Medieval Chronicles

This is a description (longer than an abstract), and the front matter, of my third book: the annotated translation of the Henryków Book, prefaced by a long introduction. This document was sent to me by the publisher in the process of printing, so these pages are not numbered.

Submitted here is my introduction to my annotated translation of the Henryków Book, titled Local Society in Transition, whose reference matter appears in the Books section of this website. This introduction contextualizes the Book and its authors in the genres of historical writing of which it is an example, and in the monastic, political, economic, and seigneurial world of medieval Silesia, and Piast Poland in general. It is designed to offer an entrée into the history of those two polities, as well as of the text and the monastery. (My most recent book, The Text and the World, also represented in the Books section, takes these aims in several further directions.) I am most grateful to Fred Unwalla of the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, for permission to place the entire text on this website.

"A obra que o leitor tem entre mãos pretende ser uma recolha completa de todos os trabalhos escritos de Armindo de Sousa, publicados além dos seus livros ou capítulos de livros. Porque este historiador já partiu de entre nós há cerca de quinze anos, porque os seus trabalhos estão dispersos e são, quase todos, de difícil acesso, porque uma obra reunida ganha em unidade, em coerência e em inteligibilidade. Mas, acima de tudo, porque Armindo de Sousa foi um historiador de excepção; e se, em qualquer país, seria obrigatória a disponibilização da sua obra a um público alargado, do limitado e algo pobre panorama historiográfico português é quase um crime de lesa-inteligência que as páginas que ele nos deixou andem perdidas." (Luís Miguel Duarte)

Review: Geoffrey le Baker. (2012). The chronicle of Geoffrey Le Baker of Swinbrook. Translated by David Preest; introduction and notes by Richard Barber. Woodbridge: Boydell Press.

The writing of history in the fourteenth-century England has received a great amount of attention through the works of medievalists such as Antonia Gransden (2000), Beryl Smalley (1974), Chris Given-Wilson (2004), John Taylor (1987), and many more. However, a common point among academic works about the English Middle Ages is that they heavily rely upon documents that are mostly available only to those able to read Latin, Middle English, Anglo-Norman and many other languages not equally accessible to different level scholars and academics. Such works, besides
proving a good opportunity for students and researchers to get in touch with those texts, usually present indeed high-quality up-to-date bibliographical comments by their editors, amplifying thus the possibilities for medieval studies in a whole, as they shed new life upon texts that have received little or no attention outside the Anglophone academic world.

The comparative analysis of the medieval Russian illuminated handwritten History of Troy and of the Latin text of the Historia destructionis Troiae by Guido de Columnis, edited for the Medieval Academy of America by Nathaniel Edward Griffin, Medieval Academy Books, No 26 (1936), is the subject of my present work. An aim of my work is the edition of the parallel Latin – Russian texts of the medieval Troy History as bilingual narratives.

Emotions in a Crusading Context is the first book-length study of the emotional rhetoric of crusading. It investigates the ways in which a number of emotions and affective displays — primarily fear, anger, and weeping — were understood, represented, and utilized in twelfth- and thirteenth-century western narratives of the crusades, making use of a broad range of comparative material to gauge the distinctiveness of those texts: crusader letters, papal encyclicals, model sermons, chansons de geste, lyrics, and an array of theological and philosophical treatises. In addition to charting continuities and changes over time in the emotional landscape of crusading, this study identifies the underlying influences which shaped how medieval authors represented and used emotions; analyzes the passions crusade participants were expected to embrace and reject; and assesses whether the idea of crusading created a profoundly new set of attitudes towards emotions.

Emotions in a Crusading Context calls on scholars of the crusades to reject the traditional methodological approach of taking the emotional descriptions embedded within historical narratives as straightforward reflections of protagonists' lived feelings, and in so doing challenges the long historiographical tradition of reconstructing participants' beliefs and experiences from these texts. Within the history of emotions, Stephen J. Spencer demonstrates that, despite the ongoing drive to develop new methodologies for studying the emotional standards of the past, typified by experiments in 'neurohistory', the social constructionist (or cultural-historical) approach still has much to offer the historian of medieval emotions.

The subject of the study is the analysis of the manuscript with genealogical notes on the family of Podiebrad dukes, the descendants of king George of Poděbrady. The manuscript is held in the National Archive in Třeboň and contains the only known Czech translation of the notes, which, in subject literature, go by the name of Elenchus. The Czech version is also complimented by the Latin one. The study deals with three primary areas. Firstly, the relation between the Codex of Třeboň and other edits of family notes. Thesis formulated by Wojciech Mrozowicz, who did not consider Elenchus to be a part of the chronicle of the Žďár monastery, known as Cronica Sarensis minor, was supported. The second area deals with the role of Elenchus in the strategies of shaping and presenting family records of Podiebrad dukes. The introduction of information regarding the baptism of Charles’ I daughter in Wrocław, with participation of the Bohemian king, suggests that Elenchus was intended to present the Podiebrad dukes as Christian rulers, who were wrongly associated with reputation of heretics.
The third area concerns the circumstances accompanying the creation
of the Codex of Třeboň. The Latin version, although recorded as the second one, was undoubtedly the basis for the Czech translation. Said translation however, contains numerous discrepancies. As a conclusion, a thesis was formulated, that the Codex of Třeboň was created as a result of the genealogical study of the Holicki house from Šternberk from which descended the first wife of George of Poděbrady. The original Podiebrad family records were re-used by this house.

