In the sunny and stimulating environment of the cities of Barcelona and Vic, the members of the ‘After Empire’ project, as well as Sumi Shimahara (Paris), Philippe Depreux (Hamburg) and Charles West (Sheffield) visited various archives and libraries studying early medieval Catalan manuscripts. This was done as part of the preparation of a bilingual (English…
Participants: Stefan Esders (Berlin), Sarah Greer (St Andrews), Sarah Hamilton (Exeter), Alice Hicklin (Berlin), Simon MacLean (St Andrews), Ekaterina Novokhatko (Barcelona), Lenneke van Raaij (Exeter), Matthias M. Tischler (Barcelona), Jelle Wassenaar (Vienna) Philippe Depreux (Hamburg), Sumi Shimahara (Paris), Charles West (Sheffield) This synergy event allowed scholars to investigate several important manuscripts located in Catalan archives…
Although this fourth-century saint had become popular very early among the eastern Christians, in Western Europe St Alexius was the recipient of a wave of devotion only in the ninth and tenth century. From the ninth century onwards, different versions of his life spread in diverse religious communities from Spain to England. Around 1040 his…
One of the genres of source that I’m closely working with as part of the After Empire project is genealogies. Genealogies are especially interesting texts both for the questions that this project is investigating and for my own research interests: how do people engage with the past? And how in particular do they engage with…
Not only were the deeds of saints recorded in hagiographical sources; we regularly find traces of a local past as well. These traces can explain what elements of the past were important for a specific community. For example, in the following, I will argue that the Historia Miraculorum was written to justify a reform movement…
Date: 10th–11th century Place of Production: Unknown, found in Oxford, UK Description: Six twisted gold rods form a finger ring, in a style typical of Viking jewellery. The ring gets smaller towards the back, where the rods have been beaten flat together. Held at: British Museum Accession Number: 1905,1108.1 Images licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA…
Date: 10th century Place of Production: Unknown, found in Buckinghamshire, UK Description: Twisted gold rods form a circular arm band, in a style typical of VIking jewellery. This particularly fine example was likely worn by a male. This type of arm band was worn as jewellery but could also serve as portable bullion. Held at: British…
Date: 10th century Place of Production: England, found in Faversham Description: This cast gold ring has at its centre a Roman carnelian intaglio, a typical example of the use and re-use of precious gems in the early medieval period. Although quite badly worn, much of the decoration is still visible, including seven elongated oval leaves, filigree…
One of the most traumatic experiences of the ninth century, as Janet Nelson puts it, was the battle of Fontenoy, when the army of Charles the Bald and Louis the German met the troops of Lothar and of his nephew Pippin of Aquitaine on 25 June 841. The battle was significant in two respects: the…
Date: Late 9th–10th century Place of Production: Campania, Southern Italy Description: Despite its mythical origins, the griffin was a popular motif in Christian art. Here, two griffins face each other, a design that was borrowed from ancient Near Eastern art and may have been inspired by woven textiles. A surviving similar panel found in Sorrento…
