Early Middle Ages (History)

The article describes the development of research of the deserted village settlement from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. It mentiones the most important researched localities and the methods of non-destructive research. The article describes also the currect trends of research in the field of new documentation methods (lidar), use of environmental archeology and finally the research of villages deserted since 1945.

Preface; I. Introduction: I.1 Prelude "To Imitate the Bees"; I.2 Towards an Interpretation of Spolia: Delimitations and Methods; I.3 Reuse The Development of a New Architectural Practice; II. Translatio of Materials: II.1 Fragments and Fragmentation. The Disposition of Spolia in Church Buildings; II.2 Translations and Transferences: Christian Versions of Roman Architecture; II.3 The Aesthetics of Appropriation Eclecticism, Variety, and Antithetical Harmonies; III. Translatio of Meanings: III.1 Breaking Down the Past Rejections of Rationality; III.2 "Seeing the invisible" Towards a New Metaphorical Architecture; III.3 To "Strip Error Bare" The Rhetoric of Transformation; IV. Translatio of Time: IV.1 "Novelty in the Old and Age in the New". The Rhetoric of Renovation; IV.2 Recollecting the Past Spolia and Historical Consciousness; IV.3 Inventing the Past: Spolia and the Ideology of Classicism; Bibliography; List of Illustrations; Photo Credits; Index.

En quelques formules définitives, concluant sa remarquable synthèse sur la fin de l'Antiquité, Henri Pirenne (m. 1935) s'est imposé comme la référence historiographique contemporaine majeure du monde méditerranéen proto-médiéval. L'Islâm, en faisant irruption sur ces rivages du VIIe au VIIIe s. aurait d’après lui si profondément bouleversé les échanges entre l'Ouest et l'Est qu'il aurait provoqué une véritable « fermeture » économique et circulatoire de la Méditerranée occidentale. L'Europe de l'Ouest, amputée de son accès à l’ancien Mare Nostrum, aurait été obligée de se réinventer pour donner naissance à l'Occident chrétien, sous l’égide de la dynastie carolingienne, issue d’ailleurs de Francie septentrionale. En somme, « Charlemagne sans Mahomet serait inconcevable » . Or cette thèse, en dépit de ses qualités, a très vite été contestée, notamment par les spécialistes du monde arabe, dès les années 1940.  A la fin du XXe s., avec la prise en compte de nouvelles sources en particulier archéologiques, elle a perdu un peu de son éclat.
L’Occident méditerranéen du haut Moyen Âge doit-il donc encore être considéré comme un lac musulman ou comme une frontière de l'Islâm ?
Sans prétendre trancher cet épineux problème en quelques pages, il nous a paru intéressant d’analyser  la controverse en elle-même pour tenter d’y voir un peu plus clair. Confronté aux assertions contradictoires d’historiens qui délaissent parfois l’habit du chercheur pour endosser celui du polémiste, on verra qu’un retour aux sources au sens littéral de l’expression s’impose, avant de proposer quelques nouvelles pistes d’analyse

The twelfth century was a period of significant development and change in the religious and secular world of Western Europe. One area of transition occurred in depictions of Christ’s crucifixion. In both writing and art, the triumphant living Christ of the early Middle ages, was transformed into the dying, suffering, and yet majestic savior of the twelfth century.  This essay examines images and written sources from the fourth to the twelfth centuries, and seeks to determine how the twelfth century renaissance and reformation—based on the discovery of the individual— influenced this evolution.

