Late Medieval Research Articles

A thorny problem: defining weeds from the medieval to the present

Weeds are a troublesome category because they are plants with a mind of their own. They do not fall neatly into human dichotomies of wild plants versus domesticated plants, and as such have defied absolute definition for hundreds of years. This article traces attempts to define and study weeds from the late medieval period to the present day across disciplinary boundaries, moving between early modern agricultural writing, contemporary weed science, environmental history and archaeology, and biogeography. Two approaches to the study of weeds are laid out in this article: how people have defined the word weed over the course of centuries, and how the concept of the weed has been applied to specific plants. Drawing from work in vegetal agency and relationality, this article argues for weeds to be understood as unintended plants that play a role as neighbors and partners in agroecological systems rather than as unwanted plants, bad plants, or plants in the wrong place. Ultimately, this article argues for this ecological understanding of weeds as independent actors as a way to push scholars to recontextualize the ways in which they study the histories and futures of more-than-human elements in the world, particularly plants.

Deviance or Devotion: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval England

On the 18th September 1417, Matilda Burgin and Margaret Usshar were brought before the ecclesiastical court of the Bishop of Durham for attempting to enter Durham Cathedral in order to approach the shrine of St Cuthbert from which women were banned. So to enter, they put on masculine clothing and for these crimes they were punished with the public humiliation of wearing the offending clothing in full view of their community. This article will first examine the case of Matilda and Margaret, their arrest in Durham Cathedral and the social, spiritual and sartorial consequences of their very public punishment. It will then compare their experience with that of other medieval women and gender non-conforming people who were arrested in masculine dress. Finally, this article will examine the possible influence the popular religious literature of cross-dressing saints may have had on Matilda and Margaret. This article will ask whether Matilda and Margaret’s own personal devotion to St Cuthbert drove them to put on masculine clothing to see his shrine? Or was it a disdain for the gendered segregation upheld by the Bishop of Durham and a disobedience of the command of St Cuthbert? Or something else entirely.

The Late Medieval Zagreb County as the Part of Antemurale Christianitats. The Case Study of Zrin Estate

The Late Medieval Zagreb County as the Part of Antemurale Christianitats. The Case Study of Zrin Estate

Spike Gibbs. Lordship, State Formation and Local Authority in Late Medieval and Early Modern England Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp 280. $100.00 (cloth).

Spike Gibbs. Lordship, State Formation and Local Authority in Late Medieval and Early Modern England Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp 280. $100.00 (cloth).

Experiences of Citizenship in Late Medieval Southern German Lands

Medieval citizenship is often defined as the rights and duties that individuals had in medieval polities, including political participation, individual protection within the city in cases of legal or commercial conflicts, or the privilege of being judged by certain courts, rather than by others, and by one’s peers, rather than by foreigners. Typically, the status of citizen was further bound to the taxes individuals of that polity had to pay or the military duties they had to fulfil. This understanding of citizenship differs significantly from the ways scholars in the field of political sciences have been discussing the term over the past two decades.

Late Medieval Administration and Bookkeeping in The Crown of Aragon: Torralba’s Company

The attempt to rebuild the socioeconomic reality of the fifteenth-century Crown of Aragon has brought us to all the companies once founded and managed by Joan de Torralba. Linking two main commercial cities of that time — Zaragoza and Barcelona with the forefront financial centres of those days - Italian cities, in particular, Venice, Pisa-Florence, and Genoa — set the company in a unique position. This paper studies two primary components of our business: corporate and financial management. This analysis intends to demonstrate the complexity of management in late medieval companies of the Crown of Aragon, alongside knowledge diffusion and the extent and significance of weaving networks. We have in mind to present how the administration was developing, giving the local colour and regional details, making much of the proper management and contacts through the Mediterranean, employing management and historical analysis. The results reveal that the companies in the Crown of Aragon benefited from their management approach. The position of merchant elites, with the example observed by Joan de Torralba as the executive, was prominent. Hence, the weight of the last centuries of the Middle Ages, considering the West Mediterranean area, was essential in the transition to build a modern-like economic space.

