Stunning survey unveils new secrets of Caistor Roman town
9 January 2008
Biotech Week
On the morning of Friday July 20, 1928, the crew of an RAF aircraft took photographs over the site of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund in Norfolk, a site which now lies in open fields to the south of Norwich.
The exceptionally dry summer meant that details of the Roman town were clearly revealed as parched lines in the barley. The pictures appeared on the front page of The Times on March 4, 1929 and caused a sensation.
Now, new investigations at Caistor Roman town using the latest technology have revealed the plan of the buried town at an extraordinary level of detail which has never been seen before. The high-resolution geophysical survey used a Caesium Vapour magnetometer to map buried remains across the entire walled area of the Roman town.
The research at Caistor is being directed by Dr Will Bowden of The University of Nottingham, who worked with Dr David Bescoby and Dr Neil Chroston of the University of East Anglia on the new survey, sponsored by the British Academy. Around 30 local volunteer members of the Caistor Roman Town Project also assisted.
The survey has produced the clearest plan of the town yet seen confirming the street plan (shown by previous aerial photographs), the town’s water supply system (detecting the iron collars connecting wooden water pipes), and the series of public buildings including the baths, temples and forum, known from earlier excavations.
However, the survey also showed that earlier interpretations of the town as a densely occupied urban area — given by reconstruction paintings — may be totally wrong. Buildings were clustered along the main streets of the town, but other areas within the street grid seem to have been empty and were perhaps used for grazing or cultivation.
Dr Bowden, a lecturer in Roman Archaeology, said: "The results of the survey have far exceeded our expectations. It's not an exaggeration to say that the survey has advanced our knowledge of Caistor to the same extent that the first aerial photograph did 80 years ago. The presence of possible Iron Age and Saxon features suggests that the town had a much longer life than we previously thought and the fact that it's just sitting there in open fields instead of being under a modern town means we can ask the questions we want to. For an archaeologist it's a dream opportunity to really examine how European towns developed."
A new Roman theatre?
One of the most exciting new discoveries from the survey is what looks like a Roman theatre. Clear traces of a large semi-circular building have been found next to the town’s temples — the typical location for a theatre in Roman Britain.
David Gurney, Principal Archaeologist of Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service, said: "This is a fantastic discovery, and it goes to show that Caistor Roman town still has a great number of secrets to be disclosed in the years ahead through surveys or excavations. The town is already well-established as the most important Roman site in northern East Anglia, but the presence of a theatre is a significant indicator of the town's status, and of the cultural facilities available to its inhabitants. It is brilliant that the project has located such an important feature so early on, and this is probably just the first of many discoveries that will completely change our understanding of the town as a result of the Caistor Project."
Matthew Martin, Chairman of the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, which owns the Roman town, said: "We are delighted with all the work which Dr Bowden and his team are carrying out at Caistor. We are very excited not only by what has been discovered so far by the use of this new technology but by the possibilities for more discoveries as further work is done. I think that all this is of immense interest to not only archaeologists but to a much wider public."
Discoveries from the age of Boudica?
Caistor lies in the territory of the Iceni, the tribe of Boudica who famously rebelled against Roman rule in AD 60/61. The survey revealed numerous circular features that apparently predate the Roman town.
These are probably of prehistoric date, and suggest that Caistor was the site of a large settlement before the Roman town was built. This has always been suspected because of numerous chance finds of late Iron Age coins and metalwork, but there has never been any evidence of buildings until now.
Now the burning questions are: was Caistor built on the site of an Iceni stronghold as retribution after Boudica’s rebellion, or was it built to favour a faction of the Iceni who had not taken part in the revolt"
The end of a Roman town?
Life at Roman Caistor was thought to have ended in the 5th century AD, when Britain was abandoned by the emperor of the struggling Western Roman Empire. However, the new survey clearly shows a large ditched enclosure that cuts the surface of the Roman street in the north-west corner of the site. Possible structures are visible within this enclosure.
The earlier discovery of middle Saxon coins and metalwork outside the west wall of the site, combined with the presence of two early Saxon cemeteries in the vicinity suggests that these enclosures may be associated with continued life in the town after the Roman period.
The new research has demonstrated that Caistor is a site of international importance. Rather than simply being a provincial Roman town, Caistor may represent the development of a major settlement from the Iron Age until the 9th century AD. Crucially, however, the site was ultimately superseded by medieval Norwich and reverted to green fields.
This is quite unlike other Roman towns that have the same long occupation sequence which now lie buried beneath the modern towns of Britain and Europe. This fortunate change of settlement location means that these same green fields at Caistor are a unique time-capsule that could give us vital clues to the complex processes through which our towns and cities developed. Funding is now being sought to test the results of the survey through excavation.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Renovated castle and ruin at centre of island row
Renovated castle and ruin at centre of island row
5 January 2008
Aberdeen Press & Journal
A Move to designate a roofless ruin as a listed building while downgrading a beautifully restored medieval castle has sparked a row on the Hebridean island of Coll.
Nicholas and Lavinia Maclean-Bristol, who have spent years completing a "quality conversion" of Old Breachacha Castle, which dates to the 15th century, are appealing against Historic Scotland's plans to drop it from grade A to grade B listing. Planners in Argyll agree that Historic Scotland's proposals for Coll - which include the listing of roofless Grishipoll House and the de-listing of two cottages because they have lost their roofs - are "perverse".
And Mrs Maclean-Bristol claimed: "Historic Scotland seem to be more keen on keeping roofless ruins rather than have somebody living there - but these old buildings were meant to be lived in. It's impossible to put a figure on what we have spent on Breachacha, but the woman who came from Historic Scotland didn't even go inside the building, she just walked round the outside.
"Kisimul Castle on Barra is a sister castle to Breachacha and it is A listed, but ours is in better condition. We are going to appeal and have sent a letter to Historic Scotland pointing out Breachacha's historical links."
Angus John Gilmour, head of planning for Argyll and Bute Council, added: "Although undoubtedly of considerable architectural and historic interest it has been derelict for more than 100 years and is in a ruinous state that is perhaps more appropriate for Scheduled Ancient Monument Status."
A spokesman for Historic Scotland said: "This is part of an ongoing national resurvey and it is now with the local authority, landowners and specialists for consultation."
5 January 2008
Aberdeen Press & Journal
A Move to designate a roofless ruin as a listed building while downgrading a beautifully restored medieval castle has sparked a row on the Hebridean island of Coll.
Nicholas and Lavinia Maclean-Bristol, who have spent years completing a "quality conversion" of Old Breachacha Castle, which dates to the 15th century, are appealing against Historic Scotland's plans to drop it from grade A to grade B listing. Planners in Argyll agree that Historic Scotland's proposals for Coll - which include the listing of roofless Grishipoll House and the de-listing of two cottages because they have lost their roofs - are "perverse".
And Mrs Maclean-Bristol claimed: "Historic Scotland seem to be more keen on keeping roofless ruins rather than have somebody living there - but these old buildings were meant to be lived in. It's impossible to put a figure on what we have spent on Breachacha, but the woman who came from Historic Scotland didn't even go inside the building, she just walked round the outside.
"Kisimul Castle on Barra is a sister castle to Breachacha and it is A listed, but ours is in better condition. We are going to appeal and have sent a letter to Historic Scotland pointing out Breachacha's historical links."
Angus John Gilmour, head of planning for Argyll and Bute Council, added: "Although undoubtedly of considerable architectural and historic interest it has been derelict for more than 100 years and is in a ruinous state that is perhaps more appropriate for Scheduled Ancient Monument Status."
A spokesman for Historic Scotland said: "This is part of an ongoing national resurvey and it is now with the local authority, landowners and specialists for consultation."
Salisbury Cathedral celebrate its 750th anniversary
Cathedral prepares for 750th anniversary
7 January 2008
Salisbury Journal
A MEDIEVAL fair, a flower festival, and a pilgrimage from Old Sarum to The Close are among the events planned to help Salisbury Cathedral celebrate its 750th anniversary this year.
