Burial and Status in the Early Medieval West

1989 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward James
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Waste Products ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Visible Part ◽  
The Status ◽  
Medieval Archaeology ◽  
Written Sources

EARLY medieval archaeology can be said to have its origins with the investigation of burial: with Otto III's opening of Charlemagne's tomb in 1000; with medieval and early modern reports of the discoveries of the graves of kings or warriors; and, most notably, with the discovery at Tournai in 1653 of the grave of an early Frankish king, Childeric. And, until very recently, the study of burials dominated the subject. This is only natural. Graves are easily recognisable when discovered accidentally; often they were intended to be, and have remained, a very visible part of the landscape. Surviving royal burials are, of course, very rare. But there are over one hundred thousand excavated graves of lesser personages from the period betweenc. 450 andc. 1000: an astonishing mass of data which forms a significant proportion of the total available evidence for the early Middle Ages and which needs to be assessed and taken into count by any early medievalist interested in the totality of the period. And it can be argued that cemeteries offer rather more opportunity than the written sources to understand the world of those below the status of kings and bishops, and to do so without the ecclesiastical bias that the written sources have. We nevertheless have to remember that graves are not the unconscious waste products of society, like most of the data studied by an archaeologist: rubbish pits, building remains and so on. Bodies were deliberately and carefully placed in the ground, along with whatever accompanied them. Those responsible for the burial made a whole series of choices about the manner in which they carried out this action. A burial, like a written text, is a product of conscious mental activity, and subject to many of the problems of interpretation and analysis with which historians are familiar.

Early Medieval Settlements

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Hamerow
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Small Worlds ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
North West ◽  
Village Communities ◽  
First Time ◽  
Written Sources

The excavation of settlements has in recent years transformed our understanding of north-west Europe in the early Middle Ages. We can for the first time begin to answer fundamental questions such as: what did houses look like and how were they furnished? how did villages and individual farmsteads develop? how and when did agrarian production become intensified and how did this affect village communities? what role did craft production and trade play in the rural economy? In a period for which written sources are scarce, archaeology is of central importance in understanding the 'small worlds' of early medieval communities. Helena Hamerow's extensively illustrated and accessible study offers the first overview and synthesis of the large and rapidly growing body of evidence for early medieval settlements in north-west Europe, as well as a consideration of the implications of this evidence for Anglo-Saxon England.

Early medieval and medieval - Wendy Davies, Guy Halsall & Andrew Reynolds (ed.) People and Space in the Middle Ages (Studies in the Early Middle Ages). 368 pages, 52 illustrations, 2 tables. 2006. Turnhout: Brepols; 978-2-503-51526-7 hardback. - Catherine E. Karkov & Nicholas Howe (ed.). Conversion and Colonization in Anglo-Saxon England. xx+248 pages, 25 illustrations. 2006. Tempe (AZ): Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies; 978-0-86698-363-1 hardback £36 & $40. - Penelope Walton Rogers. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450–700. xx+290 pages, 177 b&w & colour illustrations, 7 tables. 2007. York: Council for British Archaeology; 978-1-902771-54-0 paperback. - Rachel Moss (ed.) Making and Meaning in Insular Art. xxiv+342 pages, 255 b&w & colour illustrations, 2 tables. 2007. Dublin: Four Courts; 978-1-85182-986-6 hardback £60. - Andrew Saunders. Excavations at Launceston Castle, Cornwall (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 24). xviii+490 pages, 344 b&w & colour illustrations. 2006. London: Maney; 978-1-904350-75-0 paperback. - Julian Munby, Richard Barber & Richard Brown. Edward Ill’s Round Table at Windsor: The House of the Round Table and the Windsor Festival of 1344. xiv+282 pages, 24 b&w illustrations, 16 colour plates, 8 tables. 2007. Woodbridge: Boydell; 978-1-84383-313-0 hardback £35. - Reviel Netz & William Noel. The Archimedes Codex. xii+306 pages, 42 illustrations. 2007. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 978-0-297-64547-4 hardback £18.99.

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (313) ◽  
pp. 826-826
Author(s):  
Madeleine Hummler
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Renaissance Studies ◽  
Medieval Archaeology ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Insular Art

scholarly journals Comparative analysis of early medieval anthropomorphic wooden figurines from Poland. Representations of gods, deceased or ritual objects?

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Szczepanik
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Baltic Sea Basin ◽  
Written Sources

Miniature anthropomorphic images, due to their unique character, have attracted the attention of archaeologists for a very long time. This text analyses the forms, significance and functions of items coming from the early Middle Ages, which were discovered in the area of Poland. The set of wooden objects is diverse in terms of form and probably also in terms of meaning. The biggest number of artefacts come from Pomerania, but some of them were found in other places. The Baltic Sea basin will be used as a broad comparative background during this analysis. Information from written sources and from broad anthropological reflection will also be used in an attempt to determine the functions and meanings of these miniature figurines. Thanks to this analysis, it will be possible to show the importance of anthropomorphic figures in the context of early medieval religion and beliefs.

