Category Articles

The Black Death and Property RightsBy David D. Haddock and Lynne KieslingJournal of Legal Studies, Vol.31 (2002)Abstract: The Black Death visited unprecedented mortality rates on Europe, realigning relative values of factors of production, and in consequence the costs and benefits of defining and enforcing property rights.

Taking the war to Scotland and France: The supply and transportation of English armies by sea, 1320-60By Craig Lee LambertPhD Dissertation, University of Hull, 2009Abstract: In the fourteenth century England’s kings embarked on a series of wars in Scotland and France. The ensuing campaigns ushered in a new era of warfare, both in its scale and scope.

‘Is Anyone my Guardian …?’ Mamluk Under Age Rule and the Later QalawunidsBy Jo Van SteenbergenAl-Masaq, Vol. 1 (2007)Abstract: Succession to the Mamluk sultanate is one of those thorny issues that keep bothering historians. Within an environment that did not generally favour heredity of military/political status, a frequent tendency towards dynasticism remains difficult to explain, the Qalawunids (678–784/1279–1382) offering a case in point.

Bridging Europe and Africa: Norman Sicily’s Other KingdomBy Charles DalliBridging the Gaps: Sources, Methodology and Approaches to Religion in History, edited by Joaquim Carvalho (Pisa University Press, 2008)Abstract: The Norman conquest of Sicily detached the island from its North African framework, and a century of Latin Christian rule effectively transformed its society.

Communicating Crusade: Livonian Mission and the Cistercian Network in the Thirteenth CenturyBy Marek TammAjalooline Ajakiri, no. 3/4 (2009)Introduction: In this article, I would like to raise the question of how and to what extent did contemporary information about the conquest and Christianization of Livonia reach Western Europe?

Childhood in Medieval England, c.500-1500By Nicholas OrmePublished online as part of the Representing Childhood project (2005)Introduction: This toy knight comes from a rich harvest of archaeological finds, made in the mudbanks of the River Thames in London during the last 30 years. It was manufactured in about 1300, and illustrates several facets of medieval childhood.

The Viking Slave TradeBy Clare DownhamHistory Ireland,Vol. 17:3 (May/June 2009)Introduction: The popularity of the ‘Sea Stallion of Glendalough’ as a media item and visitor attraction indicates a fairly popular perception of vikings in Ireland’s past. They can be perceived as swashbuckling adventurers, craftsmen and traders who launched a medieval version of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy.

Eirene Doukaina, Byzantine empress, A.D. 1067-1133By Elizabeth C. LundyMaster’s Thesis, University of Ottawa, 1988Abstract: Eirene Doukaina was born in Constantinople in the year 1067 into the wealthy aristocratic family of the Doukai. she was destined to become the wife of Alexios Komnenos, emperor of Byzantium from 1081 to 1118, and her descendants remained on the throne until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Versions of Pygmalion in the Illuminated Roman de la Rose (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Douce 195): The Artist and the Work of ArtBy Marian BleekeArt History, Volume 33 Issue 1 (2010)Introduction: Roman de la Rose is an acknowledged medieval best seller, its former popularity amongst patrons and readers being indexed by the number of surviving manuscript copies of the poem, over three hundred, in libraries around the world today.

The campaigns of the Norman dukes of southern Italy against Byzantium, in the years between 1071 and 1108 ADBy Georgios TheotokisPhD Dissertation, University of Glasgow, 2010Abstract: The topic of my thesis is “The campaigns of the Norman dukes of southern Italy to Byzantium, in the years between 1071 and 1108 A.

The bewties of the fut-ball: Reactions and references to this boysterous sport in English writings, 1175-1815By Patricia Shaw FairmanEstudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense, Vol. 2 (1994)Abstract: It is the object of this study to give some account of references and reactions to Europe’s oldest team game, football, to be found in English writings, 1175-1815, later references to this by then reformed and regulated game offering less interest.

Thomas of Spalato and the Mongols: A Thirteenth-Century Dalmatian View of Mongol CustomsBy James Ross SweeneyFlorilegium, Vol. 4 (1982)Introduction: When Qadan grandson of Ghengis Khan, and his Mongol horsement arrived before the walls of Spaalto in the spring of 1242, the Adriatic Sea became the westernmost boundary of the Tartar Empire, Stretching eastward across the vast Eurasian landmass to the shores of the Sea of Japan.

Satellite, Sentinel, Stepping Stone: Medieval Malta in Sicily’s OrbitBy Charles DalliMalta in the Hybleans, the Hybleans in Malta (Proc. Int. Conference Catania, 30 September, Sliema 10 November 2006) edited by Anthony Bonanno and Pietro Militello (Palermo, 2008)Introduction: No discussion of Malta’s pre-modern relationship with Sicily could afford to overlook the ten centuries of the Middle Ages.

Sporting and Recreational Activities of Students in the Medieval UniversitiesBy Steven J. OvermanFacta Universitatis, Vol.6:1 (1999)Abstract: The medieval universities of Europe were the prototypes for higher education throughout the Western world. The activities of students who attended these institutions provide historical insights into student life in an era before physical education and organized recreation became part of university education.

The Decline of the Aristocracy in Eleventh and Twelfth Century SardiniaRobert J. Rowland, Jr.Quaderni D’Italianistica: Vol 4:2 (1983)AbstractBeginning in the eleventh century, Pisa and Genoa — both as communes and in the persons of individual Pisans and Genovese, — followed by Catalans and Aragonese, exhibited an increasing, and increasingly covetous, interest in Sardinia and (especially) its resources; and, already during the twelfth century, the island had fallen largely under continental domination.

The City of York and its ‘Play of Pageants’By Peter MeredithEarly Theatre, Vol 3 (2000)Abstract: This paper first presents a brief overview of York’s physical growth and status as a mercantile city and a county in its own right, and its relationships with the monarchy as they appear in royal entries.

The Albigensian Crusade:A Historiographical EssayBy Eric O. RummelPerspectives in History, Vol.21 (2005-6)Introduction: By the beginning of the 13th century an insidious heresy swept through the Languedoc region of southern France. These apostates, called Albigenses, or Cathars, preached an unorthodox ‘heretical’ version of the Christian faith that spread quietly and powerfully from town to town.

The Precognition of Crime: Treason in Medieval England and Terrorism in Twenty-first Century AmericaBy E. Kay HarrisUniversitas, Volume 4, Issue 1 (2008)Introduction: “The Knight of the Two Swords” in Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (1485) tells a story of an invisible knight who without provocation kills other knights.

A Case of Indifference? Child Murder in Later Medieval EnglandSara ButlerJournal of Women’s History: Vol.19:4 (2007)AbstractArt historian Barbara Kellum’s 1973 article on child murder in medieval England paints a picture of a world replete with ruthless and murderous single mothers who escaped the legal consequences of their actions due to an indifferent court system that chose to turn a blind eye to the deaths of young children.

In the Syrian Taste: Crusader churches in the Latin East as architectural expressions of orthodoxyBy Susan BalderstoneMirabilia, Vol. 10 (2010)Abstract: This paper explores how the architectural expression of orthodoxy in the Eastern churches was transferred to Europe before the Crusades and then reinforced through the Crusaders’ adoption of the triple-apsed east end “in the Syrian Taste” in the Holy Land.