Past Imperfect - Böcker

Why does medieval Rome look so, for lack of a better word, Byzantine? Why do its monuments speak an aesthetic of the medieval East? And just how do we quantify that Byzantine aesthetic or even the word “Byzantine”?This book seeks to consider the ways in which the artistic styles and iconographies generally associated with the eastern medieval tradition had a life in the West and, in many cases, were just as western as they were eastern. Rome’s medieval monuments are a fundamental part of the history of the East, a history that says more about a cross- cultural exchange and interconnected “Romes” than difference and separation.Each chapter follows the political and theological relationships between the East and the West chronologically, exploring the socio-political exchanges as they manifest in the visual language of the monuments that defined the medieval landscape of Rome.

Is it possible to talk about antisemitism in the Middle Ages before the appearance of scientific concepts of "race"? In this work, François Soyer examines the nature of medieval anti-Jewish sentiment and violence. Analysing developments in Europe between 1100 and 1500, he points to the tensions in medieval anti-Jewish thought amongst thinkers who hoped to convert Jews and blamed Talmudic scholarship for their obduracy and yet who also, conversely, often essentialized Judaism to the point that it transformed into the functional equivalent of the modern concept of race. In a nuanced manner, he argues that, just as many historians now refer to "racisms" in the plural, we should not consider antisemitism as a monolithic concept but accept the existence of independent historical meanings and thus of antisemitisms (plural), including "medieval antisemitism" as distinct from anti-Judaism.

Why were virtuous Byzantine women described as manly? Why were boys' bodies thought to be closer in constitution to those of women than adult men? Did Byzantines think eunuchs were men? This lively and personal book explains some key aspects of how people of the Medieval Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) conceived of men and women, masculinity and femininity, and proper behaviour for men and women. By laying bare fundamental ideas about how gender was defined and performed, Byzantine Gender enables readers to understand Byzantine society more fully. And by providing background information about Byzantine gender, it makes it easier to approach and appreciate the fascinating otherness of Byzantine culture.

The popular view of the Crusades is that of two zealous armies ranged against each other in a state of practically permanent warfare, lacking mutual respect, understanding, or co-operation. Scholars long ago replaced such ideas with a much more nuanced understanding, in which rulers from both sides could work together for mutual benefit, even while pretending to ascribe to the principles of crusade and jihad. This perspective, however, focused almost exclusively on the actions of the elites; the attitudes of those who made up the vast majority of the society in the Levant have been all but ignored.In a clear and accessible form, this book explores everyday relations and interactions between Christians and Muslims in the Levant during the Crusades, demonstrating that it was usually practicality rather than religious scruples that dictated their responses to the religious other.

Within the shifting political landscapes of Eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages, the principality of Moldavia (extending over today's northeastern third of Romania and the Republic of Moldova) emerged as an eastern Christian frontier—indeed, a bastion, a “gate of Christianity”—in the face of the advancing Ottoman armies and Tatar forces. Moldavia’s leaders—among them Peter I Mușat, Alexander I, and Stephen III—established political, military, and economic contacts in efforts to strengthen and protect their domain, and, by extension, the rest of Europe. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moldavia under Stephen III also refashioned Byzantine traditions in a new context, thereby preserving and transforming the legacies of the former Byzantine Empire to the north of the Danube River. This book argues for Moldavia’s central role in the political, military, economic, and cultural spheres of Eastern Europe from the second half of the fourteenth century to the turn of the sixteenth century.

This book asks readers to re-examine their view of the Islamic world and the development of sectarianism in the Middle East by shining a light on the complexity and diversity of early Islamic society. The focus here is on the tenth century, a period in Middle Eastern history that has often been referred to as the “Shiʿi Century,” when two Shiʿi dynasties rose to power: the Fatimids of North Africa and the Buyids of Iraq and Iran. Historians often call the period after the Shiʿi Century the “Sunni Revival” because that was when Sunni control was restored, but these terms present a misleading image of a unified medieval Islam that was predominately Sunni. While Sunni Islam eventually became politically and numerically dominant, Sunni and Shiʿi identities took centuries to develop as independent communities. When modern discussions of sectarianism in the Middle East reduce these identities to a 1400-year war between Sunnis and Shiʿis, we create a false narrative.

