Art in medieval Hungary

Art in medieval Hungary

This site serves as an introductory research guide to the art of the medieval kingdom of Hungary. The kingdom, founded in 1000 AD, covered a much larger territory than modern Hungary, and included areas such as present-day Slovakia, Transylvania (today in Romania), as well as Croatia. The kingdom reached its peak during the 14th and 15th centuries, under rulers from the Angevin, Luxemburg and Hunyadi families, but essentially collapsed during the Turkish attacks of the early 16th century.
The site contains information primarily about the art of medieval Hungary, but the topic is framed in a larger Central-European context, with links to sites dealing with the medieval art of Bohemia, Poland and Austria as well. The main goals of this page at the moment are to provide an up to date list of publications about the region's medieval art and provide fresh information about medieval art in Hungary, as well as to collect useful Internet links.

http://home.hu.inter.net/~jekely/

A Guide to Medieval History Resources

A Guide to Medieval History Resources This guide focuses on the print and electronic resources on medieval history in the University of Auckland Library system. These resources will help you locate material you need to supplement your course reading, and to write assignments, research essays, dissertations and theses.

The guide is organised primarily into reference tools and primary and secondary source material such as bibliographies, guides, catalogues and indexes. The function of each type of resource is explained briefly, followed by a selection of items with the location and call number.
These lists are selective. Relevant Voyager searches are suggested to enable you to find additional resources of the same type.
http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/hist/medievalresourcesguide.htm

Medieval Information

Medieval Information

In Medieval-Castles.org, we are proud to have launched our new site, The Medieval Times which contains more up-to-date information about the Middle Ages. It contains information about the Crusades, medieval warfare, medieval life, the most important castles and much more. http://medieval-castles.org/index.php

Medieval Castels in Finland

Medieval Castels in Finland

n Finnish history, the prehistoric era is generally considered to end and the Middle Ages to begin in the 1150s, when, according to a Swedish chronicle, King Erik of Sweden and English-born Bishop Henry undertook a crusade to the southwestern parts of Finland. The chronicle's claim that the Bishop 'baptized' the Finns has later been modified. Archaeological finds have shown that Christianity had reached the Finns as early as the eleventh century, and the main purpose of the crusade was thus to establish Swedish dominion in Finland and organize a bishopric there.

The first crusade was also part of much wider political and ecclesiastical perspective. Sweden was Roman-Catholic at the time. To the east of Finland lay the Novgorod republic, which was Greek-Orthodox. Finland was a country rich in natural resources in the middle and came to be seen as a desirable territory by both sides from about the twelfth century onwards. The Swedes arranged two more crusades, one in 1239, to Häme in central Finland, and another in 1293, to Karelia (Viborg) in the East. Meanwhile, the people of Novgorod made repeated raids into Finnish territory, burning the city of Turku in southwestern Finland as late as 1318. These conflicts did not end until 1323, with the peace treaty of Pähkinäsaari, which finally established that Finland was part of the kingdom of Sweden. The Swedes had to take up arms to defend the border numerous times during the Middle Ages and the 16th century, especially after the Muscovites took over Novgorod in the 1470s
Thus the Swedes consolidated their power east of the Åland sea through three crusades. After each crusade, a castle was built to serve both defensive and administrative purposes. Turku castle was built at the mouth of the Aura river in southwest Finland, by the city of Turku, the foremost town in Finland up to the beginning of the 19th century. Häme castle in Häme was built after the second crusade. The third crusade led to the building of Viborg castle, on an island in the Gulf of Finland off the coast of Karelia. These three castles became the centres of three provinces discernible as early as the Iron Age, called Finland, Häme and Karelia.
http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=25955

Assisi Second Life

Assisi Second Life
Con il progetto Assisi Second Life nasce un nuovo modo di fare visite guidate sfruttando le nuove tecnologie date dall'evoluzione di Internet.

Tramite fedeli ricostruzioni degli ambienti, delle opere e delle atmosfere della Basilica di San Francesco, il visitatore può totalmente immergersi in uno dei luoghi più affascinanti dell'Umbria e dell'Italia stessa, impermeato di religione, storia e mistero.
La Basilica di San Francesco è da ammirare e scoprire in ogni suo più piccolo particolare, dagli stipiti alle mostre, dai pavimenti alle grandiose e irripetibili opere affrescate da Giotto, Cimabue e Lorenzetti.
L'attenzione per i dettagli e la fedeltà nella riproduzione, fa di questo progetto qualcosa di unico e prezioso.
Non rimane che entrare in Second Life e godere del fascino di questa città virtuale, in cui realtà e fantasia si fondono fino a dissolvere ogni linea di confine.

http://www.secundavita.com

Medieval Bulgarian Culture

MEDIEVAL BULGARIAN CULTURE FROM THE 7th THROUGH THE 17th C.

