Early Medieval Research Articles

Introduction, spread and selective breeding of crops: new archaeobotanical data from southern Italy in the early Middle Ages

AbstractThis paper presents a summary of the record of the cultivated plant macroremains from southern Italy during the early Middle Ages, with a focus on the recent discoveries of crop remains in Sicily. These have shed light on the introduction of new plants in the central Mediterranean region at ca. 500–1100 ce. Specifically, we are dealing with the first evidence of the adoption of two new varieties of crops, one of flax (Linum usitatissimum cf. conv. mediterraneum) and the other of broad (or faba) bean (Vicia faba cf. var. equina) during the 8th century, a period of Byzantine domination, and also the introduction of exotic plants such as Solanum melongena (aubergine) and Gossypium herbaceum/arboreum (cotton) following the Islamic conquest. In some cases these developments were to have long term impacts, for example in Sicily with regard to cotton, which became an important cash crop there in the 13th century, and throughout southern Italy with regard to a new variety of Vicia faba (Vicia faba cf. var. major), which was grown in Puglia from the late Middle Ages onwards.

Changes in Town and Country in Late Antiquity and into the Early Medieval Period in Greece and the Aegean Islands

The Greek Aegean in the Late Roman era (5th-mid-7th centuries AD) offers a degree of uniformity, developing further the novel urban and rural patterns that mark the previous Imperial centuries. Characteristically, small towns with fortifications and lavish Christian monuments are surrounded by commercial villa estates, while populations shrink drastically from the mid-6th century. In the 7th-8th centuries fundamental regional divergences appear. Most of mainland Greece is lost to the Eastern Roman (aka Early Byzantine) Empire based at Constantinople, the largest towns and coastal ports excepted, following waves of Slavic settlement. A second model is found on the Aegean Islands, where reduced populations largely survive Arab raids and alien settlement through settlement displacement and negotiation. A third model is represented by the large island of Crete, free from invasion until Arab conquest in the 9th century, ironically when a revived Eastern Roman (Middle Byzantine) Empire regains control of the mainland and remaining Aegean Islands. This paper will present the evidence from archaeology for these scenarios, varying in time and space.

Fantastic Flails and Where to Find Them: The Body of Evidence for the Existence of Flails in the Early and High Medieval Eras in Western, Central, and Southern Europe

Flails are one of the most contentious and misunderstood classes of medieval weaponry, despite their prevalence in popular media: some researchers question their existence entirely and the bulk of historians are skeptical of widespread temporal and geographical prevalence, while others, and a significant volume of period evidence, would argue the contrary. While the expansive use of flails in Eastern Europe and Byzantium is familiar, many Central, Western, and Southern European sources are less well known or largely forgotten, especially those stemming from the later-early and early high medieval eras (up to 1250). In this work, I collate and discuss the bulk of the available literary references and artistic depictions of flails and their use alongside some of the archaeological finds from Western, Central, and Southern Europe, with an emphasis on the 12th and 13th centuries. The significance of this volume of evidence is examined, and an assessment of flails as a part of medieval culture and warfare is considered. Collectively, this would suggest that knowledge of flails as instruments of war and associated cultural connotations, if not their actual prevalence and use in warfare, was far more widespread across Europe this time period than has been previously estimated.

Dialogised heteroglossia and the Japanese-Chinese mixed style of “Kaidōki”

This paper attempts to analyse the technique of assimilation of classical Chinese writing into the Japanese literary tradition of the early medieval period. The author’s main focus is one of the three styles used by Japanese authors of the time, namely the mixed Japanese-Chinese style (the so-called wakan konkō buntai). It was used in various prose genres, including travel diaries. Referring to the text of Kaidōki (Records of [a journey along] the seacoast road), a Japanese travel account from the early 13th century, the author shows on the selected source material how, in accordance with Bakhtin’s understanding of heteroglossia, a dialogue occurs on the level of Chinese and Japanese writing and how intertextual relations can influence the formation of the style of a literary work. As can be noted, the historical and literary borrowings from the Chinese tradition (the rich Sino-Japanese vocabulary and the prosaised poems originally composed in classical Chinese) enriched the semantic layer of the Japanese text. This was also reflected in the style of the work, which, despite its “crabbedness” and the fact that it was shaped by the experience of borrowed but also native polyphony, seems to be the optimal way to express it.

