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Tenth Century (tenth + century)
Selected AbstractsViking and native: re,thinking identity in the DanelawEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2002D.M. Hadley This paper addresses the impact of the Scandinavian settlements in England in the ninth and tenth centuries, and the role that ethnic identity and affiliation played in the society of the so,called Danelaw. It is argued that ethnic identity was not a constant factor, but one that only became relevant, at least in the evidence available to us, at certain times. It is suggested that the key to understanding expressions of ethnicity lies in the absorption of new ruling elites in northern and eastern England, and in subsequent political manoeuvring, rather than in the scale of the Scandinavian settlement. Indeed, the scale of the settlement does not easily explain most of our evidence, with the exception of some of the linguistic data. This paper stresses the importance of discussing the Scandinavian settlements not simply by reference to ethnic factors, but within the social and political context of early medieval society. [source] Transportation, Communication, and the Movement of Peoples in the Frankish Kingdom, ca.HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2009900 C.E As historians and archeologists continue to debate the volume of commercial traffic in Western Europe following the disappearance of Roman imperial rule, it has become increasingly clear that an infrastructure of transportation and communication continued to facilitate travel and the movement of people in this period. This is particularly apparent in the Frankish Kingdom between the sixth and tenth centuries. Relying to a substantial degree on technology and routes inherited from the Roman past, the Franks employed this communication infrastructure for purposes dictated by entirely contemporary concerns. Recent scholarship has demonstrated conclusively that commerce was far from the only motivation for travel in the Frankish Kingdom, and that the diversity of means and motives for communication is indicative of a mobile society. [source] Communication and Contention: The Role of Literacy in Conflicts with ,Abb,sid OfficialsHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2007Maaike Van Berkel ,Abb,sid officials of the late ninth and early tenth centuries operated in a highly bureaucratized and literate environment and they expressed their identity in terms of expertise in writing. However, in their daily business they had to communicate with all kinds of social groups, some of which had not , or only to a certain level , been introduced to writing. During the last three decades a series of groundbreaking studies appeared on the introduction and dissemination of writing in Medieval Europe. The role of literacy in Arab and Islamic societies in this period have as yet received very little, and mainly rather specialized, attention. The communication between ,Abb,sid officials and other social groups will be studied in cases of conflict and their settlements. Conflict settlement is also a field of research that recently witnessed important new insights. Studying the use of written documents in dispute settlements , a situation in which communication is of vital importance to all parties involved , forms therefore an excellent opportunity to analyse familiarity with, and confidence in, writing among the various groups within the ,Abb,sid caliphate. [source] Northumbria's southern frontier: a reviewEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 4 2006Nick Higham Northumbria's southern frontier was arguably the most important political boundary inside pre-Viking England. It has, however, attracted little scholarly attention since Peter Hunter Blair's seminal article in Archaeo-logia Aeliana in 1948, which later commentators have generally followed rather uncritically. This essay reviews his arguments in the light of more recent research and casts doubt on several key aspects of his case: firstly, it contests his view that this boundary was fundamental to the naming of both southern and northern England and its kingdoms; secondly, it queries the supposition that the Roman Ridge dyke system is likely to have been a Northumbrian defensive work; thirdly, it critiques the view that the Grey Ditch, at Bradwell, formed part of the frontier; and, finally, it argues against the boundary in the west being along the River Ribble. Rather, pre-Viking Northumbria more probably included those parts of the eleventh-century West Riding of Yorkshire which lie south of the River Don, with a frontier perhaps often identical to that at Domesday, and it arguably met western Mercia not on the Ribble but on the Mersey. It was probably political developments in the tenth century, and particularly under Edward the Elder and his son Athelstan, that led to the Mercian acquisition of southern Lancashire and the development of a new ecclesiastical frontier between the sees of Lichfield and York on the Ribble, in a period that also saw the York archdiocese acquire northern Nottinghamshire. [source] Sale, price and valuation in Galicia and Castile,León in the tenth centuryEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 2 2002Wendy Davies