Medieval Sicily Research Articles

COMPOSITION“KING ROGER” KAROL SHIMANOVSKY IN PRESENTING IDEAS BLESSING OF THE FAITH

The idea of worshiping Orthodoxy may have long hindered the recognition of the work in Poland itself, where Catholic religion became a component of national emblematics, although it premiered in Poland at the Warsaw Bolshoi Theater in 1926. But in the reference literature it is noted that “much greater success than in Warsaw was “King Roger” in musical Prague (1932) and later in Palermo in Sicily in 1949, where he was staged at the local Teatro Massimo with the participation of the famous Italian artists, in a re-enactment of Bronislaw Horowicz and under the direction of Mieczyslaw Mezheevsky”. And further the author of the same essay in the “Guide to the Opera” J. Kanski noted: “King Roger is an unusual opera. Unusual was already conceived in the imagination of the composer and masterfully realized by Yaroslav Ivashkevich the concept of libretto, which made the place of the action medieval Sicily, interweaving the atmosphere of austere asceticism of the then Christianity with the colorful and mysterious world of Arabic and Byzantine culture, in the figure of the Pastor, who later transformed into the Greek god Dionysus)”. Later on, Kanysky states a whole list of “oddities” that distanced this work from the general public – and the first in that list is “the strangeness of the music itself”, in which the opera-ballet and cantat-oratorial typological components exhibit a high level of artistry, has direct analogues neither in Polish nor in the world as a whole. J. Kansky’s sentence is as follows: what remains of Shimanovsky’s “work is beautiful and lonely”. Such a summary clearly ignores the Eastern and Central European analogies, since the impulse for K. Shimanovsky’s “Dionysian mysteriousness” can be traced back to O. Borodin’s “Polovtsian Ecstatic” the glorification of “severe asceticism” in “St. Francis of Assisi” by O. Messian, whose spiritual ideas were nourished by the Hesychastic energy of the prayerful ecstasy of the mysteriousness of O. Scriabin. However the recognition of K. Shimanovsky really only took place at the beginning of the third millennium, and the Christian background of the Scriabin ecstatic, which was vigorously discussed in the Odesa press in the 1910’s, along with the mysterious samples of the “Drama of the Spirit” by V. Rebikov – was not extended in the 1920’s – 1930’s, when only the folkloristic national-demonstration innovations of the composer were appreciated. In S. Gelman’s preface to the publication of the score of this work by K. Shimanovsky we find some reflections on its genre meaning, from which it is clear that “King Roger” does not represent a pure operatic discovery, but rather constitutes the border of opera and musical drama, marked, however, equally by elements of oratorial, and even features of the mysterious spectacle. This commentary sees the Wagnerian influence, without noticing at the same time the Eastern European origins of K. Shimanovsky’s score and the outspoken scribbling of the composition born in the Ukrainian South. In general, the work has the features of stage oratory, as we find it in the version of I. Stravinsky’s works, and later by K. Orff.

The role of sheep husbandry during the Arab agricultural revolution in medieval Sicily (7th-14th c. AD)

Sheep, and to a lesser extent goat, pastoralism was a central component of the economy of medieval Sicily. Unlike the Byzantine period (6th- early 9th c. AD), when sheep/goat were mainly raised for their wool, husbandry strategies were much more generalised during the Arab occupation (9th-11th c. AD). In this latter period, caprines were equally exploited for meat, dairy products and wool. Biometrical analyses indicate an increase in sheep size in the Arab period, which is probably a consequence of an interest in maximising outputs. This phenomenon can be interpreted as a component of the broader changes associated with the so-called Arab Agricultural Revolution. In the Norman/Aragonese period (11th- late 13th c. AD), a further improvement in sheep size indicates a continuity of the animal husbandry strategies initiated by the Arabs. In this period, sheep/goat culling profiles suggest the existence of a more specialised economy focused on meat and, to a lesser extent, wool production.

The Role of Sheep Husbandry During the Arab Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Sicily (7th-14th C. Ad)

The Role of Sheep Husbandry During the Arab Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Sicily (7th-14th C. Ad)

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily.

