Martyrdom and Crusading in the Thirteenth Century: Remembering the Dead of Louis IX's Crusades

Death and remembrance of the dead were of great significance to Christians in the Middle Ages, and those men and women who were believed to have died as martyrs for the faith were worthy of particular renown. In the context of the crusades, during which thousands of Christian participants placed their lives at risk, the possibility that those who died were martyrs was therefore inevitably raised. Belief relating to the martyrdom of crusaders has interested historians for some time. Thus far, though, attention has largely been focused on the earliest stages of the crusade movement and the first crusade in particular. These studies suggest that after this time a popular belief that crusaders could be, and often were, martyrs was firmly established. This paper is intended to extend this debate, which has largely ignored how ideas relating to Christian martyrdom developed beyond the initial stages of the crusade movement. For, while the possibility that crusaders might achieve martyrdom is consistently present in our source material for later crusades, this does not necessarily mean that the issue had become uncontroversial. This subject will be tackled through an examination of material relating to the campaigns of the French king Louis IX (d. 1270) in North Africa and the Levant during the mid- and later-thirteenth century. The first part of the paper is intended to illustrate some of the inconsistencies present in approaches to the subject of the martyrdom of crusaders in this period. The second part will focus on a specific text, the Vie de saint Louis of John of Joinville (d. 1317), in order to show that the lack of clarity which characterises the wider picture concerning martyrdom and crusading should not deter us from trying to explore and explain the attitudes of individuals.     

Videos Versus Role Plays to Increase Counseling Self-Efficacy in Prepractica Trainees

A brief mock counseling session was potentially more risky but more potent than a brief videotaped counseling session as an intervention for increasing counseling self-efficacy in prepractica trainees.     

SOME RESULTS RELATING TO TEST EQUATING UNDER RELAXED TEST FORM EQUIVALENCE

Educational measurement specialists in undertaking test equating in applied settings have been plagued by the absence of a logically or mathematically compelling rationale for their test equating efforts. Classical test theory and other test theories based on the assumption of identically distributed true scores are tautological in terms of test equating. The present study examined (by means of a Monte Carlo procedure) the effects of four parameters on the accuracy of test equating under a relaxed definition of test form equivalence. The four parameters studied were sample size, test form length, test form reliability, and the correlation between the true scores of the test forms to be equated. Significant interactions involving sample size and the other parameters indicated that smaller samples of observations yielded disproportionately larger errors in test equating for fixed values of the test form parameters. In terms of main effects, sample size emerged as most important in controlling equating error. Taken together, the results suggest that when test equating is carried out on larger samples of observations, errors of equating will tend to be relatively small even though the test forms are not strictly parallel. For arbitrarily small samples, however, errors of equating will tend to be larger regardless of how equivalent the test forms are.     

PILOTing Courseware

The declining costs of microcomputers will enable counselor education programs to take advantage of this medium in developing instructional programs and units. PILOT, an amazingly simple computer language, is outlined for producing computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Authoring systems that internally contain the logic and programming necessary for the development of CAI lessons are discussed. Applications for training, especially simulations, are included.     

Citizenship Education in Northern Ireland: Beyond national identity?

The introduction of citizenship education to the curriculum of all schools in Northern Ireland is one way of underpinning a long-term commitment to democratic politics as part of a fragile peace process. However, the concept of citizenship requires careful consideration in a society where there are different loyalties that give rise to conflict over the future constitutional status of the society itself. Neither British nor Irish national identity provides the basis for a 'patriotic' model of citizenship that could be accepted in all schools. This article describes the commitments and confidence-building measures contained in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and its implications for developing a concept of citizenship that might transcend the two main nationalisms that exist in Northern Ireland.