Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 9 - 2023 i Medieval World Culture & Conflict Magazine

The Byzantine Empire established a wide network of contact and exchange across the Mediterranean throughout the Middle Ages. The theme-related articles in this issue explore medieval diplomacy and those who were involved in it, connecting Byzantium with the rest of Europe. Diplomatic missions brought together individuals and communities from Constantinople to England and Spain, and beyond, while helping reshape political and social landscapes through the movements of people, ideas, and objects. Women, too, played key roles in mending political relations, as evident in the context of the Despotate of Morea in the fourteenth century, for instance. Monastic communities, like those on Mount Athos, were also involved in diplomatic missions, facilitating contacts and receiving pilgrims and donations from across the Christian spheres. These are intriguing tales of how medieval peoples dealt…

THEIR ROLES AND DEVELOPMENT The earliest mentions of heralds present a picture far removed from the elegant and formal officers of arms that may be familiar. Instead, they appear on the sidelines of the tournament circuit, alongside the troubadours, acrobats, and other entertainers. Cheerleaders in the lists They were aficionados of the joust and melee, but also entertainers, interacting with the watching crowd and urging them to cheer for their knights. Itinerant, even vagabond figures, they scraped a living as cheerleaders, benefitting from the largesse of the knights and lords whose achievements they praised. As heraldry became more formalised, so too did the role of the herald. They learnt new skills: memorising coats of arms, writing down their blason (the language used to describe coats of arms), and even illustrating…

THE IMPACT OF BYZANTINE DIPLOMACY With the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries AD, most of the diplomatic traditions of the Romans disappeared from northern and western Europe. They were reestablished and reforged in the early Middle Ages by the kingdoms that emerged from Rome's ashes. An exception to this situation was, of course, the Byzantine Empire, which offered a continuation of the Roman Empire. Byzantium's network In Constantinople, the long Roman traditions of far-reaching diplomacy remained intact. Envoys and messengers could be sent to and from courts and potentates far and wide – such men would be especially welcomed in Constantinople in ceremonies designed to show off the power of the empire and the glory of the city. As we might also expect of…

On 8 September 949, among the palaces and gardens of Madinat al-Zahra outside the city of Córdoba, a diplomatic conference was underway. The host was the caliph of alAndalus, Abd al-Rahman III, and his guests were representatives from the Christian emperor Constantine VII, who had just arrived from Constantinople. Spain breaks free Only two centuries earlier, the first Abd al-Rahman had fled for his life from Damascus, where the rest of his Umayyad Muslim family had been massacred by their rivals in Baghdad, the Abbasids. Now, in 949, the Muslims of Spain and the Byzantine Christians both had an enemy in the Abbasid caliph, and they hoped to secure an alliance that would quite literally reach from the edge of the known world in Spain, all the way to Constantinople,…

JOURNEYS TO AND FROM MOUNT ATHOS The transformation of Mount Athos from a sparsely inhabited wildness to one of the great monastic centres of the Eastern Mediterranean is a complex story. The origins of the “Hagiorite” (literally “Holy Mountain”) monastic community are thought to lie with Peter the Athonite (eighth-ninth century), a semi-legendary figure. According to his vita, Peter spent five decades in isolation on Mount Athos. His legend served as a model for the communities of hermits that arose on the Holy Mountain, and which dominated monastic life there until the middle of the tenth century. From that time onward, Mount Athos became the site of great communal monasteries, with institutions like the Great Lavra, Vatopedi, and Iviron housing hundreds of monks and exercising considerable cultural, economic, and even…

RECIPE FOR SPICE MIXTURE Make the spice mixture first. You can keep it for a long time. With the quantity of spices below you can make seven bottles of hypocras. Ingredients » 15 g grains of paradise » 20 g ginger powder » 5 g cinnamon powder » 5 g galangal powder » 4 g nutmeg powder Preparation Grind the grains of paradise in a mortar. Add the rest of the spices and mix well. Store the hypocras mix in a tightly closed jar. RECIPE FOR HYPOCRAS Ingredients » For about 6 glasses » 1 bottle of red wine (750 ml) » 2 tbsp cane sugar » 7 g hypocras mixture Preparation Take a small glass of the wine and put it in a saucepan. Add the sugar. Take an…