Sicily, during the 9th-12th century AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th -12th century in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, across all four sites and ceramic forms. Alongside the identification of commodities and how they were combined, new light has been shed on the patterning of resource use between these sites. The identification of dairy products in calcite wares from the rural site of Casale San Pietro and the absence of dairy in ceramics from the urban centre of Palermo presents interesting questions regarding the role of rural sites in food consumption and production in Islamic Sicily. This is the first time organic residue analysis of ceramics has been used to explore foodways in a medieval multi-faith society and offers new pathways to the understanding of pottery use and resources that were prepared, consumed and combined, reflecting cuisine in different socio-economic environments within the pluralistic population of medieval Sicily.

The Norman Sicily Project: A Digital Portal to Sicily’s Norman Past

The cultural heritage of medieval Sicily faces enormous challenges. Rich and diverse as it is, it is beset by numerous problems that have rendered it fragile and often inaccessible. The situation is such that many sites are unsigned. Others are very difficult to get to. And even others – ones that are more easily located – have erratic hours, essentially locking out the average visitor to Sicily unless s/he is willing to invest the time and have the language skills necessary to persuade residents in the surrounding area to get the access keys. Given these challenges, we are developing The Norman Sicily Project to document the cultural heritage of medieval Sicily during its Norman period (in other words, c. 1061–1194) so that a wide audience can learn about what was once there and what still remains. The site attempts to reconstruct what we know about the society by bringing together images, basic identifying information, geolocation data and, in some cases, videos, using modern web development techniques. It also offers genealogical information and visualization tools that can help visitors understand the data in new ways as well as sustainability data related to the monuments’ physical states. The intention is that the project will offer scholars, students and the general public who are interested in Norman Sicily the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with each other while suggesting a web-based model for other medieval communities.

Water and wealth in medieval Sicily: The case of the Admiral's Bridge and Arab‐Norman Palermo (10th–13th centuries)

The Muslim capture of Palermo in 831 transformed a small Byzantine outpost into the capital of Islamic Sicily and a Mediterranean metropolis. Central to this urban growth was Palermo's role as an agricultural and trading hub: the city's geophysical situation on the north‐western shores of Sicily linked it with a fertile plane where rivers flowed north into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Throughout the medieval period, Palermo's dependence on this area's water resources made questions of water use and management a key concern in the medieval city. However, there has been little scholarly debate about such issues. With an eye to recent archeological studies concerning the Oreto districts, this article will explore such dynamics by analyzing an important piece of architecture which crosses the Oreto river: the so‐called Bridge of the Admiral. This bridge was recently made a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the most significant works of medieval Mediterranean engineering. Until now, research has concentrated on questions of its date and commissioning: scholarship has largely assumed that it was constructed in 1132 by George of Antioch, the admiral of King Roger II. However, as this article will demonstrate, there is little evidence to support this conclusion. This study will approach the debate by analyzing the spatial setting of the bridge. In so doing, it will be shown how an investigation of the bridge's toponym and topography can elucidate details concerning both the bridge's commissioning and the institutional relationship between the Oreto area and the city of Palermo.This article is categorized under: Human Water> Water as Imagined and Represented Human Water> Water Governance

An execution in medieval Sicily: Computerised tomography scan analysis and 3D reconstruction of an ancient forensic context

AbstractThe bioarchaeological and forensic approach is increasingly applied in the study of funerary contexts in archaeology. Here, we present a case of an atypical medieval burial recently discovered in Piazza Armerina (Sicily), in which the integrated use of traditional bioarchaeological and forensic anthropology methods was crucial. The skeleton was lying in a prone position and was characterised by a peculiar injury pattern. We recorded six clear stab wound marks on the posterior surface of the sternum. The use of computerised tomography scan and 3D modelling techniques has made it possible to obtain a reliable reconstruction of the cause and modality of death, pointing to the execution of the individual. The importance of this case study is twofold. First, the injury pattern recorded currently constitutes a unicum in the bioarchaeological record. Second, it represents the first well‐documented case of an atypical burial in Sicily.

