Measuring the Middle Ages Walker, James T.; Lee, John S.; Broadberry, Stephen
Significance (Oxford, England),
August 2022, 2022-08-01, 20220801, Letnik:
19, Številka:
4
Journal Article
James Walker, John Lee and Stephen Broadberry synthesise and analyse ancient sources to address three fascinating questions: What can Domesday Book tell us about medieval England and Wales? How can ...we estimate medieval populations? What was the size of the medieval economy?
The stratigraphic reading of the masonry is an important tool for investigating the transformations the Palazzo Senatorio, seat of the Municipality of Rome, underwent in the Middle Ages. The analysis ...has been based on the identification, reading and interpretation of single constructive and destructive actions. In this paper the first phases of the Medieval structures have been related to the iconographic sources (starting from the Cimabue's fresco of Ytalia in the upper basilica of San Francesco in Assisi) and to the coeval topographic organization of the area.
The petitions received and the letters sent by the Papal Chancery during the Late Middle Ages attest to the recognition of disability at the highest levels of the medieval Church. These documents ...acknowledge the existence of physical and/or mental impairments, with the papacy issuing dispensations allowing some supplicants to adapt their clerical missions according to their abilities. A disease, impairment, or old age could prevent both secular and regular clerics from fulfilling the duties of their divine office. Such conditions can, thus, be understood as forms of disability. In these cases, the Papal Chancery bore the responsibility for determining if disabled people were suitable to serve as clerics, with all the rights and duties of divine services. Whilst some petitioners were allowed to enter the clergy, or – in the case of currently serving churchmen – to stay more or less active in their work, others were compelled to resign their position and leave the clergy entirely. Petitions and papal letters lie at intersection of authorized, institutional policy and practical sources chronicling the lived experiences of disabled people in the Middle Ages. As such, they constitute an excellent analytical laboratory in which to study medieval disability in its relation to the papacy as an institution, alongside the impact of official ecclesiastical judgments on disabled lives.
Thomas Izbicki presents a new examination of the relationship between the adoration of the sacrament and canon law from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. The medieval Church believed Christ's ...glorified body was present in the Eucharist, the most central of the seven sacraments, and the Real Presence became explained as transubstantiation by university-trained theologians. Expressions of this belief included the drama of the elevated host and chalice, as well as processions with a host in an elaborate monstrance on the Feast of Corpus Christi. These affirmations of doctrine were governed by canon law, promulgated by popes and councils; and liturgical regulations were enforced by popes, bishops, archdeacons and inquisitors. Drawing on canon law collections and commentaries, synodal enactments, legal manuals and books about ecclesiastical offices, Izbicki presents the first systematic analysis of the Church's teaching about the regulation of the practice of the Eucharist.
The Secret Within Riehle, Wolfgang; Scott Stokes, Charity
03/2014
eBook
Spiritual seekers throughout history have sought illumination through solitary contemplation. In the Christian tradition, medieval England stands out for its remarkable array of hermits, recluses, ...and spiritual outsiders, from Cuthbert Godric of Fichale and Christina of Markyate to Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe. In The Secret Within, Wolfgang Riehle offers the first comprehensive history of English medieval mysticism in decades, one that will appeal to anyone fascinated by mysticism as a phenomenon of religious life.
In considering the origins and evolution of the English mystical tradition, Riehle begins in the twelfth century with the revival of eremitical mysticism and the early growth of the Cistercian Order in the British Isles. He then focuses in depth on the great mystics of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: Richard Rolle (the first great English mystic), the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Walter Hilton, Margery Kempe, and Julian of Norwich. Riehle carefully grounds his narrative in the broader spiritual landscape of the Middle Ages, pointing out both prior influences dating back to Late Antiquity and corresponding developments in mysticism and theology on the Continent. He discusses the problem of possible differences between male and female spirituality and the movement of popularizing mysticism in the late Middle Ages. Filled with fresh insights, The Secret Within will be welcomed especially by teachers and students of medieval literature as well as by those engaged in historical, theological, philosophical, cultural, even anthropological and comparative studies of mysticism.
