Medieval News

14th century shipwreck found in Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Archaeologists have finished recovering a 600-year-old ship from Lake Constance discovered near a medieval Benedictine abbey in Germany.

The wreck was discovered in shallow waters off the lake’s Reichenau Island by an ice skater in the winter of 2006. Subsequent dives and carbon testing by archaeologists revealed it was from the 14th century.

Dr. Peter Zaar, a spokesperson for the city of Stuttgart, said to German media, “We believe it could be the oldest shipwreck ever found in the lake. There is one other boat we know is also from the 14th century, but we need more testing to know for sure.”

Because water levels in Lake Constance have been declining in recent years, the shipwreck became a danger to passing boats, so it was decided to have it removed and studied. Once research on the ship is completed, the wreck will be returned to a deeper part of the lake.

Underwater archaeologists have found over 50 shipwrecks just in the northern parts of Lake Constance, and believe that even older wrecks, dating back to the Roman Empire, will likely be discovered with more research. In 1992, another 14th century sailing boat was discovered in the lake.

This area is also home to the Benedictine Abbey of Reichenau Island, which was founded in 724 and was important monastic site during the Middle Ages. The monks at the abbey are known to have had an interest in water traffic on the lake, using it for fishing and trade.

“This find is a sensation, particularly because it’s so close to the shore that lines the island, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the abbey,” Zaar said.

Lewis Chessmen might not be Chessmen

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Some of the Lewis Chessmen may not have been chessmen at all according to new research.

The 12th and 13th century gaming pieces which were discovered in Uig on the Isle of Lewis in 1831 are considered to be Scotland’s most renowned archaeological find.

An article in the journal Medieval Archaeology by David Caldwell, Mark Hall and Caroline Wilkinson suggests that many of the 93 ivory pieces may have been used in a game called hnefatafl – an ancient Viking board game that pre-dates chess.

Hnefatafl is similar to chess in that it also pits a king against pawns or warriors on the other side.

In an interview with the BBC, Dr. Caldwell said, "We certainly still believe the pieces are Scandinavian in origin, perhaps made in a workshop by several masters in a city like Trondheim.

"But one of the main things I think we are saying in our research is that it is much more likely that the horde is in Lewis because it belonged to somebody who lived there rather than being abandoned by a merchant who was passing through.

"To take a relatively easy example, there is a praise poem written in the middle of the 13th century to Angus Mor of Isla, and the poem says that he inherited his ivory chess pieces from his father Donald - that makes Angus the very first Macdonald, and the poem also makes him the king of Lewis.

"Now you of course you would be foolish to implicitly believe everything in a praise poem, but nevertheless it gives you some idea that we are dealing with a society in the west of Scotland - great leaders like Angus Mor, bishops, clan chiefs - who really valued playing chess and saw it as being one of their accomplishments."

They concluded that while most of the items were likely to have been crafted in the same workshop, up to five different craftsmen of differing ability may have created them.

Dr Caldwell said the chessmen suggested that there was a reasonable amount of wealth in the western Isles in the 13th century, perhaps because the medieval economy placed greater value on fairly barren land that could be used to raise cattle.

He added: "It was certainly leading men there, people who could make a lot of money either by raising cattle or frankly by going raiding - there was still in some ways a Viking way of life surviving into the 13th century."

Despite the extensive research, Dr Caldwell said he still believed there was plenty of mystery surrounding the chessmen.

"I would be very disappointed if we have written the last word on the - what I hope we have done is opened up the debate and shown it is possible, even with something very well known, to discover new things," he said.

All but 11 of the chessmen are housed in the British Museum. The rest are held in the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh and next year will go on tour around the country. Click here to read more about this tour.

The paper, which will be published next week, concludes by suggesting that more information should be gathered from further detailed study of the constituents of the hoard, including chemical analysis of the ivory.

It also promotes a fieldwork project to pinpoint the exact area where the pieces were discovered.

Figurines of Aphrodite from the era of the Roman Empire discovered in Hippos

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:07:00 +0000

An ancient treasure comprising three figurines of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which was buried underground for over 1,500 years, was uncovered during the tenth season of excavations that are carried out by researchers of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa, headed by Prof. Arthur Segal and Dr. Michael Eisenberg. "It is possible that during the fourth century A.D., when Christianity was gradually becoming the governing religion in the Roman Empire, there were still a number of inhabitants in Sussita who remained loyal to the goddess of love and therefore wished to hide and preserve these items," suggests Prof. Segal.

The hidden figurines were discovered when the researchers exposed a shop in the southeastern corner of the forum district of Sussita, also known as Hippos, which is the central area of the Roman city that was built in the second century B.C., existed through the Roman and Byzantine periods and destroyed in the great earthquake of 749 A.D. According to the researchers, it was clear that the followers had wished to hide the figurines, as they were found complete. The clay pieces are 23 cm tall and represent the common model of the goddess of love known to the experts as Venus pudica, "the modest Venus." This name was given to the form due to its upright stature and the figure's covering her private parts with the palm of her hand – perhaps another reason for concealing them from the new religion that presided over the empire.

The tenth excavation season at Sussita, which is located on the mountaintop at an altitude of 350 m. above Lake Kinneret and in the area of the Sussita National Park, yielded many spectacular findings. Besides the University of Haifa researchers, also participating in the excavations were teams from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and from Concordia University of Minnesota, USA. The project was carried out with significant support from the Israel Nature and Natural Parks Protection Authority.

Also found in the excavations was a basilica, a roofed structure that would have been used as a substitute location for public gatherings in rainy weather. This is the second basilica to be exposed in Israel, the first being the Roman basilica of Samaria. The conservation and restoration team working alongside the archaeologists have succeeded in restoring one of the basilica's columns. "Just the look of the restored columns is enough to get an impression of the beauty and tremendousness of Roman architecture during that period," Prof. Segal exclaimed.

The American delegation exposed a living quarter, most likely dating back to the fourth century A.D., which gives a rare glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the inhabitants of Sussita during the last three centuries of the city's existence. All of the houses that were exposed surround a stone-paved courtyard. The researchers assume that this style of planning is evidence of everyday household activity taking place in the courtyard, including the cooking.

"At the close of the tenth season of excavations, we have revealed an abundance of public structures in the city, most likely associated with the reign of Herod in the first century B.C. Until now we have assumed that the wave of construction that took place during Herod's reign was primarily in Jewish cities, but the findings at Sussita are evidence of the king's influence on pagan cities under his rule too," the researchers concluded.

