Anthropology in the middle east

Canfield, Robert L., ed. Turko‐Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. xiv + 256 pp. including references and index. $54.50 cloth.

Caton, Steven C. "Peaks of Yemen I Summon”: Poetry as Cultural Practice in a North Yemen Tribe. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. xv + 351 pp. including notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. $34.95.

Khoury, Philip S. and Joseph Kostiner, eds. Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990 xv + 351 pp. including collected references and index. $45.00 cloth, $14.95 paper.     

Concubinage and marriage in medieval canon law

The medieval canon law adopted an ambivaient attitude toward concubinage among the laity. While the canonists disapproved of concubinage on moral grounds, they sought to assimilate the status of the concubine to that of the married woman and thus to legitimize concubinous relationships. In this process of assimilation the canonists made use of the institution of clandestine marriage, which created problems of its own. The crucial difficulty lay in constructing a satisfactory system of proof, so that it would be clear whether or not a given couple should be treated as married, or whether they should be considered legally as unmarried. The Council of Trent abolished lay concubinage and clandestine marriage, but thereby created a system of marriage law flawed with defects almost as serious as those experienced under the medieval law.     

The conjugal debt and medieval canon law

Marriage in Western European society was the preserve of the Christian Church throughout the later middle ages. The law of the Church played a significant role in the formation of doctrine concerning that institution, including the sexual relationship of spouses. Adopting a debt-model of conjugal relations, the canonists maintained that each partner owed marital coitus to the other. The lawyers emphasized the mutually binding character of this obligation, and consistently dejended the right of spouses to exact their marital due, insisting that this duty could be abrogated only by mutual consent. As heirs to an ascetic patristic tradition, however, the lawyers tended to be suspicious of fleshly pleasure. A peculiar and ambivalent doctrine resulted from this tension between an appreciation of the intrinsic goodness of the married state and a distrust of sex, one of its major constituents.     

The conjugal debt and medieval canon law

Marriage in Western European society was the preserve of the Christian Church throughout the later middle ages. The law of the Church played a significant role in the formation of doctrine concerning that institution, including the sexual relationship of spouses. Adopting a debt-model of conjugal relations, the canonists maintained that each partner owed marital coitus to the other. The lawyers emphasized the mutually binding character of this obligation, and consistently dejended the right of spouses to exact their marital due, insisting that this duty could be abrogated only by mutual consent. As heirs to an ascetic patristic tradition, however, the lawyers tended to be suspicious of fleshly pleasure. A peculiar and ambivalent doctrine resulted from this tension between an appreciation of the intrinsic goodness of the married state and a distrust of sex, one of its major constituents.     

A bipartite patella in a juvenile from a medieval context

One hundred and thirty six well‐preserved medieval skeletons were excavated in advance of re‐development in Norwich. The right patella of a 13–15 year old skeleton (SK 65) displays a ‘fracture line’ running through the supero‐lateral pole. This represents the fusion of a secondary ossification centre, a condition known as bipartite patella. It should not be confused with other anatomical variants or with pathological processes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The right to social welfare in early medieval Iceland

As a rule poor relief in medieval Europe was practised in the form of charity by Church, monasteries and rich people. They distributed their alms to the poor, who received them gratefully and humbly. From early medieval Iceland elaborate social laws have come down to us that are remarkable in their originality for the period. We shall describe these laws, and investigate their history, development and the reason of their existence.     

The right to social welfare in early medieval Iceland

As a rule poor relief in medieval Europe was practised in the form of charity by Church, monasteries and rich people. They distributed their alms to the poor, who received them gratefully and humbly. From early medieval Iceland elaborate social laws have come down to us that are remarkable in their originality for the period. We shall describe these laws, and investigate their history, development and the reason of their existence.     

Alien coins and foreign exchange banking in a medieval commune: Thirteenth-century Lucca

In der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts liefen Gerüchte durch Europa von einem mächtigen christlichen Herrscher im Rücken des Islam, mit Namen ‘Priester Johannes’, in dessen riesigem Reich den Berichten nach sozialer Frieden herrschte, wunderbare Völker, Tiere und Pflanzen, auch wertvolle Edelsteine mit wunderkräftiger Wirkung zu finden sein sollten.Nachdem dieses Reich anfangs in Indien gesucht wurde, verlegte man es im 13. Jahrhundert nach Zentralasien und im 14. Jahrhundert nach Äthiopien. Heinrich der Seefahrer und seine Kapitäne versuchten, diesen mächtigen Herrscher zu erreichen, um mit ihm den Islam im Rücken anzugreifen. Aber erst 1517 gelang es den Portugiesen, den äthiopischen Herrscher persönlich zu treffen und ihm gegen seine islamischen Gegner zu helfen. Durch ungeschickte Politik machten sich die Portugiesen verhaβ, wurden verfolgt und 1640 endgültig aus Äthiopien vertrieben.Mit einem interdisziplinären Ansatz, der sich im wesentlichen auf die Fächer Geschichte und Ethnologie, aber auch Geographie, Germanistik und Theologie, stützt, wird der Versuch unternommen zu klären, ob es diesen Priester Johannes wirklich gab und wo sein Reich lag oder, falls es beides nicht gab, wer im 12. Jahrhundert Interesse an der ‘Erfindung’ einer solchen Person hatte und welche Folgen dies in den folgenden Jahrhunderten zeigte.     

The eleventh of September and the Sudanese mahdiya in the context of Ibn Khaldun's theory of Islamic history

The attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September appeared as something entirely new in the escalating terrorist 'War on America' declared by Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qa'ida network in 1998. While there are undoubtedly novel elements in the atrocity which cost nearly 3,000 innocent, non-combatant lives, the strategic motivation of the attack, aimed at the protectors of the ruling Saudi dynasty, was not inconsistent with earlier patterns of Islamic revolt against Muslim governments and their European backers, notably the Sudanese mahdiya of 1881–99. Though spearheaded by technically sophisticated Islamist ideologues, the overwhelming presence among the hijackers of Saudis from the Asir region, with its Yemeni tribal links, is indicative of a pre-modern pattern of rebellion that fits in with the paradigm of cyclical revolt and dynastic renewal discerned by the Islamic philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406).