Alabanda Ancient City takes place in Araphisar Street from Doğanyurt Village in the 7 km west of Çine Town, Aydın City. The city settled down on the foothill of the hills in the north of Gökbel Mountain, is positioned close by the Marsyas River. The ancient city having wetland wide lowlands suitable for agriculture shows a non-stop settlement by beginning from the 2nd Millenium B. C. until today. While there are archeological materials and evidences about the Ancient Period of Alabanda and they are known and evaluated by the scientific world, the information about the late Ancient Period and that of the period after it are almost non-existing. As throughout the Ancient World, Alabanda has also kept its presence by changing after the 4th Century A. D. In the excavation, research and conservation works we have carried out since 2011, unsuspected concrete archeological data were achieved about Alabanda after Ancient Period. It was documented that the city were smaller by almost half and were surrounded by new city walls, and it was determined that public buildings such as theater, bath and temple, were used for different functions by changing architecturally. As we can see the sample of it in a lot of ancient religious settlement, Alabanda Apollon Isotimos Temple were changed into a church and the cella of the temple was used as baptistery. Column capitals, relief-adorned parapets, mosaics, the city walls built with Spolia blocks inform us about Alabanda in the Early Christian Period and in the Medieval Period. Byzantine and Islamic glazed potteries presenting a very rich repertoire and various coins belonging to Byzantine Period and Anatolian Principalities give us clues about the socio-economic situation of Medieval Alabanda. In this notice, archeological materials and evidences, which were achieved after a 3-year work and which are providing valuable information about the Medieval Alabanda, will be briefly introduced and those unsuspected data will be presented to the attention and knowledge of scientific world.

A period in history which the Renaissance scholars pejoratively called the «Middle Ages» was marked by the emergence of Europe— the rise and development of the Western civilisation. The centuries from the fourth to the fifteenth proved essential for the moulding of today's Europe, but equally so for Croatia, as they witnessed the adoption of specific cultural values and the concentration of extraordinary creative and intellectual energy. The Middle Ages represent the foundations of the processes that followed, their proper understanding being possible only by tracing them to their medieval roots. It was then that Europe acquired its main features: the unity that was effectuated through the Christianity and culture, the opulence of differences, the schism between the East and West, deep-seated contrasts between the North and South, growth of institutions and diverse government bodies, technological and scientific advances, the value of labour and the rise of productivity, affirmation of the new.
The medieval period, however, is often erroneously described as 'dark', 'spiritually and materially backward', 'barbarian', 'a period of obscurantism and persecution', etc. On the other hand, there exists just as distorted romantic perception of the Middle Age as a period of idealism epitomised by chivalry, 'courtly love', monastic mysticism and asceticism, along with most refined human virtues. Apart from the bipolar view, some historians tend to refer to this thousand-year time span as a period of immobility. The truth lies elsewhere: it was a period of profound changes and reforms. The Middle Ages are characterised by a complexity and diversity of facets and meanings. Moreover, this period is defined through a coexistence of different identities, features and phenomena that together create a medieval world. It is more than an interesting, exotic, if obsolete, world of the past—it is a living legacy. The surviving architectural achievements, artefacts and other material remains of the Middle Ages represent the core of European identity. Equally inherent in our today's life and world is its invisible spiritual legacy

PETRÁČEK Tomáš. K některým aspektům interpretace příběhu biskupa Vojtěcha. In: Obrazy uctívané, obdivované a interpretované. Sborník k 60. Narozeninám profesora Jana Royta. Eds. Miroslav Šmied, František Záruba, Praha: LN 2015, s. 61-74. ISBN 978-80-7422-382-2.

Se nourrir est une nécessité biologique qui se double au Moyen Age de valeurs symboliques particulières dans la culture chrétienne. Le christianisme a, en effet, placé au cœur de ses pratiques rituelles la commémoration d’un repas, la Cène. L’Eglise a également élaboré des normes de comportement alimentaire très précises, allant de l’invention du péché de gourmandise à la mise en place d’un calendrier établissant de façon rigoureuse les périodes de jeûne. Quels aliments peuvent être consommés pendant ces jours de restriction ?
Toute la création divine est même rassemblée par les philosophes médiévaux dans une «grande chaîne de l’être» qui ordonne hiérarchiquement les plantes et les animaux. Existe-t-il une correspondance entre l’échelle sociale des hommes et les aliments qu’ils consomment ?
Le XIIIe siècle marque un tournant dans les pratiques alimentaires médiévales. Le qualitatif prend le pas sur le quantitatif à la table des seigneurs. Comment s’exprime ce nouveau raffinement de la table noble ?
A cette même époque, les recettes de cuisine sont mises par écrit. Parmi ces ouvrages, le Du fait de cuisine – commandé en 1420 par le duc Amédée VIII de Savoie à son cuisinier Maître Chiquart – est tout à fait original parce qu’il présente la manière de réaliser un banquet. Quels sont les moyens mis en œuvre pour éblouir les convives et comment se décline un festin médiéval ?
Amédée VIII séjourne au château de Chillon en 1436 et 1442. Au-delà d’être une demeure seigneuriale, la place forte est, dès 1150, le siège d’un péage par lequel transitent de nombreuses denrées. Le châtelain savoyard y réside également. A ce titre, il perçoit des redevances en nature pour son seigneur. Il veille également aux vignes domaniales de la région.
Autant de raisons qui font du château de Chillon un écrin de choix pour accueillir l’exposition temporaire L’eau à la bouche-Boire et manger au Moyen Age du 14 septembre 2018 au 28 avril 2019.