The "Chronicon" by Romualdus from Salerno is a universal chronical of the XII century in Latin that constitutes an important source for the early stages of the Norman conquest of Southern Italy. I am working on a new digital critical edition of this texts based on the main manuscripts (A, B, C, Aa/D in Schwarz's siglum). It will be based on full transcriptions of the texts of those witnesses, encoded in TEI/XML, and on their semi-automatic collation with CollateX and ad hoc Python software. This digital methodology will provide richer evidence of the textual variance in the manuscripts, especially since the apparatus criticus of Garufi's 1914 edition seems to omit a number of readings. The numerous textual additions differentiating the "long" and the "short" version of the work and the possible transpositions of those passages pose a specific technological challenge because they make computational collation particularly complex. Another challenging task is the distinction between orthografic and substantial variants, since they can serve different research interests of different readers

This paper discusses the depiction of ambushes in chronicles of the High Middle Ages. Identifying ambushes in this period is particularly difficult, as the Latin term 'insidia' could also be used more generically to refer to stratagems, snares and cunning ploys. This paper combines evidence from contemporary chronicles, Patristic and medieval theological writing and Anglo-Norman epic verse to examine the variety of situations in which ambushes were used by medieval combatants and the different lessons that historians drew from tales of warriors ambushed (or ambushing) unawares.

Il saggio inaugura la nuova collana promossa dall'ISIME e dall'abbazia di Farfa con la pubblicazione anastatica della cosiddetta Constructio farfensis curata da Ugo Balzani, accompagnata da uno studio che, oltre a ripercorrere le varie tappe della storia del testo nelle sue intricate relazioni e dipendenze testuali e nei suoi percorsi editoriali, propone nuove considerazioni sui suoi rapporti con altri testi, sulle sue funzioni e sulla sua identità.

Статья посвящена маргиналиям на полях Томского списка Степенной книги. Автор доказывает, что Томский список был источником Лицевого летописного свода. Маргиналии Томского списка принадлежат руке редактора Лицевого свода.
The article is devoted to the marginal notes in the Tomsk’manuscript of the Book of Degrees. The author provs, that the Tomsk’manuscript was the source of the Book of illuminated chronicles’ corpus. The marginal notes of the Tomsk’manuscript are the work of a editor of the Book of illuminated chronicles’ corpus.

Objectives:To study the magnitude of chronic liver disordersin
children  attending  the  only  tertiary  care  hospital. To  study  the
spectrum of chronic liver disorders in children.
Study design:Prospective observational study
Material and methods: The study included prospective (July 2007
to  Dec.2008) analysis of  all  children  < 18  yrs  withchronic liver
disorders.  A  total  of  94  children  with  confirmed  diagnosis  of
chronic liver disease were included in the study. The diagnosis of
all liver diseases was based on established clinical and diagnostic
criteria. Severity of chronic liver disease was defined using Child
grading.
Results:Mean age of patients was 10.4 ± 4 yrs with a rangeof 1-18 yrs. Jaundice(75%), ascites (64%),encephalopathy(29%) were
presenting  symptoms  in  chronic  liver  disease  patients  indicating
decompensation  at  presentation  .Features  of  portal  hypertension
were seen in 65%.Etiology was found to be HBV in 18%, Wilsons
disease in 16% ,HCV in 6.4%, autoimmune in 5.3% and alpha-1
antitrypsin deficiency in 1.1% and no etiology could be found in
52%(cryptogenic) .In acute liver diseases HAV was cause in 43%,
HBV in 27% and HEV in 7% cases.
Conclusion: Chronic  liver  diseases  in  our  set  up  are  mainly
constituted  by  post  hepatitic,  metabolic  and  cryptogenic  etiology
.Lack  of  advanced  biochemical  and  specific  diagnostic  tools
resulted in high percentage of cryptogenic cirrhosis our study.

