Unveiling of past glories
30 January 2008
Herald Express
Finding your way around the new look Torre Abbey, you feel as if you need a piece of string to help you find your way out again. For a video showing the latest work at Torre Abbey, visit our website www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk
The £6million regeneration project is breathing new life into the labyrinth of buildings which take you from the medieval to the modern day. It is preparing Torre Abbey to once again take centre stage as Torquay's premier venue, not only as a new tourist attraction but as an important new showcase for contemporary arts and crafts as well as the treasures it has always been known for, and as an educational asset for the resort.
The builders, Kier Western, and other specialist contractors are coming to the end of their work on the first phase of the work, but it is still very much a building site and hard hat area. However, you can already see how Torre Abbey is being repaired, restored, transformed and hauled into the 21st century.
But while the project has saved some parts of the building from almost imminent collapse and protected other parts from decay and damage, even when this work is finished there is still much that needs to be done to save the complex for future generations - and urgently.
The fear is that money for heritage lottery projects, like Torre Abbey, will be diverted into the 2012 Olympics. But Dr Michael Rhodes, head of museum services for Torbay Council, summed it up: "The second phase of the project isn't just an option, it is a necessity. We have probably done about half the work necessary, and the cup is half full not half empty.
"For example, the main roof of the south wing needs replacing. All the lintels and supports are rotten and the walls are now moving. It is not something that can be patched up piecemeal, it needs renewal which is a major project that would cost around £1million alone."
But with £6million spent on the first phase, there will be plenty for visitors to see when the abbey opens to the public for 'preview' visits from July. Phase one of the work has created new jobs at the Abbey, with the staffing having gone up from four full-timers and four part-timers to eight full-timers and 10 part-timers, not including those working in the shop.
Part of the drive behind the project is to make the complex once again a money-spinner, hopefully as successful as it was for the Premonstratensian monks who founded the Abbey in 1196. By the end of the 15th century it was the wealthiest Premonstratensian abbey in England.
One of their ways of making money was allowing people to be buried in the Abbey and its grounds. So far the archaeological surveys have identified around 300 burial sites, many of them the monks and their workers. It is heartening to think that monks from centuries ago are 'watching over' the rebirth of their beloved Abbey.
Torre Abbey is the sum of many, many parts having been added to, updated, remodelled and modernised time after time over the centuries. That also explains much of its appeal because you start the tour in the unspoilt undercrofts, the abbey 'cellars' areas and progress through to the smart Adam-style Georgian rooms and now to the clean, uncluttered spaces created to show off the latest in contemporary art. And there are some exciting architectural features created as well, like the void, and open space running from the basement to the ceiling way above, and contemporary quality wood and glass features.
Dr Rhodes explained the work has affected all of Torre Abbey, but the areas repaired are mainly the south west wing and west range- the part where most of the medieval building that was visible had survived, but there are in fact early remains in all parts of the abbey.
He said: "It may look like a Georgian house from the seafront, but in fact it is a medieval building dressed up to look Georgian. Part of it used to be the old monks' refectory."
He explained that as work progressed changes have had to be made: "We costed it all up to begin with, but the division from what we were going to do in the different phases has changed. We don't yet know if we have done half the work. The line has changed several times as work progressed in response to what we found and what we needed to do to comply with the latest building regulations and fire officers' requests. The ground rules have changed several times, for example, on access and who is in charge of building control. We have had to do a number of things we would rather not have had to do. For example in a replacement staircase now you have to put a landing every seven steps, which has proved very difficult in places in a medieval building."
"The fabric in places was every bit as bad as we suspected, parts of it were very close to collapse," admitted Dr Rhodes. "It's just down to luck that some are still standing, such as the staircase close to the mayor's parlour which has two beautiful Georgian windows that were very well worth saving. That's one of the things that has caused a small delay to the project. The main roof to the south range facing the sea has not been repaired in these works which is causing us concern. It's an 18th century lead roof that is completely at the end of its life and we have identified some holding works which hopefully will keep us going to phase two, but of course there's no guarantee. If we were lucky we would start phase two about 2011. It just takes so long to get going. Work towards the bid will start this autumn when the architects come back to reassess parts of the building not touched. They will put together proposals which will be costed. We have done probably more in phase one than we expected, which may help with the costs. We have certainly made most of the dramatic alterations to the building to help us comply with the new access regulations, the new routes around the buildings have been created, and the exciting architectural features, like the void, so phase two is more about repair than alterations. Phase two will also include the main interpretation features planned to make the abbey a premier visitor attraction. We had to phase it, we couldn't do everything at once," he explained.
In the first phase the main interpretation areas will be created, including in the undercrofts where there will be a video presentation, a ticket office in the newly recreated cloister, and a Thrupp gallery with the works of Victorian sculptor Frederick Thrupp (1812-1895) who died in Torbay.
Dr Rhodes said the work was about as extensive as they had expected. "We knew it was massive. We knew it was going to be exhausting and tax us. There are 136 rooms altogether, if you count corridors in which you can hang things. It's a massive building. Visitors will now see more of the building, in particular they will see the undercrofts as they should be seen, at the beginning of the tour. You will start off knowing it's a medieval building, but also see early on some dramatic contemporary pieces of art which will make it clear it is also a major gallery and it is a mix of old and new. We are not a conventional historic house, we never have been. We can't put rooms back to a particular period because we are an architectural jigsaw and have bits of every age."
Modern-day Torquinians might not appreciate just how big the abbey complex used to be. It had a large mill house, brewery and farmyard. Dr Rhodes said: "We have found out a lot more about the place during the work."
Some pieces have proved to have national importance, like the early 13th century wall paintings with a diamond pattern in the arches of the entrance passage under the Abbot's Tower. "We knew it was there, but it was more extensive than we thought. We also didn't know how rare it is," said Dr Rhodes.
There are also mysteries which have still to be solved, like a 'string' course pattern on the walls on the western range. Dr Rhodes said: "It forms a decorative pattern in one area which nobody knows what it is. It's a complete mystery, without parallels. It goes all way around the abbey, both sides of the tower and on the tower itself."
Dr Rhodes said all four walks in the cloister were used for burials. "We have found lots of them. We only found one body because we did not need to dig the burials out. We have left them in peace. We are marking the position of 25 of the burials with new markers made by a specialist concrete artist. There were probably about 300 people buried in the church and then there's more in the gardens. More were buried in the walled garden which was the abbey graveyard. The lay brothers from the early abbey would have been buried there with the servants."
One of the things that is hard to take in about the abbey is that at some time during its 800-year life it would have been highly decorated. For example, Dr Rhodes said they found they had used Purbeck marble in the cloisters. "All the ornate stonework has been removed," he said. "We have quite a lot of it in our basement. It would have been a highly ornate building, just the same as Exeter Cathedral is today. The stonework would have been just as decorative. Like every building it had a makeover every 50 years or so. We are just the last in a long line of people who have modernised Torre Abbey."
That explains the traces of several roof lines at different heights on some of the walls. Dr Rhodes said he thought people could spend around three hours on a visit. "I think there is going to be so much here. Firstly it's a fantastic archaeological jigsaw puzzle, then a historic house with furnished rooms, then the largest art gallery in Devon in terms of floorspace with a fantastic new space for contemporary art on the top floor. As the principal building in Torquay it would always have been used for showing off art, even in medieval times, carvings, effigies and embroideries. In the period when the Cary family owned it they were friends with some of the leading painters of the day and filled it with what to them was the latest modern art. We are continuing the tradition. We are hoping to use it to attract local quality contemporary artists and increase our links with artists from the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. We will have a new keeper of arts who will be making sure there is a regular programme of exhibitions. We will have a new education officer who will be strengthening our links with local schools and South Devon College arts courses. We have a brass rubbing centre which is very relevant to the abbey. Although the brasses are replicas, they are of the kind of people who were buried in the abbey and those who would have supported it. The whole thing is very much about people, about what it was like to live in the buildings. We want to get the people stories back in. We have also made the building much more people friendly and accessible with a new car park in front of the Riviera International Centre, as well as an upgraded tea room and a shop selling crafts and contemporary art from the exhibitions which passers-by will be able to use. The abbey will still be used for hospitality. For example, you will be able to get married in the Georgian dining room or the ballroom, which is the former mayor's parlour, and the Spanish Barn and also have your reception here. The wedding can be blessed in the abbey chapel."