The Almoravid Maghrib uncovers the richness and complexity of a neglected past. A pivotal moment in the history of North Africa, the rise of the Almoravids brought a corner of the Maghrib into closer contact with the world around. From the Cid to the Seljuqs, the Almoravids impressed contemporaries in ways no Maghribi regime had, signalling a transformation of western North Africa through burgeoning trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean commerce, urbanization (two of Morocco's four imperial cities were founded), and the epic encounter with the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures of Iberia. The Almoravids witnessed a series of key transformations and beginnings, including the introduction of one of the area's most successful gold currencies, the formulation of a new religious orthodoxy, the parallel rise of counter-movements (popular, messianic, and spiritual), and the inception of pan-Maghribi-Andalusi artistic, literary, and architectural styles.

Saints were powerful role models in the early Middle Ages, capable of defining communities. But what roles did saintly biographies play in shaping the medieval West? Are we any closer to the 'elusive goal' of understanding society and its many post-Roman transformations through them? This book provides a new starting point for the investigation of the early Middle Ages through hagiography. It critically examines the varied nature of hagiography in different societies, from Ireland to Germany via Rome and Spain, to help pave the way for future comparative studies. The book also offers a wide-ranging assessment of different modern methodologies used to interrogate hagiographies, from early twentieth-century source criticism, to the insights gained from gender studies, postmodernism and digital humanities.

After languishing on the disciplinary peripheries, Pictish studies is now undergoing significant revision and invigoration, with recent archaeological discoveries increasing the stock of evidence and prompting a re-assessment of cultural development. In addition, new methodologies in archaeology, cultural geography and art history are unpacking the processes of social reproduction through Pictish artefacts and the constructed environment.We can now say more about the cultural and political lives of the Picts than ever before. And these new findings are giving a fresh perspective on the wider development of nations and identity, and the geo-political transitions that affected Early Medieval polities across the Latin west and which underlie the modern world. This short book provides an exciting and informed synthesis of our current understanding of Pictish history and their material remains.

The Mongols emerged from obscurity to establish the largest contiguous empire in history. Although they are now no longer viewed as simply an unbridled force of destruction, it remains unclear as to how they succeeded in ruling a empire that stretched from the Sea of Japan to the Black Sea. This book investigates how the Mongol adopted and adapted different ruling strategies from previous Inner Asian empires as well as Chinese and Islamic Empires to rule an empire in which they were a distinct minority, and also investigates the processes by which this empire fragmented into an increasing number of states, many of which lasted into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Most overviews dealing with eastern Vikings have cast the Eastern Baltic peoples in a predominantly passive role during the large-scale Viking movement into the region. This book demonstrates how communication networks over the Baltic Sea and further east were established and how they took different forms in the northern and the southern halves of the Eastern Baltic.Archaeological as well as written sources indicate the impact these networks had on the development of local societies. Inparticular, areas along the northern Baltic Sea, both on the eastern and the western coasts, were characterized by a shared cultural sphere for warriors.Changes in archaeological evidence along relevant trade routes through these areas suggest that the inhabitants of present-day Finland and the Baltic States were more engaged in Viking eastern movement than is generally believed.

This book surveys Arianism, a Christian creed of tremendous historical importance that once served as the faith of Roman emperors and the barbarians on the frontiers alike, while it simultaneously advances existing scholarship by integrating the approaches of history and theology with those drawn from the cognitive science of religion. This paradigm shift allows us to understand the initial support for the Arian creed and its eventual rejection by Roman emperors; to recognize the nature of intuitions of divinity amongst Germanic peoples before their conversion; to discern the way in which these were translated into Christian belief; and to differentiate the beliefs of Arius from those called "Arians" by their opponents.

This book explores medieval cityscapes within the modern urban environment, using place as a catalyst to forge connections between past and present, and investigating timely questions concerning theoretical approaches to medieval urban heritage, as well as the presentation and interpretation of that heritage for public audiences. Written by a specialist in literary and cultural history with substantial experience of multi-disciplinary research into medieval towns, Medieval Cityscapes Today teases out stories and strata of meaning from the urban landscape, bringing techniques of close reading to the material fabric of the city, as well as textual artefacts associated with it. Deriving from the author’s own experience in urban regeneration and heritage interpretation projects, case studies – such as the development of a public art installation at a medieval ruin site and the development of a pavement marker trail – provide ways into exploring broader questions about relationships between the medieval and modern city.

The study of medieval liturgy can contribute richly to the discourses of textuality and culture in the Middle Ages. It can tell us a great deal not only about the worship of the church, but also about the people who practised it. However, existing scholarship can be problematic and difficult to use.This short book aims to unsettle the notion that liturgiology is a mysterious, abstruse, and monolithic discipline. It challenges some scholarly orthodoxies, hints at the complexity of the liturgy as a subject for study and shows that it needs to be examined in ways quite different from the summary treatment it often receives. It also seeks to encourage the reader in his or her own (future) investigations of the topic by introducing some of the key ideas, resources, and methods, and proposes ways in which they might be explored.

