ABSTRACT Polish mountaineering historiography is dominated by narratives focused on men’s achievements, while women’s mountaineering remains under-researched. The development of independent women’s climbing in the Tatra Mountains – from the sixteenth century to 1939 – was shaped by both favourable conditions and numerous constraints resulting from a complex system of social, political, and cultural factors. An analysis based on archival sources, memoirs, press reports, and community documents reveals women’s path to independent climbing in the male-dominated Tatras. The study identifies the barriers they faced – from social norms and patronising attitudes to media criticism – as well as the support mechanisms that facilitated their activities: emancipatory upbringing, medical advances, education, and inspiration from abroad. Combining a historical perspective with critical theory of sport allows us to see that the Tatras became for women not only a place of physical challenge, but also a space for struggle for independence, recognition, and empowerment. Climbing represented a form of personal freedom, but it did not necessarily equate to support for emancipatory ideals or gender equality. Despite women’s significant contributions to the development of mountaineering in the Tatras, their presence in its history remains marginalised.

Purpose This study aimed to explain the role of the Pajajaran Kingdom's nobility in the Islamization process of Banten. It focuses on tracing how local elites contributed to the region’s emerging Islamic identity and participated in the socio-religious transformation that accompanied the early spread of Islam. Method The research employed a qualitative, descriptive-historical approach. Primary sources — including manuscripts, chronicles, archival materials, and historical documents—were analyzed through textual examination and historical reconstruction to uncover the political, cultural, and religious dynamics linking Pajajaran nobles with key actors in Banten’s Islamization. Results/findings The study finds that Pajajaran nobles played an active role in Islamization, not as marginal figures but as agents of transformation. Figures such as Syarif Hidayatullah, Maulana Hasanuddin, Ki Agus Jo, and Mas Jong used persuasive strategies grounded in Sufi values, facilitating broad acceptance of Islam. Their efforts consolidated Banten’s position as a prominent Islamic sultanate in the Nusantara between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Conclusion The findings reaffirmed that Islamization in Indonesia unfolded through peaceful and cultural means rather than religious hegemony. Future research is encouraged to investigate the contributions of other local actors within the wider Islamization networks of the archipelago.

ABSTRACT Many readers have regarded William Godwin’s St. Leon: The Tale of the Sixteenth Century (1799) as an expression of his newfound appreciation for domestic affection. Yet such readings tend to overlook the novel’s emphasis on communication grounded in mutual understanding which operates as the foundation for gradual social reform. This essay argues that Godwin, influenced by Adam Smith’s moral theory, foregrounds sociality in both private and public relations to illustrate his vision of social reform. Through St. Leon’s journey, Godwin cautions against pursuing reform through external interventions that disregard the communal and historical fabric of society. The novel ultimately stresses the importance of fostering a social and communal understanding through open and persistent communication, which is crucial for both personal relationships and broader social improvement. Consequently, this essay contends that the primary concern of St. Leon lies not in the contest between reason and attachment, but in Godwin’s evolving conception of social improvement.

This paper enquires into the rise of a particular precursor of the notion of progress in the sixteenth century through the lens of the work of French scholar Peter Ramus whose amendments to the classical curriculum – rhetoric and dialectic or logic – introduced a method and a pedagogy into the organisation of extant knowledge for learning for the first time. Ramus’ method was stoutly resisted by the scholastic professors in Paris at the time, and his belligerent style made enemies wherever he went. Nevertheless his method spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and arguably lies at the heart of the modern curriculum. Two large question marks hang over his legacy. The first is, why was his work so successful at that particular time; the second is, why does his legacy to this day continue to divide scholars as to its value and worth. What is easily lost in the debates is that progress in knowledge in the sense of progression through the curriculum, and in the sense of a programme for constant curriculum renewal and reinvention, enters the curriculum for the first time and begins to usher in the beginnings of modern education.