This paper aims to present some characteristics of Hispania in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages (4th-8th centuries). Search through a brief analysis of the relationship between Christianity and the Catholic Monarchy stood raise some issues and questions. We understand that Christianity has played and plays a significant role in the historical development of the Iberian countries. But in its installation and attempt to consolidation as hegemonic religion in the peninsula, faced several challenges. His alliance with the monarchy stood represented one of the ways to make stronger its dominance. In turn, the Monarchy, preserving its characteristic elective associated strongly with Christianity, giving him a theocratic character trying to raise the sovereign above the fray aristocratic,without much success. Thus, our text points to some of the paths followed by these two elements, Christianity and Monarchy at the time of the Kingdom of Toledo, proposing more reflections and ways that effectively covering them. We hope to have achieved it.

How did the ‘Fall of the Roman Empire’ change social and economic networks in eastern Gaul, and how did new ‘barbarian’ political frontiers shape those changes? Synthesising historical and archaeological approaches, this interdisciplinary study combines text-based prosopography with distribution analysis of ceramics and ‘pseudo-imperial’ coins in Burgundy and beyond. The study reveals that the frontiers of the second Burgundian kingdom (5th-6th centuries) curtailed traditional movements along one of Europe’s key riverine corridors and reshaped, temporarily, the mental geographies imagined by local Gallo-Romans, until Merovingian princes conquered the region. The book includes the most thorough assessment to date of the distribution of Burgundian coins found across France. Illuminating the Burgundian kingdom’s internal dynamics and its foreign relations, this assessment revises current understandings of the circulation of gold money across sixth-century Gaul, correcting over-generalisations that can obscure the importance of political frontiers at the end of antiquity.

This article examines the social significance of Real Tennis among the Western European nobility during its heyday of the sixteenth century. Underpinned theoretically by Norbert Elias’s seminal empirical work The Civilising Process, this article seeks to identify the societal preconditions for the emergence of Real Tennis, and provide explanations for its diffusion across Western Europe and subsequent boom in popularity among the nobility. A critique is offered of the current body of literature written on Real Tennis, with an aim to address a general lack of focus on the game’s ‘social’ elements and how their development is linked with structural changes to the game over the centuries. The article then goes on to examine the ways in which Real Tennis became a symbol of prestige and a tool for social mobility among the increasingly status-competitive royal court nobility. Played during royal festivals, the game provided opportunities for nobles to engage in conspicuous consumption through architectural, clothing and gambling displays; having an entourage in accompaniment to the noble players; and, through the style of play and behavioural control, exhibiting self-restraint and foresight. Overall, an attempt is made to apply Elias’s theoretical framework to aid our understanding of the development of Real Tennis, a game that has never been characterised by overt ‘violence’ of the kind examined previously by other sociologists employing an Eliasian framework.

Village formation and settlement structure during the 1. Millennium AD is an interdisciplinary research project2 concerning the formation of the still existing villages on Funen, Denmark. The preliminary results (2014) show that the still dominant Vorbasse-paradigm3 is inadequate to explain the settlement pattern emerging from the expanding archaeological dataset. In general villages seem to be reorganized sometime around 600 AD changing from a labile conglomerate farm-structure into a fixed and closely interrelated village formation.