A programme of recitals, choral and orchestral concerts, exhibitions and community events is lined up to mark the cathedral's consecration in 1258, culminating in an anniversary service of thanksgiving in September. The year starts with the arrival of Odyssey, an exhibition of carved wooden figures each 2.5 metres high, by Robert Koenig, which has travelled from Poland where it originated via towns and cities across Europe.
The exhibition has followed the path that Koenig's mother took to England when she fled from Nazi-occupied Poland in 1942. In each venue, Koenig carves another figure to take its place in the exhibition.
He will carve the Salisbury figure during the exhibition's run here from January 22-February 28. Breaking from the cathedral's classical music traditions, it will host Singalonga Joseph in March.
Berlin Philharmonic Choir visit in May with a performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in conjunction with Salisbury Musical Society, which is also behind a concert of Vaughn Williams music in July.
Other highlights include an exhibition tracing the cathedral's history in the cloisters, running from April until September, a patronal festival weekend in April and an open day that month giving people a chance to look behind the scenes at the day to day running of one of the country's most iconic buildings.
The Mayday bank holiday weekend will see a medieval fair set up in Marsh Close, harking back to the cathedral's medieval origins, and the cathedral will be filled with summer blooms for a flower festival in June.
In July, a pilgrimage will make its way from the site of the old cathedral at Old Sarum to the new one in Salisbury and Salisbury Civic Society will be devoting this year's heritage open days in September to sites linked with the cathedral.
Cathedral archaeologist and historian Tim Tatton-Brown has been commissioned to produce a commemorative coffee-table style souvenir guide book to be published in conjunction with the anniversary.
7 January 2008
Salisbury Journal
A MEDIEVAL fair, a flower festival, and a pilgrimage from Old Sarum to The Close are among the events planned to help Salisbury Cathedral celebrate its 750th anniversary this year.
A programme of recitals, choral and orchestral concerts, exhibitions and community events is lined up to mark the cathedral's consecration in 1258, culminating in an anniversary service of thanksgiving in September. The year starts with the arrival of Odyssey, an exhibition of carved wooden figures each 2.5 metres high, by Robert Koenig, which has travelled from Poland where it originated via towns and cities across Europe.
The exhibition has followed the path that Koenig's mother took to England when she fled from Nazi-occupied Poland in 1942. In each venue, Koenig carves another figure to take its place in the exhibition.
He will carve the Salisbury figure during the exhibition's run here from January 22-February 28. Breaking from the cathedral's classical music traditions, it will host Singalonga Joseph in March.
Berlin Philharmonic Choir visit in May with a performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in conjunction with Salisbury Musical Society, which is also behind a concert of Vaughn Williams music in July.
Other highlights include an exhibition tracing the cathedral's history in the cloisters, running from April until September, a patronal festival weekend in April and an open day that month giving people a chance to look behind the scenes at the day to day running of one of the country's most iconic buildings.
The Mayday bank holiday weekend will see a medieval fair set up in Marsh Close, harking back to the cathedral's medieval origins, and the cathedral will be filled with summer blooms for a flower festival in June.
In July, a pilgrimage will make its way from the site of the old cathedral at Old Sarum to the new one in Salisbury and Salisbury Civic Society will be devoting this year's heritage open days in September to sites linked with the cathedral.
Cathedral archaeologist and historian Tim Tatton-Brown has been commissioned to produce a commemorative coffee-table style souvenir guide book to be published in conjunction with the anniversary.
Norfolk and Waveney Churches Discovery Project
The Archdeacon of Norfolk has praised moves to unlock the medieval heritage of...
1 January 2008
Eastern Daily Press
The Archdeacon of Norfolk has praised moves to unlock the medieval heritage of East Anglia by opening more of its church doors on weekdays.
The Ven David Hayden is spearheading the Norfolk and Waveney Churches Discovery Project which will use trained volunteers and signboards to teach visitors about the unique histories of places of worship, and give them access to these "special" buildings outside of Sunday services.
The five-year plan, due to launch in early 2009, is an extension of the Broads and Rivers Open Churches project which has opened up 100 churches to the public in Norfolk since it began in 2005.
And with the help of £380,000 of European funding, church leaders hope to widen the scheme to encompass as many as 600 buildings, including those in Lowestoft, Waveney, Kings Lynn and Swaffham. Archdeacon Hayden said: "In Norfolk and north Suffolk we have got more medieval churches per person than anywhere else in the world, yet the majority are not accessible from Monday to Saturday. These wonderful medieval churches are not just for people who worship on a Sunday but they are there for the whole community as well as for visitors. We want to tell the story of what makes them special in terms of their long history, and even the flora and fauna found in the church grounds."
Project leaders hope to recruit 400 volunteers to interpret the history of the churches for locals and tourists, as well as encouraging school visits and linking "gateway" churches by nature walks and rail routes. A Church Rail Trail incentive scheme is already running to encourage visitors to churches on One railway's Bittern and Wherry lines.
1 January 2008
Eastern Daily Press
The Archdeacon of Norfolk has praised moves to unlock the medieval heritage of East Anglia by opening more of its church doors on weekdays.
The Ven David Hayden is spearheading the Norfolk and Waveney Churches Discovery Project which will use trained volunteers and signboards to teach visitors about the unique histories of places of worship, and give them access to these "special" buildings outside of Sunday services.
The five-year plan, due to launch in early 2009, is an extension of the Broads and Rivers Open Churches project which has opened up 100 churches to the public in Norfolk since it began in 2005.
And with the help of £380,000 of European funding, church leaders hope to widen the scheme to encompass as many as 600 buildings, including those in Lowestoft, Waveney, Kings Lynn and Swaffham. Archdeacon Hayden said: "In Norfolk and north Suffolk we have got more medieval churches per person than anywhere else in the world, yet the majority are not accessible from Monday to Saturday. These wonderful medieval churches are not just for people who worship on a Sunday but they are there for the whole community as well as for visitors. We want to tell the story of what makes them special in terms of their long history, and even the flora and fauna found in the church grounds."
Project leaders hope to recruit 400 volunteers to interpret the history of the churches for locals and tourists, as well as encouraging school visits and linking "gateway" churches by nature walks and rail routes. A Church Rail Trail incentive scheme is already running to encourage visitors to churches on One railway's Bittern and Wherry lines.
900-year-old priory church discovered in Totnes
Priory church rediscovered after dig
1 January 2008
Herald Express
A 900-year-old priory church, which was torn down on the orders of Henry VIII has been rediscovered following a hi-tech 'time team' type hunt in Totnes.
The foundations of the of the old church are believed to lie beneath the existing St Mary's Church in then heart of Totnes following a ground penetrating radar survey of the building last summer.
Now the church is hoping to carry out a similar survey of the graveyard surrounding the parish church to uncover more of the major priory complex which was built in the 12th century and destroyed during the English Reformation during the reign of Henry VIII.
The church is also planning talks with archaeologist experts to see whether they can start digging up some of the town's priory history - both inside and outside the church building.
Church officials will be meeting with archaeologists in just over a week's time to talk about the new ground penetrating survey outside the church and possibility of digging archaeological trenches.
This would be possible inside the church because of major plans to dig up the entire floor, consisting mainly of Victorian floor tiles, and install underfloor heating.
That project is part of a £1million plus scheme to modernise the building and expand its civic, community and cultural use by creating new high quality facilities and provide a focal point in the town.
That includes replacing the old, pews with modern seating which can be stacked - so providing a unique space within the church for drama, music and other performances.
It is also planned to build toilets within the church and put in modern catering facilities.
The parochial church council launched a building project committee two years ago and gave it the job of turning the church's vision for the future of the building into a reality.
The church is grade I listed and the churchyard is a Scheduled Monument and considerable ground work is required to bring about the changes needed in an informed way to ensure preservation and enhancement of these national assets.
The parochial church council and the building project committee, with the considerable help of the Council for Care of Churches' archaeologist Dr Joe Elders, produced last year for St Mary's the first Conservation Management Plan for Major Churches in England.
This document will become a prerequisite in the future for those approaching national grant giving bodies like the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the management plan will be available on St Mary's new website at the end of January.
