on the island of Britain until the reign ofHenry III, elephants feature in a notable number of English texts and artworks before the thirteenth century. Moreover, carvers continued to use elephant ivory throughout the early Middle Ages. However, English speakers' knowledge of elephants' anatomy was limited before the late twelfth century. Building on previous literary, art historical, and historical scholarship, this article uses elephants to examine the limits of early English speakers'understandings of the wider world.
This article investigates the limits of the English image of the foreign mercenary as enemy and external other by examining how contemporary chroniclers framed relationships between foreign fighters and their English of Flemish mercenaries in the Battle of Fornham (1173). Stereotypes of foreign mercenaries came under scrutiny when writers considered power imbalances in mercenaries' relationships and reflected on shared experiences of war. Alongside stories of victory over foreign enemies, ideas of regret, mercy, and common humanity proved compelling in understanding people from the external world.
