Sarah Percy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199214334
- eISBN:
- 9780191706608
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214334.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The main aim of this book is to argue that the use of private force by states has been restricted by a norm against mercenary use. It traces the evolution of this norm, from mercenaries in medieval ...
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The main aim of this book is to argue that the use of private force by states has been restricted by a norm against mercenary use. It traces the evolution of this norm, from mercenaries in medieval Europe through to private security companies in modern day Iraq, telling a story about how the mercenaries of yesterday have evolved into those of today in the process. The norm against mercenaries has two components. First, mercenaries are considered to be immoral because they use force outside legitimate, authoritative control. Second, mercenaries are considered to be morally problematic because they fight wars for selfish, financial reasons as opposed to fighting for some kind of larger conception of the common good. The book examines four puzzles about mercenary use, and argues that they can only be explained by understanding the norm against mercenaries. First, the book argues that moral disapproval of mercenaries led to the disappearance of independent mercenaries from medieval Europe. Second, the transition from armies composed of mercenaries to citizen armies in the 19th century can only be understood with attention to the norm against mercenaries. Third, it is impossible to understand why international law regarding mercenaries, created in the 1970s and 1980s, is so ineffective without understanding the norm. Finally, the disappearance of companies like Executive Outcomes and Sandline and the development of today's private security industry cannot be understood without the norm.Less
The main aim of this book is to argue that the use of private force by states has been restricted by a norm against mercenary use. It traces the evolution of this norm, from mercenaries in medieval Europe through to private security companies in modern day Iraq, telling a story about how the mercenaries of yesterday have evolved into those of today in the process. The norm against mercenaries has two components. First, mercenaries are considered to be immoral because they use force outside legitimate, authoritative control. Second, mercenaries are considered to be morally problematic because they fight wars for selfish, financial reasons as opposed to fighting for some kind of larger conception of the common good. The book examines four puzzles about mercenary use, and argues that they can only be explained by understanding the norm against mercenaries. First, the book argues that moral disapproval of mercenaries led to the disappearance of independent mercenaries from medieval Europe. Second, the transition from armies composed of mercenaries to citizen armies in the 19th century can only be understood with attention to the norm against mercenaries. Third, it is impossible to understand why international law regarding mercenaries, created in the 1970s and 1980s, is so ineffective without understanding the norm. Finally, the disappearance of companies like Executive Outcomes and Sandline and the development of today's private security industry cannot be understood without the norm.
Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144870
- eISBN:
- 9781400842483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144870.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter shows that once the Jews became literate, urban, and engaged in skilled occupations, they began migrating within the vast territory under Muslim rule—stretching from the Iberian ...
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This chapter shows that once the Jews became literate, urban, and engaged in skilled occupations, they began migrating within the vast territory under Muslim rule—stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to India during the eighth through the twelfth centuries, and from the Byzantine Empire to western Europe via Italy and within western Europe in the ninth through the thirteenth centuries. In early medieval Europe, the revival of trade concomitant with the Commercial Revolution and the growth of an urban and commercial economy paralleled the vast urbanization and the growth of trade that had occurred in the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates four to five centuries earlier. The Jewish diaspora during the early Middle Ages was mainly the outcome of literate Jewish craftsmen, shopkeepers, traders, scholars, teachers, physicians, and moneylenders migrating in search of business opportunities to reap returns on their investment in literacy and education.Less
This chapter shows that once the Jews became literate, urban, and engaged in skilled occupations, they began migrating within the vast territory under Muslim rule—stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to India during the eighth through the twelfth centuries, and from the Byzantine Empire to western Europe via Italy and within western Europe in the ninth through the thirteenth centuries. In early medieval Europe, the revival of trade concomitant with the Commercial Revolution and the growth of an urban and commercial economy paralleled the vast urbanization and the growth of trade that had occurred in the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates four to five centuries earlier. The Jewish diaspora during the early Middle Ages was mainly the outcome of literate Jewish craftsmen, shopkeepers, traders, scholars, teachers, physicians, and moneylenders migrating in search of business opportunities to reap returns on their investment in literacy and education.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter examines the essential elements that produced a full scientific culture in Western Europe by comparing the constituent elements in the one culture in which it developed with other ...