"Our archaeological and historical knowledge of St Mary's church has grown considerably during the past year and for the first time we hope to move towards answering some of the major questions about the original, perhaps Saxon, church and the arrangement and development of the 12th century Benedictine Priory," said Peter Rogers, chairman of the building project committee.
He explained that in July last year specialist contractor ArchaeoPhysica used ground penetrating radar to look below the church floor to clarify the extent of surviving archaeology and assess what impact the installation of a new heated floor would have.
He added: "The results have been very informative and something of a surprise. It is possible that the medieval footprint of the early church has been identified within the present nave with even the possibly of priory fabric in the northern aisle."
St Mary's rector Rev Julian Ould added: "Everyone is so encouraged by the very exciting and potentially important outcome of this work so far and we are now planning a second phase of ground penetrating survey investigation outside the church, looking northwards towards the Guildhall and eastwards towards East Gate.
"We are trying to raise nearly £4000 to carry out the second phase of the ground penetrating radar survey and we would be grateful for any donations to the church parochial church council towards the cost of this work."
A display giving details of the conservation management plan and some of the findings from the ground penetrating radar survey will be available in St Mary's Church from Saturday.
The Benedictine Priory was built in the 12 century although it is believed that there may have been a Saxon church on the site dating form well before the Norman invasion.
The only part of the priory still left standing is the Guildhall which is believed to have been the priory refectory and is now the Totnes Town Council headquarters.
The 'modern' St Mary's Church was built in the 1450s.
What is believed to be the foundations for the priory church have been found at the East side of the church. The 'outside' investigation will be aimed to seeing how the old priory church tied in with the Guildhall building.
"The people who carried out the original survey and have offered to do a second survey have said it may well involve digging a trench and it may well be that we have a sample trench inside the church," said Mr Rogers.
He said it was hoped to set up a Friends of St Mary organisation to raise the money needed for the changes to the church plus other works which will be needed in the future.
That could well involve work to the church tower which needed some repair work in 2007.
Mr Rogers explained that experts have been taking photos of the tower and identifying where work was needed and some of the pinnacles had had to be removed in case they fell down.
1 January 2008
Herald Express
A 900-year-old priory church, which was torn down on the orders of Henry VIII has been rediscovered following a hi-tech 'time team' type hunt in Totnes.
The foundations of the of the old church are believed to lie beneath the existing St Mary's Church in then heart of Totnes following a ground penetrating radar survey of the building last summer.
Now the church is hoping to carry out a similar survey of the graveyard surrounding the parish church to uncover more of the major priory complex which was built in the 12th century and destroyed during the English Reformation during the reign of Henry VIII.
The church is also planning talks with archaeologist experts to see whether they can start digging up some of the town's priory history - both inside and outside the church building.
Church officials will be meeting with archaeologists in just over a week's time to talk about the new ground penetrating survey outside the church and possibility of digging archaeological trenches.
This would be possible inside the church because of major plans to dig up the entire floor, consisting mainly of Victorian floor tiles, and install underfloor heating.
That project is part of a £1million plus scheme to modernise the building and expand its civic, community and cultural use by creating new high quality facilities and provide a focal point in the town.
That includes replacing the old, pews with modern seating which can be stacked - so providing a unique space within the church for drama, music and other performances.
It is also planned to build toilets within the church and put in modern catering facilities.
The parochial church council launched a building project committee two years ago and gave it the job of turning the church's vision for the future of the building into a reality.
The church is grade I listed and the churchyard is a Scheduled Monument and considerable ground work is required to bring about the changes needed in an informed way to ensure preservation and enhancement of these national assets.
The parochial church council and the building project committee, with the considerable help of the Council for Care of Churches' archaeologist Dr Joe Elders, produced last year for St Mary's the first Conservation Management Plan for Major Churches in England.
This document will become a prerequisite in the future for those approaching national grant giving bodies like the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the management plan will be available on St Mary's new website at the end of January.
"Our archaeological and historical knowledge of St Mary's church has grown considerably during the past year and for the first time we hope to move towards answering some of the major questions about the original, perhaps Saxon, church and the arrangement and development of the 12th century Benedictine Priory," said Peter Rogers, chairman of the building project committee.
He explained that in July last year specialist contractor ArchaeoPhysica used ground penetrating radar to look below the church floor to clarify the extent of surviving archaeology and assess what impact the installation of a new heated floor would have.
He added: "The results have been very informative and something of a surprise. It is possible that the medieval footprint of the early church has been identified within the present nave with even the possibly of priory fabric in the northern aisle."
St Mary's rector Rev Julian Ould added: "Everyone is so encouraged by the very exciting and potentially important outcome of this work so far and we are now planning a second phase of ground penetrating survey investigation outside the church, looking northwards towards the Guildhall and eastwards towards East Gate.
"We are trying to raise nearly £4000 to carry out the second phase of the ground penetrating radar survey and we would be grateful for any donations to the church parochial church council towards the cost of this work."
A display giving details of the conservation management plan and some of the findings from the ground penetrating radar survey will be available in St Mary's Church from Saturday.
The Benedictine Priory was built in the 12 century although it is believed that there may have been a Saxon church on the site dating form well before the Norman invasion.
The only part of the priory still left standing is the Guildhall which is believed to have been the priory refectory and is now the Totnes Town Council headquarters.
The 'modern' St Mary's Church was built in the 1450s.
What is believed to be the foundations for the priory church have been found at the East side of the church. The 'outside' investigation will be aimed to seeing how the old priory church tied in with the Guildhall building.
"The people who carried out the original survey and have offered to do a second survey have said it may well involve digging a trench and it may well be that we have a sample trench inside the church," said Mr Rogers.
He said it was hoped to set up a Friends of St Mary organisation to raise the money needed for the changes to the church plus other works which will be needed in the future.
That could well involve work to the church tower which needed some repair work in 2007.
Mr Rogers explained that experts have been taking photos of the tower and identifying where work was needed and some of the pinnacles had had to be removed in case they fell down.
Derbyshire Archaeology Day
Digging into county's past
2 January 2008
Matlock Mercury
HISTORY lovers will be able to dig deep into the past at a special event next week. The annual Derbyshire Archaeology Day takes place on January 12 and will offer visitors a unique glimpse into the county's deepest past. A wide range of specialists will report on their latest investigations across the county and beyond.
John Humble, from English Heritage, will talk about a soon-to-be televised archaeological survey at Codnor Castle in Amber Valley. Channel 4's Time Team investigated the medieval ruins for a show that will be broadcast on January 6.
Peak Park survey archaeologist Alice Ullathorne will deliver a presentation about the National Trust South Peak estate, titled From Cave Dwellers to Gentlemen Anglers.
Other attractions include a talk about the search for Darley Abbey with Clive Waddington from Archaeological Research Services, and an update on the developments at Creswell Crags with Ian Wall, from the Creswell Heritage Trust, and Paul Pettit, from the University of Sheffield.
The annual edition of Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire magazine will be launched at the event, featuring heritage initiatives across the county. The Archaeology Day is organised by the Peak Park Authority, Chesterfield Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council.
It will run from 9.15am-5.15pm at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield. Enrolment takes place at Chesterfield Museum and costs £8, or £4 for the unwaged. Pre-booking is recommended.
2 January 2008
Matlock Mercury
HISTORY lovers will be able to dig deep into the past at a special event next week. The annual Derbyshire Archaeology Day takes place on January 12 and will offer visitors a unique glimpse into the county's deepest past. A wide range of specialists will report on their latest investigations across the county and beyond.
John Humble, from English Heritage, will talk about a soon-to-be televised archaeological survey at Codnor Castle in Amber Valley. Channel 4's Time Team investigated the medieval ruins for a show that will be broadcast on January 6.
Peak Park survey archaeologist Alice Ullathorne will deliver a presentation about the National Trust South Peak estate, titled From Cave Dwellers to Gentlemen Anglers.
Other attractions include a talk about the search for Darley Abbey with Clive Waddington from Archaeological Research Services, and an update on the developments at Creswell Crags with Ian Wall, from the Creswell Heritage Trust, and Paul Pettit, from the University of Sheffield.
