Pro statu et incolumnitate regni mei: royal monastic patronage 1066–1154

1982 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 99-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Mason
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Church ◽  
Monastic Patronage

Dangers to the cohesion of the Anglo-Norman regnum correlate to a marked extent with the fluctuating patronage extended by the Anglo-Norman kings towards Westminster Abbey, and other religious houses, in their search for one which would symbolize and enhance the stability of their dynasty.Westminster itself had royal connections from the outset. The original church of St Peter, on Thorney Island in the Thames, to the west of London, was founded by Saebert, king of the East Saxons, and his wife Ethelgoda.’ The couple were allegedly buried there early in the seventh century, but it was some four hundred and fifty years before further royal burials took place in St Peter’s The church was restored by Offa of Essex in the early years of the eighth century, and c959 king Edgar sold it to Dunstan, who founded a monastery on the site. Edgar gave several manors to this abbey, and Aethelred II gave or confirmed others. Less exalted donors followed suit, and the house was already fairly prosperous when Harold I Harefoot was buried there in 1040. His successor and half-brother Harthacnut, is said to have had his body thrown out.

St Symeon the New Theologian (969-1022): Byzantine spiritual renewal in search of a precedent

1997 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 75-90
Author(s):  
John Anthony McGuckin
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
The West ◽  
Conference Theme ◽  
Autobiographical Accounts ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Church

St Symeon the New Theologian is, without question, one of the most original and intriguing writers of medieval Byzantium. Indeed, although still largely unknown in the West, he is surely one of the greatest of all Christian mystical writers; not only for the remarkable autobiographical accounts he gives of several visions of the divine light, but also for the passionate quality of his exquisite Hymns of Divine Love, the remarkable intensity of his pneumatological doctrine, and the corresponding fire he brings to his preaching of reform in the internal and external life of the Church. He was a highly controversial figure in his own day. His disciples venerated him as a saint who had returned to the roots of the Christian tradition and personified its repristinization. His opponents, who secured his deposition and exile, regarded him as a dangerously unbalanced incompetent who, by overstressing the value of personal religious fervour, had endangered the stability of that tradition. The Vita which we possess was composed in 1054, in an attempt to rehabilitate Symeon’s memory and prepare for the return of his relics to the capital from which he had been expelled when alive. This paper will investigate how he himself understood and appropriated aspects of the earlier tradition (particularly monastic spirituality), hoping to elucidate why he felt himself inspired to reformist zeal, and why many of his contemporaries (not simply his ‘worldly opponents’ as his hagiographer would have us believe) regarded him as unbalanced. It will end by attempting some reflection on what the controversy reveals on the larger front about how the Church ‘selectively looks back on itself, so to paraphrase our president’s description of the conference theme, and whether the model of tradition and its reception exemplified in this Byzantine writer can offer anything to the dialogue between history and theology which the doctrine of Tradition (Paradosis) inevitably initiates.

Language, ‘Native Agency’, and Missionary Control: Rufus Anderson’s Journey to India, 1854-5

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Andrew Porter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
General Principle ◽  
West Indies ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The West ◽  
Foreign Missions ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
The Church ◽  
Local Leaders

In the early years of the modern missionary movement there were many influences which turned minds towards support for the general principle and practice of reliance on ‘native agency’. Strategies of conversion such as those of the London Missionary Society and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at work in the Pacific, which aimed at kings or other influential local leaders, at least implicitly allotted important roles to the leadership and example of highly-placed converts. Awareness of the scale of the missionary task in densely-populated regions, contrasted with the limits of the western missionary input, pointed to the need for delegation as quickly as possible. The Serampore missionaries, Alexander Duff and Charles Gutzlaff, all travelled early down that road. Financial crisis – manifested either locally as Dr John Philip found in South Africa, or centrally as when the Church Missionary Society decided in the early 1840s to withdraw from the West Indies - prompted inevitable questions about the possibilities for deployment of local agents, who were far cheaper than Europeans.

What Did Conversion to Islam Mean in Seventh-Century Arabia?

Islamisation ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Harry Munt
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conversion To Islam ◽  
Church Father ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
The Church

In a late seventh- or very early eighth-century Coptic homily anachronistically attributed to the church father Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373), it is lamented that, following the Arab conquest of Egypt in the early 640s, ‘many Christians, Barbarians, Greeks, Syrians and from all tribes will go and join them in their faith’.1 This prophecy comes across as somewhat hysterical to many modern observers – at least within its seventh-or eighth-century context – since it is now the generally accepted consensus of historians that the processes through which the inhabitants of the conquered territories of the Middle East converted to Islam were extremely gradual and persisted for centuries. Monumental changes to the political, social and religious life of many communities in this region came in the decades and centuries after the conquests – developments to which many non-Muslims fully contributed – but Muslim-majority populations are not thought to have emerged widely until the ninth or tenth centuries at the very earliest.

