Filigrane – Innovation of the European Middle Ages with Possessive and Aesthetic Character

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Denitsa Ivanova-Alexandrova ◽  
◽  
◽  

The origin and use of filigrane in its genesis from the end of the 13th century has the purely utilitarian function of a distinctive mark, inherited from wool workshops, which put the “brand” of the manufacturer on their products. The significance of the watermark (filigrane), originally emblematic of medieval Italian paper production, is not limited to its innovative technological nature, which clearly distinguishes it from the Eastern method of making paper, but it emphasizes creative maturity and craftsmanship independence, that transform a simple logo in a symbol with exquisite-applied qualities. The initial vision of the filigrane image, characterized by a rougher geometric appearance, subsequently reflects imagery close to medieval man, through zoomorphic, floral, human-like or tools drawing, to purely informative texts today. The development of filigrane modifies its prototype from an indicative mark to the recognition of possession in a simbol guaranteeing quality.

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Marek Maciejewski

The origin of universities reaches the period of Ancient Greece when philosophy (sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, stoics and others) – the “Queen of sciences”, and the first institutions of higher education (among others, Plato’s Academy, Cassiodorus’ Vivarium, gymnasia) came into existence. Even before the new era, schools having the nature of universities existed also beyond European borders, including those in China and India. In the early Middle Ages, those types of schools functioned in Northern Africa and in the Near East (Baghdad, Cairo, Constantinople, cities of Southern Spain). The first university in the full meaning of the word was founded at the end of the 11th century in Bologna. It was based on a two-tiered education cycle. Following its creation, soon new universities – at first – in Italy, then (in the 12th and 13th century) in other European cities – were established. The author of the article describes their modes of operation, the methods of conducting research and organizing students’ education, the existing student traditions and customs. From the very beginning of the universities’ existence the study of law was part of their curricula, based primarily on the teaching of Roman law and – with time – the canon law. The rise of universities can be dated from the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modernity. In the 17th and 18th century they underwent a crisis which was successfully overcome at the end of the 19th century and throughout the following one.


Author(s):  
D. Pittaluga ◽  
A. Di Rocco ◽  
C. Casagrande ◽  
S. Guerinoni ◽  
G. Pellegri

Abstract. Centuries-old earthen masonry presenting various stages of degradation, earthen walls that have been restored several times: these are the archeological phases of the city walls of Mascarell, on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Founded in the first half of the 13th century, this town is the only complex in Castellon Province that preserves all its ancient walls, which were built entirely by means of the brick-faced rammed-earth technique (clay with bricks and lime). This article reports the first results of a research project conducted on the multiple information available on these artifacts: bibliographic, archival and iconographic sources and the results of direct material analysis, stratigraphic analysis and archeological analysis. The situation is complex, as these walls have undergone a long sequence of transformations, including interventions carried out since the 18th century and multiple restorations in the period 1942–2015. The research developed and refined architecture archeology tools in order to analyze the rammed-earth techniques adopted during restoration work (similar but not identical to the historical technique), to characterize the materials used in restoration, to evaluate their resistance to degradation over the years, to define a sort of ‘critical evolutionary line’ of rammed-earth restoration, and to conduct a cross-sectional study of this building technique from the Middle Ages to the present. Finally, we drafted some guidelines for future interventions for conservation and enhancement.


1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Zonta

There are three principal philosophical-scientific encyclopaedias written in Hebrew during the Middle Ages: Yehudah ha-Cohen'sMidrash ha-Ḥokmah(1245–1247), Shem Tov ibn Falaquera'sDe'ot ha-Filosofim(ca. 1270) and Gershon ben Shlomoh'sSha'ar ha-Shamayin(end of the 13th century). All three include detailed treatments of zoology, and the last two of botany and mineralogy as well. The principal feature of their treatments is their “theoretical” – not merely “descriptive” – approach: these encyclopaedias do not contain only lists of stones, plants and animals (such as other Arabic and Latin Medieval encyclopaedias), but also attempts at systematization and philosophical arrangement of the various available theories in the fields of mineralogy, botany and zoologyquasciences. An examination of the doctrines and the sources of these texts shows that, while the treatment of zoology relies upon Aristotle's zoological works and, above all, theirCompendiaby Averroes, the treatment of mineralogy and botany reflects the non-Aristotelian theories of theBrethren of Purity(Iḫwān al-Ṣafā'), rather than such texts as pseudo-Aristotle'sDe lapidibusand Nicolaus Damascenus'De plantis. In particular, Falaquera's encyclopaedia represents the most convincing effort to provide a truly scientific discussion of mineralogy and botany, comparable to that of his contemporary Albert the Great, and based upon theBrethren, Avicenna and, maybe, some lost works by Averroes.