The annual edition of Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire magazine will be launched at the event, featuring heritage initiatives across the county. The Archaeology Day is organised by the Peak Park Authority, Chesterfield Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council.
It will run from 9.15am-5.15pm at the Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield. Enrolment takes place at Chesterfield Museum and costs £8, or £4 for the unwaged. Pre-booking is recommended.
Review of Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630, by SJ Connolly
Whose land is it anyway?.
William J Smyth
5 January 2008
Irish Times
History: Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630 By SJ Connolly Oxford University Press, 426pp. £35 Historian SJ Connolly's present work is the first of two volumes; a second volume is promised for the period 1630 to the 1790s. The author notes that this volume is "well removed, in terms of chronology, from the period that has been the focus of my own detailed research".
He draws on his own "reading of at least the major primary sources available in print" and the work of most of the specialist historians of the period. Using the organising framework of "the Irish", vis-à-vis "the English in Ireland", he seeks to summarise the character of late medieval Ireland. He then details the fall of the Kildare Fitzgeralds, the beginnings of the Reformation and the redefining of England's relationships with Ireland under Henry VIII. The middle chapters deal with the uneven and complicated expansion of the centralising English state, the inevitable accommodations and resistances that followed, culminating in the wars of conquest and subsequent plantations in Munster and Ulster. The book's final chapters address the economic and legal/administrative reconstruction of early 17th-century Ireland and the complex interweaving of religions and nationalities in shaping identities. The epilogue concludes by anticipating the horrors of the early 1640s and "how little the Protestants of that Ireland were prepared for the catastrophe that was shortly to engulf them".
Connolly provides arresting vignettes of late medieval Ireland. He is perceptive in noting how New English writers are in difficulties groping to describe a culture very different from their own, including the centrality of group over individual rights in the Irish tradition. He is sensitive to the hybrid nature of Ireland's elites and the subtle military and social alliances that stretched across the island. He is particularly sure-footed in dealing with religious issues in all their phases. Connolly provides good insights into the strategies of English viceroys such as the pragmatic gradualism of Anthony St Leger as he attempted to incorporate the Gaelic lords into the operations of central and local government. He presents useful images of the worlds of Shane and Hugh O'Neill. Connolly deals superbly with the delicate manoeuvrings in parliamentary, court and ecclesiastical circles as well as the machinations of Irish lords. Regularly itemising exquisite details of much political intrigue, Connolly provides lucid accounts of the growing corruption, duplicity and profiteering of New English officials. Nor is he squeamish about highlighting the brutalising levels of violence in this extraordinary period.
NEVERTHELESS, CONNOLLY'S Contested Island can be contested in relation to some empirical details and in terms of levels of interpretation and conceptualisation. Tullyhogue was not "presumably O'Neill's own residence" but rather that of the O'Hagans, legal advisers and inaugurators of the O'Neill kings. Edmund Spenser was resident at Kilcolman, not Ballycolman. Connolly states that Gaelic Ireland constituted two-thirds of the island with perhaps half the population. But Gaelic populations comprised at least half the population in the other one-third - in other words, at least three-quarters of the island's population were of Gaelic stock. And what of the statement: "Ireland with its rudimentary record-keeping, fluid and poorly defined land boundaries . . . ". In truth, Ireland was characterised by a profound genealogical-cum-territorial ethos, where both manuscripts and the seanchas carefully itemised the ownership of every well-bounded townland, ballybetagh and lordship.
Connolly uses a bipolar strategy in contrasting his characterisation of "Gaelic Ireland" with levels of development in "English Ireland". In 1500 Ireland, "English Ireland" then comprised the Pale and outlying port-cities and towns in the south of Ireland. It would have helped the reader if a third cultural-cum-political zone had been identified - that of a hybrid "middle-nation" that was emerging over most of Munster, the western half of Leinster and east and north Connacht. Connolly is justified in criticising an overemphasis on the effects of regaelicisation. What emerged in this crucial hybrid zone was a creative fusion of Gaelic and Anglo-Norman lifestyles. Connolly seems to eschew the identification of such long-term trends. Yet the notion that New English policy was governed by pragmatic, short-term objectives is questionable. Key monarchs and administrators, from Henry VIII through William Cecil and John Davies - promoting a centralising state - always kept the longer strategic processes in view. His notion that the evidence is still conjectural about the influence of Spanish colonial models, likewise, cannot be sustained. From at least the time of Philip II, English translations of key Spanish texts dealing with their colonial endeavours were known to English policy-makers and military adventurers.
CONNOLLY IS SELF-CONSCIOUSLY clear that the book is "an exercise in a traditional genre, the general narrative survey", concentrating "where possible on incident and experience rather than generalisation". Yet, the division of late 15th/early 16th-century Ireland into only two major cultural zones is in fact a decisive generalisation. Concepts such as "early modernity" are not addressed, so relevant to understanding the emerging culture of the New English, coming from a radically transforming England to rule and settle in Ireland. Imbued with notions of territorial expansion, ethnic superiority, agrarian utopias and imperial dreams, it was such people who engaged in the conquest of a very different Ireland.
Successive sections of the book are written from the perspective of different social groups, Connolly argues. Yet it appears to me that the predominant views quoted are those of New English officials in Ireland and their equivalents in England. The regular use of the concept of "reform" is instructive here. The New English ideological notion that the Irish - of whatever tradition - were in need of "reformation" in all aspects of their culture is never sufficiently interrogated. And however fair-minded, Connolly's more decisive interpretations appear to lean more heavily on the work of so-called "reform-centred" historians than that of other specialist practitioners in this field. True insights from some Irish-language sources, including poetry, are given due commentary. Yet, it is striking that Annála Rioghtachta Éireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters (long since translated from Irish into English) is only addressed as a source from pages 394 to 396. A systematic analysis of its pages from 1460 to 1600 would illustrate the levels of cultural stability in Ireland in the late 15th and early 16th centuries - as against the turmoil that is recorded therein from the 1540s onwards, as a systematic and sustained cultural assault was made on most Irish institutions and professions.
Despite the absence of a bibliography, it is clear that little attention is paid to pertinent works outside the discipline of history. This is, therefore, a specialised work in history, which will be widely read by practitioners in the field. They and others will find much to admire, agree and disagree with in this well-written, closely argued but by no means comprehensive interpretation.
William J Smyth is Professor of Geography at University College Cork and the author of Map-making, Landscapes and Memory: A Geography of Colonial and Early Modern Ireland c.1530-1750 (Cork University Press, 2006)
William J Smyth
5 January 2008
Irish Times
History: Contested Island: Ireland 1460-1630 By SJ Connolly Oxford University Press, 426pp. £35 Historian SJ Connolly's present work is the first of two volumes; a second volume is promised for the period 1630 to the 1790s. The author notes that this volume is "well removed, in terms of chronology, from the period that has been the focus of my own detailed research".
He draws on his own "reading of at least the major primary sources available in print" and the work of most of the specialist historians of the period. Using the organising framework of "the Irish", vis-à-vis "the English in Ireland", he seeks to summarise the character of late medieval Ireland. He then details the fall of the Kildare Fitzgeralds, the beginnings of the Reformation and the redefining of England's relationships with Ireland under Henry VIII. The middle chapters deal with the uneven and complicated expansion of the centralising English state, the inevitable accommodations and resistances that followed, culminating in the wars of conquest and subsequent plantations in Munster and Ulster. The book's final chapters address the economic and legal/administrative reconstruction of early 17th-century Ireland and the complex interweaving of religions and nationalities in shaping identities. The epilogue concludes by anticipating the horrors of the early 1640s and "how little the Protestants of that Ireland were prepared for the catastrophe that was shortly to engulf them".
