A passage in Eunapius (476–7, pp. 440–2 Loeb) draws an interesting contrast between the attitudes to divination of the two sophists Maximus and Chrysanthius: Maximus, who manipulates the omens until they say what he wants, and Chrysanthius, who scrupulously obeys their apparent meaning. But a passage a little later (500–1, pp. 542–4 Loeb) apparently ascribes to Chrysanthius the opposite attitude. This article suggests a transposition to restore coherence to the text. Even if the transposition is wrong, the contrast drawn in the first passage between two attitudes to divination, one rigorous and literalist, one manipulative, is important.

Cathedrals have been described as ‘normative space’ insofar as their regulation both shapes, and is shaped by, their architecture. This article extends that description and applies it, by analogy, to listed Church of England churches and examines how the concept of ‘normative space’ relates to, and informs, their regulation within ecclesiastical and secular systems. The article goes on to outline the implications for (1) architectural and artistic innovation and (2) the worship and mission of the Church.

On May 17, 1924, Mohammad Mosaddeq stood up in the Majlis to complain about the government's inaction regarding a new oil concession for Iran's northern provinces. He could hardly have predicted the future course of his public life or how intertwined it would be with international questions about national sovereignty and natural resources. But he did know how he felt right then. The concession proposed for the Sinclair Oil Company was “of vital importance to the country and should no longer be delayed,” he said. “We should not come here only to take tea!”

On 4 December, the Home Secretary unveiled a new package of measures to reduce immigration – a matter of great interest to faith communities, given that some of them depend fairly heavily on clergy and lay-workers from overseas to sustain their pastoral ministries. One of the elements in his statement to the Commons was a decision to ‘increase the skilled worker earnings threshold by a third to £38,700 from next spring, in line with the median full-time wage for those kinds of jobs’ and to raise the minimum income for family visas ‘to the same threshold as the minimum salary threshold for skilled workers, which is £38,700’.1

The end of free movement and the introduction of the post-Brexit migration system represent the most important changes to the UK migration system in half a century. Coinciding with the aftereffects of the pandemic, the result has been very large changes both to the numbers of those coming for work and study, and to their composition, both in terms of countries of origin and in the sectors and occupations of new migrants. It has also resulted in a political backlash, resulting in significant further changes to the system announced in December 2023. I discuss the evidence to date of the impact of recent migration trends on the UK economy and labour market, distinguishing between different sectors.

The petitioners, who were resident within the parish, applied for a faculty for the reservation of a grave plot. The incumbent did not consent to the petition; the policy of the PCC was not to support new applications for reservation as the churchyard would be full in less than ten years.

Polish cathedral and monastic archives preserve multiple precious handwritten sources of musical and liturgical contents originating from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Three such manuscripts have been the topic of research in this paper. The article’s problem is the provenance of the Pauline Gradual (PL-CZ III-913 olim R659) from 1596, owned by the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit in the Jasna Góra Monastery (Luminous Mount) in Częstochowa, Poland. The authors have examined the provenance by comparing the book’s repertoire of alleluiatic verses of the commune sanctorum with the contents of two older Polish codices from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, kept in the Archives and Library of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter: Wawel Gradual (PL-Kk Ms. 45) and Jan Olbracht Gradual (PL-Kk Ms. 44). The research leads to an ascertainment that the Pauline codex has, to some extent, been modelled on the Cracow manuscripts. The main text has been accompanied by photographs of each source’s selected original folios, and by transcriptions of the alleluiatic chants analysed.

Cicero often challenged Epicureanism on the grounds of inconsistency. Cicero personifies the charge through his character Torquatus, who defends Epicureanism in De finibus 1–2. Cicero highlights the discrepancies among Torquatus’ beliefs and between them and his behaviour. Torquatus holds that the senses incontestably verify the tenets of Epicureanism, and that logic is superfluous. Yet he is sensitive to the fact that Epicurus’ teachings are not intuitive and require a fair amount of logical argumentation in its defence. Therefore, he defends his school against Cicero's criticisms. But by engaging in a defence of the system, Torquatus has already spoken against his commitment to the obviousness of Epicureanism and his disavowal of logic.

