Where the Middle Ages Begin
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.
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.
Regicide was a common occurrence in the early Middle Ages. It was a fairly routine way for a victorious usurper or conqueror to rid himself of a potential source of trouble. Penda’s reputation in this field would almost certainly have been viewed with some approval had he been a Christian, and his foes pagan…
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 Irish missionary and founder of monasteries, Columbanus (†615), crossed into Italy in 612 and established his last foundation at Bobbio under the patronage of the Lombard king, Agilulf.
A tripartite formula for the structure of Byzantine history has been suggested and generally accepted-Roman political institutions, Greek cultural elements, and the Christian religious faith, representing Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem respectively.
In the period after the fall of Rome and before the Vikings, Scotland became a Christian society, but there are few historical documents to help understand how this happened.
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…
Building dating to the 7th century discovered in Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Early medieval port customs, tolls and controls on foreign trade Middleton, Neil Early Medieval Europe, Vol.13:4 (2005) Abstract The objective of this paper is to offer a fresh perspective on the nature and organization of international trade in early medieval ports from the evidence of documentary sources on tolls and customs, trading practices and controls on […]
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 […]
In North Africa, as in other regions of the Byzantine Empire, supra-regional types and fashions sometimes co-existed with local traditions.
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.
Miracles of healing in Anglo-Celtic Northumbria as recorded by the venerable Bede and his contemporaries: a reappraisal in the light of twentieth century experience By Rex Gardner British Medical Journal, Vol.283 (1983) Introduction: The vigorous hybrid culture of Briton and Angle’ blossomed in the seventh century into the amazing Northumbrian golden age whose artefacts still […]
Alfred’s Historia Ecclesiastica Uijttewaal, B.T. B.A. Thesis, Universiteit Utrecht (2011) Abstract The “English” had been punished by God through the arrival of the Vikings. The British before them, had lapsed in their faith and been sent the scourge of the Anglo-Saxons. This was the message of king Alfred at the end of the 9th century […]
A Gregorian manuscript in the Ian Potter Museum of Art Martyn, John R.C. University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 6, June (2010) Abstract In about 1000 a very interesting illuminated manuscript that probably held copies of all of the letters of Pope Gregory the Great was created. Five centuries later, 41 of these letters, from books two, […]
The Place of Metrics in Anglo-Saxon Latin Education: Aldhelm and Bede Ruff, Carin (John Carroll University) Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 104:2 (2005) Abstract The Anglo-Saxons are well known for having been pioneers in teaching Latin as a foreign language and in developing materials for elementary Latin instruction to supplement the grammars they […]
The Chronica Maiora of Isidore of Seville: An introduction and translation By Jamie Wood and Sam Koon e-Spania, Vol.6 (2008) Abstract: Isidore of Seville’s Chronica Maiora was written in two redactions in early seventh century and reveals a great deal about the political, religious and intellectual history of late antique and early medieval Spain. A […]
Expeditio persica of Heraclius: Holy War or Crusade? By Nicola Bergamo Porphyra, No.12 (2008) Introduction: This essay will try to explain if the expeditio persica of Heraclius was similar or not with the concept of western Crusade. This military expedition, as a matter of fact, has various references as a Crusade, especially in some Byzantine […]
HISPANISMS IN THE LANGUAGE OF ISIDORE OF SEVILLE Maltby, Robert Hispania terris omnibus felicior: Premesse ed esiti di un processo di integrazione, Pisa (2001) Abstract For the student of late Latin in Spain Isidore of Seville (560-636 AD) is a very important figure, as he is writing at a time when the Latin of the […]
A Merovingian Commentary on the Four Gospels Hen, Yitzhak Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes, 49 (2003) Abstract The Bible was a vital force in early medieval Francia. It offered Merovingian authors a veiled way of talking about the current order of things, and it provided them with an ideal image, against which the present could be […]
‘In the beginning was the Word’: books and faith in the age of Bede Brown, Michelle P. The Heroic Age, Issue 4, Winter (2001) Abstract In this paper I discuss the role of the book in a nascent Christian culture and focus in upon its value as a cult object, with particular reference to the […]
After an exploration of the sources available for Penda’s kingship the central section of the piece consists of a consideration of the extent of Penda’s hegemony, followed by a detailed analysis of the mechanisms sustaining it.
Monasticism in Anglo-Saxon England: An Analysis of Selected Hagiography from Northumbria Written in the Years after the Council of Whitby By Carrie Couvillon Master’s Thesis, Louisiana State University, 2005 Abstract: Hagiography, writings about saints, was generally a means of venerating a saint’s life. An author of hagiography wrote to advance his own salvation as well […]
The End of the Lower Danubian Limes: A Violent or a Peaceful Process? By Alexandru Madgearu Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica, Vol.12 (2006) Abstract: If we consider that the end of the limes signified the abandonment of the fortresses by the Byzantine army, then we should agree that this process was violent, but only before 598. […]
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