超越的悖论——试析西欧中世纪修道院改革运动

修道是一种脱离世俗,献身宗教的生活方式,一种超越现实的精神追求。在基督教统治下的中世纪西欧,修道本应是深受尊崇的正统化现象,但奇怪的是,它却不断受到批评和谴责,改革修道院的运动此起彼伏。究其原因,是由于西欧中世纪的社会条件以及基督教的主流化地位使以出世自命的修道成为人世的捷径,修道院里弊端丛生,成为腐败渊薮。以超越现实为宗旨和初衷,却一次比一次更深地陷入现实的泥淖。修道何以出现这种悖论而无力自拔?本对此试作分析。不当之处,尚祈指正。     

Medieval Landscape Archaeology in Italy: A Review

MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY in Italy is reviewed here by analysing the methodological approaches and the theoretical frameworks adopted by researchers working from the 1970s to the present day. Notwithstanding a kind of ‘resistance’ of Italian archaeology to theorisation, the intensive fieldwork and fruitful exchanges of the many teams working on the Peninsula have not only brought important achievements for the reconstruction of settlement patterns and landscape dynamics during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but have also animated and enriched the debates about approaches and methodologies. The ‘Italian context’ is therefore framed within the European mainstream and the international panorama.     

中世纪英格兰农奴制探微——以黑死病前的劳役限定和折算为视角

近年来,国内外学界研究中世纪英格兰的农奴制时多强调领主权力的有限性和佃农积累的可能性.但黑死病前英格兰农奴劳役的限定和折算表明:领主借此获得了多种好处,而大部分佃农在人身自由之外未必得到经济实惠.这提醒我们,既不能像一些西方学者那样,过分强调习惯对佃农的保护作用,也不能推测超经济强制的削弱一定能给佃农带来经济实惠.     

Lex: A Study on Medieval Terminology for Religion

Medieval Christian authors frequently employed the Latin word lex (“law”) and its vernacular cognates to mean something akin to the modern notion of “religion.” Like a religion, a lex was the collection of observances that marked a particular people‐group, such as Christians or Muslims. This article examines the category of lex in its historical context revealing both its similarities and differences from modern “religion.” It argues that the category of lex borrowed on Roman ethnography and Patristic exegesis and was inseparable from larger Christian ideas about society, human nature, and political order.     

The Ancient Origins of Medieval Fields: A Reassessment

This article questions the suggestions that have been made by a number of archaeologists and landscape historians concerning the Roman and prehistoric origins of large tracts of the medieval rural landscape in lowland England. It suggests that arguments for large-scale continuity of field systems, mainly based on the evidence of excavations and topographic analysis, are flawed because they fail to take fully into account the topographic contexts, and the practical functions, of field boundaries. When these matters are given due weight, much of the evidence cited in support of ‘continuity’ instead appears to suggest a significant degree of discontinuity, at least in terms of systems of land division, between Roman Britain and medieval England.     

Sugar Consumption,Dental Health and Foodways in Late Medieval Iin Hamina and Early Modern Oulu,Northern Finland

This article examines the modernization of northern Finnish food culture, especially in 17th- and 18th-century urban Oulu, by applying the methods of archaeology and history research. During the 17th century, the food culture was still quite conservative. Coffee, sugar, wheat flour, and fruit began entering the diet of affluent northern Finnish people from the 18th century onwards. The food culture of Oulu inhabitants is studied by comparing dental material retrieved from Oulu Cathedral graveyard to data obtained from historical document sources. A comparison point to the early modern bone material of Oulu is provided by late Middle Ages material from Ii, which lies north of Oulu on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Carbohydrate consumption is related to many dental conditions, such as caries and calculus, which can be traced in archaeological human skeletal remains. The diets of males and females, as well as the diets of adults and children, are compared, in order to retrieve information on the emerging consumption of sugar in different groups, such as gender and age groups. The relationship between carbohydrate consumption and class identity in northern Finland is discussed.