Dating and Characterising the Transformation of a Monastic Landscape. A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Agrarian Spaces of Samos Abbey (NW Spain)

ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential of a multidisciplinary approach to understand landscape evolution over the last 1200 years around an important monastic centre, Samos Abbey, in northwest Iberia. Our objective is to test whether or not landscape transformations here – in particular terracing related to agriculture – can be linked to the agency of the monks. Our landscape study combined analysis of written sources with archaeological survey and test-pitting, including OSL profiling and dating of seven earthworks, with pollen and geochemical analysis of three of them. It has been possible to detect at least four main phases of landscape transformation in the immediate surroundings of Samos Abbey. The mid-seventeenth century saw the most recent and visible transformations, partly overprinting earlier landscapes changes from the Iron Age, eighth–ninth and thirteenth centuries AD. The data suggest that landscape transformation had already begun in this area centuries before the abbey was created, but the presence of this power centre from the early Middle Ages resulted in intensive use of the territory over the last twelve centuries.

Review of The Threshold: The Rhetoric of Historiography in Early Medieval China


 
 
 The Threshold: The Rhetoric of Historiography in Early Medieval China. By Zeb Raft. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, vol. 136. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2023. Pp. viii + 268 + 4 unnumbered. $50.
 
 

Diabetes status, genetic susceptibility, and incident arrhythmias: A prospective cohort study of 457,151 participants

AimsThe association of diabetes onset age and duration with incident arrhythmias remains unclear. This study evaluates the association of diabetes onset age and duration with incident arrhythmias and assesses modifications by the genetic predisposition to atrial fibrillation (AF). MethodsWe included 457,151 participants from the UK Biobank study. Multivariable Cox regression models to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used for the association between diabetes status, genetic predisposition, and risk of incident arrhythmias. The polygenic risk score (PRS) for AF comprised 142 single-nucleotide variants. ResultsOver 12 years of follow-up, we documented 23,518 AF, 9079 bradyarrhythmia, 9280 conduction system diseases, 3358 supraventricular arrhythmias, and 3095 ventricular arrhythmias. Compared with non-diabetes, the risks of AF increased by 19%, 25%, and 36% for those with diabetes durations <5, 5–9, and ≥10 years, respectively. After multivariate adjustment, with the increase in diabetes onset age, the HRs of outcomes were gradually attenuated. The multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% CI) of diabetes for AF were 1.46 (1.24–1.71) in early middle age (<55 years), 1.21 (1.12–1.30) in late middle age (55–64 years), and 1.15 (1.06–1.24) in the elderly population (≥65 years). A significant interaction between diabetes status and AF-PRS for incident AF was observed (P for interaction <0.001). The same trends were observed for the other arrhythmias. ConclusionsDiabetes was associated with higher risks of incident arrhythmias, and younger age at onset of diabetes was significantly associated with higher risk of subsequent arrhythmias.

Prehistoric and Early Medieval Settlement Features at Ravelrig Road and Newmills Road, Balerno, City of Edinburgh

Evaluation and excavation works in advance of housing development at two sites on Ravelrig Road and Newmills Road, Balerno, City of Edinburgh, revealed significant archaeological features evidencing multi-phase settlement. At Ravelrig Road, two groups of pits were dated to the Early and Middle to Late Neolithic periods with a cluster of Copper Age and Early Bronze Age features that included two possible storage features. At Newmills Road, alongside limited evidence for late prehistoric occupation in the form of pits dating to the last centuries BC and the first centuries AD, the most significant remains were of early medieval date, including a ring-groove representing a putative roundhouse and other features, including a hearth and linear boundary features, generally placed between the 7th and 9th centuries AD according to radiocarbon dating.