Dr Rhodes said: "A full restoration of the gardens is planned with phase three. We also hope to do some repairs on the glass house."
Has all the hard work, sleepless nights and stress been worth it? "Definitely," he said. "We have saved half the building. We have shown the potential which is important because I think some people regarded Torre Abbey as a white elephant and I think we can show it can make a significant contribution to year-round tourism and culture in the Bay as we are hoping to be open through the winter. We want to broaden the appeal of the abbey to all ages, provide something for youngsters to do which we didn't have before. I am sure some people will miss the old abbey, but it is a building that has been modernised in parts that were not of historic merit, in a way that is exciting, and I am sure young people will enjoy exploring all its nooks and crannies."
Staffing costs were the council's contribution but increased visitor numbers will be vital to help pay for the ongoing bills. Torbay Council has just agreed to allocate £50,000 in next year's budget to help towards the costs associated with developing a bid for phase two once the criteria have been confirmed by the National Heritage Lottery Fund in the spring.
Dr Rhodes paid tribute to the role paid by the Friends of Torre Abbey who, as well as raising £120,000 towards the project, are paying for the grave markers and half the cost of the brasses. Councillors had also played a vital role in getting the project going, he said, particularly Cllr Jeanette Richards, Colin Charlwood and Roger Stringer.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Ulverscroft Priory
Meeting hall planned for medieval ruins
29 January 2008
Leicester Mercury
The ruined remains of a historic building could be turned into a home and a community hall, under plans revealed today. For decades Ulverscroft Priory, set in countryside near Markfield, stood open to the elements.
Now, a massive restoration scheme is under way with the grade I-listed building's owner hoping to raise more than £1 million to bring it back to life. Chartered surveyor Trevor Wells inherited the site - which is on English Heritage's "buildings at risk" register - four years ago.
Since then he has been given a £130,000 grant from English Heritage, to which he added another 20 per cent, to stabilise the buildings. Today, much of the site stands shrouded in scaffolding and canvas, following a major structural and archeological survey.
Mr Wells, 35, who now lives nearby, said his dream was to restore as much of the buildings as possible. He said: "My aspirations are to completely refurbish it and give it a viable future. We are at the point of determining what's best for the building. I hope to turn the house part of it back into a house and rent it out. There's no facility in Ulverscroft for meetings, so I also hope that the hall - with the old roof back on it - can become a facility that local groups can phone up and book."
He estimates the final bill could be more than £1 million. The former Augustinian monastery dates back to the 13th century and was probably founded by Robert Le Bossu, the second Earl of Leicester. In the centuries that followed the dissolution of the monasteries it changed hands a number of times, falling into ruin.
Mr Wells said: "You can't do repairs overnight but when I contacted English Heritage with my concerns they were pleased to help."
Peter Liddle, keeper of archeology with the county museums service, said: "It's the most complete medieval religious house in the county. As far as I can see, so far they have done everything the right way."
29 January 2008
Leicester Mercury
The ruined remains of a historic building could be turned into a home and a community hall, under plans revealed today. For decades Ulverscroft Priory, set in countryside near Markfield, stood open to the elements.
Now, a massive restoration scheme is under way with the grade I-listed building's owner hoping to raise more than £1 million to bring it back to life. Chartered surveyor Trevor Wells inherited the site - which is on English Heritage's "buildings at risk" register - four years ago.
Since then he has been given a £130,000 grant from English Heritage, to which he added another 20 per cent, to stabilise the buildings. Today, much of the site stands shrouded in scaffolding and canvas, following a major structural and archeological survey.
Mr Wells, 35, who now lives nearby, said his dream was to restore as much of the buildings as possible. He said: "My aspirations are to completely refurbish it and give it a viable future. We are at the point of determining what's best for the building. I hope to turn the house part of it back into a house and rent it out. There's no facility in Ulverscroft for meetings, so I also hope that the hall - with the old roof back on it - can become a facility that local groups can phone up and book."
He estimates the final bill could be more than £1 million. The former Augustinian monastery dates back to the 13th century and was probably founded by Robert Le Bossu, the second Earl of Leicester. In the centuries that followed the dissolution of the monasteries it changed hands a number of times, falling into ruin.
Mr Wells said: "You can't do repairs overnight but when I contacted English Heritage with my concerns they were pleased to help."
Peter Liddle, keeper of archeology with the county museums service, said: "It's the most complete medieval religious house in the county. As far as I can see, so far they have done everything the right way."
Medieval seal of Thomas Becket
Medieval treasure at centre of ownership row
30 January 2008
Yorkshire Post
A SILVER medieval seal which potrays the murder of former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket in 1170 has been declared treasure trove at an inquest in Harrogate.
The seal, found in excellent condition near Catterick in North Yorkshire, has been described as a find of national importance. Its financial value has been estimated at several thousands pounds and the British Museum wants to buy it.
But there will be no immediate windfall for the person who uncovered it because it is at the centre of a bitter row over ownership.
Carl Richardson, of Coxhoe in County Durham, claims sole ownership of the seal he says he discovered in a field belonging to farmer John Wray in August or September of 2006 while out with his mother.
But fellow detectorist Richard Hunter, of Peterlee, who reported the find to the Portable Antiquities Scheme at Newcastle Museum, says he was with Mr Richardson when the seal was found and claims they had a 'gentleman's agreement' to share anything they uncovered.
With both refusing to give way, the seal, to be valued by a panel appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will go to the British Museum which has instructions not to release it until ownership can be established.
Coronor Geoff Fell, who today declared it treasure at an inquest in Harrogate, warned that could involve a lengthy and costly legal process.
30 January 2008
Yorkshire Post
A SILVER medieval seal which potrays the murder of former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket in 1170 has been declared treasure trove at an inquest in Harrogate.
The seal, found in excellent condition near Catterick in North Yorkshire, has been described as a find of national importance. Its financial value has been estimated at several thousands pounds and the British Museum wants to buy it.
But there will be no immediate windfall for the person who uncovered it because it is at the centre of a bitter row over ownership.
Carl Richardson, of Coxhoe in County Durham, claims sole ownership of the seal he says he discovered in a field belonging to farmer John Wray in August or September of 2006 while out with his mother.
But fellow detectorist Richard Hunter, of Peterlee, who reported the find to the Portable Antiquities Scheme at Newcastle Museum, says he was with Mr Richardson when the seal was found and claims they had a 'gentleman's agreement' to share anything they uncovered.
With both refusing to give way, the seal, to be valued by a panel appointed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will go to the British Museum which has instructions not to release it until ownership can be established.
Coronor Geoff Fell, who today declared it treasure at an inquest in Harrogate, warned that could involve a lengthy and costly legal process.
The Gough Map
Medieval British map retains mysteries The Gough Map of Great Britain is half a metre high and just over a metre wide, and dates from around 1360. 'Most accurate, big' medieval road map published
Rafael Epstein
1 February 2008
Australian Broadcasting Corporation News
It's not Melbourne's , Brisbane's nor Sydney's and it's certainly not like London's , but it is the oldest known road map of the UK, and you can now buy a copy for the first time. Hanging in Oxford's Bodleian Library, the Gough Map - named after its 19th century owner Richard Gough - is about half a metre high and just over a metre wide.
It was drawn around the year 1360 and there are no other known medieval maps as big or as accurate. It's made of vellum - now-fragile, very thin animal hide - and the top of the page points east, not north, with the country lying down on its side.