In the early Middle Ages there was a short period when prehistoric burial mounds were reused and new barrows constructed over much of western Europe. This is interpreted as an expression of opposition to the new Christian ideology, in a time of social changes in the distribution of power and property.

Die Tang-Dynastie (618-907) – auch das goldene Zeitalter Chinas genannt – war eine blühende Epoche voller faszinierender Kulturphänomene. Das Zentrum des kosmopolitisch ausgerichteten Kaiserreichs bildete die vom heutigen Xi’an überlagerte Millionenstadt Chang’an – eine der größten Metropolen ihrer Zeit. Als Protagonisten des höfischen Lebens prägten Adelige das Stadtbild, deren luxuriöser Lebensstil sich auch in den pompös ausgestatteten Grabanlagen widerspiegelt. Diese findet man heute meist beraubt vor. Nur die herrlichen Wandmalereien und die zahlreichen, von den Grabräubern unbeachteten Tonfiguren konnten bisher eine vage Vorstellung vom ursprünglichen Umfang der Grabbeigaben und der ehemaligen Pracht der unterirdischen Kammern vermitteln. Im Jahr 2001 wurde in Xi’an das unversehrte Grab der 736 verstorbenen Li Chui ausgegraben, einer Urenkelin des Kaisers Gaozu. Sechs Jahre dauerte die Restaurierung des umfangreichen Grabinventars durch ein deutsch-chinesisches Team. Erstmalig gelang es, das opulente Schmuckensemble einer Tang-zeitlichen Dame zu rekonstruieren. Mit den Ergebnissen der wissenschaftlichen Auswertung durch ein Team von Spezialisten unterschiedlicher Disziplinen bieten sich neue Erkenntnisse zur damaligen Bestattungskultur. Diese werden hier erstmals einem breiten Publikum vorgestellt. Reich bebilderte Exkurse zu Themen wie z.B. Weinkultur, Daoismus oder Alchemie gewähren darüber hinaus einen Einblick in den Tang-zeitlichen Alltag.

I Maestri Comacini, chi furono veramente e perché furono chiamati in tal modo sono il tema di questo breve saggio che compara le opinioni più note su questi costruttori Altomedievali con considerazioni pratiche sul loro mestiere e sulle condizioni sociopolitiche nello Stivale, per il periodo in cui vissero.
The Maestri Comacini, who they really were and why they were called as they were, are the subject of this short essay that compares the best-known opinions on these early medieval builders with practical considerations on their craft and the socio-political conditions in Italy, for the period in which they lived.

In his critical edition of Liutprand's Antapodosis, Paolo Chiesa rejected a hypothesis advanced by Michele Bandini regarding the spelling and meaning of the nickname reportedly given by the Byzantines to Symeon of Bulgaria (Antapodosis III.29). The present paper discusses Chiesa's objections to Bandini's conjecture and interpretation of this passage. In conclusion, it turns out that Bandini's correction of emiargon into emiergon has to be taken into due consideration.

Në punimet e mëposhtme na paraqitet një gjeografi historike e trojeve shqiptare duke filluar nga krahinat përreth liqenit të Shkodrës e duke përfunduar në qytetin e lashtë Amantia në afërsi të Gjirokastrës. Përshkrimet gjeografike-historike të saj janë pjesë të ndryshme nga leksionet e Konstantin Jireçekut mbi gjeografinë historike të vendeve ballkanike, të mbajtura në Universitetin e Vjenës, të cilat më vonë u botuan edhe nëpër revista të ndryshme të kohës.
Autori përqendrohet kryesisht në zonën bregdetare të Shqipërisë së Sotme  dhe na jep shumë të dhëna, jo vetëm për lokalitetet historike të krahinave përkatëse, por edhe për monumente kishtare dhe për personazhe historike të kohërave të ndryshme nga lashtësia deri në fillim të kohës së re, të cilët kanë luajtur një rol të rëndësishëm në lokalitetet për të cilat bëhet fjalë. Ky botim ndahet në katër pjesë, të cilat janë katër studime që autori ka bërë mbi gjeografinë historike dhe mbi historinë e trojeve dhe të popullit shqiptar, duke filluar nga lashtësia dhe në pjesën e fundit, duke përfunduar me një vështrim të përgjithshëm historik deri në kapërcyellin e shekujve XIX-XX, kohë në të cilën ka jetuar edhe vetë autori.

