This dissertation deals with the formation of chiefdoms, communities, ecclesiastical institutions and state, and with production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland in the context of climatic change and ecological succession.
Of sagas and sheep: Toward a historical anthropology of social change and production for market, subsistence and tribute in early Iceland
November 6, 2014 By
The Hero’s Journey: Beowulf, Film, and Masculinity
November 2, 2014 By
Beowulf is one of many examples of a story that employs the rhetoric of the hero. The plight of the main character Beowulf is the focus of the tale, and the tasks that he must overcome throughout the course of the poem provide insight into the development of the character of the hero.
Before the Dawn: Monks and the Night in Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Europe
October 30, 2014 By
Various aspects of daily monastic life prepared monks for this primary nightly labor, the emotional and psychological effects of which were probably further heightened by physiological reactions to chronic sleep deprivation.
Bede’s Temple as History
October 28, 2014 By
Another IHR paper, this time, a talk given about Bede’s writing and his interest in the image of the Temple and its relation to Christianity. This paper also examined how Bede’s views shifted over time. How did Bede view Judaism? Was he truly ambivalent?
An aspect of Alcuin: ‘Tuus Albinus’ – peevish egotist? or parrhesiast?
October 28, 2014 By
In over 270 letters from about a decade and a half, alcuin of york (†804) informed, advised, consoled and admonished contemporaries, reacted to current events, and maintained a circle of friends and partners in reciprocal prayer that extended from Jerusalem to Ireland and from rome to salzburg. Alcuin left york in the 780s to become a friend and chief advisor to Charlemagne.
10 Terrifying Reads for Halloween!
October 23, 2014 By
Here are some spooky medieval books for you to celebrate with over Halloween!
Dental and oral diseases in Medieval Persia, lessons from Hedayat Akhawayni
October 23, 2014 By
Persian physicians had a great role in assimilation and expansion of medical sciences during the medieval period and Islamic golden age.
‘Send More Socks’: On Mentality and the Preservation Context of Medieval Letters
October 18, 2014 By
A survey of the voices from the garbage dump – the letters on wood excavated at the Roman fortress at Vindolanda, the Bryggen harbour site in Bergen and Medieval Novgorod – can provide an illuminated contrast to the corpus of Latin letters from the early medieval West.
Profile of a Plant: The Olive in Early Medieval Italy, 400-900 CE
October 14, 2014 By
The essay illuminates some of the ways that early medieval Italian communities engaged their environmental inheritance, how they recast the stolid olive to fit local contingencies.
The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950)
October 7, 2014 By
The Contours, Frequency and Causation of Subsistence Crises in Carolingian Europe (750-950) Timothy P. Newfield Crisis Alimentarias en la Edad Media: Modelos, Explicaciones y Representaciones (Milenio, Lleida, 2013), pp. 117-172. Abstract The subsistence crises of Carolingian Europe have been widely overlooked in modern histories of the early Middle Ages. Detailed treatment has yet to be […]
Vikings, the barbaric heroes: exploring the Viking image in museums in Iceland and England and its impact on identity
October 6, 2014 By
This study analyses the responses of Icelandic and English individuals in regards to their views on the Viking image as represented within museums and in society.
CONFERENCE: The Historical Novel Society – London 2014
September 19, 2014 By
My review of the recent Historical Novel Society conference that took place in London, England.
Competition and tradition: Carolingian political rituals, 751-800
September 15, 2014 By
In 751, the Carolingians supplanted the traditional ruling dynasty of Francia. This article surveys Carolingian political rituals between 751 and 800, and argues that ritual was one means through which this new royal family sought to construct and legitimate its authority against its dynastic competitors.
A British legion stationed near Orléans c. 530?
September 2, 2014 By
Several recent books lead the reader to believe that Vita sancti Dalmatii, written in c. 800, records a legio Britannica (a British army) stationed near Orléans in c. 530. As this paper demonstrates, the only correct detail of this purported record is the word legio, and this may well have a non-military connotation.
Christianity and the Latin tradition in early Medieval Ireland
September 1, 2014 By
The Christianity which arrived in Ireland with the fifth-century missionaries was more than just a literate religion; it was very much a religion of the book.
Anglo-Saxon smiths and myths
September 1, 2014 By
Knowledge of the metalworking and jewellery-making abilities of the Anglo-Saxons has been much enhanced in recent years by metallurgical and other technical studies.
Archaeology, common rights and the origins of Anglo-Saxon identity
September 1, 2014 By
It is generally accepted that rights over land, especially rights of pasture, played a formative role in establishing the identity of early Anglo-Saxon ‘folk groups’, the predecessors of the middle Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 By
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
The Birth of the Monarchy out of Violent Death
August 30, 2014 By
There were many motives for murdering a king.
Rome, New Rome and Baghdad: Pathways of Late Antiquity
August 28, 2014 By
What I propose to do in this lecture is to discuss some salient features of Late Antiquity as a category in historical studies and then move on to the theme of Islam in Late Antiquity
Castle Building and Its Social Significance in Medieval Hungary
August 22, 2014 By
The history of Hungarian fortification and castle-building has been a subject of Hungarian historiography ever since the 1870s, when Bela Czobor wrote his pioneering study, “Hungary’s Medieval Castles.”
Miracula, Saints’ Cults and Socio-Political Landscapes: Bobbio, Conques and post-Carolingian society
August 21, 2014 By
Despite the centrality of monastic sources to debates about social and political transformation in post-Carolingian Europe, few studies have approached the political and economic status of monasteries and their saints’ cults in this context, to which this thesis offers a comparative approach.
Signs of Power. Manorial Demesnes in Medieval Iceland
August 20, 2014 By
An important aspect of medieval Icelandic social organization, namely the manor, has been neglected in previous research, and very little research has been undertaken comparing Icelandic manorial organization with other regions. This article focuses on one aspect of manorial organization, namely the manorial demesne or central farm of the manor.
Rethinking Hardown Hill: Our Westernmost Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery?
August 16, 2014 By
This paper reassesses the early Anglo-Saxon assemblage from Hardown Hill, Dorset. Wingrave excavated the objects in 1916 but apart from his 1931 report, and Evison’s 1968 analysis, there has been little subsequent discussion.
Enemy and Ancestor: Viking Identities and Ethnic Boundaries in England and Normandy, c.950 – c.1015
August 12, 2014 By
This thesis is a comparison of ethnicity in Viking Age England and Normandy. It focuses on the period c.950-c.1015, which begins several generations after the initial Scandinavian settlements in both regions.
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