Adab as Social Currency: the Survival of the Qaṣīda in Medieval Sicily

This article explores the resilience of the qaṣīda as social currency in the Kalbid and Norman periods of Sicily. It demonstrates how the Kalbid emirs incorporated the sociopoietic function of the Arabic ode — its capacity to create bonds of social exchange based on a shared ethos — in their programme to foster cohesion at a court potentially endangered by social, confessional and ethnic rivalries. It subsequently shows how the qaṣīda carried out a comparable function at the Norman court of Roger II, where Arabic poets once again resorted to the language and lore of the qaṣīda in order to craft a neutral space of interaction for Muslims and Christians at court.

Ruling from afar: government and information management in late medieval Sicily

ABSTRACTIn 1412 Sicily lost its independence and became part of the Crown of Aragon. To rule the island, the new monarchs developed a system of long-distance government, through the action of local viceroys. But how did this system work in practice? This article engages with the lively historiographical debate about late medieval Sicily and more generally the Aragonese conglomerate by examining the series of libri quictacionum (‘books of quittances’) produced by the financial office, the Conservatoria regii patrimonii. It shows that the management of information – by means of a new genre of documents, an innovative record-keeping system and an apparatus of marginal annotations – became crucial in establishing effective government at a distance and in strengthening royal control over Sicilian institutions and officers. Moreover, these books and the documents they encompass highlight the social dynamics of the island and the emergence of an urban class: the Aragonese promoted the inclusion of the principal members of the latter into central government by granting them offices.

A Companion to Medieval Palermo: The History of a Mediterranean City from 600 to 1500, ed. Annliese Nef

Amid the growing number of histories of medieval Sicily, there are few works dedicated to Palermo, even though other Mediterranean capitals such as Naples, Barcelona and Valencia have been well favoured with single-author and collaborative studies. This book therefore fills a notable gap, and, by taking as its time-span the entire millennium from the early Byzantine town to the end of the fifteenth century, it also offers a panorama of Sicilian history across the many conquests and invasions that repeatedly transformed the ethnic, religious and cultural character of the island; moreover, by stressing often ignored continuities, this book shows that the history of Palermo was not simply defined by its conquerors. The editor, Annliese Nef, who is fast establishing herself as a major French expert on medieval Sicily alongside Henri Bresc, has had the idea of introducing work by French and Italian scholars to the English-speaking world. Most of the articles have, therefore, been translated by Martin Thom (though not always consistently—‘economical’ is not the same as ‘economic’, and it makes no sense to call the chronicler known as Hugo Falcandus sometimes by that name, and sometimes by the name Ugo Falcando). The ‘indicative bibliography’, whatever that term means, is far from adequate, although one would expect a good bibliography to be a major feature of a volume in the series of ‘Brill’s Companions to European History’. On the other hand, the book is very beautifully produced, with colour plates and good maps. Sometimes one has the impression that the liveliest scholarship concerning the kingdom of Sicily is being conducted in Naples rather than Sicily, so it is good to see work here by several of the more productive and stimulating Sicilian historians, such as E. Igor Mineo and Fabrizio Titone, both of whom are especially interested in the problem of urban autonomy in late medieval Sicily. Archaeologists and art historians have combined with more traditional historians of the economy, religion and culture to provide a really useful source of reference.

PrP Gene Polymorphism in Medieval Remains of Sicilian Sheep

Encephalopathy in sheep was at first described in Ireland in 1732 and was called scrapie. Ancient DNA in archaeogenetics represents an effective method to evaluate the ancestral pedigree of living animals and track evolutionary changes occurred between the past and the present day. Since several point mutations are today widely described in modern scrapie, no data about both sequence and frequency are still available for the prion protein (PrP) gene in ancient breeds. In order to evaluate whether the haplotypes distribution in ancient sheep differed from those of the modern population we evaluated polymorphism at four well know codons of the Prp Open Reading Frame. In the present work, we collected 37 medieval sheep bone remains found at the Calathamet (n = 11), Palazzo Bonagia (n = 12) and Palazzo Steri (n = 14) Sicilians archeological sites and dated back between 9th - 15th century. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at codons 136, 141, 154 and 171 of the prion protein (PrP) were investigated using cycle sequencing. Sequenom Mass ARRAYiPLEX platform confirmed the results for 5 individuals out of 37. Cycle sequencing showed at all samples the AA136LL141RR154QQ171 (hereafter ALRQ/ALRQ) genotype except at 2 individuals showing the very susceptible genotype VLRQ/VLRQ (n = 1) and the resistant (ALRR/ ALRR) (n = 1) respectively. Supported by a high incidence of susceptible genotype to prion infection we concluded that presumably scrapie was already widespread enough in the medieval Sicily. Moreover, we described conceivable scenarios that could have underlain evolutionary changes in the medieval sheep population.