A long history of political power struggles has shaped Iranian national identity. Each successive regime has sought to take control of Iranian political currents to reach its own objectives, and in the process has influenced Iranian identity in important ways. Few political figures in Iranian history have been as significant as Mohammad Mosaddeq in the shaping of Iranian identity, which he represents in ways that other political figures have failed to capture. His power to shape Iran's relationship with Western powers and his ability to project the image of Iran onto the world stage have enabled the endurance of his significance in the Iranian national psyche, which continues to show itself with his symbolic appearance in a range of political activities, including student rallies and public demonstrations.

This article examines the involvement and interactions of Vienna's urban elites in the conflict of the early 1460s that marked the climax of the power struggle between the Habsburg brothers Emperor Frederick III and Duke Albert VI over rule in the Duchy of Austria. Vienna's role is addressed in two aspects: first, as a central stage for the conflict, and second, as an active participant as a political community that became increasingly integrated into the broader political networks of the duchy during the fifteenth century. Following an actor-centered approach and based on prosopographical groundwork, the study focuses on the actions of individual protagonists and various factions within Vienna's political elites. During the violent events, the urban representatives did not form a cohesive entity but interacted and allied in changing constellations with leading noble, courtly, and clerical actors in the duchy. Factors and conditions contributing to the formation of diverse interest groups among urban actors are closely examined, aiming to give a deeper insight into the dynamics and patterns of the entangled conflict.

The study presented in this Research Communication aimed to investigate the relationship between physiological responses, body surface temperature and shade-seeking behaviour in Nili Ravi dairy buffaloes during summer months. We enrolled 60 buffaloes, and each animal was observed for three consecutive days starting before sunrise until they moved towards the shade structures. A repeated measures ANOVA was employed to assess the changes in physiological parameters and body surface temperature between the early morning and the occurrence of shade-seeking behaviour. The average temperature humidity index and heat load index during the behavioural monitoring period (0400 to 1200 h) were 81.3 ± 6.5 and 92.9 ± 17, respectively (mean ± sd). There was no significant difference in core body temperature between sunrise and the time of shade-seeking event. However, the buffaloes had a slightly higher respiration rate at the time of shade-seeking (19.2 vs. 22.4 breaths/min). In addition, body surface temperature, measured at the flank region, shoulder, base of the ear and forehead was significantly higher at the occurrence of shade-seeking behaviour compared to the early morning. On average, the buffaloes sought shade when the surface temperature was 2°C higher than the temperature recorded before sunrise. Overall, the current findings suggest that body surface temperature, rather than core body temperature was strongly associated with shade-seeking behaviour in dairy buffaloes. These findings could be useful in developing strategies to mitigate the effects of heat stress in dairy buffalo herds and thereby improve animal welfare.

This paper considers the interconnected practices of state formation, diplomacy, national identity and sport through an examination of ‘Irish’ involvement in the British Empire Games of 1930, 1934 and 1938. These events had a contradictory role in bolstering diplomatic relations between those who were committed to the empire but also in expressing the aspirations of those who sought independence from it, or a distinct identity within it. State formation and diplomacy played out in sporting contexts — which we term sportcraft — and this process was especially complex in post-partition Ireland. In the period under examination, a gradual but significant hardening of ideologies and identities occurred in certain sports on the island, notably athletics, mirroring the effects of partition and reflecting British and unionist political actions and sportive interests. Original archival and documentary material is presented from state archives in Dublin, London, Belfast and Ottawa, and from official sports collections in Birmingham, London, Stirling, Melbourne (Australia), Hamilton (Canada) and Lausanne (Switzerland). This demonstrates that by the early 1920s, government officials and sports administrators had already recognised the propaganda functions and utility of sport for state formation purposes and for issues of political control, jurisdiction and territorial boundaries.