The Seven Sleepers And The Seven Kneelers: Prolegomena To A Study Of The Belles Verrières Of The Cathedral Of Rouen

The recomposed, much-altered, and partially dispersed vestiges of the original nave-aisle glazing of Rouen Cathedral--the so-called Belles Verrières --constitute one of the most important but least studied ensembles of early 13th-century French stained glass. This article will address two windows represented in the Belles Verrières as a means of exploring a working methodology for reconstructing the Rouen nave-aisle glazing. From a close analysis of all remaining fragments, the original design of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and John the Evangelist windows will be reconstructed. Once assembled, each window will be evaluated in relation to stylistic, iconographic and historical contexts. The iconography of the Seven Sleepers, closely tied to the political history of Normandy at the turn of the 13th century, will allow that window to be dated with rare precision to the years between 1200-1202. The stylistic relationship between the John the Evangelist window and other glass at Rouen and Beauvais will argue for a date significantly later, in the 1240s. It thus appears that the glazing of the nave aisle at Rouen extended throughout the first half of the 13th century, rather than being restricted to the first two decades, as is usually assumed

13th century audit case

The author uses records from 13th Century English archives to demonstrate the role of auditors to settle disputes between merchants before the Courts

Color-coordinate system from a 13th-century account of rainbows.

We present a new analysis of Robert Grosseteste’s account of color in his treatise De iride (On the Rainbow), dating from the early 13th century. The work explores color within the 3D framework set out in Grosseteste’s De colore [see J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 29, A346 (2012)], but now links the axes of variation to observable properties of rainbows. We combine a modern understanding of the physics of rainbows and of human color perception to resolve the linguistic ambiguities of the medieval text and to interpret Grosseteste’s key terms

Magyarország egy mikrorégiójának (Észak-Hajdúság) népességfejlődése a 10-13. században

Population development in a microregion (Northern Hajdúság) of Hungary in the 10th–13th century – A craniometric analysis. Exceptionally rich anthropological material is available from the Northern Hajdúság microregion (Tiszántúl region, Hungary) from the 10th–13th century through five representative cemeteries. The five cemeteries, namely Hajdúdorog-Gyúlás (10th century), Hajdúdorog-Kövecseshalom (11th century), Hajdúdorog-Temetőhegy (11th century), Hajdúdorog-Katidűlő (12th–13th century) and Hajdúdorog-Szállásföld (12th–13th century) are located very close to each other. In the present study, biological relations and development of these populations were considered. 367 male and 334 female skulls were involved in multivariate statistical analyses on the basis of 10 linear cranial dimensions. The five populations of the microregion showed a very heterogeneous craniometric structure. The 10th-century population (Gyúlás, pagan era) sharply separated from the three other ones dated to the subsequent periods, but it showed a closer relationship with the 11th-century Kövecseshalom population. This last one (from the Christian era) is considered to be the survivals of the pagan conquerors that preferred to stay in the region. Considering the 10thcentury biological antecedents of the 11th-century populations, it is quite possible that Temetőhegy population might have arrived at this area from the Danube-Tisza Plain region. For the Kövecseshalom population the 10th-century antecedents could also be found in the Danube-Tisza Plain and Northern Hungary regions. The strongest anatomical relationship was found between the population of Hajdúdorog-Temetőhegy (11th century) and Hajdúdorog-Katidűlő (12th–13th century). According to the former results, this 11th-century population probably continued living in this area till the 13th century. The 12th–13th-century cemetery of Hajdúdorog-Szállásföld with its exceptionally high number of graves might have served as a resting place for several villages and represented a separate line of population development. The authors suppose that there were two crises in the examined periods. The first crisis set in at the transition from the pagan era (10th century) to the Christian era (from the beginning of the 11th century); the second meant burying the dead of the populations lacking a church in the churchyards of villages, which had a church. At that time several populations may have used a common graveyard around a church