La christianisation du monde antique est un thème central d'un point de vue historique (c'est un des grands sujets d'étude de la fin de l'Antiquité gréco-romaine avec la disparition de l'Empire d'Occident et la fin du système civique classique), mais aussi d'un point de vue méthodologique. En effet, on croit couramment que la christianisation du monde antique fut une réalité qu'il suffirait de décrire, alors qu'il s'agit en fait de la penser, car elle est d'abord une représentation des historiens héritée de modèles antiques (Eusèbe de Césarée, Augustin d'Hippone) ou modernes (Voltaire, Marx, Freud). Pour pouvoir traiter "la christianisation du monde antique" comme sujet historique, il faut donc d'abord réfléchir sur une question d'historiens : "le problème de la christianisation du monde antique". Pour cela, il faut faire un peu d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, analyser l'apparition et le sens du terme de christianisation, et faire le bilan de l'historiographie de la question. Ensuite, on peut tenter de penser "la christianisation du monde antique" de quatre manières : par l'analyse philologique des termes désignant la conversion en grec, latin et syriaque ; par l'étude des sources littéraires chrétiennes à propos des chrétiens, afin de mettre en évidence les représentations antiques du problème de la définition du chrétien ; par le recours aux sources non littéraires (épigraphie, papyrologie, archéologie funéraire, archéologie monumentale, iconographie) afin de contourner la question des représentations liées aux textes antiques ; par l'enquête sur les sources littéraires chrétiennes à propos de la conversion des païens, qui permet de déconstruire des textes qui créaient une réalité autant qu'ils la décrivaient. Ainsi, en questionnant les évidences qui structurent nos pensées sur le passé, on peut espérer les distancier afin de mieux comprendre comment le monde antique est devenu chrétien.

Highlight
• This is the most detailed account to date on the health and disease status of Charlemagne, the Father of Europe.
• Based on ancient sources, we suggest that Charlemagne suffered from mild gout and died of an infectious pulmonary disease.
• Additionally, for the first time, we present evidence of mummification of Charlemagne's remains, emphasizing his unique historical role. Abstract In this article, a complete history of Charlemagne's mortal remains is outlined, including the first publication reporting on the most recent tomb opening in 1988. Besides exclusive bioarchaeological details – namely that his body was indeed mummified-a full clinical interpretation of the Emperor's final illnesses and death is given: a likely combination of osteoarthritis, gout and a recurrent fever caused by an infectious disease.

Abstract
In this article, a complete history of Charlemagne’s mortal remains is outlined, including the first publication reporting on the most recent tomb opening in 1988. Besides exclusive bioarchaeological details – namely that his body was indeed mummified - a full clinical interpretation of the Emperor’s final illnesses and death is given: a likely combination of osteoarthritis, gout and a recurrent fever caused by an infectious disease.
See also my other publication for this time period:
https://www.academia.edu/37498085/Pope_Joan._The_covered-up_pontificate_of_a_woman_or_a_fictional_legend_2018_

No campo da História da Igreja, um dos assuntos mais debatidos e
controversos se refere ao incremento da autoridade urbana eclesiástica, sob a
crescente chancela do episcopado. Transcorrido do limiar da Antiguidade aos
primeiros séculos medievais – aproximadamente entre os séculos III e VI –, tal
processo é frequentemente reavaliado pela historiografia, particularmente desde a
publicação da obra monumental de Gibbon, em fins do século XVIII.
Neste artigo consideramos alguns dos elementos que têm norteado as
diversas linhas interpretativas historiográficas, destacando as contribuições
produzidas nas últimas décadas. À luz destas, elencamos alguns aspectos que as
pesquisas correntes devem ter em conta, em particular quando detidas no estudo
do episcopado ocidental.

