The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. John V. A. Fine, Jr.

Speculum ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 900-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne S. Vucinich
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Early Medieval

The Byzantine Background

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-98
Author(s):  
James Morton
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Unleavened Bread

Chapter 4 examines the surviving nomocanonical manuscripts from the period of Byzantine rule in early medieval southern Italy (tenth–eleventh centuries). Very few manuscripts survive from before the twelfth century, so their content must be reconstructed from later codices. Nonetheless, this chapter argues that enough evidence has been preserved to prove that Byzantine canon law was firmly established in southern Italy from the time of the empire’s ecclesiastical and administrative reorganisations of the ninth and tenth centuries. The chapter shows that, as the Byzantines reconquered territories from the Lombards and established new ecclesiastical centres in Reggio, S. Severina, and Otranto, they introduced the Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles, the Nomocanon in Fifty Titles, and the Synopsis of Canons to serve as legal reference works. It then focuses on the Carbone nomocanon (Vat. gr. 1980–1981), the only complete nomocanon to survive from the era of Byzantine rule, arguing that it was probably produced in the eleventh century for use by a Greek bishop in Lucania. The manuscript’s contents and marginalia indicate that its owner was fully aligned with the legal system of Constantinople and show no influences from neighbouring Latin jurisdictions. Finally, the chapter looks at evidence from the period of Norman conquest in the late eleventh century, revealing how the resulting tensions between Latin and Greek Christians in the region left traces of contemporary Byzantine polemic against the azyma (unleavened bread in the Eucharist) in Calabrian nomocanons of the twelfth century.

Quem Aspicientes Viverent: Symbolism in the Early Medieval Church Door and its Ironwork

1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. J. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
Door Opening ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
Liturgical Practice ◽  
To Come ◽  
Early English ◽  
The Church

SummarySymbolic perception of the church door in early English exegetical writings and in medieval liturgical practice is illustrated and discussed as the wider context of a proposal that the arched iron strip at the top of the twelfth-century church door at Stillingfleet, North Yorkshire, represents the rainbow of Noah's Flood, perceived as a reminder ofjudgement past and of judgement still to come, and as a symbol of the covenant between God and humanity. The possibility is considered that on other surviving early medieval church-doors too, the rainbow shape, even if primarily functional or dictated by the shape of the door-opening, and notwithstanding the absence of other figural imagery, may have been recognized as an emblem of the covenant, basis of all church-sanctioned contracts, aptly dislayed on the threshold—where various liturgical or other formal actions had their setting—of the sacred spaces of the domus dei.

Orientation within Early Medieval Cemeteries: Some Data from North-West Wales

2002 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 309-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Longley
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Close Correlation ◽  
Magnetic Compass ◽  
Solar Observation ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
North West ◽  
New Evidence

In volume 81 of the Antiquaries Journal, AH and Cunich presented new evidence in respect of the orientation of eleventh- and twelfth-century churches. The object of their research was to test whether the important churches of the early second millennium in England might have been aligned using a magnetic compass. Their data, meticulously collected, led them to conclude that only in a very small number of instances could the use of a magnetic compass have been possible and that solar observation was, in a significant number of instances, the determinant of orientation. More particularly, the rising of the sun above the horizon and possibly, though less frequently, the setting sun, provided the alignment. It was possible to show a close correlation with sunrise or sunset at patronal feast days, that is, the day on which the venerated saint was believed to have died, at Easter and on true east, determined by equinoctial sunrise.

scholarly journals From Caesar to Charlemagne

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Kıvılcım Yavuz
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Trojan War ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Origin Story

The Trojan War, which is traditionally considered to have occurred in the twelfth century bce, has been one of the most exploited subjects of European culture and history. Not only did it provide some of the most important literary motifs for ancient Greek and Roman culture, but it also played a role in the genesis of the nations of early medieval Europe. The Trojans had an afterlife that connected them to multitudes of subsequent peoples. This study examines the story of the Trojan origins of the Franks from its inception during the Merovingian period to its development under the Carolingians. Considering both textual and manuscript evidence, it discusses the dissemination of the origin story as well as its association with Charlemagne.

Bearing the Stigmata

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-59
Author(s):  
Carolyn Muessig
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Francis Of Assisi

Chapter 1 traces the patristic and early medieval exegesis of Galatians 6:17. It assesses how language and imagery were appropriated and developed by eleventh- and twelfth-century monastic theologians (especially Peter Damian) into a soteriological system of penance and redemption that focused on Christ’s wounds. Significantly, it looks at examples of stigmatization before Francis of Assisi. These cases vary in their form; they gradually move from stigmata being almost exclusively associated with the sacerdotal order in the early Middle Ages to being linked to the laity by the early thirteenth century as with the cases of Peter the Conversus and Mary of Oignies.

Building for the Buddha: Patrons in the Pa-la Kingdom

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-177
Author(s):  
Sanjukta Datta
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Eastern India ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Royal Patronage ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Buddha ◽  
Epigraphic Evidence ◽  
Indian Sector

In conventional historiography, kings of the Pa-la dynasty are celebrated for upholding the last bastion of Buddhism in early medieval eastern India. The article demonstrates, on the basis of epigraphic evidence, that along with royal patrons, there were other categories of benefactors actively involved in the building and sustenance of Buddhist establishments. In fact, compared to the brief epigraphic history of royal patronage, there is a more sustained record of support provided to Buddhist establishments by subordinate rulers and Buddhist monks in the Pa-la domain. Through a close analysis of two twelfth-century stone inscriptions, an attempt is made to track continuities and changes in the nature of patronage provided by these two categories in a milieu defined by the presence of Buddhist institutions of trans-regional renown and participation of patrons from other realms. By paying attention to the inscriptional vocabulary, the article also highlights a typology of Buddhist monastic establishments within an eastern Indian sector and a range of devotional activities open to donors to acquire religious merit at these centres.

The Emergence of Professional Law in the Long Twelfth Century

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
American Tradition ◽  
Professional Law ◽  
Anglo American

The object of this article is to draw attention to an area of European legal history that I think deserves more investigation. It is the change in legal practice caused by the transition from the diffused, undifferentiated, customary law of the earlier middle ages to the various forms of expert, esoteric, professional law that dominated the higher courts of the later middle ages. The suggestion that this has not been much studied may seem odd but, though much has been written on the new study of Roman law, those who work on it have tended to concentrate on the intellectual achievements of the glossators and post-glossators, rather than on practice. Practice in canon law has received more attention, notably from legal historians trained in the Anglo-American tradition, but this has not focused closely on twelfth-century origins. The beginnings of English common law have also been much studied and, since it started off as largely a matter of procedures, that has indeed meant looking at practice. The traditional teleology of legal history has, however, prevented much cross-fertilization with the history of other legal systems. One example of the consequent detachment of English legal history is the assumption of some English legal historians that Roman law procedures were followed in what they often characterize simply as “the Continent” more generally and earlier than seems to have been the case in most areas north of the Alps. Both in England and elsewhere many legal historians concentrate on the period from the thirteenth century on, when sources become more plentiful. Meanwhile, social historians of early medieval western Europe, including England, have argued—to my mind successfully, though I am hardly unprejudiced—that early medieval law was not just a weak, ritualized, and irrational response to feuds and violence, but their investigations tend to stop before the professionals took over. The result is that, apart from recent pioneering work on twelfth-century Tuscany by Chris Wickham, the transition in court practice outside England has been neglected.

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