Connolly provides arresting vignettes of late medieval Ireland. He is perceptive in noting how New English writers are in difficulties groping to describe a culture very different from their own, including the centrality of group over individual rights in the Irish tradition. He is sensitive to the hybrid nature of Ireland's elites and the subtle military and social alliances that stretched across the island. He is particularly sure-footed in dealing with religious issues in all their phases. Connolly provides good insights into the strategies of English viceroys such as the pragmatic gradualism of Anthony St Leger as he attempted to incorporate the Gaelic lords into the operations of central and local government. He presents useful images of the worlds of Shane and Hugh O'Neill. Connolly deals superbly with the delicate manoeuvrings in parliamentary, court and ecclesiastical circles as well as the machinations of Irish lords. Regularly itemising exquisite details of much political intrigue, Connolly provides lucid accounts of the growing corruption, duplicity and profiteering of New English officials. Nor is he squeamish about highlighting the brutalising levels of violence in this extraordinary period.
NEVERTHELESS, CONNOLLY'S Contested Island can be contested in relation to some empirical details and in terms of levels of interpretation and conceptualisation. Tullyhogue was not "presumably O'Neill's own residence" but rather that of the O'Hagans, legal advisers and inaugurators of the O'Neill kings. Edmund Spenser was resident at Kilcolman, not Ballycolman. Connolly states that Gaelic Ireland constituted two-thirds of the island with perhaps half the population. But Gaelic populations comprised at least half the population in the other one-third - in other words, at least three-quarters of the island's population were of Gaelic stock. And what of the statement: "Ireland with its rudimentary record-keeping, fluid and poorly defined land boundaries . . . ". In truth, Ireland was characterised by a profound genealogical-cum-territorial ethos, where both manuscripts and the seanchas carefully itemised the ownership of every well-bounded townland, ballybetagh and lordship.
Connolly uses a bipolar strategy in contrasting his characterisation of "Gaelic Ireland" with levels of development in "English Ireland". In 1500 Ireland, "English Ireland" then comprised the Pale and outlying port-cities and towns in the south of Ireland. It would have helped the reader if a third cultural-cum-political zone had been identified - that of a hybrid "middle-nation" that was emerging over most of Munster, the western half of Leinster and east and north Connacht. Connolly is justified in criticising an overemphasis on the effects of regaelicisation. What emerged in this crucial hybrid zone was a creative fusion of Gaelic and Anglo-Norman lifestyles. Connolly seems to eschew the identification of such long-term trends. Yet the notion that New English policy was governed by pragmatic, short-term objectives is questionable. Key monarchs and administrators, from Henry VIII through William Cecil and John Davies - promoting a centralising state - always kept the longer strategic processes in view. His notion that the evidence is still conjectural about the influence of Spanish colonial models, likewise, cannot be sustained. From at least the time of Philip II, English translations of key Spanish texts dealing with their colonial endeavours were known to English policy-makers and military adventurers.
CONNOLLY IS SELF-CONSCIOUSLY clear that the book is "an exercise in a traditional genre, the general narrative survey", concentrating "where possible on incident and experience rather than generalisation". Yet, the division of late 15th/early 16th-century Ireland into only two major cultural zones is in fact a decisive generalisation. Concepts such as "early modernity" are not addressed, so relevant to understanding the emerging culture of the New English, coming from a radically transforming England to rule and settle in Ireland. Imbued with notions of territorial expansion, ethnic superiority, agrarian utopias and imperial dreams, it was such people who engaged in the conquest of a very different Ireland.
Successive sections of the book are written from the perspective of different social groups, Connolly argues. Yet it appears to me that the predominant views quoted are those of New English officials in Ireland and their equivalents in England. The regular use of the concept of "reform" is instructive here. The New English ideological notion that the Irish - of whatever tradition - were in need of "reformation" in all aspects of their culture is never sufficiently interrogated. And however fair-minded, Connolly's more decisive interpretations appear to lean more heavily on the work of so-called "reform-centred" historians than that of other specialist practitioners in this field. True insights from some Irish-language sources, including poetry, are given due commentary. Yet, it is striking that Annála Rioghtachta Éireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters (long since translated from Irish into English) is only addressed as a source from pages 394 to 396. A systematic analysis of its pages from 1460 to 1600 would illustrate the levels of cultural stability in Ireland in the late 15th and early 16th centuries - as against the turmoil that is recorded therein from the 1540s onwards, as a systematic and sustained cultural assault was made on most Irish institutions and professions.
Despite the absence of a bibliography, it is clear that little attention is paid to pertinent works outside the discipline of history. This is, therefore, a specialised work in history, which will be widely read by practitioners in the field. They and others will find much to admire, agree and disagree with in this well-written, closely argued but by no means comprehensive interpretation.
William J Smyth is Professor of Geography at University College Cork and the author of Map-making, Landscapes and Memory: A Geography of Colonial and Early Modern Ireland c.1530-1750 (Cork University Press, 2006)
Genghis the globaliser
World trade: Genghis the globaliser
3 January 2008
Economist Intelligence Unit - Executive Briefing
HISTORY is famously about "maps and chaps" while economics has become obsessed with graphs and Greek letters. In a splendidly ambitious new book, two economists, one at Columbia University and the other at Trinity College, Dublin, attempt to link the two, in a 1,000-year history of world trade.
For much of the past millennium, they argue, "the pattern of trade can only be understood as being the outcome of some military or political equilibrium between contending powers." This was as true of Genghis Khan, whose rampages across the steppes led to the pax Mongolica that allowed Eurasian trade to flourish in the 13th century, as it was of the British empire which imposed free trade on large parts of Asia and Africa. Trade expansion has tended to come "from the barrel of a Maxim gun, the edge of a scimitar, or the ferocity of nomadic horsemen".
Ronald Findlay and Kevin O'Rourke argue that Genghis Khan's marauding armies led, accidentally, to one of the three great events that punctuated the second millennium: the Black Death, which came from China and was spread by the Mongol troops. In the Protestant west of Europe the smaller labour population was able to demand higher real wages, which strengthened the economy, thereby boosting the relative importance of western Europe at the expense of other parts of the old world.
Europeans in the Middle Ages also developed a taste for trade with China and the Indies. When the land-based routes became less accessible after the collapse of the Mongol empire, European traders sought a sea-based alternative. This led directly to the second great event of the millennium--the discovery of the New World. This event was as brutal in its consequences as the Mongol invasions, since it led to the destruction of many indigenous civilisations and, eventually, the enforced enslavement and transportation of some 11m Africans to use as a labour force in the discovered lands. But the silver that the colonists brought back increased the monetisation and commercialisation of the Eurasian economy and led to an increase in trade.
The existence of such a large, developing market proved vital when the third great development, the Industrial Revolution, began in 18th-century Britain. The New World removed Malthusian constraints, which, until then, had meant that higher population growth could be achieved only at the expense of lower living standards. Britain was thus able to concentrate on manufacturing and import its food and raw materials. This strategy could not have been achieved without Britain's imperial muscle--in particular, the ability of the Royal Navy to protect trade routes. It was, as the authors explain, a "mercantilist world where unilateral free trade and a pacific stance were not viable options".
As other countries copied the British model, a new era of globalisation began to emerge, which was interrupted in the 20th century by two world wars and a depression. It was only in 1972 that global trade regained the level it would have achieved if pre-1913 trends had been maintained. Now a second era of globalisation has arrived, allowing other parts of the world--notably Asia--to catch up with Europe and North America, which had leaped so far ahead in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
This is a big story to tell, and, at times, the accumulation of detail slows the book down. "Power and Plenty" is not an entertaining read in the manner of another work with a similarly broad sweep, Jared Diamond's 1997 bestseller, "Guns, Germs and Steel". But it is an excellent reference book for anyone wanting a better understanding of economic developments in the last millennium.
3 January 2008
Economist Intelligence Unit - Executive Briefing
HISTORY is famously about "maps and chaps" while economics has become obsessed with graphs and Greek letters. In a splendidly ambitious new book, two economists, one at Columbia University and the other at Trinity College, Dublin, attempt to link the two, in a 1,000-year history of world trade.
For much of the past millennium, they argue, "the pattern of trade can only be understood as being the outcome of some military or political equilibrium between contending powers." This was as true of Genghis Khan, whose rampages across the steppes led to the pax Mongolica that allowed Eurasian trade to flourish in the 13th century, as it was of the British empire which imposed free trade on large parts of Asia and Africa. Trade expansion has tended to come "from the barrel of a Maxim gun, the edge of a scimitar, or the ferocity of nomadic horsemen".