The red and green map marks out more than 600 villages and towns, like London and Oxford, 200 rivers including the Thames and the Humber, and forests, like Sherwood Forest, as well as a very basic if incomplete road network of over 4,700 kilometres.
Nick Millea is the Map Librarian at the Bodleian Library and the publisher of the new book of the map. He says it is completely unique. "It really is the first map of its kind to show the geography of Britain - there's nothing before it," he said. "And you can recognise the outline of the British coastline, which from previous maps you can't really - it's very difficult to work out what's going on."
Mr Millea says there are still a lot of mysteries about the Gough Map. "We know absolutely nothing about who drew it up and why," he said. "When this map first became available was around about 1360. Perhaps a tiny minority of the population would have known what it was - they could have looked at it - but to think about the concept of a map would have been totally alien."
He says scholars are not even entirely sure what it was used for. "It could have had an administrative purpose, it could have been used for people to work out their way around the country - it's going to have to be very high-ranking officials working on this," he said. "It could simply be a statement of empire - a map made for royalty, if you like - saying, 'look, here's what we've got, here's England, here's Wales, and Scotland's next on our hit list'."
It's thought the map was made when Edward III was king. It shows the coast close to France at a time when the King had great success invading French towns.
In fact the depiction of much of the English coast is remarkably accurate, as are areas near Oxford where there had been some technical advances in geography, all done with access to nothing higher than the hills.
But the mystery is why some major roads - clearly well known at the time - were left out of the map. "I suspect that most of the information about placement of the settlements was done simply by word of mouth," Mr Millea said. "Someone would have said, 'well the next town from Oxford if you go to the west is Whitney', so I can't imagine that one person or one team of people would have gone out into the landscape."
He says it is likely the map is a compilation of geographic knowledge from many different people. "I think one of the key things is the great enigma of the Gough Map; these thin red lines," he said. "In the past it's been assumed that this was a road map, [but] I think in the last four or five years of looking at this, we can say that it's not a road map - I don't think these red lines are roads, because the main roads that were well-known in the 1360s, they're not included. The red lines seem to be a cartographic construct, a way of saying that the distance between two places is so many miles, and that you'll see a figure in Roman numerals next to each of these little red lines, so I think it's more an example of sophisticated map-making."
Mr Millea says it is possible the map was drawn up as a means or asserting control over the area. "One phrase we like to use in cartography is 'the power of maps'," he said. "[We look at] why was this made made, and what it shows and doesn't show - so many of the real principle roads just aren't there."
You can see an interactive version of the Gough Map at Mapping the Realm.
The state of the nation - in 1360
BY ROB SHARP
1 February 2008
The Independent
Extra | The medieval version of an "A to Z" has just been published. Now we can all see how far Britain has come
CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS YET?
You may think this bizarre-looking map shows a far-off, exotic land. In fact, this is Britain. Known as The Gough Map, and named after Richard Gough, a rich gentleman who bought it in 1774 for half-a-crown (or 12-and-a half-pence), it has been published for the first time in book form. The original measures 45 by 22 inches and is the first geographical map of Britain. It was produced with a combination of pen, ink and coloured washes, on animal hide, and is thought to date from the 14th century. The map was kindly donated by Gough to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, in 1809, along with many of his other maps, prints, books, and drawings, as had been agreed under the terms of his will.
A SIDEWAYS LOOK
Do you recognise the shape of East Anglia and the coastline of southern England? No? Well, turn the map on its side and things may look more familiar. Putting north at the top of a map is a relatively new idea. According to Nick Millea, map curator of the Bodleian Library, north became "up" in the 16th century, when magnetic compasses came into general use among marine navigators.
ACROSS THE BORDER
Relations between England and Scotland were pretty turbulent around this time. In the mid to late 14th century, Scotland was high up the list of countries for the English to conquer, but they hadn"t managed it yet. So Scotland was still essentially a foreign country, with little known about it by English cartographers. So, in the spirit of all good artisans, the map-makers just made it up. The best they could come up with was this sausage shape.
ROADS TO NOWHERE
These thin red lines and Roman numerals refer to the distances between cities and major settlements. They are thought to have been measured using the old French mile, equivalent to approximately 2km. But the red lines are not intended to show roads themselves. We know this because the famous thoroughfares of the day, such as that taken by Chaucer"s pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, are not marked on the map.
TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
The green lines depict rivers and waterways. In much the same way as motorways are given greater prominence and brighter colours than hills in modern atlases, the waterways depicted on the 14th-century Gough Map appear to be much bigger than they really are. Perhaps this is because they were the major routes for trade and transport and therefore held great importance to anyone using such a map.
TOWN PLANNING
The experts at the Bodleian Library are planning to analyse the symbols to deduce whether they show an accurate likeness of each settlement. At first glance that certainly seems to be the case. London"s picture is sprawling and spectacular. Leicester and Rochester have fittingly elaborate cathedrals in theirs. Millea continues: "The map-maker seems to be using symbols as someone drawing an Ordnance Survey map might today. Namely, using standard symbols for settlements of similar sizes. It is clearly a way of showing that one place is a big town and another is a small town."
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The map was created in the middle of the 14th century. One of the keys to determining its age is the inclusion of the little-known settlement of Queensborough, on the Isle of Sheppey. Prior to 1366, Queensborough was known simply as "Sheppey". So 1366 is the latest the map could have been created. The Oxford brain-boxes also examined the symbols that mark the position of major settlements. They noted that Coventry"s depiction features a town wall. Construction of the town wall in Coventry began in 1355. Therefore the map must have been drawn at some point between 1355 and 1366.
BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE
As features such as the Bristol Channel show, an attempt has been made to accurately represent the geography of Britain. When this map was created, there was nothing else like it. Previously, maps would show Britain"s place within the Christian world, with Jerusalem at the centre. Britain would appear as a long thin strip of land that did not resemble its true shape. Here, however, the general proportions and the distances between its cities are drawn incredibly well. The Gough Map became the blueprint for all maps of Britain for the next 200 years.
The Gough Map, with commentary by Nick Millea, is published by The Bodleian Library, £25. ISBN: 978-1851240227
Rafael Epstein
1 February 2008
Australian Broadcasting Corporation News
It's not Melbourne's , Brisbane's nor Sydney's and it's certainly not like London's , but it is the oldest known road map of the UK, and you can now buy a copy for the first time. Hanging in Oxford's Bodleian Library, the Gough Map - named after its 19th century owner Richard Gough - is about half a metre high and just over a metre wide.
It was drawn around the year 1360 and there are no other known medieval maps as big or as accurate. It's made of vellum - now-fragile, very thin animal hide - and the top of the page points east, not north, with the country lying down on its side.
The red and green map marks out more than 600 villages and towns, like London and Oxford, 200 rivers including the Thames and the Humber, and forests, like Sherwood Forest, as well as a very basic if incomplete road network of over 4,700 kilometres.
Nick Millea is the Map Librarian at the Bodleian Library and the publisher of the new book of the map. He says it is completely unique. "It really is the first map of its kind to show the geography of Britain - there's nothing before it," he said. "And you can recognise the outline of the British coastline, which from previous maps you can't really - it's very difficult to work out what's going on."
Mr Millea says there are still a lot of mysteries about the Gough Map. "We know absolutely nothing about who drew it up and why," he said. "When this map first became available was around about 1360. Perhaps a tiny minority of the population would have known what it was - they could have looked at it - but to think about the concept of a map would have been totally alien."
He says scholars are not even entirely sure what it was used for. "It could have had an administrative purpose, it could have been used for people to work out their way around the country - it's going to have to be very high-ranking officials working on this," he said. "It could simply be a statement of empire - a map made for royalty, if you like - saying, 'look, here's what we've got, here's England, here's Wales, and Scotland's next on our hit list'."