THE LEGEND OF THE LOATHLY LADY The legend of the Loathly Lady circulated for centuries in medieval Britain, and its central figure is a woman so ugly she is practically monstrous. One of the best iterations of the tale, which survives in multiple different versions, was written sometime in the mid-fifteenth century. This version is known as The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle, and it goes like this: The Legend of the Loathly Lady One day, King Arthur was hunting when he pursued a deer deep into the forest. There, he was accosted by a knight named Sir Gromer Somer Joure. Furious with Arthur for having taken his ancestral lands away to give to Sir Gawain, the knight threatened to kill Arthur then and there. Arthur pleaded with…

Archaeologists have used 3D scanning to investigate inscriptions carved on two groups of runestones, in Denmark revealing that four stones were likely made in dedication to a powerful tenth-century Viking Queen. The first group, the Jelling Stones, was raised by Harald Bluetooth (ca.958–ca.986), the king who is credited with founding the Danish state, in commemoration of his parents Gorm and Thyra. The second group, the Ravnunge-Tue Stones, also mentions a woman called Thyra. The team theorized that these two groups of stones referred to the same person. If correct, then Thyra would be the most-mentioned person on Viking-Age Danish runestones. “We wanted to see if we could find the same rune carver on some of these stones, so that we could connect the Ravnunge-Tue stones with the Jelling stones,” says…

An international research team has confirmed that a cannon discovered off Sweden's west coast dates to the fourteenth century. It might be Europe's oldest shipboard cannon. The small, muzzle-loading cast copperalloy cannon was found by a recreational diver in 2001 at a depth of 20 metres in the sea off Marstrand, which is located just northwest of Gothenburg. The diver did not initially know the significance of his find, but later notified the Maritime Museum in Gothenburg about his discovery. The research team consisted of Staffan von Arbin of the University of Gothenburg, Tobias B. Skowronek of the German Mining Museum, and Kay Smith, a former Medieval Warfare columnist and previously the Head of Conservation at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. They believe that the cannon came from a shipwreck,…

Could ever a person want to become a slave? A remarkable letter written over a thousand years ago reveals how a group of ten men were seriously considering doing just that, as they hoped to escape terrible prison conditions. The letter, written in the late ninth or early tenth century, was uncovered by Jelle Bruning in the collections of Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The unknown author was writing from a prison in Egypt, where he and nine of his companions were suffering under extremely harsh conditions. The letter continues with another plea to send money as well as asking if the recipient had any news of a woman named Sutayt, whom the writer describes as “my patroness” – perhaps so that this person could also be…

SWEDEN'S MAGNIFICENT PRE-VIKING GRAVES The warrior's kin and friends gathered around the boat that contained his earthly remains, though they were not standing alongside the seashore. Rather, they had congregated at a natural geographical high point, inland from the sea—a subtle hill rising above the fields surrounding the main hall and workshops, made artificially larger by the multitude of prior boat burials that had been conducted over past generations. The present boat rested in a pit recently dug into the surface of the hill. The deceased warrior lay inside it surrounded by his finest weapons and protective war gear, cooking utensils, and game pieces, as well as the bodies of sacrificed animals and human slaves. He would need all of these for his voyage to the other side; it was…

While Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was born in 905 and crowned co-emperor at the age of three, various intrigues kept him from being sole ruler for nearly forty years (r. 945–959). These circumstances, and what must have been a powerful natural temperament, led him to a life-long obsession with systemizing knowledge through the writing and compiling of various historical works. Letters, poetry, speeches, and even paintings of his also survive. In part, these books were written to prepare his own son, later crowned Romanos II, for the throne. De Thematibus (On the Themes) and De Administrando Imperio (On Governing the Empire), both manuals of foreign policy, combine the color of Herodotus and the pragmatism of Tacitus in their survey of Byzantium's many neighbors. Constantine's own first-hand accounts are placed alongside ethnographic…

