Germans from Russia in Saskatchewan: An Oral History

The Germans from Russia are a prominent settlement group in the rural landscape of Saskatchewan. Perhaps because they came incrementally, by chain migration, rather than by organized group colonization, they compose an ethnic group little noticed by historians. Also, their immediate origins are divided, inasmuch as earlier German-Russian immigrants came directly from Russia, whereas many twentieth-century German-Russian immigrants came to Canada from the United States, mainly from North Dakota and South Dakota. This article offers the first focused, scholarly historical treatment of German-Russian immigration and life in Saskatchewan. Drawing on oral histories collected with the support of the Faculty Research Program of the Canadian Embassy, it focuses particularly on growing up German-Russian on the prairies, positing a German-Russian ethnic identity distinct both from neighbor immigrant groups in Saskatchewan and from origin communities in the United States.     

Innocent III and the world of symbols of the papacy

ABSTRACT

This essay explores some of the papal symbols which assumed particular prominence during the pontificate of Pope Innocent III (1198–1216). These symbols belong to different modes of expression: metaphoric speech and writing (vicarius Christi, the pope’s body); clothing (pallium, tiara); objects (the Golden Rose); and visual art (the mosaic in Old St Peter’s). It is argued that the pope – and his curia – employed these symbols to represent the special position of authority which the pope held within the Church and society at large, and that several of them played a role in ritual enactments of papal authority. It is furthermore argued that they should be seen as part of a coherent system of symbols and that many of them serve to emphasise the relationship between the pope and Christ, and thus represent Pope Innocent III’s ecclesiological programme in which the pope as God’s representative on earth plays a pivotal role.     

Review article: Property, ideology and the territorial power of the papacy in the early Middle Ages

Books reviewed in this article:
F. Marazzi, I Patrimonia Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae nel Lazio (secoli IV–X). Struttura amministrativa e prassi gestionali.
C. Azzara, L'ideologia del potere regio nel papato altomedievale (secoli VI–VIII).     

England, France, the papacy and the Flemish succession, 1361-9

International politics in the 1360s were dominated by a diplomatic duel between England and France to secure the marriage of Margaret de Male, only child of the count of Flanders and ‘the richest heiress in christendom’. This struggle ultimately involved every major European power, including the papacy and the Empire, and resulted in wars in areas as far apart as Hainault, Castile and Lombardy. It was eventually won by the French, leaving the English with a bitter resentment both toward the Flemings and, more especially, towards the papacy, which had been instrumental in securing the victory for France.     

An element of thought: phosphorus and mental philosophy in the nineteenth century

Georges Cabanis (1757-1808), through his writings on the relation of the physical and moral, or psychological, aspects of man, left a legacy that made the study of mental activity a part of physiology. His views on the importance of phosphorus to the function of the brain thrust that element into a prominent stream of research that involved many investigators in several countries. Although that particular stream eventually dried up, its influence remained: by the beginning of the twentieth century basic medical science had become well set on studies of the mind-body relationship.     

England,France, the papacy and the Flemish succession, 1361-9

International politics in the 1360s were dominated by a diplomatic duel between England and France to secure the marriage of Margaret de Male, only child of the count of Flanders and ‘the richest heiress in christendom’. This struggle ultimately involved every major European power, including the papacy and the Empire, and resulted in wars in areas as far apart as Hainault, Castile and Lombardy. It was eventually won by the French, leaving the English with a bitter resentment both toward the Flemings and, more especially, towards the papacy, which had been instrumental in securing the victory for France.     

An uninhabited waste: transforming the Grand Prairie in nineteenth century Illinois, USA

Today the area once known as the Grand Prairie in the American Midwest is best known for its high agricultural productivity and monoculture. Little of the original prairie landscape that gave the region its name remains. Prior to white settlement, the region was perceived as swampy, dangerous, unhealthy and unfit for agriculture. This ‘uninhabited waste’ and ‘giant emporium of malaria’ embodied the type of landscapes settlers initially tried to avoid. Ultimately, perceptions of the Grand Prairie landscape as well as the physical landscape itself were altered by settlement and improving drainage technology. This paper aims to link changes in the way the central Illinois landscape was imagined and perceived, with the subsequent environmental transformation that resulted in the near total elimination of tallgrass prairie and the wholesale alteration of regional hydrology through channelization and agricultural drainage.