It's thought the map was made when Edward III was king. It shows the coast close to France at a time when the King had great success invading French towns.
In fact the depiction of much of the English coast is remarkably accurate, as are areas near Oxford where there had been some technical advances in geography, all done with access to nothing higher than the hills.
But the mystery is why some major roads - clearly well known at the time - were left out of the map. "I suspect that most of the information about placement of the settlements was done simply by word of mouth," Mr Millea said. "Someone would have said, 'well the next town from Oxford if you go to the west is Whitney', so I can't imagine that one person or one team of people would have gone out into the landscape."
He says it is likely the map is a compilation of geographic knowledge from many different people. "I think one of the key things is the great enigma of the Gough Map; these thin red lines," he said. "In the past it's been assumed that this was a road map, [but] I think in the last four or five years of looking at this, we can say that it's not a road map - I don't think these red lines are roads, because the main roads that were well-known in the 1360s, they're not included. The red lines seem to be a cartographic construct, a way of saying that the distance between two places is so many miles, and that you'll see a figure in Roman numerals next to each of these little red lines, so I think it's more an example of sophisticated map-making."
Mr Millea says it is possible the map was drawn up as a means or asserting control over the area. "One phrase we like to use in cartography is 'the power of maps'," he said. "[We look at] why was this made made, and what it shows and doesn't show - so many of the real principle roads just aren't there."
You can see an interactive version of the Gough Map at Mapping the Realm.
The state of the nation - in 1360
BY ROB SHARP
1 February 2008
The Independent
Extra | The medieval version of an "A to Z" has just been published. Now we can all see how far Britain has come
CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS YET?
You may think this bizarre-looking map shows a far-off, exotic land. In fact, this is Britain. Known as The Gough Map, and named after Richard Gough, a rich gentleman who bought it in 1774 for half-a-crown (or 12-and-a half-pence), it has been published for the first time in book form. The original measures 45 by 22 inches and is the first geographical map of Britain. It was produced with a combination of pen, ink and coloured washes, on animal hide, and is thought to date from the 14th century. The map was kindly donated by Gough to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, in 1809, along with many of his other maps, prints, books, and drawings, as had been agreed under the terms of his will.
A SIDEWAYS LOOK
Do you recognise the shape of East Anglia and the coastline of southern England? No? Well, turn the map on its side and things may look more familiar. Putting north at the top of a map is a relatively new idea. According to Nick Millea, map curator of the Bodleian Library, north became "up" in the 16th century, when magnetic compasses came into general use among marine navigators.
ACROSS THE BORDER
Relations between England and Scotland were pretty turbulent around this time. In the mid to late 14th century, Scotland was high up the list of countries for the English to conquer, but they hadn"t managed it yet. So Scotland was still essentially a foreign country, with little known about it by English cartographers. So, in the spirit of all good artisans, the map-makers just made it up. The best they could come up with was this sausage shape.
ROADS TO NOWHERE
These thin red lines and Roman numerals refer to the distances between cities and major settlements. They are thought to have been measured using the old French mile, equivalent to approximately 2km. But the red lines are not intended to show roads themselves. We know this because the famous thoroughfares of the day, such as that taken by Chaucer"s pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, are not marked on the map.
TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
The green lines depict rivers and waterways. In much the same way as motorways are given greater prominence and brighter colours than hills in modern atlases, the waterways depicted on the 14th-century Gough Map appear to be much bigger than they really are. Perhaps this is because they were the major routes for trade and transport and therefore held great importance to anyone using such a map.
TOWN PLANNING
The experts at the Bodleian Library are planning to analyse the symbols to deduce whether they show an accurate likeness of each settlement. At first glance that certainly seems to be the case. London"s picture is sprawling and spectacular. Leicester and Rochester have fittingly elaborate cathedrals in theirs. Millea continues: "The map-maker seems to be using symbols as someone drawing an Ordnance Survey map might today. Namely, using standard symbols for settlements of similar sizes. It is clearly a way of showing that one place is a big town and another is a small town."
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The map was created in the middle of the 14th century. One of the keys to determining its age is the inclusion of the little-known settlement of Queensborough, on the Isle of Sheppey. Prior to 1366, Queensborough was known simply as "Sheppey". So 1366 is the latest the map could have been created. The Oxford brain-boxes also examined the symbols that mark the position of major settlements. They noted that Coventry"s depiction features a town wall. Construction of the town wall in Coventry began in 1355. Therefore the map must have been drawn at some point between 1355 and 1366.
BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE
As features such as the Bristol Channel show, an attempt has been made to accurately represent the geography of Britain. When this map was created, there was nothing else like it. Previously, maps would show Britain"s place within the Christian world, with Jerusalem at the centre. Britain would appear as a long thin strip of land that did not resemble its true shape. Here, however, the general proportions and the distances between its cities are drawn incredibly well. The Gough Map became the blueprint for all maps of Britain for the next 200 years.
The Gough Map, with commentary by Nick Millea, is published by The Bodleian Library, £25. ISBN: 978-1851240227
Medieval Sciences in the Islamic World
The origin of species - 1,000 years early The untold story of Arabic brilliance should be a timely reminder of a proud heritage, says Jim Al-Khalili
By Jim Al-Khalili
29 January 2008
The Daily Telegraph
ISLAM'S FORGOTTEN GENIUSES
* Ibn al-Natis, a Syrian from the late 13th century, is credited with giving the first correct description of blood circulation in the body, 400 years before the work of Thomas Harvey.
* The Polish astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) has Arabic astronomers to thank for his calculations: indeed, there are diagrams in his books that appear to have been lifted exactly from the work of the Arab astronomer Ibn Shatir 100 years earlier.
* The modern scientific method, based on observation and measurement, is often said to have been established in the 17th century by Francis Bacon and René Descartes. But the Iraqi-born physicist ibn al-Haythem (Alhazen), had the same idea in the 10th century.
* The word "alchemy'' derives from the Arabic "alkimya'', which means "chemistry''. The world's first true chemist was a Yemeni Arab by the name of Jabir ibn Hayyan, born in 721.
* Al-Razi (Rhazes) was the greatest clinician of the Middle Ages. Born near Teheran in 865, he ran a psychiatric ward in Baghdad at a time when, in the Christian world, the mentally ill would have been regarded as being possessed by the devil.
* The word "algebra'' comes from the Arabic "al-jebr'', and was made famous by the great ninth-century mathematician al-Khwarizmi. But contrary to popular myth, algebra was not an Islamic invention - its rules actually go back to the Greek mathematician Diophantus.
Next year, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin of Species, which revolutionised our understanding of biology. But what if Darwin was beaten to the punch?
Approximately 1,000 years before the British naturalist published his theory of evolution, a scientist working in Baghdad was thinking along similar lines. In the Book of Animals, abu Uthman al-Jahith (781-869), an intellectual of East African descent, was the first to speculate on the influence of the environment on species. He wrote: "Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring.''
There is no doubt that it qualifies as a theory of natural selection - even though the Book of Animals appears to have been based to a large extent on folklore rather than on zoological fact. Despite the strong feelings Darwin provokes among many Muslims - many Islamic scholars see the Koran as creationist, and so at odds with evolution - it seems astounding that al-Jahith's quote has been largely ignored.
In fact, although popular accounts of the history of science typically show no major advances taking place between the Romans and the Renaissance, al-Jahith's work was part of an astonishing flowering of invention and innovation that took place in the Muslim world, and in Iraq in particular, in the Middle Ages. This world view, based on a mixture of theology and rational thinking, produced wonderful advances in philosophy, astronomy, medicine and mathematics, in particular the emergence of algebra and trigonometry.
Although the Muslim world is often now seen as ill-equipped for scientific discovery, we can look back to Baghdad and see the origins of the modern scientific method, the world's first physicist and the world's first chemist; advances in surgery and anatomy, the birth of geology and anthropology; not to mention remarkable feats of engineering.
