Communication of Discoveries of Medieval Paintings,Etc

Abstract

Until 1965 Holy Trinity parish church, Much Wenlock (Shropshire), was believed to be wholly Norman and later. In that year it was proposed that the south chancel chapel and south nave aisle were Anglo-Saxon. Two vertical strips of squared stones, built into the upper part (a later heightening) of the aisle's south wall, were interpreted as Anglo-Saxon pilaster strips of the type later classified by Dr H. M. Taylor as ‘long-and-short’. If the upper part of that wall was Anglo-Saxon, the lower part must have been earlier Anglo-Saxon, and so must the chapel south wall, which is integral with the lower part of the aisle wall. The Norman nave and chancel must have been added to an-existing Anglo-Saxon structure.

We believe, however, that the aisle and chapel must have been added to an existing Norman structure, for the Norman nave had originally a south-east external clasping buttress. Structural and documentary evidence shows that the strips are probably of the later thirteenth or earlier fourteenth century. Moreover similar strips occur in another part of the church that is probably of that date or later. ‘Pilaster strips’ of ‘long-and-short’ appearance may evidently be looked for elsewhere in twelfth-century or later contexts, especially in the heightened parts of unsupported rubble walls.     

Icenia: Notices of Roman Remains,and Evidences of Occupation,Discovered in Norfolk

This paper attempts to demonstrate four things: (1) There is no adequate documentary basis for Petrie's ‘Northern’ system of lengths. (2) We do not know of any system into which Anglo-Saxon lengths were organized. (3) The perch of 5.03 m is the only Anglo-Saxon unit of which the length is known. (4) There is insufficient evidence to support the view that the Drusian foot of 33.3 cm was widely used by the Germanic tribes in general or in Anglo-Saxon England in particular. Conversely the modern English foot of 30.48 cm has more to recommend it as Anglo-Saxon than has previously been recognized.     

Anglo-Saxon Timber Building Measurements: Recent Results

THE METHODS of analysis of Anglo-Saxon timber building plans and the use of the 5.03 m (16 ft. 6 in.) rod have been explored previously. The use of a shorter rod was identified tentatively at Thetford and now, at 4.65 m long, positively at Mucking. The use of both rods is discussed at Yeavering, Mucking, West Stow, Thirlings, Cowdery's Down, Northampton, Springfield Lyons, Wicken Bonhunt, Rounds, Bishopstone, Catholme and Cheddar. Nineteenth-century records in the Elbe-Weser region of Germany show rods, extant at that time, with an average length of 4.63 m. It is thus possible that the origin of the shorter Anglo-Saxon rod might be sought in the Germanic homeland of the Anglo-Saxons. The rods seem to have been divided into thirds and sixths, and the possible use of even smaller measures is considered. The implications of the widespread use of standard measures in Anglo-Saxon England are discussed. The awkwardness of the English medieval system of linear measurement may have been due to the amalgamation of elements of both of the two Anglo-Saxon systems.     

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

Abstract

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.     

Unpicking the web: the divorce of Ecgfrith and Æthelthryth

The concept of a woman who is a ‘peace-weaver’ is known chiefly from Anglo-Saxon literature, yet is also a role that must have been reflected in the actual marriage alliances among the Anglo-Saxon dynasties. This article considers how networks of marriage and kinship may have functioned among the Anglo-Saxons of the late seventh century, and to what extent a woman could have real value in the role. It takes as starting point the historian Bede's account of how the marriage of Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, and his wife, known to history as St Æthelthryth, was dissolved on grounds of non-consummation. Bede's claims that Ecgfrith was reluctant to let his wife go, sometimes dismissed as hagiographic convention, are here taken seriously and used to explore what reasons Ecgfrith might have had to want to maintain the marriage by looking at the politics of peace and war in the English kingdoms of the period, the role played by seventh-century marriage ties in relations between kingdoms, and what the value of such a marriage and the consequences of dissolving it may have been.     

Early Anglo-Saxon Gold Braids

GOLD threads have been found in many Anglo-Saxon and continental Germanic graves of the period from the 5th to the 8th century A.D. (see catalogue, pp. 66 ff.). Early recognized as the remains of costly woven decorations to headdresses and the borders of garments, during the 19th century particularly they attracted much interest and discussion, some of it very pertinent.¹ Technical attention, however, of the kind required by their fragmentary state, was not then available, and it is only comparatively lately that the discovery of fresh examples in some newly excavated Frankish graves has caused a revival of interest in the subject, with the hopeful prospect of detailed technical studies to come from the continent in the future.     

