Proceedings of the royal Scottish geographical society

Itinerant merchants have been an integral part of world trade since at least the time of the earliest Silk Route from China to the West. Today a group of traders from Nepal maintain this tradition. Today their travel is by economy jet and inexpensive train. The countries involved are primarily thos6 with historic ties to the mercenary Ghurka forces under the British. The traders are well organized and limited to a few‐families, primarily from the Pokhara Valley in Nepal. Their goods begin with products from Nepal and Tibet, but they also move goods gathered along their route. They represent a charming anomaly in the modern world, a touch of the old Asia.     

Quedlinburg—10 Years on the World Heritage List: East–West Transformations of a Small Historic Town in Central Germany

While the conservation efforts and constraints in the medieval town of Quedlinburg are typical of the conditions in the smaller historic towns in the former German Democratic Republic, they also resemble those of small heritage towns in other countries. Shifts and changes are assessed for a time frame of about 25 years, before and after the pivotal event of German reunification of 1990. Located in a previously prosperous but now depressed region with more than 20% unemployment, Quedlinburg has suffered from the breakdown of the former agricultural and other industries in the region after 1990 and subsequent out‐migration. Some valuable historic buildings were lost before 1990, owing to neglect and lack of funding. Since then, improved funding, combined with public–private partnership, has helped the town to make very considerable conservation progress. The town’s World Heritage status since 1994 has been utilised as a significant supporting factor in tourism promotion, which has become an important part of the ongoing conservation processes.     

Book Reviews

Cultural heritage is of immense importance in the construction of identities and, therefore, the behaviour of society. It is argued here that traditional approaches, reflected in British government legislation and policy, ignore elements integral to community perceptions of cultural heritage. The current framework of heritage management also hinders practitioners from exploring, conserving, presenting and challenging these constructs This paper calls for the development of integrated and inclusive heritage‐management practice and a recognition of the contribution of recent research into constructs of cultural heritage It is argued that there is a need to investigate the opportunities for, and feasibility of, developing more integrated approaches that reflect the diverse and joined‐up nature of cultural heritage.     

Least of the laity: the minimum requirements for a medieval Christian

This article investigates the minimum level of religious observance expected of lay Christians by church authorities, and the degree to which legislation and procedures attempted to enforce these standards.¹ Once baptized, a person entered the community of the faithful; and the medieval church was as much accountable for the health and salvation of the ignorant, the ambivalent, the disobedient or distracted as they were of the devout. From the twelfth century, theologians, clerical authorities and the laity turned with concerted enthusiasm to the question of lay observance, advancing high ideals for lay commitment and expanding opportunities for lay participation. Yet while acting to elucidate and advance these qualities, the church was nevertheless mindful of the number of Christians who might fail to reach even basic standards. The resulting balance of the ideal and the possible, and the degree to which it reached and was enforced upon the less-enthusiastic laity is explored here through expectations for knowledge, observance of sacraments, and participation in regular duties such as church attendance, tithe-paying and fasting. The result was a complex ideal of lay observance that was balanced by a tolerance of laxity and even failure, and a system which increasingly exhorted specific expectations but was hesitant to define contumacy or disobedience in many but the most obdurate or scandalous cases.     

Index for volume 20

This article investigates the minimum level of religious observance expected of lay Christians by church authorities, and the degree to which legislation and procedures attempted to enforce these standards.1 1?The questions behind this essay were first raised in a lecture by Norman Tanner to the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto in 1991. An early consideration, ‘How compulsory was Christianity in the middle ages?’, appeared translated into Japanese by Keiji Notani, in Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies, 11 (Kobe University, Japan, 1999), 53-101. Subsequent rewriting, revision and updating was undertaken by Sethina Watson. Once baptized, a person entered the community of the faithful; and the medieval church was as much accountable for the health and salvation of the ignorant, the ambivalent, the disobedient or distracted as they were of the devout. From the twelfth century, theologians, clerical authorities and the laity turned with concerted enthusiasm to the question of lay observance, advancing high ideals for lay commitment and expanding opportunities for lay participation. Yet while acting to elucidate and advance these qualities, the church was nevertheless mindful of the number of Christians who might fail to reach even basic standards. The resulting balance of the ideal and the possible, and the degree to which it reached and was enforced upon the less-enthusiastic laity is explored here through expectations for knowledge, observance of sacraments, and participation in regular duties such as church attendance, tithe-paying and fasting. The result was a complex ideal of lay observance that was balanced by a tolerance of laxity and even failure, and a system which increasingly exhorted specific expectations but was hesitant to define contumacy or disobedience in many but the most obdurate or scandalous cases.