The messianic journey of Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel to the Land of Israel re-examined

In 1210, thanks to increased contacts between Jewish communities in western Europe and in the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the crusades, Jonathan ha-Kohen, head of the yeshivah of Lunel and leading Jewish Provençal sage of his time, set sail for Alexandria, from where he proceeded on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A year later, a group of sages from northern France and England arrived in Marseille, en route to Palestine. A number of scholars have investigated the messianic aspects of this second wave of immigration, called the “‘ aliyah of the three hundred rabbis”. This article, however, seeks to examine the messianic aspects of the earlier journey, undertaken by Jonathan ha-Kohen and his followers, within their local Provençal context.     

Liminality Wanted. Liminal landscapes and literary spaces: The Way of St. James

Abstract

The term limen was introduced to anthropological studies following Van Gennep’s theories (1960) about liminality. Among them, Victor and Edith Turner (1978) defined pilgrimage as a liminal experience, as it implies being between two existential levels that, through rituality, favours reflection. In this sense, the case of The Way of St. James (Spain) is an interesting field or research as it is loaded with contemporary meanings. Its landscapes assume the nature of spiritual and therapeutic ones; here, the physical and built environment, social conditions and human perceptions produce an atmosphere favourable to spiritual healing. On the basis of these emotions, liminality is the essence of this pilgrimage experience, not only during the same, but especially afterwards. As a matter of fact, this spiritual journey involves the search for one’s self once back home, thus acting in the process of formation of the individual. Drawing on the need for improving researches on landscape perception approach in tourism studies, we pretend to singularise the pilgrimage landscape from a liminal perspective in order to point out the need for liminality before, during and after the pilgrimage. This is achieved by exploring perceptions and emotions expressed in a corpus of travel literary production. These narrative works are not limited to describe the pilgrimage experiences; rather they make liminality a literary theme to magnify their experiences. As a result, the concept of liminal literary landscape is used to refer to pilgrims’ desire to revive liminality through the pages of travel narratives, in order to continue enjoying these emotions and feelings. These travel narratives are producing new literary modes based on the geographical exploration of the landscapes of The Way in relation to human feelings.     

Restorationist Counter‐Enlightenment: Thomas M'Crie on the Concept of Civil Liberty

Enlightenment notions for Counter‐Enlightenment purposes have not to date been used to provide a comprehensive context for Scottish religious history‐writing in the age of Counter‐Revolution and Restoration. The Evangelical historian and divine Thomas M'Crie's studies on Scottish Reformation history, Life of John Knox and Life of Andrew Melville, published in 1811 and 1819 respectively, exhibit an abundance of historiographical material for research. M'Crie was among the most renowned writers of his own time, but his historical works have been briefly passed over in recent secondary sources. The main purpose of this study is to rescue M'Crie's historical works on the Scottish Reformation past from near oblivion. This article argues that M'Crie produced an apology for the Scottish Reformation, adopting an aggressive style that attacked Scottish Enlightenment historians and thinkers such as William Robertson and David Hume, especially in the matter of their treatment of John Knox and Andrew Melville. M'Crie tried to restore his chosen past in order to influence the religious and political affairs of Scotland. In M'Crie's Counter‐Enlightenment historiography, the concept of civil liberty and Presbyterianism become interchangeable in a Restorationist religio‐political discourse. That is why M'Crie's enthusiasm for the Scottish Reformation constitutes the most representative example of the Presbyterian interpretation, which held its own against Enlightenment influence.     

安塞樊庄石窟取经图像初探

陕北安塞樊庄石窟第2窟西壁和南壁下方雕有两组玄奘取经浮雕.第一组为负笈僧人与挑担挑夫,四壁雕有罗汉,应以取经故事表现位列五百罗汉之一的玄奘.第二组位于水月观音下方,计九人一马,表现了迎接玄奘取经归来的场景.本文拟以樊庄石窟浮雕为个案,探讨陕北宋金石窟中唐僧取经浮雕融入水月观音变相初期的图像风格,以及此类图像在北宋、金、...     

