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Why did Attila leave Italy?

Medievalists.net — Wed, 27 May 2015 22:30:13 +0000

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

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Angels on Christmas trees and medieval ideas of hierarchy

Medievalists.net — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 14:11:32 +0000

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.

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Justinian’s Reconquest: Notions of Return in Procopius’ Gothic Wars

Medievalists.net — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 23:51:14 +0000

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.

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A British legion stationed near Orléans c. 530?

Medievalists.net — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:17:02 +0000

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.

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Christianity and the Latin tradition in early Medieval Ireland

Medievalists.net — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 00:47:11 +0000

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.

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Rethinking Hardown Hill: Our Westernmost Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery?

Medievalists.net — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 13:19:24 +0000

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.

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Amending the Ascetic: Community and Character in the Old English Life of St. Mary of Egypt

Medievalists.net — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 13:44:53 +0000

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.

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Goths, Lombards, Romans, and Greeks: Creating Identity in Early Medieval Italy

Medievalists.net — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:26:44 +0000

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.

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Scandinavia and the Huns: an Interdisciplinary Approach to the Migration Era

Medievalists.net — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 08:42:09 +0000

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.

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The transition between late antiquity and the early medieval period in north Etruria (400-900 AD)

Medievalists.net — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 09:59:53 +0000

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.

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