Gutenberg, Executions, Medicis, Vikings, Hobbits and more - medieval news roundup

A medieval news roundup for the weekend...

If you are a fan of Marshall McLuhan or have an interest in the history of printing, this interview from the Columbia Journalism Review might interest you. In this post, entitled The future is medieval, they talk with Thomas Pettitt and Lars Ole Sauerberg from the University of Southern Denmark about their “Gutenberg Parenthesis” idea. It deals with how digital media will be tipping the scales between oral and print communication, the first change we have seen since Gutenberg started his printing machine. It includes some talk about the medieval period, such as:

The Middle Ages was not strong on membership of communities. They were not obsessive about inside versus outside. They didn’t emphasize, “I’m a denizen of this town, I’m a citizen of this country, I belong in this nation, behind these frontiers.” They saw themselves rather like Hobbits (Tolkien was a medievalist). Hobbits knew their relatives to the seventh degree: second cousins three times removed, and so on. In the Middle Ages people saw themselves as part of a network of connections. They knew their family trees. They knew with whom they were related. They identified themselves as a node in a network and they saw pathways, connections to other people in their extended family. They also saw themselves in terms depending on their profession. If they were in the Church, they saw themselves in the Church hierarchy as being a priest here, subject to the archdeacon here, subject to the bishop there, and the archbishop and the pope. You could have status by being the servant to a servant to someone important.

You can also listen to this talk they were part of from MIT:

Slate magazine offers this fascinating excerpt from The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century, by Joel F. Harrington. It details how 16th century executioners performed their task. For example:

During his own 45-year career and 187 recorded executions with the sword, Meister Frantz required a second stroke only four times (an impressive success rate of 98 percent), yet he dutifully acknowledges each mistake in his journal with the simple annotation botched. 

The New York Times has a short article about how nine children from the wealthy and poweful Medici family have been found to have rickets, a disease caused by a lack of Vitamin D and usually associated with the poor. In this case, "the researchers said the children were probably deprived of sunlight, which spurs the body to make vitamin D. Wealthy children of that time were often tightly swaddled and kept inside, with suntans discouraged as signs of low standing."

Sticking with the Medici's, Three Pipe Problem (a great blog) has an interview with Edward Goldberg, who does extensive research on that family and on the Jewish community in Renaissance Italy.

ScienceNordic reports that a 1200 year old Carolingian coin has been discovered in Norway. Jon Anders Risvaag, from NTNU University Museum, explains “Two factors make this find stand out. Firstly, this coin is older than the Carolingian coinage reform, and so far the oldest coin from Charlemagne’s reign found in Norway. Secondly, this coin was not found in a grave, in contrast to almost all other coins from Charlemagne and his successors that have been found in Norway.”

If you are interested in the Vikings, go over to Medieval Histories, where Karen Schousboe has written several posts about the Norsemen, including an indepth review of an exhibition Vikings 2013 at the National Museum in Copenhagen.

Finally, the CBC (our public broadcaster here in Canada), has this article Film, TV tourism spikes with Game of Thrones, The Hobbit. Fans seem to be heading to Northern Ireland, Dubrovnik and New Zealand to check out the beautiful backdrops to their favourite shows/movies. New Zealand tourism is cashing on in the Hobbit (like they did with Lord of the Rings movies) with their "100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand" campaign.

Coin of Charlemagne sells for 160,000 euros

New record hammer price for a Medieval coin at Künker’s: the portrait denarius of Charlemagne, that had been estimated at 30,000 euros, was sold for 160,000 euros. The winner was an anonymous bidder by telephone. That result was the outright highlight of the spring auction held from March 12 to 16 in Osnabrück. The silver pfennig, weighing 1.52 grams, with the bust and the imperial title of the great Carolingian ranges amongst the absolute rarities in numismatics and is described in greater detail in catalog 205 under no. 1405 (www.kuenker.de). Scholars assume that only 15 to 35 specimens had been minted at the maximum, either on the occasion of the imperial coronation in 800 or on the Byzantine acknowledgement of KARLVS IMP(erator) AVG(ustus) in 812.

The auction was possibly record-breaking in itself: half a dozen catalogs, almost 8,000 lots, and a total hammer price more than 11 million euros. The result exceeded the estimates by more than 60 percent. Only 181 numbers went into re-sale, which is already indicative of a lively auction process. The ancient coins (in sum more than 76 percent above the estimates) and part three of the Hagander Collection (a plus of 102 percent!) greatly contributed to the overall result. The crucial factor with Künker once again were the exquisite conditions which yielded more than one surprise on Monday in catalog 204. An aureus of Vespasian from 72 from Lugdunum, estimated at 12,500 euros, obtained 135,000 euros, the same denomination of Postumus, 266, Colonia, the sum of 110,000 euros against its estimate of 75,000. A solidus of Procopius from Constantinopolis 365/366 brought 60,000 euros instead of the estimated 40,000 euros.