The Transformation into the Early Middle Ages (Fourth to Eighth Centuries)

2015 ◽  
pp. 490-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Fehr
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
River Rhine ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Roman Germany ◽  
Medieval Archaeology

This chapter focuses on the transformation of Roman Germany into the early Middle Ages (fourth to eighth centuries). The final collapse of Roman rule in northern Gaul in the middle of the fifth century signalled the de facto end of the three Late Roman provinces: Germania Prima, Germania Secunda, and Maxima Sequanorum. The territories along the western bank of the River Rhine experienced quite different political destinies between the middle of the fifth and the middle of the sixth century. The chapter first looks at how migrations of peoples from Barbaricum into the Roman Empire caused the end of a Roman-style society and economy in former Roman Germany. It then discusses early medieval archaeology in Germany, with particular emphasis on cemeteries and churches. Finally, it analyses methodological developments in late antique and early medieval archaeology, along with the transformation of towns and landscape/rural settlements.

scholarly journals DOMIŠLJANJE KONTINUITETA. PROBLEM NAJSTARIJEGA TROGIRSKOG MEMORIJALNOG TEKSTA

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Basić
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Written Text ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
High Middle Ages ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

The oldest recorded history of the hexaconch rotunda of St. Mary de Platea in Trogir is associated with the memorial text preserved in two versions (Daniele Farlati, Petar Lučić). The written note provides information on the builder (restorer) of the church at the beginning of the 8th century, a relative of Severus the Great – the leader of the citizens of Salona who settled in Split in the 7th century. The author evaluates the validity of this note: he discusses the directions of previous research, transmission of the text, historiographical interpretations, and the archaeological, typological and stylistic context of the church. Through analysis he concludes that the memorial text is not of early medieval provenance; instead he gives a new proposal for its origin: it belongs to the artificial tradition shaped by the older historical narratives within the communal elite of Trogir in the 15th century, which was turned into a written text in the 16th century. He also defines the rotunda of St. Mary as an early medieval building from the beginning of the 9th century (without older phases) which was transformed into a communal church (ecclesia communis) of Trogir in the high Middle Ages. The author attributes to the text the function of creating the illusion of communal patronage of the church in continuity since the early Middle Ages.

scholarly journals Power and Place in Europe in the Early Middle Ages

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Jayne Carroll ◽  
Andrew Reynolds ◽  
Barbara Yorke
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Organisation ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
European Area ◽  
Current State ◽  
Classical World ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Topical Area ◽  
Written Sources

This chapter provides an interdisciplinary, scene-setting review of the current state of knowledge in the field of early medieval social complexity and sets out an agenda for future work in this topical area. While much previous work in this field tends to focus on comparisons with the classical world, this contribution emphasises the uniqueness of early medieval modes of social organisation. Introductions are provided to the study of geographies of power through archaeological analyses, vocabularies of power drawing on place-name evidence and notions of law and its enactment at assembly sites from written sources. It is argued that places where power was enacted in a period of non-urban social and administrative complexity must be understood on their own terms. The robusticity and flexibility of early medieval networks of power is also emphasised in the context of a comparative discussion ranging across the European area.

Marine and terrestrial investigations in the Norse Eastern Settlement, South Greenland

2001 ◽  
pp. 65-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naja Mikkelsen ◽  
Antoon Kuijpers ◽  
Susanne Lassen ◽  
Jesper Vedel
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Original Series ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
The Middle Ages

NOTE: This article was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this article, for example: Mikkelsen, N., Kuijpers, A., Lassen, S., & Vedel, J. (2001). Marine and terrestrial investigations in the Norse Eastern Settlement, South Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin, 189, 65-69. https://doi.org/10.34194/ggub.v189.5159 _______________ During the Middle Ages the Norse settlements in Greenland were the most northerly outpost of European Christianity and civilisation in the Northern Hemisphere. The climate was relatively stable and mild around A.D. 985 when Eric the Red founded the Eastern Settlement in the fjords of South Greenland. The Norse lived in Greenland for almost 500 years, but disappeared in the 14th century. Letters in Iceland report on a Norse marriage in A.D. 1408 in Hvalsey church of the Eastern Settlement, but after this account all written sources remain silent. Although there have been numerous studies and much speculation, the fate of the Norse settlements in Greenland remains an essentially unsolved question.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian D. Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Urban Citizenship ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter underlines the deep continuities in urban political thought between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. It emphasizes the status of English towns as relatively autonomous, self-governing entities, and places them within a continental urban landscape. While debate about citizenship was persistent, it was at its most intense between the later fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The reasons lay primarily in the changed economic conditions of English towns. Civic elites tried to redefine citizenship. However, citizens spoke back, and they did so aggressively. Town officials helped to provoke the very antagonism that they feared. Urban citizenship remained the battleground of town politics at the end of the Middle Ages, and beyond.

Public Powers, Private Powers, and the Exploitation of Metals for Coinage

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Italian Journal ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

In 1994, an article appeared in the Italian journal Archeologia Medievale, written by Chris Wickham and Riccardo Francovich, entitled ‘Uno scavo archeologico ed il problema dello sviluppo della signoria territoriale: Rocca San Silvestro e i rapporti di produzione minerari’. It marked a breakthrough in the study of the exploitation of mineral resources (especially silver) in relation to forms of power, and the associated economic structure, and control of production between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. On the basis of the data available to archeological research at the time, the article ended with a series of open questions, especially relating to the early medieval period. The new campaign of field research, focused on the mining landscape of the Colline Metallifere in southern Tuscany, has made it possible to gather more information. While the data that has now been gathered are not yet sufficient to give definite and complete answers to those questions, they nevertheless allow us to now formulate some hypotheses which may serve as the foundations for broader considerations as regards the relationship between the exploitation of a fundamental resource for the economy of the time, and the main players and agents in that system of exploitation, within a landscape that was undergoing transformation in the period between the early medieval period and the middle centuries of the Middle Ages.

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