Anglo‐Saxon Style Pottery from the Northern Netherlands and North‐Western Germany: Fabrics and Finish,Regional and Chronological Patterns,and their Implications

This paper presents the results of a study of Anglo‐Saxon style pottery in the northern Netherlands and north‐western Germany, involving macroscopic and microscopic analysis of fabrics and finish. Both regions show similar developments in form and decoration in the pottery of the fourth and fifth centuries ad , the late Roman and Migration period, resulting in the typical decoration and shapes that are known as the Anglo‐Saxon style. In the northern Netherlands, this style is traditionally associated with Anglo‐Saxon immigrants. It has, however, been suggested that this style was, rather, part of an indigenous development in areas in the northern Netherlands where occupation was continuous, though influenced by stylistic developments in north‐western Germany. That hypothesis is supported by the analysis of fabrics and finish presented here. The characteristic of fabrics and surface treatment indicate technological continuity. The use of local clay sources for Anglo‐Saxon style pottery and for contemporary regional types indicates that most of the Anglo‐Saxon style pottery in the northern Netherlands was not brought by Anglo‐Saxon immigrants or as imports, but must have been made locally. That applies to settlements with continuous habitation, as well as settlements in the coastal area that were not inhabited during the fourth century ad .     

Revisiting Female Pilgrimage in Medieval Oxford: Evidence from the Miracula Sancte Frideswide*

The most common form of female pilgrimage in medieval England was local pilgrimage to a saint's shrine. One English pilgrimage destination which is especially associated with women is St Frideswide's shrine in Oxford, owing to a collection of miracle stories compiled in the 1180s in which women are particularly prevalent. Drawing on a new edition and translation of the Miracula sancte Frideswide, this article revisits the cult of Frideswide in the late twelfth century and takes a fresh look at the experiences of women visiting Oxford on pilgrimage. The article reassesses previous speculations about women's attraction to the cult, brings to light some little-appreciated aspects of female pilgrimage, and finds that many of the accounts challenge assumptions made about female behaviour and expectations in the Middle Ages.     

A Spiritual Healing Mission Remembered: James Moore Hickson's Christian Healing Mission at Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1923

The 1923 world tour by the Anglican spiritual healer James Moore Hickson finished in New Zealand. Coming at a time of heightened interest in the phenomenon of spiritual healing, Hickson attracted large crowds and intense media attention. Because so many of those who came for healing came from outside the city, the mission at All Saints' Anglican Church in the provincial city of Palmerston North involved a disproportionate effort on the part of parishioners compared with other centres. So, although the number of permanent cures was not as high as was first hoped, and the mission did not lead to increased participation in church activities, the event became a significant part of the history of All Saints'. As elsewhere, some individuals were deeply affected, many claiming to experience a new depth in their spiritual lives. These individuals, and stories of the Hickson mission, encouraged openness to spiritual healing and charismatic renewal that continues to influence this particular church to the present day.     

Huguenot Belief and Practice in Eighteenth‐Century Paris

Protestantism was illegal in eighteenth‐century France, yet many French Reformed Protestants, better known as Huguenots, managed to maintain their religion and identity until the French Revolution granted religious freedom. Several thousand of them lived in Paris, but remained a tiny minority in a very Catholic city. Given this context, and little access to pastors or collective worship, what kind of Protestantism did they observe? This article suggests that, like other minority groups, their religious practice and thinking were influenced both by the Catholic environment in which they lived and by the culture of the late eighteenth‐century city. By 1789 they had moved away from certain Calvinist traditions, and some of them had adopted a surprising ecumenism.     

‘Partner in his Calamities’: Pastors' Wives,Married Nuns and the Experience of Clerical Marriage in the Early German Reformation

This essay examines what factors led the first clerical wives to marry former Catholic clergy and nuns to marry in the first decade of the Reformation in Germany and seeks to explain the difference that social class, geography and gender made in those decisions. In contrast to the later Reformation, when pastors married same or higher social status women, the majority of women who married former priests and monks during the 1520s were often lower or, in the case of nuns, significantly higher social status than their husbands. Women married clergy for a variety of reasons that were counterintuitive to typical marital strategies for economic security and social networking, since clergy had neither in the 1520s. While sharing a common experience, clerical wives' reasons for marriage to a pastor varied greatly depending on class, local decision about the Reformation and numerous personal factors. Using a variety of sources including letters, civic records, court testimony and published pamphlets, this article demonstrates that these women did exhibit a limited agency that ultimately helped shape larger social and political acceptance of clerical marriage.     