Click here to read this article from Coin Update

Climate Change and the Fall of the Roman Empire - lecture at the University of Maine

On Tuesday, April 26, Hudson Museum at the University of Maine will present a lecture by Michael McCormick, the Francis Goelet Professor of Medieval History at Harvard University, whose research and teaching focuses on the archaeology and history of the fall of the Roman Empire and the origins of medieval civilization.

In “Climate Change and the Fall of the Roman Empire,” McCormick will explore what bio-molecular evidence and climate change data suggest about the impact of volcanic events on the collapse of the Roman Empire and the rise of Carolingian Europe. Drawing on ice core evidence and primary documentary research for the period 750 to 950 AD, McCormick will explore the impact of volcanic events on the collapse of the Roman Empire and the rise of Carolingian Europe. Climate cooling caused by eight volcanic events, resulted in nine major winter anomalies that affected food production and human survival.

The lecture will be given at 7 p.m. in Hutchins Hall, Collins Center for the Arts, is free and open to the public.


Source: University of Maine

History Professor Publishes Groundbreaking Book on Monasticism and Gender

In Dark Age Bodies: Gender and Monastic Practice in the Early Medieval West professor Lynda L. Coon, chair of the University of Arkansas’ department of history, reconstructs the gender ideology of monastic masculinity through an investigation of early medieval readings of the body.

Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net

Study: Charlemagne was very tall, but not robust

According to a recently published study, the Carolingian Emperor Charlemagne (ca. 747–814) was taller than most of his subjects, but not overweight. The findings were reported in the July 2010 issue of Economics & Human Biology.

A trio of scholars from Switzerland, Germany and Australia were allowed special access to the left tibia of Charlemagne, whose remains are kept in the Aachen Cathedral. Using x-rays and CT Scans, they found that the bone was about 17 inches long. According to various estimating methods, this meant that Charlemagne’s height was somewhere between 1.79 and 1.92 meters tall (between 5′ 10″ and 6′ 4″). According to other research, a typical male in the Carolingian period stood about 1.69 meters (5′ 6″).

Click here to read this article on Medievalists.net

Grave of Charlemagne remains a mystery

Archaeologists searching for the burial place of Charlemagne have failed to find any evidence that the body of the Carolingian emperor was placed in the atrium of Aachen Cathedral.

Andreas Schaub has led a team of archeologists for over three years in an attempt to find the exact spot within the cathedral where the medieval ruler was buried on the 28th January 814. But the dig within the atrium of the 8th century cathedral has only turned up material dating back to the 13th century.

There have been several archaeological investigations of the cathedral. Andreas Schaub noted that "since the 1980s, the theory persisted that the grave is in the atrium." With this news, focus on the whereabouts of Charlemagne will turn to the Cathedral's Court.

Charlemagne was buried in Aachen on the same day he died. Although the Carolingian emperor had previously made it known that he was to be buried near Paris, his court officials decided to bury him in Aachen because of the difficulty in transporting his body in cold weather.

The body of Charlemagne has had an eventful existence since his death. In the year 1000, Otto III had Charlemagne's vault opened. The Chronicle of Novalesia records how Otto and one of his courtiers saw when they entered the vault:

"So we went in to Charles. He did not lie, as the dead otherwise do, but sat as if he were living. He was crowned with a golden crown and held in his gloved hands a sceptre; the fingernails had penetrated through the gloves and stuck out. Above him was a canopy of limestone and marble. Entering, we broke through this. Upon our entrance, a strong smell struck us. Kneeling, we gave Emperor Charles our homage, and put in order the damage that had been done. Emperor Charles had not lost any of his members to decay, except only the tip of his nose. Emperor Otto replaced this with gold, took a tooth from Charles’s mouth, walled up the entrance to the chamber, and withdrew again."

In 1165, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa again opened the vault and placed the remains in a sculptured sarcophagus made of Parian marble, said to have been the one in which Augustus Caesar was buried. The bones lay in this until 1215, when Frederick II had them put in a casket of gold and silver. A vellum codex found interred with him was removed.

There have been eight theories about the burial place of the Carolingian ruler. "We have definitely ruled out five of these with the recent excavations," explained Cathedral architect Helmut Maintz. "But there are fortunately a few theories left, so I am not hopeless."

Sources: Earth Times, Spiegel

The Carolingians and Old St Peter’s

Dr Joanna Story, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Leicester, will deliver a keynote lecture at the prestigious Old St Peter’s conference taking place at the British School at Rome from the 22nd to the 25th March.

Old St Peter's was built by the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine, in the early fourth century, over the site where the Apostle Peter was thought to have been buried. The massive basilica - the biggest in the western empire - became the focus of St Peter's cult and the most important church in western Christendom for 1300 years until its destruction in the 16th century. But despite its central importance and the survival of extensive documentary, artistic and archaeological evidence, many secrets remain to be uncovered.

This major international conference brings together academics from Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Florence, Rome and many other top institutions to deliver papers on the history of the basilica.

Dr Story will deliver a lecture entitled ‘The Carolingians and Old St Peter’s’, which will focus on the gifts given by Charlemagne’s family to St Peter which were placed within the basilica.