In the field of Church History one of the most debated and controversial
issues refers to the increasing urban ecclesiastical authority, under the surveillance
of the bishops. Occurred at the threshold from antiquity to the first medieval
centuries – to say, from the third to the sixth centuries – such process is often reevaluted by the historiography, mostly since the publication of the seminal work
of Gibbon, in late eighteenth century.

In this article we aim to consider some of the aspects that have been guiding
the various historiographical trends, highlighting the contributions produced in the
last decades. In the light of these, we chose some aspects that current researchers
must bear in mind, especially when considering the western bishoprics

On the Quest for the Holy Grail the questers encounter several wise hermits from the Cistercian Order, commonly known in the text as White Monks, who provide insights into the meaning of the Quest for the Holy Grail; these illuminations provide insight on what it means to be more virtuous and how to attain the grail in the ever-illusive quest for inner meaning. Lancelot, who was the greatest of all earthly knights, is heavily admonished on the quest by the white monks because of his treacherous mortal sin, which was his adultery with Queen Guinevere who is King Arthur's wife. This inconsiderable act is most disloyal to both his earthly king and liege lord, whom he is a vassal of, and reflects more deeply on the state of his soul before God, which is afflicted by mortal sin. One hermit relinquishes intricate details and insights into the virtues of knighthood in their utmost perfection, and it is made clear that those virtues were embodied by Lancelot as an early knight before the time of his mortal sin. It is in later years that the sin manifests as lustful desires and leads to treachery. It is briefly pointed out that it is his pride, after the conquering of the Dolores Guard, that leads him into a violent cycle of mortal sin which inhibits him from accomplishing the Holy Grail and ultimately destroys the Arthurian kingdom when that sin is revealed. In the earliest adventures of Lancelot, before this mortal sin, he is acclaimed and praised for holding the four essential virtues of perfect knighthood. The first of which is natural virginity. The knight who protects his maidenhood is truly united as a soldier of God and free from vice. At the center of all virtue, this is equated as most vital to maintaining honor, prowess and all good works. In addition to the central attainment of chastity and maidenhood there are other virtues that are embodied by the early Lancelot. He maintains a consistent state of humility. The hermit who counsels Lancelot states that he once "walked softly with his head lowered" and "dared not look at the divine image for fear that God might be angry with him." (Burns) Lancelot even emulated patience and the hermits says that "nothing can defeat the enemy as effectively as patience." (Burns) He had a sense of justice by which he administered with a deep sense of equality. Rather than showing partiality to a lover or family member he did what was right, in accordance with the law, even if that meant condemnation of his closest kin. The white monk identifies true justice as one who "gives nothing for the sake of love and takes nothing for the

In which some passages of the Historia Langobardorum are examined, with the purpose of evidentiating the existence of a "trickster" or shapeshifting figure in the Lombard culture of the VII century.
Parallels among this character and the Norse character of Loki (or rather Loptr) are made.
Original Latin text included.
Emglish translation soon to follow.

Las fuentes del siglo X para el noroeste de la meseta del Duero muestran que en aquella
época los castros eran uno de los elementos más característicos del paisaje de esta región. Este
trabajo revisa las principales interpretaciones historiográficas que existen sobre los castros y se
centra en el análisis del papel que jugaron en los espacios locales en los que estaban insertos. En
concreto, plantea un estudio de un caso bien documentado: el del castro de Melgar. El artículo
se centra en el estudio de las relaciones sociales y económicas a nivel local y de su
transformación en el tiempo, así como del impacto que tuvo la intervención de actores externos,
para mostrar cómo fueron cambiando la posición y la función del castro con respecto a la
comunidad local.
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Tenth‐century sources from the North‐West of the Duero plateau show that at that time
castra were one of the main features of the landscape of this region. In this essay, I review the
main historiographical interpretations of this phenomenon and focus on the analysis of the local
dimension of castra. In particular, I study the case of one particularly well‐documented castrum,
that of Melgar. I analyse the local social, economic and political relations and their
transformation, as well as the impact of external actors on this territory, in order to show how
the relation between the local community and the castrum changed through time.