Female Dress in Cyprus during the Medieval Period
Cyprus offers ample evidence for the way people dressed in medieval times. Such testimony is preserved in a variety of media: frescoes, icons, effigial slabs and manuscripts.
Catastrophe and Conspiracy: The evidence of the sixth century Byzantine sources for the AD 536 environmental event
Furthermore, as the historical record shows, the history of mankind did not end in 536 AD. To argue that the environmental event plunged the developed world into the Middle Ages is farfetched from a historical point of view.
Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China – or Didn’t It?
Why, between the first century BC and the fifteenth century AD, Chinese civilization was much more efficient than occidental in applying human natural knowledge to practical human needs
St Augustine Was Eaten by a Bear: Book Production in Carthusian Monasteries
So stop reading and lets think about physical appearance: what does it look like, what does it feel like, what does it smell like.
Call for Papers: Monasticism and Lordship – Annual Leeds Postgraduate Monasticism Conference
Conference to be held at the University of Leeds on May 17-18, 2013
Tech Gets Medieval Symposium
One day symposium at Georgia Tech, on November 13, 2012
Customs and Lordship in Greater-Anjou
This is another Haskins conference paper from SESSION VI: Lordship. This paper focused on monasteries, changes in lordship and expectations between the lord and the monastery.
Gender Roles and Symbolic Meaning in Njáls Saga
There are many examples in Njáls saga of characters who fail to adhere to their assigned gender role and as a result perpetuate the chain of events that leads the saga to its grisly conclusion.
Of Kings and Popes and Law
In England, the period which most legal historians consider to be the key formative years of the common law was the reign of King Henry II.
Archaeometry of medieval Islamic glazed ceramics from North Yemen
The Yemen Archaeological Project is concerned with the history and culture of a medieval Islamic university town, Zabid, and its interaction with neighboring settlements and the outside world, from A.D. 700 to 1750.
Crowdsourcing the Medieval Text: New Avenues for Examining Leaves and Fragments
This paper will argue that while formal institutional websites are useful for highly professional and specialized projects, broader and more popular social media and photo-sharing sites such as Flickr and Facebook offer the potential to provide an easier and more widely accessible platform for exploring (i.e. crowdsourcing) medieval manuscript fragments.
Excusing the Inexcusable: Abbots Who Diminish the Patrimony, and the Monks Who Love Them Anyway
This paper was part of the fantastic SESSION IV: Abbots between Ideals and Institutions, 10th–12th Centuries. This paper focused on the writing about abbots during the tumultuous period of Stephen’s reign.
Death as a Symbolic Arena: Abbatial Leadership, Episcopal Authority and the “Ostentatious Death” of Richard of Saint Vanne
This is another paper from Haskins in: SESSION IV: Abbots between Ideals and Institutions, 10th–12th Centuries. This paper talks about Abbot Richard of Verdun and the politics, and ritual surrounding his death.
The Papacy and the Imperial Court in the Aftermath of the Acacian Schism
Viezure’s paper examines how the Papacy portrayed their efforts to end the Acacian Schism, in what she describes as ‘an attempt to paint the image of a powerful Pope.’
Abbot Majolus of Cluny, Ambassador to the Dead
This paper was part of a intriguing session on monasticism entitled: SESSION IV: Abbots between Ideals and Institutions, 10th–12th Centuries. Here, we meet the unsung hero of Cluny’s early history, Abbot Majolus.
John Lydus’ Political Message and the Byzantine Image of the Ideal Ruler
What makes a great emperor? This was one of the questions addressed by John Lydus, a 6th century Byzantine administrator and writer, whose work On Powers examined the rule of previous Roman emperors.
“Engineers of the Angevin Empire (1154-1242)”
This paper was also featured in SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege at the Haskins conference. It explained the importance and contributions of Angevin engineers during the twelfth century.
SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege
These are two papers from SESSION III: The Medieval Experience of Siege given at Boston College’s Haskin’s Conference. The first paper examined knightly interaction during sieges and the second paper delved into the actions of the besieged and besiegers during times of war.
Against the Heathen: Saints and martyrs in late Anglo-Saxon literature
In this essay I will argue that the militarised martyrs and saints in Anglo-Saxon England are both a shining example to Saxon Christians and an enticing lure to encourage the Scandinavian settlers to adopt the Catholic faith like King Cnut did.
Kerry, Ireland A.D. 800 – medieval children’s book
Set in Ireland’s majestic Ring of Kerry in the year 800, the tale is an inspiring coming-of-age adventure that deals with life lessons on the backdrop of an educational and entertaining plot
“The Self and the Other: Migration and Ethnicity in Late Anglo-Saxon England”
This paper was part of the session: SESSION II: Who Do They Think They Are? and dealt with Anglo-Saxon migration, names and charters.
West versus East: the Sixth Century Literary Sources and Justinian’s Wars
Most scholars of the Byzantine empire have given an important role to Justinian’s invasion of Italy during the sixth century – it has been envisioned as a grand reconquest of the West by the East.
“How Could You Recognise a Member of the Merchant Guild in Saint-Omer around 1100?”
This is another summary of a Haskins conference paper given in the session entitled: SESSION II: Who Do They Think They Are?. It deals with the customs of the guild of Saint-Omer
Voting in the Medieval Papacy and Religious Orders
Medieval theologians no doubt believed that God’s word was handed down from above; but they well knew that they often had to decide among rival human interpretations of it.
The Medievalverse – Boston 2012 – Day 2
Our second day at Boston focused exclusively on The Haskins Society Conference – we talk about some of our favourite papers of the day.