Dietary Practices of the Gauja Livs: Lipid Residue Analyses of the Turaida Hillfort and Pūteļi Cemetery Pottery Material

This study reports the first comprehensive data on the dietary aspects of Gauja Livs in the 11th–12th century CE. This region is presently lacking in bioarchaeological material (human bones and ancient plant remains), which is typically used for decoding the ancient diet. To tackle this problem pottery fragments from Turaida hillfort and Pūteļi cemetery were studied using Lipid Residue Analysis. Samples included both pottery clay matrix and burnt foodcrusts. The main goal of the study was to obtain direct information on the food substances consumed by the Gauja Livs, based on the pottery material from Turaida hillfort and from the local cemetery to reassess existing assumptions about their dietary practices both in mundane and ritual contexts. The lipid residue results revealed the main food groups consumed by the community contained terrestrial animal and aquatic products, but also provided insights into a potential mixing of different foodstuffs. Some of the expected foodstuffs were not found in or on the analysed pottery, leaving the possibility for a hypothetical use of cooking practices that might have excluded ceramic vessels. This research also gives preliminary indications of gender-based dietary patterns if assessed in context with other studies from the eastern Baltic Sea region in the pre-medieval and early medieval period.

People Are Special, Animals Are Not: An Early Medieval Confucian’s Views on the Difference between Humans and Beasts

People Are Special, Animals Are Not: An Early Medieval Confucian’s Views on the Difference between Humans and Beasts

A Knight’s Thrust: Was the Use of a Codpiece for Protection or for Exertion of Masculinity? An Evaluation through History and its Reemergence in Modern Times

Objectives Medieval military history is marked by an evolution of armor design and protection that was driven by advances in weaponry. The codpiece was a 14th century innovation to provide a genital shield in battle but was used in civilian life as well. Our objective was to clarify whether the codpiece served as an essential component of a knight’s safe keeping or as a mere outward display of virility. Methods A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary historical texts, museum archives, scholarly works, popular media, documentaries, and artwork were reviewed. Results The armor used in the early Middle Ages was chain mail, which covered the neck, trunk, and upper arms and legs but failed to protect against blunt injury to the groin as weaponry became increasingly powerful. Full plate armor, developed by the 1300s, eventually included the codpiece, a small metal pouch to house the genitalia. In the late 1400s, however, codpieces appeared in civilian wear, modestly laced to men’s stockings as upper body shirts and tunics became shorter. Codpieces quickly became more ostentatious and bulkier in an ‘Arms Race’ of masculinity, were soon ridiculed in contemporary satires including works by Shakespeare and Rabelais and inspired royal edicts limiting their use. However, the codpiece was used in the management of genital disease as well, as the bulky wraps and ointments used to treat endemic syphilis were thus more easily concealed. The codpiece fell out of fashion by the late 16th century but its descendants, in sports and the performing arts, still have practical use today in genital protection and in men’s haute couture clothing design. Conclusions In the medieval battlefield, the codpiece was both protective and assertive of masculinity. Its military popularity eventually waned as armored battle proved no match for more modern weaponry, but the codpiece had a long influence on sartorial culture. The codpiece’s modern descendant, the athletic ‘cup’, has therefore a long and most unusual history in the pages of war and Renaissance clothing.

A Knight’s Thrust: Was the Use of a Codpiece for Protection or for Exertion of Masculinity? An Evaluation through History and its Reemergence in Modern Times

Objectives Medieval military history is marked by an evolution of armor design and protection that was driven by advances in weaponry. The codpiece was a 14th century innovation to provide a genital shield in battle but was used in civilian life as well. Our objective was to clarify whether the codpiece served as an essential component of a knight’s safe keeping or as a mere outward display of virility. Methods A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. Primary historical texts, museum archives, scholarly works, popular media, documentaries, and artwork were reviewed. Results The armor used in the early Middle Ages was chain mail, which covered the neck, trunk, and upper arms and legs but failed to protect against blunt injury to the groin as weaponry became increasingly powerful. Full plate armor, developed by the 1300s, eventually included the codpiece, a small metal pouch to house the genitalia. In the late 1400s, however, codpieces appeared in civilian wear, modestly laced to men’s stockings as upper body shirts and tunics became shorter. Codpieces quickly became more ostentatious and bulkier in an ‘Arms Race’ of masculinity, were soon ridiculed in contemporary satires including works by Shakespeare and Rabelais and inspired royal edicts limiting their use. However, the codpiece was used in the management of genital disease as well, as the bulky wraps and ointments used to treat endemic syphilis were thus more easily concealed. The codpiece fell out of fashion by the late 16th century but its descendants, in sports and the performing arts, still have practical use today in genital protection and in men’s haute couture clothing design. Conclusions In the medieval battlefield, the codpiece was both protective and assertive of masculinity. Its military popularity eventually waned as armored battle proved no match for more modern weaponry, but the codpiece had a long influence on sartorial culture. The codpiece’s modern descendant, the athletic ‘cup’, has therefore a long and most unusual history in the pages of war and Renaissance clothing.

