Italy Archive
-
Man Bites Dog: Alarming Effects of Medieval Animal Venom
Posted on May 16, 2013 | No CommentsThis paper was part of a fantastic series on mental health and disability in the Middle Ages. It was very humorous. This paper examined various types of bites, the "medieval symptoms" and some cures. So if you don't want to bark like a dog, or lash out at people with your teeth, read on... -
The Queen of Sicily’s Paris Shopping List, 1277
Posted on May 16, 2013 | No CommentsSarah-Grace Heller examines a letter sent by Charles I of Anjou, King of Sicily to one of his agents in Paris, where he provides a detailed order of textiles and clothing that he needed to have purchased. -
Chivalry and Public Disorder in Thirteenth-Century Florence
Posted on May 13, 2013 | No CommentsThe was the second of two fabulous papers given at the my first session on Medieval violence. Whereas the first paper in this series looked at violence in the university setting, this one tackled violence in an elite sphere - Florentine knights and their retinues. -
Signs and Senses: Diagnosis and Prognosis in Early Medieval Pulse and Urine Texts
Posted on April 28, 2013 | No Commentsin which they were made. These early medieval anthologies are quite different from Scholastic anthologies such as the Artkella, which were compiled as curriculum texts for the new, formalized medical instruction of the nascent universities. -
Economic Credit in Renaissance Florence
Posted on April 23, 2013 | No CommentsWhat 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? -
Captain of Fortune: Galeazzo da Montova
Posted on April 20, 2013 | No CommentsEqually part knight and part bandit, the profession of condottiero created opportunity and social mobility unlike anything seen in the rest of Europe -
Fiore dei Liberi’s Armizare: The Chivalric Martial Arts System of Il Fior di Battaglia
Posted on April 20, 2013 | No CommentsIn this book, Robert Charrette brings together his experiences as a martial artist and respected 14th century living historian with his skills as a professional author graphic artist to not only take readers on a walking tour of Master Fiore’s manuscripts, but into the mindset behind its creation. -
Femininity in the Marketplace: The Ideal Woman in Fourteenth-Century Florence
Posted on April 18, 2013 | No CommentsThroughout this period, in advice manuals and in humanistic dialogues, writers emphasize the importance of learning to read and write, and of gaining the social skills necessary for creating a network of friends; these were considered necessary abilities for becoming a successful merchant and citizen. -
Kongo Ambassadors, Papal Politics, and Italian Images of Black Africans in the Early 1600s
Posted on April 17, 2013 | No CommentsWhile the political and economic power of Italian states was declining in the Seventeenth Century, Italy’s cultural authority remained influential, especially in the visual arts and, of course, religion, even though Europe had been split into faith-based fragments by the Protestant Reformation after 1517. -
Horticulture and Health in the Middle Ages: Images from the Tacuinum Sanitatis
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsThe relationships between plants and health have been and continue to be of great concern for humankind considering both diet and medicinal uses. -
The Greek Renaissance in Italy
Posted on April 14, 2013 | No CommentsFor various reasons north Italy toward the end of the fourteenth century seemed peculiarly adapted to become the seat of another classical renaissance, though of one some what different in character and results from that which had already run its course. -
Francesco Filelfo at the court of Milan (1439-1481)
Posted on April 8, 2013 | No CommentsMilan was the city where Filelfo spent half his life, where he wrote almost all his works and where he left a deep imprint in the development of humanistic culture. -
The Death Toll of Justinian’s Plague and Its Effects on the Byzantine Empire
Posted on April 4, 2013 | No CommentsIn 541 a plague arrived in Egypt and rapidly began to spread. The following account of the beginning of the plague, while clearly an exaggeration still shows the impact of the disease. -
Castle for Sale in Italy: Montegualandro Castle
Posted on April 4, 2013 | No CommentsThis castle for sale in Italy dates back to the ninth century and comes with a medieval church and prison -
Lodovico Capponi: A Florentine Banker and a Lending Transaction in 16th Century Florence
Posted on April 1, 2013 | No CommentsThis 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. -
Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art
Posted on March 29, 2013 | No CommentsA symposium held at the Art Gallery of Ontario offered new insights into the artistic community of 14th-century Florence. -
Why There May Have Been Contacts between Slovenes and Jews before 1000 A.D.
Posted on March 16, 2013 | No CommentsThe first documented evidence of a Jewish presence in Slovenia dates from the 13th century, when Yiddish- and Italian-speaking Jews migrated south from Austria to Maribor and Celje, and east from Italy into Ljubljana. This is a good three centuries after the first mention of Jews in the Austrian lands. -
The Family Consciousness in Medieval Genoa: The Case of the Lomellini
Posted on March 10, 2013 | No CommentsThe most famous figure of the family in this century was Napoleone Lomellini. He was a member of the ‘anziani’ and was known as ‘multum dives et magnus mercator a very rich and important merchant’ -
Personal’ Rituals: The Office of Ceremonies and Papal Weddings, 1483-1521
Posted on March 3, 2013 | No CommentsThis analysis reveals the increasing involvement of papal ceremonialists in the preparation and supervision of wedding events,5 highlighting the ceremonialists’ own broad definition of their mandate and a pragmatic approach to the boundaries of papal ritual. -
Rome During Avignon: Myth, Memory, and Civic Identity in Fourteenth-Century Roman Politics
Posted on February 19, 2013 | No CommentsBroadly conceived, my dissertation examines the traditions of popular government emerging spasmodically in the roughly two hundred and fifty years between the Roman senate’s 1143 revival, and the papacy’s definitive 1377 return to Rome from roughly seven decades in Avignon. The majority of my inquiry, however, is directed toward the much-understudied fourteenth century. -
The Poisoned Image of the Borgias: A Look at the Public Image of Pope Alexander VI and His Children
Posted on February 18, 2013 | No CommentsUpon Rodrigo Borgia’s ascension to the papacy in 1492 and assumption of the name Alexander VI, the masses of Rome who watched his parade and celebration with hopeful eyes welcomed him eagerly, despite his wild ways and indiscretions as a cardinal. -
Hidden in Plain Sight: The “Pietre di Paragone” and the Preeminence of Medieval Measurements in Communal Italy
Posted on February 11, 2013 | No CommentsPropelled by an active engagement with measurements, the medieval communes devised a revolutionary method to preserve these measurements, which I call Pietre di Paragone. -
The Church Atrium as a Ritual Space: The Cathedral of Tyre and St Peter’s in Rome
Posted on January 31, 2013 | No CommentsThis paper will attempt to outline a perspective on ritual and space regard ing the Early Christian atrium by confronting two cases of early church atria: one known from a literary source, the other from its archaeological reconstruction. -
The Eternity of the World and Renaissance Historical Thought
Posted on January 27, 2013 | No CommentsMedieval and Renaissance controversies over the Aristotelian doctrine of “the eternity of the world” have hitherto been treated as disputes restricted to natural philosophers and theologians. -
British government temporarily halts export of 700-year-old painting
Posted on January 17, 2013 | No CommentsAn early 14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti will not be allowed to leave the United Kingdom, at least temporarily, while an attempt is made to raise over £5 million to purchase the art-piece.