Anglo-Saxon women and the law

Scholarly investigations of Anglo-Saxon social history have usually drawn the conclusion that women during that period enjoyed a favourable position in comparison with their successors in post-Conquest England. The following study aims to qualify this view, by demonstrating that the position of women was more complicated than is usually acknowledged. An examination of the Anglo-Saxon legal documents shows that the position of women varied according to circumstances such as rank, marital status, and geographical location. However, an overall improvement between the early and late period is clear. In fact, this improvement is so considerable that there is a much closer resemblance between the situation obtaining in late Anglo-Saxon England and post-Conquest England than there is between the early and late Anglo-Saxon period. Thus, to describe Anglo-Saxon E England as a time when women enjoyed an independence which they lost as a result of the changes introduced by the Norman Conquest is misleading.     

The Reuse of ‘Antiques’ in Conversion Period Cemeteries

BETWEEN 2005 AND 2007, a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery was excavated at Street House, near Loftus in Cleveland in north-eastern England. The site was discovered during a programme of research into late-prehistoric settlement in the area and hosts a range of monuments dating from 3000 bc to ad 650. In the context of the conversion period, the Anglo-Saxon cemetery is of significant interest due to a range of reused prehistoric and Romano-British objects found as gravegoods. By ad 650, when some of the objects were buried, they were already antiques, and some may have been at least 250 years old when deposited. During the conversion period, furnished burial was a diminishing rite and the placement of objects within the grave may therefore have held a greater significance. This study considers reused artefacts recovered from conversion -period cemeteries. At a time when a number of cemeteries were being founded in relation to earlier monuments, some contained burials that reused artefacts and jewellery of prehistoric and Romano-British date. There is a compelling pattern for this practice at Street House, but this phenomenon also occurred at other sites of a similar date.     

镰仓、室町时期的茶文化与日本茶道

成立于战国后期的日本茶道（初期称为“茶汤”或“佗茶”）,虽然在形式上与南北朝时的“婆娑罗寄合”这种喧闹、奢靡的饮茶之风迥然不同,甚至与室町幕府的将军所举行的茶会也有很大的差异,但是禅的精神的融入,正是对“婆娑罗寄合”的一种反省与反动,而室町幕府茶会中的“唐物数寄”、以建盏天目茶碗为代表的“茶具足”和“书院座敷”这三个基本文化元素,是后来日本的茶道得以成立的非常重要的前提条件。“书院座敷”构成了茶道得以展开的基本空间,“茶具足”是茶道得以进行的基本器具,而“唐物数寄”则是使整个茶道活动充满了优雅文化气息的基本组成。     

A Holiday Journal of 1774

Abstract

Early illustrations of Ledsham church do not show carvings around the Anglo-Saxon doorway into the tower, and examination of the physical condition of the stonework suggests that it is unlikely that the carvings could have survived from the Anglo-Saxon period. The peculiar features of the doorway and its carvings are best explained by the work being a nineteenth-century replacement by the Victorian architect, Henry Curzon.     

The Scale and Impact of Viking Settlement in Northumbria

DISCOVERIES AT the Viking winter camp at Torksey indicate that the armies that invaded Anglo-Saxon England in the late 9th century were much larger than is often assumed, and that a literal reading of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s assessment of the size of Viking fleets may, after all, have been correct. Furthermore, study of the Torksey metalwork assemblage has allowed the identification of the archaeological signature of the Viking Great Army, and when applied to Cottam, it confirms the identification of an initial phase of raiding by an element of the Army, followed shortly thereafter by settlement represented by the development of a hybrid Anglo-Scandinavian culture. Taken together, over 25 categories of non-ferrous artefacts are diagnostic of Viking or Anglo-Scandinavian activity in Northumbria. Applying this model to sites, largely known only from metal-detecting, we can observe a common pattern. At the majority of sites, a large and fairly standardised middle Anglo-Saxon finds assemblage is succeeded by just a few Viking finds, which we attribute to raiding following Halfdan’s return to Northumbria with part of the Great Army in AD 876. At a smaller number of sites, assemblages of Anglo-Scandinavian finds relate to the establishment of settlements by the new landowners. The overall picture is of major settlement disruption and dislocation of existing land holdings and populations in the late-9th century. This demonstrates, for the first time from archaeological evidence, the scale and impact of Viking activity in Northumbria.     

Compulsory Voting: Residual Problems and Potential Solutions

The state-enforced compulsion to vote can be defended as a reasonable imposition on individual autonomy. This article moves on from this position to examine a number of residual problems with Australia's compulsory voting arrangements. While maintaining a commitment to the compulsory voting system, I suggest that, in order to protect the reputation of the practice and preserve the norm of universal participation, some reforms may be necessary. While the argument that it is reasonable to compel people to vote accepts that the state can legitimately penalise avoidance, I have doubts about the propriety of some current and past practices, specifically those relating to the legal consequences of avoidance and the public promotion of avoidance. One recommendation allows genuine 'conscientious objectors' to apply for exemption provided they meet a number of conditions. I also make suggestions that address the complaint that compulsion limits democratic choice.     

