Mongol Empire

The Effects of the Mongol Empire on Russia

The history of Russia has always been a relatively sad and tumultuous one wrought with wars, power struggles, and abrupt changes. These changes have often been forcibly thrust wholesale upon Russia, rather than evolving through gradual, measured methods as in most peoples’ histories. From an earlier time, in which we know Russia as ‘Kievan Rus,’ the princes of the various cities (such as Vladimir, Pskov, Suzdal, and Kiev) constantly battled and bickered for power and control of the small semi-united state. Under the reigns of St. Vladimir (980-1015) and Yaroslav the Wise (1015-1054), the Kievan state was at its highest point and attained relative peace in contrast with years past. However, as history went, once the reigning rulers died, a power struggle ensued and wars once again flared.
It was perhaps the decision of Yaroslav the Wise before his death in 1054 to assign princedoms to his sons that set the future of Kievan Russia for the next two hundred years. Following this decision, civil wars between the various sons ravaged much of the Kievan confederation, draining it of essential resources it would later need. As the princes incessantly fought with each other, the confederation of cities known as the Kievan state slowly decayed, declined, and lost its former glory. Further weakened by the incursions of steppe tribes such as the Polovtsy (aka Cumans/Kumans or Kipchaks) and previously by the Pechenegs, eventually the Kievan state was ripe for a takeover by more powerful invaders from distant lands.

go to the site:

www.sras.org/the_effects_of_the_mongol_empire_on_russia

Medieval Orthodox Chants

MEDIEVAL ORTHODOX CHANTS

Saint Luke's Serbian Orthodox Mission has receintly published a new and unique Liturgical Handbook with the blessing of His Eminence the Bishop of the American - Canadian Diocese Longin.
This book is printed by "Saint Basil of Ostrog" Printing house from Niksic (Montenegro) and it is published in cooperation with The Serbian Orthodox Choral Association (S.O.C.A.).
The handbook contains the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, Feastdays of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the Theotokos, Resurrectional Troparia, Kontakia, Prokeimena and Pontifical Liturgy; with musical notation for traditional Serbian chant and Biblical references. It includes extensive instructions for service order on feastdays and pontifical Liturgy (typicon) - all highlighted in red.
This fully bilingual book, in Serbian (Cyrillic) and English on facing pages, provides the parishioner a valuable aid to follow the Liturgy throughout the year in either the Serbian or the English language It is also a complete resource book for choirs and directors.
Musical notation is provided with musical text in Church Slavonic, as it is still most often sung in Serbian churches. The Liturgical melodies are based on those recorded by Stevan S. Mokranjac with some modifications. go to the site:

http://www.sv-luka.org/chants/indexmedch.html

L'Epifania Medievale

I re magi nel Medioevo

Per una volta i Re Magi non arriveranno dall’Oriente, ma da Cassino, grazie alla prima traduzione in italiano dell’eccezionale «Libro delle gesta e del viaggio dei tre Re», scritto nel ’300 da Giovanni di Hildesheim, un carmelitano che percorse in lungo e in largo l’Oriente, raccogliendo fonti arabe e persiane per raccontare in maniera incontrovertibile il viaggio dei Magi. Una traduzione che sta curando un professore romano, Massimo Oldoini, docente di Letteratura mediolatina all’Università La Sapienza, per conto dell’editore Ciolfi. La piccola ma dinamica casa editrice ha sede proprio a Cassino e, all’ombra della celeberrima Abbazia, Bruno Ciolfi continua a sfornare volumi che di commerciale avranno anche poco, nel senso di grande diffusione tra il pubblico, ma il cui valore culturale è inestimabile. «Volevamo uscire proprio per l’Epifania, ma per la traduzione di questo libro - spiega Bruno Ciolfi - occorrerà ancora un mese di tempo, perché abbiamo fatto un doppio lavoro, prima dall’originale arabo-persiano al latino e ora in italiano. È un testo che la Chiesa in qualche modo aveva emarginato, sottovalutando la figura dei Magi, e che mai nessuno prima d’ora s’era preso la briga di tradurre, ma del resto noi siamo abituati a questo genere di lavori e ci gratificano i riconoscimenti degli studiosi, soprattutto quelli del Medioevo, e di un pubblico di addetti ai lavori, assai còlto. Nei nostri libri non diamo solo le fonti, ma anche le traduzioni con testo a fronte in italiano. Sa, il latino purtroppo oggi non lo conosce quasi più nessuno...».vai al sito:

http://www.ilgiornale.it/a.pic1?ID=232055

Natale Medievale

Natale Medievale di Otranto

Tutto il centro storico e le maggiori piazze della città ritorneranno indietro nei secoli, ricreando la magica atmosfera del Natale Medievale. Nell’aria si respirerà l’odore del pane appena sfornato, delle caldarroste e dei dolci tipici natalizi.

