The Medieval Python

Using human skeletal remains, this volume traces health, workload and violence in the European population over the past 2,000 years. Health was surprisingly good for people who lived during the early Medieval Period. The Plague of Justinian of the sixth century was ultimately beneficial for health because the smaller population had relatively more resources that contributed to better living conditions. Increasing population density and inequality in the following centuries imposed an unhealthy diet - poor in protein - on the European population. With the onset of the Little Ice Age in the late Middle Ages, a further health decline ensued, which was not reversed until the nineteenth century. While some aspects of health declined, other attributes improved. During the early modern period, interpersonal violence (outside of warfare) declined possibly because stronger states and institutions were able to enforce compromise and cooperation. European health over the past two millennia was he

Depicting the Creation of Woman presented a special problem for Renaissance artists. The medieval iconography of Eve rising half-formed from Adam's side was hardly compatible with their commitment to the naturalistic representation of the human figure. At the same time, the story of God constructing the first woman from a rib did not offer the kind of dignified, affective pictorial narrative that artists, patrons, and the public prized. Jack M. Greenstein takes this artistic problem as the point of departure for an iconographic study of this central theme of Christian culture. His book shows how the meaning changed along with the form when Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, and other Italian sculptors of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries revised the traditional composition to accommodate a naturalistically depicted Eve. At stake, Greenstein argues, is the role of the artist and the power of image-making in reshaping Renaissance culture and religious thought.

An innovative study of gift-giving, informal support and charity in England between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Ilana Krausman Ben-Amos examines the adaptation and transformation of varied forms of informal help, challenging long-held views and assumptions about the decline of voluntary giving and personal obligations in the transition from medieval to modern times. Merging historical research with insights drawn from theories of gift-giving, the book analyses practices of informal support within varied social networks, associations and groups over the entire period. It argues that the processes entailed in the Reformation, state formation and the implementation of the poor laws, as well as market and urban expansion, acted as powerful catalysts for many forms of informal help. Within certain boundaries, the early modern era witnessed the diversification, increase and invigoration, rather than the demise, of gift-giving and informal support.

The so called 'Kingdom of Prester John' was a Christian power thought to exist in Central Asia at the time of the twelfth-century crusades. At a deeper level, for the steppe peoples it constitutes a distant dynamic which led to the world-shattering rise of Mongol power under Chinggis (Genghis) Khan. The book ranges widely in subject matter, space and time. Christian history and ecological, demographic, social and economic history are all interwoven with the politics, religions and literature of the vast and varied area between European Russia and China from c800 to 1300. The author's views are distinctive and stimulating and are not always accepted by western specialists. But his bold synthesis fills in many of the missing links between histories of Europe and medieval China and makes it possible to think of these vast areas as, in some senses, parts of a greater whole.

The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond examines the evidence for the pre-history and origin of drama. The belief that drama developed from religious ritual has been commonplace since the time of Aristotle but there is little agreement on just how this happened. Recently, scholars have even challenged the historical connection between drama and ritual. This volume is the most thorough examination on the origins of Greek drama to date. It brings together seventeen essays by leading scholars in a variety of fields, including classical archaeology, iconography, cultural history, theater history, philosophy, and religion. Though it primarily focuses up on ancient Greece, the volume includes comparative studies of ritual drama from ancient Egypt, Japan, and medieval Europe. Collectively, the essays show how the relationship of drama to ritual is one of the most controversial, complex, and multi-faceted questions of modern times.

An innovative study of gift-giving, informal support and charity in England between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. Ilana Krausman Ben-Amos examines the adaptation and transformation of varied forms of informal help, challenging long-held views and assumptions about the decline of voluntary giving and personal obligations in the transition from medieval to modern times. Merging historical research with insights drawn from theories of gift-giving, the book analyses practices of informal support within varied social networks, associations and groups over the entire period. It argues that the processes entailed in the Reformation, state formation and the implementation of the poor laws, as well as market and urban expansion, acted as powerful catalysts for many forms of informal help. Within certain boundaries, the early modern era witnessed the diversification, increase and invigoration, rather than the demise, of gift-giving and informal support.

