scholarly journals The Making of Nordic Monasticism, c. 1076–c. 1350

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 581
Author(s):  
James G. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Original Writings ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Nordic Region ◽  
Stable Community

The introduction of regular religious life in the Nordic region is less well-documented than in the neighbouring kingdoms of northern Europe. In the absence of well-preserved manuscript and material remains, unfounded and sometimes distorting suppositions have been made about the timeline of monastic settlement and the character of the conventual life it brought. Recent archival and archaeological research can offer fresh insights into these questions. The arrival of authentic regular life may have been as early as the second quarter of the eleventh century in Denmark and Iceland, but there was no secure or stable community in any part of Scandinavia until the turn of the next century. A settled monastic network arose from a compact between the leadership of the secular church and the ruling elite, a partnership motivated as much by the shared pursuit of political, social and economic power as by any personal piety. Yet, the force of this patronal programme did not inhibit the development of monastic cultures reflected in books, original writings, church and conventual buildings, which bear comparison with the European mainstream.

Ezekiel in the Jewish Tradition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yedida Eisenstat
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
History Of

After a brief survey of early rabbinic ambivalence toward this controversial prophetic book and its use in synagogue liturgy, this chapter traces the history of rabbinic interpretation of the repetition of “I said to you, ‘Through your blood, live’” in Ezek 16:6. The midrashic tradition ascribes redemptive power to these “two bloods”—of circumcision and of the paschal lamb. This chapter argues that the “bloods” of the verse become metonyms for all of the commandments through which Jews realize their covenant with God. Both blood and circumcision (or lack thereof) were weighty symbols for Christians, too; so as Jews migrated into Christendom in larger numbers in the eleventh century, they had to address Christianity’s competing claims to the same covenant. The addition of this verse to the Jews’ circumcision liturgy upon their arrival in northern Europe can be explained in light of these shared symbols.

scholarly journals Cooperation and tensions in multiethnic corporate societies using Teotihuacan, Central Mexico, as a case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (30) ◽  
pp. 9210-9215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda R. Manzanilla
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Cotton Cloth ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
The Core

In this paper, I address the case of a corporate society in Central Mexico. After volcanic eruptions triggered population displacements in the southern Basin of Mexico during the first and fourth centuries A.D., Teotihuacan became a multiethnic settlement. Groups from different backgrounds settled primarily on the periphery of the metropolis; nevertheless, around the core, intermediate elites actively fostered the movement of sumptuary goods and the arrival of workers from diverse homelands for a range of specialized tasks. Some of these skilled craftsmen acquired status and perhaps economic power as a result of the dynamic competition among neighborhoods to display the most lavish sumptuary goods, as well as to manufacture specific symbols of identity that distinguished one neighborhood from another, such as elaborate garments and headdresses. Cotton attire worn by the Teotihuacan elite may have been one of the goods that granted economic importance to neighborhood centers such as Teopancazco, a compound that displayed strong ties to the Gulf Coast where cotton cloth was made. The ruling elite controlled raw materials that came from afar whereas the intermediate elite may have been more active in providing other sumptuary goods: pigments, cosmetics, slate, greenstone, travertine, and foreign pottery. The contrast between the corporate organization at the base and top of Teotihuacan society and the exclusionary organization of the neighborhoods headed by the highly competitive intermediate elite introduced tensions that set the stage for Teotihuacan’s collapse.

scholarly journals GRAIN FROM MEDJYBIZH

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 176-183
Author(s):  
S. A. Gorbanenko ◽  
Yu. I. Tolkachov
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Winter Rye ◽  
Claviceps Purpurea ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Arable Fields ◽  
Winter Crops ◽  
One Year ◽  
High Level ◽  
Brome Grass ◽  
Brome Grasses

