Benedictine reform and pastoral care in late Anglo‐Saxon England

This article challenges the traditional assumption that the so‐called Benedictine reform produced a clear demarcation between secular and monastic communities in late Anglo‐Saxon England and, consequently, between, on one side, those who had pastoral responsibilities towards the laity and, on the other, those characterized by monastic seclusion. Though to varying degrees, the evidence available for both reformed and newly founded Benedictine communities suggests that the late Anglo‐Saxon monks, especially those serving the urban cathedrals of Winchester, Worcester and Canterbury, could be actively involved in the delivery of such pastoral provisions as preaching, baptism, attending the dying, and burial. Monastic communities therefore represented yet another factor influencing the lively and quickly developing pastoral landscape of late Anglo‐Saxon England.     

Hosting the king: hospitality and the royal iter in tenth-century England

Traditional studies of royal itinerancy have depended on locating the king’s progress through his kingdom(s) as precisely as possible and it should therefore not surprise that the iter regis in pre-conquest England has received relatively little attention, since Anglo-Saxon diplomas only rarely record their date and place of issue, making the establishment of the royal itinerary all but impossible. However, more recent studies, particularly by German scholars, have moved away from the earlier attention to the concrete details of the royal iter and focus more on the effects of itinerancy as a method of rulership, viewing itinerancy as a central part of royal ritual. This study argues that if we investigate itinerancy in tenth-century England from this standpoint, we can throw new light onto the subject. Contemporary sources reveal that in England as in France and Germany the iter regis was of great importance, with symbolic acts of feasting and gift-giving accompanying royal visits. The attention given to these ritualised acts in contemporary sources suggests, moreover, that Anglo-Saxon kingship possessed an important ‘charismatic’ quality, which deserves further investigation.     

Changing queenships in tenth-century England: rhetoric and (self-)representation in the case of Eadgifu of Kent at Cooling

The charter now known as Sawyer 1211 contains a detailed account of an intergenerational property dispute between Queen Eadgifu and her rival Goda, concerning the possession of two Kentish estates. Typically, the charter has either been understood as evidence of dispute settlement or to establish facts about Eadgifu that are otherwise unattested. This article argues that Sawyer 1211 has further value when approached as a narrative which drew upon Eadgifu’s memories and oral testimony. Read in this way, it reveals a (self-)representation of her legal agency that has important implications for the understanding of early English queenship.     

Scandinavians swearing oaths in tenth-century Russia: Pagans and Christians

The Old Russian Primary Chronicle reports on four tenth-century treaties concluded on oath between unchristianised merchants coming from Scandinavia and the Greek emperor, describing the oaths and ceremonies, the objects used, and the gods invoked. This article presents an investigation into the oaths and the formalities performed on those occasions. The opportunity is given for a comparison with fragmentary data elsewhere in the Scandinavian area of the time, and for a clarification of the portrayal of the oath in its pre-Christian form. As the agreements were concluded on the eve of Russian’s official Christianisation, interesting encounters between pagans and Christians are signalised.     

The value of empire: tenth-century Bulgaria between Magyars,Pechenegs and Byzantium

The article seeks to explain the connection between the migration of the Magyars and Pechenegs in central and south-east Europe, in the late ninth and early tenth century, and the conflict between Byzantium and Bulgaria during the same period. Through reference to anthropologists discussing the relations between nomadic and sedentary societies (Khazanov, Barfield), and historians studying medieval rituals (Buc, Althoff, Koziol), the article interprets the aggressive policy of the Bulgarian tsar Symeon as a consistent effort to displace Byzantium as major partner of the nomadic polities in the area. By subverting the principles of Byzantine diplomacy and political culture, Symeon turned his own kingdom into a society-structuring factor in the nomadic world. The article evaluates the very meaning of imperial claims not so much in legal terms, as an effort to guarantee Bulgaria’s sovereignty in a Byzantium-centred world, but in the real-time capacity of a ruler to make use of imperial symbols and act upon the dynamically changing conjuncture.     

The value of empire: tenth-century Bulgaria between Magyars,Pechenegs and Byzantium

The article seeks to explain the connection between the migration of the Magyars and Pechenegs in central and south-east Europe, in the late ninth and early tenth century, and the conflict between Byzantium and Bulgaria during the same period. Through reference to anthropologists discussing the relations between nomadic and sedentary societies (Khazanov, Barfield), and historians studying medieval rituals (Buc, Althoff, Koziol), the article interprets the aggressive policy of the Bulgarian tsar Symeon as a consistent effort to displace Byzantium as major partner of the nomadic polities in the area. By subverting the principles of Byzantine diplomacy and political culture, Symeon turned his own kingdom into a society-structuring factor in the nomadic world. The article evaluates the very meaning of imperial claims not so much in legal terms, as an effort to guarantee Bulgaria’s sovereignty in a Byzantium-centred world, but in the real-time capacity of a ruler to make use of imperial symbols and act upon the dynamically changing conjuncture.     

Archeology and written sources on eighth- to tenth-century Bohemia

This article examines the contribution of archaeology to our understanding of the history of Bohemia in the early Middle Ages. In a period for which only scarce information is available from written sources, archaeology is able to verify information from legend and confirm the scanty written evidence. The results of archaeological research, however, also strongly suggest that relations between Bohemians and Magyars were much more complex than the evidence of the written sources has until now led many to believe.     

土地产权的变革与英国农业革命

英国农业革命是英国由传统的农业社会迈向工业文明的桥梁,它以土地产权的变革为基础,经历了大约三百年的时间,使农业劳动生产率得以大幅度提高,在其世界工场地位确立的同时,农业也达到了前所未有的辉煌程度。     

Substitute or subordinate? The role of a male procurator at a Benedictine women's monastery

This paper examines an attempt to introduce a male administrator at a Benedictine women's monastery in Catalonia in the fourteenth century. It argues that records from the monastic and episcopal archives indicate the existence of a complex and dynamic interplay between the nuns and their abbess and the bishop. Due to this complicated process of negotiation, the bishop did not succeed in imposing a new male authority figure over the traditional leadership of the community. Over the next fifty years, the abbesses reasserted themselves and redefined the procurator's role as one subordinate to themselves. The episode illustrates that nuns could employ varied tactics to resist attempts to change their traditional administrative structure.     

The Romano-Greek Inscriptions in England

This note describes the archive and publication framework which has been developed to make accessible the results of archaeological excavations and related research in the City of London, especially since 1973. Appended to it, in microfiche form, is a bibliography of reports now available (M3/01—M3/68).     

英国那些好吃的

第一次看到英国鼎鼎有名的炸鱼薯条（Fish＆Chips）,吓了一跳：那薯条居、居、居然有我的手指那么粗,颜色白呼呼的;那裹了面糊炸的鱼也没有咱们这边的椒盐蘸着吃,能好吃吗？有一天,在中苏格兰地区游荡,逛到一个小村子邓布兰,又饿又冷,