The ‘French’ mill in medieval Tuscany

At the beginning of the thirteenth century the territory of Florence possessed three types of grain mill: the floating mill, found particularly on the River Arno in the immediate vicinity of the city of Florence itself; the suspension mill, located on the Arno as well as the free-flowing Elsa to the southwest; and the horizontal mill situated primarily along the streams throughout the Florentine countryside. The floating mill and suspension mill were run predominantly by the Vitruvian gearing system while the horizontal mill was operated by the apparently less efficient ritrecine or horizontal walerwheel. An examination of the notarial chartularies lodged in the Archivio di Stato of Florence shows that after 1250 the Florentines, while incorporating northern- European methods for the manufacture of woolen cloth, began to use overshot and undershot mills, the former being designated as French and the latter as orbital. The orbital mill was constructed along the banks of navigable rivers like the Arno and the Elsa and soon was partly responsible for the disappearance of the floating mill. The French mill, on the other hand, was located by the erratic torrents of the hills and mountains of the countryside. It did not by any means replace the horizontal mill. In many cases, it simply became part of a pre-existing complex housing a ritrecine. In others, particularly in the latter half of the fourteenth century, there was a successful symbiosis of the principal mechanisms of the overshot and horizontal types, creating the French horizontal mill. By the end of the fourteenth century the territory of Florence thus had five types of grain mill and thereby anticipated the basic milling technology of the High Italian Renaissance as illustrated in Agostino Ramelli's compendium of machines completed in 1588.     

藏在托斯卡纳 深山里的古老秘境

正提到意大利的托斯卡纳,人们立刻会联想起波浪般舒缓起伏的田野,点缀着丝柏树的蜿蜒小径,漫山的葡萄园与向日葵,美酒美食里的意大利式田园诗……其实在托斯卡纳的南部,还有着一片更为野性和神秘的土地:在这里,肆意蔓延的深谷和沟壑切割了森林和田野,其间点缀着由意大利半岛上最古老的民族伊特鲁里亚人建立的古老城镇,以及连接这些城镇的巨石走廊。     

A Sydney and Melbourne comparison of intra-urban differentials in unemployment rates

This article reports on multiple regression analyses of unemployment rates in the local government areas of Sydney and Melbourne which show that the spatial inequalities in unemployment risks may be greater in Sydney than in Melbourne. It explores the reasons for the difference and their implications for future trends in spatial inequalities.     

The case of the missing girls: sex ratios in fifteenth-century Tuscany

This article addresses the apparent shortage of women in the 1427 Florentine Catasto, perhaps the most complete premodern European demographic source. It argues that the shortage exists because it was only when they entered their first marriage that Tuscan women were viewed as complete, gendered beings by their families, government officials, and society. Before marriage, a woman’s place within the household, her gender, and even her existence were liminal, at least in Tuscan documents. The result is that the ratio of men to women is more balanced for that portion of the population past the age of marriage for women. Shifting the analysis from infants and men, where it has traditionally lain, to young adult women explains the gender imbalance in the documentation and provides a deeper understanding of the ways that gender, adulthood, and identity intersected in premodern Europe.     

The family,honour and gender in Sicily: models and new research*

This article shows how the latest research into Sicily's social and economic history calls into question certain well‐established interpretations of the history of the family and its structures, the paradigm of Mediterranean honour, and the theory of familism. This new appraisal also highlights the major significance of the history of women and gender identity.     

Fish Processing in Italy and Sicily During Antiquity

The aim of this paper is to present a short overview of the production and trade in marine resources in Italy and Sicily during Antiquity. As the results of this research have already been published in detail elsewhere, the aim of this short contribution is to summarise the most important data and to highlight some of the research questions that remain unsolved. The paper follows a chronological order, from the pre-Roman period to the 2nd century AD, as well as a geographical one, starting with Sicily, moving on to Magna Grecia in what is now southern Italy and then moving on to the rest of Italy. A major consideration, highlighted here, is that in many cases we are dealing with data from old excavations and precise archaeological information is rarely available.     

The Arab uprising and the persistence of monarchy

The Arab uprising that began in 2010 saw the fall of rulers in states that had republican governments, yet the monarchs in their states survived. This is ironic in light of the fact that many monarchs throughout history have been vulnerable to revolutions. What explains this discrepancy? Although the literature has emphasized the impact of petrodollars in preserving the rule of the monarchs, this article stresses ideological and institutional factors. Like the Soviet Union's embrace of Marxism–Leninism, the Arab republics had regimes based on the failed ideology of revolutionary nationalism. Although revolutionary nationalism, which fused the nation and state, declined by the late 1960s, it left an institutional legacy that made it difficult for the republican states to change. On the contrary, in defining themselves in opposition to revolutionary nationalism, the monarchs provided for security and stability in making themselves somewhat immune to transnational revolutionary movements like the Arab uprising. In differentiating the state from the nation, the monarchs, paradoxically, showed more respect for different societal interests within the nation than the republican rulers.     

