Rus’ – Byzantium – Europe: An Attempt at Triangulation?

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 169-176
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
The Other ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
The West ◽  
The People ◽  
The Common ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Middle Ages

The critique of Francis Thomson constitutes only part of Ostrowski’s book. The other part, completely unrelated to the first one, is dedicated to a comparison of the intellectual development of the two halves of the Christian world in the Middle Ages. Ostrowski’s assertion that the Byzantines did not include logic in their school curriculum is untrue. What seems to him to be the main difference between East and West does not take root until the end of the 12th century. The West was drifting away from the common patterns of ancient Mediterranean civilization. The East largely remained the same. The Byzantines did not feel any special inclination toward the practical application of theoretical ideas. The people of Old Rus’, on the contrary, were quick at learning and innovating. Respect for tradition inevitably played a smaller role in a nascent culture than in a culture that had been born old.

scholarly journals The Laws of the Temple and the Proper Sleep in Biblical and Rabbinic traditions

2018 ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
Svetlana Babkina
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
The Third ◽  
The People ◽  
Bed Form ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article deals with the idea that the bed should be placed north to south and not from west to east formulated in B. Berakhot 5b. As the later tradition says, this rule stays actual during the middle ages and till these days. According to the commentators this rule is based on the idea, that the Shekhinah lays from west to east, so this direction became sacred. There are three reasons to avoid this position during the sleep. All of them are connected to the ritual impurity. The first is nocturnal emission, which can happen to a man or a woman and which make that person impure. The second reason is the connection of sleep to death, which is the «father of fathers of impurities». The third is the vulnerability of the human being from the side of the different kind of night demonic creatures, who can kill the people (and make them ritually impure). All the ideas have deep biblical roots, but were combined only in rabbinical period when the prescription to put the bed form north to south first appeared. The problem is, that the practice could be very much older than the rabbinic tradition. This the rule formulated in Talmud can serve as a good example of adaptation of popular beliefs toward the official religion. From the other side this example shows that inside the monotheistic tradition there always was a place for ideas rooted in archaic societies: here we can see the clearly formulated idea, that by the manipulation sleeping space one can influence prosperity.

The Sense of the Horizon

Philosophy ◽  
1933 ◽  
Vol 8 (31) ◽  
pp. 301-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Delisle Burns
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
The West ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Form ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Middle Ages

Not for the first time in the history of our tradition, we are conscious of the defects of our inheritance and look doubtfully forward to a future whose structure we can hardly surmise. There was a Decline of the West in the first years of our era and again at the close of the Middle Ages. Now once more the beliefs and customs are shaken, on which our tradition is based; and there is no certainty that we shall carry forward what that tradition has so far achieved into a new form of civilized life. But, on the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that Western Civilization will disappear.

The Mediæval Legend of Judas Iscariot

PMLA ◽  
1916 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-632
Author(s):  
Paull Franklin Baum
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Early Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
Judas Iscariot ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Middle Ages

The legendary Life of Judas the Betrayer, based, it is usually said, on the Greek myth of Œdipus, is found in almost every language and country of mediæval Europe. It was written down in Latin as early as the twelfth century. By the end of the thirteenth century it was turned into the vernacular in lands as far apart as Wales, Catalonia, and Bohemia. At the close of the Middle Ages it had become the possession of the folk, and since that period—to some extent even during the fifteenth century—it has spread northward and eastward into Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and Bulgaria. It was related in Greek, probably in the Middle Ages, although the manuscripts are of a much later date. It was still told orally in Galicia at the end of the last century. As a regular part of the ecclesiastical literature of the West it received canonization, so to say, late in the thirteenth century, in the great legendary of Jacopo da Voragine; but, on the other hand, it is a remarkable fact that in the Middle Ages, so far as I have been able to learn, none of the reputable church writers (with the exception of Jacopo) recognized or even mentioned it. And furthermore, mediaeval sculptors and carvers of wood and ivory, who gave themselves with so much zeal to the plastic representation of legendary matter, completely eschewed or overlooked the ‘early life’ of Judas. Not indeed that either the church writers or artists sought to avoid contact with such a wicked character; on the contrary, they devoted considerable space to him, rejecting only his apocryphal career. However this omission may be explained, the fact must be recognized as of some interest.

