Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1 - 2022 i Medieval World Culture & Conflict Magazine

The Holy Roman Empire at the end of the Middle Ages aspired to power, wealth, and military might, despite its fragmentary state and internal unrest. The Hussite Wars and the famous Battle of Dornach, which brought an end to the Swabian War, are just two noteworthy moments of intense conflict. But the fifteenth century was also a period of experimentation and cultural development across Central Europe, culminating with the reign of emperor Maximilian I, famously dubbed 'the last knight'. The splendours of his court were unmatched. Maximilian commissioned the foremost artists and armourers of his time who created unprecedented designs intended to impress and delight. His military efforts and institutional reforms aligned with his imperial aspirations, helping to stabilize and consolidate the empire. But these efforts also served as the…

In the 560s, the Avars established an empire that lasted more than 200 years, centered in the Carpathian Basin. Despite much scholarly debate, their initial homeland and origin has remained unclear. They are primarily known from the historical sources of their enemies, the Byzantines, who wondered about the origin of the fearsome Avar warriors after their sudden appearance in Europe. Historians have wondered whether they were a wel l-organized migrant group or a mixed band of fugitives. Archaeological research has pointed to many parallels between the Carpathian Basin and Eurasian nomadic artefacts. We also know that the Avars introduced the stirrup in Europe. Yet we have so far not been able to trace their origin in the wide Eurasian steppes. In this study, a multidisciplinary team analysed 66 individuals from…

IMPERIAL VISIONS & LOCAL REALITIES "That body, which was called and still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire, was in all respects neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire." This sweeping and polemical quip by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, made in chapter 70 of his Essay on General History and on the Mores and Spirit of Nations (1756), is often the only judgement that most people have heard about the large, mostly German-speaking political entity that lay at the heart of medieval and early modern Europe. Its negative implications - that the Empire deviated peculiarly from normal countries' trajectories of historical development, yet at the same time failed to live up to its own professed identity - reflected the emerging assumptions of modern nationalist historians. This was especially true of…

ARMOUR & REGALIA OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPERORS Maximilian was particularly impressed with the work of Augsburg armourer Lorenz Helmschmid, whom he summoned to serve as his 'court armourer'. Lorenz fashioned exceptionally intricate and highquality designs for his royal patron. His luxury creations are among the most distinguished pieces of armour to survive from the late Middle Ages. The combination sallet (for head) and bevor (for jaw and throat) featured on the cover of this magazine is one of Lorenz’s imaginative creations. Designed out of steel, leather, copper alloy, and gold, the helmet is celebrated for its inventive design, mechanical features, and sumptuous details. Most notably, it consists of a bevor and a visor that pivot on the same point. Its foliate and geometric decorations are achieved through hammering and…

EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITISH WARRIORS Early medieval warriors engaged directly with enemy forces, encountering first-hand the bloodshed and terrible violence of war. Notably, they protected their own societies at the expense of others, and this capacity for destruction could all too easily turn inward. Sources from early medieval Britain bear out this dual nature, necessitating laws and rituals that were intended to limit or neutralize the destructive capabilities of warriors on their home turf. This highlights the complexity of contemporary perceptions of warriors within their own societies and more broadly reveals how warfare shaped the lives of people both on and off the battlefield during the Middle Ages. Dangers to society In the words of Udo Strutynski, the warriors of the Indo-European mythological system were "integrated outcast[s]". They were required to…

The idea that precious stones possessed magical properties was so popular in the Middle Ages that an entire genre of literature was devoted to listing stones and describing their virtues. These texts were called lapidaries, and they were based on ancient works that had also outlined the properties of precious stones. Pliny the Elder's De rerum natura (The Natural History), for example, which was written in the first century, recounts the virtues of numerous precious stones. Lapidaries were popular across the Middle Ages and circulated in both Latin and vernacular languages (English, French, etc). Lapidaries were similar to modern-day encyclopaedias; they presented an entry that named and described a stone and then outlined its uses and virtues. The largest surviving example is the Peterborough Lapidary, which was compiled in the…

Associative Political Culture in the Holy Roman Empire: Upper Germany, 1346-1521 By Duncan Hardy Oxford University Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-0198827252 The Holy Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction By Joachim Whaley Oxford University Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-0198748762 The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I Edited by Pierre Terjanian The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019 ISBN: 978-1588396747 A Companion to the Hussites Edited by Michael Van Dussen and Pavel Soukup Brill, 2020 ISBN: 978-9004397866 The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered Edited by Jason Philip Coy, Benjamin Marschke, and David Warren Sabean Berghahn, 2010 ISBN: 978-1845457594 Animating Empire: Automata, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Early Modern World By Jessica Keating Penn State University Press, 2018 ISBN: 978-0271080024 The Hussites By Stephen E. Lahey Arc Humanities Press, 2020 ISBN: 978-1641891622 The Holy Roman…