Ronald Findlay and Kevin O'Rourke argue that Genghis Khan's marauding armies led, accidentally, to one of the three great events that punctuated the second millennium: the Black Death, which came from China and was spread by the Mongol troops. In the Protestant west of Europe the smaller labour population was able to demand higher real wages, which strengthened the economy, thereby boosting the relative importance of western Europe at the expense of other parts of the old world.
Europeans in the Middle Ages also developed a taste for trade with China and the Indies. When the land-based routes became less accessible after the collapse of the Mongol empire, European traders sought a sea-based alternative. This led directly to the second great event of the millennium--the discovery of the New World. This event was as brutal in its consequences as the Mongol invasions, since it led to the destruction of many indigenous civilisations and, eventually, the enforced enslavement and transportation of some 11m Africans to use as a labour force in the discovered lands. But the silver that the colonists brought back increased the monetisation and commercialisation of the Eurasian economy and led to an increase in trade.
The existence of such a large, developing market proved vital when the third great development, the Industrial Revolution, began in 18th-century Britain. The New World removed Malthusian constraints, which, until then, had meant that higher population growth could be achieved only at the expense of lower living standards. Britain was thus able to concentrate on manufacturing and import its food and raw materials. This strategy could not have been achieved without Britain's imperial muscle--in particular, the ability of the Royal Navy to protect trade routes. It was, as the authors explain, a "mercantilist world where unilateral free trade and a pacific stance were not viable options".
As other countries copied the British model, a new era of globalisation began to emerge, which was interrupted in the 20th century by two world wars and a depression. It was only in 1972 that global trade regained the level it would have achieved if pre-1913 trends had been maintained. Now a second era of globalisation has arrived, allowing other parts of the world--notably Asia--to catch up with Europe and North America, which had leaped so far ahead in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
This is a big story to tell, and, at times, the accumulation of detail slows the book down. "Power and Plenty" is not an entertaining read in the manner of another work with a similarly broad sweep, Jared Diamond's 1997 bestseller, "Guns, Germs and Steel". But it is an excellent reference book for anyone wanting a better understanding of economic developments in the last millennium.
Hodys of Woolavington - Peasants to Power Brokers
Exploring medieval mobility
5 January 2008
Burnham Times
Friends of Blake Museum are hosting a talk by historian Chris Sidaway at the museum, Blake Street, this Tuesday. Entitled The Hodys of Woolavington - Peasants to Power Brokers, it will show how a family in the late Middle Ages grew from peasants to become one of the most powerful legal officers in the land.
It is a study in how social mobility was possible if you had a rudimentary education, brains and ambition. The talk starts at 7.30pm, entry is £3 for non-members and for more details telephone 01278 459659 or visit the museum.
5 January 2008
Burnham Times
Friends of Blake Museum are hosting a talk by historian Chris Sidaway at the museum, Blake Street, this Tuesday. Entitled The Hodys of Woolavington - Peasants to Power Brokers, it will show how a family in the late Middle Ages grew from peasants to become one of the most powerful legal officers in the land.
It is a study in how social mobility was possible if you had a rudimentary education, brains and ambition. The talk starts at 7.30pm, entry is £3 for non-members and for more details telephone 01278 459659 or visit the museum.
Nautical archaeology at Istanbul
Nautical archaeology takes a leap forward
Norman Hammond
31 December 2007
The Times
For centuries the harbour of Ancient Constantinople, modern Istanbul, was the inlet of the Golden Horn, running north between the peninsula on which the city's core stands and the commercial and foreign quarter of Galata and Pera to the east.
A boom across the inlet protected the city from attack, although the Ottoman troops of Mehmet II stormed across the Golden Horn in 1453 to end the Byzantine Empire.
A second, mainly commercial, harbour, in use from the 5th-10th centuries AD, has been found on the south shore of the peninsula, on the Sea of Marmara. Yenikapi was discovered four years ago during construction of a rail link between Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus: it had become filled in with silt and forgotten.
Now one of the largest archaeological investigations in Europe, Yenikapi has produced waterlogged finds ranging in date from 7,000 years ago to the Ottoman age. Two dozen or so Byzantine ships are among the most important, says James Delgado of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University.
"This is one of the greatest nautical archaeological sites of all time, a repository of forgotten Byzantine shipbuilding," he says. "After analysis, the work at Yenikapi should rewrite the book on Byzantine shipbuilding, and the role of maritime trade in the history of Constantinople."
Some of the vessels are merchantmen, with cargoes preserved by the thick mud, while others may be warships. One ship, Hull 6, dates from the 7th century and will allow important comparisons with the coeval Yassiada ship. Excavated more than 40 years ago, this is an example of nautical technology at the pinnacle of Byzantine power.
Yenikapi has ushered in a new age of nautical archaeology, hitherto concentrated on shipwrecks and upstanding harbour works. "Dry excavations of silted harbours are poised to tell us more about naval technology and hull construction than we might ever learn from a single shipwreck", says Deborah Carlson of the INA. An on-site museum is planned, which will add an extra strand to the rich culture of modern Istanbul and the understanding of its Greek precursors.
Norman Hammond
31 December 2007
The Times
For centuries the harbour of Ancient Constantinople, modern Istanbul, was the inlet of the Golden Horn, running north between the peninsula on which the city's core stands and the commercial and foreign quarter of Galata and Pera to the east.
A boom across the inlet protected the city from attack, although the Ottoman troops of Mehmet II stormed across the Golden Horn in 1453 to end the Byzantine Empire.
A second, mainly commercial, harbour, in use from the 5th-10th centuries AD, has been found on the south shore of the peninsula, on the Sea of Marmara. Yenikapi was discovered four years ago during construction of a rail link between Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus: it had become filled in with silt and forgotten.
Now one of the largest archaeological investigations in Europe, Yenikapi has produced waterlogged finds ranging in date from 7,000 years ago to the Ottoman age. Two dozen or so Byzantine ships are among the most important, says James Delgado of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University.
"This is one of the greatest nautical archaeological sites of all time, a repository of forgotten Byzantine shipbuilding," he says. "After analysis, the work at Yenikapi should rewrite the book on Byzantine shipbuilding, and the role of maritime trade in the history of Constantinople."
Some of the vessels are merchantmen, with cargoes preserved by the thick mud, while others may be warships. One ship, Hull 6, dates from the 7th century and will allow important comparisons with the coeval Yassiada ship. Excavated more than 40 years ago, this is an example of nautical technology at the pinnacle of Byzantine power.
Yenikapi has ushered in a new age of nautical archaeology, hitherto concentrated on shipwrecks and upstanding harbour works. "Dry excavations of silted harbours are poised to tell us more about naval technology and hull construction than we might ever learn from a single shipwreck", says Deborah Carlson of the INA. An on-site museum is planned, which will add an extra strand to the rich culture of modern Istanbul and the understanding of its Greek precursors.
The White Tower in Salonika to reopen
Salonika monument to reopen in March
3 January 2008
Agence France Presse
The White Tower, a 15th century monument that is the best known landmark in the Greek city of Salonika, is to reopen in March after almost three years of renovations, a newspaper report said.
The monument will reopen with a permanent exhibition retracing the northern city's history, Anastassia Tourta, director of Salonika's Byzantine museum told the Kathimerini newspaper.
The White Tower dominates the city's sea front. It first served as a barracks and was later used as a prison by the Ottoman empire.
3 January 2008
Agence France Presse
The White Tower, a 15th century monument that is the best known landmark in the Greek city of Salonika, is to reopen in March after almost three years of renovations, a newspaper report said.
The monument will reopen with a permanent exhibition retracing the northern city's history, Anastassia Tourta, director of Salonika's Byzantine museum told the Kathimerini newspaper.
The White Tower dominates the city's sea front. It first served as a barracks and was later used as a prison by the Ottoman empire.