Men in the Communities of Dominican Nuns – Sister‐Books Discussing Priests and Friars

This article discusses the relationship between Dominican nuns and their caregivers (priests and friars) with the help of sister‐books written by the Dominican nuns themselves in the first half of the fourteenth century. My main focus will be on analysing the way religious men were described in these books and asking how this discussion was related to the everyday life of the nuns in the Dominican convents. I will suggest that the sister‐books can give a new and perhaps unexpected view of the relationships between Dominican nuns and their spiritual caregivers, as these texts suggest that nuns preferred local secular priests over the friars, even though they accepted the religious authority of the latter. I will argue that although the sister‐books were literary products, they had a close connection to the lived reality of nuns and that they can tell us about the interaction between nuns and religious men in their service. However, these texts also formed the ideas of nuns and kept the old attitudes towards priests and friars live, even when the interaction might have already taken other forms in practice.     

THE ATLANTIC ROMAN TRADE DURING THE PRINCIPATE: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE WESTERN FAÇADE

In this paper new evidence is presented for long‐distance trade in the western Atlantic in the Roman period, chiefly from Augustus to the second century AD, on the basis of documented shipwrecks and numerous amphora types. Well‐dated contexts from northern Portugal and Spain, as well as similar sites in northern France and Germany, suggest a thriving trade of amphora‐borne commodities during the Principate. The Atlantic route was initially developed during Augustus' campaigns against the Cantabri and Astures, and later consolidated with the exploitation of the mines in the north‐west of the Iberian Peninsula. Supplying the Roman armies in the German Limes gave a new impetus to this commercial route, complemented by the conquest of Britain.     

欧洲宗教改革与瑞士钟表业的崛起

在瑞士近代工业发展史上,钟表业占有举足轻重的地位。通过考察其历史,瑞士钟表业的奠基时期与欧洲的宗教改革时期恰好重合。可以说,瑞士钟表业从初创到迅速发展,并最终能够成为世界独一无二的“钟表王国”,无不与宗教改革有着密切的关联。16世纪的宗教改革为钟表业在瑞士的建立、发展、兴盛提供了良好的历史机遇宗教改革中的一些法令为钟表业的发展排除了劲敌首饰业,并将那些从事首饰业的工匠转化为钟表业的潜在技术人员;宗教改革的“衍生物”,即受到宗教迫害的法国难民等,则为瑞士钟表业的兴起提供了先进的技术、大量的资金、优秀的人才以及销售网络;宗教改革还从精神层面间接地产生了潜移默化的影响,从而陶染了瑞士人的思想观念,培养出瑞士人执着的工匠精神,为钟表业的长远发展提供了积极的因素。宗教改革不仅助推了钟表工业的发展,同时也带动了瑞士城市化发展和其他产业,对瑞士近代经济与社会产生了巨大的影响。     

Transport Amphorae in the West Hallstatt Zone: Reassessing Socio‐Economic Dynamics and Long‐Distance Mediterranean Exchange in Western Central Europe in the Early Iron Age

Trade and cultural relations between western Central Europe and the Mediterranean world in the Early Iron Age remain a major topic of discussion. The products exchanged were mainly connected with the ritual preparation and social consumption of Mediterranean wine. This article examines the question through a comparative study of transport amphorae from the entire West Hallstatt zone. The systematic analysis is based on a specialized study carried out on the material itself. Typological analyses allow us to identify where amphorae originated; previously this was thought to have been just Massalia but this now needs to be expanded to the whole Mediterranean Basin. An analysis of the distribution of amphorae enables us to identify the trajectory these products followed. A comparison with amphora types attested in potential ports in southern France and northern Italy suggests possible trade routes for specific types. Finally, a new chronological scheme for amphorae provides insights into the economic reasons behind these imports and the social impact these products had, enabling us to identify broader socio‐economic trends and long‐distance exchange patterns in western Central Europe.     