Confraternities were the most common form of organized religious life in medieval and early modern Europe. They were at once the lay face of the church, the spiritual heart of civic government, and the social kin who claimed the allegiance of peers and the obedience of subordinates. In this 1999 collection, fifteen scholars examine the development of confraternities in Italy, where they emerged first and had the greatest impact. Individual essays explore a common set of themes across Italy from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries: the ubiquity of confraternities, social construction, and devotional ethos; their ritual culture and civic religion; their antagonistic and collaborative relations with both civic and ecclesiastical authorities; and their role in social welfare and social control of marginal groups. The authors demonstrate how the ritual kinship expressed in confraternities emerged in the Middle Ages and became a powerful force in 'civilizing' early modern Italian society

The actual practice of the Romans with regard to property and investment must be distinguished from the formal rules of the emperors and the moralistic generalizations of the ancient writers. With this in mind the Cambridge Research Seminar in Ancient History spent two years examining various aspects of Roman property, investigating individual topics in greater detail than has been attempted before. The studies which make up this volume deal with Roman investment in property - scale and concentration of holdings, rural and urban property, methods of exploitation and how this was organized, and the extent of marginal lands. The editor has formed the volume into a coherent unit by eliminating excessive duplication and overlapping between chapters. The book is of particular value to specialists in ancient history, economic and social history and in Roman law, but also contains materials of interest to medieval and agrarian historians.

The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond examines the evidence for the pre-history and origin of drama. The belief that drama developed from religious ritual has been commonplace since the time of Aristotle but there is little agreement on just how this happened. Recently, scholars have even challenged the historical connection between drama and ritual. This volume is the most thorough examination on the origins of Greek drama to date. It brings together seventeen essays by leading scholars in a variety of fields, including classical archaeology, iconography, cultural history, theater history, philosophy, and religion. Though it primarily focuses up on ancient Greece, the volume includes comparative studies of ritual drama from ancient Egypt, Japan, and medieval Europe. Collectively, the essays show how the relationship of drama to ritual is one of the most controversial, complex, and multi-faceted questions of modern times.

The actual practice of the Romans with regard to property and investment must be distinguished from the formal rules of the emperors and the moralistic generalizations of the ancient writers. With this in mind the Cambridge Research Seminar in Ancient History spent two years examining various aspects of Roman property, investigating individual topics in greater detail than has been attempted before. The studies which make up this volume deal with Roman investment in property - scale and concentration of holdings, rural and urban property, methods of exploitation and how this was organized, and the extent of marginal lands. The editor has formed the volume into a coherent unit by eliminating excessive duplication and overlapping between chapters. The book is of particular value to specialists in ancient history, economic and social history and in Roman law, but also contains materials of interest to medieval and agrarian historians.

Terence between Late Antiquity and the Age of Printing investigates Medieval and Early Renaissance reception of Terence in highly innovative ways by combining the diverse but interrelated strands of t

Charlemagne's conquests became the driving force in European politics between the Muslim defeat at Poitiers and the Crusades. He dominates the military history of Medieval Europe since his empire spa

Scholars of literature, mental health, and the history of medicine explore how people of the medieval and early modern periods conducted communicative exchanges in their quest for spiritual health in

Archaeologists, architecture historians, and theater scholars explore the local history of Stratford-upon-Avon, focusing on the survival of a group of medieval buildings near the center of the market

Delving into the Tangled Involvement of academic institutions with the benefice system in the Early Modern Period, this book focuses on an anomaly: medieval privileges that provided academics at Louva

"This book explores the evolution of country house plans throughout Britain and Ireland, from medieval times to the eighteenth century. With photographs and detailed architectural plans of each of the

Challenging traditional interpretations of the roles of royal women in patriarchal Muscovite society, Between God and Tsar opens a new approach to understanding medieval Russia. Drawing upon a wide ra

Can a neuroscientist help a theologian interpret a medieval mystical text? Can a historian of religion help an anthropologist understand the effects of social cooperation on human evolution? Can a leg

Building Histories offers innovative accounts of five medieval monuments in Delhi—the Red Fort, Rasul Numa dargah, Jama Masjid, Purana Qila, and Qutb complex—tracing their modern lives from the ninete

One thousand years ago, a handful of dynamic medieval city states developed trade at the frontier of capitalism. Their unique commercial ambition led to the emergence of finance capitals of internatio

The second book in the critically acclaimed medieval mystery series featuring Sir Geoffrey MappestoneIn the year 1101, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone returns to his home at Goodrich Castle on the Welsh borde

The second book in the critically acclaimed medieval mystery series featuring Sir Geoffrey MappestoneIn the year 1101, Sir Geoffrey Mappestone returns to his home at Goodrich Castle on the Welsh borde

The book examines four Middle English narratives of the Trojan War as examples of the medieval appropriations of classical history and classical narrative traditions as a discourse related to issues o

