Baltic Medieval Festival

Baltic Medieval Festival

The Baltic Medieval Festival is being organised since 2001 and traditionally takes place on the second weekend of June. The reason for the constant dates is the fact that several other historically orientated activities are usually planned in the following summer months in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belorussia, Russia, Poland, Ukrain and in Scandinavia. So, organizers do their best to open the high season of the historical reenactment activities at least in Baltics.
The festival is internationally orientated. Until now, the participants from Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Ukrain, Finland, Sweden, Polska, Germany and Czech Republic have taken active part in it. Still, the festival involves more participants from different areas by every year, thus giving chance for visitors to gain vivid and diverse impressions of varied medieval activities.
The main purpouse of the Baltic medieval festival is reconstruct and demonstrate the historical events, material environment and emotianal surroundings as authentically as possible and in a historically - adequate manner. Therefore the visitors, arriving to the festival field can observe knights fighting their duels in the tournament, for the rights to choose the Queen of the tournament, swordfighting demonstrations and battle imitations involving masses of armed men. Visitors themselves can try their skills in archery range as well. Here one can also enjoy medieval dance and music, watch plays, staged by medieval actors (traditionally - men only). The ancient craftsmen not only demonstrate their crafts, but also invites everyone - both grownups and children to participate in the creation of new beautiful masterpieces. The program of each festival is made different ensuring that every next festival brings us something new and even more exciting. There are much of those options available due to the fact that the festival thematically embraces the wide historical period of 9th to 15th centuries.
The creator of the idea of organising this festival is Andris Geidāns, leader of the historical reenactment group Exceritus Rigensis (ex-Livonieši). Initially the festival was organised by a group of like-minded persons and friends who have consolidated into a non governmental organisation Historical Festivals' Association since 2004.
The idea of organising a festival like this is based on the fact that there is an increasing social interest in the medieval culture and history of the Baltic region and also there were no historically orientated events of such scale in Baltics before. The ever growing number of participants and visitors proves the idea being right. So, for example, there were 150 persons participating (80 of them were from Latvia) and 2500 visitors attending the First Baltic medieval festival. But the Fourth Baltic medieval festival had 300 participants (150 of them representing Latvia), and in spite of the bad weather conditions almost 4000 visitors. Since year 2005 festival has changed the place of location from Cesis to Valmiera.
When we took up organising of the First Baltic medieval festival in 2001, we were absolute beginners on the background of the similar events taking place in the neighbouring counrties for a long time before. But during these six years Baltic Medieval festival has proved itself to be of great vitality and able to develop even more.

go to the site:
http://www.balticmedieval.info/

Chateaux Medievaux

Le chaetaux de Lanjeais

Aux environs de l’an mil, la Touraine est convoitée par deux seigneurs : le comte d’Anjou, Foulques Nerra, et le comte de Blois, Eudes Ier. A la fin du Xe siècle, Foulque Nerra conquiert la place de Langeais, non loin de Tours. Un château est alors fondé sur le promontoire. Il ne reste de cet ensemble que les vestiges du « donjon ». Langeais connut ensuite une histoire mouvementée, tour à tour occupée par les comtes de Blois et d’Anjou. En 1044, Langeais passe, avec toute la Touraine, entre les mains des Plantagenêts, puis dans celle des rois d’Angleterre, leurs héritiers. C’est en 1206 que Langeais entre dans le domaine royal français, par suite des victoires de Philippe Auguste sur Jean sans terre. A partir de cette période, le fief de Langeais est concédé à divers grands seigneurs proches du pouvoir royal.
www.chateau-de-langeais.com/