中世纪天主教的信仰与危机:1000-1500年

在1000-1500年间,天主教欧洲见证了信仰事务上的多次危机,它们的性质、规模、影响以及重要性各不相同。在此期间,"信仰"伴随着"危机";但信仰没有受到严重的威胁。大多数危机是地方性或区域性的,持续时间也不长,从未达到真正的临界点。它们是可以用这种或那种方法来化解的,并总是能够得到化解,天主教对中世纪整个西欧的掌控因而从未受到严重的威胁,直到宗教改革改变一切。     

The Origin of the use of the Tin‐Glazed Earthenware Technique in the Production of the French Medieval Pavement of Suscinio

The medieval pavement found in its original state and place at the Breton castle of Suscinio is an interesting case study for answering questions about the origin of the tin‐glazed earthenware technique in France. Twenty‐eight decorated tiles (with transparent and tin‐opacified glazes) and eight clayey raw materials were examined using chemical and microstructural approaches involving petrographic, SEM–EDS and XRD analyses. By combining the results of provenance and technological studies with historical and archaeological data, it was possible to conclude that the pavement was a local product, made with imported technological skills, rather than an imported product or the result of local experimentation.     

The Baha'i Faith: Distribution Statistics, 1925–1949

A survey of Baha'i global distribution statistics from the time of their first appearance in 1925 up to 1949. No official data for actual Baha'i populations was published at that time, and we have to rely on lists of local Baha'i councils (“spiritual assemblies”) and of places where Baha'is resided to get some sense of Baha'i distribution dynamics. Even this limited data enable us to describe a pattern of overall growth, from a presence in twenty‐nine countries and territories in 1925 to ninety‐two in 1949, from at least 573 localities worldwide in which Baha'is resided in 1928 to 2,315 by 1949, and 102 local spiritual assemblies in 1928 to 595 in 1949. Regional differences in distribution are discussed. The data shows a significant increase in distribution during this period but there is no evidence for any major corresponding increase in Baha'i numbers, such as began to occur from the mid‐1950s onwards.     

Reformation Humanist Leonard Stöckel (1510–1560) and the Christian Political Ethics of Erasmus of Rotterdam

In Renaissance humanism, a sufficient number of notable works were to be found on the functioning of state, the acquisition and enforcement of political power, and so on. Erasmus of Rotterdam significantly influenced northern humanist thought not only in the sixteenth century, but also in the subsequent centuries. This holds true not only for his understanding of the importance of studying Antiquity and languages for the overall cultural and educational level of Europe at that time, but also, to a significant extent, regarding the impact on political thinking of contemporary Europe. Leonard Stöckel was the most significant humanist pedagogue in sixteenth‐century Upper Hungary, which is why he was also called Hungariae praeceptor. The aim of this article is to analyse the influence of Erasmus of Rotterdam on the ethical views of Leonard Stöckel regarding the prince/ruler, politics, ways of enforcing power, defining common good, and public interest. It is, thus, a search for similarities and differences in the political ethics between Erasmus of Rotterdam and Leonard Stöckel, as one of the most significant representatives of Reformation humanism in sixteenth‐century Hungary.     

TROUBLE IN PARADISE? – VIOLENT CONFLICT IN FUNNEL‐BEAKER SOCIETIES

The archaeology of warfare and violent conflict has made many advances over the past three decades. However, the Funnel‐beaker Culture (TRB) is mostly absent from these discussions and the presence of warriors is assigned to the succeeding periods. This contribution takes a new look at a conspicuous object from northern TRB contexts: the so‐called thick flint points or halberds (dan. dolkstaver). Their functionality as a specialized weapon is discussed through their use wear, contexts and European comparisons. Afterwards the evidence for violent conflict in the region is explored thematically, including paleo‐demography, victims, enemies, and fortifications. Based on this it is argued that warfare existed during the TRB culture and that warriors may emerge in a society that seems of a largely egalitarian structure.