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This chapter examines the essential elements that produced a full scientific culture in Western Europe by comparing the constituent elements in the one culture in which it developed with other cultures that had the same constitutive elements but did not develop science. These are the control cases, which include India, Tibet, China, and the Byzantine Empire. The first civilization in the world to develop a full scientific culture was medieval Western Europe. It led directly to the scientific revolution—during which some changes to the details of the constituent elements took place—and continued on down to modern science. The essential elements of medieval science were introduced to Western Europe via Classical Arabic civilization. The chapter describes the appearance of science in Medieval Latin Europe and the decline of science in the medieval Islamic world.Less
This chapter examines the essential elements that produced a full scientific culture in Western Europe by comparing the constituent elements in the one culture in which it developed with other cultures that had the same constitutive elements but did not develop science. These are the control cases, which include India, Tibet, China, and the Byzantine Empire. The first civilization in the world to develop a full scientific culture was medieval Western Europe. It led directly to the scientific revolution—during which some changes to the details of the constituent elements took place—and continued on down to modern science. The essential elements of medieval science were introduced to Western Europe via Classical Arabic civilization. The chapter describes the appearance of science in Medieval Latin Europe and the decline of science in the medieval Islamic world.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This book investigates how the recursive argument method, the actual medieval “scientific method,” was transmitted along with the college to medieval Western Europe from Classical Arabic ...
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This book investigates how the recursive argument method, the actual medieval “scientific method,” was transmitted along with the college to medieval Western Europe from Classical Arabic civilization, and how the Muslims of Central Asia had earlier adopted both from Buddhist Central Asian civilization. It analyzes the recursive argument method and gives examples showing its formation and development at each stage and in each of the relevant languages. This chapter considers the recursive argument method and related issues, especially the colleges, in the context of the full scientific culture that developed in medieval Western Europe in connection with the transmission of these two cultural elements.Less
This book investigates how the recursive argument method, the actual medieval “scientific method,” was transmitted along with the college to medieval Western Europe from Classical Arabic civilization, and how the Muslims of Central Asia had earlier adopted both from Buddhist Central Asian civilization. It analyzes the recursive argument method and gives examples showing its formation and development at each stage and in each of the relevant languages. This chapter considers the recursive argument method and related issues, especially the colleges, in the context of the full scientific culture that developed in medieval Western Europe in connection with the transmission of these two cultural elements.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific ...
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This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.Less
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.
SEYMOUR PHILLIPS
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204190
- eISBN:
- 9780191676147
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204190.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The expansion of medieval Europe can be traced as far back as the 8th and 9th centuries, to the Carolingian conquests of the pagan Saxons and Avars in central Europe, to the earliest Viking ...
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The expansion of medieval Europe can be traced as far back as the 8th and 9th centuries, to the Carolingian conquests of the pagan Saxons and Avars in central Europe, to the earliest Viking discoveries in the Atlantic. However, it is in the 11th century that there is the first clear evidence of a sustained expansion. The revival in international trade centred on the Mediterranean was to continue for a long time, despite a serious recession in the 14th century. This included the important trading centres of Constantinople and Alexandria. For a wholly unexpected set of events, the conquests by the nomadic Mongols under Ghenghis Khan and his successors in Asia and in eastern Europe, in the 1240s brought Europe as a whole very close to destruction and occupation. However, the terrors of the Mongol invasion were the prelude to a European penetration of Asia on a scale never before achieved or dreamt of.Less
The expansion of medieval Europe can be traced as far back as the 8th and 9th centuries, to the Carolingian conquests of the pagan Saxons and Avars in central Europe, to the earliest Viking discoveries in the Atlantic. However, it is in the 11th century that there is the first clear evidence of a sustained expansion. The revival in international trade centred on the Mediterranean was to continue for a long time, despite a serious recession in the 14th century. This included the important trading centres of Constantinople and Alexandria. For a wholly unexpected set of events, the conquests by the nomadic Mongols under Ghenghis Khan and his successors in Asia and in eastern Europe, in the 1240s brought Europe as a whole very close to destruction and occupation. However, the terrors of the Mongol invasion were the prelude to a European penetration of Asia on a scale never before achieved or dreamt of.
Christopher Brooke and Lord Stewartby
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264232
- eISBN:
- 9780191734243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264232.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Philip Grierson, historian and numismatist, was for seventy years a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and for over sixty of them he lived in the same set of rooms. His work on the ...