Medieval Documents used to pay taxes on Penrhyn Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:28:00 +0000

The British Government and the executors of the Penrhyn Castle estate have agreed to exchange the estate's archives in lieu of payment of inheritance taxes. This will allow the public to access a large number of medieval documents dating back to 1288.

The BBC reports that when the current owners took possession of the historical contents of the castle, they were given an inheritance tax bill for almost £290,000. The owners contemplate selling its collection of documents into private hands, but the government ultimately decided to take up the offer themselves.

Penrhyn Castle was built in the thirteenth century in northern Wales, and has seen several reconstructions over the centuries.

The documents, which range from the 13th century parchment to 20th century typed paper, cover a wide range of history. The earliest item in the Penrhyn archive is from 1288 and details the sale of the township of Karnechan, along with all its goods and people.

There are more than 120 similar legal documents dating from the 14th and 15th Centuries, written in Latin on parchment. Later documents illustrate how the castle's 17th century owners were involved in the slave trade in Jamaica.

The archive will now be permanently kept at Bangor University. Einion Wynn-Thomas, one of the university's librarians, said, "Something as important as this to the history of north Wales really needs to remain here, for the benefit of the local people.

"Without this scheme the danger was that the archive would have been sold to a private collector and would have been lost to the public for good.

"Even worse than that, it's possible that it could have been broken up into different lots, destroying the continuity of this phenomenal resource.

"It's such a thrill to handle something written over 700 years ago and, given the age of some of the documents, their condition is amazing.

"It is perfectly possible to take them out and read them but obviously we have to take the greatest care with something so old and valuable, so they're stored in a humidity-controlled case, well away from direct sunlight.

"The value to our understanding of the history of Wales can't really be estimated. They provide one of the most complete documentary pictures of medieval Wales anywhere in the country."

Sexuality in Late Medieval Iceland

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Is there anything more private than sexuality? And more political? Sexuality has always been used for political purposes, and there are many examples of historical changes where political and sexual strategies of power have interacted. In his dissertation, historian Henric Bagerius at the University of Gothenburg, examines the relationship between politics and sexuality in late medieval Iceland. The results of his research show that sexuality was often used to mark boundaries of various kinds: between chivalrous and common, human and monstrous, and masculine and feminine.

When the Icelandic political elite was reorganized toward the end of the 13th century, eventually developing a stronger aristocratic identity, their sexual views also changed. Emphasizing certain sexual norms was a way for the elite to define its own identity. This is especially apparent from the many romances written in Iceland during the late Middle Ages. Sexual self-control determined whether or not one was recognised as chivalrous. A true knight seldom allows his desires to overpower him. This distinguishes him from heathens, berserkers and slaves, who can rarely control their urges in the romances.

During the late Middle Ages, the elite’s interest in virginity increased. An aristocrat who wanted to be certain of the paternity of his eldest son chose to marry a maiden. However, the attitude of the elite toward virginity was an ambiguous one. Virginity was both enticing and frightening. A maiden was admired for her chastity and pure thoughts. She retained the innocence that other women had lost. On the other hand, a maiden was not considered to have had any essential experiences of being a woman. She had never experienced sexual intercourse, and therefore did not know what it meant to be a wife and mother. That made it more difficult for her to control her sexual desires and resist men who wanted to deprive her of her virginity. From this perspective, the maiden was a source of deep worry.

"Studying late medieval sexuality is challenging," writes Henric Bagerius in his dissertation. "It forces us to abandon for a moment our contemporary view of sex as an interaction between people, something mutual. In the Icelandic romances, intercourse is most clearly defined as an act performed by one person against another. Violence and humiliation are often present. Scenes of rape are transformed into romantic adventures that end in a happy marriage. When the knight deflowers a maiden, he makes himself the owner of her body, after which she belongs to him and no one else. In other words, the sexual act establishes a hierarchical structure between the sexes. It is an event that makes the knight a man and the maiden a woman."

Henric Bagerius dissertation, Manhood and Maidenhood: Sexuality, Homosociality, and Aristocratic Identity in Late Medieval Iceland, was written in Swedish, with an English summary. You can access the full text of the dissertation here.

Medieval Apples were Healthier than Modern Ones

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:18:00 +0000

A 12th century organically grown apple called Pendragon has higher levels of health- giving plant compounds than modern non organically grown rivals, such as Golden Delicious, Royal Gala and Cox. From peel to core, the mighty Pendragon outperformed 14 other pipsqueak competitors, pharmacist Michael Wakeman told delegates at a recent pharmaceutical conference in Manchester, England.

"Of all the organic varieties, Pendragon was the best apple variety and contained 7 of the 8 kinds of healthy components at the highest levels. In contrast, the non-organic apples consistently had low levels and less major healthy components in both the flesh and the peel," said Wakeman.

Twelve organically grown and three non organically grown varieties of apple were tested for a range of plant compounds with beneficial properties that have been linked to health-giving actions, including cholesterol and blood sugar reduction, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antioxidant and anti-ageing effects.

Higher levels of healthy substances were found in all of the organically grown varieties compared to non-organically grown apples, especially in the peel. Runners up to Pendragon were an organically grown variety of Golden Delicious, a cider apple called Collogett Pippin, and old Cornish and Devon apple varieties, Ben's Red and Devonshire Quarrenden.

Mr Wakeman explained that in the absence of pesticides, organically grown apples produce larger amounts of many plant compounds to protect themselves from fungal and other infections, and some of these also have health-giving properties for humans.

"This research confirms that whilst some measures of organic versus non-organic food benefits might appear equivocal, more sophisticated analysis of compounds which are newly recognised as being of importance to good health do show a significant difference.

"Moreover, it demonstrates that these compounds, which are only available from plants, are disappearing from our diet as a result of modern day farming and food production techniques combined with the need to develop produce which meets our desire for perfect shapes and sweeter tastes" he said.

Ancient Lance Pierces Hole in King Arthur Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Newly discovered miniature art on a Roman cavalry lance head is providing solid evidence that Roman cavalry and sailors were the inspiration for legends of King Arthur and his Knights.

Researcher David Xavier Kenney discovered the inscriptions on the 2nd to 3rd century artifact which was found on a hilltop in Norfolk County, England and is part of his collection.

Among the revelations on the lance head (or contos head) is that the real King Arthur may have been Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius, a 3rd century Belgic sailor from humble origins who rose up through the ranks to eventually become a Rogue Emperor of Rome.

