High Middle Ages

Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind Migrationsprozesse von literarischen Migrantenfiguren in den folgenden Erzahlungen des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts: Graf Rudolf, Arabel des Ulrich von dem Turlin, Partonopier und Meliur des Konrad von Wurzburg (darin die Figuren Gaudin und Fursin/Anshelm) und Wilhelm von Osterreich des Johann von Wurzburg. Untersucht wird die Darstellung von Auswirkungen der Migrationssituation auf die Identitatskonstitution. Methodisch wird dabei versucht, bestehende Hybriditatsansatze der Mittelaltergermanistik durch die postkolonialen Konzepte Homi K. Bhabhas gewinnbringend zu erweitern. Die Migrantenfiguren dieser Texte verbindet, dass deren Migration in den Orient bzw. in den Okzident Wechselwirkungen auslost zwischen der eigenen (ursprunglichen) Identitat und der Identitat der Angehorigen des neuen kulturellen Umfeldes. Die Werke behandeln diese Dynamiken auf diskursiver Ebene in facettenreicher Weise, sie reflektieren diese und problematisieren sie auch. In den Anal...

Andrzej Kozicki - książka "Dwu cesarzy zachodnich jako zasada ustrojowa w czasach Chrobrego" (2023).

Analiza politycznej wyobraźni instytucjonalnej w X i XI wieku, czyli w okresie formowania się obecnej mapy politycznej Europy. Tezą książki jest trwałość antycznych instytucji ustrojowych, niedoceniana i niezauważana przez mediewistów, co czyni ich bezradnymi wobec fenomenu podwójnej (1000 r. i 1025 r.) koronacji Bolesława Chrobrego. Książka jednocześnie jest napisana w formie polemiki z krytykami poprzedniej książki Kozickiego, której tezy i ostrze krytyki zostały streszczone na pierwszych kilku stronach. Luminarzami, z którymi fechtuje autor są: profesor Jacek Banaszkiewicz (mediewista, specjalista od Karolingów i Liudolfingów), profesor Stanisław Suchodolski (numizmatyk, specjalista od monet z czasów Chrobrego) i profesor Paweł Żmudzki (źródłoznawca, specjalista od kronik owej doby).

For centuries, Marco Polo’s legends of the Old Man of the Mountain, his paradise garden, and his assembly of assassins have fascinated readers. Modern scholarship, however, has demonstrated that these are a fanciful history of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims of the state of Alamut. This article analyses the causes and motivations for the persistence of these tales and their trappings. The trope permeates popular culture ranging from medieval fables to the multi-billion dollar Assassin’s Creed video game franchise. More surprising, the offensive “assassin” moniker and its associated images are strangely resilient within academia itself, long after Orientalist portrayals of the Muslim world stopped being fashionable. The study also introduces several little-known works, often newly discovered, which emanate from the state centred at Alamut. These allow us a rare glimpse into the community’s self-perception. The steady recovery of such long-lost sources sheds new light on the Nizaris, revealing the life of a community that is equally fascinating, if less fantastic, than the “assassins” of Marco Polo’s imagination.

Für die mittelhochdeutschen Romane um 1200 läßt sich eine spezifische sozialgeschichtliche Einbettung annehmen, die Konsequenzen für ein Modell literarischer Kommunikation hat. Im Zusammenspiel von Verfassern, geistlichen Beratern – dem Hofklerus – und zunächst einmal adligen Damen entstehen die Texte, denen eine hofklerikale Perspektive auf Fragen feudaladliger Existenz eignet: Die ästhetisch komplexen volkssprachigen Texte lassen klare Problembezüge erkennen. Im Rahmen dieses Modells literarischer Kommunikation wird der Erec Hartmanns von Aue als Absage an Versuche ritterlicher Selbsterlösung gedeutet, denen der sich der göttlichen Gnade öffnende Wille des demütig Gläubigen gegenübergestellt wird. Der Tristan Gottfrieds von Straßburg scheint mit Blick auf die Protagonisten ein Negativexempel zu entwickeln, wobei durch suggestive Gestaltungsdynamiken das Abrücken der edelen herzen von Tristan und Isolde zunächst verhindert und dann umso stärker forciert wird. A specific social-hist...

Merovingian graves are renowned for having been frequently looted for centuries, the presence of grave-goods often being the reason why they are reopened. In the Île-de-France, the frequency of grave disturbance is significant and generally begins during the period of cemetery use. Archaeological evidence for ancient reopening is varied and detailed examination can very often lead to discussion of the disturbers’ profile and motivation. It would appear that frequency of looting varies considerably from one site to another, and in some cases is less than previous studies may have led us to believe.

Les sépultures mérovingiennes sont connues pour leur fréquente perturbation au cours réouverture. En Île-de-France, la fréquence des remaniements sépulcraux est importante et débute généralement dès la période d'utilisation des nécropoles. Les indices archéologiques de ces réouvertures anciennes sont variés et leur étude attentive permet Elle montre que la fréquence des pillages varie considérablement d'un site à l'autre et n'est pas nécessairement aussi élevée que les études passées ont pu le laisser envisager.