For 700 years, the international language of science was Arabic; and Baghdad, the capital of the mighty Abbasid Empire, was the centre of the intellectual world.
The story starts around 813, when the caliph of Baghdad, al-Ma'mun, is said to have had a vivid and life-changing dream. In it, he met the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who instructed him to "seek knowledge and enlightenment''.
This was the starting point for a lifelong obsession with science and philosophy. Al-Ma'mun created the famous House of Wisdom, a library, translation house and scientific academy unmatched since the glory days of Alexandria. The caliph would then recruit some of the greatest names in Arabic science, such as the mathematician al-Khwarizmi and the philosopher al-Kindi.
Although many of these thinkers were not Arabs themselves, they conducted their science and wrote their books in Arabic. In the West, though, they were better known by their Latin names, such as Alkindus, Alhazen, Averroes and Avicenna.
The most famous of all was Avicenna (or ibn Sina, to give him his correct name). Born in Persia in 980, he was a child prodigy who grew up to become one of the world's greatest philosophers and physicians. His great work, the Canon of Medicine, was to remain the standard medical text both in the Islamic and Christian worlds until well into the 17th century. He is credited with the discovery and explanation of contagious diseases and the first correct description of the anatomy of the human eye.
As a philosopher, Avicenna is referred to as the Aristotle of Islam; as a physician, he is its Galen. Indeed, it would not be inappropriate to refer to Aristotle and Galen as the Avicennas of the Greeks.
My favourite of all the Abbasid scientists, however, is another Persian scholar by the name of al-Biruni. Here was a polymath with a free-ranging and formidable intellect: not only did he make significant breakthroughs as a philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, but he also left his mark as a theologian, encyclopaedist, linguist, historian, geographer, pharmacist and physician. Famously, having developed the mathematics of trigonometry, he was able to measure the circumference of the Earth to within a few miles. The only other figure in history whose legacy rivals the scope of al-Biruni's scholarship would be Leonardo da Vinci. So what went wrong? What brought to an end this golden age of Abassid and Arabic science?
The standard answer is that the ending came suddenly, in 1258, when the Mongols ransacked Baghdad. During the occupation, a large number of the books in the House of Wisdom were destroyed. But Baghdad was by this time far from the only centre of scholarship in the Arabic speaking world - and wonderful advances continued to be made in Cairo and Cordoba right up to the European Renaissance in the 15th century.
There is also an argument that the decline was due to a change in attitude of the Islamic world towards science. This was primarily a consequence of the work of the 11th-century scholar and theologian al-Ghazali, who famously criticised Muslim scientists for their over-reliance on the philosophy of the ancient Greeks.
Yet this, too, cannot be the whole story. Al-Ghazali was primarily attacking a theological viewpoint that relied on ideas he deemed anti-Islamic. Hard science should not have been so affected by this more metaphysical dispute.
The real decline had much more to do with a weakening of the power of the caliphate as a whole, of which the Mongol invasion was merely one symptom. By the end of the 11th century, Baghdad had lost control over much of its empire, and weaker caliphs were simply less inclined to encourage and finance scientific scholarship.
But, just as the golden age of Arabic science began with the translation of the great Greek texts of Aristotle, Euclid and Ptolemy, so was the work of the Arabic scholars transferred to Europe. For example, al-Jahith's Book of Animals was a major influence on Arab scholars of the 11th to 14th centuries, and the Latin translations of their work in turn became known to Charles Darwin's predecessors, Linnaeus, Buffon and Lamarck.
By the 16th century, while scientific and technological progress continued to be made at a gentler pace in the Muslim world under Persian and Ottoman rule, the European Renaissance was well under way. The mystery is why the debt the West owed to Muslim scholars was then overlooked: acknowledged at all, the Abbasids are normally credited with nothing more than acting as the guardians of Greek science.
In a world of increasing religious tension, the untold story of Arabic science is a timely reminder of the debt the West owes to the Muslim world - and, perhaps more importantly, of the proud heritage today's Muslims should acknowledge.
* Jim Al-Khalili is professor of physics and public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. Tomorrow night, he delivers the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize lecture, which will be webcast live at 5.30pm at royalsociety.org/live, and will then address the invite-only Telegraph/ Novartis Scientists Meet The Media reception at the Royal Society in London.
* BBC4 will be screening a three-part documentary about science and Islam next year.
By Jim Al-Khalili
29 January 2008
The Daily Telegraph
ISLAM'S FORGOTTEN GENIUSES
* Ibn al-Natis, a Syrian from the late 13th century, is credited with giving the first correct description of blood circulation in the body, 400 years before the work of Thomas Harvey.
* The Polish astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) has Arabic astronomers to thank for his calculations: indeed, there are diagrams in his books that appear to have been lifted exactly from the work of the Arab astronomer Ibn Shatir 100 years earlier.
* The modern scientific method, based on observation and measurement, is often said to have been established in the 17th century by Francis Bacon and René Descartes. But the Iraqi-born physicist ibn al-Haythem (Alhazen), had the same idea in the 10th century.
* The word "alchemy'' derives from the Arabic "alkimya'', which means "chemistry''. The world's first true chemist was a Yemeni Arab by the name of Jabir ibn Hayyan, born in 721.
* Al-Razi (Rhazes) was the greatest clinician of the Middle Ages. Born near Teheran in 865, he ran a psychiatric ward in Baghdad at a time when, in the Christian world, the mentally ill would have been regarded as being possessed by the devil.
* The word "algebra'' comes from the Arabic "al-jebr'', and was made famous by the great ninth-century mathematician al-Khwarizmi. But contrary to popular myth, algebra was not an Islamic invention - its rules actually go back to the Greek mathematician Diophantus.
Next year, we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin of Species, which revolutionised our understanding of biology. But what if Darwin was beaten to the punch?
Approximately 1,000 years before the British naturalist published his theory of evolution, a scientist working in Baghdad was thinking along similar lines. In the Book of Animals, abu Uthman al-Jahith (781-869), an intellectual of East African descent, was the first to speculate on the influence of the environment on species. He wrote: "Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring.''
There is no doubt that it qualifies as a theory of natural selection - even though the Book of Animals appears to have been based to a large extent on folklore rather than on zoological fact. Despite the strong feelings Darwin provokes among many Muslims - many Islamic scholars see the Koran as creationist, and so at odds with evolution - it seems astounding that al-Jahith's quote has been largely ignored.
In fact, although popular accounts of the history of science typically show no major advances taking place between the Romans and the Renaissance, al-Jahith's work was part of an astonishing flowering of invention and innovation that took place in the Muslim world, and in Iraq in particular, in the Middle Ages. This world view, based on a mixture of theology and rational thinking, produced wonderful advances in philosophy, astronomy, medicine and mathematics, in particular the emergence of algebra and trigonometry.
Although the Muslim world is often now seen as ill-equipped for scientific discovery, we can look back to Baghdad and see the origins of the modern scientific method, the world's first physicist and the world's first chemist; advances in surgery and anatomy, the birth of geology and anthropology; not to mention remarkable feats of engineering.
For 700 years, the international language of science was Arabic; and Baghdad, the capital of the mighty Abbasid Empire, was the centre of the intellectual world.
The story starts around 813, when the caliph of Baghdad, al-Ma'mun, is said to have had a vivid and life-changing dream. In it, he met the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who instructed him to "seek knowledge and enlightenment''.
This was the starting point for a lifelong obsession with science and philosophy. Al-Ma'mun created the famous House of Wisdom, a library, translation house and scientific academy unmatched since the glory days of Alexandria. The caliph would then recruit some of the greatest names in Arabic science, such as the mathematician al-Khwarizmi and the philosopher al-Kindi.
Although many of these thinkers were not Arabs themselves, they conducted their science and wrote their books in Arabic. In the West, though, they were better known by their Latin names, such as Alkindus, Alhazen, Averroes and Avicenna.
