What’s new in medieval studies? Here are ten open-access articles published in September, which tell us about topics including the dietary habits of Florentines and the rediscovery of an African empire.
This series on Medievalists.net highlights what has been published in journals over the last month that deal with the Middle Ages. All ten articles are Open-Access, meaning you can read them for free. We now also have a special tier on our Patreon where you can see the full list of 75 open-access articles we found.
Where is everybody? The unburied dead in late Roman and early medieval England
By Emma Brownlee and Alison Klevnäs
Antiquity
Abstract: Substantial debate surrounds the relative lack of formal burials in Britain during the fifth century AD, which was a key period of social and economic transition following the withdrawal of the Roman army. Here, the authors argue that the ‘missing fifth century’ may be explained, in part, by the continuation of archaeologically invisible mortuary treatments practised in the preceding Iron Age and Roman period. Compilation of published radiocarbon dates from human remains found in cave and riverine contexts demonstrates that a variety of methods for the disposal of the dead—outside of formal cemeteries—existed in the first millennium AD.
Click here to read this article
Louis IX and the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk sultanate – part II
By Mohamad El-Merheb
Crusades
Abstract: This article argues that Louis IX’s crusade, defeats, and captivity shaped the attempts of Sultan al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Tūrānshāh (d. 648/1250) and amīr Ḥusām al-Dīn ibn Abī ʿAlī al-Hadhabānī (d. 658/1260) to gain power in Egypt. It highlights how Louis IX’s captivity was used by Tūrānshāh to consolidate his short-lived rule, provided the Mamluks with the right circumstances to assassinate their sultan, and offered Ḥusām al-Dīn a chance to serve the post-Ayyubid regime by securing the return of Damietta to the Muslims and the payment of Louis IX’s ransom. Louis IX’s intransigence and continuous refusal to consider a peace agreement and unreasonable demands before he was captured, and his constant stalling and discourteous comportment during his captivity influenced the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk sultanate, offering the Mamluks opportunity after opportunity to present themselves as protectors of the Egyptian realm. Lastly, this article brings to light new evidence related to the nature and timing of the Mamluk coup against Tūrānshāh and the identity of some of the conspirators who enabled it.
Click here to read this article
Diet in high mediaeval Florence through stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur
By Matteo Giaccari, Silvia Soncin, Alessandro Riga, Martina Di Matteo, Paolo Lelli, Maura Pellegrini and Mary Anne Tafuri
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Abstract: In this paper, we aim to reconstruct the dietary habits of supposedly lower rank nobles or middle-class High Middle Ages individuals recovered from the cloister arcade of San Pier Scheraggio within the Uffizi Museum complex in Florence, Italy. Notably, the High Middle Ages was a period of cultural and social changes, which is partly reflected in the dietary habits, as suggested by historical sources. Here we apply stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis on humans (n = 34) and animals (n = 13) from San Pier Scheraggio to directly investigate food consumption in this peculiar assemblage. The diet of human individuals was based on terrestrial C3 sources without clear contribution of marine fish (δ13C mean and 1SD: −19.5 ± 0.7 ‰; δ15N mean and 1SD: 9.6 ± 0.4 ‰; δ34S values are mean and 1SD: 7.6 ± 1.2 ‰). The comparison with animal and human samples from other Italian Middle Ages contexts shows that the overall diet of the population buried at San Pier Scheraggio is in line with that of other mediaeval communities in Italy, although with a generally higher contribution of terrestrial animal products. Our data seem to suggest that at the site there was no dietary differentiation concerning age at death or biological sex of the individuals. Some differences, however, can be outlined, for example, in the contribution of C4 crops. In addition to this, we identify two individuals as possible non-locals.
