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42566 results in Collections

Page 1587 of 2129

  • 3 - Towns and the Growth of Trade

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 47-85

  • Summary

    During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, most of Europe was distinctly backward and peripheral by comparison with areas south of the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, which were highly commercialised and urbanised and under Muslim control. There were two distinctive core areas for urban growth: northern Italy and the territories bordering the southern part of the North Sea and the English Channel and extending up the Rhine. The most fundamental stimulus to urban and commercial growth was that of rural development and population increase. The interaction between local resources and lordship shaped patterns of urban growth, especially for small towns. Some of the largest and most populous cities owed their standing to their handling of a transit trade and to their role as centres for collecting and redistributing goods. The rapid growth of towns promoted commercial solutions to the basic problems of supply, and this in turn encouraged specialised agriculture.

  • 13 - Homer’s society

  • from Part 4 - Text and context
  • Edited by Robert Fowler, University of Bristol
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Homer
    Published online:
    28 May 2006
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 206-219

  • Summary

    Introduction

    What sort of a world did Homer live in? What sort of a world does Homer create? If we allow that 'Homer' in these questions stands not for the text in the form we have it but for the whole tradition that created that text, the difficulty of answering these questions becomes plain. This chapter endeavours to explain what we know about the societies in which the epic tradition was shaped, to describe the social and political arrangements implied or alluded to in the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to examine the relationship between the worlds in which 'Homer' lived and the worlds which 'Homer' created.

    Greek society in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age

    The epic tradition which lies behind the Iliad and Odyssey was already flourishing in the late Bronze Age. Some of the evidence for that proposition is linguistic, some of it archaeological: words and objects (e.g. a boar’s tusk helmet, 10.261–5) appear in the poem whose presence cannot easily be explained by their survival or people remembering them into the time that the Iliad and Odyssey as we have them were put together. Any reading of the Iliad or Odyssey needs to be informed by an appreciation that the epic tradition had been formed and shaped through successive very different social arrangements and material cultures.

  • 12 - Thought and Learning

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 461-498

  • Summary

    This chapter focuses on the structured, formal patterns of teaching and learning, which impinged less closely on the lives of the many than of the few. The schools and their supporting institutions owed much to lay patrons, at least before the 'Gregorian reform'. In both monastic and non-monastic schools the curriculum of study had a common foundation. Central to monastic studies were the Bible and supporting aids including the liberal arts and biblical glosses, and these were approached in a context of regular prayer, meditation and liturgical practice. The growth in numbers of students in urban schools during the eleventh and twelfth centuries reflects the rise of career expectations. However, explaining the changing fortunes of particular schools is difficult, as is the task of explaining why or to what extent some schools gained a particularly high reputation in certain subjects.

  • 23 - Zengids, Ayyubids and Seljuqs

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 721-752

  • Summary

    For thirty years by 1063, Nizam al-Mulk devoted every effort to shaping the jerry-built Seljuqid political enterprise into a centralized absolutist monarchy. The decadence of Seljuqid power in western Iran after the death of Ma'sud coincided with the collapse of Seljuqid rule in the East. In 1078 Malikshah's brother Tutush conquered Syria, but from the outset the latter's ambitions were not easy to restrain. The occupation of Damascus reunified Syria for the first time since the death of Tutush, and the way in which unity was achieved ensured that Nur al-Din could exploit the city's military and fiscal resources with no fear of rebellion. In the eyes of Nur al-Din and Saladin, the Isma ʾilis interpretation of Islam espoused by the Fatimids was flagrantly heretical. The Ayyubids had had their eye on Mesopotamia and Mosul since Saladin's time, and in any case it made sense to pre-empt any efforts at a Zengid revanche in Mesopotamia and north Syria.

