Early Middle Ages Archive
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The burh of Wallingford and its context in Wessex
Posted on May 20, 2012 | No CommentsThere are many reasons for holding that the 31 burhs listed in the Burghal Hidage constituted a system in its fullest sense. One of the most telling of these is that the burghal territories of these burhs – the areas assigned to them for their upkeep – form a spatial jigsaw whose individual elements interlock with each other within the shires or their precursors. -
The Pictish Tattoo: Origins of a Myth
Posted on May 20, 2012 | No CommentsBy tracing the extant literary references based on Caesar’s remark it is possible to see just how the innocent observation came to apply to a totally different people—how the myth was born. -
Byzantine Intelligence Service
Posted on May 20, 2012 | No CommentsThe basis on which the successful administration of the Roman Empire at its zenith was built was the cursus publicus, or the state post. This organization also made the service of intelligence more effective. -
Aereld of Rievaulx and the Creation of An Anglo Saxon Past
Posted on May 18, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper summary is part of a session on English Cistercians and focused on Aelred of Rievaulx and the abbey of Hexum. -
Recreating Beowulf’s “Pregnant Moment of Poise”: Pagan Doom and Christian Eucatastrophe Made Incarnate in the Dark Age Setting of The Lord of the Rings
Posted on May 4, 2012 | No CommentsThe following chapters will explore how Tolkien fuses themes and imagery from the pagan Norse apocalyptic myth of Ragnarök with Christian apocalyptic imagery and themes in a recreated Dark Age historical setting to create The Lord of the Rings. -
Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries
Posted on April 29, 2012 | No CommentsThese arguments suggest that the number of manuscripts and printed books produced in a given society are complex measures of economic performance and societal capabilities, and are therefore a valuable guide to the study of long-term economic change. -
Graeco-Roman Case Histories and their Influence on Medieval Islamic Clinical Accounts
Posted on April 29, 2012 | No CommentsMedieval Islamic medicine has until now been studied primarily through its learned treatises. According to that theoretical corpus, written in Arabic, Islamic medicine mainly constitutes an elaborate systematization and synthesis of earlier Graeco-Roman sources. -
The Verb in Beowulf
Posted on April 26, 2012 | No CommentsThus, in a paper of the nature of this thesis, the Beowulfian novice is limited in scope and must be satisfied, at best, to open a small breach in the subject, examine one segment, focus his attention on one aspect, single out one featture of it, and channel the efforts of his research towards some contribution, no matter how small, to the over- all scholarship in the field. -
The legacy of the 13th Apostle: origins of the East Christian conceptions of church and state relation
Posted on April 26, 2012 | No CommentsIn this article I wish to query the notion that there is a single Eastern Christian religious political theory, such a one that could be stood in opposition to Catholic medieval or early modern Protestant theories of church-state relations... -
“Hic Facet Arthurus, Rex Quondam, Rexque Futurus:” The Analysis of Original Medieval Sources in the Search for the Historica King Arthur
Posted on April 24, 2012 | No CommentsThe heroic tales of the legendary King Arthur have survived throughout many centuries. Modern society has learned of this celebrated figure through oral and literary tradition, such as the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudo-history Historia Regum Britanniae, Sir Thomas Malory’s romantic epic Le Morte d’Arthur and medieval Arthurian poetry. -
Byzantium Revisited: The Mosaics of Hagia Sophia in the Twentieth Century
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsLocated at the heart of Constantinople by the Senate and the Imperial Palace, Hagia Sophia was one of the great monuments of Christianity for more than nine hundred years. -
St George of England: a study of sainthood and legend
Posted on April 23, 2012 | No CommentsIn1222,23 years after the death of Lionheart in the reign of young Henry III, the council of Oxford meeting in Osney Abbey fixed St.George’s Day 23 April as a national festival. It is said that EdwardIII made St. George the patron saint of England in 1344 (or 48) and in Windsor he enlarged the chapel of St. Edward to become the chapel of St. George. -
A medieval Arabic analysis of motion at an instant : the Avicennan sources to the forma fluens/fluxus formae debate
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe first and foremost topic of classical and medieval physics is the concept of motion (Grk. kine ̄sis, Arb. h ̇ araka, Lat. motio). Within the complex of issues and problems associated with motion, the question ‘in which category does motion itself belong?’ occupied a position of considerable importance in scholastic natural philosophy. -
Alfred the Great: a diagnosis
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No CommentsThis work was thought to have been written for aWelsh audience who might not have been all that keen on a West Saxon king. Therefore it is likely that Asser was drumming up interest in his intended audience by representing the king’s lot as quite a hard one,which seems to have been correct. -
Oda: An Extraordinary Example of a Medieval Woman’s Religious Authority and Economic Power
Posted on April 22, 2012 | No Commentshristianity posed as a shackle for many women in the early Middle Ages. Though sexism and female subordination were prevalent prior to the emergence of this monotheistic religion, Christianity established its own justifications for continuing in the male domination.