Click here to read this article
Bede and Gregory of Tours: A Reconsideration
By John Merrington
The English Historical Review
Abstract: Although the Historiae of Gregory of Tours (composed in the late sixth century) has frequently been invoked as an influence on Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (composed circa 731), no detailed study of this connection has hitherto been attempted. This article first addresses the manuscript tradition of the Historiae, demonstrating that there were at least two versions of Gregory’s text in circulation in Bede’s time, and that it matters significantly which version Bede encountered. It then compares the two texts in order to assess the case that Bede was influenced by his reading of the Historiae, firstly in analysing some of the sections of the Historia Ecclesiastica where Bede might have drawn on historical material from it, and secondly by considering the case for influence between the two authors at a structural and thematic level. It emerges that Bede almost certainly did not have access to a full ten-book version of the Historiae at the time of writing the Historia Ecclesiastica, but that his reading of the shorter, ‘B’ recension of Gregory’s text helped him to develop the scope of his own work as a geographically bounded Church history. The article concludes by arguing that Bede’s accomplishment as a historian should be located in the context of a historiographical renaissance that was already underway in the post-Roman west.
Click here to read this article
Race, Religion and the Medieval Norse Discovery of America
By Zachary J. Melton
Religions
Abstract: In 1837, Danish philologist Carl Christian Rafn published Antiquitates Americanæ, which introduced Americans to the Vinland sagas—medieval texts that suggest that Norse explorers “discovered” North America around the turn of the first millennium. Rafn, who saw it as his mission to promote Old Norse literature around the globe, presented some of his research in a way that would appeal to Anglo-American prejudices, particularly through the obsession with American Antiquities and the question of a pre-Columbian civilization. His conclusions and the Vinland sagas consequently entered the American racial and religious discourses. Like other discovery myths, the Vinland sagas were used by intellectuals to argue for an early white presence on the continent. Later that century, the Norse discovery was framed in religious terms as some white Americans attempted to replace the figure of Christopher Columbus with that of Leifur Eiriksson as the true discoverer of America. The ramifications of Rafn’s work and its reception can be seen in twentieth- and twenty-first-century representations of Vikings in American popular culture.
Click here to read this article
The Rise of Individual Personhood in Early Medieval China
By Téa Sernelj
Asian Studies
Abstract: The term “Early Medieval China” usually refers to the Wei Jin period, also known as the Wei Jin Southern and Northern dynasties (Wei Jin Nanbei chao 魏晉南北朝). This era was characterized by extreme sociopolitical circumstances, marked by constant instability, upheavals, wars, corruption, intrigues, external invasions and the exhaustion of the population. These conditions led to significant and unprecedented social and intellectual transformations that profoundly impacted Chinese culture, especially in the fields of philosophy and art. This article explores the cultural and philosophical ideas of the period that contributed to the rise of individual personhood, which emerged as a response to the suppressive and authoritarian Han Confucianism, which was heavily influenced by Legalist doctrines. Neo-Daoism, the most important stream of thought that arose from the political turmoil of the period, provided intellectuals with a refuge during these traumatic times, allowing them to explore new ways of philosophizing and experiencing an aesthetic way of living. The article examines the philosophical inquiries of the School of Profound Learning (Xuanxue 玄學) and Pure Conversations (Qingtan 清談) movement, which gave rise to self-awareness and fostered new perspectives on individual personhood.
Click here to read this article
Mwene Muji: A Medieval Empire in Central Africa?
By John Thornton
The Journal of African History
Abstract: Although the Lower Kasai was identified by Jan Vansina as a likely center for highly complex societies, he failed to recognize that sixteenth-century sources had mentioned the Empire of Mwene Muji as a large polity in that region. Studying the well known and recently discovered literature on West Central Africa, as well as a critical study of oral tradition, shows considerable evidence for the antiquity and existence of Mwene Muji.
Click here to read this article
In Search for the Better Sentence: Legal Fictions in Thirteenth Century Icelandic and Norwegian Laws
By Julián Valle
Scandinavian Journal of History
Abstract: This article posits the existence of legal fictions (Lat. fictio legis) in the customary and royal laws of Norway and Iceland. It argues that legal fictions played a significant role in the installation of the Norwegian king as a third party in all penal cases in Iceland, as well as in the introduction of a new idea of justice in the form of equity (Lat. aequitas, Gr. epikeia). In its treatment of the existence of Roman influences in Icelandic and Norwegian laws, this article argues that, regardless of the evidence in favour or against such influences, attention should be devoted to the creative process of adoption of legislative techniques and how these tools were appropriated in the process of administering justice and law-making in both Iceland and Norway.
