The Liber Historiae Francorum – a Model for a New Frankish Self-confidence
The Liber Historiae Francorum – a Model for a New Frankish Self-confidence Philipp Dörler Networks and Neighbours, Volume One, Number One (2013) The…
The Anglo-Saxon influence on Romano-Britain : research past and present
The Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon transition in Britain is one of the most striking transitions seen in the archaeological record. Changes in burial practice between these periods, along with historical, anthropological, environmental and linguistic evidence have all been thought to indicate that a mass migration of Angles and Saxons into Britain occurred in the 5th century A.D.
Life and death in late ancient and early medieval Egyptian monasteries
Since 2006, Stephen Davis has served as Executive Director of the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project, conducting field work and training graduate students at two sites in Egypt: the White Monastery near Sohag and the Monastery of John the Little in Wadi al-Natrun.
Late Antique and Early Byzantine fortifications in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Geographically, the province of Dalmatia can be divided into two zones: the coastal and the mountainous regions.
Delivering stability: Primogeniture and autocratic survival in European monarchies 1000-1800
Although the dominating position of primogeniture at the end of the period might seem natural given primogeniture’s many advantages for the monarch and the ruling elite it was first rather late in history that the principle came to dominate Europe.
A tale of Wade: The Anglo-Saxon origin myth in an East Saxon setting
In the past Walter Map’s tale of Gado, included in his De Nugis Curialium, written towards the end of the twelfth century, has been merely regarded as a Medieval Latin version of a pre-conquest lay concerning the exploits of the Germanic hero Wade. However, if we look past the fantastic elements which surround him we are left with what appears to be an East Saxon version of the English settlement myth most familiar in the Kentish form involving Hengist and Vortigern, which itself seems to have been adopted from a common Germanic theme.
Procopius’ Portrayal of Theodora in the Secret History: ‘Her Charity was Universal’
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
“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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.