Monasteries in the vicinity of Armenian capitals (7th–13th centuries ad): Archaeology of architectural and urban context

The article analyzes the spread of monasteries in the immediate vicinity or on distant approaches to two cities of Armenia of the late classical and medieval periods, considering information in the sources, the results of archaeological excavations and on-site inspections of the sites. The author reconstructs the sequence of the topography of churches and monasteries near the capitals of the country – Vagharshapat and Ani, identifying the similarities and differences between them. It is noted that the development of the system of shrines in the vicinity of Vagharshapat was determined by the very history of the establishment of Christianity. The main patrons of the church construction from the 4th to the 7th centuries AD were Catholicoses. In the vicinity of Ani, where a surge in the construction of monasteries occurred in the first half of the 11th century AD, there was no given programme, and the originators included the Bagratuni kings and influential princes. While the development of churches near Vagharshapat started under the Arsacid dynasty, continued after the abolition of their royal power, and reached its peak in the first half of the 7th century AD, the monasteries in the vicinity of Ani, founded under the Bagratids, were subsequently developed less actively. In addition, the paper also reveals the specific location of monastic complexes in the vicinity of Ani in connection with the terrain crossed strongly by gorges and the traditional concentration of towns and monasteries along the right, and less often the left, banks of the Akhuryan River. Both on the Ararat Plain and on the Shirak Plateau, the churches and complexes accompanying the capital cities transformed the landscape, so ecclesiastic architectural images marked the visual boundaries of a special, elite culture.

From curiosity to stereotype: the evolution of the chinese image in western missionary ethnographies (13th-20th centuries)

This article utilizes a documentary methodology to investigate the changing representations of China in Western missionary ethnographies from the late medieval period to the modern era. The analysis reveals that narratives from the late medieval period displayed a significant degree of openness and interactivity, providing a nuanced depiction of both the societal advantages of China and the challenges it posed for the dissemination of Christianity. However, a significant paradigmatic shift occurred during the pre-modern period. The writings of Mendoza serve as a pertinent example of this transformation, as they romanticized and sanctified the image of China while intentionally omitting references to its societal declines and obstacles to Christian expansion. Furthermore, the subsequent nineteenth and twentieth centuries were marked by an Orientalist discourse that characterized China as a backward and ignorant "Other". In conclusion, this paper clarifies the evolution from a more open and interactive viewpoint to a unidirectional and objectifying perspective in Western missionary literature spanning the 13th to the 20th centuries.

Tracing the origin of raw materials used for the production of ancient ceramics: a case study of multi-period archaeological sites in the Turopolje area (Continental Croatia)

The selection of raw materials for ancient pottery production was influenced by a variety of technological and cultural factors, underscoring the importance of characterising these materials to understand the technology of ancient societies. This research examines ancient ceramics from two multi-period archaeological sites: Staro Čiče-Gradišće (Neolithic, Copper Age, Copper/Early Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Roman period, and Late Mediaeval period) and Kurilovec-Belinščica (Early Bronze Age and Middle/Late Bronze Age), alongside potential clayey raw materials collected near these settlements. Using a multi-analytical approach (optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, mass and emission spectrometry, and laser granulometry), the research aims to determine the characteristics of the paste recipes (raw clay and tempers) and to examine the type and provenience of the raw materials used for ancient pottery production over different periods of the past (from the Neolithic to the Late Mediaeval period). The results showed that ancient potters preferred to use moderately plastic, sandy clay, while Bronze Age potters often used highly plastic clay. Potters utilised various non-plastic tempering materials, such as sands and gravels, grog, and mollusc shells, with their choice being influenced by the need to enhance technological properties as well as by regional and culturally determined pottery traditions. Most of the ceramics are of local origin, made from easily available raw materials that represent flood sediments of the nearby Sava River. However, non-local materials were detected in Neolithic samples, indicating the presence of exchange networks among those communities.