Settlement, Climate Crisis and Lordship in Early Medieval Scandinavia

This article examines and describes the nature of lordship in Scandinavia during the Early Medieval period (c.400–1000 CE). It counters the assertions of earlier research, which claim that lordship with estates had already developed at the beginning of the period. Earlier arguments have built on assumptions that the development of estates was propelled by the ‘Dust Veil’ and the subsequent climate crisis of the mid-sixth century. Scholars have argued that a more hierarchical society followed, reflected through the emergence of more lavish burial customs. Through a broad comparison with other north-western European regions and peoples, this article demonstrates that these burial customs can be understood differently, and further, that a more hierarchal society was not necessarily the outcome of the crises of the sixth century. The resulting analysis of Scandinavian lordship is then anchored in a detailed case study of the well-preserved settlements, houses, farms and field-systems on the Baltic Island of Öland. It concludes that incentives to create estates in Scandinavia were not present before the Christianization process.

Social status and oral health in early medieval Switzerland: The case of the Baar-Früebergstrasse site (Canton Zug, Switzerland)

Grave goods do not always reflect the socioeconomic status of the buried people when they were living, so the interpretation of these archeological items may be biased. This paper examines the oral pathologies of individuals (n = 36) from the early medieval cemetery at Baar-Früebergstrasse (Switzerland) and explores the relationship between these pathologies and grave status. The analysis focused on dental parameters such as tooth wear, caries, and periodontitis, among others. Only lower teeth were analyzed. While the general dental status between individuals buried in wealthy and standard graves appear to be very alike, some interesting patterns emerged. Tooth-wear values were similar among sexes and grave goods categories, suggesting a common diet. The incidence of caries was generally low in the studied individuals and grave status does not appear to have a significant influence on this. In addition, alveolar bone status showed significantly different values for the two social groups. These results suggest that no clear dietary differences can be assumed for individuals found in wealthy and standard graves at Baar, given the very similar nature of their oral conditions. However, the limited sample size of the wealthy group necessitates caution in generalizing these results. Further research with larger sample sizes can provide a more comprehensive understanding of oral health disparities associated with socioeconomic factors in the Early Middle Ages.

Was Einhard a widower?

AbstractThe ‘widow’ is a gendered, socially contingent category. Women who experienced spousal bereavement in the early middle ages faced various socio‐economic and legal ramifications; the ‘widow’ was further a rhetorical figure with a defined emotional register. The widower is, by contrast, an anachronistic category. In the absence of developed models of male ‘widowhood’, this article considers the case study of Einhard, whose letter of bereavement appears to offer a rare glimpse into early medieval interiority. Einhard did not experience the same socio‐economic and legal consequences of female widowhood. But was he, in his own rhetorical self‐expression, a male widow?

Kong Yingda, Cheng Xuanying, and Their “Others”: A Synchronic Contextualization of Visions of the Sage

The early medieval period saw the spread of Buddhism from India into China and the development of Daoism as a religious institution. By the early Tang dynasty, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism were referred to as the three teachings, and had developed separate institutions; representatives of the three teachings were competing at court for patronage and influence. This paper probes the extent to which the institutionalization of these three teachings as separate, often competing, entities is mirrored at the philosophical level and attempts to delineate the fault lines of philosophical contention among them. Scholarship on Daoist chongxuan philosophy, as it developed in early Tang Changan, documents Daoists’ utilization of Buddhist concepts and terminologies, implying shared discourses. This paper extends this investigation to include Confucianism, focusing on excerpts from two texts written in early seventh-century Changan: the Confucian Zhouyi zhengyi and the Daoist Daode jing yishu, as a case study for a synchronic contextualization across the boundaries of the teachings. Analyzing explicit demarcation discourses and intertextual occurrences of specific terminologies, the paper juxtaposes the Daoist and Confucian conceptualizations of the “sage who embodies Dao”. Through this analysis, the paper explores shared discourses and demarcations in philosophical thought among the three teachings, emphasizing the complexity of fault lines in philosophical arguments, which resist simplistic alignment with sectarian affiliations.