Author(s):  
Douglas Kelly

Modern scholarship on the medieval Latin arts of poetry and prose has focused on a number of treatises written in the 12th and 13th centuries: Matthew of Vendôme’s Ars versificatoria; Geoffrey of Vinsauf’s Poetria nova, Documentum, and Summa de coloribus; Gervase of Melkley’s Ars versificaria or poetica; John of Garland’s Parisiana Poetria; and Eberhard the German’s Laborintus. Other documents have received attention as well, notably commentaries and glosses. The art of composition in both verse and prose also evolved as new conceptions of the art emerged. In the 13th century, Latin translations and commentaries on Aristotle’s Poetics led to revisions of the Horatian art in the 14th century; treatises that reflect this development begin with the anonymous Long Documentum, renamed Tria sunt, and Mathias of Linköping’s Poetria, based on instruction Mathias received while studying at the University of Paris. The traditional conception of the art of poetry was derived from rhetorical treatises attributed to Cicero, notably the De inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium. The medieval treatises adapted a traditional order of parts in rhetoric: topical invention, disposition based on natural chronological order or artificial rearrangement of the chronological order, amplification and abbreviation using figures and tropes common in ornamentation, and eventually Aristotelian notions of imagination as a poetic faculty. Inclusion of these parts indicates the scope and level of instruction in the treatises. Accordingly, the study and practice of poetic composition in classrooms progressed from elementary composition and study to imitation of exemplary masterpieces. Such instruction fit well into the stages in medieval pedagogy from grammar, rhetoric, and logic on to arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, and beyond to philosophy and theology. The scope of the art on these virtually graded levels of instruction led to study, interpretation, imitation, and, ultimately, emulation of perceived ancient and medieval masterpieces like Virgil’s Aeneid, Horace’s lyrics, Bernardus Silvestris’s Cosmographia, and Alan of Lille’s Anticlaudianus and De planctu Naturae, among others. Introductions to specific works (accessus ad auctores) include model works that exemplify the art’s evolution from Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Classbooks and other anthologies collected poems and passages for study and imitation on the student level. Finally, the Latin art found its way into some treatises written for vernacular languages. These diverse documents—commentaries, model works, accessus, classbooks and anthologies, authorial statements inserted into their own writings, vernacular treatises, and other documents—enhance our understanding of medieval poetics.


1968 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 308-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.S. Astapović ◽  
A. K. Terenteva

The works of E. Biot, published by the Institut National de France in 1848, made it possible to study material recorded in volumes 191 and 192 of the well-known 13th-century Encyclopaedia of Ma Touan-lin as well as records from other sources. They contain observational data of 24 centuries (especially from the 11th century) on more than 1500 fireballs, with descriptions of their positions with respect to the stars as well as descriptions of their physical, kinematic and other properties. The observation dates of the lunar calendar have been converted by Biot into dates of the Julian Calendar.We have been able to process data on 1220 fireballs. As a result of this radiants were obtained for 153 meteor showers, seven of which belong to great showers. Out of the remaining 146 radiants of the minor showers, 80 radiants are more certain than the remainder.The radiants were deduced from observations on dates recorded in short intervals from several years to several decades. First the dates of visibility were obtained along with the activity and radiants of great showers which are still active. In the Leonid shower, with retrograde motion, a shift of visibility dates to a much later period has been noted corresponding to a forward motion of the orbit's node, whereas a retrograde motion of the node is observed in the Quadrantids (i < 90°). In the Lyrids and Perseids, whose orbits are nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, the nodes experienced no perturbations, and the visibility epochs for the showers remained the same during a period of 1000 years and longer. The motion of apsides resulted in a shift of the radiant; the increase of the ecliptical latitude indicated secular augmentation of the orbit's inclination (Geminids, η-Aquarids, Orionids, Leonids). The radiant of the Perseids was located in Cassiopeia, where the radiant of the present-day Cassiopeids is to be found. It appears that the Perseid stream began to cross the orbit of the Earth in 830 A.D.In the δ-Aquarids the North branch was active, while there is no evidence that the South branch had existed earlier than 900 years ago. The Virginids, Librids, Scorpionids, Sagittarids and Aurigids were quite appreciable and their studies furnish much interesting data. Particularly active were the Taurids; their North and South branches were observed over 1000 years back. The South Taurids were about half as active as the North Taurids (at present this relation is reversed). Very active were the Cygnids (July–August), which presented at that time a compact shower, now disrupted into a series of minor showers with radiants spread over a large area of the celestial sphere. Of definitive interest is the radiant of the great meteor shower observed in 1037 (August 21 by the Julian Calendar, September 9 by the Gregorian Calendar, 1950–0), α = 324°, δ = + 1°(1950–0).Some of the showers active in these early centuries are now unknown; on the other hand, some showers which are well known now were not observed in the Middle Ages. In the past millennium only those streams have survived whose orbits were so situated with respect to the orbits of the outer planets, that they were not subjected to any considerable perturbations produced by these planets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
Helma Schaefer

In her article, the author discusses the merits of the German craft bookbinder Paul Kersten (1865-1943) in the development of modern decorative papers as an expression of artistic individuality in the field of applied arts. From the Middle Ages, decorative paper had been used in decoration and bookbinding. Bookbinding workshops had traditionally made starched marbled paper. The interest of Paul Kersten, coming from a bookbinding family, in these papers had already dated from his youth. During his travels abroad, he was aware of the poor state of the bookbinding craft, which was affected by the mass production of books and book bindings as well as the industrialisation of paper production at the end of the 19th century. Kersten helped to introduce Art Nouveau into the design of German bookbinding and the methods of the modern production of decorative papers. At first, he worked as a manager in German paper manufactures and then as a teacher of bookbinding. His work was later oriented towards Symbolic Expressionism and he also tried to cope with the style of Art Deco.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-126
Author(s):  
Maksakova D. ◽  
◽  
Senotrusova P. ◽  

