Late Medieval Research Articles

Possessory Remedies in Late Medieval Frisian Law Texts

Abstract This contribution examines possessory protection in Frisian law texts from the late Middle Ages. These sources show that such protection was an old and fundamental principle. The jurists associated it with the possessory remedies of learned law, i.e., the Roman law interdicts and the canon law actio spolii. In the fifteenth century a certain preference for the latter remedy emerged. There is no trace of French remedies, such as maintenue and complainte, which at the same time were received in other parts of the Low Countries. Compared to the late medieval law texts, early modern law in Friesland was less hybrid. The Roman law of interdicts was predominant. A strong Romanisation must have taken place, while the influence of canon law had ceased.

The Mystical Presence of Christ: The Exceptional and the Ordinary in Late Medieval Religion

The Mystical Presence of Christ: The Exceptional and the Ordinary in Late Medieval Religion

Capturing the fusion of two ancestries and kinship structures in Merovingian Flanders

The Merovingian period (5th to 8th cc AD) was a time of demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and political realignment in Western Europe. Here, we report the whole-genome shotgun sequence data of 30 human skeletal remains from a coastal Late Merovingian site of Koksijde (675 to 750 AD), alongside 18 remains from two Early to Late Medieval sites in present-day Flanders, Belgium. We find two distinct ancestries, one shared with Early Medieval England and the Netherlands, while the other, minor component, reflecting likely continental Gaulish ancestry. Kinship analyses identified no large pedigrees characteristic to elite burials revealing instead a high modularity of distant relationships among individuals of the main ancestry group. In contrast, individuals with >90% Gaulish ancestry had no kinship links among sampled individuals. Evidence for population structure and major differences in the extent of Gaulish ancestry in the main group, including in a mother-daughter pair, suggests ongoing admixture in the community at the time of their burial. The isotopic and genetic evidence combined supports a model by which the burials, representing an established coastal nonelite community, had incorporated migrants from inland populations. The main group of burials at Koksijde shows an abundance of >5 cM long shared allelic intervals with the High Medieval site nearby, implying long-term continuity and suggesting that similarly to Britain, the Early Medieval ancestry shifts left a significant and long-lasting impact on the genetic makeup of the Flemish population. We find substantial allele frequency differences between the two ancestry groups in pigmentation and diet-associated variants, including those linked with lactase persistence, likely reflecting ancestry change rather than local adaptation.

The case of the Guarros fortress (Paterna del Río, Almería):

This paper aims to present the constructive evolution of the fortress of Guarros (Paterna del Río, Almería) and the discovery of a metallurgical production area. This fortification was occupied between the 8th and 13th centuries. This work analyses in detail the evolution of the fortress through building archaeology. It relates it to the mining possibilities of the surrounding territory to contextualise the metallurgical production area. The results show that this production is limited to the early medieval period and seems to correspond to the Late Antique and Early Medieval production models documented on the northern side of Sierra Nevada, with small workshops far from the extraction areas. This is an important advance in our knowledge of medieval mining and metallurgy on the southern face of Sierra Nevada, practically unknown until now.

Horse skulls revisited. Analyses of selected deposits from the territory of Poland

The article presents results of the most recent study on three assemblages of horse skulls and bones presented in older publications as early medieval deposits. In the course of the project “Horse in Poland in the Times of the Early Piasts and Internal Fragmentation. AnInterdisciplinaryStudy”, they were subjected to multifaceted archaeozoological analyses as well as AMS carbon-14 dating. Owing to the findings of these analyses along with a critical culture-related assessment of the earlier interpretations, the custom of using horse skulls for magical rituals in the Late Medieval and in modern times. The custom from the pagan era was still practiced in folklore culture and its magical, non-Christian manifestations. The presented results show that dating animal deposits using the AMS carbon-14 method is necessary whenever they become an element of a qualitative-cultural interpretation. They are also an example of merging methods and findings from different specialties in interpreting zoological deposits resulting from human activity. Moreover, the considerations contained in this paper suggest also that there is a need for reinterpreting theses that have been long in use in the subject literature.

Chinese Echoes

This paper presents a single artefact, a base sherd from a storage jar. The pot is dark grey stoneware with a thick, light grey-green celadon glaze. The inside is slipcovered with a thin layer of beige-brown clay and has distinct turning marks. Theoriginal theory was that this might be Chinese Dusun Ware, a type of storage jars which were widely exported from East Asia to the Middle East during the 8th–10th Centuries CE. Such an artefact would have been sensational to find as far north asOslo, Norway, although the sturdy pots were widely reused and have been known to travel to North-Western Europe. To check its provenance, ICP analyses were carried out – and thus a completely different story could be written, one of Western Europeans copying the much sought-after East Asian pottery in the Late Medieval and Renaissance periods. So how did this convincing Chinese copy arrive in Oslo, who could have brought it, and when did it arrive on these shores? Importantly, what can a Chinese copy tell us about relations and connections between Europe and China? We were intrigued, and wonder how many other examples of this may be found in the Nordic countries?