Forever Conquered: The Changing Role of Vikings in Modern and Contemporary Anglo-American Culture

Ever since their disruption and subsequent invasion of the British Isles in the early Middle Ages, the Scandinavian raiders known as 'Vikings' have had a significant presence in English culture and its self-perceived past. Anglo-American popular culture has become the primary home of the subject in the centuries since, with the Vikings appearing as everything from lecherous, bloodthirsty pirates to proud Christian heroes in the media of the English West. A timeline of this evolution can be drawn between Victorian era England and modern-day America, with works such as Walter Scott's The Pirate, Richard Fleischer's formative The Vikings, John McTiernan's turn-of-the-century The 13th Warrior, and DreamWorks Animation's highly successful How to Train Your Dragon&amp;nbsp;presenting compelling examples of the conceptual transformation that the Viking image has undergone. The popularity of Vikings in media and the form in which they have been used also reflects the way that literary and visual symbols have contributed to the spread and impact of major sociocultural and political movements throughout this period. As a result, the study of the Vikings' presence in Victorian and post-Victorian popular media is also the study of the Vikings' importance in the Anglo-American zeitgeist, enabling us to see the degree to which differing national climates have both shaped and platformed the Viking image across the last two hundred years.

Characterization of Stronghold Fortifications by 2D/3D/4D Electrical Resistivity Tomography: Major Push Towards Quantitative Interpretation

AbstractGeophysical methods are widely used as noninvasive tools for archaeological prospection. In a first step is usually applied basic prospection of vast areas, when data are evaluated only in qualitative way. Sometimes is performed second step, during which take place more detailed multidimensional or combined surveys in order to image archeological monuments complexly, allowing quantitative interpretation. Hence, we used a unique and novel combination of multidimensional electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) on the Early Middle Ages stronghold fortifications at Vinoř (Czechia) to achieve such interpretation. The joint results of 2D/3D/4D (time-lapse) surveys allowed us to precisely characterize individual construction components of the fortifications, including a ditch and rampart enhanced by a front wall with a berm. The ERT results recovered the fortification dimensions and the volume of building material used. The surveyed fortification section was verified by excavations directly after the ERT measurements. A comparison of the excavated section with geophysics proved that ERT was able to infer all the important fortification characteristics. In addition, illustrative picture of the resistivity manifestations of the basic components of this very typical fortification construction were obtained. The results show that multidimensional ERT provide access to quantitative interpretation allowing to explain archaeological structures behind investigated anomalies. In result, sites containing cultural heritage can be leaved intact, excavations can be substituted in surprisingly large extent, while unprecedented amount of archaeological information is still retrieved.

Human–animal entanglements in the early medieval European slave trade: re‐reading the Raffelstetten customs regulations

Frankish customs regulations recorded in the tenth‐century ‘Inquest on the tolls of Raffelstetten’ have long formed a cornerstone of traditional arguments about slavery's role in the early medieval European economic revival. This paper experiments with the application of a more‐than‐human lens to the Raffelstetten record and other evidence to generate new insights into the intimate experience of enslavement and the interspecies networks of relations that shaped the slave trade and slave markets in early medieval Europe. Human and animal entanglements, as revealed in the Raffelstetten record, determined how enslaved people experienced capture, transport, and sale.

Contribution of the Microhistorical Approach to Landscape and Settlement Archaeology: Some French Examples

Abstract In this article, we study the contributions of the microhistorical approach to landscape and settlement archaeology in the French context. First, we outline the reception of microhistorical concepts in France. The micro-analytical scale allows a renewal of the questionings, of the approaches, and therefore of the vision of the studied societies. In the particular case of archaeological research on landscape and settlement, we argue that the microhistorical approach proposes the spatial micro-scale as a framework, but it must be surpassed by a comparative approach capable of discerning common trends and local particularities. This approach thus makes it possible to question major macro-historical questions that still lack clear and consensual answers, such as the modalities of transition between major historical phases, the nucleation of settlement into the medieval village, the extension of the finages and the possibility of agricultural growth in the early Middle Ages, or the modalities of management and exploitation of natural resources.