Review of two books on the Second Crusade
Spin doctors of the 12th century Allan Massie admires a fine account of a neglected turning point in history
By Allan Massie
5 January 2008
The Daily Telegraph
The Second Crusade: Extending the frontiers of Christendom
by Jonathan Phillips
364pp, Yale University Press, pounds 25
T pounds 25 (plus pounds 1.25 p&p) 0870 428 4112
The Second Crusade: Extending the frontiers of Christendom
by Jonathan Phillips
364pp, Yale University Press, pounds 25
The First Crusade resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem and the establishment of Christian kingdoms and principalities in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is remembered in England because of the role played by Richard the Lionheart. But what of the Second? For all but professional historians it has vanished from memory, disappeared into a black hole. Yet it was perhaps the most ambitious and best-prepared of all, and, though it failed disastrously in its main objective, it nevertheless in other quarters earned the sub-title that Jonathan Phillips awards it: "extending the frontiers of Christendom". It did so because it was directed against the Muslims not only in Palestine, but also in Portugal and Spain, and against the pagan Wends in what was to be Prussia and is now north-eastern Germany and Poland. These campaigns were successful; Lisbon was captured after a siege and the Second Crusade contributed to the Reconquista in Spain.
Phillips has already written a very good book on the Fourth (and most disreputable) Crusade, which was diverted against the Greek Empire of Byzantium. Constantinople itself was besieged and captured and a Latin Empire temporarily established there. Now he has followed it with an absorbing and scholarly account of its predecessor. Some readers, made dizzy by the detail-lists of participants and suchlike-may find it too scholarly. They should press on, skipping passages rather than allowing themselves to be bogged down. They will find the journey rewarding.
It will be enlightening for those who still suppose mediaeval Europe to have been barbarous and lacking in sophistication. Phillips devotes his early chapters to an analysis of the preparations for the Crusade, and in particular to the propaganda that persuaded kings, barons, knights and ordinary Christians in their thousands to embark on a campaign that might last two or three years, requiring them to leave home and march from western Europe to the Levant, to brave dangers and hardship at, in most cases, enormous expense.
The papal bull Quantum Praedecessores, supported by the preaching of Bernard de Clairvaux and other bishops, abbots and priests, marshalled the argument for a crusade with masterly cogency. Appealing both to memories of the First Crusade and to the hope of salvation and remission of sins, the intellectuals of the Church would have had nothing to learn from spin-doctors today. Indeed they might have taught them a few lessons. Certainly they made the case for the Crusade more effectively than the combined resources of Washington and Westminster their case for the Iraq war.
The two chief armies were led by Conrad, King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor-in-waiting) and Louis VII of France. Neither proved up to the job. Conrad was indecisive at important moments; Louis was described as being more like a monk than a king.
The journey to the Holy Land was fraught. They had to pass through the Byzantine Empire and relations with the Greeks were uneasy. The Crusaders thought the Greeks treacherous. The Greeks were at best wary of them and of their intentions. (They had good reason to be so, as the events of the Fourth Crusade half a century later were to show.) Both armies suffered defeats and endured hardship on the march through Asia Minor, before taking ship to Palestine. Arriving there, they laid siege to Damascus, and were defeated. One contemporary, William of Tyre, judged that "from that time onwards the condition of the Latins in the east grew visibly worse." Far from strengthening the Crusading kingdoms, the Second Crusade prepared the way for their destruction. It shattered the myth of western military supremacy fostered by its predecessor.
For a long time the Crusades and the Crusaders themselves have had a bad Press. Steven Runciman, in his three-volume history, scarcely concealed his distaste, blaming the Crusaders for destablizing the Byzantine Empire, the true bastion of Christian faith in the east. More recently, they have been regarded-and not only by Muslims-as an advance force of western imperialism. This is an odd and indeed untenable judgement, given that they were themselves responding to expansionist-indeed imperialist-Islam. Still the intensity of their faith, and the brutality of some of their actions, have sat ill with liberal anti-colonialist attitudes.
There are many more eager to offer understanding to Islamic jihadists today than to the Crusaders, who, as it happens, had more in common with these jihadists than either had or have with western liberals.
History, however, is not a matter of passing judgment, and real historians don't put past ages in the dock. Their business is to show what happened and, if possible, why it happened, to open our eyes and so enlarge our understanding. Jonathan Phillips does this admirably. The past may be another country where they do things differently, as LP Hartley suggested; but it is a country open for exploration, and the voyage Phillips takes us on is fascinating.
The First Crusade resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem and the establishment of Christian kingdoms and principalities in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is remembered in England because of the role played by Richard the Lionheart. But what of the Second, which lasted from 1145-1199? For all but professional historians it has vanished from memory. Yet it was perhaps the most ambitious and best-prepared of all, and, though it failed disastrously in its main objective, it nevertheless in other quarters earned the subtitle that Jonathan Phillips awards it: "Extending the frontiers of Christendom".
It did so because it was directed against Muslims not only in Palestine, but also in Portugal and Spain, and against the pagan Wends in what was to be Prussia and is now north-eastern Germany and Poland. These campaigns were successful; Lisbon was captured after a siege and the Second Crusade contributed to the Reconquista in Spain.
Phillips has already written a very good book on the Fourth (and most disreputable) Crusade, which was diverted against the Greek Empire of Byzantium. Constantinople itself was besieged and captured and a Latin empire temporarily established there. Now he has followed up with an absorbing and scholarly account of one of its predecessors. Some readers, made dizzy by the detail-lists of participants and suchlike-may find it too scholarly. They should press on, skipping passages rather than letting themselves be bogged down. They will find the journey rewarding.
This book will be enlightening for those who still suppose medieval Europe to have been barbarous and lacking in sophistication. Phillips devotes his early chapters to an analysis of the preparations for the crusade, and in particular to the propaganda that persuaded kings, barons, knights and ordinary Christians in their thousands to embark on a campaign that might last two or three years, requiring them to leave home and march from western Europe to the Levant, to brave dangers and hardship at, in most cases, enormous expense.
The papal bull Quantum Praedecessores, supported by the preaching of Bernard de Clairvaux and other bishops, abbots and priests, marshalled the argument for a crusade with masterly cogency. Appealing both to memories of the First Crusade and to the hope of salvation and remission of sins, the intellectuals of the Church would have had nothing to learn from today's spin-doctors. They made the case for the Crusade more effectively than Washington and Westminster made their case for the Iraq war.
The two chief armies were led by Conrad, King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor-in-waiting) and Louis VII of France. Neither proved up to the job. Conrad was indecisive; Louis was described as being more like a monk than a king.
The journey to the Holy Land was fraught. They had to pass through the Byzantine Empire and relations with the Greeks were uneasy. The Crusaders thought the Greeks treacherous. The Greeks were at best wary of them. (They had reason to be so, as the events of the Fourth Crusade were to show.)
Both armies suffered defeats and endured hardship on the march through Asia Minor, before taking ship to Palestine. Arriving there, they laid siege to Damascus, and were defeated. One contemporary, William of Tyre, judged that "from that time onwards the condition of the Latins in the east grew visibly worse." Far from strengthening the crusading kingdoms, the Second Crusade prepared the way for their destruction. It shattered the myth of western military supremacy fostered by its predecessor.
For a long time the Crusades and the crusaders have had a bad press. Steven Runciman, in his three-volume history, scarcely concealed his distaste, blaming the crusaders for destablising the Byzantine Empire, the true bastion of Christian faith in the east. More recently, they have been regarded-and not only by Muslims-as an advance force of western imperialism. This is an odd judgment, given that they were responding to expansionist Islam. Still, the intensity of their faith, and the brutality of some of their actions, have sat ill with liberal anti-colonialist attitudes. There are many more eager to offer understanding to Islamic jihadists today than to the crusaders, who had more in common with these jihadists than either had or have with western liberals.
History, however, is not a matter of passing judgment, and real historians don't put past ages in the dock. Their business is to show what happened and, if possible, why it happened, to open our eyes and so enlarge our understanding. Jonathan Phillips does this admirably. The past may be another country where they do things differently, as L P Hartley suggested; but it is a country open for exploration, and the voyage Phillips takes us on is fascinating.
