Why was the behaviour of courtiers such a concern in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries? Historians often take contemporary remarks about the excesses of the court and the immorality of its members as simple observations of fact.
Corruption at Court? Crisis and the theme of Luxuria in England and France, c. 1340-1422
January 16, 2014 By
Youth and Old Age in Late Medieval London
January 14, 2014 By
This article is concerned with the relationship between life stages and a person’s place in urban society. The two life stages studied here are the end of youth and the onset of old age, that is to say the two stages at either end of that period in life when men were most active economically, socially, and politically, when they were expected to build a family and run a business.
Ivan the Terrible: Centralization in Sixteenth Century Muscovy
December 29, 2013 By
From 1565-1572, the Oprichnina was a land within Muscovy of Ivanís choosing where he alone held sole power. The Zemschina was the remaining portion of Muscovy that was governed by the state administration.
A Twelfth-Century Oil Press Complex at the Crusader Town of Arsur (Apollonia-Arsuf) and the Olive Oil Industry in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
December 20, 2013 By
This article documents an oil press discovered in the southern part of the Crusader town of Arsur, dating to the twelfth century CE.
Brewing, Politics and Society in an Early Modern German Town – a case study of Görlitz in Upper Lusatia
December 16, 2013 By
In the Middle Ages, the Upper-Lusatian town of Görlitz – today situated on Germany’s Eastern periphery close to the Polish border – was at the heart of a wider European trading network.
The English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381
December 8, 2013 By
Life for the revolutionary peasants was structured by feudal ties and obligations. The villein was tied to the soil until he could buy his freedom. He lived in a wattle and daub hut with his family and animals on a floor of mud. Work began at dawn on his few (often separated) strips of land; he was obligated to work on his lord’s land three days a week, tend and shear his sheep, feed his swine, and sow and reap his crops.
Renaissance attachment to things: material culture in last wills and testaments
December 4, 2013 By
Renaissance attachment to things: material culture in last wills and testaments Samuel Cohn, Jr. Economic History Review: University of Glasgow, 19 October (2012) Abstract Over the past decade ‘material culture’ has become a sub-discipline of Italian Renaissance studies. This literature, however, has focused on the rich and their objects preserved in museums or reflected in […]
The Commercial Map of Constantinople
November 29, 2013 By
The commercial topography of Constantinople was in part determined by the fact that it was a sea-bound city on seven hills, making access from the port to the forum and other commercial premises a key necessity in urban development.
Shops and Shopping in Britain: from market stalls to chain stores
November 29, 2013 By
The first retail shops, as opposed to those of craftsmen and artisans selling goods they made themselves, were drapers, mercers, haberdashers and grocers.
Finland, Tallinn and the Hanseatic League: Foreign Trade and the Orientation of Roads in Medieval Finland
November 24, 2013 By
What was the role of Finland in the trade of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages? Thisquestion has been widely discussed in Finnish history since 1882, when J.W. Ruuth publishedhis study on the relationship between Finland and the Hanse before 1435.
The Brewer, the Baker, and the Monopoly Maker
November 24, 2013 By
This paper seeks to examine how productive entrepreneurial activities, such as innovation, influence unproductive entrepreneurial activities, such as regulatory rent seeking.
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History
November 24, 2013 By
Healthscaping a Medieval City: Lucca’s Curia viarum and the Future of Public Health History G. Geltner (Department of History, University of Amsterdam) Urban History: 40, 3 (2013) Abstract In early fourteenth-century Lucca, one government organ began expanding its activities beyond the maintenance of public works to promoting public hygiene and safety, and in ways that suggest both […]
The Origins of Local Society in late Anglo-Saxon England
November 9, 2013 By
The Origins of Local Society in late Anglo-Saxon England Hirokazu Tsurushima Paper given at: The Third Japanese-Korean Conference of British History (2008) Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show the issues surrounding the origins of local society in late ‘Anglo-Saxon’ England, by examining a single original document from 968. A local society not […]
Two dozen and more Silkwomen of Fifteenth-Century London
October 24, 2013 By
This article attempts to record systematically all the silkwomen of London who were daughters or wives of London mercers between 1400 and 1499.
Past/Present: Leonardo Bruni’s History of Florence
August 18, 2013 By
Past/Present: Leonardo Bruni’s History of Florence Giuseppe Bisaccia Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 21, No 1 (1985) Abstract The importance of historical consciousness in the Renaissance is a fact generally recognized by scholars of the period. From Petrarch on, it is possible to discern a growing awareness of the past “men became more and more conscious that […]
Knighthood in later medieval Italy
August 6, 2013 By
There is a clear reason for this general discounting of Italian knighthood in the later Middle Ages. The traditional focus of northern Italian historiography being cities and civic life, knighthood has struggled to find a place in the world of communes and city-states, merchants and markets.
Plagues, Epidemics and Their Social and Economic Impact on the Egyptian Society during the Mameluke Period
July 24, 2013 By
The study aims at shedding light on plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt during the Mameluke period through describing the plague disease and the plagues and epidemics that hit Egypt, and their social and economic effects on the Egyptian society, The study is based on some historical sources contemporary of the Mameluke period, especially the book “Al-Suluk li-marifatiduwal Al-muluk” by Al Maqrizi.
Organized Collective Violence in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Tuscan Countryside: Some Case Studies from Central and North Eastern Tuscany
July 22, 2013 By
Violence is often thought of as a characteristic of all medieval societies. How such societies chose to exercise this violence is therefore a good, and understudied, way into understanding the basic rules about how they worked. Concentrating on twelfth and thirteenth century Tuscany, my intention is to show that a specific form of violence, namely organized collective violence, was not an option available to all social groups within the medieval rural society of northern Italy…
Female brewers in Holland and England
May 7, 2013 By
I also want to know why women worked in those professions, what the background of these women was and if changes occurred over time.
Economic Credit in Renaissance Florence
April 23, 2013 By
What were the social and institutional factors that led to, and reinforced, the precocious emergence of Florentine commercial capitalism, especially in the domain of international merchant banking?
Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice: From Oriental Bazar to English Cloister in Anglo-French
April 1, 2013 By
Until recently, such limited interest as late Anglo-French was able to arouse amongst scholars specializing in medieval French has been confined, with only a very few exceptions, to the efforts made in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries to teach what was by now a language unknown to most of the inhabitants of a country moving inexorably towards the unchallenged dominance of English as the national language.
Lodovico Capponi: A Florentine Banker and a Lending Transaction in 16th Century Florence
April 1, 2013 By
This paper examines how loans transpired in early 16th century Italy, taking a look at a specific transaction involving Lodovico Capponi of Florence and the Vatican in Rome.
New Towns in Medieval France and Nature of Institutions
April 1, 2013 By
In its early stages, a new town was a village community created by a central authority (king or overlord) on his wildland to meet the needs of growing populations and to further both its own benefits and the common interests of the inhabitants.
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