The contos was a victory votive to the Romano Celtic war/sword god Mars Camulos and Carausius, who undoubtedly identified himself with this god, based on coins he minted and evidenced on the contos. The Roman settlement of Camulodunum (modern Colchester), named after Camulos, is widely thought to be the origin of Medieval writers' Camelot.
Carausius strove to become a people's hero of Britain and Northern Gaul when he rebelled against the co-Emperor Maximian, who ordered his execution after he was accused of keeping seized pirate booty. Backed by his Roman legions, he proclaimed himself another co-emperor. Three years later in 293 AD Carausius was assassinated by his finance minister.

The war/sword god Camulos' primary center of Celtic worship was with the Remi, a Belgic tribe. Based on contos inscriptions Camulos appears to be connected to a previously unknown Belgic agricultural/fertility bear god of the northern constellations and its related symbols, including a pagan type grail cup, magical blade weapons, meteorites, magnetic north, and the seasons named Artor. The sword in the stone shown on the contos has a connection to an elite Roman Parazonium (ceremonial short sword).

According to Kenney, inscriptions show the primary aspect of Artor is a force associated with breaking through or beginnings, including spring and the dawn. Other artifacts show that this bear war/sword god in some form can be seen across ancient Europe and Asia as far east as ancient China, particularly in the northern regions.
Kenney has spent over five years studying, photographing and writing about ancient and modern miniature art. He is founder of www.romanofficer.com and www.kingarthurbanner.com.

Scholarship on Ancient and Medieval Middle East Becomes Free Digitally

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:22:00 +0000

A wealth of material that documents the ancient Middle East has become available through a new, free online service at the Oriental Institute.
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The material comes from the extensive collection at the institute, which is a major publisher of important academic books on the languages, history and cultures of the ancient Middle East. The effort began in 1906, when the University started issuing publications that have been essential for studying the past.

Since that time, more than 272 books have been published, ranging from dictionaries of the Assyrian and Hittite languages, to historical and archaeological studies and oversized folio volumes that document Egyptian temples and tombs.

Gil Stein, Director of the Oriental Institute, said, "Our publications are the lasting record of our excavations and research. They are fundamental tools for scholars of the ancient Middle East throughout the world. Making these books available to our colleagues, to educators and the public reflects our mission to share knowledge."

Publication of its research is a central tenet of the mission of the Oriental Institute. Equally important is making that research accessible to scholars and individuals throughout the world.

Toward that end, in October 2004, the Oriental Institute announced the Electronic Publications Initiative, which stated that all publications of the Oriental Institute would be simultaneously published in print and electronically.

New titles are made available for free download at the same time they are issued in print. Individuals, libraries and institutions may download one complimentary copy for personal use from the Oriental Institute's Web site: https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/.

More than a thousand copies of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary have been downloaded since May 2008. To date, 147 Adobe PDFs (portable document files), each containing an entire book, can be accessed at the site. Many of those titles are older publications that have long been out of print. An additional 125 older titles, which comprise the institute's Egyptological collection published since the 1920s, such as the Epigraphic Survey, are being scanned in preparation for free Internet distribution.
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Another 138 older titles, which document the institute's research on Anatolian, Arabic, Iranian, Mesopotamian, Syro/Palestinian cultures, among others, will continue to be scanned and distributed as time and funds permit.

Medieval Titles include:

Changing Social Identity with the Spread of Islam: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Donald Whitcomb

Bir Umm Fawakhir Survey Project 1993: A Byzantine Gold-Mining Town in Egypt, by C. Meyer et al.

Ayla: Art and Industry in the Islamic Port of Aqaba, by D. Whitcomb

Daily Life Ornamented: The Medieval Persian City of Rayy, by Tanya Treptow

European Cartographers and the Ottoman World, 1500–1750: Maps from the Collection of O. J. Sopranos, by Ian Manners

Response to the EPI has been overwhelming, with positive comments received from all over the world. Complimentary Web distribution ensures that publications of the Oriental Institute, whether new or old, are made available to everyone with access to the Internet, especially in countries where the institute conducts research.¨

Thomas Urban, manager of the Publications Department at the Oriental Institute, said, "Technology now makes it possible for us to make these works widely available. So much effort goes into each volume—the author's original research, editorial work, artwork and photography. It is rewarding that these books, many of which are long out of print, can be consulted."

Statistics on downloads of electronic files and sales of printed books have been carefully tracked, and the Publication Sales office has noted that the availability of free downloads has not adversely impacted the sale of the printed volumes. In fact, the availability of free PDFs of titles has increased print sales. After the complimentary distribution of 21 titles—books that had not been accessible via the Internet before 2008—print sales of those same titles increased by 7 percent compared to the previous two years.

"It seemed counterintuitive that making the electronic files available without charge would actually stimulate the sale of hard copies, but that is what we are seeing," Urban said. "We suspect that people are sampling the book through the download, then they decide they want a hard copy. This is an important message to others who are contemplating making their books available on the Internet," he added.

Teeth of Columbus’s crew flesh out tale of new world discovery

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:16:00 +0000

The adage that dead men tell no tales has long been disproved by archaeology.

Now, however, science is taking interrogation of the dead to new heights. In a study that promises fresh and perhaps personal insight into the earliest European visitors to the New World, a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is extracting the chemical details of life history from the teeth of crew members Christopher Columbus left on the island of Hispaniola after his second voyage to America in 1493-94.

"This is telling us about where people came from and what they ate as children," explains T. Douglas Price, a UW-Madison professor of anthropology and the leader of the team conducting an analysis of the tooth enamel of three individuals from a larger group excavated almost 20 years ago from shallow graves at the site of La Isabela, the first European town in America.

Price and colleague James Burton, in collaboration with researchers from the Autonomous University of the Yucatan in Mexico, are attempting to flesh out the details of a colony that lasted less than five years. The human remains used in the study were buried without the formalities of coffins or shrouds, and were excavated from what was once the church graveyard of the town Columbus established. Headstones and other identifying markers have long since faded to nothing or have been lost entirely during the 500 years since the bodies were first interred.

Despite its brief existence, historians and archaeologists believe La Isabela was a substantial settlement with a church, public buildings such as a customhouse and storehouse, private dwellings and fortifications. It is also the only known settlement in America where Columbus actually lived.

Although the town has been the subject of previous archaeological studies, the work by Price, Burton and their colleague Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina of the Autonomous University of the Yucatan is revealing new insight into the people who lived and sailed with Columbus, and who died on the shores of a strange and exotic new world.