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Philip Grierson, historian and numismatist, was for seventy years a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and for over sixty of them he lived in the same set of rooms. His work on the Cambridge Medieval History, culminating in his production of the Shorter History in 1952, brought him an encyclopaedic knowledge of the political structures of medieval Europe. This gave Grierson a much broader historical background than most historians or numismatists can command. He was equally at home in the fifth century and the fifteenth, in western Europe or the Byzantine east.Less
Philip Grierson, historian and numismatist, was for seventy years a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and for over sixty of them he lived in the same set of rooms. His work on the Cambridge Medieval History, culminating in his production of the Shorter History in 1952, brought him an encyclopaedic knowledge of the political structures of medieval Europe. This gave Grierson a much broader historical background than most historians or numismatists can command. He was equally at home in the fifth century and the fifteenth, in western Europe or the Byzantine east.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century ...
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This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century in which Classical Arabic learning was increasingly translated and introduced to the Medieval Latin world. A trickle of translations of Arabic scholarly books into Latin had already begun to appear in Italy and Spain by the mid-eleventh century, but none of the works known to have been translated at that time seem to use the Arabic version of the recursive argument method. The recursive argument method first appears in Western Europe in Avicenna's De anima “On the Soul” or “Psychology.” The chapter considers other examples of the recursive argument method in Latin, including works by Robert of Curzon, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), and Thomas Aquinas.Less
This chapter examines how the recursive argument method was transmitted to medieval Western Europe. The appearance of the recursive argument method in Latin texts was preceded by more than a century in which Classical Arabic learning was increasingly translated and introduced to the Medieval Latin world. A trickle of translations of Arabic scholarly books into Latin had already begun to appear in Italy and Spain by the mid-eleventh century, but none of the works known to have been translated at that time seem to use the Arabic version of the recursive argument method. The recursive argument method first appears in Western Europe in Avicenna's De anima “On the Soul” or “Psychology.” The chapter considers other examples of the recursive argument method in Latin, including works by Robert of Curzon, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), and Thomas Aquinas.
Joel Mokyr
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195074772
- eISBN:
- 9780199854981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195074772.003.0003
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter discusses the medieval Western technology that drew from classical antiquity, Islamic and Asian societies, and its own original creativity. It observes that diffusion of new technology ...
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This chapter discusses the medieval Western technology that drew from classical antiquity, Islamic and Asian societies, and its own original creativity. It observes that diffusion of new technology was usually slow, and that the old techniques often stubbornly survived and coexisted with the new for decades and even centuries. The chapter notes that in terms of direct contribution to aggregate output, changes in agricultural technology were particularly important, as the bulk of the population was engaged in farming. It also discusses energy utilization as the second area in which early medieval Europe was successful. The chapter notes that wind power had been used in sailing ships, but had not been harnessed in the West in other ways until the first windmills were built there in the twelfth century. In waterpower, radical improvements came early, and during the Merovingian and Carolingan eras, better and bigger waterwheels spread through Europe.Less
This chapter discusses the medieval Western technology that drew from classical antiquity, Islamic and Asian societies, and its own original creativity. It observes that diffusion of new technology was usually slow, and that the old techniques often stubbornly survived and coexisted with the new for decades and even centuries. The chapter notes that in terms of direct contribution to aggregate output, changes in agricultural technology were particularly important, as the bulk of the population was engaged in farming. It also discusses energy utilization as the second area in which early medieval Europe was successful. The chapter notes that wind power had been used in sailing ships, but had not been harnessed in the West in other ways until the first windmills were built there in the twelfth century. In waterpower, radical improvements came early, and during the Merovingian and Carolingan eras, better and bigger waterwheels spread through Europe.
Chris Briggs
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264416
- eISBN:
- 9780191734342
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264416.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This book focuses on the credit dealings of medieval Europe. In medieval Europe, manor courts served as private jurisdictions by the landlords which were attended by the peasants to hear and settle ...