The Early Medieval Textiles at Maaseik, Belgium

1985 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mildred Budny ◽  
Dominic Tweddle
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
The West ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western European ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article offers an account of the components, the structure and the history of the so-calledcasulaandvelaminaof Sts Harlindis and Relindis preserved at the Church of St Catherine at Maaseik in Belgium as relics of the two sisters who founded the nearby abbey of Aldeneik (where the textiles were kept throughout the Middle Ages). The compositecasulaof Sts Harlindis and Relindis includes the earliest surviving group of Anglo-Saxon embroideries, dating to the late eighth century or the early ninth. Probably similarly Anglo-Saxon, a set of silk tablet-woven braids brocaded with gold associated with the embroideries offers a missing link in the surviving corpus of Anglo-Saxon braids. The ‘David silk’ with its Latin inscription and distinctly western European design dating from the eighth century or the early ninth offers a rare witness to the art of silk-weaving in the West at so early a date. Thevelamenof St Harlindis, more or less intact, represents a remarkable early medieval vestment, garment or cloth made up of two types of woven silk cloths, tablet-woven braids brocaded with gold, gilded copper bosses, pearls and beads. Thevelamenof St Relindis, in contrast, represents the stripped remains—reduced to the lining and the fringed ends—of another composite textile. Originally it was probably luxurious, so as to match the two other composite early medieval textile relics from Aldeneik. As a whole, the group contributes greatly to knowledge of early medieval textiles of various kinds.

The Overland Route across Anatolia in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries B.C.

1961 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 185-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Birmingham
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The West ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
Syrian Coast

An overland route by which oriental merchandise and ideas were transmitted to the Ionian Greeks via the Anatolian plateau and the river valley routes of the west was long ago posited by Hogarth, and supported by Karo, Barnett and others, although there was little evidence from central Anatolia to confirm it. More recently this route was virtually discounted in favour of a sea route from N. Syria, especially Carchemish, through the port of Al Mina, to Greece and Etruria, via Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete, discussed by Sidney Smith, Humphrey Payne, Mrs. Maxwell-Hyslop and others, which is assumed to have been at its height in the earlier eighth century; and Barnett has also shown the importance of a third route, from Azerbaijan to Trebizond and west via the Black Sea, for which the main evidence, a tomb group from the Caucasus, is probably later seventh century.It is clear that the second of these three routes carried the bulk of Oriental trade to Greece and the west. Undoubtedly the most important Orientalizing influences on Greece, as shown by Payne, were those from the Cypro-Levantine cultural province, and there is ample evidence of the exchange of pottery, terracottas and ornamental bronzes of Cypriot and Phoenician production between the Syrian coast, Cyprus, Rhodes, Samos, Miletus, Chios, Delos and the west.

scholarly journals Prostor i funkcije sakristije u ranokršćanskom razdoblju na primjeru zadarskoga episkopalnog sklopa

Ars Adriatica ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Ana Mišković
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The West ◽  
Additional Function ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Byzantine Architecture ◽  
East End ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Church

The sacristy is an ancillary but also a necessary liturgical space in every religious complex. Judging from late-antique and early-medieval written records, a chamber adjacent to the façade or the east end (frequently one of the pastophoria) of the main congregational church had the function of a sacristy. In the regions practising the Western rite, the sacristy was located next to the church façade. It housed liturgical vessels, ecclesiastical objects, liturgical vestments for the clergy and books. The sacristy was the place where priests were robed for the eucharistic celebration and from which they emerged in the solemn procession marking the beginning of the service. In the West, the sacristy was not the place where the gifts of the congregation were accepted; instead, they brought them to the church’s chancel screen. on the other hand, in the east, the additional function of the sacristy was that of the place where gifts were presented (prothesis). Therefore, the congregation had access to it so that they could deposit their offerings which the clergy then carried to the altar. In any case, in the West and east alike, there was no separate room set aside exclusively for the offerings of the congregation. In fact, it cannot be said that the prothesis and diaconicon – the chambers flanking the presbytery – had the function of a sacristy at this point because they appeared in Byzantine architecture only in the early middle ages. Constantinopolitan sources confirm that a liturgical reform took place between the first three decades of the eighth century, that is, the office of Patriarch Germanus i, and the mid-tenth century reign of emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus: the previously unified liturgical function of the sacristy split into two. Therefore, the application of the terms prothesis and diaconicon to the chambers (pastophoria) flanking the main apse in early Christian architecture should be discarded.  Focusing on the example of the chamber situated next to the façade of the early Christian Cathedral in the episcopal complex at Zadar, it can be noted that its architecture and function were that of a sacristy, especially if one compares it to liturgical documents from Rome (Ordines romani). This chamber and its location are interpreted on the basis of the historical records of local chroniclers who mention a custom of offerings – the so-called Varina – during the office of Bishop Felix, and all of this, taken together, suggests that in the earliest Christian times the Church of Zadar practised a romanstyle Westernrite.