Histories of La Isabela, named after Spain's queen and Columbus's patron and located in what is today the Dominican Republic, suggest its population was made up only of men from the fleet of 17 vessels that comprised Columbus's second visit to the New World. But the first analysis of the remains of 20 individuals excavated two decades ago by Italian and Dominican archaeologists portray a different picture, suggesting that living among the Spaniards at La Isabela were native Taï¿½nos, women and children, and possibly individuals of African origin. If confirmed, that would put Africans in the New World as contemporaries of Columbus and decades before they were believed to have first arrived as slaves.

The study conducted by the Wisconsin researchers relied on isotopic analysis of three elements: carbon, oxygen and strontium.

Carbon isotope ratios provide reliable evidence of diet at the time an individual's adult teeth emerge in childhood. For example, people who eat maize, as opposed to those who consume wheat or rice, have different carbon isotope ratio profiles locked in their tooth enamel.

"Heavy carbon means you were eating tropical grasses such as maize, found only in the New World, or millet in Africa, neither of which was consumed in Europe" at the time, says Burton.

Oxygen isotopes provide information about water consumption and also can say something about geography as the isotopic composition of water changes in relation to latitude and proximity to the ocean. Strontium is a chemical found in bedrock and that enters the body through the food chain as nutrients pass from bedrock to soil and water and, ultimately, to plants and animals. The strontium isotopes found in tooth enamel, the most stable and durable material in the human body, thus constitute an indelible signature of where someone lived as a child.

Three of the individuals whose teeth were subjected to isotopic analysis by the Wisconsin group were males under the age of 40 and who had carbon isotope profiles far different from the rest, suggesting an Old World origin. "I would bet money this person was an African," Price says of one of the three individuals whose teeth were subjected to analysis.

It was known that Columbus had a personal African slave on his voyages of discovery. The new analysis could mean that Africans played a much larger role in the first documented explorations of America.

The strontium isotope analysis, Price notes, is not yet complete, as samples from the teeth of the presumed sailors remain to be matched with strontium profiles of Spanish soils. However, such matches could open an intriguing window to the personal identities of individuals buried in La Isabela.

"All of these sailors — their place of birth, their age — were recorded in Seville before they left on the second voyage," Price explains. "One of the things we're hoping to do with the strontium is identify individuals."

The skeletons also exhibit evidence of scurvy, a common affliction of 15th century sailors who lacked vitamin C on their long voyages, as well as signs of malnutrition and physical stress. Chronicles of the voyage noted that most of the Europeans, including Columbus himself, fell sick shortly after landfall on Hispaniola, and many subsequently died, perhaps becoming the first to be buried in the La Isabela church graveyard.

Iranian scholars share Avicenna's medieval medical wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:28:00 +0000

For pulmonary ailments, certain medieval physicians had a useful medical textbook on hand offering detailed information remarkably similar to those a modern doctor might use today. One of the fathers of medicine, the great Persian scholar Avicenna left a wealth of information in his many works. Iranian academics dust off one of these in an article published today in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, sharing in English details of Avicenna's work that still fascinate both physicians and historians of medicine alike.

Seyyed Mehdi Hashemi and Mohsen Raza dug deep into Avicenna's original ancient text, housed in the Central Library of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, where they both work. In particular, they aimed to highlight Avicenna's work on respiratory diseases, which may be informative or interesting to physicians and pulmonologists today.

Avicenna discusses respiratory diseases in volume three of the Canon of Medicine, covering the functional anatomy and physiopathology of the pulmonary diseases that were known in his time in detail. His descriptions of the signs and symptoms of various respiratory diseases and conditions are remarkably similar to those found in modern pulmonary medicine. The topic is covered under five chapters: breathing, voice, cough and haemoptysis, internal wounds and inflammations and principles of treatments.

The authors also highlight both herbal and non-herbal treatments Avicenna recommends for respiratory diseases, and their signs and symptoms from the second volume of the Canon of Medicine. Avicenna suggested 21 herbs to treat respiratory disorders, and today we know that several of these herbs contain bioactive compounds with analgesic, antispasmodic, bronchodilatory or antimicrobial activities. For instance, Avicenna would have prescribed opium at that time for cough and haemoptysis, a practice which today has an established therapeutic basis.

"In the time of Avicenna, the presentation of respiratory diseases, their treatment and their prognosis was much different than in modern times," says Hashemi. Medieval physicians had a greater reliance on history, physical examination (which was mostly based on visual observation), individual variation, environmental factors, diet, and so on, for diagnosis and treatment.

Even so, several of Avicenna's observations related to signs and symptoms, aggravating and relieving factors and the treatment of pulmonary disorders are still valid and can be explained by modern science. For example, one of the important symptoms in the diagnosis of asthma that Avicenna discusses is dyspnea during sleep that leads to awakening. Avicenna also observed plaster-like material in tuberculosis patients' sputum, which is now known as lithoptysis (stone spitting), where a patient coughs up calcified material due to perforated bronchial lymph node.

Despite many limitations and the lack of modern instruments in his day, Avicenna adopted a scientific approach to the diagnosis and treatment, not only of respiratory disorders, but also more generally to illnesses he treated and mentioned throughout the Canon of Medicine.

A Persian polymath, Avicenna (a widely-used Greek version of his name Abū 'Alī al-Husayn ibn) was a leading physician and philosopher who penned over 450 volumes, of which almost half have survived. During his lifetime (981 to 1037 AD), Avicenna was also an astronomer, chemist, geologist, logician, palaeontologist, mathematician, physicist, poet, psychologist, scientist and teacher. Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi al-Tibb), became a standard medical text, and was used across mediaeval Europe for 600 years.

The traditional diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases: a description from Avicenna's Canon of Medicine by SM Hashemi and M Raza is published in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease. Click here to go to the journals website.

'Mummified' trees found in Norway date back to the 13th century

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Norwegian scientists have found “mummified” pine trees, dead for nearly 500 years yet without decomposition. The discovery could lead to a wealth of information for scholars examining the medieval environment.

Dated to the early 1200s, the 40 dead Scotch pines were found scattered among living trees in what was once a dense forest that supplied wood for medieval boats and churches.

Norway’s wet climate seems perfect for encouraging organic matter to rot – particularly in Sogndal, located on Norway’s southwestern coastline, in one of the most humid, mild areas of the country.

“We were gathering samples of dead trees to reconstruct summer temperatures in western Norway, when our dendrochronological dating showed the wood to be much older than expected”, says Terje Thun, an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Museum of Natural History and Archaeology. Thun conducted the work with his colleague Helene Løvstrand Svarva.

