Visible Lives: Black Gondoliers and Other Black Africans in Renaissance Venice*

2013 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 412-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Predominantly White ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
African Diaspora ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Criminal Records ◽  
Black Africans ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Sub Saharan

This article contributes to the study of the early sub-Saharan African diaspora in Europe by analyzing both visual and documentary evidence relating to black gondoliers in Renaissance Venice. Gondolas and gondoliers were iconic features in fifteenth-century Venice, yet most gondoliers were not Venetian. Although black Africans were highly visible in a predominantly white society, naming practices and linguistic usages rendered them virtually invisible in the documentary sources. It is now possible not only to investigate representations of black gondoliers in paintings, but also to identify black gondoliers in the lists of gondoliers’ associations and in criminal records. Slavery was an accepted institution in late medieval Italy, and nearly all black Africans arrived in Venice as slaves, yet usually ended their lives free. Being a gondolier gave a few black Africans a niche occupation that allowed them to manage their transition to freedom, and to integrate successfully into Venetian society.

scholarly journals Atlante dei siti fortificati della provincia di Viterbo, Italia (X-XV secolo). Fonti e metodi per la ricostruzione della rete insediativa bassomedievale

X ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Toscano ◽  
Giuseppe Romagnoli
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Good Measure ◽  
Historical Maps ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Geographical Perspective

Atlas of fortified settlements in the province of Viterbo, Italy (tenth-fifteenth centuries). Sources and methods for the reconstruction of the late-medieval settlement networkThis study addressed the historical phenomenon known as incastellamento, in the area of the current province of Viterbo, from a quantitative and geographical perspective. The time period considered was the tenth-fifteenth century. The paper describes the documentary sources, historical maps, aerial images, past studies and archaeological sources that are available to researchers, and which have been used, in good measure, to reconstruct the fortified settlement network. Moreover, the paper explains the methodologies used to identify, store and geocode the whole dataset, which so far comes to a total of 191 fortified settlements. In conclusion, we discuss the main characteristics of the online atlas, intended as an open and interoperable platform to consult, query and retrieve information from the dataset of late-medieval fortified settlements.

scholarly journals From Micro- to Macro-processes of Religious Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 412-439
Author(s):  
Rob Lutton
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Richard Rolle ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The article discusses the Europe-wide late medieval phenomenon of the cult of the Holy Name, using it as a case study to discuss the relationship of micro-and macro-historical transformations by scrutinizing the enormous success of a religious innovation which managed to spread to many different local contexts and social groups. After pointing out contradictions in earlier explanations of this success, the article gives a detailed reading of several different realizations of this form of devotion, discussing authors like Richard Rolle, but also religious compilations and documentary evidence. This evidence suggests that the meaning and significance of devotion to the Holy Name remained open, malleable and unstable. It therefore appears necessary to engage with the whole range of its representations, and their transmission at different social levels, in order to understand its larger significance in the religious transformations of the long fifteenth century.

Opinions about perceived linguistic intelligibility in late-medieval Italy

Revue Romane ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Carlucci
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Experimental Testing ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Linguistic History

Abstract This article contributes to the historical study of intercomprehension between speakers of closely related languages by focusing on Italy in the period up to the mid-fifteenth century. After an introduction to the topic, the second section will be devoted to methodological questions, including certain differences between research based on experimental testing and research based on historical evidence. The third section of the article reports opinions by medieval speakers about the intelligibility of different Italo-Romance varieties, and then compares them to opinions about genealogically and/or geographically more distant languages. While the dominant view among experts on Italy’s linguistic history is that speakers were trapped within mutually unintelligible vernaculars, this review of the extant evidence suggests a greater degree of intercomprehension than is usually supposed.

Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Hartrich
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Henry V ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Urban Sector ◽  
Medieval Italy ◽  
Wars Of The Roses ◽  
Late Medieval England ◽  
English Politics

Since the work of K.B. McFarlane in the mid-twentieth century, political histories of late medieval England have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between the Crown and aristocratic landholders. Such studies, however, neglect to consider that England after the Black Death was an urbanizing society. Towns not only were the residence of a rising proportion of the population, but were also the stages on which power was asserted and the places where financial and military resources were concentrated. Outside London, however, most English towns were small compared to those found in medieval Italy or Flanders, and it has been easy for historians to under-estimate their ability to influence English politics. Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413–1471 offers a new approach for evaluating the role of urban society inthe political culture of late medieval England. Rather than focusing on English towns individually, it creates a model for assessing the political might that could be exerted by towns collectively as an ‘urban sector’. Based on primary sources from twenty-two towns (ranging from metropolis of London to the tiny Kentish town of Lydd), Politics and the Urban Sector demonstrates how fluctuations in inter-urban relationships affected the content, pace, and language of English politics during the tumultuous fifteenth century. Chapter 1 identifies the different types of links that towns formed with one another and with other members of political society. Chapters 2–5 are arranged chronologically, demonstrating the ways in which the frequent twists and turns of fifteenth-century ‘high politics’—from the reign of Henry V to the Wars of the Roses—were a reflection of the ever-shifting relationships between towns.

scholarly journals Settlement on Lusignan Cyprus after the Latin Conquest: The Accounts of Cypriot and other Chronicles and the Wider Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Nicholas Coureas
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The Subject

