Blood-brothers: a ritual of friendship and the construction of the imagined barbarian in the middle ages

This article analyses the history of blood-covenants in the middle ages. Appearing in various historiographical and literary texts from antiquity onwards, these covenants have hitherto mostly been interpreted by modern authors as a typical feature of pre-modern or even ‘primitive’ societies. A closer inquiry into the context of the existing source-material reveals, however, that this motif can be characterised as a part of discriminatory narrative strategies which aim at the exclusion of foreign and non-Christian cultures. The analysis of the medieval texts, which were mainly produced from the twelfth century onwards, clearly shows a tendency to attribute this ritual of blood-brotherhood either to representatives of the so-called ‘Saracens’ or allegedly heterodox cultures, like the Byzantines or the Irish, which populated the margins of the Latin west. Not only does this topical use of the motif invalidate part of the texts' factual source value, but it also proved misleading for the interpretation of pre-modern societies by modern historians. While an older tradition of classical political history mainly tended to note the ritual as a cultural curiosity, more recent studies of ritual structures are in danger of misrepresenting the cultures they focus on.     

科学实证与文化阐释:中国新史学之双轨

中国新史学中最常见的两种历史研究方式是科学实证与文化阐释,前者旨在建立历史事实之真或寻求历史演变之理,后者则以探寻历史之意义或彰显切实之史识为目标,此二者可谓中国新史学之"双轨"。中国新史学正是沿此"双轨"向前发展的。从新史学之"双轨"着眼,并依据"新异性的标准",中国新史学界应有"八大家",他们分别是:梁启超、王国维、陈寅恪、胡适、顾颉刚、傅斯年、郭沫若和钱穆。科学实证与文化阐释,这两种不同的历史研究取径,展示了中国新史学研究的多元面相,二者之间是相互融通的,并无根本性的冲突与对垒,其在治史观念与方法上亦可做到相互补益,相得益彰。许冠三在《新史学九十年》中因陷入"科学"迷思的褊狭"新史学观",以科学实证拒斥文化阐释,故而未能将钱穆基于"文化"视角来研究历史的文化史学视为新史学。钱穆的新史学特质主要表现为:在继承中国传统史学遗产之基础上,注重历史研究主体与客体的统一,以文化为本位,以阐释为取径,其典型表现是"以士释史";以中国为立场,注重探寻本国历史文化之意义,探求与本国历史文化相符合之史识,强调历史学的经世致用功能。钱穆的新史学观与后现代主义在批判科学主义历史学、反对文化一元论和西方中心主义历史观等方面多有契合之处,但其以"于客观中求实证"为基础的历史认识论与走向历史虚无主义的后现代主义有着本质的区别。     

联通古典与现代的一部史学力作——读莫米格里亚诺《现代史学的古典根基》

在人类史学发展史上,古代史学遗产丰厚并对后世影响深远。A·莫米格里亚诺将之大致划分为波斯、犹太、希腊和罗马史学等不同类型,并由此追溯了现代西方史学的古典根基。其间,论者着重探讨了古代史学自身的相互影响、古希腊史学内涵特征以及塔西佗影响等诸多热点难点问题。在此意义上,全书深入揭示了古代与现代史学之间具体的历史衍生关联。遗憾的是,论者对史学某些共性特征关注不够,部分论断缺乏缜密的逻辑分析。     

Black Death in the rural cemetery of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse Aude-Languedoc,southern France, 14th century: immunological evidence

An excavation carried out in 2007 in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse (Aude-Languedoc, southern France), revealed a medieval rural cemetery used during the 8th–14th centuries. One hundred and forty nine graves were identified. Amongst those, three burials radiocarbon dated to the 14th century contained the remains of several individuals. No paleotraumatological evidences of violence due to warfare or to a civil massacre were identified in the exhumed skeletons. Therefore, we hypothesized that the simultaneous inhumations could have occurred during the “Black Death” outbreak or during one of its resurgences. A rapid diagnostic test for the detection of Yersinia pestis F1 antigen was applied to the nine putative plague victims to authenticate the cause of their death. Seven of the nine individuals tested from the three graves were positive to Y. pestis F1 antigen. We additionally tested fourteen skeletons from single graves archaeologically dated to the 13th–14th centuries. Four of them were positive to Y. pestis F1 antigen, thus showing a higher mortality rate due to plague than originally expected. The Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse plague victims are the oldest samples from which Y. pestis F1 antigen has been, hitherto, identified. Few rural French cemetery containing plague victims have previously been identified and amongst them, only one dates to the 14th century. In the present report, we provide suggestive evidence of a second rural cemetery from southern France where victims of Y. pestis infection were buried. Our findings provide new information about the management of the plagued corpses during the “Black Death” in small rural communities.     

Gendering the Black Death: Women in Later Medieval England

This review article of Mavis Mate's Daughters, Wives and Widows after the Black Death: Women in Sussex, 1350–1535 (1998) locates Mate's work within the broader context of the debate about changes in women's social position caused by the collapse in population following the Black Death. Was demographic decline accompanied by growing social and economic opportunities for women or should historians emphasise the continuity of female work as low‐skilled, low‐status and low‐paid throughout the late medieval and early modern periods? How did women's role in the labour market affect the age of marriage, fertility rates and long‐term population change? In general, Mate's conclusions offer support to the ‘pessimists’: women's work was vital to the household but economic centrality did not bring a commensurate social power or legal rights and the ideology of female subordination remained firmly in place. The main problem with Mate's case is, inevitably, a lack of evidence, for family structure, for the sexual division of labour and, above all, for affective relations. Nevertheless, this detailed, empirically based local study shows how successfully women's history has moved into the historical mainstream.     

