In the Medieval period, the idea of the crusade (or holy war/jihad) gained favor as a way firstly of freeing the Holy Land from Muslim control, it then degenerated into a justification for imposing western domination in Asia Minor. Crusades, therefore, always took place away from western Europe. However, in 1209, for the first time on Catholic Christian soil, a crusade was undertaken which lasted for over 30 years in southern France, with Simon de Montfort at its head. The crusade was against Cathar heretics, known also as Albigensians. This highly illustrated book details all the military and social consequences of what became a serious bloodletting. It also portrays the early career of Simon de Montfort, a character whose influence can still be felt down the centuries as the leader of the barons who made England's King John sign the Magna Carta.French Language

This volume explores long-term behavioural patterns and processes of change in hunter-gatherer societies from the Lower Palaeolithic to the present. In doing so, this volume questions the disciplinary distinctions between fine and coarse-grain understandings of hunter-gatherer societies in anthropology and archaeology and challenges the perception that these distinctions are inherent to the two disciplines. The volume brings together studies that specifically address long-term behavioural patterns in hunter-gatherer societies past and present. Some of the contributors also combine historical/archival data and archaeological evidence with anthropological work on contemporary hunter-gatherers. All the papers are based on case-studies that, taken together, cover a wide geographical and chronological range. They represent current research dynamics in anthropology and archaeology across the globe (North and South America, Europe and Australia), and a variety of theoretical perspectives. The papers range chronologically from the Lower Palaeolithic to the present, and encompass groups at various levels of complexity of social organisation and degrees of sedentism, interaction with farmers and 'pristine-ness'.

he medieval knight has a distinctive silhouette, despite the numerous legends which blur historical reality. At the turning point between the 12th and 13th centuries, while the feudal order was slowly disappearing in favor of the overwhelming royal will, some men stood apart from their contemporaries by their ability to fight on horses. They held the power and were considered little by little as the ruling class; they were the lords of the land. Thibaut des Puys de Morsaing, a young and poor bachelor, is about to achieve great success and become a rich land owner. Following his father's steps, who died during the Crusades, and his godfather's, Tristan de Maumesnil, he grasps the opportunities offered to him. The many events in the life of this imaginary character are used as a pretext to stage France's medieval society, from king Philippe Auguste to Saint Louis.

The Low Countries around the deltas of the river Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt have a long tradition in large scale archaeological research. This book brings together research from thirteen of the largest Bronze Age settlements described by their original excavators. These contributions are preceded by two introductory chapters written by the editors, providing a full overview of the state of Dutch Bronze Age settlement research, the key sites and the explanatory models current within it. Standards have been developed for the analysis of Bronze Age house plans and settlement sites and new models for the reading of the settled landscape. The rich data of the Low Countries also incorporate burial areas and deposition places. The findings presented can be seen to reflect the situation over a large area of lands bordering the North Sea.

The Cycladic Islands of Greece played a central role in Aegean prehistory, and many new discoveries have been made in recent years at sites ranging in date from the Mesolithic period to the end of the Bronze Age. In the well-illustrated chapters of this book, based on the recent conference held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, international scholars including leading Greek archaeologists offer new information about recent developments, many arising from hitherto unpublished excavations. The book contains novel theoretical insights into the workings of culture process in the prehistoric cultures of the islands. It will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars interested in the prehistory of the Aegean and in the contributions made to its development by the prehistoric inhabitants of the Cyclades.

These ten papers from two Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (2007) sessions bring together a growing body of new archaeological evidence in an attempt to reconsider the way in which the Roman army was provisioned. Clearly, the adequate supply of food was essential to the success of the Roman military. But what was the nature of those supply networks? Did the army rely on imperial supply lines from the continent, as certainly appears to be the case for some commodities, or were provisions requisitioned from local agricultural communities? If the latter was the case, was unsustainable pressure placed on such resources and how did local communities respond? Alternatively, did the early stages of conquest include not only the development of a military infrastructure, but also an effective supply-chain network based on contracts? Beyond the initial stages of conquest, how were provisioning arrangements maintained in the longer term, did supply chains remain static or did they change over time and, if so, what precipitated those changes? Addressing such questions is critical if we are to understand the nature of Roman conquest and the extent of interaction between indigenous communities and the Roman army. Case studies come from Roman Britain (Alchester, Cheshire, Dorset), France, the Netherlands and the Rhine Delta, looking at evidence from animal products, military settlements, the size of cattle, horses, pottery and salt. The editors also provide a review of current research and suggest a future agenda for economic and environmental research.

Until now the old religions of Britain have only been looked at in a piecemeal way. This book presents a detailed and focused investigation of the religion of the Dobunni and the Hwicce peoples who occupied the Severn valley and the Cotswolds immediately before and after the Roman occupation. It uncovers some secrets of the old religion of Britain that have lain hidden in reams of unconnected and largely forgotten information, from a variety of sources. The first part of the book concerns the deification of the natural world; the second, the deities of the tribal groups. It explores the deities of the different areas of the Dobunnic/Hwiccan territory; identifying the goddess of the Cotswolds, and describes how the worship manifested itself. Yeates demonstrates how the deification of rivers was important and how this has led to the location of a number of ancient river shrines as well as the identification of a number of monumental arrangements used by the peoples in their religious activities and folk-group identity; numerous recognisably pre-Old English folk-names are also shown to relate specifically to river-names, town-names, and folk-group-names. The religious use of the hill-forts, of which there are so many dotted over the landscape, and their shrines is discussed. These are connected with mineral extraction, warfare, nemetons, and sacred groves. The use for standing totems and burial practices is also covered. Once the associations are made between deity, river, and folk-group, and all other aspects of religion have been discussed the deity who resided over the Dobunni is revealed. Her cult, which was evident in the major Roman towns, can be traced back into the Iron Age, and can be identified as the inspiration for the tribal name Hwicce . This shows an element of continuity in British culture, not recognised previously because of the assumed obliteration of British culture due to the extent, success, and longevity of the Roman occupation and Anglo-Saxon migration. Understanding the tribal goddess also explains why this people were "the tribe of witches". Finally, it is recognised that these gods did not perish but persisted in medieval legends, traditions and place-names. Although at its core this is a study of two British tribes, the work will have a major impact on the understanding of pre-Christian religion not only in Britain but also in Western Europe generally.