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This book focuses on the credit dealings of medieval Europe. In medieval Europe, manor courts served as private jurisdictions by the landlords which were attended by the peasants to hear and settle their private lawsuits, many of which were concerned about debts. The long lists of manorial court rolls which were predominantly concerned with debt disputes prove the existence of large numbers of credit relationships within the medieval villages of Europe. Yet, despite the abundance of materials and the recent growth in research on this material, no extensive studies have been conducted on medieval credit relationships. This book is the first extensive and detailed investigation of credit in the countryside of medieval Europe. Rural credit is a subject matter that demands closer attention as it gives a glimpse of the function of credit in an agrarian economy. It also sheds light on the socio-economic conditions of the medieval villages which were predominantly battered by poverty. It also has contemporary relevance as it provides insight on the provision of microcredit as a tool for eradicating, if not alleviating, poverty, and for giving gains to those in less developed countries. Addressed in this book are: who were the people, creditors, and debtors involved in the credit relationships of Europe; and why the debts came about. The book also evaluates the changing availability of village credit in various forms, analyses the role of credit in relations between families and individuals, and tackles the terms and conditions attached to credit transactions.Less
This book focuses on the credit dealings of medieval Europe. In medieval Europe, manor courts served as private jurisdictions by the landlords which were attended by the peasants to hear and settle their private lawsuits, many of which were concerned about debts. The long lists of manorial court rolls which were predominantly concerned with debt disputes prove the existence of large numbers of credit relationships within the medieval villages of Europe. Yet, despite the abundance of materials and the recent growth in research on this material, no extensive studies have been conducted on medieval credit relationships. This book is the first extensive and detailed investigation of credit in the countryside of medieval Europe. Rural credit is a subject matter that demands closer attention as it gives a glimpse of the function of credit in an agrarian economy. It also sheds light on the socio-economic conditions of the medieval villages which were predominantly battered by poverty. It also has contemporary relevance as it provides insight on the provision of microcredit as a tool for eradicating, if not alleviating, poverty, and for giving gains to those in less developed countries. Addressed in this book are: who were the people, creditors, and debtors involved in the credit relationships of Europe; and why the debts came about. The book also evaluates the changing availability of village credit in various forms, analyses the role of credit in relations between families and individuals, and tackles the terms and conditions attached to credit transactions.
Robert Bartlett
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199285464
- eISBN:
- 9780191700330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285464.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter argues that the identity that emerged as normative, metropolitan, and central in medieval western Europe was Roman and French. Metropolitan insensitivity, the blind assertion of the ...
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This chapter argues that the identity that emerged as normative, metropolitan, and central in medieval western Europe was Roman and French. Metropolitan insensitivity, the blind assertion of the value of certain sites, still, of course, exists but may not represent the path of the future. Some recent developments in Europe (and elsewhere) mean that the core-periphery model, the distinction between heartlands and borders, is less significant than it was. The value and power of metropolitan centres is less taken for granted; small-nation nationalism, seen everywhere from Catalonia to Estonia, entails the re-establishment of smaller political units and this process is not always violent; the decentralizing tendency of widespread private transport, electronic communications, and the general move from industrial production to services and the professions means that location is not so tightly tied to the economic imperatives of the age of steam, steel, and central parliaments.Less
This chapter argues that the identity that emerged as normative, metropolitan, and central in medieval western Europe was Roman and French. Metropolitan insensitivity, the blind assertion of the value of certain sites, still, of course, exists but may not represent the path of the future. Some recent developments in Europe (and elsewhere) mean that the core-periphery model, the distinction between heartlands and borders, is less significant than it was. The value and power of metropolitan centres is less taken for granted; small-nation nationalism, seen everywhere from Catalonia to Estonia, entails the re-establishment of smaller political units and this process is not always violent; the decentralizing tendency of widespread private transport, electronic communications, and the general move from industrial production to services and the professions means that location is not so tightly tied to the economic imperatives of the age of steam, steel, and central parliaments.
Julia M. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192892638
- eISBN:
- 9780191670626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192892638.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter approaches the question of writing from the perspective of spoken language. It asks: what languages did people speak in the early Middle Ages? And how readily could they understand one ...
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This chapter approaches the question of writing from the perspective of spoken language. It asks: what languages did people speak in the early Middle Ages? And how readily could they understand one another? Why and how did the linguistic map of Europe change during these centuries? These questions introduce a major theme running throughout this book — the diversity of early medieval experience, which was so different from the universalizing tendencies of the ancient world. The second section of this chapter analyses the interrelationship between Latin, the language of Roman imperialism and culture, and the local languages of early medieval Europe. The third section builds on the analysis of the relative prestige of different languages in the second section and argues that literacy must be understood as a technology of power.Less
This chapter approaches the question of writing from the perspective of spoken language. It asks: what languages did people speak in the early Middle Ages? And how readily could they understand one another? Why and how did the linguistic map of Europe change during these centuries? These questions introduce a major theme running throughout this book — the diversity of early medieval experience, which was so different from the universalizing tendencies of the ancient world. The second section of this chapter analyses the interrelationship between Latin, the language of Roman imperialism and culture, and the local languages of early medieval Europe. The third section builds on the analysis of the relative prestige of different languages in the second section and argues that literacy must be understood as a technology of power.