Ibero-Romance II: Astur-Leonese, Spanish, Navarro-Aragonese

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ignacio Hualde
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Northern Fringe ◽  
La Rioja ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula fall into three major groups: Galician-Portuguese, Central Ibero-Romance and Catalan. All these varieties have their origins in the evolution of Latin in the northern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula and spread southward in the Middle Ages. One of the main features that distinguish the Central Ibero-Romance group from its neighbors to the west and east is the diphthongization of /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ from Latin short ĕ and ŏ in stressed syllables (as in tierra ‘land’, puerta ‘door’ vs. Pt. and Cat. terra, porta). Besides Spanish, which historically derives from the evolution of Latin in the original territory of the Kingdom of Castile, the other main Central Ibero-Romance varieties are Astur-Leonese (including Mirandese, in Portugal) and Aragonese. For the medieval period, Old Navarrese Romance is well documented, as is, to a lesser extent, the transitional variety of La Rioja. There are no documents entirely written in Andalusi Romance, the set of Romance varieties spoken in Islamic Spain in medieval times, but we can infer some of its features from short texts and several other sources.

scholarly journals Bibliotheca Tessinensis – seria edycji źródłowych Książnicy Cieszyńskiej i Ośrodka Dokumentacyjnego Kongresu Polaków w Republice Czeskiej

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 359-376
Author(s):  
Janusz Spyra ◽  
Krzysztof Szelong
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Middle Ages

The editorial series Bibliotheca Tessinensis, founded in 2004, is devoted to publishing the unknown or hardy accessible source documents related to the history of Cieszyn Silesia from the Middle Ages to the present, as well as the sources of universal significance, which are stored in Cieszyn Silesia and constitute the abiding component of the cultural heritage of the region. The title of the series harks back to the edition of the bio- and bibliographical materials, planned to be edited by Leopold Jan Szersznik (1747-1814); in the publishers’ intention it grounds the series in the historiographical tradition of the region, giving it also a supranational character and outreach. Accordingly, the Bibliotheca Tessinensis is being issued in two subseries – one of them (Series Polonica) published by Książnica Cieszyńska (the Cieszyn Historical Library), and the other (Series Bohemica) – by Ośrodek Dokumentacyjny Kongresu Polaków w Republice Czeskiej (the Documentation Centre of the Congress of Poles in the Czech Republic). The consecutive volumes of both subseries, issued independently of each other, depending on the organiza tional and financial possibilities of the publishers, are prepared according to the common editorial instruction, have the same layout, and are numbered sequentially within the whole series.

Introduction

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Early Period ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Single Group ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
Direct Reflection ◽  
The Middle Ages

The aim of this book is to examine some of the ways in which people in medieval Britain presented themselves. It is primarily about small artefacts, especially jewellery. It says little about costume, although that provided the immediate setting for many of the objects discussed; nor is it a study of buildings, although those provided the backdrop for the people wearing the costume. Nor is it a catalogue. Instead, it considers the reasons for people’s decisions to acquire, display, conceal, and discard some of the things that were important to them, and examines how much the wish to acquire, retain, and pass such things on to heirs explains behaviour in the Middle Ages. The book’s approach is chronological, to explore the changes and the reasons for them during the whole of the Middle Ages. It is not restricted to the study of a single group of people, but explores the significance to the whole of society of some of the things available at various times, and the restrictions that limited their acquisition and use. Many of the objects considered and the documents cited relate to the richest or most powerful people, but one of the aims of the book is to consider whether theirs was an example that others invariably sought to follow, or whether at different times different aspirations were expressed, showing social disharmony and disunity. Because the emphasis of the book is on the artefacts that people used in order to show their affiliations and status, it says little about such things as household items. Locks and keys, for instance, were in most periods primarily functional; important as they are for showing the need for security in medieval buildings, they were rarely made with an eye on what people were going to think of those who turned them—except in the early period, they do not seem to have been regarded as things that served to define their owners’ social place or aspirations. Details of weapons, armour, and horse trappings do not get much attention either, since their finer points would have mattered only to a very privileged few. On the other hand, drinking-vessels and tableware are included, because they were very often used in ways that made them visible and a direct reflection of social standing.