Reflections on the Latin American Contribution to Development Theory

ABSTRACT During the last decade a series of essays by prominent development theorists were published in which it was argued that development theory was in crisis. In my view the First World bias of development theory has contributed to its shortcomings. This bias is evidenced by the failure of development theory seriously to examine and incorporate into its mainstream the theories emanating from the Third World. In this paper I deal with the Latin American contribution to development theory. While development theorists have given some attention to dependency studies and structuralism, far too little appreciation has been given to the writings on marginality and internal colonialism. However, the significance of the structuralist school for development thinking and practice has yet to be fully acknowledged. Furthermore, dependency theory has been much distorted and key dependency writers have been completely ignored, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. The following themes of the multi-stranded Latin American development school are examined: the debate on reform or revolution, the structuralist or centre-periphery paradigm, the analyses on internal colonialism and marginality, and the dependency studies. Wherever relevant the key differing positions within the Latin American school are presented. I then proceed to examine the shortcomings as well as the contemporary relevance of these Latin American theories of development and underdevelopment.     

The Litaniae maiores and minores in Rome, Francia and Anglo-Saxon England: terminology, texts and traditions

It has been noted that there are Frankish and Anglo-Saxon texts in which the three days before Ascension are designated as the Major Litanies, a practice generally regarded as an inexplicable deviation from the established norm of designating 25 April as the Major Litany and the three days before Ascension as the Minor Litany. This article shows, however, that this contrastive terminology was not in use in the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish churches and that the pre-Ascension litany days – more firmly established than the Roman tradition of 25 April – were commonly designated as the Litaniae maiores in authoritative contexts.     

Gifts of food in late medieval England

Gifts of food were an integral part of late medieval culture. Small items, such as fruit, might be given by anyone. As part of commensality, sociability, hospitality and charity, food gifts underpinned customary patterns of life; they developed networks of relationships, establishing good lordship, and played an important role in negotiations. Patterns of giving demonstrate the distinctiveness and appropriateness of some categories of foodstuff, and illuminate the purposes of donors. Changes over time can be identified: indiscriminate hospitality or large-scale food alms fell out of common practice after the Black Death and gifts of money were preferred in some circumstances. Giving choice foodstuffs, however, remained a constant.     

Gifts of food in late medieval England

Gifts of food were an integral part of late medieval culture. Small items, such as fruit, might be given by anyone. As part of commensality, sociability, hospitality and charity, food gifts underpinned customary patterns of life; they developed networks of relationships, establishing good lordship, and played an important role in negotiations. Patterns of giving demonstrate the distinctiveness and appropriateness of some categories of foodstuff, and illuminate the purposes of donors. Changes over time can be identified: indiscriminate hospitality or large-scale food alms fell out of common practice after the Black Death and gifts of money were preferred in some circumstances. Giving choice foodstuffs, however, remained a constant.     

晚清中国"约定自开"商埠之开埠方式考析——以辽南安东为典型案例

"约定自开"商埠作为一种特殊的商埠类型,本身既有"自开"的因素,又有"约定"的成分,似乎是一个矛盾综合体,史学界对其属于何种开埠方式,历来争议不断。开埠方式的判定应遵循条约规定与开埠实践相结合的双重标准,由于不平等条约并未明确规定中外在"约定自开"商埠的权利与义务,开埠实践中的主权归属就成为判断其开埠方式的主要依据,可从行政权与司法权归属、关税主导权、租界问题三方面入手进行全面考量。安东作为该类商埠的典型代表,是中美商约谈判相互妥协的产物,依照上述标准可判定其开埠方式为"自开"。这为其他"约定自开"商埠之开埠方式的判定提供了合理模式,即开埠实践中的主权归属模式。对"约定自开"商埠之开埠方式进行考析,可从侧面反映出该类商埠的殖民程度。     

The Malham Pipe: A Reassessment of Its Context,Dating and Significance

The Malham Pipe is a musical instrument formed from the tibia of a sheep, and was discovered in 1950 among artefacts revealed during the excavation of a Bronze Age burial mound at Seaty Hill on Malham Moor in the Yorkshire Dales. On the basis of associated finds the pipe was dated originally to the Iron Age, and in a study published in 1952 the musical properties of the pipe were examined physically at a level of detail that set a benchmark for the characterization of other such objects discovered subsequently. However, in the intervening period the dating of the pipe has been questioned. In this paper, following a detailed reappraisal of the Seaty Hill finds and dating evidence, including burial practice and settlement remains in the locality, and their wider historical context, we have concluded that the Malham Pipe is of post-Roman date. We believe, therefore, that although the Malham Pipe may no longer be claimed to be the earliest known duct flute found in the British Isles, nevertheless it appears to be the first recorded bone flute found in a post-Roman (Anglo-Saxon) burial context.