Le strade si popoleranno di botteghe artigiane degli antichi mestieri (l’oste, l’impagliatore, il tintore, le ricamatrici, gli arcieri ed i costruttori di armature e di usberghi, il fabbro, gli speziali ecc...).
Ci saranno accampamenti di cavalieri teutonici e templari, falconieri che sosteranno sulla terrazza della Torre Matta.
All’entrata del centro storico San Francesco d’Assisi dialogherà con il lupo e reciterà il cantico delle creature.
Nella piazza dell’Immacolata ci saranno Erode ed Erodiade che assistono alla danza dei 7 veli di Salomè e di altre odalische.
L’ultimo giorno ci saranno i tre Re Magi, in groppa ai loro cammelli, che porteranno a Gesù Bambino oro incenso e mirra.
Tutti i figuranti indosseranno abiti risalenti al periodo storico.
Lungomare Terra d’Otranto, Centro Storico e maggiori piazze:
29/12/2007 - orario 17.00-22;
30/12/2007 - orario 10-22;
vai al sito:
www.natalemedievale.com/

Noel Medieval

Marchè de Noel Medieval

Créée en 1978, l’Association des Amis des Vieilles Pierres pour la Sauvegarde de RODEMACK s’est donnée comme objectifs la réhabilitation et l’animation du patrimoine local.
Depuis sa création, une succession de chantiers d’insertion et de jeunes bénévoles a permis la réhabilitation d’une grande partie des fortifications extérieures, des tours de flanquement, mais aussi des travaux intra–muros. D’autre part, des manifestations culturelles très fortes ont été créées : « les Créations Théâtrales » ont été lancées,«Rodemack Cité Médiévale en Fête » qui fêtera sa XXVème édition en 2004, et « les Palettes du Patrimoine » sur les Journées des Monuments Historiques, qui ont pris le relais du « Symposium de Peinture » qui avait été lancé en 1991.

visitez le site:

www.avp-rodemack.com/monsite/marchemedieval.html

Medieval Christmas

Medieval Christmas: a tale
Our word Christmas is derived from the Middle English usage "Christ's Mass," and central to the celebration of the Nativity was the liturgical activity which had been established by the year 600, and did not change in the Middle Ages. In Medieval England there were, in fact, three Masses celebrated on Christmas Day. The first and most characteristic was at midnight (the Angel's Mass), catching up the notion that the light of salvation appeared at the darkest moment of the darkest date in the very depth of winter. The second Christmas Mass came at dawn (the Shepherd's Mass), and the third during the day (the Mass of the Divine Word). The season of Advent, the forty days of leading up to Christmas, was being observed in the Western Church by the year 500. St. Nicholas was a very popular Medieval saint, and his feast day came in Advent (6 December), but he did not play his part in Christmas as Santa Claus until after the Reformation.Also important in the celebration of Christmas was the banquet, which necessarily varied in sumptuosness with the resources of the celebrants. The menu varied with soups and stews, birds and fish, breads and puddings, but a common element was the Yule boar, an animal for those who could afford it or a pie shaped like a boar for more humble tables. Churches and houses were decorated with ivy, mistletoe, holly, or anything green, which remained up until the eve of Candlemass. The gift-giving of the season was represented by the New Year Gift, which continued a tradition of Roman origin. The later Christmas present was not part of a Medieval Christmas. The sorts of things that people might have done to entertain themselves at Christmas apart from eating is succintly summarized in a letter written by Margaret Paston on Christmas Eve 1459 after she had inquired how her Norfolk neighbour, Lady Morley, had conducted her household in mourning the previous Christmas, just after Lady Morley had been widowed:

"...there were no disguisings [acting], nor harping, luting or singing, nor any lewd sports, but just playing at the tables [backgammon] and chess and cards. Such sports she gave her folk leave to play and no other."
go to the site:
www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales09.htm

Medieval Russia

Medieval Russia

A casual glance at the map of Europe and Asia will reveal quite clearly certain of the physical conditions under which Russia has developed. Compared with England, France, or Spain in point of size, what a vast extent of territory is embraced by a single state: running east and west, from the Baltic to the Sea of Kamchatka; and north and south, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, the Caspian, and, as it may some day appear, the waters of the Indian Ocean. A heritage truly imperial, and offering a greater expanse of continuous land than any other empire. Examined more closely, other features in contrast to the states of western Europe begin to appear. The mountains of Continental Europe lie for the most part in the western and southern quarters. But easterly from the Carpathians, the Continent broadens out into a huge monotonous plain, watered by rivers of considerable length. And were the Ural Mountains correctly appreciatedÑtheir blackness on the ordinary map making them seem much more formidable than they really are, being for the most part only hillsÑit would appear that this vast plain extends almost uninterruptedly from shore to shore of the several bodies of water mentioned above. Scarcely within this enormous expanse of level country is there to be found any one feature which offers itself as a natural frontier or boundary line. The essential unity of the whole, physically, seems to have contributed in no small measure to the political unity which is now fast being achieved.
go to the site:
www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/MorRus.htm

Medieval Medecine

Medieval Medecine

The history of medicine, perhaps more than that of any other discipline or skilled occupation, illuminates broad social and cultural patterns of the period.To a medieval mind, the distinction between natural and supernatural was not always very clear. This shows in the perception of the causes of ailments, and the obscure treatments thought to help sick patients. The Catholic Church played a large role in development as well as management of medieval medicine. It contained it within bounds of one religion, disallowing most pagan healing practices.The underlying principle of medieval medicine were four humors - black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. The balance of these four allowed for the well-being of a person.Medicine in itself developed. Based on some Greek and Near Eastern principles and embellished with the discoveries of the Middle Ages, it set the foundation for contemporary medicine.Medieval medicine, for most part, was very forgiving about who practiced and who healed. Clergy and laymen, men and women, were allowed to practice medicine. The extent of this practice was not limited all throughout the Middle Ages. The final unification came with the Black Death, when the need for doctors to heal the sick was stronger than any prejudice against their origin.The education system has developed in order to teach law and medicine to the willing. Guilds were created to allow crafts to prosper. The middle class of the society was in the making.

go to the site:
www.intermaggie.com/med/index.php