“We were astounded to find fresh wood in trees that started to grow in the late 1200s and had died almost 500 years ago, which is much older than we originally expected. Somehow they have kept from decomposing for several centuries in this humid climate”, Thun says. “This is quite extraordinary - I would go as far as to call it sensational.”

Thun suspects the trees stayed so fresh for two reasons. The first is that many of the trees had either remained upright or fallen on rocks, avoiding exposure to the wet ground. Secondly, pines are full of resin, which protects them against wood-eating bacteria. At death, pines release large amounts of resin, which could have helped delay decomposition.

“Many of the trunks we dated turned out to have seeded in the early 1200s, and had lived for more than 100 years at the time of the Black Death around 1350”, Thun says. “That means that the dead wood has ‘survived’ in nature for more 800 years without breaking down.”

The Norwegians living along the coast of present-day Sogndal in the 12th and 13th centuries apparently favored the robust pines, Thun's study shows.

Timber from a stave church—a distinctive medieval church built by the Vikings—matches wood from the forest that contains the dead trees.

The Norse peoples likely trekked to inland forests to hunt and harvest trees for their buildings, he added.

Battle of Grunwald comic book competition

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:26:00 +0000

The Royal Wawel Castle, in Krakow, Poland, has announced a competition for writers and artists to create a comic book inspired by the victory of Polish and Lithuanian troops over the Teutonic Order on July 15, 1410.

It is open to young people in the 16-26 age bracket and is part of a large-scale educational project on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald, which was one of the largest battles in medieval Europe and one of the most glorious and significant military victories in Polish history.

The reason why the competition is organized by the Wawel Castle is that it was from there that Polish troops under the command of King Wladysław Jagiełło began their two-month long march to the battle site in northern Poland. It was also to Kraków that the King made a triumphant return from the battle.

Earlier this year, the Wawel Castle announced a competition for an orchestral piece to be performed during the anniversary celebrations on July 15, 2010.

Medieval Cyprus landmark reopens after 5 year restoration project

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:45:00 +0000

The UNDP Partnership for the Future Programme has completed a five-year-long project on the restoration of the Bedestan, a historic monument located in the mathematical centre of the walled city of Nicosia, formerly known as St. Nicholas Church.

The Bedestan is a uniquely important building - it was originally a 12th century Byzantine church and later used as a covered market place and has thus incorporated throughout the centuries a variety of architectural restructuring.

The restoration and preservation of the monument is one of a number of initiatives within the wider framework of the “Rehabilitation of Old Nicosia”, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP Partnership for the Future, reflecting the multicultural life and many historical periods of the city.

The Bedestan has proved to be as much about conservation as about revitalisation, highlighting the importance of cultural heritage preservation. Hence, the restoration project has incorporated an innovative method of anti-seismic support, vocational training as well as a high quality restorative works on an international level.

The building will now function as a multicultural venue and exhibition space for the benefit of the inhabitants of Nicosia and visitors alike.

The study, supervision and works amount to approximately 2 million Euro wholly funded by the European Union. In addition, EVKAF has also contributed financially to the restoration project. The study was aimed at the different phases of the monument's consolidation, its conservative restoration and its re-insertion into the urban setting.

The Bedestan was originally a small sixth-century Byzantine church, before the church of St Nicholas of the English was added to it in the twelfth century. The newly extended church was associated with the cult of Sir Thomas à Becket, the archbishop famously murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. During the occupation by the Venetians, the church became the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Nicosia, but the Ottoman invasion changed its usage, as so often happened at that time. The church became a grain store and cloth market, hence its name, and gradually fell into disrepair.

Aspirations are that the Bedestan will become an important landmark for the city of Nicosia, which together with other monuments of cultural heritage will enhance the vision for urban upgrading and reuse of the walled city.

Medieval Iberia Workshop Marks Launch of New Scholarly Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:57:00 +0000

Leading national and international scholars will converge on Hofstra University today, for a one-day “Medieval Iberia” workshop that will examine the Christian, Islamic and Jewish cultures of medieval Spain and Portugal, and celebrate the launch of a new academic publication, the Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, which published its first two issues this year with support from Hofstra and Western Michigan University.

The journal, published by the Taylor & Francis Group, comes out in January and June. Several contributors to the journal are among the workshop leaders. “The workshop offers a unique opportunity to discuss cutting-edge work,” according to Simon R. Doubleday, Ph.D., associate professor of history and executive editor of the new journal, who is the director of the workshop. “Experts will introduce and lead discussion on new approaches to field as diverse as archaeology, musicology, history and literature.”

The workshop is co-sponsored by the Taylor & Francis Group, Hofstra Cultural Center, the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the departments of History and Romance Languages and Literature, and the programs of European Studies, Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Click here to go to the Journal's website

Scotland's History website launched

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:04:00 +0000

A wealth of information about Scotland's past is now freely available through an online resource developed for the use of pupils, teachers and the wider public.

Scotland's History Online covers a range of subjects, from prehistoric through to 21st Century Scotland. With more than 200 topics that include links to over 1,000 other online sources and a wide range of interactive supporting materials, the resource could be the one of the best of its kind anywhere in the world.

Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "Scotland has a fantastic story to tell from the Early People, Wars of Independence, Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment through to the modern day. From innovations in the fields of medicine, science and industry through to Scotland's place in an evolving European Union, it's essential that our young people develop a strong understanding of Scottish history.

"During our Year of Homecoming and beyond, Scotland's History Online will stimulate interest in our past, present and future. Not only will this site be an outstanding resource for pupils and teachers integrated to the new Curriculum for Excellence, it will also help inform all Scots - both at home and abroad - and everyone who shares an interest in learning about our country.

"For too long Scottish history has been neglected in our schools. That's why - for the first time - learning about Scotland's history, heritage and culture is embedded within the curriculum and this new resource helps ensure schools can deliver informed, exciting and varied Scottish history teaching."

Bernard McLeary, Chief Executive of Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS), said: "The team at LTS, along with partners from the Heritage Education Forum, have developed a fantastic online resource that explores more than 5,000 years of Scottish history, enabling learners to develop an understanding of how Scotland has grown as a nation, as well as an appreciation of their heritage within the global community.

"In addition to the materials available freely online, teachers and learners alike can use Glow - the national school's intranet - to share best practice and collaborate together to enhance their experiences and cultivate their interest in the rich history of Scotland."

