The Tomb Monument of Katherine, Daughter of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence (1253–7)

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 169-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Badham ◽  
Sophie Oosterwijk

An English princess of the mid-thirteenth century, dead by the age of three and a half, Katherine occupies only a footnote in the history of England. Yet the costly tomb monument at Westminster Abbey provided by her grieving father, Henry iii, was probably the earliest recorded memorial to a child known to have been set up in England. It may also have been part of Henry's response to the commemoration programme that his brother-in-law, Louis ix of France, had instigated. Nothing now apparently remains of Katherine's tomb to remind posterity of her brief existence, but its commissioning marked a step up in Henry's growing ambition to be seen as an innovator at the forefront of the artistic developments of his age, and the story surrounding its provision affords insights into the role of display and material culture in Henrician politics.

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-313
Author(s):  
Enver Hasani

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has played a role of paramount importance in the country’s recent history. The author uses a comparative analysis to discuss the role of the Court in light of the work and history of other European constitutional courts. This approach sheds light on the Court’s current role by analyzing Kosovo’s constitutional history, which shows that there has been a radical break with the past. This approach reveals the fact that Kosovo’s current Constitution does not reflect the material culture of the society of Kosovo. This radical break with the past is a result of the country’s tragic history, in which case the fight for constitutionalism means a fight for human dignity. In this battle for constitutionalism, the Court has been given very broad jurisdiction and a role to play in paving the way for Kosovo to move toward Euro-Atlantic integration in all spheres of life. Before reaching this conclusion, the author discusses the specificities of Kosovo’s transition, comparing it with other former communist countries. Among the specific features of constitutionalism in Kosovo are the role and position of the international community in the process of constitution-making and the overall design of constitutional justice in Kosovo. Throughout the article, a conclusion emerges that puts Kosovo’s Constitutional Court at the forefront of the fight for the rule of law and constitutionalism of liberal Western provenance.


Author(s):  
Rodney Harrison

The focus of this article is stone tools. The history of stone tool research is linked integrally to the history of archaeology and the study of the human past, and many of the early developments in archaeology were connected with the study of stone artefacts. The identification of stone tools as objects of prehistoric human manufacture was central to the development of nineteenth-century models of prehistoric change, and especially the Three Age system for Old World prehistory. This article draws on concepts derived from interdisciplinary material culture studies to consider the role of the artefact after being discarded. It suggests that it is impossible to understand the meaning or efficacy of stone tools without understanding their ‘afterlives’ following abandonment. This article aims to complement contemporary metrical studies of the identification of stone tools and the description of their production. A brief history of the stone tools is explained and this concludes the article.


Author(s):  
Dinesh K. Gupta

Traditionally, the thrust of library and information managers was on managing in-house technical operations of the libraries without taking much consideration of the outside world. However, during the last two-three decades there have been many changes in library's overall external environment that have affected the internal environment and management of libraries and their services to a great extent. Earlier, more emphasis was on developing the libraries for the future rather than meeting the present information needs of users, but now users are more demanding; they have higher expectations from libraries, and they compare value/benefits received every time in comparison to efforts they have put into getting the desired information/information service(s)/product(s). As such, the interest of information professionals in marketing library services has been rising. Marketing can simply be defined as an approach that integrates external environment and internal environment in understanding and satisfying customer needs. In service organizations, management and marketing integrates and good service are not different from good marketing efforts. In other words, in-service set up marketing is the state of mind and management is a way forward to actions. The creation of Section on Management and Marketing in IFLA at the international level signifies such importance and integration of management and marketing in recent times. Rejean Savard (2006) describes the history of the Section and reviews its activities in the initial years. The chapter emphasizes recent activities and contributions of the IFLA Section on Management and Marketing Section in encouraging good marketing efforts in libraries the world over.


Abgadiyat ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-35
Author(s):  
Hamdi Abbas Ahmed Abd-EI-Moniem

Abstract Some may believe that the history of mankind begins with the appearance of writing only a few several thousands of years ago (cf. 4000-3000 BCE). Our history, however, extends beyond that date millions of years. The history of mankind, indeed, is deeply rooted in the remote past which is called 'prehistory'. With the lacking of any form of writing, this 'prehistoric' period can be examined directly solely by recourse to the study of archaeological remains. The purpose of this account is to introduce rock art to the readers and show the significant role of this sort of archaeological material in studying the history of mankind before the appearance of written records. The current work, therefore, is divided into three main sections: the first deals with definition of rock art and its nature; the second section is devoted to showing the significance of this aspect of material culture in exploring a long and mysterious period of the early history of man characterized by the complete absence of written records or historical documents; the third and last section, which is a vital and integral part of this work, comprises an explanatory pictorial record to promote the understanding of prehistoric rock art as a source of information needed for writing the history of prehistory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Sarah-Maria Schober