Medicina Medievale

Medicina Medievale

Il Medioevo raccoglie l'eredità della medicina del mondo classico: nonostante che nell'Alto Medioevo si assista ad una apparente stasi degli studi di medicina, ciò non significa che la medicina non sia stata praticata. Sino dal VI secolo si hanno notizie di centri medici in Italia e in altre parti d'Europa, mentre nei monasteri la medicina si arricchisce di nuove esperienze. Ma sarà a partire dal XII secolo che la medicina in Occidente vivrà una nuova stagione con la definizione di un nuovo status del medico e con l'ingresso della medicina nell'insegnamento universitario. Con il rinnovato vigore degli studi anatomici a partire dal XIV secolo e con le nuove traduzioni delle opere mediche dell'Antichità, la medicina corre verso il Rinascimento e verso l'età moderna.
Nell'Alto Medioevo si assiste ad un fenomeno di semplificazione del bagaglio culturale medico dell'antichità: mentre la tradizione teorica medica greco-romana e alessandrina rimase come patrimonio della cultura bizantina, nell’Occidente cristiano questa venne dimenticata, residuandone solo una piccola parte che venne conservata nelle biblioteche dei monasteri od ancora insegnata, seppure in pochi centri, in Francia o nelle aree di tradizione bizantina, come Ravenna. Come se il lato più pagano della medicina, quello teoretico cioè, fosse stato in qualche modo isolato e ridotto al minimo indispensabile, dando invece preferenza alle raccolte di ricette, quindi alla terapia. I testi medici che circolavano tra V e X secolo nei grandi monasteri e nelle rare scuole erano infatti compilazioni di materiali tra i più disparati, spesso finalizzate all'insegnamento: brevi opere teorico-pratiche, raccolte di farmacopee o, più spesso, manuali di tipo pratico dove le varie malattie venivano descritte in maniera sommaria con l'indicazione della relativa. Comunque sia, tra questo materiale è possibile ritrovare alcuni testi ippocratici, qualche più raro testo galenico, rimaneggiamenti di opere di Mustio, Aureliano Celio, Sereno Psammonico e di autori più tardi come Paolo di Egina od Oribasio.
vai al sito:
www.accademiajr.it/medweb/introduzione.html

The Arabic role in medieval literary history

The Arabic role in medieval literary history

Arabic culture was a central and shaping phenomenon in medieval Europe, yet its influence on medieval literature has been ignored or marginalized for the last two centuries. In this ground-breaking book, now returned to print with a new afterword by the author, María Rosa Menocal argues that major modifications of the medieval canon and its literary history are necessary.Menocal reviews the Arabic cultural presence in a variety of key settings, including the courts of William of Aquitaine and Frederick II, the universities in London, Paris, and Bologna, and Cluny under Peter the Venerable, and she examines how our perception of specific texts including the courtly love lyric and the works of Dante and Boccaccio would be altered by an acknowledgment of the Arabic cultural component.
go to the site:
www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/1296.htmlo the site:

Medieval Pilgrims' Clothing

Medieval Pilgrims' Clothing

Following are depictions of medieval men and women on pilgrimage. Trends to note: colors (brown or black), cloaks, broad hats, satchels (or "wallets"), staffs, and badges (especially the scallop-shell of Santiago de Compostela). There are also several manuscripts of Le pèlerinage de la vie humaine, in which the hero is depicted as a literal pilgrim; a few image-collections from some of the manuscripts of this texts are linked below:
a guide in the internet information to the site:
www.larsdatter.com/pilgrims.htm

Music, Body, and Desire in Medieval Culture

Music, Body, and Desire in Medieval Culture

by Bruce W. Holsinger
Ranging chronologically from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries and thematically from Latin to vernacular literary modes, this book challenges standard assumptions about the musical cultures and philosophies of the European Middle Ages. Engaging a wide range of premodern texts and contexts, from the musicality of sodomy in twelfth-century polyphony to Chaucer’s representation of pedagogical violence in the Prioress’s Tale, from early Christian writings on the music of the body to the plainchant and poetry of Hildegard of Bingen, the author argues that medieval music was quintessentially a practice of the flesh.
go to the site:
www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=3201%204058%20

Medieval Rivers

The Medieval River Trade Network of Russia

Many historians have written about Moscow's gradual rise to a position of dominance over other towns. Most claim that the growth was a response to favorable geographical conditions. The Russian historian Kluchevsky (1911) comments:
"The political fortunes of Moscow were closely connected with its geographical position." "Thus Moscow arose at the point of intersection of three great land roads - a geographical position which conferred important economic advantages upon the city and its neighborhood. ...Boyars always followed the currents of popular migration, so that their genealogical records are evidence that at that period [time of Daniel, youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, circa 1270 AD.] the general trend was toward Moscow. This steady influx into the city, as into a central reservoir, of all the Russian popular forces threatened by external foes was primarily due to the geographical position of Moscow."
go to the site:
www.analytictech.com/networks/pitts.htm

Medieval English Towns

Medieval English Towns

The aim of the Medieval English Towns site is to provide historical information about cities and towns in England during the Middle Ages, with particular but not exclusive emphasis on medieval boroughs of East Anglia and on social, political and constitutional history. A growing selection of primary documents (translated into English) relevant to English urban history is included.
go tuo the site:
www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/towns.html