Tom Monaghan, President of the Scottish Association of History Teachers (SATH), said: "SATH has been delighted to support the development of new online resources for the teaching of Scottish history in our schools and colleges. We hope that these resources will encourage colleagues to start local but think global when teaching young Scots about their past, present and future."

The resource is structured by time periods from Prehistoric to the 20th century. A wide number of medieval topics are covered, ranging from the Vikings to Pilgrims.

Click here to go to Scotland's History website

DNA Testing Used to Unlock Secrets of Medieval Manuscripts

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:03:00 +0000

Thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe still exist today, but scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of these works originated. Now a researcher from North Carolina State University is using modern advances in genetics to develop techniques that will shed light on the origins of these important cultural artifacts.

Many medieval manuscripts were written on parchment made from animal skin, and North Carolina State Assistant Professor of English Timothy Stinson is working to perfect techniques for extracting and analyzing the DNA contained in these skins with the long-term goal of creating a genetic database that can be used to determine when and where a manuscript was written. "Dating and localizing manuscripts have historically presented persistent problems," Stinson says, "because they have largely been based on the handwriting and dialect of the scribes who created the manuscripts – techniques that have proven unreliable for a number of reasons."

Stinson says genetic testing could resolve these issues by creating a baseline using the DNA of parchment found in the relatively small number of manuscripts that can be reliably dated and localized. Each manuscript can provide a wealth of genetic data, Stinson explains, because a typical medieval parchment book includes the skins of more than 100 animals.

Once Stinson has created a baseline of DNA markers with known dates and localities, he can take samples from manuscripts of unknown origin. Stinson can then determine what degree of relationship there is between the animals whose skins were used in manuscripts of unknown origin and those used in the baseline manuscripts. Stinson hopes this DNA comparison will enable him to identify genetic similarities that would indicate the general time and locale where a book was written.

On a larger scale, Stinson says, this research "will also allow us to trace the trade route of parchments" throughout the medieval world – a scholarly achievement that would provide a wealth of data on the evolution of the book industry during the Middle Ages.

Remains of 1,000 people recovered from one of Ireland's largest medieval cemeteries

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:45:00 +0000

The skeletal remains of more than a thousand people have been recovered from what experts believe was one of Ireland's largest medieval cemeteries.

According to a report in the Irish Examiner, the ancient bones have produced evidence of several suspected murders and one case of leprosy - an extremely rare occurrence in medieval times.

Osteoarchaeologist Carmelita Troy, of Headland Archaeology in Cork, said yesterday she has studied the ancient remains of nearly 1,300 individuals - adult males and females along with children - who were buried at the site at Ardreigh, Athy, in County Kildare. It is one of the largest skeleton assemblages in the country.

It is believed the site served as a huge regional cemetery for the south Kildare region from perhaps the 7th or 8th century, with classic Christian-style burials - bodies aligned west to east - taking place right up to the 1400s.

"Through the evidence gathered from the results of these excavations, it was clear Ardreigh was a highly significant medieval site, and one that can be considered to be of regional - and probably national importance," a preliminary report on the site suggested.

While final reports and exact carbon-dating have yet to be completed, the Ardreigh skeleton find is already being compared to important cemeteries at the medieval cathedral at Ardfert in Co Kerry, the Mount Offaly cemetery in south Co Dublin and Ballyhanna in Co Donegal.

"The skeletons from Ardreigh give us an important insight into, and help us understand our national heritage and the people from whom we are descended," Troy said.

The site yielded vast amounts of medieval material and the remains of some 1,300 people. The remains include male and female adults, some aged between 45 and 60, teenagers, children and even some foetuses - one as young as 20 weeks. Dozens of adult skeletons displayed signs of arthritis, which would not be uncommon. However, one person was found buried face down with his hands positioned behind his back. The cause of death could not be established.

Troy said the skulls of five adults had suffered sharp-implement injuries or blunt force trauma, possibly due to a blow from an axe. One skeleton was found to have had a leg amputated, possibly for medical reasons.

She said the vast quantity of skeletons found at this site allows archaeologists to statistically compare the results with other major medieval sites, and draw conclusions in relation to population profiles, as well as the ages, sex and segregation of the people.

Grover Zinn wins Emeritus Fellowship to research Hugh of Saint-Victor

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Grover Zinn, Emeritus Professor at Oberlin College, has been awarded an Emeritus Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue his research on the twelfth-century philosopher and mystic Hugh of Saint-Victor.

The Mellon Emeritus Fellowship program provides up to $35,000 to support one year of research activities for outstanding scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are retired but still active in the academic community.

Zinn's project will center on the writings of Hugh of Saint-Victor, and will involve three intertwined components. Zinn will write an essay on the historical and theological study of the ideas of Hugh of Saint-Victor on the contemplative life, will translate into English two of Hugh's principal works--De archa Noe and Libellus de formatione arche--and will, with the aid of an Oberlin graduate, create a digital realization of a complex drawing that features prominently in the texts.

"I intend to engage readers in an exploration of the interaction of experience, the nature of religious symbols, and the process of worldview and spiritual construction," said Zinn.

"My intended audience is not limited to specialists in Victorine thought, or in medieval mysticism, but to a broader audience interested in the intersection of the history of ideas, theology, religious experience, mysticism, spiritual discipline and itineraries, and the history of art."

Professor Zinn's research has dealt with medieval religion, and his published works include Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, the Mystical Ark, Book Three of Trinity.

Crusader marble hoard discovered

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:50:00 +0000

In an excavation that was recently conducted just north of the Old City wall of Acre (now called Akko), a unique find was discovered from the Crusader period (the thirteenth century CE) – a hoard of 350 marble items that were collected from buildings that had been destroyed.

The hoard was found within the framework of an archaeological excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority before the AkkoMunicipality began building a new structure to house classrooms in the Hilmi Shafi Educational Campus.

According to Dr. Edna Stern, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “We have here a unique find, the likes of which have never been discovered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Crusader period (Acre was the capital city of the Kingdom for most of the thirteenth century). During the archaeological excavations we came upon a cellar that was sealed by collapse comprised of building stones and charred beams. Beneath the cellar floor a hoard of about 350 marble items and colored stones was discovered, including two broken marble tombstones with Latin inscriptions (one belonging to a person by the name of Maratinus), flat marble slabs and marble tiles of various sizes and colors, etc. Some extraordinary items were also found, among them a large stone cross and a large fragment of porphyry (a rare precious purple stone, which has been the color of royalty from Roman times). The quality of the marble is excellent and it was undoubtedly imported from abroad.”