ABSTRACT The mythical archipelago of the Cassiterides (or Tin) Islands was first mentioned by Herodotus (5th century BC). Claudius Ptolemy (ca. AD 150) assigned them geographical coordinates (longitude and latitude) at a location off the northwestern coast of Spain. After the rediscovery of Ptolemy's Geography in Renaissance Europe, the Cassiterides started to appear in Ptolemaic manuscripts and printed maps of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in the fifteenth century. Around 1468, the cartographer Nicolas Germanus identified the Cassiterides with the then recently discovered Azores Islands, effectively placing the ‘Pseudo-Azores’ in Ptolemy's coordinates to reconcile classical authority with new geographical knowledge. These ‘Psedo-Azores’ were subsequently reproduced in later ‘modern’ maps of Hispania. Our research focused on searching and examining high-resolution digitised manuscripts and printed maps of Spain from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that feature the ‘Pseudo-Azores’. The analysis of these documents, many of which are accessible online, highlights the crucial role of digital resources in the history of cartography. The findings offer new insights into the cartographic relationships of some of the earliest maps of Spain and clarify the interconnections between the Ulm, Rome, and Strasbourg editions of Ptolemy´s Geography.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori oral histories, ethno-historical accounts, and archaeological evidence indicate that kūmara (sweet potato; Ipomoea batatas) and taro (Colocasia esculenta) horticulture were key drivers of population growth and cultural change. We investigate diet, childhood residency, and chromosomal sex of Māori tūpuna (ancestors) who were discovered accidentally during roadworks in the Waikato region, an area with widespread evidence for intensive horticulture from the sixteenth century CE. The kōiwi tangata (human remains), dated to ca. 250-170 cal BP, were interred as a commingled secondary burial in a borrow pit during the Traditional Period of Māori history, a time characterized by highly distinctive art, architecture, cosmology, and whakapapa (genealogy). Using isotope and enamel peptide analyses we find that all seven tūpuna relied primarily on plant foods. Two children (chromosomally male and chromosomally female, respectively) were likely local and weaned onto plant foods within the first two to three years of life. These findings demonstrate that horticulture was central to life in the Waikato during the Traditional Period, to the extent that some individuals ate predominantly plant-based diets.

This study examines the political, social, and cultural transformations that shaped the Central Sudan region between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, with particular emphasis on the historical development of the Kanem–Bornu Empire. Despite its long-standing significance in African and Islamic history, the socio-cultural dimensions of this empire remain relatively underexplored compared to other prominent West African states such as Mali and Songhai. The research adopts a historical-analytical approach, drawing upon both primary narratives and secondary historiographical sources to reconstruct the evolution of the Kanem–Bornu polity. It explores the role of geography in facilitating trans-Saharan trade networks, which positioned the empire as a crucial economic and cultural crossroads linking North Africa with sub-Saharan regions. The study further analyzes the political organization of the state, particularly under the Zaghawa and Saifid dynasties, highlighting their contributions to state formation, territorial expansion, and administrative continuity over several centuries. In addition, the paper investigates the processes through which Islam was introduced, institutionalized, and disseminated across the region. The adoption of Islam by ruling elites significantly influenced governance structures, legal systems, and cultural practices, while also promoting the spread of the Arabic language and scholarly traditions. The findings demonstrate that the Kanem–Bornu Empire functioned not only as a political entity but also as a dynamic center of cultural interaction, religious transformation, and economic exchange. Ultimately, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the historical complexity of Central Sudan and underscores the importance of integrating socio-cultural perspectives into the study of African Islamic empires.

Is ethnic diversity good or bad for economic development? Most studies find corrosive effects. This paper shows that historical exposure to economic exchange can mitigate these effects in the long run. I collect data from a natural experiment of Peru's colonial history: the forced resettlement of native populations in the sixteenth century. Where the resettlement concentrated ethnically diverse populations with a history of internal crop exchange, contemporary populations perform better systematically. Additional evidence suggests that prior experience with mutually beneficial crop exchange shaped more open attitudes toward out-group members. Economic complementarities helped sustain long-run, market-oriented cooperation and local trade. (JEL F54, J15, N16, N36, N56, O15, Q12)