These fifteen papers came out of the eighth annual meeting of the Iron Age Research Student Seminar (IARSS) and are loosely grouped into three topics: settlement studies, deposition and material culture, and experimental archaeology. Most of the studies are re-examinings of well known data sets, such as hillforts, small enclosures and bone assemblages, both human and animal. They are mainly focused on the British Iron Age - one of the most heterogeneous and regionally distinctive periods in British prehistory. Material culture is highly variable, as are settlement patterns, and even chronology is of an entirely local character, being reliant on typological sequences from each region's specific archaeological record. The book ends with the recounting of a trip to the Iron Age village at St. Fagan's, Cardiff - a practical foray into the Iron Age day-to-day.

Living Well Together investigates the development of the Neolithic in southeast and central Europe from 6500-3500 cal BC with special reference to the manifestations of settling down. A collection of reports and comments on recent fieldwork in the region, Living Well Together? provides 14 tightly written and targeted papers presenting interpretive discussions from important excavations and reassessments of our understanding of the Neolithic. Each paper makes a significant contribution to existing knowledge about the period, and the book, like its companion (Un)settling the Neolithic (Oxbow 2005) will be a benchmark text for work in this region. The reports in Living Well Together? play out the critical questions posed in the earlier volume: how should one interpret settlement; what of the difference between tells and flat sites; what do we mean by permanent occupation; can we avoid the assumptions that underlie claims for year-round residence or seasonal occupation; why, in some regions and at some times, did people maintain residence for so many generations that monumental tell settlements grew to dominate the visual and social landscape; what would a viewshed analysis of tells reveal; what are the dynamics of households in Neolithic Greece; how should we see the emergence of pottery in terms of material culture; and what were the origins of the LBK, and how can we understand its development? The volume's authors have succeeded in attacking existing thought, in provoking new discussion and in creating new paths to understanding the nature of human existence in the Neolithic. Together they set a new agenda for studying the Neolithic across and beyond southeastern and central Europe.

Two reports are published in this volume: excavations in 2003 at Blenheim Farm, Moreton-in-Marsh (by Jonathan Hart and Mary Alexander) and excavations in 2004 at 21 Church Road, Bishop's Cleeve (by Kate Cullen and Annette Hancocks). Significant remains recorded at Moreton-in-Marsh include a Middle Bronze Age settlement of four post-built circular structures partly enclosed by a segmented ditch, and a series of medieval fields and paddocks with a possible sheepcote structure. A Middle Palaeolithic handaxe was also recovered. The Iron Age and medieval remains recorded at Bishop's Cleeve add to our understanding of past settlement in and around the village, where extensive development has resulted in a number of significant excavations in recent years.

Burial Mounds of Bahrain - Social Complexity in Early Dilmun

Table of Contents Préface (par Eva Cantarella) Avant-propos I. Sources du Droit 1. La loi dans lantiquité 2. Droit ptolé´maï¿que 3. Prostagmata et diagrammata 4. Lordonnance sur les cultures? II. La justice à luvre 5. Adikia 6. La justice des Lagides 7. Continuités égyptiennes 8. Un partage de competences 9. Une préhistoire des droits de lhomme III. Délits et sanctions 10. Lhomicide 11. Le prix du sang 12. La délation 13. Le délit religieux 14. Linjure verbale 15. Lapostasie 16. Lapotympanismos IV. Actes privés 17. Le document privé?: essai dune taxonomie 18. La famille en droit hellénistique? 19. La famille?: le témoignage des lettres privées 20. La famille : pères et FIls V. Continuités grecques dans le monde romain 21. Comment être Grec en Égypte sous lempire?? 22. La décade contre lhebdomade 23. Les titulatures impériales 24. Un empire universel

What an exceptional destiny was that of Matilda ! Born in Flanders in her her father, the Count Baldwin V's castle, she was introduced to William of Normandy who she was later to marry around 1050. She was far from imagining, on her wedding day, that she would one day be the Queen of a kingdom as powerful as, if not more than the kingdom of France or the Holy Gemanic Empire. From her union with William, she gave birth to a least ten children, two of whom were to become King. Designated Regent of Normandy during the Norman Conquest, she was later crowned Queen of the new Anglo-Norman Kingdomù, thus becoming one of the most influencial of William's companions. Whilst living a wise and exemplary life, this Queen of legendary discretion, managed to assert herself among her contemporaries, for whom she was an abiding source of praise.

This full color booklet tells the story of the origins of the Vikings through their assaults on Europe to the various established societies they created.There is information on Viking art, on runes on their constant quest for new territories and many other aspects of the story of this extraordinary people.

The authors present a version of the Battle of Orleans that Joan of Arc was the main actor, based on several essential sources. These give a picture overnight what was this terrible battle. Discussed here: the political context, the situation of the city, military science of the time, as well as biographies of French and English captains present at the battle.