Dr. Stern added, “Everyone knows that Crusader Akko was an important center for international trade and the marble hoard reflects the magnificent buildings that were erected here but have not survived, as well as also the commerce and the wealth of its residents. Just as there is a trend today to incorporate wooden doors from India or roof tiles from old buildings in Italy in modern villas, at that time they used to integrate ancient architectural items from the Roman and Byzantine periods in their construction. And just like today, people at that time also yearned for the classic and the exotic. We know from written sources that they bought and sold such stones, which were exceptionally valuable, to be reused in buildings. We can assume that the owner of the hoard, whether he was a merchant or he collected the stones for his own construction, was aware of impending danger and therefore buried the valuable stones until such time as the tension abated."

However, the cache of stones was not sold in the end. According to Stern, “We can reasonably assume that the collapse that was found above the hoard is evidence of the building’s destruction in 1291 CE, when Crusader Akko was conquered by the Mamluks and was completely devastated."

The marble hoard was removed from the field and transferred to the Israel Antiquities Authority for further study.

Medieval Church Steeple Crest stolen in Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Thieves have stolen the valuable crest of a medieval church steeple in Göttingen – though no one noticed for up to nine days, police in the German province of Lower Saxony reported on Tuesday.

The gold-gilded cross and weather vane disappeared between October 5 and 14 at the St. Jacobi church in the city centre, police said. But neither the church management nor the company currently employed to restore the building’s exterior know exactly when someone scaled the 72-metre tower to swipe its crowning glory.

The crest weighed 30 kilograms and is estimated to be worth some €10,000.

Police believe the thieves reached the crest by climbing up scaffolding that currently surrounds the church for renovations.

The repairs, meant to fix weather damage, are probably the reason no one noticed the missing spire decorations. Both the construction workers and church authorities apparently assumed the golden cross had been removed and stored during the repairs.

An October 5 photo of the tower – one of the Göttingen skyline’s most prominent features - showed the crest still intact, but another photo taken on October 14 showed the tower had vanished, police said.

Mons Meg wheel gets a flat

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:31:00 +0000

In centuries past the vast Mons Meg siege cannon was hauled across Scotland to demolish the castle walls of the king’s enemies.

But even though its wheels were entirely made of wood and iron it seems it could suffer the medieval equivalent of a flat tyre.

While it has been stood quietly on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle for some years without moving, the sheer pressure of the six-ton barrel and the two-ton carriage has distorted the metal band round one of the wheels.

Historic Scotland conservation and maintenance experts today used two mini cranes to lift the barrel in order to carry out a programme of checks on the condition of the great gun.

Hugh Morrison, Historic Scotland collections registrar, said: “This was the supergun of its era and it’s one of a kind, so we take very good care of her with regular checks and maintenance.

“As she is so large we are having to set up special lifting gear to hoist her off the carriage.

“But once that’s done we’ll be able to check her over any carry out any conservation work that’s needed, and put on some new protective paint as required.

“One job that has to be done is to knock a metal rim on one of the wheels back into shape as it has bent out of shape from the enormous weight of the gun.”

The work is expected to take a week to 10 days to complete.

Mons Meg was originally made in 1449 and presented to James II in 1457, at which time she was the latest in military technology, and fired gunstones weighing 330lbs or 150kg. When fired in 1558, to celebrate the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the French dauphin, Francois, the gunstone reached Wardie Muir, nearly two miles away.

The gun was last fired in October 1681 in a birthday salute for the Duke of Albany (later James VII) but her barrel burst.

25th Jorvik Viking Centre Annual Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:49:00 +0000

The Jorvik Viking Centre in the English city of York will be holding its 25th Annual Festival from February 13th to 21st, 2010.

In a press release, the Jorvik Viking Centre, calls on those interested to "join in the action as hundreds of Vikings from all over the world descend on the city for the nine-day programme which will include Vikings fighting in ferocious and bloody battle; a spectacular celebratory fireworks display; a newly commissioned theatre piece from one of the North’s most admired theatre groups and an atmospheric candlelit evening of poetry and music performed for the Viking King.

"The Festival also includes an anniversary conference with international Viking experts in celebration of the original astounding archaeological discovery of the Viking city in York 25 years ago.

"With such a selection of specially organised arts, music, drama and action events taking place, there will be something for everyone in our city-wide celebration of the Viking Age in York."

Historical talks will also be given by York Archaeological Trust members, including Dr Andrew Jones, who will speak on what today’s archaeologists have uncovered in York’s Viking-era rubbish pits and toilets, and Peter Connelly, the director of the Hungate dig, who will outline some of the amazing discoveries made in the course of the last twelve months.

The Jorvik Viking Centre was awarded £1 million earlier this year to redevelop the centre. Work will start this month on the project, which includes a reconstruction of the original Coppergate excavation. The redevelopment will be complete for the festival.

Click here for more information about the Jorvik Viking Centre Festival

Click here to read Jorvik Viking Centre to have £1 million redevelopment

Dublin's Viking Wall can now be seen

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Dublin’s 900-year-old Viking city wall has been put on public view for the first time at the city council's civic offices on the Southside.

The wall was discovered during excavations of the site in the late 1970s and early 1980s in preparation for the construction of the new Dublin Corporation, now Dublin City Council, buildings.

After it was discovered, the wall was going to be dismantled and stored in another site, but large scale public protests forced city officials to cancel that plan. For the next thirty years, the site was kept hidden from the public and used for storage.

Last month, the wall was opened up for the general public as part of an exhibition called My City Exhibition, which showcases Dublin's development and future plans.

Measuring just under 20 metres in length and 4.3 metres in height, the section of wall is now visible through a glass viewing platform, with each stone bearing the identifying number painted on when it had been due for demolition.

Charles Duggan, Heritage Officer at Dublin City Council, explained the extent of the detailed and painstaking conservation work that has gone into preserving the wall. “In 2007 we began looking at the site of the city walls in Wood Quay and we decided our first step would be to carry out the conservation works,” he said.

“We carried out a survey of all above ground remains of the city wall. That was key to bringing forward our ambition to conserve the stretch of the city wall that still exists.”

Mr Duggan explained that conservationists in the council wanted to ensure that the integrity of the wall itself was kept intact and that by leaving the markings and numberings on the stones the structure's more recent history would also be recorded.

“We were absolutely adamant that we wanted to maintain the existing condition of the wall so I would describe the work as much as necessary but as little as possible.

