Throughout history, rivers have been a hub for human settlement and have been a key part of local livelihoods, history, and culture, as well as still playing a present-day role in providing services and leisure to people who live around them. It is no coincidence that all four of the earliest human civilisations were formed on great rivers: the Nile, Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow rivers all saw great human aggregation along them. The most ancient and vital architectural structures linked to the use of rivers are bridges. There are a wide variety of medieval bridge structures, ranging from some very simple in their construction to amazing triumphs of design and engineering comparable with the great churches of the period. They stand today as proof of the great importance of transport networks in the Middle Ages and of the size and sophistication of the medieval economy. These bridges were built in some of the most difficult places, across broad flood plains, deep tidal waters, and steep upland valleys, and they withstood all but the most catastrophic floods. Yet their beauty, from simplistic to ornate, remains for us to appreciate.Medieval Bridges of Middle England has been organised geographically into tours and covers the governmental regions of East of England, East Midlands, and West Midlands. There are 63 bridges featured and beautiful full colour photographs of each bridge are included. A brief history is incorporated with each bridge. Additionally, information about the construction, materials used, and unique features are related, as well as historically relevant documents and images. Directions to each bridge and local attractions are also given.There are literally hundreds of bridges in England that meet the criteria for inclusion in this roll of honour for senior bridges. They vary vastly in size, style, and materials. Most are stone and a very few are brick. We have lost many of our older bridges to the ravages of time and the modern practice of culvertisation and urban development. A few of our older bridges remain though, and their beauty and pivotal role in our history is starting to be recognised.

This monograph is based on the study of 1,341 antler and bone objects and 2,400 fragments of antler and bone waste from excavations in Ipswich between 1974 and 1994. Most of the material comes from contexts of the 7th to the 12th century, although there are small quantities of medieval objects and waste. The monograph is focused on the local craft activity in Ipswich in the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods. It also includes objects that indicate links to the Continent, particularly northern France, Frisia and southern Scandinavia. Several Roman bone and antler assemblages have been published in recent years, but very few of post-Roman date have appeared. It is therefore an appropriate time to publish the Ipswich material, which is undoubtedly one of the finest and largest collections in the country. The significance of discoveries from Ipswich has long been understood and is now presented as a printed and digital resource. The monograph draws on the international significance of Ipswich as a place of regional craft production over a long period. It examines trade and exchange (including the possible exchange of raw materials), cultural affinities, comparative technologies and broader questions of itinerancy and the concept of the collective workshop.

A volume presents a detailed study of the memory of ancient mosques in Djerba, with a well-illustrated corpus of 48 buildings to build the history of the Ibadites and their struggle for the preservation of their identity. The main source is Rasā’il d’al-Ḥīlātī (m. 1099/1688-1689), which demonstrates the importance of piety and study to these people. The very strong presence of religion is felt in the multiplicity of places of prayer and in the sacred meshwork of the island which al-Ḥīlātī demonstrates. At any time, in any place, whether it be by the tomb of a prestigious scholar, a small prayer square or a mosque, religion and respect for the ancestors are remembered by the faithful. An analysis of the buildings shows their particular infrastructure, with a defensive nature (buttresses, thick walls, defensive parapets, loopholds and machicolations) – demonstrating the presence of both internal struggles (between Wahbite Ibadies and Nukkārites) and external threats from Tunis or European powers. They defended their particularism in a Maghreb that is more and more Malikite and more and more Arabized.