Interacting with Saints in the Late Antique and Medieval Worlds ed. by Robert Wiśniewski, Raymond Van Dam, and Bryan Ward-Perkins (review)

Interacting with Saints in the Late Antique and Medieval Worlds ed. by Robert Wiśniewski, Raymond Van Dam, and Bryan Ward-Perkins (review)

Sabine-Florence Fabijanec, Zrinka Novak, and Zoran Ladić, eds. Social and Individual Spatial Mobility in Late Medieval and Renaissance Croatia in European Context

Sabine-Florence Fabijanec, Zrinka Novak, and Zoran Ladić, eds. <i>Social and Individual Spatial Mobility in Late Medieval and Renaissance Croatia in European Context</i>

From Christmas Candlesticks to Deathbeds: The Material Culture of the Male ‘Middling Sort’ in Late Medieval English Wills

ABSTRACT This article analyses how men of the rural ‘middling sort’ in late medieval England used movable goods to perform their status and gender by applying relational approaches from material culture studies to bequests in their wills and testaments. It is based on analysis of 403 wills produced by husbandmen, yeomen and gentlemen from Norfolk and Suffolk, c. 1425–1538. Ranking between the gentry and peasantry, these men were major landholders, administrators and consumers in the English countryside, but their mentalities and wills have received little attention. Wills provide evidence for how rural men interpreted their belongings in life and how they imagined objects could help them prolong their patriarchal authority after death. By focusing on three moments when wills intervened in the lifecycles of things – commodity exchange, gift-giving and animation – this analysis models the relational interpretation of medieval material culture and reveals how objects helped create male, middling-status identities.

Tamara Golan. Review of "Visual Aggression: Images of Martyrdom in Late Medieval Germany" by Assaf Pinkus.

Tamara Golan. Review of "Visual Aggression: Images of Martyrdom in Late Medieval Germany" by Assaf Pinkus.

Księgozbiory i książki rękopiśmienne w prawodawstwie ogólnym zakonu Braci Mniejszych w późnym średniowieczu

The article presents the subject of studio and library legislation in the Order of Friars Minor in the late-medieval period.

Experiencing God in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, by David J. Davis

<i>Experiencing God in Late Medieval and Early Modern England</i>, by David J. Davis

Luke Giraudet, Public Opinion and Political Contest in Late Medieval Paris: The Parisian Bourgeois and His Community, 1400–1450. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022. 328pp. 8 b/w images. €104.00 hbk.

Luke Giraudet, Public Opinion and Political Contest in Late Medieval Paris: The Parisian Bourgeois and His Community, 1400–1450. Turnhout: Brepols, 2022. 328pp. 8 b/w images. €104.00 hbk.

Moving Late Antique and Early Medieval Penance (c. 550–800) into the Purview of Slavery and Dependency Studies

Moving Late Antique and Early Medieval Penance (c. 550–800) into the Purview of Slavery and Dependency Studies

A Musical Variation on Late Medieval Religious Reform: Johannes Nider and the Observant Dominican Liturgy

A Musical Variation on Late Medieval Religious Reform: Johannes Nider and the Observant Dominican Liturgy

Кримські татари в історичній та культурній спадщині України XV–XVII ст.

The article aims to study the history of the Crimean Tatars of the XV–XVII centuries within historical cultural heritage materials. The territorial is limited to the Volyn region, namely the cities of Ostroh and Dubno. The study methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. Besides these principles, we use the principle of systematicity to study the documents. The factor analysis was effective in examining the social and political processes that took place in the late medieval and early modern periods. We also use the typological method considering material culture objects. Analytical and synthesizing methods were used to generalize the information obtained. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that it studies the historical, cultural, and material heritage of one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine - the Crimean Tatars in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. During the Ukrainian independence historians and archaeologists prepared some publications on the subject, but the generalized monographic study is absent. In addition, a significant part of material artifacts are kept in the collections of various museums and are not available in exhibition halls. Conclusions. The study of the Crimean Tatars’ material heritage on the territory of mainland Ukraine is important. Despite the rather complicated relations during the XV–XVII centuries, there are many examples of cooperation against common enemies, such as the Moscow state or the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Communities of immigrants from Crimea lived in many Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages, and together with the locals, they contributed to the common welfare and prosperity. All this has left a significant mark on the history, culture, and historical memory of different peoples. The presented artifacts of the Crimean Tatars from the collections of the museums of Ostroh and Dubno will contribute to the study and popularization of the cultural heritage of one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine. We are firmly convinced that other Ukrainian museums (especially in their collections) hold many items related to the Crimean Tatars. Therefore, our research will continue.

Women and Violence in Late Medieval Europe

Women and Violence in Late Medieval Europe

:Prostitution and Subjectivity in Late Medieval Germany

:<i>Prostitution and Subjectivity in Late Medieval Germany</i>

Rethinking “Domestic Enemies”: Slavery and Race Formation in Late Medieval Florence

Rethinking “Domestic Enemies”: Slavery and Race Formation in Late Medieval Florence

Food, Contamination, and Race-Thinking: Culinary Encounters in Late Medieval Missionary Accounts of Asia

Food, Contamination, and Race-Thinking: Culinary Encounters in Late Medieval Missionary Accounts of Asia