While the practice of dental decoration was virtually absent in Medieval Spain, it is common in Africa and suggests that this individual was born in Africa and brought to Spain later in life.
Residential Mobility and Dental Decoration in Early Medieval Spain: Results from the Eighth Century Site of Plaza del Castillo, Pamplona
April 8, 2012 By
Philosopher-king: Nechtan mac Der Ilei
March 25, 2012 By
Like so much of the history of the early church in Scotland, it is bound up with modern political and religious factionalism. Was Naiton an English imperialist flunky? A Romanist stooge, allowing the authority of the Pope and St Peter into his realm?
The Thread of Life in the Hand of the Virgin
March 22, 2012 By
The motif of the Virgin at the loom occurred with frequency in Western art only after the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin (celebrated by the Byzantine Church on November 21 from the seventh or eighth century onward) was introduced into the West in 1372.
Great Sites: Hamwic
March 12, 2012 By
Helena Hamerow on excavations at Southampton, which reshaped our views of the origins of English towns and of long-distance trade in the 8th/9th centuries.
The Stirrup as a Revolutionary Device
March 11, 2012 By
A German legal historian, Paul Roth, published in 1850 a work that set out the basic concept of feudalism. According to Roth, Charles Martel had combined the two existing institutions of ‘vassalage’ and ‘benefice’—that is, a vassal swore allegiance to his lord in return for which he was given some kind of benefice, usually rent-free land.
Early medieval science: the evidence of Bede
March 10, 2012 By
The Venerable Bede used observable proofs and mathematical calculations in his early 8th-century treatise De temporum ratione to teach the astronomical principles that inform the calculation of the date of Easter. This suggests that the seeds of the modern scientific method might be found before the 12th century in the educational practices of the early medieval monasteries.
Tradition and Transformation in the Cult of St. Guthlac in Early Medieval England
March 6, 2012 By
Do the variations reflect changes in purpose, patronage, doctrine, liturgy, or intended audience? Are they due to differences in authorship, geographical origin, or regional preferences? Analysis of the variations introduced into the corpus of materials, both narrative and visual, for a given saint over the course of the Middle Ages in England can elucidate the social, cultural, and historical significance of these changes.
Boniface’s Booklife: How the Ragyndrudis Codex Came to be a Vita Bonifatii
March 6, 2012 By
The most recent addition to the family of literary genres may be the booklife. Finding its origin in Roland Barthes’s Roland Barthes and now taught in English departments, the booklife proposes a union of sorts of writing and living. Whether the genre will be long-lived is an open question, that it can be fruitful is not in doubt. But medievalists already knew that the dividing line between book and life is always thin, especially if that life has been lived in and among books.
The Alcuin number of a graph
February 28, 2012 By
A man had to transport to the far side of a river a wolf, a goat, and a bundle of cabbages. The only boat he could find was one which would carry only two of them. For that reason he sought a plan which would enable them all to get to the far side unhurt. Let him, who is able, say how it could be possible to transport them safely?
The Andalusi origins of the Berbers
February 20, 2012 By
How could the Berbers originate in al-Andalus when everyone knows they are the original inhabitants of North Africa? One of the goals of this article is to show that asking the question in this way is part of the problem and that it stands in the way of securing the soundness of historical interpretations of the past.
Britons and Saxons In Pre-Viking Wessex: Reflections on the Law 77 of King Ine
February 20, 2012 By
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Saxons arrived in the south of Britain in the third quarter of the fifth century. Successive shiploads of invaders progressively defeated the Britons of Kent, Sussex and southern Wessex, before moving north up the Thames Valley and beyond, establishing themselves over much of the territory of the Romano-Britons.
Theological Works of the Venerable Bede and their Literary and Manuscript Presentation, with Special Reference to the Gospel Homilies
February 19, 2012 By
Bede’s theology is complex and closely interwoven; as we can observe, the different themes are interleaved within the homilies. Though Bede was profoundly influenced by Gregory, Augustine and the other Church Fathers, he combined their theologies in a new way that has had a lasting influence.