Beneath the housing estates of Gaywood within the urban reach of modern King’s Lynn lies a former saltmarsh — Gaywood’s North Marsh — which once played an important role in the economic and physical development of this dynamic coastal and estuarine landscape. Focused on the eastern side of the Wash and to the north of an ancient inlet known as the Lyn, this marshland was rich in salt or ‘white gold’, gathered from the brine-saturated muds and processed using the post-Roman technique of sand-washing or sleeching. Often the only traces left behind of this once important coastal industry are the denuded hillocks or mounds representing the accumulated waste deposits associated with salt-winning, dozens of which have been mapped in this area. An opportunity to investigate several of these saltern mounds was prompted by the Lynnsport and Greenpark Avenue Primary School developments, leading to a three-year scheme of topographical survey, evaluation trenching and targeted excavation. Building on previous work by OA East at Marsh Lane, this volume provides a synthetic overview of the salt-making evidence utilising a suite of scientific techniques underpinned by historical research and Bayesian modelling to reconstruct the saltmarsh environment and how this changed over time. One of the key results has been firmly to establish that the sand-washing method was in use on the east coast of England as early as the Middle Saxon period (8th to 9th century), continuing into the medieval period and beyond in some places. A possible association with the Middle Saxon ‘productive’ site at Bawsey is explored, as is the more definite connection with the East Anglian bishops and bishops of Norwich, who once owned this land. Linked to this are the provision of labour, methods of transport and access to fuel. The contribution of salt-working to the economy, notably trade, is assessed as is the impact that this industrial scale of salt production had on the physical environment which ultimately led to piecemeal reclamation and the development of valuable tracts of grazing land. By the 12th century, salt-winning on Gaywood’s North Marsh was already in decline and by the 13th century its death knell was no doubt sounded by the diversion of the River Great Ouse into the Lyn: the fossilised salt-making landscape being recorded by the Gaywood Dragge survey of 1487. This narrative is further enhanced by comparison with similar records for sand-washing on the near continent, and a reconsideration of the evidence from the Lincolnshire side of the Wash.

Supplementary Exercises for Old Norse - Old Icelandic is a new volume in the Viking Language Old Norse Icelandic Series. A workbook of 17 lessons designed for those who want to learn or sharpen their skills in Old Norse with innovative exercises, word games, and map questions. With a full vocabulary and a free Answer Key at oldnorse. org. It also contains Old Norse readings drawn from the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok (recounting Ragnar’s attack on England and his death in the snake pit) and mythic passages from The Prose Edda describing a journey of the Norse gods, the great dragon´s treasure, and the magical ring of the dwarves. Supplementary Exercises master Old Norse.

This book shows how analysis of Scandinavian-influenced place-names in their landscape contexts can provide crucial new evidence of differing processes of Viking migration and settlement in East Anglia between the late ninth and eleventh centuries.The place-names of East Anglia have until now received little attention in the academic study of Viking settlement. Similarly, the question of a possible migration of settlers from Scandinavia during the Viking period was for many years dismissed by historians and archaeologists – until the recent discovery by metal-detectorists of abundant Scandinavian metalwork and jewellery in many parts of East Anglia. David Boulton has synthesised these two previously neglected elements to offer new insights into the processes of Viking settlement.This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Scandinavian-influenced place-names in East Anglia. It examines their different categories linguistically and explores the landscape and archaeological contexts of the settlements associated with them, with the aid of GIS-generated maps. Dr Boulton shows how the process of Viking settlement was influenced by changes in rural society and agriculture which were then already occurring in East Anglia, such as the late Anglo-Saxon expansion of arable farming and the associated recolonisation of the inland clay plateau. These developments resulted in patterns of place-name formation which differ significantly from some of the previously accepted, orthodox interpretations of how Scandinavian-influenced place-names (especially those containing the bý and thorp elements, and the ‘Grimston-hybrids’) came into being in the Danelaw.In view of these discrepancies, David Boulton proposes an innovative, hypothetical model for the formation of the Scandinavian-influenced place-names in East Anglia, which explores differing patterns and phases of Viking settlement in the region and the possible pathways of migration that preceded them.

Although household goods are a well-establish topic in Medieval and Early Modern archaeology, more recent research is overcoming simple typological and technological aspects and pointing to broader approaches, which relates to the understanding of goods’ production, consumption strategies, other economic activities and structures of social organization. Thus, the understanding of past societies and cultures relies heavily in the study of their household goods to understand people, groups and societies. In this context, the aim of the Ruralia XIV Conference was to emphasize the significance of household archaeology to the study of the European countryside in Medieval and Modern times under a cross-cultural approach. Detailed analysis of single contexts, small parts of sites, faunal, botanical and soil studies enables us to reconstruct common peoples’ activities and interactions within their homes. House functions can be detected by means of specific installations but also by inventories and location of goods, evidence for particular activities inside, such as cooking and eating, storage, weaving, refuse disposal, resting, etc. or by a comprehensive overview of outdoor surroundings. All this is evidence of functional purposes but it can also tell us about the rank and wealth of their owners, their daily lives, household compositions, family concepts and even gender statuses. Moreover, structural analysis can give evidence about spheres of interaction and patterned behaviours within a house. In different sections (archaeology and household; temporary households; living conditions; spatial structure; household objects and social and economic status) case studies across Europe are presented.