Decentering the Center: Dialogues with Zeynep Çelik

Review of Susan Slyomovics, ed., Ordering Imperial Worlds: From Late Medieval Spain to the Modern Middle East, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2023, 328 pages, 14 b&w illustrations, 49 color illustrations. ISBN 9781399517867. In this volume of essays in honor of Zeynep Çelik, scholars engage with her rich corpus on built environments of the Mediterranean. Utilizing transdisciplinary and often innovative methods, they draw on diverse voices across space and time to interrogate the idea of empire.

Hidden in plain text: Uncovering hidden heterogeneity and social stratification in Ireland AD 1150-1800.

Between the Irish late medieval (AD 1150-c.1550) (LMP) and post-medieval (AD c.1550-1800) (PMP) periods, colonial practices changed land ownership. Contextualizing these periods within a biocultural political economy framework supports increasing social inequality in the PMP, which we expect to be reflected in different skeletal markers of longevity and stress. Therefore, we hypothesized that widespread exposure to stressors and resource deprivation contributed to lower longevity in the PMP compared to the LMP, and that there would be greater variation between sites in the frequency of linear enamel hypoplasias (LEH) in the PMP. We estimated age and counted matched pairs of LEH on 526 adult skeletons from the Irish counties of Dublin, Kildare, Louth, and Meath. Age-at-death was compared through Kaplan-Meier survival functions and non-parametric tests. Linear enamel hypoplasias prevalences were analyzed with Mann-Whitney U tests and Generalized Linear Models. Age-at-death distribution changed between the LMP and PMP for males, with males experiencing an increase in median-age-at-death. The same was untrue for females, who show no changes in median age-at-death. Analysis of LEH frequency per individual showed that variation between sites was significant in the post-medieval period but not in the late medieval period. These results suggest that social organization contributed to embodied health experiences that varied across time periods. Specifically, populations from the PMP appear to have embodied greater social inequality in their more varied susceptibility to stress. Our work demonstrates the strength of pairing historical texts with the analysis of skeletal remains to evaluate the impact of social structures on biological frailty.

Gifts and Rewards: Exploring the Expenditure of Late Medieval English Queens

ABSTRACT Understanding queenly expenditure is a key part of studying queenship, not least because it provides insight into how queens carried out their roles and responsibilities. But examining such expenditure also serves a purpose in relation to research on the material foundations of queenship. This article examines one aspect of that expenditure, namely the gifts and rewards given by Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth of York, two fifteenth-century English queens consort. Gifts and rewards serve as signal examples of how these queens used their economic resources and provide an additional entry into how to view these queens in economic and social/cultural terms. It shows that relating the queens’ gifts and rewards to and demonstrating the implications of their practices on both their economic and social roles is a fruitful method of extending our understanding of the economic resources available to the queens and how they used them. This article is part of a research cluster in this issue on the economic power of medieval queens.

Marginal Mounds and Maritime Shepherding. A Landscape Archaeological Survey of a Late Medieval Sheep Mound in the Belgian Coastal Plain

ABSTRACT The ‘Scaperie’ site in Knokke-Heist (Belgium), identified through a topographic analysis of a sixteenth-century map and located in a maritime sedimentary environment, serves as the focal point for this research. Employing a landscape archaeological approach, this study integrates multiple data sources including ceramics, historical maps, aerial photographs, LiDAR-data, geophysical surveys, and a coring survey. The dataset revealed the remnants of a anthropogenic sheep mound, evidenced by a localised microtopographic elevation, subsoil anomalies and surface artifacts associated with dairy production. More generally, this paper contributes to the understanding of the dynamic interplay between humans, sheep, and the coastal environment, offering new insights into historic land use and the archaeological characteristics of coastal mounded features. The study introduces a tripartite pattern of spatial organisation of animal husbandry, encompassing parent farms, droveways and satellite dwelling mounds. Encroached by the advancing embankments, this sheep-related taskscape was gradually marginalised both socio-economically and spatially.