La serie de conflictos entre cristianos y musulmanes que caracteriza a la Edad Media y que colectivamente ha sido llamada controversialmente la «Reconquista» está identificada con cierto interés en las fuentes documentales y narrativas de la península ibérica. En algunos períodos y a pesar de su importancia, hay algunos vacíos apreciables en las crónicas y anales sobrevivientes de la época en la zona. A pesar de ello, las fuentes narrativas de otras áreas del mundo cristiano medieval parecen haberse interesado en este conflicto, pese a que no fueron escritas en la península. A finales del siglo xi, los reinos cristianos peninsulares aprovecharon la oportunidad del desequilibrio político de los reinos de taifas del sur para expandir no solo su hegemonía política, sino su supremacía territorial. Al mismo tiempo, el papado reformista empezó a ver las disputas territoriales peninsulares como una oportunidad más para la guerra santa entre la Iglesia romana y el mundo musulmán. Las guerras peninsulares, desde tiempos de Carlomagno, ya habían empezado a atraer el interés de miembros de la nobleza franca con intervenciones militares en el valle del Ebro. Es por esta relación que las regiones del Reino de Francia y, luego, de otros lugares del mundo cristiano, empezaron a interesarse en esta zona. Los romances épicos, como la historia de Roldán, atraen el interés literario en el conflicto ibérico y las hagiografías empiezan a nombrar tangencialmente los eventos peninsulares, reflejando así un creciente interés en estas guerras que empiezan a ser vistas desde un matiz religioso.4 Este capítulo intenta demostrar cómo desde el siglo xi ya se comenzaba a ver este conflicto desde el norte como un tipo de guerra santa. También intenta mostrar a través de un limitado número de fuentes narrativas existentes de distintas regiones de la Europa cristiana, desde el siglo xi hasta principios del siglo xiii, cómo estas fuentes reflejan la cambiante disposición de este conflicto desde la perspecti- va de estos autores. De la misma manera, intenta mostrar cómo la relación de las guerras ibéricas con los conflictos en el Levante mediterráneo, que colectivamente llamamos las cruzadas, ayudaron en su cambiante percepción de la validez de este teatro bélico. Por otra parte, esta sección muestra la forma en que estos textos, a pe- sar de su lógica parcialidad regional, aportan en algunas ocasiones otra perspectiva útil sobre los eventos peninsulares con relación a las fuentes locales.

Les récits arabes sur l'émergence du druzisme, peu prolixes en informations par ailleurs confuses et contradictoires, n'apportent pas les précisions dont l'historien souhaiterait disposer. Au-delà de ce constat leur déconstruction est nécessaire pour rendre compte des zones d'ombre pr?sentes dans l'historiographie et des enjeux qui en découlent. C'est cette relecture historique que nous proposons à partir d'une confrontation critique des sources primaires entre elles. Cinq témoins de l'avènement des Druzes y occupent une place centrale. Il s'agit d'al-Musabbihi (m. 420/1029) dont le récit nous est parvenu par le biais d'auteurs tardifs, et d'al-Antaki (m. 458/1066) dont la chronique a été conservée. Indispensables à l'historiographie cairote, les chroniques d'Ibn Abi Tayyi' (m. 625/1228) et d'Ibn Zafir (m. 613/1216) présentent une particularité certaine dans leur récit de la naissance du druzisme ; toutefois ces auteurs ne dévoilent pas leurs sources. Un seul chroniqueur bagdadien, contemporain des premiers Druzes, les mentionne : Hilal al-Sabi' (m. 448/1056). Toutes les informations que livrent les autres chroniques arabes sur les Druzes se rapportent à ces auteurs dont ils utilisent les récits.

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Bollettino bibliografico della cultura europea da Boezio a Erasmo (secoli VI-XV) della «Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino» della «Fondazione Ezio Franceschini». Direttori: Agostino Paravicini Bagliani e Lucia Pinelli. «Medioevo latino» è una bibliografia che esce con periodicità annuale (a partire dal 1980) e che dà notizia esaustiva della produzione medievistica dell’anno precedente, relativa ai testi prevalentemente scritti in lingua latina tra l’anno 475 e gli inizi del XVI secolo (arco cronologico che si è progressivamente ampliato nel corso degli anni). Lo spoglio bibliografico completo e diretto di libri, riviste, bollettini inerenti la latinità medievale e, in generale, la cultura e la storia medievale, si avvale del lavoro di ricerca di circa 150 collaboratori, riuniti in diverse redazioni italiane (Bologna, Firenze, Foggia,Genova, Lecce, Macerata, Milano, Napoli, Perugia, Roma, Salerno, Sassari, Siena,Torino, Udine, Verona) e straniere (Bern, Bonn, Cambridge, Göttingen, Köln, Paris, Columbus, Santiago de Compostela, Seattle, Valladolid, Zürich) facenti capo a quella centrale di Firenze. La caratteristica che contraddistingue l’informazione bibliografica offerta è la presenza per la maggioranza delle voci di una sintesi orientativa del contenuto dei vari titoli segnalati. Nel corso degli anni si è provveduto a una sempre più articolata struttura interna della pubblicazione, che attualmente comprende sei sezioni generali («Autori e testi» - «Fortleben» - «Argomenti, generi letterari, istituzioni» - «Opere di consultazione» - «Congressi e miscellanee» - «Manoscritti da cataloghi») corredate da quattro indici («Indice dei manoscritti e delle stampe» - «Indice lessicale» - «Indice geografico» - «Indice degli studiosi»), che fanno del bollettino, già apprezzato da tutti gli studiosi in ogni parte del mondo scientifico, uno strumento unico e insostituibile per chiunque si rivolga a questo settore della ricerca. «Medioevo latino» è interamente consultabile on line al sito www.mirabileweb.it. Il Repertorio bibliografico è disponibile anche in CD ROM.