The persistence of white ethnicity in New England politics

There was a consensus among earlier students of New England politics that the political influence of European ancestry was fading by the latter half of the 20th century. We examine this proposition in recent times by exploring the role of ethnic ancestry in explaining the political divide in the region's presidential voting in over 1500 New England towns. Contrary to earlier predictions, ethnic origin does retain some explanatory power in models of recent voting behavior, and ethnic cleavages have not been entirely replaced by economic divisions in the electorate. Although the settlement patterns of the more established and numerous nationality groups (i.e. Irish and Italians) are less associated with partisanship than they were 50 years ago, the political salience of white ethnicity persists, suggesting that ethnic groups do not simply dealign or politically “assimilate” over time. Some groups maintain a strong identity in spite of upward mobility because movement from city to suburbs is selected not just on housing, income or school characteristics, as is usually the case, but on ethnicity too. Towns with significant concentrations of specific European ancestry groups lean Republican, even after we have accounted for the presence of other sources of political leaning and past voting tendencies, while Democratic attachments are undeniably strong in towns where the newer immigrant groups have settled. The “new ethnicity” (i.e. racial minorities) and the “old ethnicity” (i.e. white ethnics) clearly carry distinct political implications for this region's presidential politics.     

The decision to shelter archaeological sites Three case-studies from Sicily

Abstract

The decision to provide a protective shelter for exposed archaeological remains is illustrated by examining case studies of three sites in Sicily that were provided with protective measures in the 1950s. The three protective shelters were designed by the same architect, Franco Minissi, for the sites of Gela, the Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina) and Heraclea Minoa. His work on protective shelters is viewed in the broader context of the development at that time in Italy of Cesare Brandi's theory of restoration and of Minissi's own philosophy of 'musealizzazione' for the protection of historic sites and their integration into contemporary society.     

The persistence of caffeine in experimentally produced black drink residues

Black drink is a native North American caffeinated tea produced from the leaves of Ilex vomitoria. The beverage was an important part of prehistoric Southeastern culture, as it was the only native source of caffeine in North America. The leaves of I. vomitoria were, therefore, a potentially valuable trade resource during the period. As such, the ability to identify archaeological black drink residues is useful to Southeastern archaeologists. In order to determine the plausibility of detecting I. vomitoria in residues, black drink was repeatedly produced in experimental unglazed pottery. The resulting potsherds were buried in several environmental contexts, recovered, and underwent absorbed pottery residue analysis. After two months of burial in three different soil types, plus a control stored in the freezer, caffeine was well-preserved in all sherds, suggesting that caffeine is a potentially useful biomarker for the detection of black drink.     

The stubborn persistence of the anthropology of religion

Klass, Morton. Ordered Universes: Approaches to the Anthropology of Religion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995. xiv + 177 pp. including references and index. $49.95 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Reynolds, Vernon and Ralph Tanner. The Social Ecology of Religion. Oxford University Press, 1995. viii + 322 pp. including index. $39.95 cloth, $17.95 paper.

Holm, Jean and John Bowker, eds. Attitudes to Nature. London: Pinter Publishers, 1994. xii + 172 pp. including index. $45.00 cloth, $16.00 paper.     

The atlas of Africa: The persistence of European perspectives

Régine Van Chi‐Bonnardel. The Atlas of Africa. Prepared by Jeune Afrique. New York: The Free Press, 1974. 335 pp. Maps, bargraph diagrams, index‐gazetteer, and glossary. $80.00.     

Civic Virtues in Dominican Homiletic Literature in Tuscany in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Abstract

From an historical perspective, the theological writings of Remigio dei Girolami and the preaching ad populum of Giordano da Pisa (different in content, form, and language) present themselves as specula societatis which reflect many aspects of contemporary urban society, and show the various levels of Dominican pastoral activity. In them the moral behaviour of the individual acquires a social dimension, extending out from the private to the public sphere and involving the whole civic community. The concepts of common-good, of justice, of peace and concord, of pardon linked to patience and mercy are presented as 'civic virtues', and are introduced into the local communal life. However, the difference between theory and reality, between models of behaviour and actual practice, leads the two friars to adopt an extremely pragmatic attitude: the object of their pastoral aim is the identification and the explanation of virtuous conduct rather than the analysis and definition of virtue as a concept. This is a method which tries to find a compromise, a point of contact between two cultures, religious and lay, and which dovetails with the moralization of individual and collective behaviour which is at the core of the treatises of Remigio and the sermons of Giordano.     

The minor rural aristocracy and great lords in thirteenth-century Tuscany: three cases from the entourage of the Guidi counts

This article examines relations in thirteenth-century Tuscany between the minor rural aristocracy and great rural lords, that is, those based outside cities. The subject is approached through a study based on three families, with special emphasis on the way they were bound to the extended family of the Guidi counts, who were prominent at the highest level in the thirteenth-century kingdom of Italy. In the thirteenth century, attendance on the counts was not attractive to families of the minor aristocracy: it was universally acknowledged that the great rural lords of Tuscany had little to offer their adherents in terms of wealth, power and prestige, incentives which could be obtained from the cities of the region. Minor aristocrats who chose to live as professional soldiers were particularly attracted to the cities, which were always in need of soldiers for their armies.