Julia M. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192892638
- eISBN:
- 9780191670626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192892638.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Men and women in early medieval Europe lived intimately with deprivation and death. In the face of intermittent climatic disasters, periodic epidemics, and harsh everyday living conditions, the ...
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Men and women in early medieval Europe lived intimately with deprivation and death. In the face of intermittent climatic disasters, periodic epidemics, and harsh everyday living conditions, the population of Europe laboured to produce a living from the land and to raise children to carry on their efforts. Most lived at or near subsistence level; others reflected on the meaning of human existence and its moral qualities amid the fearfulness of unexpected death and the likelihood of dearth. This chapter enquires into the interaction of humans and their natural environment. It also reflects upon their understanding of it. The first section addresses the environment: climate, landscape, and settlement distribution. Against this background, the second section turns to demographic questions, to estimate population levels and to suggest explanations for the fluctuating rates of fertility and mortality that seem to have been characteristic of the early Middle Ages. The final part asks how men and women coped with deprivation, disease, and death, and seeks answers in a range of cosmologies and curative strategies. In all these respects, a pattern of intense localism emerges.Less
Men and women in early medieval Europe lived intimately with deprivation and death. In the face of intermittent climatic disasters, periodic epidemics, and harsh everyday living conditions, the population of Europe laboured to produce a living from the land and to raise children to carry on their efforts. Most lived at or near subsistence level; others reflected on the meaning of human existence and its moral qualities amid the fearfulness of unexpected death and the likelihood of dearth. This chapter enquires into the interaction of humans and their natural environment. It also reflects upon their understanding of it. The first section addresses the environment: climate, landscape, and settlement distribution. Against this background, the second section turns to demographic questions, to estimate population levels and to suggest explanations for the fluctuating rates of fertility and mortality that seem to have been characteristic of the early Middle Ages. The final part asks how men and women coped with deprivation, disease, and death, and seeks answers in a range of cosmologies and curative strategies. In all these respects, a pattern of intense localism emerges.
BENJAMIN ARNOLD
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199272211
- eISBN:
- 9780191709999
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272211.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Power in medieval societies was a mental construction then represented in reality through the religious ideology informing family life and the household, urban government, the institutions of ...
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Power in medieval societies was a mental construction then represented in reality through the religious ideology informing family life and the household, urban government, the institutions of kingdoms, empires, and principalities, the cathedral and monastic churches, and the various forms of manorialism exhibited in the regions. A commonplace which recurs hundreds of times in the ecclesiastical, historical, and literary residue from medieval Germany, and indeed from all of medieval Europe, is the innate superiority of a nobleman or noblewoman in virtue, character, and ability as opposed to the vast mass of the lower population. The sources are surprisingly inexact about the medieval meaning of nobilis, and its actual social foundation and the reasons for its numerous variations are controversial in the modern literature. But at the time, no one was in doubt about the value and desirability of the nobilis label.Less
Power in medieval societies was a mental construction then represented in reality through the religious ideology informing family life and the household, urban government, the institutions of kingdoms, empires, and principalities, the cathedral and monastic churches, and the various forms of manorialism exhibited in the regions. A commonplace which recurs hundreds of times in the ecclesiastical, historical, and literary residue from medieval Germany, and indeed from all of medieval Europe, is the innate superiority of a nobleman or noblewoman in virtue, character, and ability as opposed to the vast mass of the lower population. The sources are surprisingly inexact about the medieval meaning of nobilis, and its actual social foundation and the reasons for its numerous variations are controversial in the modern literature. But at the time, no one was in doubt about the value and desirability of the nobilis label.
J. H. Burns
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202066
- eISBN:
- 9780191675133
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202066.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This is a study of the ideology of monarchy in late medieval Europe. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, European monarchies faced a series of crises and conflicts, which gave rise to intense ...