The most famous of all was Avicenna (or ibn Sina, to give him his correct name). Born in Persia in 980, he was a child prodigy who grew up to become one of the world's greatest philosophers and physicians. His great work, the Canon of Medicine, was to remain the standard medical text both in the Islamic and Christian worlds until well into the 17th century. He is credited with the discovery and explanation of contagious diseases and the first correct description of the anatomy of the human eye.
As a philosopher, Avicenna is referred to as the Aristotle of Islam; as a physician, he is its Galen. Indeed, it would not be inappropriate to refer to Aristotle and Galen as the Avicennas of the Greeks.
My favourite of all the Abbasid scientists, however, is another Persian scholar by the name of al-Biruni. Here was a polymath with a free-ranging and formidable intellect: not only did he make significant breakthroughs as a philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, but he also left his mark as a theologian, encyclopaedist, linguist, historian, geographer, pharmacist and physician. Famously, having developed the mathematics of trigonometry, he was able to measure the circumference of the Earth to within a few miles. The only other figure in history whose legacy rivals the scope of al-Biruni's scholarship would be Leonardo da Vinci. So what went wrong? What brought to an end this golden age of Abassid and Arabic science?
The standard answer is that the ending came suddenly, in 1258, when the Mongols ransacked Baghdad. During the occupation, a large number of the books in the House of Wisdom were destroyed. But Baghdad was by this time far from the only centre of scholarship in the Arabic speaking world - and wonderful advances continued to be made in Cairo and Cordoba right up to the European Renaissance in the 15th century.
There is also an argument that the decline was due to a change in attitude of the Islamic world towards science. This was primarily a consequence of the work of the 11th-century scholar and theologian al-Ghazali, who famously criticised Muslim scientists for their over-reliance on the philosophy of the ancient Greeks.
Yet this, too, cannot be the whole story. Al-Ghazali was primarily attacking a theological viewpoint that relied on ideas he deemed anti-Islamic. Hard science should not have been so affected by this more metaphysical dispute.
The real decline had much more to do with a weakening of the power of the caliphate as a whole, of which the Mongol invasion was merely one symptom. By the end of the 11th century, Baghdad had lost control over much of its empire, and weaker caliphs were simply less inclined to encourage and finance scientific scholarship.
But, just as the golden age of Arabic science began with the translation of the great Greek texts of Aristotle, Euclid and Ptolemy, so was the work of the Arabic scholars transferred to Europe. For example, al-Jahith's Book of Animals was a major influence on Arab scholars of the 11th to 14th centuries, and the Latin translations of their work in turn became known to Charles Darwin's predecessors, Linnaeus, Buffon and Lamarck.
By the 16th century, while scientific and technological progress continued to be made at a gentler pace in the Muslim world under Persian and Ottoman rule, the European Renaissance was well under way. The mystery is why the debt the West owed to Muslim scholars was then overlooked: acknowledged at all, the Abbasids are normally credited with nothing more than acting as the guardians of Greek science.
In a world of increasing religious tension, the untold story of Arabic science is a timely reminder of the debt the West owes to the Muslim world - and, perhaps more importantly, of the proud heritage today's Muslims should acknowledge.
* Jim Al-Khalili is professor of physics and public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. Tomorrow night, he delivers the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize lecture, which will be webcast live at 5.30pm at royalsociety.org/live, and will then address the invite-only Telegraph/ Novartis Scientists Meet The Media reception at the Royal Society in London.
* BBC4 will be screening a three-part documentary about science and Islam next year.
Medieval Berlin
Experts unearth medieval Berlin under car park
By Sylvia Westall
31 January 2008
Reuters News
A team of experts has unearthed an 800-year-old cellar under a central Berlin car park which they say dates the city back to the 12th century, earlier than previously thought.
The cellar, which dates from 1192, was found alongside the remains of a graveyard, church and school on a site which the archaeologists say formed the heart of medieval Berlin.
Museum experts had previously been able to date the medieval town where Berlin now stands back to 1237 using church records.
"We are unearthing a medieval town in the centre of a modern city. Usually modern cities are so built up which makes excavation difficult -- so this is a very rare find," said lead archaeologist Claudia Melisch, running her hand along striped layers of medieval soil.
The 1,100 square metre dig site, overshadowed by grey concrete tower blocks and enclosed by busy roads, was first unearthed in March last year, when the team found skeletons and the remains of a school from later in the Middle Ages.
But the cellar, which was discovered just a few weeks ago, became the site's prize find this week, when its oak beams were dated for the first time.
Melisch said the site, which straddled medieval Berlin and the town of Coelln, was especially lucky to survive Berlin's bombardment during World War Two when large parts of the city were completely destroyed.
Ironically, it was thanks to a thick layer of concrete that the site survived intensive East German building programmes during post-war years which drove foundations through the soil.
"It is so lucky this was all under a car park. It meant that very few pipelines went through the archaeological evidence, allowing it to be preserved," Melisch said.
Excavation work will continue at the site, located on Berlin's central 'Museum Island,' until September.
By Sylvia Westall
31 January 2008
Reuters News
A team of experts has unearthed an 800-year-old cellar under a central Berlin car park which they say dates the city back to the 12th century, earlier than previously thought.
The cellar, which dates from 1192, was found alongside the remains of a graveyard, church and school on a site which the archaeologists say formed the heart of medieval Berlin.
Museum experts had previously been able to date the medieval town where Berlin now stands back to 1237 using church records.
"We are unearthing a medieval town in the centre of a modern city. Usually modern cities are so built up which makes excavation difficult -- so this is a very rare find," said lead archaeologist Claudia Melisch, running her hand along striped layers of medieval soil.
The 1,100 square metre dig site, overshadowed by grey concrete tower blocks and enclosed by busy roads, was first unearthed in March last year, when the team found skeletons and the remains of a school from later in the Middle Ages.
But the cellar, which was discovered just a few weeks ago, became the site's prize find this week, when its oak beams were dated for the first time.
Melisch said the site, which straddled medieval Berlin and the town of Coelln, was especially lucky to survive Berlin's bombardment during World War Two when large parts of the city were completely destroyed.
Ironically, it was thanks to a thick layer of concrete that the site survived intensive East German building programmes during post-war years which drove foundations through the soil.
"It is so lucky this was all under a car park. It meant that very few pipelines went through the archaeological evidence, allowing it to be preserved," Melisch said.
Excavation work will continue at the site, located on Berlin's central 'Museum Island,' until September.
The Allerton Cope
Historic cape to be put on display
31 January 2008
Cheddar Valley Gazette
A 15th century bishop's cope, which lay forgotten at the bottom of a chest in Allerton for hundreds of years, is to be restored and put on show. The Allerton Cope - an embroidered cape - was made for John Gunthorpe, who was Dean of Wells from 1472 to 1498.
He gave it to Chapel Allerton Church, and it was donated to the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in the late 19th century, at which time it was mounted and put on display in the Great Hall in Taunton Castle, where it stayed for many years.
A cope is a principal vestment worn for various church ceremonies, and it takes the form of a semi-circular cloak fastened across the chest by a brooch or strip of material known as a morse. In medieval times rich cloths, silks, tapestries and embroideries were symbols of wealth and status, second only to precious metals and jewels.
Ornamentation by embroidery was an almost exclusive prerogative of the wealthy ruling classes, and an important element in ecclesiastical grandeur - professional embroidery workshops existed early in the Middle Ages to produce these valued possessions.
The Allerton Cope was discovered in the bottom of a chest in Allerton church in 1858, and it is thought that around this time the cope was turned into an altar frontal.
It is the oldest example of embroidery in the Somerset museum collection, and before it can be put on display it will require a significant amount of conservation work, because it is currently very soiled and yellowed.
Conservation treatment will involve removing the cope from its present mounting and carefully cleaning the surface.