The nerve supply of the face has an intricate branching pattern that is often difficult to differentiate. The present study was undertaken to highlight the historical discoveries that helped understand the distribution of peripheral nerves in the face, identify the difficulty in comprehending the relevant anatomy due to complex details, and explore the relevance of historical details in addressing how the facial nerve is currently taught. Historically, Galen (third century AD) described the trigeminal nerve as dominant in regulating the motor and sensory supply of the face; however, he saw the facial nerve as being limited to a minor role in motor innervation, with a common origin alongside the vestibulocochlear nerve. This inaccurate concept persisted throughout the Middle Ages until the Early Renaissance in Europe. Thereafter, scientific studies by Fallopio and Eustachio (sixteenth century) and Sömmerring (eighteenth century) established the autonomous origin and extensive motor distribution of facial nerves. Despite considerable differences, Bell and Mayo (nineteenth century) agreed that the facial nerve is the nerve of facial expression. The discovery of facial nerve nuclei within the brainstem (early twentieth century) has allowed us to understand the motor, sensory, and autonomic components of the facial nerve. Advances in neurophysiology (twentieth century) have identified sensory fibers from the trigeminal nerve to the facial muscles (key to facial proprioception), in addition to motor innervation from branches of the facial nerve. This finding solved the puzzle regarding dual nerve supply of the facial muscles, often presenting as intricate connections. Similarly, the discovery of the upper motor neuron and lower motor neuron (late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) solved the conundrum of facial palsy and the location of lesions in relation to the facial nerve nuclei. Comprehensive three-dimensional models elucidating the intricate details of the nerve supply to the face and facial nerve are effective in mapping, retaining, and reproducing relevant knowledge in academic and clinical practice. This methodology is currently used in anatomical sciences to teach the anatomy of the facial nerve.

Abstract This article analyzes a pivotal historical moment for the Mevlevī order during the long sixteenth century, highlighting the impact of “Ottoman Sunnitization” on its evolution amidst Ottoman empire-building and the rise of puritanical movements in Istanbul. It questions how the Mevlevī order became mainstream within the wider process of Ottoman Sunnitization. It posits that the Mevlevī order, initially comprising largely itinerant dervishes and operating through a network of small rural dervish convents, underwent substantial transformation within the extensive politico-religious landscape, partly in response to the escalating anti-Sufi sentiment in Istanbul from the latter half of the sixteenth century. This transformation involved redefining the order as a formal institution with codified ādāb , establishing extensive networks of urban lodges, and standardizing rituals and practices, marking a shift from the order’s initial fluidity and diversity to a more structured and conformist embodiment.

Abstract The meticulous process of crafting a chronicle often spans many years, with valuable insights into this endeavor preserved in surviving manuscripts and texts. This study examines such manuscripts, shedding light on the scribes, sources, functions, textual genesis, intended readership, and recipients of chronicles. Centering on a case study from Dortmund—specifically, the chronicle authored by the Dortmund smith Dietrich Westhoff—this article explores the production context and writing process within the framework of craftsmanship. Drawing on extant manuscripts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and their editions, the research sequentially investigates the scribe, sources, content, readership, and ultimately, the writing process. The analysis aims to uncover the prerequisites for composing an urban chronicle. While the Dortmund case is examined in detail, the findings are situated within a broader framework to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics involved in the creation of historical urban chronicles.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the life and philosophical legacy of Justus Lipsius as the founder of Neostoicism and one of the key figures of European philosophical culture of the Early Modern period. The historical and intellectual prerequisites for the formation of the Neostoic doctrine in the thinker’s works are examined, as well as the specific features of its synthesis with the Christian moral and ethical tradition. The main ideas of Justus Lipsius’s philosophy are analyzed, in particular the concept of constantia as an ideal of inner steadfastness, moral self-discipline, and a practical guideline for everyday life. The significance of the Stoic heritage of Seneca and the political thought of Tacitus in shaping Lipsius’s Neostoic worldview is highlighted. The article outlines the influence of Lipsius’s works on the intellectual life of Europe in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as well as on the further development of European moral and political philosophy. Emphasis is placed on the practical orientation of Justus Lipsius’s philosophical doctrine and its role in the transformation of moral philosophy in the Early Modern period. Key words: history of philosophy, Early Modern philosophy, Justus Lipsius, Neostoicism, Stoicism, moral philosophy.