A BYZANTINE QUEEN OF MOREA After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, when Constantinople fell into the hands of the Latin crusaders, the geography of the Byzantine Empire and that of Morea, modern Peloponnese, changed significantly. The socio-political patterns that developed during the thirteenth century had long-lasting effects on the region, even after 1460 when the Ottomans gained control. Byzantium continued to exert its power in the political and cultural spheres. Mystras During the fourteenth century, Byzantine Morea became the centre of intense diplomatic negotiations. The Franks, Byzantines, the counts of Athens, Venetians, Slavs, and Ottomans interacted in the region, often fighting each other. Their presence also impacted the cultural environment as evident in the remains of the urban layout, as well as the architecture and arts of Mystras, the capital…

PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES The lance could be used in one hand, two, or couched under the arm. It could be heavy or light, and used to pierce, bludgeon, trip, unhorse, block, or redirect enemy attacks. Only the couched lance has received much scholarly attention. The view in much of the secondary literature has been that the late medieval knight had only one way to use the lance. This would make the weapon quite unsuited for the chaotic chevauchées, tournaments, and small-scale feuds in which it was employed. The fixation on jousting is partly to blame. In jousting, the techniques of war were banned, all lances were of equal length, and all passes were made on the opponent's left side. In war or hunt, however, targets came from every angle. Full…

QUEEN, COUNTESS, PAWN? Part of the large early Plantagenet brood, Joanna was an essential cog in the expanding network between the Angevins and their European counterparts. As a younger royal daughter, Joanna appears largely in the chroniclers for her marriage to William II of Sicily and events thereafter during the Third Crusade. Like her sisters Matilda and Leonor, Joanna also travelled with their mother Eleanor during their childhood. These journeys ensured the visibility of the royal daughters to the public across the Angevin domains, and that they remained closely connected with their immediate family. Negotiations for Joanna's marriage to William II began in 1176, at which time Joanna was resident in Winchester with her captive mother. Proceedings were concluded in May 1176, with John of Norwich dispatched to Sicily to…

By Robert W. Jones ISBN: 978-1837650361 Bowdell and Brewster, 2023 $39.95 (paperback) www.boydellandbrewer.com The sword looms large in popular perceptions of the Middle Ages. In this absorbing and exceptionally wideranging book, Robert W. Jones takes readers on an exciting journey through the ages, where we are introduced to many fascinating swords and swordsmen (and women) on the way. The fact that his bibliography contains five pages of primary sources and nineteen of secondary works, is just one indication of the depth of his study. In chapter one, we discover that by the Middle Ages heroic swords such as Durendal and Excalibur have truly lost their magic. Indeed, the latter is not even Arthur's favourite and can be returned to the Lady of the Lake ‘rather like a library book’. The…

SEEING THE OTTOMAN PERSPECTIVE Alp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk Empire. Soon after he rose to power in 1064, he began his first campaign in the Caucasus. In 1065, he took Ani, the Armenian capital, and in 1068 he annexed several Georgian areas. In the same year, Romanos Diogenes – a soldier by profession – ascended the throne of Byzantine Empire and took steps against the Seljuks. His first two campaigns in 1068 and 1069 met some success. In 1071, he launched his third expedition, which culminated in the battle of Manzikert. At that time, Alp Arslan was directing a military operation against Northern Syria, aiming to expand his sphere of influence. His foremost target was a plunder-rich offensive against the Fatimids of Egypt. On the news…

Named after the boat graves found at Vendel, the Vendel Period partially overlaps with the more broadly known Early Medieval Period and existed from the end of the Migration Period in the middle of the sixth century to the start of the Viking Age at the end of the eighth century. The term is unique to Sweden and represents an era that was born of the devastating global effects created by volcanic eruptions in the 530s and 540s AD—eruptions that may have also given rise to the myth of Ragnarök, the final battle of the gods when all of creation will be consumed in fire. During the Vendel Period, Sweden as we know it today did not exist. Instead, it was an expansive territory consisting of multiple petty kingdoms, each…