This book provides a comprehensive guide with detailed explanations, illustrations and photographs of late-7th century to 11th century Anglo-Saxon Churches and stone sculpture. It is divided into four parts.The first part includes an extensive glossary explaining the terms likely to be encountered, it explains Celtic and Roman Church practices and the Synod of Whitby, how Anglo-Saxon churches were established and their plans, and also provides a summary to the settlements of the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Hiberno-Norse in England. The second part provides a comprehensive description of the construction and architectural features of extant Anglo-Saxon Churches including their walling, plinths and quoining, archways, doorways, windows and belfry-openings of whatever shape or format or wherever their location. It also explains features such as string-courses, pilaster-strips, pilaster-buttresses, hood-moulding and strip-work. Also included are extant Anglo-Saxon stairways and crypts. Explanations are included on porticus, galleries, the use of rooms in towers, roofs, church seating and other furnishing, balusters and baluster-shafts.The third part provides a comprehensive description of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian Decoration on stonework. It details all the designs and patterns involved including those which also have scenes depicting creatures, beasts, birds, serpents and humans, figures, and scenes from Christianity and Norse Mythology. It explains and provides examples of the stonework on which these designs and patterns appear namely standing crosses, cross-heads, cross-shafts and cross-bases; grave-markers, grave-covers, grave-slabs and grave-memorials and crosses; sarcophagi and shrine chests; wall friezes and wall panels; fonts; and sundials. The fourth part provides an alphabetical list of 183 recommended churches and museums with summarised information on their individual architectural features, and/or stone sculpture. Many of the churches are further expanded in detail in the text in the second and third parts. Also provided is a page and photographic index of all the churches and museums where they are referred to in the text. All the places referred to in the text have been personally visited by the author.

Der Band versammelt Beiträge aus verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, die sich mentalen Konzepten, d.h. Vorstellungen oder Imaginationen der westeuropäischen mittelalterlichen Stadt widmen, die epochenübergreifend in unterschiedlichsten narrativen, diskursiven und visuellen Repräsentationen in Erscheinung treten. Stadt wird in den Beiträgen nicht nur als Teil der historischen Realität der Vormoderne betrachtet, sondern auch als fester Bestandteil des kulturellen Wissens und der kulturellen Erinnerung in den Blick genommen. In einer interdisziplinären Zusammenschau von Beiträgen aus den Bereichen Germanistik, Theologie, Archäologie, Geschichtswissenschaft und Kunstgeschichte werden mentale Konzepte der Stadt in unterschiedlichen medialen Formaten untersucht, darunter Stadtchroniken, säkulare Malerei, biblische Texte, mittelalterliche Stadtpläne und höfische Romane.Durch die Vielfalt der untersuchten medialen Formate sowie der divergenten hermeneutischen Auseinandersetzungen wird deutlich, dass die kulturellen Vorstellungen von Stadt und Urbanität durch historische Spezifika, aber auch durch überzeitliche Muster, Topoi und Bedeutungskonzepte geprägt sind, die vielfach in der Antike und in christlichen Traditionen wurzeln.English abstractThis volume brings together contributions from different academic disciplines that are dedicated to mental concepts, i.e. notions, ideas or imaginings of the western European medieval city, which appear across epochs in different discursive and visual representations. The papers discuss the city not only as a component of the historical reality of pre-modernity but also as a part of the fixed inventory of cultural knowledge and memory. In an interdisciplinary exchange between specialists of German studies, theology, archaeology, history and art history, mental concepts of the city are examined in different media formats, including city chronicles, secular painting, biblical texts, medieval city plans and courtly novels.Through the diversity of the examined formats and hermeneutical confrontations, it becomes apparent that the cultural ideas associated with the city and urbanity are not only shaped by historical specifics but also by supertemporal constants, which are frequently rooted in antiquity and Christian traditions.