By Allan Massie
5 January 2008
The Daily Telegraph
The Second Crusade: Extending the frontiers of Christendom
by Jonathan Phillips
364pp, Yale University Press, pounds 25
T pounds 25 (plus pounds 1.25 p&p) 0870 428 4112
The Second Crusade: Extending the frontiers of Christendom
by Jonathan Phillips
364pp, Yale University Press, pounds 25
The First Crusade resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem and the establishment of Christian kingdoms and principalities in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is remembered in England because of the role played by Richard the Lionheart. But what of the Second? For all but professional historians it has vanished from memory, disappeared into a black hole. Yet it was perhaps the most ambitious and best-prepared of all, and, though it failed disastrously in its main objective, it nevertheless in other quarters earned the sub-title that Jonathan Phillips awards it: "extending the frontiers of Christendom". It did so because it was directed against the Muslims not only in Palestine, but also in Portugal and Spain, and against the pagan Wends in what was to be Prussia and is now north-eastern Germany and Poland. These campaigns were successful; Lisbon was captured after a siege and the Second Crusade contributed to the Reconquista in Spain.
Phillips has already written a very good book on the Fourth (and most disreputable) Crusade, which was diverted against the Greek Empire of Byzantium. Constantinople itself was besieged and captured and a Latin Empire temporarily established there. Now he has followed it with an absorbing and scholarly account of its predecessor. Some readers, made dizzy by the detail-lists of participants and suchlike-may find it too scholarly. They should press on, skipping passages rather than allowing themselves to be bogged down. They will find the journey rewarding.
It will be enlightening for those who still suppose mediaeval Europe to have been barbarous and lacking in sophistication. Phillips devotes his early chapters to an analysis of the preparations for the Crusade, and in particular to the propaganda that persuaded kings, barons, knights and ordinary Christians in their thousands to embark on a campaign that might last two or three years, requiring them to leave home and march from western Europe to the Levant, to brave dangers and hardship at, in most cases, enormous expense.
The papal bull Quantum Praedecessores, supported by the preaching of Bernard de Clairvaux and other bishops, abbots and priests, marshalled the argument for a crusade with masterly cogency. Appealing both to memories of the First Crusade and to the hope of salvation and remission of sins, the intellectuals of the Church would have had nothing to learn from spin-doctors today. Indeed they might have taught them a few lessons. Certainly they made the case for the Crusade more effectively than the combined resources of Washington and Westminster their case for the Iraq war.
The two chief armies were led by Conrad, King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor-in-waiting) and Louis VII of France. Neither proved up to the job. Conrad was indecisive at important moments; Louis was described as being more like a monk than a king.
The journey to the Holy Land was fraught. They had to pass through the Byzantine Empire and relations with the Greeks were uneasy. The Crusaders thought the Greeks treacherous. The Greeks were at best wary of them and of their intentions. (They had good reason to be so, as the events of the Fourth Crusade half a century later were to show.) Both armies suffered defeats and endured hardship on the march through Asia Minor, before taking ship to Palestine. Arriving there, they laid siege to Damascus, and were defeated. One contemporary, William of Tyre, judged that "from that time onwards the condition of the Latins in the east grew visibly worse." Far from strengthening the Crusading kingdoms, the Second Crusade prepared the way for their destruction. It shattered the myth of western military supremacy fostered by its predecessor.
For a long time the Crusades and the Crusaders themselves have had a bad Press. Steven Runciman, in his three-volume history, scarcely concealed his distaste, blaming the Crusaders for destablizing the Byzantine Empire, the true bastion of Christian faith in the east. More recently, they have been regarded-and not only by Muslims-as an advance force of western imperialism. This is an odd and indeed untenable judgement, given that they were themselves responding to expansionist-indeed imperialist-Islam. Still the intensity of their faith, and the brutality of some of their actions, have sat ill with liberal anti-colonialist attitudes.
There are many more eager to offer understanding to Islamic jihadists today than to the Crusaders, who, as it happens, had more in common with these jihadists than either had or have with western liberals.
History, however, is not a matter of passing judgment, and real historians don't put past ages in the dock. Their business is to show what happened and, if possible, why it happened, to open our eyes and so enlarge our understanding. Jonathan Phillips does this admirably. The past may be another country where they do things differently, as LP Hartley suggested; but it is a country open for exploration, and the voyage Phillips takes us on is fascinating.
The First Crusade resulted in the recovery of Jerusalem and the establishment of Christian kingdoms and principalities in the Holy Land. The Third Crusade is remembered in England because of the role played by Richard the Lionheart. But what of the Second, which lasted from 1145-1199? For all but professional historians it has vanished from memory. Yet it was perhaps the most ambitious and best-prepared of all, and, though it failed disastrously in its main objective, it nevertheless in other quarters earned the subtitle that Jonathan Phillips awards it: "Extending the frontiers of Christendom".
It did so because it was directed against Muslims not only in Palestine, but also in Portugal and Spain, and against the pagan Wends in what was to be Prussia and is now north-eastern Germany and Poland. These campaigns were successful; Lisbon was captured after a siege and the Second Crusade contributed to the Reconquista in Spain.
Phillips has already written a very good book on the Fourth (and most disreputable) Crusade, which was diverted against the Greek Empire of Byzantium. Constantinople itself was besieged and captured and a Latin empire temporarily established there. Now he has followed up with an absorbing and scholarly account of one of its predecessors. Some readers, made dizzy by the detail-lists of participants and suchlike-may find it too scholarly. They should press on, skipping passages rather than letting themselves be bogged down. They will find the journey rewarding.
This book will be enlightening for those who still suppose medieval Europe to have been barbarous and lacking in sophistication. Phillips devotes his early chapters to an analysis of the preparations for the crusade, and in particular to the propaganda that persuaded kings, barons, knights and ordinary Christians in their thousands to embark on a campaign that might last two or three years, requiring them to leave home and march from western Europe to the Levant, to brave dangers and hardship at, in most cases, enormous expense.
The papal bull Quantum Praedecessores, supported by the preaching of Bernard de Clairvaux and other bishops, abbots and priests, marshalled the argument for a crusade with masterly cogency. Appealing both to memories of the First Crusade and to the hope of salvation and remission of sins, the intellectuals of the Church would have had nothing to learn from today's spin-doctors. They made the case for the Crusade more effectively than Washington and Westminster made their case for the Iraq war.
The two chief armies were led by Conrad, King of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor-in-waiting) and Louis VII of France. Neither proved up to the job. Conrad was indecisive; Louis was described as being more like a monk than a king.
The journey to the Holy Land was fraught. They had to pass through the Byzantine Empire and relations with the Greeks were uneasy. The Crusaders thought the Greeks treacherous. The Greeks were at best wary of them. (They had reason to be so, as the events of the Fourth Crusade were to show.)
Both armies suffered defeats and endured hardship on the march through Asia Minor, before taking ship to Palestine. Arriving there, they laid siege to Damascus, and were defeated. One contemporary, William of Tyre, judged that "from that time onwards the condition of the Latins in the east grew visibly worse." Far from strengthening the crusading kingdoms, the Second Crusade prepared the way for their destruction. It shattered the myth of western military supremacy fostered by its predecessor.
For a long time the Crusades and the crusaders have had a bad press. Steven Runciman, in his three-volume history, scarcely concealed his distaste, blaming the crusaders for destablising the Byzantine Empire, the true bastion of Christian faith in the east. More recently, they have been regarded-and not only by Muslims-as an advance force of western imperialism. This is an odd judgment, given that they were responding to expansionist Islam. Still, the intensity of their faith, and the brutality of some of their actions, have sat ill with liberal anti-colonialist attitudes. There are many more eager to offer understanding to Islamic jihadists today than to the crusaders, who had more in common with these jihadists than either had or have with western liberals.
History, however, is not a matter of passing judgment, and real historians don't put past ages in the dock. Their business is to show what happened and, if possible, why it happened, to open our eyes and so enlarge our understanding. Jonathan Phillips does this admirably. The past may be another country where they do things differently, as L P Hartley suggested; but it is a country open for exploration, and the voyage Phillips takes us on is fascinating.
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