The medieval Bulgarian culture can be divided into two distinct periods - the first one marked by heathenism (7th-9th c.) and the second, post-Christianization (7th-l7th c.), marked by the conversion of faith. This differentiation is thus made on the basis of the ideological content pertinent to the culture of that epoch, content that draws the demarcation line between two entirely different cultural patterns.
The factors which had affected the development and had delineated the manifestation of Bulgarian culture should not be confined within the influence of the religion predominating in a given space of time. For example, one of the significant factors was the presence, or equally, the absence at times, of independent state and church institutions. Another important factor was the geographical position of the Bulgarian lands at the junction of the routes connecting Europe and Asia, i.e. Bulgaria had to play its allotted part of a two-way passage, linking two culturally strong worlds, exchanging constantly and actively their cultural values. Despite the dispiriting and almost permanent political confrontation between Asia and Europe during the Middle Ages, the Bulgarian culture, along with the Byzantine one, had acted as a laboratory for creative interaction and as an indispensable mediator in the onward transmission of culture in both directions. There is also one very important factor, or rather, a fact which should not be overlooked the Bulgarian people, state and church were never steeped in the xenophobia (fear of or irresponsiveness to anything foreign) that was customary in some other communities, nor were they blinkered by the dogmas of their own beliefs and values.

A characteristic feature of the spiritual development of the Bulgarian people during the Middle Ages was its written culture, i.e. its letters and script. Rarely are we nowadays fully aware of the impact on the overall development made by each people which had created and promoted a written culture, nor of the advantages it could have enjoyed in the antiquity. These are facts which, perhaps, were best illustrated by Voltaire in saying that in the history of mankind there had been only two great inventions - that of the wheel, which had helped eliminate distances and that of the alphabet, which had made it possible to preserve, multiply and disseminate through into the future the information about the achievements both of forebears and contemporaries. Bulgarian culture-studying experts have confirmed the validity of the above statement with examples of the history of the Bulgarian lands. The Thracians whom the authors of the antiquity described not only as the second biggest people on the earth but also as a people which had failed to create its own letters and script, are well-known to have disappeared without trace, by contrast with the comparatively small Bulgarian people, which had survived in spite of its frightfully stormy historical lot in this part of the European continent. The Bulgarians, who settled on the Balkan Peninsula in 681 had brought with them a runic alphabet of their own. Its characters and symbols, appearing in several hundred texts cut out on stone, metal and ceramics had probably had idiographic meaning, i.e. one character signified one notion. The undemocratic nature of that alphabet was all too obvious.
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Medieval%20Bulgarian%20Culture

Medieval Christians and Muslims

Medieval Christians and Muslims
By: Gail Hinchion Mancini

A new chapter in the history of relations between Christians and Muslims is being revealed with the English translation of a 12th century manuscript by a Christian archbishop living in Baghdad.

The document, by the medieval Syrian bishop Dionysius Bar Salibi titled “A Response to Muslims,” has been translated from its original Syriac and Arabic and interpreted by Rev. Joseph Amar, professor of Classics at the University of Notre Dame.

Considered the longest and most comprehensive Syriac text to jointly examine the fundamental points of Muslim and Christian doctrine, it is unique among historic Syriac texts “for the amount of information it contains on the origins, history and doctrinal development of Islam,” says Father Amar.

The manuscript was written during a period when politics and religious relations in the Western world were defined by conflicts between the Byzantine empire and Arab invaders. A sample of that ongoing bitterness and its resonance today — was recalled recently when Pope Benedict XVI quoted statements by 14th century Emperor Manuel II Paleologus about violence and the Muslim religion.
www.nd.edu/~lumen/2007_02/MedievalChristiansandMuslims.shtml

