Good and Bad Plants in Merovingian Francia

Author(s):  
Paolo Squatriti

This chapter shows that human–plant interactions between 500 and 750 in the Frankish area were just as dynamic as such relationships had been in earlier epochs in the same regions. It suggests that Merovingian botanical history, the changes and continuities in crop regimes and weed populations, as well as people’s evaluation of the goodness or badness of plants, both reflected and drove changes in rural settlement, production, and culture. To demonstrate plants’ influential contribution, the chapter analyzes not only written sources from the period, but it also investigates the archaeobotanical traces of certain plants. Juxtaposing the two kinds of sources reveals some incongruities but confirms the centrality of the botanical world in Merovingian Francia.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Sh M Khapizov ◽  
M G Shekhmagomedov

The article is devoted to the study of inscriptions on the gravestones of Haji Ibrahim al-Uradi, his father, brothers and other relatives. The information revealed during the translation of these inscriptions allows one to date important events from the history of Highland Dagestan. Also we can reconsider the look at some important events from the past of Hidatl. Epitaphs are interesting in and of themselves, as historical and cultural monuments that needed to be studied and attributed. Research of epigraphy data monuments clarifies periodization medieval epitaphs mountain Dagestan using record templates and features of the Arabic script. We see the study of medieval epigraphy as one of the important tasks of contemporary Caucasian studies facing Dagestani researchers. Given the relatively weak illumination of the picture of events of that period in historical sources, comprehensive work in this direction can fill gaps in our knowledge of the medieval history of Dagestan. In addition, these epigraphs are of great importance for researchers of onomastics, linguistics, the history of culture and religion of Dagestan. The authors managed to clarify the date of death of Ibrahim-Haji al-Uradi, as well as his two sons. These data, the attraction of written sources and legends allowed the reconstruction of the events of the second half of the 18th century. For example, because of the epidemic of plague and the death of most of the population of Hidatl, this society noticeably weakened and could no longer maintain its influence on Akhvakh. The attraction of memorable records allowed us to specify the dates of the Ibrahim-Haji pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, as well as the route through which he traveled to these cities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 537 ◽  
pp. 49-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Davidson ◽  
JN Griffin ◽  
C Angelini ◽  
F Coleman ◽  
RL Atkins ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Funk

In the history of botany, Adam Zalužanský (d. 1613), a Bohemian physician, apothecary, botanist and professor at the University of Prague, is a little-known personality. Linnaeus's first biographers, for example, only knew Zalužanský from hearsay and suspected he was a native of Poland. This ignorance still pervades botanical history. Zalužanský is mentioned only peripherally or not at all. As late as the nineteenth century, a researcher would be unaware that Zalužanský’s main work Methodi herbariae libri tres actually existed in two editions from two different publishers (1592, Prague; 1604, Frankfurt). This paper introduces the life and work of Zalužanský. Special attention is paid to the chapter “De sexu plantarum” of Zalužanský’s Methodus, in which, more than one hundred years before the well-known De sexu plantarum epistola of R. J. Camerarius, the sexuality of plants is suggested. Additionally, for the first time, an English translation of Zalužanský’s chapter on plant sexuality is provided.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Liarou

The article argues that the working-class realism of post-WWII British television single drama is neither as English nor as white as is often implied. The surviving audiovisual material and written sources (reviews, publicity material, biographies of television writers and directors) reveal ITV's dynamic role in offering a range of views and representations of Britain's black population and their multi-layered relationship with white working-class cultures. By examining this neglected history of postwar British drama, this article argues for more inclusive historiographies of British television and sheds light on the dynamism and diversity of British television culture.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-116
Author(s):  
ЛЕСЯ МУШКЕТИК

The oral folk prose of Transcarpathia is a valuable source of history and culture of the region. Supplementing the written sources, it has maintained popular attitudes towards events, giving assessments and interpretations that are often different from the official one. In the Ukrainian oral tradition, we find many words borrowed from other languages, in particular Hungarian, which reflects the long period of cohabitation as well as shared historical events and contacts. They also occur in local toponymic legends, which in their own way explain the origin of the local names and are closely linked with the life and culture of the region, contain a lot of ethnographic, historical, mythological, and other information. They are represented mainly by lexical borrowings, Hungarian proper names and realities, which were transformed, absorbed and modified in another system, and, among other things, has served the originality of the Transcarpathian folklore. The process of borrowing the Hungarianisms is marked by heterochronology and a significant degree of assimilation in the receiving environment. It is known about the long-lasting contacts of the Hungarians with Rus at the time of birth of the homeland - the Honfoglalás, as evidenced by the current geographical names associated with the heroes of the events of that time - the leaders of uprisings Attila, Almash, Prince Latorets (the legends Almashivka, About the Laborets and the White Horse Mukachevo Castle). In the names of toponymic legends and writings there are mentions of the famous Hungarian leaders, the leaders of the uprisings - King Matthias Corvinus, Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, Lajos Kossuth (the legends Matyashivka, Bovtsar, Koshutova riberiya). Many names of villages, castles and rivers originate from Hungarian lexemes and are their derivatives, explaining the name itself (narratives Sevlyuskyy castle, Gotar, village Gedfork). The times of the Tatar invasion were reflected in the legends The Great Ravine Bovdogovanya and The village Goronda. Sometimes, the nomination is made up of two words - Ukrainian and Hungarian (Mount Goverla, Canyon Grobtedie). In legends, one can find mythological and legendary elements. The process of borrowing Hungarianisms into Ukrainian is marked by heterochronology, meanwhile borrowings remain unchanged only partially, and in general, they are assimilated in accordance with the phonetic and morphological rules of the Ukrainian language. Consequently, this is a creative process, caused by a number of different factors - social, ethnocultural, aesthetic, etc. In the course of time, events and characters in oral narratives are erased from human memory, so they can be mixed, modified and updated, adapting to new realities.


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