Gaining prestige is not a point to be taken lightly. Medieval rulers tended to have claims of sovereignty that were at best shaky – often they had to contend with rivals for their thrones, nobles who sought power for themselves, and subjects who bristled at their attempts to impose laws and raise taxes. One way to elevate themselves was to show their opulence and splendour, and this is where diplomacy could greatly help. If a foreign ruler gave you a worthy gift, it could be displayed and admired, and serve as a statement that you were recognized by others. The more exotic and rare the gifts, the better. The Mamluks in Egypt practiced what might be called ‘Giraffe Diplomacy’ as they sent many of these animals to courts from Iberia…

THE TRAVELS OF MANUEL II PALAIOLOGOS Perhaps Manuel gazed upon the fading silhouette of Constantinople from the ship's deck, wondering when—if ever—he would return to his capital. Constantinople was besieged by the Ottomans and likely to fall without military assistance. Indeed, this was the reason why Manuel now embarked on a journey to Europe. He would not return for almost four years. Struggles and conflicts Having acceded to the Byzantine throne as the sole emperor in 1391 at the age of 41, Manuel was no stranger to disturbance. As a young man, he had been embroiled in several episodes of civil strife between his family members for the imperial throne. Throughout his life, he had witnessed the rapid dwindling of his empire in the face of the Ottomans. Manuel had…

A DELIGHTFULLY SWEET AND SPICED WINE Historical cookbooks routinely mention cooking and wine. For example, wine is used in stews, soups, sauces, marinades, dressings, pies, pastries, sausages, casseroles, cookies, puddings, custards, fritters, waffles, and even devilled eggs. Historical cooking manuscripts not only show recipes with wine, but also recipes for wine, such as hypocras. Hypocras Hypocras is a lightly sweetened, spiced wine that was drunk throughout Europe from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century. Usually, the glasses of hypocras were raised at the end of the meal, and paired with small, sweet bites, such as sugar candies, dried fruits, biscuits, and nuts. The name hypocras refers to the Greek physician Hippocrates (fifth century BC). Every cook and kitchen maid had his or her own version of this flavoured wine.…

Now that we have established the dynamics of mounted combat, and have an understanding of the weapon, it is possible to evaluate the various grips and techniques mentioned in the fight books. For clarity, Rider A and Rider B will be mentioned in the following sections. Rider A will always be the one who begins the first technique in order to harm Rider B; and Rider B will either be the target, or will perform the counter to Rider A's technique. The lance techniques can be divided into the following categories: rear guards to defend against pursuit; displacements for the enemy lance, and their counters; and the catchall category of two-handed lance techniques and wrestling, since these tend to go together. Rear guards, defending against pursuit There are a variety…

REVIEWS By Jill Caskey, Adam S. Cohen, Linda Safran ISBN: 978-1501702822 Cornell University Press, 2022 $69.95 (paperback) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu For a long time, the field of Medieval Studies began and ended in Europe. In the past few years, medieval historians and art historians have responded to the ‘global turn’ by moving away from a Euro-centric approach and looking at material culture without geo-political and cultural blinkers. This magazine itself stands as a shining example of such an outlook. Art and Architecture of the Middle Ages by Jill Caskey, Adam S. Cohen, and Linda Safran makes a vital and engrossing addition to a growing number of publications that aim to reveal the visual and material culture in the medieval period on a global scale. It does so with ambition, verve, and clarity.…

Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1500 Edited by Alexander D. Beihammer, et. al. Brill, 2008 ISBN: 978-9004165472 Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425): A Byzantine Emperor in a Time of Tumult By Siren Çelik Cambridge University Press, 2021 ISBN: 978-1108836593 Medieval Ethiopian Kingship, Craft, and Diplomacy with Latin Europe By Verena Krebs Palgrave Macmillan, 2021 ISBN: 978-3030649333 Diplomacy in the Early Islamic World: A Tenth-Century Treatise on Arab-Byzantine Relations By Maria Vaiou I.B. Tauris, 2013 ISBN: 978-1845116521 The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne By Sam Ottewill-Soulsby Princeton, 2023 ISBN: 978-0691227962 The Medieval Invention of Travel By Shayne Aaron Legassie University of Chicago Press, 2017 ISBN: 978-0226442730 Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader Edited by John Romano University of Toronto Press, 2020 ISBN: 978-1487588021 Practising Diplomacy…