Apocalypse tamed: Cusanus and the traditions of late medieval prophecy

In the late middle ages speculation on the end of the world attracted not only the eccentric and the obscure but some of the ablest and most renowned figures of the age, like the German Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. On numerous occasions during a long career as theologian and reformer, Cusanus reflected on the course and meaning of history and of the last things. His short tract of 1446, the Coniectura de ultimis diebus, contains his most mature thought on the subject, although he evidenced a more than passing concern with eschatology, both prior to this work and subsequently. A prime purpose of this paper is to indicate how Cusanus' reflections on the end of time add a notable dimension to his thought, especially in relation to the dominant traditions of medieval prophetic speculation, the Augustinian and the Joachite. His millenarian position, while closer to that of Augustine, offered nonetheless a distinct alternative to the Augustinian contemplation of salvation only beyond time and the Joachite expectation of an imminent salvation within history. Also to be established is a certain continuity of concepts and themes between Cusanus' éschatological writings and some of his major works. Finally, there is the question of the relevance of his views of the end of time to his reform thought.     

Legends of the Beauchamps' ancestors: the use of baronial propaganda in medieval England

From the early part of the eleventh century, legendary propaganda was generated by the Tosny family. The Warwickshire branch of the Beaumonts did likewise from the late twelfth century, their efforts culminating in the popular romance Guy of Warwick. Such material was designed to romanticize those activities of the families which had led to their acquiring landed power, and to reinforce a widespread acceptance of the status which they endeavoured to retain in face both of the growing powers of the monarchy, and of economic pressures. By contrast, the families of Beauchamp and Mauduit relied on growing royal power to enhance their position. Beauchamp dominance of Worcestershire through the hereditary enjoyment of the post of sheriff, and Manduit enjoyment of court influence through exercise of the hereditary office of chamberlain, obviated the need to generate a popular image, although both families attracted unfavourable notice in contemporary literature, generated by territorial or professional rivals. When the estates of all four families merged, at the end of the thirteenth century, to form the late medieval earldom of Warwick, the Guy image was consciously revived. John Rous, composing the Rous Roll in 1483, in order to glorify the lords of Warwick, suppressed unfavourable elements, both in this literature and in modern political history, while elaborating on others, reworking the material with the help of current literary themes.     

Recovering traditions in the digital era: the use of blimps for modelling the archaeological cultural heritage

Driven by progress in sensor technology, algorithms and data processing capabilities, the recording and 3D virtual modelling of complex archaeological sites is currently receiving much attention. Nevertheless, the problem remains the huge effort and costs that have to be invested to obtain realistic models. Besides on-site measurements, much time is often spent in manually rebuilding the whole site with a CAD package or a 3D-modelling tool.     

Diversity in hunter–gatherer technological traditions: Mapping trajectories of cultural ‘descent with modification’ in northeast California

Recent work has demonstrated that technological traditions can be considered as systems of information transmission that operate on the principle of ‘descent with modification’. In this paper we present an ethno-historical case-study of northeast Californian hunter–fisher–gatherers. Our goal is to understand the factors generating long-term diversity in local material culture, and we begin by investigating the extent to which branching and reticulation explain variation in four distinct technological traditions – basketry, cradles, ceremonial dress and earth-lodges. We then examine whether these four traditions have been transmitted in tandem, or are characterized by entirely different descent histories. The results for this particular case-study suggest that the first three traditions have been closely associated during branching descent, while the earth-lodges appear to have entirely distinct transmission histories. The general analytical framework presented in this paper is readily exportable to other world regions, where local case-studies may generate contrasting insights into historically-contingent patterns of cultural inheritance. Further studies examining potential co-transmission of technological traditions are strongly encouraged as a welcome addition to the cultural transmission literature.     

St Odo's St Martin: the uses of a model

The ideal of sanctity presented in Sulpicius Severus' Vita Martini included a repudiation of military life. Sulpicius was concerned to show that Martin was a true ‘man of power’ (potens), but this had nothing to do with the army. On the contrary, in Sulpicius' day, the potens was, in the political sphere, a decidedly civilian patron; in the religious sphere he was a miracle-worker. Six hundred years later the attributes of power were no longer the same. Social and political changes had worked to transform the ‘man of power’ into a warrior. The old ideal remained, however; its reactionary effects were evident in several Cluniac texts, where exemplary men were shown leaving the tumult of the battlefield for the discipline of the monastery. Yet within that same tenth-century Clumiac milieu an entirely different pattern of sointhood, that of the holy warrior, was created by St Odo, the second abbot of Cluny. It was a model quite unprecedented in the West, but it was not created new out of whole cloth. Rather, this new persona was patterned on the same old form. Its explanation seems to lay precisely in Odo's literal adherence to the old paradigm, but understood in the light of the changes which had taken place in the role of the potens.     