This book takes a critical approach to the assumption that the origins of the English can be found in fifth- and sixth-century immigration from north-west Europe. It begins by evaluating the primary evidence, and discussing the value of ethnicity in historical explanation. The author proposes an alternative explanatory model that sets short- and medium-term events and processes in the context of the longue durée, illustrated here through the agricultural landscape. She concludes that the origins of the English should rather be sought among late Romano-British communities, evolving, adapting, and innovating in a new, post-imperial context.Though focusing on England between the fifth and seventh centuries, this volume explores themes of universal interest—the role of immigration in cultural transformation; the importance of the landscape as a mnemonic for cultural change; and the utility of a common property rights approach as an analytical tool.

From the nineteenth century onwards, historians described the Middle Ages as the "cradle" of the nation state—then, after World War II, they increasingly identified the period as the "cradle" of Europe. A close look at the sources demonstrates that both interpretations are misleading: while "Europe" was not a rare word, its use simply does not follow modern expectations. This volume contrasts modern historians' constructions of "Europe in the Middle Ages" with a fresh analysis of the medieval sources and discourses. The results force us to recognize that medieval ideas of ordering the world differ from modern expectations, thereby inviting us to reflect upon the use and limits of history in contemporary political discourse.

The Hussite movement was a historical watershed, in which popular and scholastic theology combined with a nascent Czech nationalism to produce a full-scale social revolution that presaged the Protestant Reformation and the birth of the modern nation state. The Hussites defeated the forces of the Empire and the Pope, and their king George Poděbrady was the first to advocate a trans-national European state. Jan Hus is remembered as a martyr for church reform, but his colleagues formulated a theology that scholars are now recognizing to have had influence on Luther and the birth of Protestantism. Another Bohemian associated with the movement, Petr Chelčický, was the first to advocate a radical pacifist Christian anarchism. This survey introduces the reader to the events, people, and ideas that define this remarkable movement.

Egypt is revered as the home of the famous Desert Ascetics, who first embraced a monastic life and established homosocial communities on the borders of their urban centres in the Nile Valley. Regarded as angels and warriors, the wisdom of the Desert Ascetics formed part of the oral and literary tradition of wonder-working saints whose commitment to asceticism was legendary and inspirational. This book grounds the mythologized stories of Desert Ascetics in the materiality of the desert, demonstrating the closeness of the desert, the connections between non-monastic and monastic communities, and the exciting insights into lived monasticism through the archaeology of monasticism in Egypt.

Over seven hundred years after the pope dissolved their Order, the Templars remain as controversial as ever. How could warriors also be monks? What did they really believe in? Why did they fail to protect the Holy Land? What impact did they have on society? Why were they dissolved–-were they really heretics? Based on the medieval evidence and the latest research by modern scholars, this book surveys some key areas of the Templars' history. It argues that despite their wide landholdings and apparent power the Templars‘ influence depended on the patronage of popes and kings, and that they were destroyed when their most powerful patron had more to gain than lose from their dissolution.

In a world where princesses found themselves enslaved, kidnapped boys became army generals, and biblical Joseph was a role model, this book narrates the formation of the Middle Ages from the point of view of slavery, and outlines a new approach to enhance our understanding of modern forms of enslavement. Offering an analysis of recent scholarship and an array of sources, never before studied together, from distinct societies and cultures of the first millennium, it challenges the traditional dichotomy between ancient and medieval slaveries. Revealing the dynamic, versatile, and adaptable character of slavery it presents an innovative definition of slavery as a historical process.

This work looks at queenship in a global, timeless sense—examining the role of queens, empresses, and other royal women from the ancient and classical period through to nearly the present day on every continent. By looking at queenship in this comparative, longue durée way, we can start to see connecting threads and continuity over time and space as well as the change and development and comparisons of how the queen’s role differed in various cultural contexts. A wide variety of examples are given to explain and contextualize key themes in queenship: family and dynasty, rulership, and image crafting. The introduction provides a brief overview of the development of queenship studies and a discussion of the ideals that queens were expected to conform to. This book offers a radically new perspective on queenship studies which enables new insights into the queen’s role as the preeminent woman in the realm.

The study of the Middle Ages in every aspect of the modern liberal arts—the humanities, STEM, and the social sciences—has significant importance for society and the individual. There is a common belief that the peoples of the past were somehow exempt from (positive, especially) human nature, had less of a sense of morality (by any definition) than we do now, or were unaware of basic human dilemmas or triumphs. Relegating the Middle Ages to "primitive" distances us from close examination of what has not changed in society—or what has, which might not be for the better. Exploring and exploding these (mis)conceptions is essential to experience the benefits of a liberal education.