  • 8 - Formulas, metre and type-scenes

  • from Part 3 - The poet’s craft
  • Edited by Robert Fowler, University of Bristol
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Homer
    Published online:
    28 May 2006
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 117-138

  • Summary

    Repetition in Homer

    The idea that Homer was an oral poet composing in a tradition of formulaic language is one of the seminal concepts of twentieth-century scholarship. The major figure in the development of this idea was Milman Parry (1902-1935), though many other scholars have contributed to the theory. Parry built on earlier work, and it is fair to say that many elements of his theory had been stated previously; what was new was his way of combining these elements - and also the persuasiveness of his research, both in his close analysis of the texts of the Homeric poems and in his fieldwork with living South Slavic oral epic poets. The work of Parry and his followers has been supplemented by analysis of recurring type-scenes, begun by Walter Arend in 1933 and continued by many scholars since. The implications of these ideas have been felt not only in Homeric studies, and not only in classics, but in other fields as well, such as folk-lore, anthropology, medieval studies and the study of orality and literacy. Thus an account of oral-formulaic theory is essential for those interested in understanding modern Homeric scholarship, and also important for those generally interested in the development of twentieth-century thought in the humanities.

  • 9 - Reform and the Church, 1073–1122

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 268-334

  • Summary

    William's idea of the return to the golden age recalls the words in which Peter Damian had described the reform of the papacy forty years before:' the golden age of the apostles is now restored'; 'the golden age of David is renewed'. To supporters of the reform papacy the golden age of the church was that ancient period in which the faithful had built and endowed churches and showered their wealth on the clergy. The Pauline idea of reform influenced the early medieval monastic conversion to religion and played a significant part in the monastic reform movements of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The ideal of the regular canonical life for the secular clergy was championed by the principal figures of the papal reform movement. The Gregorian reform was an attempt to restore not only the spirituality and standards of conduct of that golden age but also the material conditions and even the physical appearance of the churches.

  • 7 - War, Peace and the Christian Order

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 185-228

  • Summary

    In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, 'Latin' Europe went through a period of growing social differentiation, in which the function of each class became more clearly defined. The king was seen as the holder of an office, the discharge of which must answer to a basically Christian ordering of affairs. War was conceived as a way to maintain the world order, to keep the peace. In 1038, the emperor Conrad II went from Basel to Friesland pacem firmando, to strengthen the peace. That is how Wipo, his biographer, sums up his account of the emperor's final acts. The Peace of God movement took religious rules which applied to all lay people and adapted them into regulations which affected only warriors. The policy of the reforming papacy led to a further clarification of how warlike activity might be reconciled with the Christian life.

  • 9 - Kievan Rus’, the Bulgars and the southern Slavs, c. 1020 – c. 1200

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 254-276

  • Summary

    This chapter shows that during the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Croats were never unified under a strong central government. They lived in different areas: Pannonian Croatia, Dalmatian Croatia, and Bosnia, which were more frequently controlled by agents of Byzantium, Venice and Hungary. In 1036, Jaroslav's victory over the Petcheneks secured safe passage for merchants travelling from Kiev to Constantinople. Jaroslav's reign was one of the high points in the history of Rus' and his achievements earned for him the sobriquet the Wise'. He helped to lay the foundation for a codified law by issuing 'The Russian Law. During most of the eleventh and twelfth centuries Bulgaria experienced the period of Byzantine rule. In 1018 when Basil II conquered Bulgaria a number of Serbian principalities also fell under Byzantine rule. Although the Latin Christians were affiliated to Rome they continued to celebrate the liturgy in the Slavonic language even after its use had been condemned by the synod.

  • 17 - The Jews in Europe and the Mediterranean Basin

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 623-657

  • Summary

    The eleventh and twelfth centuries, for Jewish life in Europe and the Mediterranean basin, were characterised, above all else, by diversity and flux. Jews were spread across vast and heterogeneous area in enclaves that differed considerably from one another in size, antiquity, economic foundations, political and social relations with the non-Jewish majority, and religious and intellectual creativity. The foundations for Jewish existence lay, of course, in the realm of economic activity. By the eleventh century, the arrangements governing the existence of the Jews as a minority grouping in Muslim and Christian societies were already well worked out. Throughout Europe and the Mediterranean basin, the locus of power within the Jewish world lay in the local Jewish community. By the early thirteenth century, much had changed in Jewish life, for both good and ill. A vigorous and creative two centuries left a mixed legacy for the subsequent history of the Jews.