The accounts of various chronicles of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries on settlement in Cyprus in the years following the Latin conquest, from the end of the twelfth to the early thirteenth century, will be examined and com­pared. The details provided by the chronicles, where the information given derived from, the biases present in the various accounts, the extent to which they are accurate, especially in cases where they are corroborated or refuted by documentary evidence, will all be discussed. The chronicles that will be referred to are the thirteenth century continuation of William of Tyre, that provides the fullest account of the settlement of Latin Christians and others on Cyprus after the Latin conquest, the fifteenth century chronicle of Leon­tios Makhairas, the anonymous chronicle of “Amadi” that is probably date­able to the early sixteenth century although for the section on thirteenth cen­tury Cypriot history it draws on earlier sources and the later sixteenth century chronicle of Florio Bustron. Furthermore, the Chorograffia and Description of Stephen de Lusignan, two chronicles postdating the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Turks in 1570, will also be referred to on the subject of settle­ment in thirteenth century Cyprus. By way of comparison, the final part of the paper examines the extent to which the evidence of settlement in other Medi­terranean lands derives chiefly from chronicles or from documentary sources.

scholarly journals Droughts and low water levels in late medieval Hungary II: 1361, 1439, 1443-4, 1455, 1473, 1480, 1482(?), 1502-3, 1506: Documentary versus tree-ring (OWDA) evidence

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 43-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Kiss
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Complementary Information ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Dry Spells ◽  
Danube Catchment ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractAs a continuation of the first paper from the late medieval drought series related to medieval Hungary, we present, analyse and compare further late medieval drought data, based on contemporary direct and indirect written sources. The evidence derived from documentary sources referring to the droughts and dry spells in 1361, 1439, 1473, 1480, 1482(?), 1502-1503 and 1506 are further compared to the recent tree-ring based hydroclimate reconstruction of the OWDA (Old World Drought Atlas), and similarities, differences and complementary information are discussed in more detail. Additionally, documentary evidence related to Danube low water-levels of 1443, 1444, 1455 and 1502 are as well presented in a broader context: these cases provide evidence on the hydrological conditions of the Upper-Danube catchment, and not on the Carpathian Basin. The OWDA evidence in most cases shows good agreement with the discussed documentary-based drought reports, some differences in the spatial extension and intensity of the drought were only exceptionally detected (e.g. 1455, 1507). Most of the written documentation refer to droughts that covered more than one calendar years.

scholarly journals Settlement on Lusignan Cyprus after the Latin Conquest

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Nicholas Coureas
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Documentary Evidence ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Source Materials

In the article “Settlement on Lusignan Cyprus after the Latin Conquest: The Accounts of Cypriot and other Chronicles and the Wider Context” the narratives of various chronicles of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries on settlement in Cyprus in the years following the Latin conquest, from the end of the twelfth to the early thirteenth century, will be examined and compared. The details provided by the chronicles, where the information given derived from, the biases present in the various accounts, the extent to which they are accurate, especially in cases where they are corroborated or refuted by documentary evidence, will all be discussed. The chronicles that will be referred to are the thirteenth century continuation of William of Tyre, that provides the fullest account of the settlement of Latin Christians and others on Cyprus after the Latin conquest, the fifteenth century chronicle of Leontios Makhairas, the anonymous chronicle of ‘Amadi’ that is probably dateable to the early sixteenth century although for the section on thirteenth century Cypriot history it draws on earlier sources and the later sixteenth century chronicle of Florio Bustron. Furthermore, the Chorogra a and the Description of Stephen de Lusignan, two chronicles postdating the conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman Turks in 1570, will also be referred to on the subject of settlement in thirteenth century Cyprus. By way of comparison, the final part of the paper examined the extent to which the evidence of settlement in other Mediterranean lands derives chiefly from chronicles or from documentary sources. In conclusion, it can be stated that the various accounts of settlement on Cyprus following its cession to King Guy of Jerusalem in 1192 show differences in terms of the value of the fiefs, the geographical regions from which the settlers came and the types of properties which were granted to them. The Latin kingdom of Jerusalem resembles Cyprus in that the source material for early Latin settlement is narrative, not documentary. But this is not the case for the Venetian Crete and the Hospitaller Rhodes, where the source materials recording the arrival of the first Latin settlers are wholly documentary.

A Mathematical Turn

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Oosterhoff
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
University Reform ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Nicholas Of Cusa ◽  
Devotio Moderna ◽  
Court Politics ◽  
Spiritual Reform ◽  
The University

Lefèvre described his own mathematical turn as a kind of conversion. This chapter explains what motivated his turn to mathematics, considering the place of mathematics in fifteenth-century Paris in relation to court politics and Lefèvre’s own connections to Italian humanists. But more importantly, Lefèvre’s attitude to learning and the propaedeutic value of mathematics drew on the context of late medieval spiritual reform, with its emphasis on conversion and care of the soul. In particular, Lefèvre’s turn to university reform seems to have responded to the works of Ramon Lull, alongside the devotio moderna and Nicholas of Cusa, which he printed in important collections. With such influences, Lefèvre chose the university as the site for intellectual reform.

Public and Private: The Late Medieval Wall Paintings of Haddon Hall Chapel, Derbyshire

2006 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 179-205
Author(s):  
Mellie Naydenova
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Public Statement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
Public Persona ◽  
Private Devotion

This paper focuses on the mural scheme executed in Haddon Hall Chapel shortly after 1427 for Sir Richard Vernon. It argues that at that time the chapel was also being used as a parish church, and that the paintings were therefore both an expression of private devotion and a public statement. This is reflected in their subject matter, which combines themes associated with popular beliefs, the public persona of the Hall's owner and the Vernon family's personal devotions. The remarkable inventiveness and complexity of the iconography is matched by the exceptionally sophisticated style of the paintings. Attention is also given to part of the decoration previously thought to be contemporary with this fifteenth-century scheme but for which an early sixteenth-century date is now proposed on the basis of stylistic and other evidence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document