Gehad Mohamed, “The Fate of the Captives of War in the New Kingdom:
Were they handled like Egyptians?” in Riccardo Andreozzi et al.,  Identità Multiple. Problemi, Metodologie e Fonti dall’Antichità ad oggi - Volume I Vicino Oriente Antico e Egittologia, Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2022, 63-82.

Scotland’s twelfth- and thirteenth-century kings have often been portrayed as bloodthirsty individuals, dealing ruthlessly with all who rebelled against their rule. But this is too simplistic a representation of the complex range of options open to, and utilised by, Scottish monarchs in this period. Indeed, the possibility remained open for all but a few individuals to surrender and return to the allegiance of the king and the wider Scottish political community. This chapter argues that it was the process of submission that ensured that both sides saw the benefits of such an arrangement and that most rebels did not suffer violent repercussions. While the ritual of submission became more complicated over time, it was an increasingly well-recognised path to conflict resolution between lord and man that replicated similar approaches in contemporary kingdoms across Europe.

The following text examines fief holding by women in the surviving charters from Saxony from about the 11th to the beginning of the 14th centuries. Specifically, these are the areas around Harz delimited by the five bishoprics of Meissen, Naumburg, Hildesheim, Halberstadt, and Merseburg. The basis for analysis is collections of charters from these dioceses supplemented by the collections of charters from the two most significant noble houses active in this area-the houses of Ascania and Welf. The selection of sources and region is not a coincidence: It is probably where Eike von Repgow lived most of his life and wrote his Saxon Mirror (Sachsenspiegel), which significantly influences the modern study of medieval law. Through an analysis of the terminology associated with fiefs and feudal institutions in general, as well as through specific examples of fief holding by women, this study attempts to show that the limitations on a woman holding a fief as defined by Eike in the Saxon Mirror and largely accepted in the contemporary literature are not entirely consistent with the testimony of these diplomatic sources.

[Travail de Bachelor]

Ce travail s'intéresse à la représentation des hérétiques vaudois dans deux sources du XIVe siècle: le traité polémique "Cum dormirent homines" de l'inquisiteur Peter Zwicker et un rapport d'inquisition à Krems présenté dans les "Annales Matseenses". Le discours antivaudois se construit alors sous différentes strates. Une démonisation des hérétiques vaudois est dans un premier temps mis en évidence. Les hérétiques sont ainsi associés au diable, à des actes impies ou encore à d'autres éléments qui visent à leur construire une sombre image. Dans leur opposition aux vaudois, les sources dépeignent ensuite les hérétiques sous des traits plus humains. Elles soulignent le manque d'éducation et la fierté qui conduiraient les vaudois à l'erreur, ainsi que leur fausse piété et leur opposition à l'Église. La dernière strate du discours transmet quant à elle des informations plus concrètes et elle s'éloigne des logiques conflictuelles. Elle informe sur les articles de foi et sur la communauté vaudoise. La représentation des vaudois dans les sources étudiées est par conséquent un objet complexe dont les différentes dimensions se mélangent et se complètent.

[Undergraduate thesis]

This paper deals with the representation of the waldensian heretics in two sources from the 14th century: the polemical treaty "Cum dormirent homines" from the inquisitor Peter Zwicker and the report of an inquisition in Krems countained in the "Annales Matseenses". The discourse against the waldensian is built up in different layers. The demonization of the waldensian heretics is highlighted in the first place. Heretics are associated with the devil, with impious acts and with other elements aimed at tarnishing their image. The sources then attack the waldensian heretics by portraying them in more human terms. They highlight the lack of education and the pride, which would lead them into error, as well as their false piety and their opposition to the Church. The last layer of the discourse give more concrete informations and take distance with the conflictual logics. It informs on the faith articles and on the waldensian community. The depiction of the waldenses appears therefore as complex object, with several dimensions that complement and blend each other.

This article examines the claim, made in numerous academic publications and even by the online Holocaust Encyclopaedia (run by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), that the Jewish residents of Zaragoza (Spain) were accused of ritually murdering a Christian child in 1182. After
establishing that there is no medieval evidence to support the claim, this article traces its origins to a factual error made in a list of “Jewish ritual murders” featured in an anonymous French Antisemitic pamphlet printed in 1882. It then demonstrates how the claim was repeated, disseminated and publicized in subsequent lists of “Jewish ritual murders” produced by Antisemitic authors such as the Jesuit Father Rondina (1893), Justinas. B. Pranaitis (1894) and finally in the Nazi publication Der Stürmer (1934). The leap from Antisemitic propaganda to unquestioned historical fact appears
to have occurred when the respected historian Joshua Trachtenberg repeated it in his influential and well-respected 1943 book The Devil and the Jews. The Medieval Conception of the Jew and Its Relation to Modern Anti-Semitism.

