The alleged diocese of Delminium
The alleged diocese of Delminium Škegro, Ante Opvscvla Archaeologica Papers of the Department of Archaeology, Vol.31 No.1 August 2008. pp. 283 – 302…
Viking Denmark and Early Medieval Italy: a possibility for a comparison
I think that Viking Age in Denmark and the Early Middle Ages in Italy (more or less from 800 until 1100-1200) were both a period of experimentation, with changes in economy, society and, as a consequence, in settlement pattern.
The Bayeux Tapestry and the Vikings
How did the Bayeux Tapestry, with its images of Normans and Englishmen, come to be so strongly equated with the legendary Vikings in the popular imagination?
Personal Equipment and Fighting Techniques Among the Anglo-Saxon Population in Northern Europe During the Early Middle Ages
The Anglo-Saxon military equipment included a sword or axe, a lance and a buckler, whereas most men would wear a dagger hanging from their belt.
The Otherworld Yet Real-Time Exploits of Gregory the Great
This article examines the idea of the otherworldly in medieval experience from the perspective of Gregory the Great’s mission to the English. The paper reviews the history of travel literature in the medieval world, how Britain’s remoteness and no known history placed it into the realm of the otherworldly…
Saint Gildas and the Pestilent Dragon: A Meander through the Sixth-Century Landscape With a Most Notable Guru
The historical value of the pilgrimage episode in the Life of Gildas by the Monk of Ruys is defended by advancing solutions to the problems of composition-dating, integrity of tradition, motivation, and the appearance of a dragon. An approach is taken to delimiting the date of the pilgrimage in light of the Yellow Death pandemic and the geopolitics of the contemporary Mediterranean world.
What’s in a name? Britons, Angles, ethnicity and material culture from the fourth to seventh centuries
The emergence of various ‘ethnically’ based polities in early medieval Britain has long been a source of debate and confusion. I explore how ethnic self-identity is constructed and how the identities of the former Roman citizens of Britain changed.
The Social Centrality of Women in Beowulf: A New Context
This paper examines the roles of the women in Beowulf, focusing on those of hostess, peaceweavers, and monsters. When read through an anthropological lens, Beowulf presents the female characters as being central both in the story itself and in the society presented in the poem.
The Politics of Exile in Early Northumbria
The politics of exile in early Bernicia and Deira between c. 592 and 635 can tell us a great deal about the political environment and orientation of their kingdoms in the early seventh century.
Wu Zhao’s Remarkable Aviary
Despite these fertile pre-conditions, the biological fact that Wu Zhao was a woman presented serious problems in her effort to assume the dragon throne. Even in these open times, the Confucian bureaucracy held great political sway just as patriarchal values, which held to the principle that “the male is venerated and the female is denigrated” (nan zun nu bei 男尊女卑), still exerted tremendous social influence.