Dr Story commented:“Old St Peter's was a vast structure that fired the faith and imagination of kings and pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. It was almost totally destroyed during the Renaissance, but surviving fragments and eye witness accounts that date from as early as the eighth century mean that we can reconstruct in detail its function as a ‘theatre’ of worship, burial and power throughout the Middle Ages.”

‘Old St Peter’s Conference’ takes place from the 22 – 25 March at the British School at Rome. To visit the conference’s website, please visit http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/oldstpeters/

Source: University of Leicester

Viking attacks on Europe were self-defence, scholar writes

A new theory about what drove the Vikings to raid Western Europe in the late eight and ninth centuries has been published. It suggests that the Vikings in Denmark were reacting to a threat from the Carolingian ruler Charlemagne, who was seeking to destroy their society and impose Christianity on them.

The theory was put forward by Robert Ferguson in an article for the December 2009 issue of BBC History Magazine.  His book, The Hammer and the Cross: A New History of the Vikings, was also published in November.

Starting in the 790s, Viking ships began raiding throughout Western Europe and the British Isles, often targeting monasteries. Ferguson points out that peaceful contacts between the Norse peoples and Christian societies, such as trading with each other. He therefore asks why did the Viking attacks begin when they did?

But with the accession of Charlemagne in 771, the Carolingians began to implement a new program of converting their pagan and neighbors and promoting Christianity.  Charlemagne launched numerous invasions of the Saxon peoples led by Widukind.

In a podcast interview, Ferguson adds the goals of Charlemagne were to force the Saxons "to abandon their culture, political system, beliefs and everything, and make them part Christians and part of his empire."

Ferguson notes an episode of "ethnic-cleansing:" when, in 782, Charlemangne's armies forcibly baptised and then executed 4,500 Saxon captives at Verden, a town close to Denmark.  The Danes would have been well aware of what was happening with the Saxons anyways, as Widukind was married to sister of the Danish king, Sigfrid, and often took refuge in Denmark to escape the Carolingians.

Considering the situation, Ferguson writes, "Should the Vikings simply wait for Charlemagne's armies to arrive and set about the task? Or should they fight to defend their culture?"

But the Norse could not fight the Carolingian military directly - instead they went after soft-targets, such as monasteries, which were symbols of the growing Christian encroachment. Ferguson says, "everything points to a hatred that goes beyond just robbers who just wanted money."

The article goes on to describe these early Viking attacks, and how their raids expanded throughout Europe, with Viking kingdoms developing on the British Isles and elsewhere.

Several other explanations have been put forward for Viking violence, such as innovations in shipbuilding which encouraged piracy, and overpopulation in Scandinavia, which forced many of its people to leave their homeland in search of fortune.

The article, "The Vikings: Why did their violent raids begin?" is in the December 2009 issue of BBC History Magazine. Click here to download the podcast which contains their interview with Robert Ferguson.

Click here to see our section on Medieval Vikings

Women and Aristocratic Culture in the Carolingian World

Despite inequalities, women were still influential in medieval society, a recent book by an Norhtern Illinois University professor claims.

Valerie Garver, assistant professor of history, wrote the book “Women and Aristocratic Culture in the Carolingian World,” published earlier this month by Cornell University Press. The book, as the title implies, focuses on aristocratic women’s roles during the eighth and ninth century.

In the book, Garver illustrates that women played integral roles in Carolingian society despite legal and social restrictions. The Carolingian dynasty was one of the largest empires in medieval European history. Occupying much of western Europe, the dynasty served as an influence on many other empires of the era, bringing cultural renaissance to the area.

Many widely known medieval kings, such as Charlemagne, ruled during the Carolingian period. Most people believe that women played a small role in medieval times, which Garver said is a misconception. The scarcity of sources regarding that era contributes to this, she said.

“If you looked at just a few sources you would get that impression,” Garver said. “I looked at a much wider variety of sources. The information is very scattered.”


Garver said that, initially, she began research with the intention of writing about medieval masculinity.

This necessitated looking into gender roles of the period, which led Garver to investigate women’s roles, which she said fascinated her more.

“It’s an opportunity to say something new,” Garver said. “It’s much more exciting.”

For her research, Garver was able to utilize the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, which allows faculty to collaborate with undergraduate students in their research.

“That was really cool, getting to work with the undergraduates,” Garver said.

Through URAP, Garver was able to utilize the assistance of two students. Jennifer Ruff was one of the two students.

Ruff has since graduated, but at the time that she was assisting Garver in her research, she was a senior history major.

“She’s a great source,” Ruff said. “I love picking her brain. It’s so fascinating.”

During her semester working with Garver, Ruff primarily researched textile work during that time period, which makes up a chapter in Garver’s book.

“It was a wonderful opportunity,” Ruff said. “It was an endless learning experience for me. To work with someone so dedicated to her work really was a thrill.”

Garver hopes to expand her research regarding textiles into its own book, she said.