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This is a study of the ideology of monarchy in late medieval Europe. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, European monarchies faced a series of crises and conflicts, which gave rise to intense debate as to the nature and authority of monarchy in its various forms. From such debates and polemics emerged many of the ideas that were to sustain the later confrontation between ‘absolutism’ and ‘constitutionalism’. This book examines the ideas generated by various crises of monarchy in France, England, the Spanish kingdoms, and what still claimed to be the ‘universal’ monarchies of Empire and Papacy.Less
This is a study of the ideology of monarchy in late medieval Europe. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, European monarchies faced a series of crises and conflicts, which gave rise to intense debate as to the nature and authority of monarchy in its various forms. From such debates and polemics emerged many of the ideas that were to sustain the later confrontation between ‘absolutism’ and ‘constitutionalism’. This book examines the ideas generated by various crises of monarchy in France, England, the Spanish kingdoms, and what still claimed to be the ‘universal’ monarchies of Empire and Papacy.
J. R. S. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207405
- eISBN:
- 9780191677656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207405.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Europeans did not have much knowledge of Africa in the medieval period compared to Asia. This chapter reveals that knowledge of East Africa was probably very slight before the late 14th century. By ...
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Europeans did not have much knowledge of Africa in the medieval period compared to Asia. This chapter reveals that knowledge of East Africa was probably very slight before the late 14th century. By the late 14th century European navigators had gained some firsthand experience of the Atlantic coastline of Morocco. The rapid progress of the Reconquista in the Iberian peninsula allowed European pressure to be brought to bear directly on the North African bases from which Moslem invaders and reinforcements had come in the past. It was probably known to the Europeans that West Africa was a great source of gold. However, any possibility of getting closer to the source of the gold was prevented by Moslem control.Less
Europeans did not have much knowledge of Africa in the medieval period compared to Asia. This chapter reveals that knowledge of East Africa was probably very slight before the late 14th century. By the late 14th century European navigators had gained some firsthand experience of the Atlantic coastline of Morocco. The rapid progress of the Reconquista in the Iberian peninsula allowed European pressure to be brought to bear directly on the North African bases from which Moslem invaders and reinforcements had come in the past. It was probably known to the Europeans that West Africa was a great source of gold. However, any possibility of getting closer to the source of the gold was prevented by Moslem control.
J. R. S. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207405
- eISBN:
- 9780191677656
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207405.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter discusses one of the major consequences of medieval European attempts to learn more about Africa. This being the discovery of one or more groups of islands, which were to be of great ...
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This chapter discusses one of the major consequences of medieval European attempts to learn more about Africa. This being the discovery of one or more groups of islands, which were to be of great importance to future exploration. The islands around the coasts of Britain and Ireland were the key to discoveries made in the North Atlantic of both the Irish and the Vikings. This chapter gives details of European voyaging in waters. However sceptical one may be about some of the details in the sagas, there is no serious doubt that they do represent accounts of genuine voyages to parts of the North American continent, and of a series of short-lived attempts at settlement there. For new generations of European navigators, from Portugal, Castile, England, and perhaps elsewhere, the prospect of the Atlantic islands, those already known and those that might be awaiting discovery, was a very real one indeed.Less
This chapter discusses one of the major consequences of medieval European attempts to learn more about Africa. This being the discovery of one or more groups of islands, which were to be of great importance to future exploration. The islands around the coasts of Britain and Ireland were the key to discoveries made in the North Atlantic of both the Irish and the Vikings. This chapter gives details of European voyaging in waters. However sceptical one may be about some of the details in the sagas, there is no serious doubt that they do represent accounts of genuine voyages to parts of the North American continent, and of a series of short-lived attempts at settlement there. For new generations of European navigators, from Portugal, Castile, England, and perhaps elsewhere, the prospect of the Atlantic islands, those already known and those that might be awaiting discovery, was a very real one indeed.
Victor J. Katz, Menso Folkerts, Barnabas Hughes, Roi Wagner, and J. Lennart Berggren (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691156859
- eISBN:
- 9781400883202
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156859.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
Medieval Europe was a meeting place for the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic civilizations, and the fertile intellectual exchange of these cultures can be seen in the mathematical developments of the ...