The Cipherment of the Franks Casket
January 29, 2012 By
The content carved on the Franks Casket has remained as obscure as its origin. No-one has managed to properly interpret the artwork and the runic inscriptions, though the piece has often passed under the scope over the 150 years since its discovery; with a range of lenses, which at times have passed the flaw to the thing seen.
The Archaeology of Play Things: Theorising a Toy Stage in the Biography of Objects
January 8, 2012 By
The cemeteries contained the remains of not less than 867 people, some of whom died in childhood, but all of whom, if they had survived the first few years of life…
Kings and Vikings: On the Dynamics of Competitive Agglomeration
December 18, 2011 By
While we hope our theory is useful in understanding the basic forces driving agglomeration in the face of conflict in a general setting, we shall discuss our theory in terms of a particularly dramatic episode in history: the era of the Viking invasions.
Reconstructed Aberlady Cross unveiled in Scotland
December 8, 2011 By
A hand-carved reconstruction of an Early Christian cross has been unveiled in the Scottish village of Aberlady to mark the medieval pilgrimage route used by the monks of Iona and Lindisfarne.
The Vikings in Scotland
November 27, 2011 By
Intermittent raids were followed by phases of permanent settlement, and in Scotland this focussed on Northern Scotland, the Western Isles and South-West Scotland.
Medicine and early Irish law
October 9, 2011 By
Medicine and early Irish law Kelly, F. Irish Journal of Medical Science, Volume 170, Number 1 (2001) Abstract The Old Irish law texts, which date from between the 7th and 9th centuries AD, are a rich source for the legal and social his- torian. The authors of these texts were in the habit of treating […]
Volcanoes and the Climate Forcing of Carolingian Europe, A.D. 750–950
September 25, 2011 By
Revolutionary advances of the natural sciences will transform our understanding of the human past. This case study supports that thesis by connecting new data arising from the last decade’s scientific work in palaeoclimatology with the history of the Carolingian empire.
PETERBOROUGH MONASTERY AND ITS CHRONICLE: ANNALISTIC HISTORY AS AN EXPRESSION OF INDEPENDENT IDENTITY
September 19, 2011 By
PETERBOROUGH MONASTERY AND ITS CHRONICLE: ANNALISTIC HISTORY AS AN EXPRESSION OF INDEPENDENT IDENTITY Hall, J. Megan M.A. Thesis, The University of Georgia, December (2003) Abstract The fenlands of East Anglia are rife with superstition and folklore and are home to a highly independent culture of people. The character and qualities of these fen-dwellers have been […]
Digging Ditches in Early Medieval Europe
September 19, 2011 By
Digging Ditches in Early Medieval Europe By Paolo Squatriti Past and Present, Vol.176:1 (2002) Introduction: In the Royal Frankish Annals the year 793 is an odd one. In the first place, it marks the point at which a major change in the chronicle’s composition begins, the place where one author left off and another took […]
Caring for the Dead in Late Anglo-Saxon England
September 17, 2011 By
This article will highlight the diversity of both burial rite and burial location in the later Anglo-Saxon period and will examine the ways in which the archaeological evidence serves to complement the contemporary written evidence for the treatment of the dead.
The Coppergate Helmet
September 11, 2011 By
The Coppergate Helmet By Dominic Tweddle Förnvännen, Vol. 78 (1983) Abstract: A helmet was discovered in 1982 during building works at Coppergate, York. The cap of the helmet is composed of eight individual pieces rivetted together. There are two hinged cheek pieces with brass edge bindings, and the neck was protected by a curtain of […]
Germanic Women: Mundium and Property, 400-1000
September 7, 2011 By
Germanic Women: Mundium and Property, 400-1000 Dunn, Kimberlee Harper (University of North Texas) M.A. Thesis (Science), University of North Texas, August (2006) Abstract Many historians would like to discover a time of relative freedom, security and independence for women of the past. The Germanic era, from 400-1000 AD, was a time of stability, and security […]
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