Abstract This essay shows that early modern practices that used human bodily matter cannot be – as hitherto – explained by the absence of the emotion of disgust nor as being conducted in spite of disgust. Instead, it proposes to read those practices’ changing history as part of the history of the ‘paradox of disgust’. Four case studies (on anatomy, excrement, mummies and skulls) demonstrate that disgust was highly productive: it attracted fascination, allowed physicians to fashion themselves, and was even believed capable of healing. Over time and for complex reasons, however, the productive side of disgust declined. Combining current approaches in the history of emotions and material culture studies, this essay sets out not only to propose a new narrative for the changing role of disgust in early modern science and societies, but also to explore how variations in settings and human intervention changed the way emotions were used and perceived.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Nurullo Tursunov ◽  

The article aims to study the ethnographic status of the studied region, the impact of historical events on ethno-cultural processes, the role of socio-political processes in the material culture of the region's population based on historical and ethnographic materials


Author(s):  
Peter N. Miller

Cultural history is increasingly informed by the history of material culture—the ways in which individuals or entire societies create and relate to objects both mundane and extraordinary—rather than on textual evidence alone. Books such as The Hare with Amber Eyes and A History of the World in 100 Objects indicate the growing popularity of this way of understanding the past. This book uncovers the forgotten origins of our fascination with exploring the past through its artifacts by highlighting the role of antiquarianism—a pursuit ignored and derided by modem academic history—in grasping the significance of material culture. From the efforts of Renaissance antiquarians, who reconstructed life in the ancient world from coins, inscriptions, seals, and other detritus, to amateur historians in the nineteenth century working within burgeoning national traditions, the book connects collecting—whether by individuals or institutions—to the professionalization of the historical profession, one which came to regard its progenitors with skepticism and disdain. The struggle to articulate the value of objects as historical evidence, then, lies at the heart both of academic history writing and of the popular engagement with things. Ultimately, this book demonstrates that our current preoccupation with objects is far from novel and reflects a human need to re-experience the past as a physical presence.


Author(s):  
Eva Kaptijn ◽  
Marc Waelkens

This chapter discusses the settlement evolution in the territory of Sagalassos (south-west Turkey) from the start of the Byzantine period until the thirteenth century when Sagalassos was ultimately abandoned and habitation moved to new locations in and around the modern village of Ağlasun. Problems regarding the archaeological recognition characterize the Byzantine material culture of the region. Recent excavations at Sagalassos together with focused ceramic studies and ongoing intensive surveys are changing this and providing insights into a history of habitation that is not uniform within the territory and that is sometimes at odds with processes occurring in Anatolia at large.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-222
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Bahl

Abstract Persian narrative sources provide a colorful picture of Mughal courtly life, but in order to zoom in on cultural practices one has to turn to the artefacts of cultural pursuits. This article studies one specimen of the empirical treasure trove of Arabic manuscripts in South Asia in order to approach a lacuna in Mughal scholarship: the role of Arabic at the Mughal court. In the following, I will analyze the different paratextual layers of a manuscript of the thirteenth century Arabic grammar commentary Sharḥ al-Radī by Radī al-Dīn al-Astarābādhī to study its reading and transmission. The manuscript version represents a written artefact, which emerged out of a series of intellectual engagements. On the one hand, these textual engagements offer a perspective on the manuscript’s initial owner, Saʿd Allāh Khān (d. 1656), and his intellectual pursuits, as well as the scholarly framework in which he was brought up and worked in. On the other hand, the history of this manuscript’s circulation highlights the treatment of Arabic written artefacts at Shāh Jahān’s court. In an exemplary manner, the manuscript’s history of circulation demonstrates how courtly elites engaged with Arabic during the seventeenth century.


2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 20121164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M. Kasumovic ◽  
Frank Seebacher

Conspicuous traits, such as weaponry and body size, are often correlated with fitness. By contrast, we understand less about how inconspicuous physiological traits affect fitness. Not only is linking physiology directly to fitness a challenge, but in addition, behavioural studies most often focus on resting or basal metabolic rates, resulting in a poor understanding of how active metabolic rates affect fitness. Here we use the golden orb-web spider ( Nephila plumipes ), a species for which proximity to a female on the web predicts a male's paternity share, to examine the role of resting and active metabolic rates in fitness. Using a semi-natural experimental set-up, we show that males closer to a female have higher active metabolic rates than males further from females. This higher metabolic activity is paralleled by increased citrate synthase activity, suggesting greater mitochondrial densities. Our results link both higher active metabolic rates and increased citrate synthase activity with fitness. Coupled with the behaviour and life history of N. plumipes , these results provide insight into the evolution of physiological systems.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document