Old Norse literature abounds with descriptions of magic acts that allow ritual specialists of various kinds to manipulate the world around them, see into the future or the distant past, change weather conditions, influence the outcomes of battles, and more. While magic practitioners are known under myriad terms, the most iconic of them is the völva. As the central figure of the famous mythological poem Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Völva), the völva commands both respect and fear. In non-mythological texts similar women are portrayed as crucial albeit somewhat peculiar members of society. Always veiled in mystery, the völur and their kind have captured the academic and popular imagination for centuries.Bringing together scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, this volume provides new insights into the reality of magic and its agents in the Viking world, beyond the pages of medieval texts. It explores new trajectories for the study of past mentalities, beliefs, and rituals as well as the tools employed in these practices and the individuals who wielded them. In doing so, the volume engages with several topical issues of Viking Age research, including the complex entanglements of mind and materiality, the cultural attitudes to animals and the natural world, and the cultural constructions of gender and sexuality. By addressing these complex themes, it offers a nuanced image of the völva and related magic workers in their cultural context. It will appeal to a broad, diverse, and international audience, including experts in the field of Viking and Old Norse studies but also various non-professional history enthusiasts.The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World is a key output of the project Tanken bag Tingene (Thoughts behind Things) conducted at the National Museum of Denmark from 2020 to 2023 and funded by the Krogager Foundation.

The Henry VII and Elizabeth of York marriage bed, rediscovered in 2010, is an exceptional piece of late medieval English royal furniture: no other equivalent example of secular domestic furniture is known to have survived, and, indeed, precious little woodwork from this period remains outside of ecclesiastical settings. As a tour-de-force of medieval royal woodwork, the bed offers an unprecedented insight into elite domestic furniture from this period.Since its rediscovery, the bed has been subjected to a wide array of investigation by furniture specialists, medieval historians, design historians and scientists. Emerging from a decade-long multidisciplinary research project, this book is the first sustained account of the bed: it shows how numerous disciplines covering the arts and conservation sciences can be brought together to assess and interpret such rare historic survivals.Broken down into thematic chapters, the book explores the bed’s form and structure, context, iconography, wood, paint, physical history, provenance – including its curious reproduction by George Shaw in Victorian England – and relationship with known surviving Tudor furniture, as well as Georgian and Victorian Gothic Revival beds. Although thought to be a 19th-century fake, this book presents historical, archival and scientific evidence to show, beyond doubt, the bed’s late medieval age.Whilst grounded upon research presented at a 2019 conference funded by the Institute of Conservation and held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the book incorporates additional historical and scientific discoveries made since the conference. Written by a range of scientists, historians and specialist researchers, this volume is a multi-disciplinary work of immeasurable value to readers from numerous disciplines.

Sir George Buc (1560-1622), one of the careful antiquarian scholars of the English Renaissance, is famous in literary history as Master of Revels under King James I, a position in which he was responsible for censorship of Shakespeare’s later plays. His own work has never received the attention and assessment it merits. In 1619 Sir George wrote The History of King Richard the Third, a study of Richard’s life and reign and a defence of his historical reputation against the Tudor chroniclers’ slanders. Sane, objective, and carefully documented, this work has taken over 350 years to reach us in the form the author intended. In the late 1960s-early 1970s Arthur Kincaid embarked on creating the first authentic edition of Sir George Buc’s History from the badly fire-damaged manuscript draft, now in the British Library. Thus, he uncovered Sir George Buc’s original scholarly work, which for centuries had suffered the infamy of having been plagiarized and distorted by his great-nephew, whose name was, coincidentally, George Buck. This book presents George Buc’s History, painstakingly reconstructed from the original text. In this edition Kincaid has thoroughly updated and revised his introduction, discussing Sir George’s position in the literary and scholarly world of his day, and tracing the mystery of the text’s transmission. Extensive notes document the facts of Richard’s reign and controversies surrounding them.

The College of St George at Windsor Castle was founded by Edward III in 1348 to support the newly created Order of the Garter, and to this day fulfils the same primary purpose. The domestic buildings provided for the Warden, Canons and Priest-Vicars – now the Deanery and Canons Cloister – are an astonishing survival: despite enlargement and alteration over the centuries, a significant amount of the mid-fourteenth-century fabric survives, though often hidden from view. A recent programme of refurbishment and conservation revealed much hitherto unknown evidence for the way the buildings were constructed, their fittings and decoration and their subsequent evolution. The author maintained a continuous ‘watching brief’ throughout the refurbishment works, the results of which are published here for the first time. The archaeological evidence is supplemented by the excellent survival of documentation, both for the initial construction of the buildings and their subsequent development: we know the precise date of each stage of construction, the cost and even the names of the workmen involved. The post-medieval history of the buildings is also highly significant, and for this period we have the benefit of knowing more about the deans and canons who influenced the ways their dwellings developed, and of a continued wealth of documentary evidence.