  • 10 - Religious Communities, 1024–1215

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 335-367

  • Summary

    Religious communities were considered a necessary and active part of Christian society. In addition to praying on behalf of individuals and of society as a whole, they performed many functions which are now the responsibility of public institutions. Religious communities embodied the highest ideals of medieval society, and their members must be seen in relation to the hopes and needs of people living in the world. The new forms of religious life and types of religious communities must be seen against a broader background of changes, which contributed to the atmosphere of personal isolation and uncertainty. The men and women who entered religious communities in the eleventh and twelfth centuries came from all walks of life. The reformers liked to emphasise the breadth of their appeal. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, however, thousands of women entered religious communities and some of them lived on terms of spiritual and intellectual equality with men.

  • 15 - The Eastern Churches

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 564-598

  • Summary

    The eastern churches remained lively in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, whatever the vicissitudes they experienced. The Byzantine emperors, in the eleventh century, continued to operate within the tradition of the elimination of heresy. The great churches, which had been turned into mosques became cathedrals once more; the number of churches grew, Christian populations were attracted into the reconquered lands. The Latins dispossessed the Greek prelates of their cathedrals and the Greek communities of their pre-eminent position in the sanctuaries. However, they very quickly adapted to the situation of the eastern churches, and made space for each alongside the Latin church, refraining from the harassment which the Byzantines had inflicted on other confessions. The Franks adopted the devotions of the eastern Christians, and the monasteries of each confession were able to prosper. The Latin church of the Maghreb continued to use Latin as its liturgical language and in funerary inscriptions, although the Christians increasingly used Arabic.

  • 16 - Spain in the twelfth century

  • Edited by David Luscombe, University of Sheffield, Jonathan Riley-Smith, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 475-509

  • Summary

    All Spain' in that summer comprised the area from the Atlantic in the west to the Ebro in the east and to the north of a line running from Coimbra by way of Toledo to Medinaceli and the border of the kingdom of Saragossa, beyond which lay the kingdom of Aragon and the county of Barcelona. The history of twelfth-century Spain was enacted on constantly shifting foundations. As count of Galicia, Queen Urraca's first husband, the Burgundian Raymond of Amous had had his centre in the remote north-west. By the terms of their marriage settlement Urraca and any child of the marriage were to inherit the kingdom of Aragon if Alfonso died first. The division of Alfonso VII's realms in 1157 points a crucial truth about twelfth-century Spain which the most celebrated event of Alfonso's reign, his imperial coronation, tends to obscure.

  • 19 - Homer and Ulysses

  • from Part 5 - Homeric receptions
  • Edited by Robert Fowler, University of Bristol
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to Homer
    Published online:
    28 May 2006
    Print publication:
    14 October 2004, pp 311-323

  • Summary

    The authority of ‘old’ Homer: a new range of admiring responses

    In the opening episode of Joyce’s Ulysses the memory of noisy horseplay between undergraduates disrupts a conversation between Stephen Dedalus and his co-tenant Buck Mulligan. The sound floats out of an open window and startles the tranquillity of an Oxford quadrangle, even as the moment of recall disrupts the narrative. Into the remembered scene a deaf gardener enters, aproned and 'masked with Matthew Arnold’s face'. Unable to hear the shouts of the students he pushes his mower over the 'sombre lawn' concentrating on his task intently. Before the students continue their conversation a single broken line intrudes consisting of the phrases 'To ourselves', 'new paganism' and 'omphalos'. This fragmented line, which might be said to express a parodic mantra of modernist concerns, serves to ensure that issues of identity, Hellenism and the return to the primitive remain firmly to the front of the reader’s mind even as Stephen’s attention is drawn back to the prosaic question of the behaviour of his lodger.

    So what are we to make of Arnold’s cameo appearance at this early stage of the novel? It is interesting that the main commentators on Joyce have nothing to say about it. But for anyone reading the text with an eye to the relationship between Homer and modernity, the evocation of one of the nineteenth century’s most illustrious interpreters of Homer cannot fail to invite speculation about this particular figuration of the relationship between an ancient Greek literary text, one of the traditional landscapes of classical learning, and the cacophony of the modern.

Page 1587 of 2129