During the archaeological research of the Medjybizh fortress (fig. 1), palaeoethnobotanical materials were found three times in its yard: in 1991, 2013 and 2015. The first definition was made by G. O. Pashkevich. Mostly rye was identified as well as bromus, sorrel and an ergot fungus claviceps purpurea. From materials ща 2015 about 30 ml of grain were provided, mostly rye, which is approximately 1800—2000 grains. This is a sample of the harvest of one year. Single kernels of hulled barley (5); emmer (2) and soft wheat (1) were identified. Weeds are represented by 3 species, they are convolvulus (19), brome grasses (11) and cleavers (7) (figs. 2—4). Identified weeds are concomitant for cultivated cereals and real anthropochores; they may be useful for therapeutic purposes. Brome grass is a winter plant that pollutes crops of winter rye and wheat. Fields pollution indicates a use of old arable fields: the population lived in this place continuously from the eleventh century. Consequently, the fields exploded about 2—3 centuries. Winter crops also show the use of old arable fields. According to the aggregate of weeds, these fields were located on high places with droughty soils. According to the analysis of topography and soil, these fields were in the western sector on the elevated plateau (supposedly the places of Dolzhok and Pereimska Dacha). Find of the rye also indirectly indicates a high level of development of agriculture. While plowing tools from Medzhybizh are unknown, we should assume the use of plow, which is the most progressive form of them.

The Emergence of Cremations in Eastern Fennoscandia: Changing Uses of Fire in Ritual Contexts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarkko Saipio
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Cultural Layers ◽  
Germanic Languages ◽  
Neolithic Cultures

Since the 1980s, a rapid increase in the number of Mesolithic and Neolithic cremation burials discovered has prompted a substantial re-evaluation of the position of cremation as a prehistoric mortuary ritual in northern Eurasia. Sporadic but persistent appearances of cremation in a wide variety of cultural contexts from early Mesolithic to late Neolithic have undermined the traditional models seeing cremation and inhumation as two radically different ways to treat the deceased. In studies of north-western Europe, from British Isles to southern Scandinavia, it is now widely recognized that inhumation and cremation co-existed in many Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures traditionally treated as textbook cases of mortuary practices emphasizing the corporeal integrity of the deceased. Importantly, the unexpected appearances of cremation are only one part of a wider challenge to the traditional assumption of dominance of primary burial in Mesolithic and non-megalithic Neolithic cultures of northern Europe. One important aspect of this challenge are finds of scattered burnt and unburned human bones in Mesolithic and Neolithic cultural layers, suggesting that articulated pit inhumations may actually represent exceptional cases (e.g. Hallgren 2008; Larsson 2009). North-eastern Europe still remains a white area in regional studies of pre- Bronze Age appearances of cremation in northern Europe. This border generally coincides with the language barrier between Germanic languages and various ‘eastern’ languages in terms of local archaeological research traditions. On the other hand, the border also roughly coincides with many genuine differences in archaeological record. Therefore, there is an obvious danger that differences in archaeological research histories and differences in archaeological phenomena become intermingled, creating ill-founded generalizations and assumptions. This chapter examines the earliest known cases of cremation in Eastern Fennoscandia, the area consisting of Finland, the Kola Peninsula, and Russian Karelia (Fig. 11.1). It is currently the easternmost part of northern Europe where confirmed cases of Mesolithic and Neolithic cremation have appeared so far. Such cases are currently few and little studied but they have a potential to redefine the whole study of prehistoric mortuary rituals in the area. In most of Eastern Fennoscandia acidic soil usually does not preserve any unburned bone material older than about a thousand years.

Drought Propagation as Illustrated by the 2018 Nordic Drought Event

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid Jørgensen Bakke ◽  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Lena Merete Tallaksen
Keyword(s):  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Hydrological Drought ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystem ◽  
Drought Event ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Nordic Region ◽  
Drought Impacts ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Data Limitations