A new backing will then be made for the silk ground, which will provide overall support and strength. Areas of weakness will be secured using stitching worked through the new backing fabric, and the cope will then be re-framed ready for display. The treatment is likely to cost in the region of £6,000 to complete.
The Allerton History Society has made a £1,000 contribution to the cost of the restoration, the Friends of the County Museum are also making a donation, and county councillor Alan Ham will be are handing over part of his community grant to help meet the expense.
31 January 2008
Cheddar Valley Gazette
A 15th century bishop's cope, which lay forgotten at the bottom of a chest in Allerton for hundreds of years, is to be restored and put on show. The Allerton Cope - an embroidered cape - was made for John Gunthorpe, who was Dean of Wells from 1472 to 1498.
He gave it to Chapel Allerton Church, and it was donated to the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society in the late 19th century, at which time it was mounted and put on display in the Great Hall in Taunton Castle, where it stayed for many years.
A cope is a principal vestment worn for various church ceremonies, and it takes the form of a semi-circular cloak fastened across the chest by a brooch or strip of material known as a morse. In medieval times rich cloths, silks, tapestries and embroideries were symbols of wealth and status, second only to precious metals and jewels.
Ornamentation by embroidery was an almost exclusive prerogative of the wealthy ruling classes, and an important element in ecclesiastical grandeur - professional embroidery workshops existed early in the Middle Ages to produce these valued possessions.
The Allerton Cope was discovered in the bottom of a chest in Allerton church in 1858, and it is thought that around this time the cope was turned into an altar frontal.
It is the oldest example of embroidery in the Somerset museum collection, and before it can be put on display it will require a significant amount of conservation work, because it is currently very soiled and yellowed.
Conservation treatment will involve removing the cope from its present mounting and carefully cleaning the surface.
A new backing will then be made for the silk ground, which will provide overall support and strength. Areas of weakness will be secured using stitching worked through the new backing fabric, and the cope will then be re-framed ready for display. The treatment is likely to cost in the region of £6,000 to complete.
The Allerton History Society has made a £1,000 contribution to the cost of the restoration, the Friends of the County Museum are also making a donation, and county councillor Alan Ham will be are handing over part of his community grant to help meet the expense.
Ancient city from Byzantine period discovered in Turkey
Ancient city from Byzantine period discovered in Turkey
29 January 2008
Asian News International
Archaeologists have discovered remnants of an ancient city from the Byzantine period during surface excavations carried out in the Anatolian city of Corum in Turkey.
According to a report from the Corum - Dogan News Agency, the location of the ancient city Avkat has been determined to be within the borders of the Beyozu village in the Mecitozu district.
The discovery of this ancient city was made by a team of 32 scientists from the United States, Britain, Italy and Switzerland and led by the Byzantine Empire expert, Professor John Haldon, who carried out a three-week survey in August 2007 in Beyozu to determine its location.
According to Mehmet Demir, an official from the Ankara Ethnography Museum, the exact location was also noted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. "Excavation works will start this year," said Demir. "Excavations for Byzantine settlements will continue in coming years," he added.
The results of the survey are to be presented in a symposium to be held in May.
29 January 2008
Asian News International
Archaeologists have discovered remnants of an ancient city from the Byzantine period during surface excavations carried out in the Anatolian city of Corum in Turkey.
According to a report from the Corum - Dogan News Agency, the location of the ancient city Avkat has been determined to be within the borders of the Beyozu village in the Mecitozu district.
The discovery of this ancient city was made by a team of 32 scientists from the United States, Britain, Italy and Switzerland and led by the Byzantine Empire expert, Professor John Haldon, who carried out a three-week survey in August 2007 in Beyozu to determine its location.
According to Mehmet Demir, an official from the Ankara Ethnography Museum, the exact location was also noted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. "Excavation works will start this year," said Demir. "Excavations for Byzantine settlements will continue in coming years," he added.
The results of the survey are to be presented in a symposium to be held in May.
Ancient glass mosaic from Ceasarea restored
Ancient glass mosaic restored
30 January 2008
Geelong Advertiser
EXPERTS have restored a one-of-a-kind 1400-year-old glass mosaic glowing in gold recovered from a site next to the Mediterranean Sea.
The mosaic panel is believed by the Israel Antiquities Authority to be the only one in the world, due to both the quality of its preservation, its age, and its gleaming, gilded craftsmanship indicating Christian origins. "It's a unique find, a piece of art," Joseph Patrich, professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said. "It's in its original state."
Professor Patrich said the panel fell face down, protecting its green, blue and gold facade from debris and damage. The mosaic was discovered in 2005 in Caesarea, an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast known for its ancient Roman, Byzantine and Crusader ruins. During excavation of a palace, the original floor was exposed, revealing the panel lying face down in one of the larger paved mosaics.
Detached from the floor in a risky operation, conservationists were then faced with the task of removing centuries of dirt and fire damage from the destruction of the palace in the late Byzantine Era in late 6th or early 7th century AD, Prof Patrich said.
The mosaic is particularly important because the small coloured tiles forming it features two styles of tiling: gold glass and the more traditional multicoloured, opaque glass commonly associated with mosaics, he said. The tiles depict two motifs: crosses and eight-petalled rosettes.
The owner and origin of the palace in which the panel was found is unclear; all that is known is that the residents were likely Christian. The original role of the restored panel also remains unknown.
30 January 2008
Geelong Advertiser
EXPERTS have restored a one-of-a-kind 1400-year-old glass mosaic glowing in gold recovered from a site next to the Mediterranean Sea.
The mosaic panel is believed by the Israel Antiquities Authority to be the only one in the world, due to both the quality of its preservation, its age, and its gleaming, gilded craftsmanship indicating Christian origins. "It's a unique find, a piece of art," Joseph Patrich, professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said. "It's in its original state."
Professor Patrich said the panel fell face down, protecting its green, blue and gold facade from debris and damage. The mosaic was discovered in 2005 in Caesarea, an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast known for its ancient Roman, Byzantine and Crusader ruins. During excavation of a palace, the original floor was exposed, revealing the panel lying face down in one of the larger paved mosaics.
Detached from the floor in a risky operation, conservationists were then faced with the task of removing centuries of dirt and fire damage from the destruction of the palace in the late Byzantine Era in late 6th or early 7th century AD, Prof Patrich said.
The mosaic is particularly important because the small coloured tiles forming it features two styles of tiling: gold glass and the more traditional multicoloured, opaque glass commonly associated with mosaics, he said. The tiles depict two motifs: crosses and eight-petalled rosettes.
The owner and origin of the palace in which the panel was found is unclear; all that is known is that the residents were likely Christian. The original role of the restored panel also remains unknown.
Review of The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom by Jonathan Phillips
Review: History: Holy smoke: Rumsfeld would have had a word for it . . . Helen Castor on a 12th-century fiasco: The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom by Jonathan Phillips 364pp, Yale, pounds 25
Helen Castor
2 February 2008
The Guardian
The vast military expedition that left Europe for the Holy Land in the summer of 1147 has been the Cinderella among crusades, historiographically speaking. The first crusade, 50 years earlier, stormed dramatically into Muslim-held Jerusalem and, against towering odds, established a Christian kingdom there. The third crusade, almost 50 years later, became famous for Richard the Lionheart's struggle with Saladin for control of the holy city. And the fourth crusade, which followed after only a decade, achieved lasting infamy when its goal of recapturing Jerusalem was summarily discarded in favour of the sacking of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine empire and the greatest Christian city in the world.
By contrast, the second crusade - two years in the making, and led by the two greatest kings of western Europe - was a damp squib, glossed over by embarrassed contemporaries, and largely ignored by historians ever since. But of course the participants themselves had no idea that their extraordinary efforts would end in humiliating retreat. And this mismatch between expectation and achievement forms a compelling theme of Jonathan Phillips's absorbing new book, the first detailed account of this "forgotten" crusade to be published since the 19th century.