Excursus I

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney H. Griffith
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Systematic Theology ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Trinity

Greek and Syriac texts dating back to the late seventh century CE bear the earliest notices of emergent Islam recorded by Christians living in the conquered territories of the Levant. Formal conversations between representative Muslims and Christians were recorded in written notices by the early years of the eighth century. Theological treatises written by Christians first appeared also in the eighth century. This article examines Christian theology in the first ʿAbbāsid century and the relationship between Christianity and Islam throughout the period. It looks at the doctrine of the Trinity as a centrepiece of Arab Christian theology in the first ʿAbbāsid century and its role in the burgeoning systematic theology of the contemporary Muslimmutakallimūn. It also discusses a notable development in Islamic religious discourse in two places: Damascus in Syria and Baχra in Iraq.

Modernizing St Cuthbert: Reginald of Durham’s Miracle Collection

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 179-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Crumplin
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Current Position ◽  
Religious Observance ◽  
Monastic Community ◽  
Difficult Situations ◽  
The Church

Around 1200, the Church of St Cuthbert in Durham produced an illustrated copy of Bede’s Life of St Cuthbert. Opulently decorated with illustrations rich in colour and gold, this book crowned a century that had seen Cuthbert’s church grow in power and stability. After the seventh-century Northumbrian golden age, centuries of upheaval had characterized the Cuthbertine church: it changed immensely in location and religious observance, moving across Northumbria and adapting the community to suit difficult situations. By contrast, the twelfth century saw the building of the imposing Durham cathedral and castle, and the ornamentation of the church with many riches. The church was led by a sequence of very influential bishops and a thriving monastic community. This power and prosperity of the Durham church was marked at the start and end of the twelfth century with great manifestations of Cuthbert’s cult. An illustrated Life of Cuthbert was produced in the early years of the century; in 1104 Cuthbert’s body was translated into its current position in the cathedral and found to be just as incorrupt as it had been in 698, eleven years after his death; several hagiographical works on the cult and church were produced during this century; and its end was marked with the beautifully illustrated Bedan Life. Cult and church were intrinsically linked, and provided the basis upon which Durham’s twelfth-century power was built – a power which was to continue into the ensuing centuries.

scholarly journals On Tendentious Records in the Continuatio Prosperi Hauniensis

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Sergeevich Kozlov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Social Orientation ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The West ◽  
Imperial Power ◽  
Isidore Of Seville ◽  
The Stability

This research reveals the features of ideological, political, and partly social orientation of the anonymous compilations formed in Italy (most likely shortly after 636 AD) and known as Continuatio Prosperi Hauniensis, which were the mixture of a chronicle, a duplicate of excerpts from numerous consular lists of the Roman Empire, and a brief overview of the rule of the Ostrogothic and Lombard kings. The author’s attention is focused on the composition of the part of the “Continuation of Prosper” beginning with the events of the mid-fifth century. It is shown that the records saved all the features of a late antique chronicle, though the content uncovers obvious signs of imperfection and confused and incomplete editing (especially in the sections describing the disappearance of the imperial power in the West). On the contrary, the notes on the Lombard Period are clear and consistent in conceptuality. The data in this section of the records are definitely compiled by a single author who worked in the seventh century, most likely in Pavia (the main residence of the Lombard kings), and sought to reflect in his work the need to reconcile contemporary Italian elite with the leaders of barbarian conquerors. According to this anonymous compiler, the stability of the situation in Italy no longer depended on the empire, but rather on the barbarian rulers, who were mostly skilled and pragmatic warriors and politicians. In contrast to a number of sixth and seventh century chroniclers and historians, the compiler does not share the views of Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, and John of Biclar, who advocated the use of force as the main means to achieve stability. He was closer to the “pacification” policy personified by Pope Gregory the Great.

Dis-integration, 400–600

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Old Order ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

Ever since Edward Gibbon wrote his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire the question why, when and indeed whether this great Roman Empire fell has been vigorously pursued by historians. It has been observed that at least 210 explanations have been offered, some frankly ridiculous (‘Semitization’, homosexuality, decline in manliness). The argument that it was the barbarian invasions that destroyed Rome – both the city and its empire – lost favour and has returned to favour. Some historians have insisted that the whole concept of the ‘fall of Rome’ is a misconception, and have emphasized the continuity of the Roman inheritance. Yet from a Mediterranean perspective, it is abundantly clear that the unity of the Great Sea had been shattered by 800. That leaves several centuries in which to place the process of disintegration, and several suspects: the Germanic barbarians in the fifth century and after, the Arab conquerors in the seventh century, Charlemagne and his Frankish armies in the eighth century, not to mention internal strife as Roman generals competed for power, either seeking regional dominions or the crown of the empire itself. Evidently there was no single ‘cause’ for the decline of Rome, and it was precisely the accumulation of dozens of problems that brought the old order to an end, rupturing the ‘Second Mediterranean’. During the long period from 400 to 800, the Mediterranean split apart economically and also politically: the Roman emperors saw that the task of governing the Mediterranean lands and vast tracts of Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube exceeded the capacity of one man. Diocletian, ruling from 284 onwards, based himself in the east at Nikomedeia, and entrusted the government of the empire to a team of co-emperors, first another ‘Augustus’ in the west, and then, from 293 to 305, two deputies or ‘Caesars’ as well, a system known as the Tetrarchy.

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