Reporting on the paper ‘Attila’s Appetite: The Logistics of Attila the Hun’s Invasion of Italy in 452′, by Jason Linn, given at the International Congress on Medieval Studies
Angels on Christmas trees and medieval ideas of hierarchy
December 19, 2014 By
In the fifth century, the medieval theologian Pseudo-Dionysius wrote the definitive work on angelic hierarchies, during which he asserted that there were nine orders of hierarchy, ranging from the most humble messenger angels to the most elevated archangels.
Justinian’s Reconquest: Notions of Return in Procopius’ Gothic Wars
September 6, 2014 By
Though the native Italians play a relatively minor role in the Gothic Wars, the essay will suggest, that in Procopius’ mind, the Western Romans’ ‘decision’ to forego their martial roles for less martial forms of male self-fashioning in the fifth century had led, not only to the rise of the ‘barbarian’ Vandals and the Goths, but had separated the Italians from an essential component of Romanitas—masculine martial virtues.
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.
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.
Amending the Ascetic: Community and Character in the Old English Life of St. Mary of Egypt
August 12, 2014 By
Among the most eligible saints for such treatment, Mary of Egypt deserves particular consideration: her popularity is evidenced by over a hundred extant Greek manuscripts of her Life and her uniquely prominent position in the Lenten liturgical cycle in the Eastern Church.
Goths, Lombards, Romans, and Greeks: Creating Identity in Early Medieval Italy
July 16, 2014 By
This essay explores how two different non-Roman historians represented the past to their peoples: the Gothic historian Jordanes’ sixth-century work, the Getica, and the eighth-century Lombard historian Paul the Deacons’ History of the Lombards.
Scandinavia and the Huns: an Interdisciplinary Approach to the Migration Era
July 15, 2014 By
The aim of this paper is to discuss the early Migration period as a particular period of ‘short term history’ and its formative impact on the Scandinavian longue duree in the first millenium.
The transition between late antiquity and the early medieval period in north Etruria (400-900 AD)
July 2, 2014 By
Traditionally, the idea that the Roman empire ‘declined and fell’ was considered a historical fact, not a matter for debate. The beginning of the ‘decline’ was usually dated to the 3rd or 4th century AD.
Making a difference in tenth-century politics: King Athelstan’s sisters and Frankish queenship
May 10, 2014 By
In the early years of the tenth century several Anglo-Saxon royal women, all daughters of King Edward the Elder of Wessex (899-924) and sisters (or half-sisters) of his son King Athelstan (924-39), were despatched across the Channel as brides for Frankish and Saxon rulers and aristocrats. This article addresses the fate of some of these women through an analysis of their political identities.
A Game of Power: Courtly influence on the decision-making of Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408-450)
April 27, 2014 By
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the workings and levels of courtly influence on Theodosius II’s (r. 408-450) decision-making, but also, through analysis of the material by using modern theories, to gain a deeper understanding of the courtly structures, power, and dynamics at play at his court in Constantinople.
The soldier’s life: martial virtues and hegemonic masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire
April 13, 2014 By
This dissertation argues that martial virtues and images of the soldier’s life represented an essential aspect of early Byzantine masculine ideology. It contends that in many of the visual and literary sources from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, conceptualisations of the soldier’s life and the ideal manly life were often the same.
Bright Beginnings: Jewish Christian Relations in the Holy Land, AD 400-700
February 11, 2014 By
This paper shows that Christian and Jewish relations in the Holy Land between the fourth and seventh centuries, according to the archaeological evidence, were characterized by peaceful co-existence.
Warriors and warfare: ideal and reality in early insular texts
February 6, 2014 By
This thesis investigates several key aspects of warfare and its participants in the Viking Age insular world via a comparison of the image which warriors occupy in heroic literature to their concomitant depiction in sources which are primarily nonliterary in character, such as histories, annalistic records, and law codes.
Did a Megadrought force the Huns to invade Europe?
February 3, 2014 By
The worst megadrought in the last 2000 years hit Central Asia around 360 AD, new study finds
“I, too, am a Christian”: early martyrs and their lives in the late medieval and early modern Irish manuscript tradition
January 11, 2014 By
This paper examines part of that future: late medieval and early modern Gaelic Irish devotion to the early Christian martyrs as evidenced in the vernacular manuscript tradition.
Theodora, Aetius of Amida, and Procopius: Some Possible Connections
December 29, 2013 By
Behind the purported facts of Theodora’s career as a common prostitute and later as empress are the hidden details of what we might call feminine pharmacology: what were the drugs used by prostitutes and call-girls in sixth-century Byzan- tium? Were there ordinary pharmaceuticals employed by such professionals to stay in business?
Theoderic the Great vs. Boethius: Tensions in Italy in the Late 5th and Early 6th Centuries
December 28, 2013 By
In 524AD the Roman senator Boethius was executed for committing treason against Theoderic the Great, the ruling gothic king in Italy. Boethius was never given a trial, and the charge of treason may have been an exaggeration of what actually happened.
Merovingian and Carolingian Empires: An Analysis of Their Strengths and Weaknesses
December 26, 2013 By
In this research paper I will analyze the achievements and the destruction of the Merovingian Empire to demonstrate how both provide a basic structure of government for the Carolingians to adopt.
Crisis of Legitimacy: Honorius, Galla Placidia, and the Struggles for Control of the Western Roman Empire, 405-425 C.E.
December 15, 2013 By
This dissertation offers a new analytical narrative of the years from 405 to 425 C.E., a period which extends from the final phase of the general Stilicho’s control over the administration of the emperor Honorius
The Enigma of the Picts
December 8, 2013 By
Yet superficially the subject does not seem so problematical. The task in hand is that of identifying the general political, linguistic and cultural personality of the people, or peoples, who lived to the north of the Forth- Clyde line from the first century B.C. (around when the first historical details were collected) to the ninth century A.D. (when the Pictish kingdom disappeared).
Illustrated Octateuch Manuscripts: A Byzantine Phenomenon
November 22, 2013 By
Illustrated Octateuch Manuscripts: A Byzantine Phenomenon John Lowden The Old Testament in Byzantium: Selected papers from a symposium held Dec. 2006, Dumbarton Oaks Abstract The first recorded use of the word Ὀκτάτευχος (literally “eight books”) was by Prokopios of Gaza (d. 538), who called a volume of his biblical commentary Exegeses of the Octateuch (Εἰς τὴν […]
Fifth-century massacre discovered by Swedish archaeologists
November 13, 2013 By
Archaeologists in Sweden have uncovered the site where hundreds of people may have been killed in a brutal massacre.
![Brick with the emblem of Theodoric, found in the temple of Vesta, Rome. It reads "+REG(nante) D(omino) N(ostro) THEODE/RICO [b]O[n]O ROM(a)E", which translates as With our master Theodoric the Good reigning in Rome [this brick was made].](http://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Theodoric_brick.png){kind=small}
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