Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 14 - 2024 i Medieval World Culture & Conflict Magazine

During the Middle Ages, the Baltic Sea and the Baltic states were the site of cultural contact and conflict, thanks to the region's maritime connections, strategic location, and natural resources. The theme articles in this issue explore how commerce and conflict shaped the medieval Baltic, from the Vikings and the Hanseatic League, to the roles of various brotherhoods in missionary and merchant activities. The Teutonic Order and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, for example, promoted Christianity in the Baltic, while the Brotherhood of the Blackheads were wealthy merchants that traded with far-off lands, both East and West, from their headquarters in Tallin. The medieval Baltic was well connected and contested – a frontier and a crossroads – as well as a vital region of Europe during the Middle Ages.…

A recent reinterpretation of the runic inscription on the Forsa Ring offers a fresh perspece on the monetary system of the Viking Age, marking it as the oldest documented record of value in Scandinavia. The inscription sheds light on how the Vikings managed fines in a flexible and practical manner. Traditionally, the phrase “uksa … auk a tua” omn the ring was believed to mean that fines had to be paid with both an ox and two ore of silver, suggesting a dual yment system. However, this interpretation has now been challenged. Rodney Edvinsson, a Professor of Economic History at Stockholm University, explains that the previous translation implied a cumbersome process where the guilty party would need to pay with two types of goods, which would have been both impractical…

A ‘remarkable’ Pictish ring, featuring an intricate setting and believed from the Early Middle Ages, has been discovered in northern Scotland. The kite-shaped ring, with a centre of garnet or red glass, was found at Burghead Fort by a volunteer during an excavation led by the University of Aberdeen. The discovery comes as a surprise, given the widespread belief that the nineteenth-century construction of the town of Burghead had destroyed much of the site's historical value.…

Charles Martel was a Frankish leader who ruled from 718 until his death, holding the titles of Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace in the regions of Austrasia and Neustria. In this latter role, he oversaw the administration of the courts and even ruled in the absence of a king (737–741). During his time, Charles used his new power to consolidate and expand areas of his domain through warfare and land reforms. He also confiscated church and local powerbrokers’ lands, which cemented his authority in the old Merovingian kingdom and established this realm as a bulwark against the threats of the Umayyad Caliphate. In Septimania, modern southwestern France, the Umayyads held control through their hold of the strategic city of Narbonne. To the east of…

The conflicts of the Baltic during the Middle Ages were driven by the spread of Christianity, military and economic expansion, as well as control of trade and resources. The resulting power struggles among diverse groups and cultures shaped the region's political boundaries, religious affiliations, and cultural developments. The strategic location of the Baltic region made it a contested area among emerging powers who sought to dominate its resources and trade connections. The region's natural resources were a critical factor. The vast forests surrounding the Baltic provided timber for shipbuilding, a vital industry in an age when maritime trade was essential; the rich fishing grounds offered abundant supplies of herring and other fish for local consumption and export; the fertile agricultural lands produced grain and other crops, incentivizing trade both locally…

In 1096, the First Crusade began with its aim to conquer the Holy Land and capture Jerusalem. After three years of campaigning, it captured the city on 15 July 1099. The Crusaders’ victory was secured once the Fatimid Caliphate was defeated in the Battle of Ascalon on 12 August 1099. Crusader states were now established, known collectively as Outremer, French for “beyond the sea,” and each was ruled by a leader in the campaign. What followed was over a century of warfare between Catholicism and Islam in the Middle East, and the creation of Christian military orders to defend Christianity with force. In 1198, Pope Innocent III issued a papal bull calling for a crusade, this time against the pagan Livonians that lived in present-day Latvia. This was because in…

Taking advantage of travelling on the ice-free sea-lanes in the summer season was a wise move – the bitter Baltic winter suspended the steady stream of maritime traffic. Yet, despite the sea's capacity to enable the movement of goods, people, and ideas across its liquid surface, lurking pirates, spoiled shipments, and stormy weather meant that maritime trade, no matter what the season, was a risky business. But Tideke was on a mission. With eighteen Rigan marks in his coin purse, Tideke needed to deliver the initial deposit for a multi-winged altarpiece (the nonextant Holy Trinity Altarpiece) to be painted by one of the most in-demand artists of the time, the Dominican monk, Master Francke. Upon his return to Reval, Brotherhood brethren would raise their deer hoof standing cups and ritualistically…