This study examines the social and environmental transformation of cities in Ottoman Mesopotamia between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries through European travelers’ accounts of the Aleppo boil (oriental sore). While early modern travelers under Ottoman rule often praised the region’s inhabitants for their physical appearance and apparent health, narratives from the late eighteenth century onward increasingly emphasized bodily degeneration, urban decay, and unsanitary living conditions. This shift is analyzed through a human-environment perspective. The encroachment of Bedouin tribes onto fertile agricultural lands displaced rural populations, driving migration toward urban centers. Rapid urban growth, particularly in peripheral and suburban areas, led to overcrowding and deteriorating sanitary conditions. The Ottoman State failed to manage these changes, contributing to the spread of disease and urban decline. By the nineteenth century, travelers frequently depicted Mesopotamian cities as “hotbeds of disease” and described their inhabitants as “wild-looking.” This study contributes to the environmental history of the Ottoman State by showing how changing travel narratives reflect broader socio-environmental dynamics and shifting perceptions of urban life.

This article examines how benchmarking digital methods can advance historical research by recovering women’s lives from fragmented and underused archives. It focuses on the Funeral Entries held in the Genealogical Office of the National Library of Ireland, a rich but understudied manuscript collection compiled by the Ulster King of Arms between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. These records, which document death dates, kinship networks, and social affiliations, contain an unusually high proportion of women for the early modern period (about 38 percent), offering rare insight into gendered experiences of death, family, and memory. The article emerges from the ERC-funded VOICES project, which develops AI-powered approaches to recover women’s voices and experiences from early modern sources (VOICES Project, 2023; https://voicesproject.ie). As part of this work, we present a benchmarking experiment using the Funeral Entries to assess the ability of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) and Named Entity Recognition (NER) models to cope with early modern orthography, multilingual naming practices, and manuscript variability. These experiments not only illuminate the constraints of existing tools but also demonstrate how benchmarking can generate reusable workflows, inform the creation of annotated gold standards, and support the production of FAIR-aligned humanities data. Rather than offering a completed dataset, the article argues for the historiographical value of iterative benchmarking. We show how evaluating and refining computational methods reframes questions of archival visibility, evidentiary status, and the interpretive potential of genealogical records, positioning the Funeral Entries not merely as instruments of male lineage but as essential sources for recovering early modern women’s social worlds.

In the modern era, Shiism is recognized as one of the most widely followed sects in the Islamic world. Following the establishment of the Safavid state, Shah Ismail Khatai’s proclamation of Shiism as the official state religion and the subsequent policy of institutionalizing Shiite ideology within the empire resulted in the migration of a significant number of religious scholars to Safavid territories. The introduction of a new religious doctrine- Shiism- within the state structure and the growing need for learned scholars to interpret emerging jurisprudential issues accelerated the influx of scholars from various regions into the Safavid realm during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During this period, the migration of scholars from the Jabal Amil region was particularly prominent, and Shiite scholars began to settle extensively in Safavid lands, especially in the capital city. These scholars played an influential role not only in the religious sphere but also in the political and administrative life of the state. At the same time, two major intellectual currents emerged within Shiism, whose representatives disagreed on the methodology for resolving certain jurisprudential issues. Among the most significant currents that developed within Shiite thought and drew attention throughout different historical periods were Akhbarism and Usulism. This article examines Akhbarism from multiple perspectives, including its conceptual foundations, scholarly principles, prominent representatives, position within Shiite jurisprudence, and contemporary attitudes toward it in Azerbaijan. In the section devoted to Akhbari scholars, the lives and works of eminent hadith scholars such as Muhammad Amin Astarabadi, Fayz Kashani, Muhammad Taqi Majlisi, and Yusuf Bahrani are discussed, alongside an analysis of prevailing perceptions of Akhbarism during their respective historical contexts.