I Dansk Vestindien fandt der i det 18. århundrede en kulturel forandrings­ proces sted, en såkaldt kreolisering, som var påvirket både af kulturmø­ det mellem afroog eurocaribiere og af samspillet mellem den koloniale styreform og den sociale opbygning af det koloniale samfund. De sociale relationer var en del af denne forandringsproces. Det eurocaribiske sociale hierarki byggede primært på økonomi, mens rang og stand spillede en mindre rolle. Alligevel udviklede den vestindiske overklasse en kultur, der på mange måder mindede om en adelskultur, men som i høj grad var præget af relationerne til de undergivne, de afrocaribiske slaver, og derfor må betragtes som særlig vestindisk.

This article surveys surviving evidence for the determination of geographic longitude in Latin Europe in the period between 1100 and 1300. Special consideration is given to the different types of sources that preserve longitude estimates as well as to the techniques that were used in establishing them. While the method of inferring longitude differences from eclipse times was evidently in use as early as the mid-twelfth century, it remains doubtful that it can account for most of the preserved longitudes. An analysis of 89 different estimates for 30 European cities indicates a high degree of accuracy among the longitudes of English cities and a conspicuous displacement eastward (by 5°-7;30°) shared by most longitudes of cities in Italy and France. In both cases, the data suggest a high level of interdependence between estimates for different cities in the same geographic region, although the means by which these estimates were arrived at remain insufficiently known.

Archaeological sources confirm the existence of the medeval town of Ústí nad Orlicí from the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century. Surprisingly, the finds are not concentrated around the central sqare but in the area north of the square and east of the baroque church occupying the site of its medieval predecessor.

Stupore, reverenza, meraviglia, timore: questi sentimenti hanno fortemente caratterizzato il rapporto dell'uomo con la natura e con la sfera degli eventi che, trascendendo la natura stessa, si collocano nell'ambito del soprannaturale, del magico, del leggendario, dell'immaginario, relativo sia all'eccezionalità, sia ad aspetti e momenti della quotidianità. Un universo che si popolava di numerosi esseri, spesso immaginati per dare un volto o perlomeno un nome a fenomeni naturali, a pericoli, a misteri, a eventi inspiegabili, a reminiscenze mitiche e alla sensazione, o per meglio dire alla consapevolezza, che non è possibile comprendere e spiegare tutto ciò che esiste o che accade "sotto il cielo".

Dominus Vobiscum (letter 28) is undoubtedly one of Peter Damian’s most original
works, and has experienced a renewed interest thanks to the re-emergence of the ecclesiology
of communion around Vatican II, but in-depth studies of the work as a whole are
missing and its sources seem quite limited. In this analysis of the text and its argumentative
structure, the conceptual development is built on the dialectic of contrasts, starting
from the binomial of “solitudo pluralis” and “multitudo singularis”, typical of the hermit.
The theme is unfolded in its pneumatological, Christological and ecclesiological aspects. A
formal analysis seems to demonstrate that the theses presented by Peter Damian are
mainly the result of the power of rhetoric, which he undoubtedly mastered

Los dos CLE dedicados a Honorato (obispo hispalense sucesor de Isidoro) y conservados hoy en la Catedral de Sevilla son objeto de estudio en este trabajo. Las autoras, después de haber procedido a a su autopsia, ofrecen su propia edición así como un comentario epigráfico y ...

Modern terrestrial laser scanners and photogrammetric imaging systems can provide highly accurate and objective as-built records of existing architectural, engineering, and industrial sites. This comprehensive digital recording benefits culturally significant places like heritage buildings, monuments, and other vital structures. The collected data can be instrumental in various ways, including aiding in conservation, management, monitoring and repair efforts and serving as an educational resource for scholars and the general public. These technical capabilities are especially well-suited for architecturally complex, ornate buildings like the Aachen Cathedral UNESCO World Heritage site. This paper describes the recent recording efforts at the Aachen Cathedral and is a comparative study of the previous documentation work done at the Cologne Cathedral. The 3D documentation of the Aachen Cathedral UNESCO World Heritage Site is an ongoing collaborative project between the Sapienza

In a comparison between three urban developments of the Swabian era in Germany Nuremberg, Gelnhausen (near Frankfurt) and Hagenau (Haguenau, Nothern Alsace) are being analyzed in order to show the characteristics under which urban development in the High Middle Ages was possible. Four thematic approaches are chosen for this purpose: (1) the topographical situation and its importance for the respective growth; the following phenomena are being examined: the castle and/or imperial palace - the fortifications - the ecclesiastical landscape - the existence of mills; (2) social conditions and aspects of the urban constitution; (3) evidence coming from seals and coins; (4) some remarks about the economic potentials. - Among the most striking results are the remarkable similarities of the preconditions formed by the natural situation which is dominated in all three cases by a combination of favorable water supplies (not only with regard to the consumption of the population, but - for Gelnhausen and Hagenau - also as important features for the foundation of the respective residence). Another main aspect are the very early origins of a proper urban development which - especially under th reign of Frederick Barbarossa - are definitely enriched by contacts to the respective evolutions south of the Alps.