Click here to read this article
Spilled Wine, Spilled Blood: Spilling the Secrets of the Covered Cup from the Chungul Kurgan
By Warren T. Woodfin
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte
Abstract: The covered cup, discovered in 1981 during the salvage excavation of a burial mound in southern Ukraine, is an impressive example of secular metalwork from around 1200. The cup’s interior contains a cast silver-gilt lion and a hitherto undetected siphon mechanism, making it one of the first preserved automata from Europe and the earliest known Western medieval example of this type of trick vessel. The cup from the Chungul Kurgan helps to clarify the probable operation of the chantepleure illustrated in the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt and sheds light on possible other medieval automata. The cup’s presence in the same burial with other works from the same approximate date and region suggests historical circumstances that might have resulted in its burial with a nomadic leader in the steppe.
Click here to read this article
The Marriage Ceremony in Early Medieval Ashkenaz
By Shalem Yahalom
Review of Rabbinic Judaism
Abstract: This article examined the marriage procedures prevalent in Mainz and other places in eleventh century Ashkenaz. Marriages took place on the Sabbath, as in Christian society, where weddings were held on holidays and days of rest. The ketubah was written on Friday in order to prepare for the wedding. Marriage during this period was not a symbolic ritual but a tangible act of sexual intercourse. Accordingly, a festive meal was held during which the couple consummated the marriage. Since the betrothal took place in a limited social circle, the betrothal blessing was recited toward the end of the Sabbath in the framework of a public, festive ceremony. After verification of the bride’s virginity, which meant she was eligible to receive the ketubah, the marriage blessings were recited on Saturday night and the ketubah became legally binding.
Click here to read this article
We found 75 open-access articles from September – you can get the full list by joining our Patreon – look for the tier that says Open Access articles in Medieval Studies.
See also our list of open-access articles from August
What’s new in medieval studies? Here are ten open-access articles published in September, which tell us about topics including the dietary habits of Florentines and the rediscovery of an African empire.
This series on Medievalists.net highlights what has been published in journals over the last month that deal with the Middle Ages. All ten articles are Open-Access, meaning you can read them for free. We now also have a special tier on our Patreon where you can see the full list of 75 open-access articles we found.
Where is everybody? The unburied dead in late Roman and early medieval England
By Emma Brownlee and Alison Klevnäs
Antiquity
Abstract: Substantial debate surrounds the relative lack of formal burials in Britain during the fifth century AD, which was a key period of social and economic transition following the withdrawal of the Roman army. Here, the authors argue that the ‘missing fifth century’ may be explained, in part, by the continuation of archaeologically invisible mortuary treatments practised in the preceding Iron Age and Roman period. Compilation of published radiocarbon dates from human remains found in cave and riverine contexts demonstrates that a variety of methods for the disposal of the dead—outside of formal cemeteries—existed in the first millennium AD.
Click here to read this article
Louis IX and the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk sultanate – part II
By Mohamad El-Merheb
Crusades
Abstract: This article argues that Louis IX’s crusade, defeats, and captivity shaped the attempts of Sultan al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Tūrānshāh (d. 648/1250) and amīr Ḥusām al-Dīn ibn Abī ʿAlī al-Hadhabānī (d. 658/1260) to gain power in Egypt. It highlights how Louis IX’s captivity was used by Tūrānshāh to consolidate his short-lived rule, provided the Mamluks with the right circumstances to assassinate their sultan, and offered Ḥusām al-Dīn a chance to serve the post-Ayyubid regime by securing the return of Damietta to the Muslims and the payment of Louis IX’s ransom. Louis IX’s intransigence and continuous refusal to consider a peace agreement and unreasonable demands before he was captured, and his constant stalling and discourteous comportment during his captivity influenced the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk sultanate, offering the Mamluks opportunity after opportunity to present themselves as protectors of the Egyptian realm. Lastly, this article brings to light new evidence related to the nature and timing of the Mamluk coup against Tūrānshāh and the identity of some of the conspirators who enabled it.