ABSTRACT During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there was no statutory difference between cartography, drawing and painting. These activities were performed then by craftsmen who were part of a vast group under the umbrella of ‘mechanical arts’ and fell under the ‘artifex’ category. Artifex were experts in any particular art, whether a craftsman, an artisan, an artist, a performer or a creator. The scientific or artistic nature of their work had little bearing on this status. There is nothing new about high levels of discovery and cooperation between activities commonly using drawing, mathematics and geometry. Art and science shared common methods and disciplines in their pursuit of a single goal—to know, understand and represent the world. The particular nature of the Portuguese artistic and scientific panorama, and its intrinsic link to the art and craft of navigation, provokes several questions: What kind of relationship was there between cartographers and painters? How did epistemic exchanges unfold between both activities? To which extent did perspective and geometry interact with painting and cartography? Did painters participate in the decoration of maps, charts and atlases? And how did this joint work influence the landscape representations of the vast extra‐European space? Were there, for example, any painters on board ships? We may refer to two different documental sources to find answers to many of these questions, in particular the pictorial and cartographic collections produced between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. By investigating processes of cooperation between cartographers and painters, I posit that we unveil hidden ‘trading zones’ to explain the epistemic transfer processes and visual representational models which would become commonplace in the modern age.

The practice of journeying to specific locations believed to confer a range of spiritual and physical benefits was well established in Britain before the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in the late sixth century. Over the next millennium, a network of institutions ranging from local churches to monasteries and cathedrals shaped the religious life of Anglo- Saxon and Norman England, creating a diverse heritage of significant individuals recognized as patron saints of cities, professions, and universities whose veneration continued even after the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. This article explores the research literatures of English pilgrimage in the humanities and social sciences.

The article examines the historical connections between Kalbajar and the Daralayaz region through the analysis of migration processes that occurred between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. The main objective of the study is to clarify the movement of populations from the Kalbajar area to Daralayaz during the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries and their subsequent return to Kalbajar between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The research suggests that these migrations were closely related to the military and political upheavals that affected the South Caucasus during the second Mongol campaigns. In particular, the devastation of settlements in the Tartarchay basin, including the territory of present-day Kalbajar, created conditions that forced part of the local population to seek refuge in neighboring regions. Evidence from historical sources indicates that many of the surviving inhabitants moved to geographically accessible areas such as Daralayaz and that some of their descendants later returned to Kalbajar several centuries afterward. The study therefore highlights the historical demographic links between the two regions and contributes to the understanding of migration patterns in the medieval South Caucasus.

ABSTRACT This article explores the literary fabrication of Giustina Levi-Perotti, a fictitious fourteenth-century poetess, and her mistaken inclusion among the canon of Jewish writers. Originally invented during the sixteenth century by Italian humanists seeking local prestige, her literary persona was later attributed a Jewish identity by nineteenth-century Jewish scholars eager to demonstrate longstanding Jewish contributions to European literature. This article retraces how this pseudepigraphic construct emerged, evolved, and was eventually dismantled, revealing broader insights into historiographical practice, Jewish emancipation discourse, and the ideological functions of literary forgery in both Renaissance and modern scholarship.

Abstract Anthropologists and folklorists have already done the spade work regarding the topic of ‘Martenehe’ (marriage of an ordinary man with a female fairy) within the field of global fairy tales. Probing this issue further by extending our gaze toward literary texts from the high and late Middle Ages, particularly in Anglo‐Norman England, Brittany, Wales, and neighboring territories, we discover quickly that the theme was of considerable importance and occupied deeply medieval imagination and fantasy, and this, in a way, until today, such as in filmic iterations. This study, based on literary comparisons, reveals the extent to which fear of the foreign woman, sexual attraction to the fairy, interest in building a dynasty with all means available, and curiosity about otherness at large combined to create a whole series of relevant fictional documents from the twelfth through the sixteenth century where ‘Martenehe’ assumes center position.