DOCUMENTS OF HISTORY, CULTURE, & RELIGION The Artsakh landscape is peppered with churches, monastic complexes, and elaborately designed khachkars (crossstones). A few of these key sites are featured here; they are living documents narrating the social, political, religious, and artistic history of the Armenians. The monastery of Amaras in the Martuni province is one of the most important pilgrimage sites. It was founded by the patron saint Gregory the Illuminator after his Christianization of the Armenians in the fourth century. The site is also associated with the first Armenian language school, which was established by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, who invented the Armenian alphabet in the early fifth century. The basilica of Tzitzernavank in the province of Lachin is another example of an Armenian early Christian church. Consisting of a central…

SWISS PIKE PUT A STOP TO THE SWABIAN WAR It was the Swiss who first developed the tactics that both they and the Swabians would use in the Battle of Dornach. Over a period of nearly two centuries, the Swiss had developed a system of advanced infantry tactics that had matured by the time of the Burgundian War of 1474-1477. Under this system, Swiss armies usually deployed for battle in three square battle formations called Haufen (meaning 'heap' or 'mass'), or pike squares. These squares were arranged close enough to support one another but were also capable of independent manoeuvre. Rows of men on each side of the Haufen wielded pikes roughly eighteen feet in length and designed to thwart cavalry attacks. In the centre of the formation, men carried…

MEDIEVAL COOKING LUNCH FOR THE EMPEROR Italy had a leading culinary role in Europe from the second half of the fifteenth century onward. A key figure in Italian gastronomy was Bartolomeo Sacchi (1421-1481), also known as Platina. He was a humanist scholar who wrote a treatise on food around 1470, which would become a best-seller in Europe: On Right Pleasures and Good Health. The book discussed food, health, and culinary culture. Maestro Martino While Platina got all the fame and honour for his book, the actual credits for the new recipes, cooking techniques, and flavours should have gone to Maestro Martino da Como (ca. 1430late fifteenth century). Out of the 250 recipes in Platina's work, 240 are from Martino's cookbook The Art of Cooking, which he wrote around 1465. Medieval cooking…

While some of the stones in the Peterborough Lapidary are easily recognized today, others are more obscure and difficult to connect to modern materials. Here is a sampling of some of the descriptions found in the Lapidary:…

A new website makes the impressive medieval collections of Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai available to everyone for study, teaching, research, and discovery! Users can now browse over 11,700 images of icons and manuscripts, and will soon be able to see liturgical objects, architecture, mosaics, and more. The famous monastery at Mount Sinai holds a prominent place in Christian history. It is one of the oldest monasteries in use to this day, and its vast holdings have long been valued by scholars of medieval and Byzantine art, history, and culture. However, the monastery's remote location and the current pandemic have limited access to the site and its collections. The new Sinai Digital Archive - accessible at www.sinaiarchive.org - makes available in open access for the first time the monastery's…

AN AFRICAN SAMURAI IN JAPAN Toward the end of this era of turbulence, a warlord fought his way from backwater chieftain to the cusp of becoming an undisputed leader of a reunified nation, exercising extreme violence to create a world of peace, tenka fubu. In domains under his rule, new industries emerged, peasants farmed in security, migrant workers found employment, foreign traders enjoyed safe passage, and businesses prospered without excessive duties or stifling regulations — an economic policy known as rakuichi rakuza. Oda Nobunaga and Young Yasuke This warlord was Oda Nobunaga, renowned in Japan as one of the greatest rulers in the nation's history, despite his propensity to shed blood with abandon. He was largely forgiven due to the subsequent period of 200 years of unity, peace, stability, and…

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I There are many perspectives on Maximilian I (1459-1519). Depending on which historian you read, this man was brilliant and innovative, or was a schemer who put family above country, or was a natural leader, or was just a politician with a mixed record. In the nineteenth century, a writer dubbed Maximilian ‘the last knight’ due to his image as a paragon of knighthood and chivalry, an image the emperor crafted himself. Whereas Maximilian wanted to be seen as intelligent, courageous, and charismatic, others found him to be full of less admirable traits, too. The son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (1452-1493) and member of the flourishing House of Habsburg, Maximilian seems to have had an awkward childhood, apparently not even able…

WARFARE AND REFORM IN BOHEMIA Four years earlier, Jan Hus, the leader of the Bohemian reform movement, had travelled to Constance, where a Council had been struggling to drain the moral swamp that most people agreed the Church had become Hus came with ideas, but the Council, intent on proving that it could protect the faith as well as any pope, condemned him for heresy and had him burnt at the stake on 5 July 1415. The Bohemian reform movement grew, and nobles as well as peasants throughout Bohemia had become enthusiastic supporters. Father Želivsky’s sermon was fiery, and it stirred the congregants to a furious rage. In short order, the zealous priest was leading his flock out of the church to the Town Hall, where the mob quickly overcame…