Click here to read this article
Diet in high mediaeval Florence through stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur
By Matteo Giaccari, Silvia Soncin, Alessandro Riga, Martina Di Matteo, Paolo Lelli, Maura Pellegrini and Mary Anne Tafuri
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
Abstract: In this paper, we aim to reconstruct the dietary habits of supposedly lower rank nobles or middle-class High Middle Ages individuals recovered from the cloister arcade of San Pier Scheraggio within the Uffizi Museum complex in Florence, Italy. Notably, the High Middle Ages was a period of cultural and social changes, which is partly reflected in the dietary habits, as suggested by historical sources. Here we apply stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analysis on humans (n = 34) and animals (n = 13) from San Pier Scheraggio to directly investigate food consumption in this peculiar assemblage. The diet of human individuals was based on terrestrial C3 sources without clear contribution of marine fish (δ13C mean and 1SD: −19.5 ± 0.7 ‰; δ15N mean and 1SD: 9.6 ± 0.4 ‰; δ34S values are mean and 1SD: 7.6 ± 1.2 ‰). The comparison with animal and human samples from other Italian Middle Ages contexts shows that the overall diet of the population buried at San Pier Scheraggio is in line with that of other mediaeval communities in Italy, although with a generally higher contribution of terrestrial animal products. Our data seem to suggest that at the site there was no dietary differentiation concerning age at death or biological sex of the individuals. Some differences, however, can be outlined, for example, in the contribution of C4 crops. In addition to this, we identify two individuals as possible non-locals.
Click here to read this article
Bede and Gregory of Tours: A Reconsideration
By John Merrington
The English Historical Review
Abstract: Although the Historiae of Gregory of Tours (composed in the late sixth century) has frequently been invoked as an influence on Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (composed circa 731), no detailed study of this connection has hitherto been attempted. This article first addresses the manuscript tradition of the Historiae, demonstrating that there were at least two versions of Gregory’s text in circulation in Bede’s time, and that it matters significantly which version Bede encountered. It then compares the two texts in order to assess the case that Bede was influenced by his reading of the Historiae, firstly in analysing some of the sections of the Historia Ecclesiastica where Bede might have drawn on historical material from it, and secondly by considering the case for influence between the two authors at a structural and thematic level. It emerges that Bede almost certainly did not have access to a full ten-book version of the Historiae at the time of writing the Historia Ecclesiastica, but that his reading of the shorter, ‘B’ recension of Gregory’s text helped him to develop the scope of his own work as a geographically bounded Church history. The article concludes by arguing that Bede’s accomplishment as a historian should be located in the context of a historiographical renaissance that was already underway in the post-Roman west.
Click here to read this article
Race, Religion and the Medieval Norse Discovery of America
By Zachary J. Melton
Religions
Abstract: In 1837, Danish philologist Carl Christian Rafn published Antiquitates Americanæ, which introduced Americans to the Vinland sagas—medieval texts that suggest that Norse explorers “discovered” North America around the turn of the first millennium. Rafn, who saw it as his mission to promote Old Norse literature around the globe, presented some of his research in a way that would appeal to Anglo-American prejudices, particularly through the obsession with American Antiquities and the question of a pre-Columbian civilization. His conclusions and the Vinland sagas consequently entered the American racial and religious discourses. Like other discovery myths, the Vinland sagas were used by intellectuals to argue for an early white presence on the continent. Later that century, the Norse discovery was framed in religious terms as some white Americans attempted to replace the figure of Christopher Columbus with that of Leifur Eiriksson as the true discoverer of America. The ramifications of Rafn’s work and its reception can be seen in twentieth- and twenty-first-century representations of Vikings in American popular culture.