For a civilization that preserved its existence and integrity against overwhelming odds and contributed in captivating ways to the diversity of human culture, Byzantium is strangely one of the most maligned and misunderstood civilizations of the past. The way in which history has been carved up into periods has worked to its disadvantage, and Byzantium has been artificially cut off from its Roman roots.This book proposes a long view of Byzantium, one that begins in the early Roman empire and extends all the way to the modern period. It is a provocative thought-experiment which posits Byzantium as the most stable and enduring form of Greco-Roman society, forming a sturdy bridge between antiquity and the early modern period, as well as between East and West, and which sees the ancient Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions as flowing together. It offers a Byzantium unbound by other cultures and fields of study that would artificially cut it down to size.

This book provides a concise overview of the history of Polynesia, focusing on New Zealand and its outlying islands, during the period 900–1600. It provides a thematic examination of  Polynesia to avoid placing the region’s history into an inaccurate, linear Western chronology. The themes of movement and migration, adaptation and change, and development and expansion offer the optimal means of understanding Polynesia during this time. Through this innovative and unique perspective on Polynesian history, which has not been previously undertaken, the reader is encouraged to think about regions outside Europe in relation to the premodern period.

Medieval archaeology of the East Roman world is key to understanding the populations that are invisible in contemporary political and religious sources. Although scholars have long studied the religious and elite structures of the East Roman world, dedicated analysis of the material remains of ordinary and rural people is relatively new. Yet this work is essential to understanding the people who lived in lands as varied as Italy and northern Mesopotamia between the fourth and fifteenth centuries, as well as the continuity of their communities. This book argues that when approached as a series of microhistories, medieval archaeology in the East Roman world is the archaeology of complex settlements, each of which was forced to react, positively or negatively, to the varied changes of the period. It is the archaeology of landscapes, of households, and of resilience; in recognizing this, we gain a more nuanced view of the East Roman world.

Migration in the Medieval Mediterranean argues that the cross-Mediterranean movement of peoples was a central aspect of the medieval world. Medieval people migrated in search of safety after regime change, secure life amongst coreligionists, and prosperous careers. This kind of travel between Muslim and Christian regions demonstrates the mutual influences, interconnections, and communications linking them, surpassing the differences between the two civilizations.

Through a focused and systematic examination of medieval theologians, philosophers, and jurists, Andrew Latham explores how ideas about supreme political authority—sovereignty—first emerged during the high medieval period. The author provides a new model for understanding the concept of sovereignty, and traces its roots, not to the early modern or late medieval eras as do all other accounts, but to the High Middle Ages.This book aims first to provide an account of a pivotal episode in the historical evolution of the idea of sovereignty—the supreme authority to command, legislate, and judge—in the thirteenth century. It also aims to reconnect early modern theorists of sovereignty to the medieval intellectual tradition out of which they emerged.Latham traces the rise of a “dualist–regnalist” model whereby supreme authority was vested neither in the pope nor the emperor; nor was it divided between coordinate temporal and spiritual powers (kings and popes). Instead, it was vested exclusively in the king, who held it directly from God or (in the case of John of Paris, for example) “the people,” without any papal or imperial mediation.

Why should anyone, aside from specialist historians and philologists, read Beowulf? This book presents a passionate literary argument for Beowulf as a searching and subtle exploration of the human presence. Seamus Heaney praised Beowulf as "a work of the greatest imaginative vitality": how is that true? The poem's current scholarly obsessions and its popular reception have obscured the fact that this untitled and anonymous 3182-line poem from Anglo-Saxon England is a powerful and enduring work of world literature. Beowulf is an early medieval exercise in humanism: it dramatizes, in varied and complex ways, the conflict between human autonomy and the "mind-forg'd manacles" of the world. The poem is as relevant and moving to any reader today as it was during the early Middle Ages. This book serves both as an invitation and introduction to the poem as well as an intervention in its current scholarly context.

How was violence understood and justified during the time of the crusades? This book argues that although just/holy war theory has long provided the framework for explaining crusading violence, cultural history gives us deeper insights into the meaning and conduct of medieval crusading warfare. Using a range of sources including histories, letters, and material culture from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, this book provides fresh insights into medieval violence and the history of the crusades. It shows how violence was debated, defined, worried about, celebrated, and condemned, and that the boundaries of legitimate and illegitimate conduct in crusading warfare were constantly and consciously tested.