England's greatest siege After his victory at Lewes in May 1264, Simon de Montfort, the reformist Earl of Leicester, ruled England in the king's name. But his regime was brought down only the following year, with Simon and many of his closest supporters slain on the battlefield of Evesham (4 August 1265). The following month, Henry and his eldest son, Edward, declared that the lands and possessions of those who had supported the earl would be seized and distributed among the king's loyal supporters. While many of the Montfortians had died with their leader at Evesham, and others were still in captivity, this policy also dispossessed hundreds of other knights, minor barons, and commoners across the land. Rebellion was not long in coming. The ‘Disinherited’ mustered first at Axholme in…

GUNPOWDER TECHNOLOGY in the FIFTEENTH CENTURY A Study, Edition and Translation of thr Firework Book By Axel E. W. Müller ISBN: 978-1783277315 Boydell & Brewer, 2024 $160.00 (hardback) www.boydellandbrewer.com Firework Book is a type of German technical manuscript produced during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that deals with the technology of gunpowder. It is a vital source for military and technological historians due to the unique insights it provides. But until now, such sources have lacked a professional translation into English. This makes Axel E. W. Müller's Gunpowder Technology in the Fifteenth Century: A Study, Edition and Translation of the Firework Book an especially valuable contribution to the literature on this topic. His book consists of a translation, description, and analysis of manuscript I.34 held at the library of the Royal…

Cutting-edge technology has just uncovered hidden secrets within one of the world's most mysterious medieval texts. Multispectral imaging has revealed previously invisible details in the fifteenth-century Voynich manuscript, offering new clues about this undeciphered enigma that has baffled scholars for centuries. Lisa Fagin Davis, the Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America and a leading scholar of the Voynich manuscript, has just published a set of multispectral scans that show what ten of its pages looked like under ultraviolet and infrared light. These scans were taken ten years ago at Yale University but have never been fully studied or put online until now. The scans have already revealed some previously hidden details. The most important of these can be found on its opening folio, where three columns of lettering…

The Hanseatic League (or the Hansa, from the Old High German word for a band or troop) was a powerful economic, commercial, political, and defensive network of merchant guilds and trading cities that emerged in Northern and Central Europe during the twelfth century, expanded between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, and eventually disintegrated in 1669. It played a crucial role in facilitating and standardizing trade across the Baltic and North Seas during the Middle Ages. The League began as a loose association of German merchants and towns, primarily along the Baltic Sea. It controlled the trade routes and ensured the security of commerce, while helping boost the economies of participating cities. In addition to the cities that were Hanseatic members, the kontore or major foreign trading posts for the League,…

In the Middle Ages, war and commerce were closely linked. Every year, an enormous quantity of valuable merchandise: pepper, spices, iron tools, grain, glass, copper ingots, textiles, furs, fish, wine, and beer, flowed down the sea-lanes from one port to another, driving much of the economic activity of the era. Trade was conducted across thousands of miles, through barriers of language and religion, and in spite of capricious weather and daunting logistical challenges. Goods and people travelled from the shores of England, across the breadth of Europe, via trade routes like the Silk Road, over the Central Asian steppe, and as far as Persia, India, and China. Commerce drove prosperity, which was the glue that held commercial relations together. But when trust eroded, commerce suddenly gave way to war. Trade…

The Percy earls of Northumberland were a powerful and warlike family. By the fifteenth century, most of the English gentry were involved in government, the courts, and managing their estates. With their lands on the Scottish border, the Percies also kept an armed retinue to fight the Scots or the crown. The food The Percies’ household list begins with wheat and malt. Just the wheat cost more than 78 pounds when most families lived on 2 to 5 English pounds per year. Wheat was nutritious and made tasty, leavened bread. But most people in the north had to eat some humble grains such as rye and barley, which were easier to grow. Feeding a household on nothing but wheat bread showed the wealth of the Percies. Next came red meat,…

Population growth, the search for fertile land, and a system of primogeniture in which younger sons could not inherit land were among the aspects that led to the expansion of the Vikings from Northern Europe. During the early Middle Ages, England was known to be very fertile with a benign climate; it was a suitable and accessible place to raid. From raids to settlements It took some time for the raids that started in Lindisfarne in 793 AD to develop into invasions. By 865, a Great Heathen Army with plans to stay in fertile and prosperous England, landed in East Anglia. It is likely that the invasion force set out from what is now the Netherlands, and included some of the Viking forces that had been campaigning in that area…