Reflections on the Evolution of the Prophet’s Biographies in the East and West

2018 ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Hussein Ahmad Amin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
East And West ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the concept of history of early Muslim historians and their attitude towards the Prophet’s biography (Sira). It discusses how evolving tastes and values affected their biographical writing. It also discusses when and why facts began to get blurred and invented incidents and miracles began to be ascribed to the Prophet, leading to the way in which the Prophet’s biography is dealt with in the twentieth century. The chapter further discusses how the Prophet’s biography was written in Europe during the Middle Ages and the influence that modern European trends of thought and contact with the West had on its writing. The chapter highlights Montgomery Watt’s Defence of Muhammad and critically engages with it. The chapter closes with Hussein Amin’s wish for a new, objective, unapologetic and truthful biography that is grounded in the Prophet’s own time and milieu, reflecting his contemporary ethical standards and values.

ISLAMIC COINS FROM EASTERN GIZA (EGYPT)

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
E. Yu. Goncharov ◽  
◽  
S. E. Malykh ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Ancient Rock ◽  
Oriental Studies ◽  
The Middle Ages

The article focuses on the attribution of one gold and two copper coins discovered by the Russian Archaeological Mission of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS in the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Giza. Coins come from mixed fillings of the burial shafts of the Ancient Egyptian rock-cut tombs of the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C. According to the archaeological context, the coins belong to the stages of the destruction of ancient burials that took place during the Middle Ages and Modern times. One of the coins is a Mamluk fals dating back to the first half of the 14th century A.D., the other two belong to the 1830s — the Ottoman period in Egypt, and are attributed as gold a buchuk hayriye and its copper imitation. Coins are rare for the ancient necropolis and are mainly limited to specimens of the 19th–20th centuries. In general, taking into account the numerous finds of other objects — fragments of ceramic, porcelain and glass utensils, metal ware, glass and copper decorations, we can talk about the dynamic nature of human activity in the ancient Egyptian cemetery in the 2nd millennium A.D. Egyptians and European travelers used the ancient rock-cut tombs as permanent habitats or temporary sites, leaving material traces of their stay.

Book Review: The Middle Ages in the West

Theology ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 53 (356) ◽  
pp. 71-72
Author(s):  
Claude Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The West ◽  
The Middle Ages

The Contours of the Non-Lutheran Reformation in Germany, 1522–1546

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 167-174
Author(s):  
James M. Stayer
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Holy Roman Empire ◽  
The Other ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Common

Abstract Among the common ways of portraying Reformation divides are the following categories: Magisterial vs Radical Reformations; or a “church type” vs a “sect type” of reform. This essay offers an alternative view. It underscores the differences between Lutherans and Anglicans on one side; and the Reformed, Anabaptists, and Schwenckfelders on the other. The Lutherans, like the Anglicans under Henry VIII, worshipped in altar-centered churches which were Roman Catholic in appearance. They presented themselves as reformers of Catholic errors of the late Middle Ages. By contrast, when the Reformed, Anabaptists, and Schwenckfelders met for worship, it was in unadorned Bible-centered meeting houses. The Anabaptists were targeted for martyrdom by the decree of the Holy Roman Empire of 1529 against Wiedertäufer (“rebaptists”). Contrary to the later memory that they practiced a theology of martyrdom, the preference of apprehended Anabaptists was to recant.

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