13th-century fortifications of Kraków

The paper recapitulates the current state of knowledge about the fortifications of the three basic settlement units of 13th-century Kraków, namely Wawel, Okół, and the city established under Magdeburg Law. With respect to Wawel, written accounts have survived that clearly point to large-scale construction works on timber-and-earth defences of the stronghold undertaken in 1258 and 1265; these fortifications have partly been uncovered by archaeological research close to the southern edge of the hill. The northern section of the moat protecting the Kraków suburbium known as Okół (by the southern border of Wszyst-kich Świętych Square and Dominikańska Street) probably ceased to function in 1191 due to its destruc-tion during the struggles among provincial dukes vying for control over Kraków. New archaeological investigations of the moat in the area between Poselska and Senacka Streets suggest that in the second half of the 13th century the area of Okół was constricted, with its northern boundary moved back to the line running between these two streets. The earliest planned attempt at fortifying the city of Kraków did not take place before 1285–1287, and it was undertaken on the initiative of Duke Leszek Czarny. It is worth emphasising that at the initial stage it was connected with incorporation of an older Dominican mill-race (mentioned before 1284) into the new system of defences. The construction of the full defensive perimeter in the form of timber-and-earth ramparts and moats must have been completed before the third Mongol invasion, which reached Kraków in the winter of 1287. The remains of a moat connected with the oldest fortifications of the city of Kraków, presumably created during the reign of Leszek Czarny on the northern side of the Church of St. Mark, were archaeologically identified on a parcel at 26 Sławkowska Street. The western line of a moat of the same age was confirmed in several places in the westernmost part of the University Quarter. The construction of Kraków city walls after 1298, during the reign of Wacław II and Władysław Łokietek, was connected with expanding the area of the city in virtually all directions beyond the line marked by older fortifications from the times of Leszek Czarny

Hospitaller activities in medieval Malta

The Medieval Period in the Mediterranean World is generaly considered to cover a period of about a thousand years, and is considered to initiate with the end of the Roman era heralded by the division of the Roman Empure into two parts between the sons of Theodosius in AD 395. It ended with the advent of the Renaissance movement of the fifteenth century. This period in Malta was to see the Islands come under the influence of the Byzantine Empire encompassing the period prior to the ninth century; the Arab dominance starting in AD 870 and lasting until their formal expulsion in the mid-13th century; and the Latin phase of the late 13th century to the early 16th century when the islands were ceded to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The documentary sources dated to before the 14th century are rather scanty and often limited to ecclesiastical and political matters. A number of extant documents relate to medical matters, particularly with the setting up and management of hospital services and with matters relating to the affairs of hospitaller orders having links to the Maltese Islands.peer-reviewe

Observations on anthropological research concerning the period of Hungarian conquest and the Arpadian age

The present paper is aimed at providing a summary of the contributions of anthropological research into the Carpathian Basin history of the 10th-13th century ancient Hungarians relying on the strength of anatomical, demographical and sociological database. Special attention is paid to the moments in population development which proved to have diverged during the pagan era (10th century) and the early Christian era (11th-13th century)

Kufic ornamental motifs in the wall paintings of six churches in Southern Italy

The churches we are concerned with here are in South eastern Italy where, more than in other parts of Southern Italy (with the exception of Calabria),the Byzantine presence and Byzantine influence were obviously strong. Islam arrived on the Apulian coast from the 11th to 13th century was often mediated by Byzantium: this is verifiable in techniques, iconographies and styles. One case in particular concerns the epigraphic characters of Islamic derivation which abound in many media and, specifically, in architectural decoration: in other words, stone, stucco, mosaic, painting and so on. But, if the Byzantine mediation is evident, it is very important to observe that the labour is always local. We will look at six churches. They do not constitute a «catalogue», but offer a good «sample» of pseudo-kufic of the 13th century. First of all, I wish to present the map of the six churches with frescoes. Four of them are in Apulia: Gravina (province of Bari), Massafra (province of Taranto), Squinzano (on the road between Lecce and Brindisi) and Otranto (both provinces of Lecce). The other two are in the present day Lucania (or Basilicata): Matera and the former town of Anglona, near Tursi (province of Matera). Furthermore, I wish to specify that three of them (those in Massafra, Gravina and Matera) are rock churches, small chapels hewn out of the rock, without doors

Treasures from UCL

UCL has one of the foremost university Special Collections in the UK. It is a treasure trove of national and international importance, comprising over a million items dating from the 4th century AD to the present day. Treasures from UCL draws together detailed descriptions and images of 70 of the most prized individual items. Between the magnificent illuminated Latin Bible of the 13th century and the personal items of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, George Orwell, the many highlights of this remarkable collection will delight and intrigue anyone who picks up this book