Romances provided the basis of a particular kind of view of knighthood and warfare that was very influential on other literature concerning knights and warfare, as much as it was on real life practices and attitudes.
Interpreting Warfare and Knighthood in Late Medieval France: Writers and Their Sources in the Reign of King Charles VI (1380-1422)
March 10, 2013 By
Procopius’ Portrayal of Theodora in the Secret History: ‘Her Charity was Universal’
January 27, 2013 By
Like most other writers of late antiquity, what little is known about Procopius comes from his works. Born at the turn of the sixth century in Caesarea, he had the chance to receive education in the traditional Greek fashion, i.e. through the use of classical authors, before Justinian banned pagan teaching in 529
The Ideology of the Feminine in Byzantine historical narrative: The role of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis of Histories
December 15, 2012 By
“Who once sliced men more sharoly than the sword Is victim of a woman…Epitaph for Emperor Nicephoros II Phocas.
Plague, Settlement and Structural Change at the Dawn of the Middle Ages
December 5, 2012 By
Calculations on the number of inhabitants during these centuries are, however, impossible to make. The most famous attempt, by J.C. Russell, is, as will be revealed below, not satisfying. Using results from other studies, like those referred to above, Russell assumed hypothetical population figures without any real empirical evidence.
The Emergence of the North
December 5, 2012 By
Apart from this bipolar system that contrasted North and South, authors writing in the Old Norse-Icelandic language also appear to use the term Norðrlönd within a quadripolar system that held good beyond the immediate region: Norðrlönd, the Vestrlönd (the British Isles), Suðrríki (Germany, the Holy Roman Empire), and Austrríki or Austrvegr (Russia and other lands to the East).
Conversion and Empire: Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (ca. 300-900)
December 3, 2012 By
For a broader modern audience today, if taken somewhat journalistically, Pusicius’ story is an example that cuts along cultural and religious lines that presumably originate in ancient, political divisions and confirm a “clash of civilizations” thesis.
The Dangerous Dead: The Early Medieval deviant burial at Southwell, Nottinghamshire in a wider context
October 30, 2012 By
This was the deviant burial, which had been buried (or reburied) intact along with a further leg and lower arm bone…Without speculating wildly on the implications of the iron studs, it is known that treatment of this sort was accorded to bodies which had died unnaturally or when there was some reason to fear the supernatural’.
The Empress in Late Antiquity and the Roman Origins of the Imperial Feminine
October 25, 2012 By
This thesis seeks to explore the construction and conceptualization of the Byzantine imperial feminine, up until the sixth century AD.
The Disposal of Human Waste: A comparison between Ancient Rome and Medieval London
October 11, 2012 By
This essay examines the waste disposal options used in Ancient Rome and Medieval London, two cities that dealt with sewage in different ways.
The status of women in Roman and Frankish law
October 10, 2012 By
Under both Roman and Frankish laws, women, although they did not have judicial equality with men, did have many legal rights and freedoms.
Scissors or Sword? The Symbolism of a Medieval Haircut
October 6, 2012 By
Simon Coates explores the symbolic meanings attached to hair in the early medieval West, and how it served to denote differences in age, sex, ethnicity and status.
A Distant World: Russian Relations with Europe Before Peter the Great
October 4, 2012 By
Despite their isolation and poverty, the Slavic plowmen succeeded in settling this unforgiving region, expanding their numbers, and, most importantly, creating the beginnings of a trading network along the many rivers of the region—the western Dvina, the Volkhov, the northern Dvina, and the Dniepr and its tributaries.
A Cold Case of Historical Bias
September 26, 2012 By
Cardano’s ‘Encomium Neronis’—rendered in my translation as ‘Nero, an Exemplary Life’—is structured like a pleading in Nero’s defense delivered in front of a modern court of law by a very clever, if not entirely genial, lawyer.
Constantius and the Visigothic Settlement in Gaul
September 21, 2012 By
The emperor Honorius made an attempt during his reign to calm the turbulent region of Gaul by assigning one of his generals to the area and appointing him as the head of the regions armies.
The Lost Millennium: Psychology During the Middle Ages
September 19, 2012 By
The medieval period – roughly the 1,000 years from the classical Greco-Roman age to the Renaissance and modern era has long been neglected in the history of psychology.
The Romans as Viewed by Arabic Authors in the 9th and 10th Centuries A.D.
September 15, 2012 By
The reason why Muslims authors of the 9th and 10th century A.D. dealt with the history and culture not only of
the Romans but also of other ancient and contemporary nations is related to the social, political and cultural
circumstances of their age.
The Bones of Saint Peter
September 10, 2012 By
Sometime in AD 48, Peter had a tense meeting in Jerusalem with an enthusiastic missionary called Paul, who had been travelling among the peoples of the Near East, spreading news of Jesus’ teachings. Peter and his Jewish friends in Jerusalem were anxious that male converts to the new sect should be circumcised, as a sign that their commitment was genuine.
Hellenism and the Shaping of the Byzantine Empire
August 27, 2012 By
While the role of Byzantine Hellenism on the art, literature, and society of the Empire has been the subject of tremendous study, the question of its origins has, nonetheless, rarely been raised, and the strongly Hellenic Byzantine identity seems, to a large extent, to have been taken for granted historiographically.
Nero, Emperor and Tyrant, in the Medieval French Tradition
August 21, 2012 By
Nero ruled the Roman Empire from 54 to 68 CE, bringing to an end the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Perversely attractive and also thoroughly abhorrent, he evoked both positive and negative images.
The Triumphal Way of Constantinople and the Golden Gate
August 19, 2012 By
In Rome the term triumphus referred to an archaic and highly regulated rite that was decreed by the Senate upon the fulfilment of certain strict preconditions. Scholars have disagreed whether the triumphal procession, which could be held only in Rome, always followed the same itinerary, but the chances are that it did
Shedding Light on a Dark Age: Britain in the Forth and Fifth Centuries
August 17, 2012 By
This paper seeks to examine the fourth and fifth centuries in Britain in order to address the issue of collapse versus continuity after the end of the Roman state.
Plague And Changes In Medieval European Society And Economy In The 14th And 15th Centuries
August 5, 2012 By
Standards of hygiene in the Middle Ages appeared high enough to prevent diseases as medieval Europeans, contrary to popular beliefs, bathed quite often. However, contact with domestic animals, which were frequently kept in the part of the house reserved for human activity, exposed people to animal-related diseases passed to humans via insects.
Living off the dead : the relationship between emperor cult and the cult of the saints in late antiquity
August 3, 2012 By
So while on the surface, Christianity and Roman religion seemed entirely different, it is clear that Christianity drew on certain aspects of Roman religion when establishing major tenets of Christian beliefs.
Classical and Secular Learning among the Irish before the Carolingian Renaissance
July 17, 2012 By
Classical and secular learn ing maintained their close association with each other until the end of antiquity, when they gradually became divorced.
Sacred Things and Holy Bodies: Collecting Relics from Late Antiquity to the Early Renaissance
July 15, 2012 By
Intimately tied to concepts of wholeness, corporeal integrity, and the resurrection of the body, the collecting of bones and body parts of holy martyrs was an important aspect of the Christian cult of relics already during Antiquity
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