John Tolan, Mahoma el europeo: percepciones occidentales del Profeta del islam desde la Edad Media a nuestros días, Cáceres, Universidad de Extremadura, 2021, 265 págs. Sin embargo, el 'individuo ...histórico' tampoco debería confundirse, al menos por completo, con la visión islámica, que ha desarrollado una visión fuertemente idealizada y arquetípica de la figura del profeta, por más que el 'individuo histórico' sea inseparable de la versión islámica, al igual que el 'individuo histórico' Jesús es inseparable de su versión cristiana original. Obviamente, tradiciones tan diversas han producido versiones muy diferentes de Mahoma, de tal manera que, aunque 'una gran parte de los escritos que se le han dedicado' son 'hostiles', sin embargo la animosidad contra el islam no ocupa toda la atención del autor, ya que 'Muhammad ocupa un lugar tan ambivalente como esencial en la imaginación europea' (p. 13-14). A este respecto, tal vez se echa en falta una mayor atención a los espacios europeos en los que el islam ha tenido una mayor presencia desde una perspectiva histórica (península ibérica, Sicilia, países balcánicos, Grecia) y en los que, por lo tanto, cabe presumir que lo islámico ha dejado una huella más perceptible en distintos aspectos.
The centuries-old expansion of the Serbian state at the expense of Byzantium received its epilogue with the rule of Stefan Dušan. The Serbian king managed to use the opportunity provided by the Roman ...civil war of 1341–1347, manoeuvring between two warring houses, Kantakouzenos and Palaiologos. It was the weakening of both Byzantium and Bulgaria that gave him the opportunity to, by crowning himself emperor of the Serbs and Romans, plan a possible attack on Constantinople, which would absolutely justify the title he had held since 1345. Byzantine sources testify in their own way about Dušan’s negotiations with the Ottomans, Venice and others and the gathering of the coalition against the winner of the civil war—John Kantakouzenos, whose revitalization of Constantinople-controlled territory stood in the way of the Serbian-Roman ruler’s imperial ambitions. The testimonies of Nicephorus Gregoras, the emperor-writer himself, as well as the documentary material, led us to the conclusion that Stefan Dušan planned an extensive action directed towards the walls of Theodosius II. Taking into account the data on the order of Empress Anna of Savoy to renew the Thessaloniki fortification elements from 1355/56, it speaks of a possible general attack by the Serbian army. In addition to the above, the place of the emperor’s death, which can still be debated in science, leaves room for various premises since two Ragusian historians wrote that Dušan died in Thrace–in Byzantine territory.
Abstract This article addresses the claims that the idea of a flat earth was an essential part of the dominant cosmological paradigm in the Middle Ages. After examining the origin and transmission of ...the main arguments that ancient science passed on to medieval scholars with respect to the signs and evidence of the earths (almost) spherical shape, we will also explore both ancient and medieval advocates of alternative models, only to conclude that throughout the Middle Ages the standard scientific paradigm involved the notion of a spherical earth. The (inaccurate) belief that medieval science generally upheld the flat earth paradigm seems to be part of a widespread prejudice held in contemporary times against the Middle Ages writ large. En el cine, en series y otros programas de televisión, en novelas, historietas, videojuegos y otros medios de la cultura de masas, la misma idea se ha reflejado una y otra vez, con distintos grados de distorsión, más o menos completa y sugerida o expresada con mayor o menor claridad.
This is the first book-length study of the influential cultural and religious exchanges which took place between England and Bohemia following Richard II's marriage to Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The ...ensuing growth in communication between the two kingdoms initially enabled new ideas of religion to flourish in both countries but eventually led the English authorities to suppress heresy. This exciting project has been made possible by the discovery of new manuscripts after the opening up of Czech archives over the past twenty years. It is the only study to analyze the Lollard-Hussite exchange with an eye to the new opportunities for international travel and correspondence to which the Great Schism gave rise, and examines how the use of propaganda and The Council of Constance brought an end to this communication by securing the condemnation of heretics such as John Wyclif.
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