Monetisation and Commercialisation in the Baltic Sea, 1050–1450 Edited by Dariusz Adamczyk Routledge, 2021 ISBN: 978-0367898564 Ideology and Holy Landscape in the Baltic Crusades By Gregory Leighton ARC Humanities Press, 2022 ISBN: 978-1641894548 The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier Edited by Alan V. Murray Ashgate, 2009 ISBN: 978-0367740153 Baltic Crusades and Societal Innovation in Medieval Livonia, 1200–1350 Edited by Anti Selart Brill, 2022 ISBN: 978-9004428324 A Companion to the Hanseatic League Edited by Donald J. Harreld Brill, 2015 ISBN: 978-9004282889 Making Livonia: Actors and Networks in the Medieval and Early Modern Baltic Sea Region Edited by Anu Mänd and Marek Tamm Routledge, 2020 ISBN: 978-0367481285 The House of Hemp and Butter: A History of Old Riga By Kevin C. O'Connor Northern Illinois University Press, 2023 ISBN: 978-1501772429 Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier Edited by Marek Tamm, Linda…

The epic and romance literature might suggest that armour was of little value. In the tales, heroes and villains trade herculean blows, slicing through helms, hauberks, and T skulls. Men are routinely split in half from the top of their helms to their saddle bows. Pictorial sources often graphically share this sanguinary image. Contradictions However, an equal number of sources suggest the contrary; that armour was an effective defence against injury. The same heroes and villains who destroy their enemies’ armour with ease often wear armour that no sword can cut through or spear can pierce. Orderic Vitalis, writing in the eleventh century, noted that of the nine hundred knights who fought at Brémule, only three were killed, in part because they were all ‘clad in iron’. Commentators on the…

The third Livonian bishop, Albert, founded the town of Riga in 1201 and played a vital role in establishing the local Order of the Brothers of the Sword. This Catholic military order protected priests and missionaries, as well as maintained control. The ‘Rigans’ eventually succeeded in subjugating the Livs, Latvians, and Estonians who lived in the region, both by force and diplomatic means. In 1237, the Teutonic Order started its activities in Livonia and absorbed the former Swordbrothers. Riga was especially important as a trade center. Situated in the estuary of the Daugava River, Riga served as a key player in the trade and contacts that extended from areas of Eastern Europe and across the Baltic via this large, connecting river. Extant material evidence such as coins reveals a lively…

During renewed fighting around Stockholm in 1392, mercenaries hired by the Hanse to run a Danish blockade evolved into an independent pirate ‘guild’ called the Vitalienbrüder (Victual Brothers). These seagoing bandits soon began to prey on a weakened Visby, ultimately taking over the city as their base of operations. They also sacked Bergen, Malmö, and several communities in Finland around the same time, terrorizing both the Baltic and the North Sea for many years (see also Medieval Warfare V.5). The pirate base at Visby was finally destroyed by the Teutonic Order under Konrad von Jungingen in 1398. The pirates moved their operations west, continuing to clash with Lübeck and Hamburg, but some Hanse cities were still sympathetic to their cause. Rostock, Ribnitz, Wismar, and Stralsund continued to provide safe harbor…

The holy figures stepped in at a moment of great peril; their power was felt, their voices even were heard, and, very occasionally, they put in a personal appearance. The original homeland and lifetime of the saint made little difference to their posthumous performances. Some of the foundational figures of Christian tradition were subjects of the most frequent reports of a happening that was ‘mirabile dictu’, that is, ‘wonderful to tell’. The holy house The Virgin Mary, whose cult following from the early Middle Ages had grown steadily and reached widely across Eastern and Western Christendom, continued to arouse stories of supernatural interventions and visions right down to the Reformation. One of the very latest to grab the attention of the faithful in Latin Europe – and undoubtedly the most…

EMPRESS, RULER, AND RIVAL Theophanu's marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II on 14 April 972 in Rome was a major achievement for the Ottonian dynasty as it reinforced its legitimacy within Europe. She was crowned empress the same day and eventually became the only woman to be named coimperatrix augusta or co-empress, sharing power with Otto in all matters. From 985 until her death in 991, Theophanu was later to rule effectively as emperor during the regency of her son, Otto III. Pathway to power During her role as both co-empress and dowager empress, Theophanu ruled extensively, was an active political negotiator, and featured in the majority of Otto II's charters – an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the Holy Roman Empire at that time. Byzantium's impact…