Household knights,chamber knights and king’s knights: the development of the royal knight in fourteenth-century England

The fourteenth century witnessed a considerable change in the way in which knights were retained in royal service in England. The system of retaining ‘household knights’, which had been in operation since at least the twelfth century, gave way to a new system based around the retaining of ‘chamber knights’ and ‘king’s knights’. These new ranks were retained in different ways to the household knights and often performed different functions. Consequently, the place they occupied in fourteenth-century kingship was markedly different. Despite the significance of this development, the scholarship on it has been limited and often contradictory. This article offers a detailed reassessment of how and why this development occurred and what its impacts were for the fourteenth-century polity.     

Dom Hans van der Laan’s Architectonic Space: A Peculiar Blend of Architectural Modernity and Religious Tradition

This article discusses the design methodology of the Benedictine monk-architect Dom Hans van der Laan (1904–91), famous for his manifesto De Architectonische Ruimte (Architectonic Space, 1977), in which he proposed his ideal elementary architecture. In the past, this ideal achitecture was linked to Van der Laan’s proportional system and to his general approach as an architect rather than to his Catholic background. Consequently, the changing conceptual landscape in which he developed his ideas on the relation between religion and design was neglected. Yet, as this article will argue, it is only by carefully exploring the relation between Van der Laan’s attempts to define a fundamental architecture and his ambition to understand the religious traditions they may have sprung from that one can understand how his religion and design methodology influenced each other. Based on unedited primary sources (letters, notes, design sketches, lectures), this article reveals forgotten interconnections between Van der Laan’s religious and architectural thinking. By analysing these motifs, it offers new insights on the interrelationships between religion and architecture that go beyond the traditionalist-modernist dichotomy.     

The Dramatic Abandonment of a Late-Antique Settlement in the South Caucasus: The First Archaeological Findings from Qaratəpə, Bərdə Rayon,Azerbaijan

This paper presents the first results of a new project investigating the provincial structure of the eastern Caucasus region in the late Antique and early Islamic periods. Excavations at the newly discovered rural archaeological site of Qarat?p? have so far revealed two phases of use: a burial ground dating to the 12th century a.d. and an unusually large earthen structure burnt in a catastrophic fire. Owing to the rapid abandonment of this building, whole ceramic and glass vessels were recovered from the fill of one of the rooms. The presence of charred seeds and roof timbers allowed for the acquisition of radiocarbon dates for the construction and abandonment of the building, placing the latter at the end of the 6th century a.d. These findings reveal crucial clues as to the transformation of the rural zone prior to the expansion of Islam, and a unique material assemblage dating from this period.