The campaign of 1145-49 was conceived in explicit relation to the spectacular and unprecedented success of the first crusade a generation earlier. The crusaders - thousands of soldiers and pilgrims from France, Germany, Flanders, England and Italy - set out to march in their fathers' footsteps, to win glory in this world and salvation in the next just as their predecessors had done. Crucially, however, they did so with a sense of anticipation and entitlement quite unlike the self-consciously pioneering expedition of 1096-99.
The confidence that God was with them, engendered by that improbable triumph half a century earlier, helped to bring together a remarkably ambitious campaign, aiming not only to recapture the city of Edessa (the fall of which, in December 1144, triggered the call to crusade), but, as Phillips emphasises, to "extend the frontiers of Christendom". Thus, while the kings of France and Germany led their armies to the Holy Land, other forces simultaneously fought on two other fronts, against the Muslims of Iberia (where they won victories at Lisbon and Almeria), and against the pagan tribes of the Baltic.
However, this confidence also convinced the crusaders that, in campaigning 2,000 miles from home against an enemy of alien culture as well as religion, they were dealing, Rumsfeld-like, with known knowns, or at least known unknowns. Various surprises lay in wait, not the least of which was the crippling expense of the expedition: Louis VII of France ( below ) had reached no further than Hungary when he began sending urgently to Paris for extra funds.
But it was the unknown unknowns that finally scuppered the crusaders' plans. After a difficult journey across Asia Minor, which almost claimed the life of the German king, Conrad III, and inflicted heavy casualties on his army, the forces that arrived in the Latin east discovered that their original target was no longer there to be rescued: a rebellion in Edessa had been crushed with such vehemence by its Muslim rulers that the city was now deserted, its walls in ruins. Urgent negotiations identified Damascus as a viable alternative; but, after a promising attack through the walled orchards that made up the city's outer defences, the crusaders were driven off by impassable blockades and the imminent prospect of starvation. Riven by argument about who was to blame for the fiasco, they trailed disconsolately home.
Phillips's book is beautifully produced - it's a rare pleasure these days to handle such satisfyingly substantial pages - and, unsurprisingly for a university press, it's also a heavyweight in academic terms. It will be required reading for anyone with more than a passing interest in crusading history, for the breadth and depth of its analysis and its reassessment not only of key moments of military and political decision-making, but of the contribution of Pope Eugenius III to the preaching of the crusade (alongside the well-recognised charisma of Bernard of Clairvaux).
Phillips also, he says, has more general readers in mind - although that won't, perhaps, be immediately apparent to anyone unfamiliar with his sprawling cast of kings, nobles, churchmen and historians, or whose Latin isn't quite up to dealing with untranslated snippets from contemporary sources. But, if the early chapters demand sustained concentration, the central narrative of the crusade itself is gripping. Phillips conveys a powerful sense of the massive investment of time, money, belief and, ultimately, lives which the expedition demanded; of the less than glorious leadership of Conrad and Louis (the latter more monk than man, according to his formidable wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who accompanied him on the campaign); of the profound tensions between the rival Christian powers of western Europe, the Byzantine empire and the Latin kingdoms of the east; and of the abruptness of the crusade's collapse after the failure at Damascus.
The book is thought-provoking about questions of identity and the fraught interaction between religious and political imperatives. There are no easy parallels between present and past, and Phillips is too fine a historian to suggest them; but one of the achievements of this subtle book is that, in learning about a lost world, we think harder about our own.
Helen Castor
2 February 2008
The Guardian
The vast military expedition that left Europe for the Holy Land in the summer of 1147 has been the Cinderella among crusades, historiographically speaking. The first crusade, 50 years earlier, stormed dramatically into Muslim-held Jerusalem and, against towering odds, established a Christian kingdom there. The third crusade, almost 50 years later, became famous for Richard the Lionheart's struggle with Saladin for control of the holy city. And the fourth crusade, which followed after only a decade, achieved lasting infamy when its goal of recapturing Jerusalem was summarily discarded in favour of the sacking of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine empire and the greatest Christian city in the world.
By contrast, the second crusade - two years in the making, and led by the two greatest kings of western Europe - was a damp squib, glossed over by embarrassed contemporaries, and largely ignored by historians ever since. But of course the participants themselves had no idea that their extraordinary efforts would end in humiliating retreat. And this mismatch between expectation and achievement forms a compelling theme of Jonathan Phillips's absorbing new book, the first detailed account of this "forgotten" crusade to be published since the 19th century.
The campaign of 1145-49 was conceived in explicit relation to the spectacular and unprecedented success of the first crusade a generation earlier. The crusaders - thousands of soldiers and pilgrims from France, Germany, Flanders, England and Italy - set out to march in their fathers' footsteps, to win glory in this world and salvation in the next just as their predecessors had done. Crucially, however, they did so with a sense of anticipation and entitlement quite unlike the self-consciously pioneering expedition of 1096-99.
The confidence that God was with them, engendered by that improbable triumph half a century earlier, helped to bring together a remarkably ambitious campaign, aiming not only to recapture the city of Edessa (the fall of which, in December 1144, triggered the call to crusade), but, as Phillips emphasises, to "extend the frontiers of Christendom". Thus, while the kings of France and Germany led their armies to the Holy Land, other forces simultaneously fought on two other fronts, against the Muslims of Iberia (where they won victories at Lisbon and Almeria), and against the pagan tribes of the Baltic.
However, this confidence also convinced the crusaders that, in campaigning 2,000 miles from home against an enemy of alien culture as well as religion, they were dealing, Rumsfeld-like, with known knowns, or at least known unknowns. Various surprises lay in wait, not the least of which was the crippling expense of the expedition: Louis VII of France ( below ) had reached no further than Hungary when he began sending urgently to Paris for extra funds.
But it was the unknown unknowns that finally scuppered the crusaders' plans. After a difficult journey across Asia Minor, which almost claimed the life of the German king, Conrad III, and inflicted heavy casualties on his army, the forces that arrived in the Latin east discovered that their original target was no longer there to be rescued: a rebellion in Edessa had been crushed with such vehemence by its Muslim rulers that the city was now deserted, its walls in ruins. Urgent negotiations identified Damascus as a viable alternative; but, after a promising attack through the walled orchards that made up the city's outer defences, the crusaders were driven off by impassable blockades and the imminent prospect of starvation. Riven by argument about who was to blame for the fiasco, they trailed disconsolately home.
Phillips's book is beautifully produced - it's a rare pleasure these days to handle such satisfyingly substantial pages - and, unsurprisingly for a university press, it's also a heavyweight in academic terms. It will be required reading for anyone with more than a passing interest in crusading history, for the breadth and depth of its analysis and its reassessment not only of key moments of military and political decision-making, but of the contribution of Pope Eugenius III to the preaching of the crusade (alongside the well-recognised charisma of Bernard of Clairvaux).
Phillips also, he says, has more general readers in mind - although that won't, perhaps, be immediately apparent to anyone unfamiliar with his sprawling cast of kings, nobles, churchmen and historians, or whose Latin isn't quite up to dealing with untranslated snippets from contemporary sources. But, if the early chapters demand sustained concentration, the central narrative of the crusade itself is gripping. Phillips conveys a powerful sense of the massive investment of time, money, belief and, ultimately, lives which the expedition demanded; of the less than glorious leadership of Conrad and Louis (the latter more monk than man, according to his formidable wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who accompanied him on the campaign); of the profound tensions between the rival Christian powers of western Europe, the Byzantine empire and the Latin kingdoms of the east; and of the abruptness of the crusade's collapse after the failure at Damascus.
The book is thought-provoking about questions of identity and the fraught interaction between religious and political imperatives. There are no easy parallels between present and past, and Phillips is too fine a historian to suggest them; but one of the achievements of this subtle book is that, in learning about a lost world, we think harder about our own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