Bewailing the Dead. Social Tension and Mourning Practices in Late Medieval Sicily

This study aims to shed light on the mourning rites, with a special focus on the role of the professional mourners (reputantes) of late medieval Sicily. It will show that they were highly controversial; were not the only group that was involved in public mourning; had political as well as emotional significance. Further goals are to shed light on the emotionally liberating value of particular manifestations of grief; and to highlight the interactions and circularity of practices in mourning promoted by the reputantes. The analysis of funeral rituals demonstrates how the professionals’ participation created a convergence of individuals from diverse and distant social strata; just as it confirms a vision of medieval culture that is multi-polar and interactional. The primary sources used have permitted observations from various perspectives. Among these sources are both normative materials produced by temporal and religious authorities and petitions produced by metropolitan and other communities.

La Zisa/Gloriette: Cultural Interaction and the Architecture of Repose in Medieval Sicily, France and Britain

Recent scholarship has called attention to the common features shared by five French and British elite centres of leisure called ‘gloriette’ that were built or so-named in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Because these centres of repose and entertainment were located in principal residences, and thus were not garden pavilions, it has been suggested that there was no relationship between the northern gloriettes and the garden pavilion of La Zisa in Palermo, Sicily, whose name also meant ‘the glorious’. This article draws on archival sources in order to enhance our understanding of the resemblances between the gloriette of Hesdin, in northern France, and the four gloriettes in England and Wales. Drawing on the significant features of these five northern gloriettes, it also takes another look at the details of La Zisa, suggesting that we should not be so quick to dismiss its possible influence on the northern gloriettes, most especially the two that were built by King Edward I and Count Robert II of Artois after they had passed through Palermo in 1270/72.

The king’s health and the people’s health. Eating and care of the self in late medieval Sicily

Dining and personal health care are two dimensions which are strongly connected to the body, between need and pleasure. They are two dimensions which have many social, local, religious and economic implications involving knowledge and different therapies related to age and gender. The social role is equally important. With a focus on the court (noble, episcopal, real) and the cities, the present work focuses on the methods and the uses of healing practices of both kings and islanders.

Textile Connections? Two Ifrīqiyan Church Treasuries in Norman Sicily and the Problem of Continuity across Political Change

Recent research has stressed the particular importance of silks as the portable agents of a common aesthetic of Mediterranean elites. A number of similarities can be detected between the silk fabrics listed in the twelfth-century inventories of two Ifrīqiyan churches, and textiles from medieval Sicily. Should they be ascribed to a pan-Mediterranean fashion, or is it possible to make a more specific case for textile connections between Sicily and Ifrīqiya and – possibly – for a continuity between pre-Norman and Norman, Islamic and Christian rules? This article will discuss evidence for a medium-specific continuity in silk production and weaving, and will explore, with reference to Roger II's mantle, whether such continuities can be explained purely by practical arguments, or whether a visual display of continuity in royal representation may not also have reflected political intentions.