Sublime calligraphy, marvellous art, and amazing initials, have charmed and captivated the audience of the Book of Kells for over twelve hundred years. This remarkable illuminated Gospel book attracts the attention of scholars as well as those more generally interested in the fabulous artefacts of the past.Everybody knows it was made by an extensive team of scribes and artists. Donncha MacGabhann knew that too. However, he was certain that a thorough examination could clearly identify the various contributions of its creators.His life and work as an artist and teacher inspired the belief that a close visual study could solve some of its enduring puzzles. The deeper he delved, the more he was convinced that Kells is entirely the work of two individuals. This evolved into a novel paradigm through which he came to know and understand the manuscript. Following years of meticulous research, this book tells the story of Kells’ two Masters and their collaboration to create a Gospel book of unprecedented magnificence. Most poignantly, it reveals the struggle of the lone survivor of the two-man team to attempt the completion of their magnum opus.The most important outcomes of this book go far beyond the simple attribution of work to different hands. Much more significantly, it affords insights into the imagination which inspired its creators, especially the unique vision of Kells’ great Scribe-Artist. Collectively, these new perspectives reveal a previously unknown ‘Book of Kells,’ one which, as it were, has remained hidden in plain sight.Challenging long-held theories is no small matter, and in doing so this radical study attempts to be comprehensive. The abundance of evidence may at times seem extravagant in its detail, for both specialists and non-specialists. The reader is therefore encouraged to find their own path in exploring The Book of Kells – A Masterwork Revealed: Creators, Collaboration, and Campaigns.

Throughout history rivers have been a hub for human settlement and have long been a key part of local livelihoods, history and culture, as well as still playing a present-day role in providing services and leisure to people who live around them. It is no coincidence that all four of the earliest human civilisations were formed on great rivers: the Nile, Euphrates, Indus and Yellow rivers all saw great human aggregation along them. The most ancient and vital architectural structures linked to the use of rivers are bridges. There are a wide range of medieval bridge structures, some very simple in their construction, to amazing triumphs of design and engineering comparable with the great churches of the period. They stand today as proof of the great importance of transport networks in the Middle Ages and of the size and sophistication of the medieval economy. These bridges were built in some of the most difficult places, across broad flood plains, deep tidal waters, and steep upland valleys, and they withstood all but the most catastrophic floods. Yet their beauty, from simplistic to ornate, remains for us to appreciate. Medieval Bridges of Southern England has been organised geographically into tours, and covers the governmental regions of Southwest England, London, and Southeast England. There are exactly 100 bridges included. There is an introduction and background information about the medieval period of English history at the beginning and there are beautiful full colour photographs throughout the book.

This richly illustrated book presents the first comprehensive study of the making and marketing of pottery in medieval Ireland. Focusing on a well-preserved 14th-century pottery production centre which was excavated in 2006 at Highhays, outside the walls of the renowned Anglo-Norman town of Kilkenny in south-east Ireland, the authors describe its kiln, workshops and working areas, as well as its ‘Highhays Ware’ products: jugs, jars, cooking-pots, money-boxes and ridge tiles. Foremost amongst the outputs from the kiln site were high-quality, wheel-thrown, green-glazed jugs that were closely modelled on French Saintonge and Bristol Redcliffe archetypes and the volume describes the distinctive processes, kiln-firing technology and raw materials that were employed to produce these, and the other wares, represented on the site. The book also presents the results of an innovative plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis of Highhays Ware, which facilitated identification of the source for the raw potting clays areas – located at a considerable distance from Highhays in north county Kilkenny – used in its production, in addition to allowing for a study of the uncharacteristically broad distribution of the ware throughout the south-east of Ireland. The authors also place the production of pottery at Highhays in its broader context by presenting an overall review of the archaeological and historical evidence for pottery making and consumption in medieval Ireland, as well as by exploring the cultural background and social status of potters in the Anglo-Norman colony. Supporting the analysis and interpretation of the Highhays site and its assemblage are specialist and scientific contributions on the pottery, tiles, ceramic production material, metal finds, coins and archaeobotanical and animal bone remains from the site, archaeomagnetic and radiocarbon dating and plasma spectrometry and petrological analysis.