Queenship, Wealth and Material Culture in Late Medieval Iberia: Sibila de Fortià’s Evolution from Royal Mistress to Dowager Queen of the Crown of Aragon (1375–1387)

ABSTRACT This paper examines the rise and decline of Sibila de Fortià through the lens of material and economic considerations. The text highlights the intricate interplay between materiality and royal dignity in the life of Queen Sibila. It portrays how her ascent and authority were closely tied to her economic resources and possessions, including symbolic items like the crown and seals. Material culture played a critical role in shaping and projecting the queen's image, especially when her legitimacy was questioned. The paper provides a chronological examination, emphasising the economic and material dimensions of her progression, charting her journey from the king's paramour to her tenure as a queen and finally addressing the challenges encountered during her widowhood. This article is part of a research cluster in this issue on the economic power of medieval queens.

Ordinary Politics in Late Medieval Europe

Ordinary Politics in Late Medieval Europe

“This word in Latyn”: Translation and Untranslatability in Late Medieval Religious Macaronic Lyrics

“This word in Latyn”: Translation and Untranslatability in Late Medieval Religious Macaronic Lyrics

:Confession and Criminal Justice in Late Medieval Italy: Siena, 1260–1330

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Nina Rowe, The Illuminated World Chronicle. Tales from the Late Medieval City. London, Yale University Press 2020

Nina Rowe, The Illuminated World Chronicle. Tales from the Late Medieval City. London, Yale University Press 2020

Introduction: War and Peace in the Late Middle Ages

Whither just war? It is a question scholars and activists have been asking with particular intensity and reappraisal in the last two generations. We turn here to the late medieval period, especially around the time when Muslim forces finally achieved in 1453 an earlier goal: the occupation of Constantinople. This fifteenth-century event, along with the decades before and after, focused the 19th biennial meeting of the American Cusanus Society and the International Seminar on Pre-Reformation Theology held at United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg PA during the autumn of 2023. Three panels of papers and two workshops on texts studied war, peace, and religious violence. While participants looked closely at the life and works of Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), they also considered major events during the long late Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East. The goal was to reevaluate options and actions for war and peace during this crucible moment in history with an eye toward applying historical lessons. This special issue features five articles that grew out of presentations at the 2023 conference by emerging and established scholars; the sixth is on a related topic (by this author). The journal articles in this special issue continue the prolific publication record of the American Cusanus Society, which since 1991 has published, mostly with Brill, over a dozen volumes of essays originating with papers from the Society’s Gettysburg conferences as well as the annual meetings of the Renaissance Society of America and the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University and Leeds.

The End of the Ottoman Empire: A Century after the Fall

A century ago, the Ottoman Empire finally ceased to be after a long reign that stretched back to the late medieval period, and, ostensibly, nobody really missed it. It was once possible to write about the fall of the Ottoman Empire as the overdue culmination of a process that gave rise to independent nation–states. But, increasingly, the empire casts a long shadow on the historiography of the Middle East, and its last days emerge among its most consequential for the future of the region. The same political actors who reshaped late Ottoman politics were integral to the struggle for the post-Ottoman landscape. These individuals included provincial elites from nondominant ethnic groups who, rather than embracing ethnic nationalism, remained Ottomanist in their vision of the region's future until the final moment. Newer scholarship rejects the teleology of the nations that emerged from postwar fracturing, demonstrating that the map was not redrawn by the victors in an instant. It was forged, instead, through armed struggles against European imperial powers and among rival movements that lasted for years. One hundred years after the Ottoman Empire's collapse, historians are still excavating its long-ignored relevance for understanding the modern Middle East, which was buried under the weight of nationalist and Orientalist metanarratives that never questioned the inevitability of its demise.