Alien coins and foreign exchange banking in a medieval commune: Thirteenth-century Lucca

In der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts liefen Gerüchte durch Europa von einem mächtigen christlichen Herrscher im Rücken des Islam, mit Namen ‘Priester Johannes’, in dessen riesigem Reich den Berichten nach sozialer Frieden herrschte, wunderbare Völker, Tiere und Pflanzen, auch wertvolle Edelsteine mit wunderkräftiger Wirkung zu finden sein sollten.Nachdem dieses Reich anfangs in Indien gesucht wurde, verlegte man es im 13. Jahrhundert nach Zentralasien und im 14. Jahrhundert nach Äthiopien. Heinrich der Seefahrer und seine Kapitäne versuchten, diesen mächtigen Herrscher zu erreichen, um mit ihm den Islam im Rücken anzugreifen. Aber erst 1517 gelang es den Portugiesen, den äthiopischen Herrscher persönlich zu treffen und ihm gegen seine islamischen Gegner zu helfen. Durch ungeschickte Politik machten sich die Portugiesen verhaβ, wurden verfolgt und 1640 endgültig aus Äthiopien vertrieben.Mit einem interdisziplinären Ansatz, der sich im wesentlichen auf die Fächer Geschichte und Ethnologie, aber auch Geographie, Germanistik und Theologie, stützt, wird der Versuch unternommen zu klären, ob es diesen Priester Johannes wirklich gab und wo sein Reich lag oder, falls es beides nicht gab, wer im 12. Jahrhundert Interesse an der ‘Erfindung’ einer solchen Person hatte und welche Folgen dies in den folgenden Jahrhunderten zeigte.     

Alien coins and foreign exchange banking in a medieval commune: Thirteenth-century Lucca

The tithing returns sent to Rome in 1296 from the dioceses of Tuscany reveal a variety of coins, foreign to each particular episcopate, included in the mix. This article deals with the presence, and presumably prior circulation, of coins of foreign provenence in thirteenth-century Lucca as indicated in the Lucchese notarial materials of the period. The results are analyzed and then compared with the representation of the types of coins included in Lucca's 1296 tithe, and explanations set forth as to why certain coins, e.g. the gros tournois, should be conspicuously under-represented in comparison with other Tuscan dioceses while the Venetian groat was over-represented. It is further argued that the determining factor for the lack or abundance of certain alien coins in Lucca turns on the availability or absence of routine mechanisms for the transfer of obligations abroad through foreign exchange banking which obviated the need for significant shipments of physical specie or bullion.     

Material culture as memory: combs and cremation in early medieval Britain

This paper argues that mortuary practices can be understood as 'techno-logies of remembrance'. The frequent discovery of combs in early medieval cremation burials can be explained by their mnemonic significance in the post-cremation rite. Combs (and other objects used to maintain the body's surface in life) served to articulate the reconstruction of the deceased's personhood in death through strategies of remembering and forgetting. This interpretation suggests new perspectives on the relationships between death, material culture and social memory in early medieval Europe.     

Coins and trade in early medieval Italy

This paper is an analysis of monetary circulation in early medieval Italy in the period c.600–900. Using a dual comparison – first, of the level of currency use as against ceramics within Italy, and second, of the pattern of Italian coin use, and economic activity more generally, with that north of the Alps – this paper presents examples that shed light on patterns of change and discontinuity.     

Regnal succession in early medieval Ireland

Regnal succession in early medieval Ireland has been the centre of scholarly debate for the past eighty-five years. This paper contributes to the debate with an investigation of the early Irish law texts. It is argued that these law texts, especially the tracts on inheritance, reveal a certain pattern of regnal succession, which can be divided into an early and a later phase. Moreover, they allow us to define necessary criteria for eligibility for Irish kingship. The results of this examination are illustrated in the summary by the historical example of the early Síl nÁedo Sláine.     

Gardens and gardening in early medieval Spain and Portugal

This is an overview of the range of gardens, garden plants and garden work in early medieval Spain and Portugal, and of the kinds of relevant source material available. There were different kinds of garden, from the architectural gardens of Andalusī rulers and officials to peasant plots in the countryside. Fine gardens were closely associated with an elite and were southern rather than northern. Productive gardens could be found all over the peninsula; vegetables were clearly grown in them, with the emphasis on pulses, but they constituted a small proportion of produce. Fruits were exceptionally important as a source of vitamins, sugar and mineral salts.     