"Erudite, perceptive, and witty, as always, John Friedman shows the social implications and symbolism of medieval clothing."uPaul Freedman, Yale University"With a sharp eye for fashion and an astute a

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, poet, philosopher, and mathematician, was one of the outstanding personalities produced by medieval Jewry. His chief claim to fame, however, was for his commentary on the Bibl

Proceedings of the Society's conference held at the University of York in April 2002.This book brings together the papers presented at the Society for Medieval Archaeology's spring conference held in

Key imperial and royal courts--in Han, Tang, and Song dynasty China; medieval and renaissance Europe; and Heian and Muromachi Japan--are examined in this comparative and interdisciplinary volume as lo

A critical study of the medieval manuscript held in Exeter Cathedral Library popularly known as “The Exeter Book,” The Exeter Anthology is one of the acknowledged treasures of early Englis

This history of Sufi conceptions of the hereafter - often imagined as a place of corporeal reward (Paradise) or punishment (Hell) - is built upon the study of five medieval Sufi Qur'an commentaries. P

Across the ancient and medieval literature of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, one finds references to the antediluvian sage Enoch. Both the Book of the Watchers and the Astronomical Book were long k

India in the Italian Renaissance provides a systematic, chronological survey of early Italian representations of India and Indians from the late medieval period to the end of the 16th century, and the

Utilizing easy-to-find and inexpensive materials, this handy resource teaches desktop warriors how to build a multitude of medieval siege weapons for the modern era. Novice combatants will learn to bu

The Premyslids were a middle European dynasty that ruled Bohemia and Moravia from the 880s to 1306, says Kalhous (early medieval history, Masaryk U., Brno, Czech Republic), and are virtually unknown t

Written nearly a thousand years ago, al-Warraq's cookbook is the most comprehensive work of its kind. This traditional cookbook with more than 600 recipes from the luxurious cuisine of medieval Islam

Sometimes called Saint, sometimes the Universal Doctor, Albertus (1193-1280) was one of many Medieval scholars to comment on Euclid's enduring work of the fourth-century BC; he managed to get through

From medieval times there have always been countries that had overwhelming influence in the creation of the norms and rules that governed economic transactions across political units, a role that is c

Hartmann von Aue (c. 1170–1215) is universally recognized as the first medieval German poet to create world-class literature. He crafted German into a language of refined literary expression that pave

The three counties of England's northern borderlands have long had a reputation as an exceptional and peripheral region within the medieval kingdom, preoccupied with local turbulence as a result of the proximity of a hostile frontier with Scotland. Yet, in the fifteenth century, open war was an infrequent occurrence in a region which is much better understood by historians of fourteenth-century Anglo-Scottish conflict, or of Tudor responses to the so-called 'border reivers'. This first book-length study of England's far north in the fifteenth century addresses conflict, kinship, lordship, law, justice, and governance in this dynamic region. It traces the norms and behaviours by which local society sought to manage conflict, arguing that common law and march law were only parts of a mixed framework which included aspects of 'feud' as it is understood in a wider European context. Addressing the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland together, Jackson W. Armstrong transcen

The aesthetics of everyday life, as reflected in art museums and galleries throughout the western world, is the result of a profound shift in aesthetic perception that occurred during the Renaissance and Reformation. In this book, William A. Dyrness examines intellectual developments in late Medieval Europe, which turned attention away from a narrow range liturgical art and practices and towards a celebration of God's presence in creation and in history. Though threatened by the human tendency to self-assertion, he shows how a new focus on God's creative and recreative action in the world gave time and history a new seriousness, and engendered a broad spectrum of aesthetic potential. Focusing in particular on the writings of Luther and Calvin, Dyrness demonstrates how the reformers' conceptual and theological frameworks pertaining to the role of the arts influenced the rise of realistic theater, lyric poetry, landscape painting, and architecture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuri

The corregidores were Castilian royal officials who functioned as mayors and superior judges in the provinces, cities, towns, and villages they were sent to oversee. At the head of urban militias they took part in the War of Succession and the Granada War. The corregidores thus had significant dealings with the peasantry, urban masses, the merchants, the nobles, the aristocracy, the officials of the Inquisition. Through its study of their many varied duties, this book offers a panoramic view of Castile during the late medieval and Renaissance eras. Despite their importance, a major study has never before been devoted entirely to their activities during the reign. This study also incorporates a major effort at periodisation of Isabella's reign, the first attempted in modern times. Overall, the book offers a tripartite dissection of the queen's career in power and an assessment of the differing states of the operations of corregidores over her three decades.