论黑死病期间的英国教会

在教会看来,黑死病是上帝因世人的罪孽而降下的惩罚,故而对之主要的防治也应该以忏悔为主.这些对策的确没有起到令人满意的效果,但这是当时科学水平有限的情况下教会所能采取的最好选择,并且,对这种解释迅速的传达和有关措施周密的布置本身就证明了教会面对瘟疫的积极态度,对社会的稳定也不无裨益.另外,教会还积极的进行临终抚慰、开辟墓地等稳定社会秩序的活动.尽管有一些教职人员的确有腐败的行为,但对此我们必须辨证地看待,因为他们相当多数并非原来教会的成员,而是在原有教士大量死亡之际紧急补充进来的人员.     

宋代纪传、编年二体优劣论

中唐以后的史家开始重视史学褒贬人事、惩恶劝善的宗旨,编年体史书由此中兴,历史上的二体优劣之争再起。及至北宋,孙甫强调编年体具有体正、文简的优点。体正,指编年体便于立褒贬以惩劝,同时起源较早,与儒家经典关系密切;文简则是指编年体史文简约。孙甫的观点得到宋代多数论者的响应。同时,宋代史学考察重心由人到事的转移,也对编年体史书占据史学主流地位推波助澜。以上因素最终导致了编年体史书空前繁荣的局面。     

The Architectural Background of the Ely Octagon

Abstract

Ely octagon is usually regarded as an original invention of the architect Alan of Walsingham. However, the ground plan of the Norman church, with both eastern and western transepts and two axial towers, has affinities with the plans of some Romanesque churches in the Rhineland which also possess octagonal central towers. The presence of an octagonal Norman tower at nearby Swaffham Prior, a church which has belonged to Ely since before the Norman Conquest, suggests that the Norman church at Ely may also have had an octagonal central tower.     

Cultural policy as development policy: evidence from the United States

Cultural policies and cultural projects in the United States have been reframed to emphasize their economic benefits to cities. New alliances between arts advocates and place promoters are apparent at all levels, but are most prominent locally. These new alliances are facilitated by the changing interests of local officials and business people, who have come to believe there is economic value in the arts and of arts administrators, for whom attracting broader public support has become imperative. In some cities, entirely new organizational structures have sprung up to plan and implement projects that serve cultural and economic development advocates simultaneously. Such new institutions are most prominent in more economically disadvantaged cities.     

"新史学"思潮的产生及其学术建树

梁启超的《中国史叙论》和《新史学》共同构成了"新史学"思潮的开端。《中国史叙论》表现为"建设"大于"批判";《新史学》表现为"批判"大于"建设"。两者都以建设中国的新史学为共同目标。"新史学"思潮涵盖了许多不同政治取向、却都看重史学的社会功能并且要求改变旧史学面貌的多数进步学人。"新史学"思潮以批判旧史学为特征,但是其构建"新史学"理论体系的努力和撰述新型中国通史的尝试等学术建树,亦不应被忽视。     

藏獒黑火的生与死

“此种藏狗大逾印度狗两倍,头大毛长,颇狞猛,其力可敌狮……” “力甚强,足制种种野兽,尤能制大而畏的野牦牛。”[编者按]     

后现代主义与后现代史学

后现代主义是 2 0世纪 70年代在欧美等西方学术界兴起的一种社会思潮。近些年来 ,我国学界对于后现代主义作品的介绍颇多 ,但对其进行认真研究的论著则较少。本文对后现代、后现代主义和后现代史学的发展过程进行了疏理 ,尤其是就后现代史学对现代史学的挑战作了认真的探析 ,认为后现代史学的核心是力图动摇西方现代历史编撰学的基础 ,颠覆西方自启蒙以来建立起来的历史观念     

‘The revolt of the medievalists’. Directions in recent research on the twelfth-century renaissance

This historiographical article contains two basic parts. First, it discusses recent approaches to the twelfth-century renaissance in the last two decades by focusing on some selected themes. These themes basically derive from Charles Homer Haskins' notion of the renaissance and include individualism, rationality, secularisation, and the question of the emergence of a ‘critical mentality.’ From this point of departure, the article addresses the question of thematic innovation with regard to the twelfth-century renaissance. The second part of the article discusses the effect of the so-called linguistic turn on renaissance studies in general and on the twelfth-century renaissance in particular. In conclusion, some suggestions for further research are singled out.     

论黑死病对英国人口发展之影响

黑死病的肆虐对英国人口的发展产生了重大影响。1348~1349年,黑死病迅速席卷英格兰,夺去了30%~40%的人口;更严重的是,此后的人口发展处于长期停滞的状态,而这主要是瘟疫频繁爆发的结果。     

黑死病期间西欧的鞭笞者运动(1348—1349)

黑死病流行于西欧期间,鞭笞者运动兴盛一时。这一运动是在千禧年主义末世观的神学预设下,通过自我鞭笞来获得拯救的集体行为。在瘟疫肆虐的危机年代,鞭笞者与教会之间形成了互有分歧又彼此依存的关系。但随着运动的发展,鞭笞者反教会的色彩渐趋浓厚;更重要的是,因为瘟疫发作的时段性,以及鞭笞者宗教主张和实践效果的局限性,鞭笞者的追随者开始分化并减少。这便为教会排斥鞭笞者创造了条件。同时,鞭笞者的组织方式及其屠杀犹太人等过激行为,也对社会秩序造成了损害,从而招致了世俗政权的抵制。这样,鞭笞者运动成为众矢之的,衰退不可避免。这一运动是中世纪西欧社会 "小传统"的一种体现。以大、小传统关系变迁为视角,可以让我们更为全面地认识中世纪西欧的信仰世界。