Multiple myeloma in an early medieval skeleton

Detailed studies on neoplasms in prehistoric populations are rare. Each well-documented case can therefore add to our knowledge. In former times, palaeopathology could present only tentative diagnoses in the case of tumours. Today, modern diagnostic methods and a comparison with established cases make exact evaluations and their verification possible. During our study it became obvious that criteria for the diagnosis of recent tumours can be used as a guide. In this paper we present the most important findings of a malignant primary bone tumour (multiple myeloma) in an early medieval skeleton and its differential diagnoses. Even in the absence of histological findings, the remaining criteria (X-ray, age, localization, macroscopic features) permit the diagnosis of multiple myeloma to be made with some certainty.     

Lights,power and the moral economy of early medieval Europe

By the beginning of the early Middle Ages the convention that each church should have a light burning at all times on the altar was strongly established. This paper examines how elites promulgated this idea and benefitted from their ability to furnish lighting material (oil and wax) when this was becoming scarce and expensive. This seeming generosity helped to give the power of rulers a moral quality, but at the same time their insistence that to provide for the lights was a universal obligation meant that the social base of those who could provide for the lights broadened. It is argued here that growth in the number and types of people giving for the lights diluted the moral power that came from giving, but that it also allowed a much broader section of society to participate in the moral economy.     

I,Claudius. Self‐styling in early medieval debate

Historians often have difficulties understanding contrary figures who deviated from mainstream practices and beliefs. In the case of Claudius of Turin, who because of his iconoclasm has been pictured as a proto‐Protestant, this image of a solitary was partly his own creation. Claudius liked to present himself as a truth‐teller, defending God's honour and the unity of the church against all kinds of evils. This article uses the case of Claudius and the response of Dungal, one of his learned opponents, like him connected to the royal court, to reflect on the role of self‐styling in early medieval debate.     

Pope Leo of Bourges,clerical immunity and the early medieval secular

This article investigates the early medieval secular through the lens of clerical immunity – that is, the legal exemption of clerics from courts labelled as secular. It focusses on a short text, eventually attributed to Pope Leo, which was written in fifth-century Gaul to define this immunity. By pursuing this text’s fate as it was revised and put to use into the eleventh century, the article demonstrates how the early medieval secular was a religious category employed for different purposes at different times.     

The origins of kingship in early medieval Kent

In this article, it is argued that Bede's famous account of the origin and early development of the people and kings of Kent in Historia ecclesiastica (I.15) does not report historical events, but reflects eighth-century concepts of migration-period kingship with mythical links to the Jutes of Scandinavia. Bracteate evidence shows that the veneration of Woden existed in Kent by the sixth century. Support for a contemporary belief in the Scandinavian origin of Kentish kings is found in locally produced bracteates, which imitate Scandinavian styles, and where several recovered from Kentish cemeteries are found in close proximity to places with royal connections. These include the only known Kentish site linked to the veneration of Woden. Evidence suggests that Kentish genealogy reflects a mythical belief in ancestry from Woden, rather than historical descent from Scandinavian Jutes. Finally, it is argued that Kentish bracteates, usually found in exceptionally rich female graves, were worn by high status women. These women may have played a significant role in legitimizing new royal claims.     

Ritual and interpretation: the early medieval case

In dealing with early medieval ‘rituals’ (whatever this category may mean), historians have to take into account that they were written about, staged, and participated in by members of a culture that was steeped in interpretation, and especially by the exegetical dialectic between letter and spirit. The consequences for narrative techniques, and therefore for our approach to the sources depicting ‘rituals’ are plural. The narratives can heighten or de‐emphasize the ‘ritualness’ of an event, as well as heighten or hide conflict (or consensus) within the ritual event, regardless of what actually happened. Rituals in texts, therefore, should seldom be taken at face value. Such techniques suggest that often enough the textual rendition (or even imagination) of a solemnity had more political impact than its performance.