<p>An extreme meteorological and hydrological drought occurred in Northern Europe in 2018, with widespread impacts including vast amounts of forests destroyed by wildfires, major crop losses, hydropower shortage, freshwater ecosystem stress, and water usage restrictions. Drought impacts are commonly felt on the ground and many are related to freshwater rather than solely to the atmosphere. A better understanding of the hydrological aspect of drought propagation is therefore vital in order to mitigate drought impacts. This study aims at assessing the drought propagation in 2018 in the (continental) Nordic countries at a monthly resolution, with a special emphasis on the streamflow and groundwater aspect. We used the E-OBS gridded observational datasets for temperature and precipitation, as well as high quality near-natural streamflow and groundwater data from the Nordic countries provided by national agencies. The extremeness for each variable was assessed by ranking each month of 2018 relative to that month in a 60-year record of data (30-year for groundwater due to data limitations). Whereas record-breaking high temperatures and precipitation deficits emerged over the Nordic region in May (Bakke et al., in prep.), streamflow stations did not experience extreme conditions before June in Norway, Sweden and Finland. This delay reflects the effect of various catchment properties and in particular the contribution of catchment water storages (mainly snowmelt) that dampens and delays streamflow response to meteorological conditions. The extent of record low streamflow maximized in July. In mid-August, high precipitation replenished the rivers in western and northern parts of the Nordic region. In the southeastern region, however, extremely low streamflow persisted throughout 2018 despite the return to more normal temperature and precipitation conditions after July. Catchments in western Denmark did not experience extremely low streamflow conditions during the summer of 2018, likely due to large groundwater reservoirs feeding the rivers. The response in groundwater levels was also delayed, with unusually low levels emerging in June and expanding in July. However, there was no clear spatial pattern of extremely low groundwater levels, even wells located very close together showed different results, reflecting the various hydrogeological properties and depths of the wells. Nevertheless, extremeness in groundwater are seen in about half of the wells throughout 2018. The response delay (estimated by the precipitation moving average window best correlated with the groundwater time series), depth and soil type help explain part of the variability in the results amongst the wells. In addition to assessing the uniqueness of the 2018 northern European drought, this study emphasises the added complexity of drought propagation, and the need of incorporating more variables than weather alone to understand hydrological drought development.</p><p>Reference: Bakke, S.J., Ionita, M., Tallaksen, L.M. (in prep.). The 2018 Northern Europe Hydrological Drought and its Drivers in a Historical Perspective.</p>

The Problem of Papal Power in the Ecclesiology of St. Bernard

1974 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
J. W. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Inherent Ambiguity

Born in 1090, dying in 1153, Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux lived through the aftermath of that great ideological upheaval which is generally (though rather misleadingly) known as the ‘Investiture Contest’. As he played a leading part in the religious life and ecclesiastical politics of his age it is not surprising that his massive output of sermons, treatises and letters should have given rise to an even more massive output of historiographical comment and interpretation. It is equally understandable that modern Bernardine studies should have tended to concentrate on the question of Bernard's attitude to the basic ideas of the eleventh-century reform movement—and, in particular, to the expression which was given to these by Gregory VII during his stormy pontificate. Yet, as Dr Kennan has recently pointed out, so far from providing a clear answer to this question these studies confront us with a ‘bewildering garden … from which a student can pluck an interpretation of Bernard's … theory as Gregorian, anti-Gregorian,…proto-protestant or any one of a variety of other hues’. Can order be brought into this chaos, or do these various interpretations reflect an inherent ambiguity in Bernard's own thought?

Collected Essays: v. 2

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haym Soloveitchik
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Babylonian Talmud ◽  
Islam And Christianity ◽  
Comprehensive Study

This book grapples with much-disputed topics in medieval Jewish history and takes issue with a number of reigning views. The book provides a searching analysis of oft-cited halakhic texts of Ashkenaz, frequently with conclusions that differ from the current consensus. Part I questions the scholarly consensus that the roots of Ashkenaz lie deep in Palestinian soil. It challenges the widespread notion that it was immemorial custom that primarily governed Early Ashkenaz. It similarly rejects the theory that it was only towards the middle of the eleventh century that the Babylonian Talmud came to be regarded as fully authoritative. It is shown that the scholars of Early Ashkenaz displayed an astonishing command of the complex corpus of the Babylonian Talmud and viewed it at all times as the touchstone of the permissible and the forbidden. The section concludes with a radical proposal as to the source of Ashkenazi culture and the stamp it left upon the Jews of northern Europe for close to a millennium. Part II treats the issue of martyrdom as perceived and practised by Jews under Islam and Christianity. It claims that Maimonides' problematic Iggeret ha-Shemad is a work of rhetoric, not halakhah. This is followed by a comprehensive study of kiddush ha-shem in Ashkenaz. The book concludes with two chapters on Mishneh torah, which argue that that famed code must also be viewed as a work of art which sustains, as masterpieces do, multiple conflicting interpretations.

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