Medieval Islamic Cultures

Medieval Islamic Cultures

• Animals
• Architecture
• Art
• Calligraphy
• Clothing
• Education
• Festivals and Entertainment
• Food and Farming
• Literature and Poetry
• Medicine, Health and Hygiene
• Music and Dance
• Science and Mathematics
• Sports and Recreation
• Travelers
• War, Warfare and Weapons
• Women, Marriage and Family

http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Islam_New_Main.html

Jardins Medievaux

Jardins Medievaux

Créé en 1990, le Jardin Médiéval de Rodemack évoque «l’hortus conclusus » des châteaux forts. C’est un espace clos dont les zones cultivées forment des dessins géométriques. Chaque espace mis en culture est surélevé par rapport aux allées qui l’entourent. Il est délimité par un muret constitué de pavés. On y trouve quatre espèces :
- les plantes médicinales avec la bourrache, la pimprenelle, la camomille, la mélisse, la sauge,...
- les plantes condimentaires et aromatiques comme la patience des moines, l’estragon, la ciboule, la lavande, l’angélique, la sarriette, …
- les légumes et cultures vivrières ou utilitaires
- les fleurs avec les bleuets, les myosotis, les lupins, la reine marguerite… et la rose, fleur médiévale par excellence. Des arbres ou arbustes taillés sont plantés à certains endroits du jardin comme le cassissier, le néflier, le cerisier, …
www.avp-rodemack.com/monsite/jardin.html

Moyen Age en lumière

Moyen Age en lumière

Partez à la découverte des images inédites du Moyen Âge!
En puisant parmi les 120 000 images des 25000 manuscrits numérisés dans les bibliothèques de France depuis 10 ans, une équipe de médiévistes renommés a composé pour vous 10 parcours thématiques pour découvrir autrement la vie des hommes au Moyen Âge. La sélection d'images présentée ici est renouvelée chaque jour.
Le Moyen Âge en lumière est le résultat d'une conjonction de partenaires et de moyens sans précédent : un éditeur multisupport (nouveau monde éditions) qui a conçu, outre ce site Web, un DVD-ROM grand public et un CD-ROM scolaire, un éditeur papier qui publie un beau livre illustré (Fayard), une équipe scientifique qui s'attache à photographier les miniatures(CNRS-IRHT), un mécène (Fondation des Banques CIC) et la Direction du Livre du Ministère de la Culture qui soutient ce programme depuis l'origine
www.moyenageenlumiere.com/index.cfm?fa=intro

Recensioni

The Franciscans and the Scottish Wars of Independence Niav Gallagher Department of Medieval History, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin, Ireland Abstract The intention of this paper is to examine the role of the Franciscans in the Scottish Wars of Independence. Many of the studies relating to this period have been confined to either the political or ecclesiastical arena. They also choose to treat the individual countries of the British Isles in an unconnected fashion. This paper is intended to redress the balance, using the involvement of the Franciscan friars in Ireland and Scotland to study political events on either side of the Irish Sea. By examining the actions of diverse nationalities belonging to a single order I hope to establish why the Franciscans saw fit to involve themselves in either the nativist or royalist causes and to determine it was purely race that dictated their actions when their countrymen went to war.

Medieval Greece

Medieval Greece

Greece had an incredibly complex history in the medieval period, from the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 until the fall of Crete to the Turks in the seventeenth century. Before and after this, it had hundreds of years as part of a large and stable empire, the Byzantine and the Ottoman; a fairly stable and slow-changing condition (though not without historical questions, such as the puzzle of when and how exactly the nature of the population changed from Greek to Slav). In between these periods of stability, though, come four and a half centuries of turmoil, incredibly complex political manoeuvring among fragmenting states, all of which is little known in Western European histories.
The diversion of the Fourth Crusade to sack Constantinople was one of the more cynical crimes of history. Internal conflicts made the empire an easy target, and the commercial ambition of the Venetians made it a tempting prize to them (and they were organising the transport for the crusade). The capture of Constantinople caused the disintegration of the empire, particularly its European provinces, which had already been carved up among the participants in the Fourth Crusade before it took place. Greece was divided into four or five small states, some still ruled by Greek aristocrats, others taken over by the conquerors and reorganised along Western feudal lines, with the Venetians gainiing many important ports and commercial privileges.

http://www.geocities.com/athens/academy/6422/rev0188.html

Medieval Island

Medieval Island

While villages developed naturally around the hub of church and manor, medieval towns were generally planned and laid out on open land. The lords who established these towns gained financially through income from land leases and trading sites, and the leaseholders gained freedom from their legal obligations to the manor. On the Island all three medieval new towns were based on a simple grid layout around harbour facilities. Newport, and Yarmouth were established in the 12th century: Francheville (Freetown), later renamed Newtown, was established in the 13th century. At the time it doubtless seemed there was plenty of scope for all these towns to grow into major trade and shipping centres. In the long term only Newport was to achieve its potential.

http://freespace.virgin.net/iw.history/nt/newtown.htm