The art of the sonnet

Few poetic forms have found more uses than the sonnet in English, and none is now more recognizable. It is one of the longest-lived of verse forms, and one of the briefest. A mere fourteen lines, fashioned by intricate rhymes, it is, as Dante Gabriel Rossetti called it, 'a moment's monument'. From the Renaissance to the present, the sonnet has given poets a superb vehicle for private contemplation, introspection, and the expression of passionate feelings and thoughts. Art of the Sonnet collects one hundred exemplary sonnets of the English language (and a few sonnets in translation), representing highlights in the history of the sonnet, accompanied by short commentaries on each of the poems. The commentaries by Stephen Burt and David Mikics offer new perspectives and insights, and, taken together, demonstrate the enduring as well as changing nature of the sonnet. The authors serve as guides to some of the most-celebrated sonnets in English as well as less-well-known gems by nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets. Also included is a general introductory essay, in which the authors examine the sonnet form and its long and fascinating history, from its origin in medieval Sicily to its English appropriation in the sixteenth century to sonnet writing today in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking parts of the world.

Medieval Sicily and Southern Italy in Recent Historiographical Perspective

AbstractSicily and southern Italy during the Middle Ages have been a neglected area of study for many years, primarily due to the general belief that the area fell into decline after the ‘fall’ of Rome. Recently, however, there has been growing interest in the Muslims of medieval Sicily and Italy, as well as the Jewish and Greek populations that lived under Latin Christian rule for many centuries. There has also been a rise in scholarship on the medieval Mediterranean region as a whole, which has caused a re‐evaluation not only of the role and importance of the Mediterranean world, but also of how the medieval European system worked, how Latin Christendom related to the Muslim states on its southern borders, and what roles Muslim cultures and settlements played in the development of Italy’s society.

The Last Multi-Cultural Encounter in Medieval Sicily: A Dominican Scholar, an Arabic Inscription, and a Jewish Legend

The Dominican friar Pietro Ranzano in his History of Palermo, written around 1470, discussed a presumed ‘Chaldaic’ (actually, Arabic) inscription discovered in that city. Ranzano's rendition of the inscription is based on a legend that first appears in Sefer Josippon, a Hebrew historical work from the tenth century. Although later studies proved that Ranzano was misled in his interpretation of the text, perhaps by the Jews of Palermo, this episode is important for understanding Ranzano's attitudes towards Jews, and the value he put on Hebrew books. It also offers a glimpse into the cultural encounters between Jews and Christians in late medieval Sicily.

"FREEDOM'S CHARTER'D AIR

Felicia Hemans's tragedy The Vespers of Palermo (1823) dramatizes the Sicilians' struggle to free their island from the foreign domination of Charles of Anjou, culminating in their successful popular uprising of 1282. The play's narrative of events in medieval Sicily, however, also constitutes a commentary on the situation of post-Napoleonic Europe. In effect the play reßects on more general notions of liberty and tyranny, revolution, patriotism, political representation, and the roots of the national compact. More speciÞcally, it complicates issues such as the democratic process, patriotic allegiance, and an idea of community which is in many ways related to what JŸrgen Habermas would term the "public sphere." The tragedy is particularly relevant because its revision of these principles took place at a time when liberal ideas were starting to take shape in the Spanish and Italian constitutional revolts of 1820-21 and in British politics. In this essay I approach Hemans's verse-drama as yet another instance of a Romantic-period displaced representation of topical political issues; but I also propose this work as a critical reßection on its own ideological materials and on the obstacles besetting any practical realization of liberal principles. Moreover, in The Vespers of Palermo this ideological elaboration is rooted in speciÞc structural and formal strategies, the most conspicuous of which is an insistence on the semantic and metaphoric Þelds of voice and sound. Through its interweaving of ideological and formal features, Hemans's tragedy throws light on the difÞculties in separating an imperializing police state from a community based on tolerance and the respect and protection of individual freedom. Hemans thus teaches her public to read the liberal project as a developing and unÞnished process.

References to Silk in Geniza Documents of the Eleventh Century A. D.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReferences to Silk in Geniza Documents of the Eleventh Century A. D.Moshe GilMoshe Gil Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 61, Number 1Jan., 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/468976 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 2002 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Sarah C. Davis-Secord Medieval Sicily and Southern Italy in Recent Historiographical Perspective, History Compass 8, no.11 (Jan 2010): 61–87.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00651.xRobin Fleming Acquiring, flaunting and destroying silk in late Anglo-Saxon England, Early Medieval Europe 15, no.22 (Mar 2007): 127–158.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0254.2007.00201.x