“We have done very gentle cleaning of the wall by using an archaeologist’s brush. We decided that in preserving the wall in the Wood Quay venue we would keep the underpinnings and the markings that were put there in the 1970s.

“They were put there when the wall was going to be demolished but thankfully that decision was eventually reversed,” he further explained. “We decided that we should leave them there because we have to be honest about recent history affecting the Wood Quay site.

“From the amphitheatre section of the civic offices park where the operas are held every August you can walk onto a viewing platform and the public will be able to overlook the city wall,” he added.

Renaissance Capitalist: New Research Answers Mystery About Illegitimate Daughter of Pope

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:45:00 +0000

In popular legend, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480- 1519), stands falsely accused of poisoning her second husband. Victor Hugo portrayed her in thinly veiled fiction as a tragic femme fatale. Buffalo Bill named his gun after her.

But new research by USC historian Diane Yvonne Ghirardo reveals that the only sister of Machiavelli's prince was less interested in political intrigue than in running a business, undertaking massive land development projects that, according to Ghirardo, "stand alone in the panorama of early sixteenth-century projects, not only those initiated by women."

Forced by an economic downturn to cut expenses and become an entrepreneur, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI would control between 30,000 and 50,000 acres in northern Italy within six years.

"This is a classic case of seeing only what you're looking for and not getting the whole picture," Ghirardo says of the centuries-old mystery surrounding how Lucrezia accumulated her vast personal wealth. Ghirardo notes that historians have long dismissed Lucrezia as stupida because no record exists of her collecting art or antiquities.

"The information was there in the archives, but because she was a woman, scholars only looked at transactions for clothes, for jewelry, or for works of art. Nobody looked at the other entries in the account registers," says Ghirardo of the research project that took her more than seven years.

In a recent issue of Renaissance Quarterly, Ghirardo explains how Lucrezia turned seemingly worthless swampland into reclaimed land. The land was used to cultivate grains, barley, beans and olive trees; to grow flax for spinning into linen; to pasture livestock for milk, meat, wool and hides; and for vineyards.

"That's really a capitalist attitude: to leverage capital by getting the basic good -- in this case, land -- at the cheapest cost," Ghirardo says.

For example, Ghirardo details Lucrezia's first business venture with her husband's cousin Don Ercole d'Este. The don gave Lucrezia title to half his land in Diamantia, a large marshy district west of Ferrara. In exchange, Lucrezia agreed to fund improvements to the land, including drainage, building embankments and digging canals.

As Ghirardo explains, "Lucrezia grasped the untapped potential of thousands of acres of marginal, waterlogged land, but she was too shrewd to employ her own resources to purchase it unless absolutely necessary."

Surviving documents also indicate Lucrezia's knowledge of contract terms, border disputes and even the skill of various hydraulic engineers, according to Ghirardo. Other records show her pawning an extremely valuable ruby-and-pearl piece of jewelry in order to buy more water buffalo (especially to produce mozzarella).

"It's not just what Lucrezia did and how she did it, but the immensity of her enterprises, that stands out," Ghirardo says. "Nobody else was doing this on such a large scale, not even men. Nobody was prepared to put in that kind of money."

Notably, Lucrezia held titles to the land she acquired in her own name, not in her husband's. Profits from Lucrezia's entrepreneurial activities were also for her use alone, according to Ghirardo.

"She could have purchased property that was already arable, but instead she got land that wasn't useful and transformed it," Ghirardo says. "I really believe that she thought of this as her Christian duty, to transform the land and make it better, and then to use money to help fund her spiritual and religious interests."

In account registers that the Duke of Ferrara would not have seen, Ghirardo found indication of significant cash gifts to Lucrezia's confessors, preachers and other religious figures, as well as unexplained cash dispersals, possibly for a love child.

"It's a little like trying to reconstruct a life from a credit card statement. There's a lot you can tell, but a lot that remains obscure," Ghirardo says.

Lucrezia Borgia -- widely described by her contemporaries as beautiful and blond, with a sunny disposition -- died at 39, following complications from the birth of her eighth child. Three decades would pass before another comparable land reclamation project emerged in northern Italy.

As Ghirardo says, "Lucrezia defied the conventions of her class and her gender."

Diane Yvonne Ghirardo's article, "Lucrezia Borgia as Entrepreneur" can be found in Renaissance Quarterly Vol.61:1 (2008).

And Diverse Are Their Hues: Color in Islamic Art and Culture”

noreply@blogger.com (Medievalists.net) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

Scholars from around the world will explore the many uses of color in Islamic art and culture during the Third Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art on Nov. 2-4 in Cordoba, Spain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an important center of Islamic art and architecture.

“And Diverse Are Their Hues: Color in Islamic Art and Culture” will feature 13 speakers from the Middle East, Europe, Australia and the United States. Topics will span the medieval to the modern and cover a range of disciplines, featuring experts in art, architecture, literature and philosophy. Fifteen fellows, ranging from graduate students to octogenarians, will receive full funding to attend the symposium.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, the VCU School of the Arts in Qatar and the Qatar Foundation. Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, shared holders of the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic Art at VCU, are the organizers and keynote speakers.

Blair and Bloom, the authors of more than a dozen books, are among the leading scholars of Islamic art in the world. “We’re on the cusp of something exciting in Islamic art,” Blair said. “It’s an encouraging shift. Many buildings and works of art have now been examined. It’s time to look beyond the individual works and begin to explore the arts of the Islamic lands thematically.”

“And Diverse Are Their Hues” focuses on the topic of color. Speakers will address the role of color in manuscripts, carpets, ceramics, buildings, medieval optics, mysticism and gardens.

“We chose color as the focus of this year’s symposium because it is one of the most salient features of Islamic art, although it is rarely discussed,” Bloom said.

“Everyone comments on the colorful qualities of Islamic art, but they rarely look deeper at them. For example, medieval Muslims did not identify the same colors in the rainbow that we see today.”

Cordoba, a city of approximately 350,000 in Andalusia in southern Spain, served as the capital of Muslim Spain in the Middle Ages and contains many significant monuments of Islamic art and architecture, such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the ruins of Medina Azahara, a 10th-century palace just outside of the city. The city’s Archaeological Museum also houses an exemplary collection of local antiquities.

Previous symposia were held in Richmond in 2004 and in Doha, Qatar, in 2007. The proceedings of the 2007 symposium have just been published by Yale University Press under the title, “Rivers of Paradise: Water in Islamic Art and Culture.”

For more information, go to http://www.islamicartdoha.org/