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Medieval Europe was a meeting place for the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic civilizations, and the fertile intellectual exchange of these cultures can be seen in the mathematical developments of the time. This book presents original Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic sources of medieval mathematics, and shows their cross-cultural influences. Most of the Hebrew and Arabic sources appear here in translation for the first time. Readers will discover key mathematical revelations, foundational texts, and sophisticated writings by Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic-speaking mathematicians, including Abner of Burgos's elegant arguments proving results on the conchoid—a curve previously unknown in medieval Europe; Levi ben Gershon's use of mathematical induction in combinatorial proofs; Al-Muʾtaman Ibn Hūd's extensive survey of mathematics, which included proofs of Heron's Theorem and Ceva's Theorem; and Muhyī al-Dīn al-Maghribī's interesting proof of Euclid's parallel postulate. The book includes a general introduction, section introductions, footnotes, and references.Less
Medieval Europe was a meeting place for the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic civilizations, and the fertile intellectual exchange of these cultures can be seen in the mathematical developments of the time. This book presents original Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic sources of medieval mathematics, and shows their cross-cultural influences. Most of the Hebrew and Arabic sources appear here in translation for the first time. Readers will discover key mathematical revelations, foundational texts, and sophisticated writings by Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic-speaking mathematicians, including Abner of Burgos's elegant arguments proving results on the conchoid—a curve previously unknown in medieval Europe; Levi ben Gershon's use of mathematical induction in combinatorial proofs; Al-Muʾtaman Ibn Hūd's extensive survey of mathematics, which included proofs of Heron's Theorem and Ceva's Theorem; and Muhyī al-Dīn al-Maghribī's interesting proof of Euclid's parallel postulate. The book includes a general introduction, section introductions, footnotes, and references.
Julia M. H. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780192892638
- eISBN:
- 9780191670626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192892638.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages ...
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This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages has a fundamental significance in its own right. It focuses on the period between of AD500 and AD1000 to demonstrate that, within the overall matrix of social and cultural development across these centuries, change occurred at different times and speeds in different places. The book also calls attention to the role of the Roman heritage in early medieval constructions of power. Whether in Rome's former provinces or in regions that were never within the imperial boundaries, it is argued that the reception, reinterpretation, or abandonment of that inheritance made a formative contribution to all the cultures of early medieval Europe.Less
This introductory chapter presents the main argument of this book, namely that contrary to existing paradigms, the dynamic transformation of Europe's cultures between Antiquity and the Middle Ages has a fundamental significance in its own right. It focuses on the period between of AD500 and AD1000 to demonstrate that, within the overall matrix of social and cultural development across these centuries, change occurred at different times and speeds in different places. The book also calls attention to the role of the Roman heritage in early medieval constructions of power. Whether in Rome's former provinces or in regions that were never within the imperial boundaries, it is argued that the reception, reinterpretation, or abandonment of that inheritance made a formative contribution to all the cultures of early medieval Europe.
Maurizio Viroli
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142357
- eISBN:
- 9781400845514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142357.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter focuses on republican and monarchical religion in late medieval Europe. Republican religion spread in a late medieval Europe dominated by monarchies that, from the thirteenth century on, ...
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This chapter focuses on republican and monarchical religion in late medieval Europe. Republican religion spread in a late medieval Europe dominated by monarchies that, from the thirteenth century on, had endowed themselves with a sacred dimension similar to that of the church. Jurists and political philosophers transferred the concept of corpus mysticum—intended to designate the church community as a body that cannot be seen by the eyes but can only be grasped by the intellect—to the state. Applied to the state, the concept of a mystical body referred mainly, but not exclusively, to the monarchy, where the king is at the head of the mystical-political body, just as Christ or his vicar on earth is at the head of the mystical body of the church. Thus, the main difference between the royal and the republican religion is that the former celebrates an individual mystical body—the king; the latter celebrates a collective mystical body—the republic.Less
This chapter focuses on republican and monarchical religion in late medieval Europe. Republican religion spread in a late medieval Europe dominated by monarchies that, from the thirteenth century on, had endowed themselves with a sacred dimension similar to that of the church. Jurists and political philosophers transferred the concept of corpus mysticum—intended to designate the church community as a body that cannot be seen by the eyes but can only be grasped by the intellect—to the state. Applied to the state, the concept of a mystical body referred mainly, but not exclusively, to the monarchy, where the king is at the head of the mystical-political body, just as Christ or his vicar on earth is at the head of the mystical body of the church. Thus, the main difference between the royal and the republican religion is that the former celebrates an individual mystical body—the king; the latter celebrates a collective mystical body—the republic.