Click here to read this article
The Rise of Individual Personhood in Early Medieval China
By Téa Sernelj
Asian Studies
Abstract: The term “Early Medieval China” usually refers to the Wei Jin period, also known as the Wei Jin Southern and Northern dynasties (Wei Jin Nanbei chao 魏晉南北朝). This era was characterized by extreme sociopolitical circumstances, marked by constant instability, upheavals, wars, corruption, intrigues, external invasions and the exhaustion of the population. These conditions led to significant and unprecedented social and intellectual transformations that profoundly impacted Chinese culture, especially in the fields of philosophy and art. This article explores the cultural and philosophical ideas of the period that contributed to the rise of individual personhood, which emerged as a response to the suppressive and authoritarian Han Confucianism, which was heavily influenced by Legalist doctrines. Neo-Daoism, the most important stream of thought that arose from the political turmoil of the period, provided intellectuals with a refuge during these traumatic times, allowing them to explore new ways of philosophizing and experiencing an aesthetic way of living. The article examines the philosophical inquiries of the School of Profound Learning (Xuanxue 玄學) and Pure Conversations (Qingtan 清談) movement, which gave rise to self-awareness and fostered new perspectives on individual personhood.
Click here to read this article
Mwene Muji: A Medieval Empire in Central Africa?
By John Thornton
The Journal of African History
Abstract: Although the Lower Kasai was identified by Jan Vansina as a likely center for highly complex societies, he failed to recognize that sixteenth-century sources had mentioned the Empire of Mwene Muji as a large polity in that region. Studying the well known and recently discovered literature on West Central Africa, as well as a critical study of oral tradition, shows considerable evidence for the antiquity and existence of Mwene Muji.
Click here to read this article
In Search for the Better Sentence: Legal Fictions in Thirteenth Century Icelandic and Norwegian Laws
By Julián Valle
Scandinavian Journal of History
Abstract: This article posits the existence of legal fictions (Lat. fictio legis) in the customary and royal laws of Norway and Iceland. It argues that legal fictions played a significant role in the installation of the Norwegian king as a third party in all penal cases in Iceland, as well as in the introduction of a new idea of justice in the form of equity (Lat. aequitas, Gr. epikeia). In its treatment of the existence of Roman influences in Icelandic and Norwegian laws, this article argues that, regardless of the evidence in favour or against such influences, attention should be devoted to the creative process of adoption of legislative techniques and how these tools were appropriated in the process of administering justice and law-making in both Iceland and Norway.
Click here to read this article
Spilled Wine, Spilled Blood: Spilling the Secrets of the Covered Cup from the Chungul Kurgan
By Warren T. Woodfin
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte
Abstract: The covered cup, discovered in 1981 during the salvage excavation of a burial mound in southern Ukraine, is an impressive example of secular metalwork from around 1200. The cup’s interior contains a cast silver-gilt lion and a hitherto undetected siphon mechanism, making it one of the first preserved automata from Europe and the earliest known Western medieval example of this type of trick vessel. The cup from the Chungul Kurgan helps to clarify the probable operation of the chantepleure illustrated in the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt and sheds light on possible other medieval automata. The cup’s presence in the same burial with other works from the same approximate date and region suggests historical circumstances that might have resulted in its burial with a nomadic leader in the steppe.
Click here to read this article
The Marriage Ceremony in Early Medieval Ashkenaz
By Shalem Yahalom
Review of Rabbinic Judaism
Abstract: This article examined the marriage procedures prevalent in Mainz and other places in eleventh century Ashkenaz. Marriages took place on the Sabbath, as in Christian society, where weddings were held on holidays and days of rest. The ketubah was written on Friday in order to prepare for the wedding. Marriage during this period was not a symbolic ritual but a tangible act of sexual intercourse. Accordingly, a festive meal was held during which the couple consummated the marriage. Since the betrothal took place in a limited social circle, the betrothal blessing was recited toward the end of the Sabbath in the framework of a public, festive ceremony. After verification of the bride’s virginity, which meant she was eligible to receive the ketubah, the marriage blessings were recited on Saturday night and the ketubah became legally binding.
Click here to read this article
We found 75 open-access articles from September – you can get the full list by joining our Patreon – look for the tier that says Open Access articles in Medieval Studies.
See also our list of open-access articles from August
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