The number of sale transactions recorded by northern Spanish charters of the tenth century is very striking, especially in the 930s to 960s. A record of price paid was a consistent element of such documents, although words used to express price varied from silver solidi to goats, shirts and grain. Valuations, in solidi and in other units of account such as cattle, were often stated when objects were used as payment. While it looks as if some silver was really used in deals in urban León and its hinterland, using pieces of silver called argenzos, argenteos etc., elsewhere this was rare. Comparing the transactions in the three very different monastic collections of Celanova in the north,west, Sahagún in the central meseta and Cardeña in the foothills of the sierras in the north,east, regional difference is also striking. Sahagún is notable for the volume and early date of its sales and for increasing use of silver,based expressions of price and value. Round Celanova, by contrast, although there were also many sales, people used several modes of valuation simultaneously, but metal,based notions very rarely. Round Cardeña, close to urban Burgos, far fewer sales are recorded, and they come later in the century, but silver,based notions of value were the only ones used. This latter sub,urban context seems to have been much less commercially active than that of León and Sahagún, with exchange by gift and countergift a more prominent characteristic. [source] Re-Forging the ,Age of Iron' Part II: The Tenth Century in a New Age?HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 9 2010John Howe The tenth century, once dismissed as an unpleasant ,Age of Iron', now receives increased attention as an important age of transition. Historians are attempting to understand how it fits into the broader narrative of Western Civilization. Although some scholars have identified it as the last act of the post-Roman world, others see it as a new age. Perhaps the High Middle Ages with its agricultural and demographic revolution, its new villages and parishes, its revived cities, its reformed churches and schools, and its medieval monarchs began in the tenth century? Or were those changes not novelties of the tenth century but rather manifestations of a ,take off' that had already begun back in the Carolingian Empire, and which, despite the problems posed by late Carolingian wars and invasions, was able to continue, spread, and blossom into the growth and prosperity of the High Middle Ages? New scholarly interest in the tenth century has made it much less of a ,dark age', but scholars still are not quite certain how to conceptualize its historical significance. [source] Kabbalah: A Medieval Tradition and Its Contemporary AppealHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2008Hava Tirosh-Samuelson Popular culture today is suffused with kabbalah, an elitist, intellectual strand of medieval Judaism that claimed to disclose the esoteric meaning of the rabbinic tradition. While rooted in esoteric speculations in late antiquity, kabbalah emerged in the tenth century as an internal debate among Jewish theologians about the ontological status of divine attributes. At the end of the twelfth century speculations about the nature of God emerged among the Pietists of Germany and the ,masters of kabbalah' in Provence. During the thirteenth century kabbalah flourished in Spain where its self-understanding as redemptive activity was expressed in two paradigms , the ,theosophy-theurgic' and the ,ecstatic-prophetic'. Kabbalah continued to evolve in the early modern period, shaping both Jewish and European cultures. The modern period saw the rise of the academic study of kabbalah, but it was employed in two conflicting manners: in the nineteenth century scholars associated with the Enlightenment used historical analysis of kabbalah to debunk Jewish traditionalism, but in the first half of the twentieth century, the academic study of kabbalah was used to generate a secular, collective Zionist identity. Although scholarship on kabbalah has flourished in the twentieth century, kabbalah has become a variant of New-Age religions, accessible to all, regardless of ethnic identity or spiritual readiness. [source] State Ritual in Late Imperial ChinaRELIGION COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2009Ihor Pidhainy Until recently scholars have tended to view the Chinese imperial tradition from a human-centred perspective. However, in the last two decades, the importance of ritual and state religion in imperial China has become better appreciated and more fully explored. This article focuses on research of late imperial China, from the tenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the last two dynasties: the Ming (1368,1643) and Qing (1644,1911). This article is divided into four sections: a definition of Chinese ritual and its essential texts; its relationship to other religious ritual systems (Buddhism, Daoism and folk religions); an examination of three central reign periods: Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang, reign 1368,1398), Jiajing (Zhu Houcong, reign 1521,1567), and Qianlong (Hongli, reign 1735,1796); and the aesthetics of state ritual, including literature, art history and music. [source] | ||||||||||