The Failure of Popular Justice in Uganda: Local Councils and Women’s Property Rights

Advocates of alternative dispute resolution argue that informal, community‐based institutions are better placed to provide inexpensive, expedient and culturally appropriate forms of justice. In 1988, the Ugandan government extended judicial capacity to local councils (LCs) on similar grounds. Drawing on attempts by women in southwestern Uganda to use the LCs to adjudicate property disputes, this article investigates why popular justice has failed to protect the customary property rights of women. The gap between theory and practice arises out of misconceptions of community. The tendency to ascribe a morality and autonomy to local spaces obscures the ability of elites to use informal institutions for purposes of social control. In the light of women’s attempts to escape the ‘rule of persons’ and to seek out arbiters whom they associate with the ‘rule of law’, it can be argued that the utility of the state to ordinary Ugandans should be reconsidered.     

Imperial power, gentry power and clan power: Western and Chinese cultural traditions in a comparative perspective

The differences between China and Western countries in human and physical environment has brought about two distinctive models of state. In the Chinese-style state of quasi-consanguinity, in which family and state have a similar structure, imperial power, gentry power, and clan power are the product of common ownership of consanguineous groups. The similarity in the structures of these three kinds of power derives from the fact that they are all restricted by the power of lineage generated from the self-sufficient small farmer economy, and must obey the conventions of ancestors which hold the benefits of the group as supreme. The relationship between these three kinds of power, is definitely not the one that is based on the division of power that is founded on individual private ownership in Western countries, where ‘public power’ and ‘individual private ownership’ are antithetic, but are three aspects of the patriarchal dictatorship that complement each other. Therefore, village rule in China and autonomy in the West are two totally different concepts, and gentry power is also not the ‘authorized power’ from the state. __________ Translated from the Journal of Tianjin Normal University, 2004: 1     

French jurisdictional supremacy in Gascony: one aspect of the ducal government's response

As a result of the 1259 treaty of Paris, the king of England resumed a feudal relationship with the French monarch, thus holding his duchy of Gascony as a fief. This meant that Capetian officials could exercise their master's jurisdictional authority in the duchy, in part because of the supreme appellate powers of the royal court, the Parlement of Paris. This they did with enthusiasm and skill, causing considerable disruption to English power in the duchy. Accepting the challenge, ducal officials devised a number of tactics to thwart the exercise of French jurisdiction in Gascony. These methods were altogether illegal or even criminal in nature, but the officials felt they were necessitated by the critical threat of Capetian authority to Plantagenet control of Gascony. Unfortunately, such tactics did little to alleviate their jurisdictional problems. Ducal authorities failed to create any consistent and systematic program for ending permanently Gascon judicial appeals to the French court, and they were hamstrung both theoretically and physically in the haphazard efforts they did make. Far from halting the advancement of Capetian jurisdictional authority in the duchy, the unlawful methods merely underscored the precarious nature of the English position there.     

宋代宗室藏书及其文化教育研究

宋代宗室喜好藏书,其藏书家之多、藏书数量之巨,为历代所罕见。宗室藏书渠道丰富,其藏书目的明确,用途广泛,促使其热衷于藏书的原因是多方面的。宋代宗室的藏书活动同时也是一种学习的过程,通过藏书习文,培养了一大批学有专长的宗室文人与学者。     

Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's historiae

Gregory of Tours was a sixth-century bishop who wrote Ten books of histories, our only detailed source of information for that period in Gaul. A great deal of attention has been paid to his vivid portrayal of Merovingian society and politics. Apart from his often obscure Latin, the strictly chronological composition and the absence of clear co-ordinating statements give his work the appearance of a jumbled, if lively, mosaic. The following study is an attempt to follow one strand through the many-coloured texture of the Histories, that of extraordinary natural events and the context in which Gregory places them, since this seemed to reveal an up to now not so apparent dimension of his thinking about time and, history: his concept of contemporaneity.