The present paper investigates three-part appliques from the ensemble of archaeological sites of Shivera Prospikhino, which was located in the Lower Angara region. The variants of this type of jewelry have been indicated, and their territorial distribution in the region and Northern Eurasia have been determined. The chronological frame of the extent of appliques during the research archaeological complex is presented. The highest diversity of variants of appliques are recorded in the burials of the 12th — middle 13th century. In the burials of the Mongol period (the 13th –14th century) appliques with a plain shield and items with a drawn line on shield predominate. Jewelry with a convex figured nose, with «pearls’ on the ears and with a drawn line in the center of the shield have not been not marked in the materials of nearby and distant archaeological complexes of Northern Eurasia. The paper puts forward a position on the universal using of three-part appliques. Visual research of the appliques allowed us to record technological traces that reflect the techniques of making jewelry. The characteristic of the recipe of the alloys used has been presented. At the moment, the published materials indicate that the territory of the Lower Angara region is the north-eastern border of the mass distribution of three-part appliques. Keywords: Lower Angara region, High Middle Ages, jewelry, appliques, typology, chronology, manufacturing techniques


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 4537-4541

This article discusses process of beginnings and development of the Hadith study in Central Asia in the Early Islamic period. The first transmitters of hadith in Mawarannahr were the Arabs who participated in the wars of invasion. Among the first narrators of hadith (isnad) in Central Asia, were eyewitnesses the Prophet's life, called as’habs or companions of the Prophet. The second link in the chain of narrators of hadith was represented by at-tabi'in, i.e. followers of the Prophet's companions, who communicated hadith from the words of as’hab. In Mawarannahr, the followers were represented mostly by the ‘Arabs that settled in Marw and settlements in its environs in the second half of the 7th century. The next link in the chain of narrators of hadith is the tubba' at-tabi'in, the apprentice of a follower of the companions of Muhammad the Prophet, many of whom lived in Marw and its environs in the 8th century. Though at the beginning of the 8th century it was mainly the ‘Arabs and their Iranian mawali (pl. of mawla) who narrated hadith, by the mid-8th century this science had already been adopted by representatives of the Central Asian peoples. In subsequent centuries, the study of hadith was widespread in Central Asia and it became one of the leading centers of development of ‘Arab-Muslim scholarship and culture. Besides Marw and the other towns of Khurasan, the most important centers of hadith study in the region were Samarqand, Bukhara, Termiz, Nasaf, Kesh, Khwarizm, and Shash. The development of the science of hadith criticism gave impulse to another branch of science—the historical-biographical one. In the 9th century the first collections containing biographies of famous narrators of hadith were compiled. This practice fasted until the late Middle Ages. Written sources give us the biographies of 3,000 transmitters of hadith that lived in different Central Asian cities before the beginning of the 13th century.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 165-185
Author(s):  
Rafał Niedźwiadek ◽  
◽  
Andrzej Rozwałka ◽  

The aim of the article is to present the state of the research conducted on the remains of a medieval stronghold on Grodzisko Hill, also known as Kirkut Hill (due to the Jewish cemetery from the late Middle Ages and early modern period located on its top), as well as to show the latest approach to dating the remains of the stronghold and its role in the medieval Lublin agglomeration. Archaeological research carried out on the hill and at its foot in the 1960s and 1970s was of limited range due to the existence of the Jewish cemetery. However, it can be considered that they provided an amount of data that enables the reconstruction of stratigraphy of the stronghold and recognition of the structure of its rampart running along the edge of the hill. After many discussions, both among historians and Lublin archaeologists, a certain consensus regarding the chronology and the function of the former stronghold on Grodzisko Hill has now been reached. It seems that it was in the 13th century that the stronghold was built and, then, before the century ended, it was destroyed. It coexisted with an older structure – probably built in the 12th century – namely the castellan stronghold on Zamkowe Hill. Recent research indicates that during the second half of 13th century, or at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, a new line of ramparts was built on Staromiejskie Hill. This is how three parts of the Lublin agglomeration were distinguished. Perhaps, in this structure, the stronghold on Kirkut Hill could have functioned as a guard post for a part of the long-distance route located in the area of today’s Kalinowszczyzna Street. The 13th century, and especially its second half, was the time of numerous Yotvingian, Lithuanian, Mongolian, Ruthenian and Tatar invasions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Celina A. LÉRTORA MENDOZA

The intoduccion of the Aristotelian Analytica Posteriora in the Middle Ages and their diffusion all through 13th century caused significant changes in the conception of the scientific knowledges, including those of the Theology.This one was clearly distinguished from the Philosophy. In this work I show Grosseteste’s main theological ideas and the lineaments of its epistemological justification: the object and the method of the Theology.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document