Scholar to research charity and guilt in medieval Champagne

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8MyVq3JAN1ejyaQVz1dAUIy8wxDm4-urrrfoDO7Eo2WWuL4XL1ttFxe7mvGDlwM_A9x-rb-ojzPVBXbs7rDcIL88dLCVHJtkKaihKvBLL5eveBn2nQWO4EU5Jqu7i-ZgUbe2RPY9Buo/s1600/medievalhospital.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8MyVq3JAN1ejyaQVz1dAUIy8wxDm4-urrrfoDO7Eo2WWuL4XL1ttFxe7mvGDlwM_A9x-rb-ojzPVBXbs7rDcIL88dLCVHJtkKaihKvBLL5eveBn2nQWO4EU5Jqu7i-ZgUbe2RPY9Buo/s320/medievalhospital.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Adam Davis is a historian whose research causes him to straddle centuries on a daily basis. Now, the associate professor has received a yearlong fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to dig deeper into the 12th and 13th centuries in Champagne, France. Davis will study hospitals, wills, charitable practices of the day, and even medieval guilt.<br /><br /> On the face of it, examining the source documents of medieval French hospitals doesn’t sound like uncovering King Solomon’s mines, but Davis begs to differ. He says he’s actually studying a previously unknown charitable revolution.<br /><br /> In earlier times, monasteries provided care for the poor and sick. But during the 12th and 13th centuries, wealthy laypeople founded hundreds of hospitals to provide for Europe’s needy. In the Middle Ages, hospitals were multifunctional religious institutions—almost a hybrid between a shelter, nursing home, and inn—housing the sick, poor, and powerless, as well as travelers.<br /><br />“By the 13th century, hospitals had become one of the most popular recipients of charitable bequests,” says Davis. “In a number of regions, well over half of testaments, left by people from all cross-sections of life included bequests for hospices, hospitals, and leprosaries (quarantined houses for patients suffering from leprosy).” <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.denison.edu/theden/2013/01/sweet-charity-medieval-guilt/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from Denison University</a></b>

Scholar to research charity and guilt in medieval Champagne

Adam Davis is a historian whose research causes him to straddle centuries on a daily basis. Now, the associate professor has received a year...

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Castle for Sale: Fortress of Miolans, Savoy

<br />This impressive medieval castle is located in the heart of the Savoy Valley, and is situated on a strategic site 200 meters (550 feet) above the hamlet of Miolans, which part of the small town of St-Pierre Albigny in eastern France.<br /><br />The site has been occupied since the 4th century AD, with the earliest reference to the fortress going back to 1083. By the second half of the 14th century, the lords of Miolans extended the fortifications with a second tower, and a third tower was added in the early 16th century.<br /><br />In 1523 the ownership of the castle passed to the Counts of Savoy, and for the next two hundred years would serve as a prison. More than 200 people could be kept within the fortress, which became known as the Bastille of the Alps. The names of its dungeons included Hell, Purgatory, Paradise and Treasury. Among its most notable ‘guests’ was the Marquis de Sade, until he escaped in 1792. All the prisoners were freed during the French Revolution and the castle fell into ruin. It has currently been in the same family for almost six generations and the entire fortress was given full listing by the French Historic Monument Society in 1944.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2012/08/22/castle-for-sale-fortress-of-miolans-savoy/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net</a></b><br />

Castle for Sale: Fortress of Miolans, Savoy

This impressive medieval castle is located in the heart of the Savoy Valley, and is situated on a strategic site 200 meters (550 feet) above...

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Guédelon: Trades come alive at ‘medieval’ site

Visitors are not usually welcome at building sites but not so at Guédelon, a site in Burgundy which is being run entirely along medieval lines.<br /><br /> Its castle-builders of all trades are keen to show off their skills, whether they are woodcutters, carpenters, blacksmiths, tile makers, stonemasons or basket and rope makers. Master mason Florian Renucci, in charge of daily organisation, checks that the work carried out is historically, architecturally and archaeologically correct.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr3gTDpufGhrpC3YOrZT-mUgcblswnCUZlvE7BJLyKaYIJ3msRndW7KU616DXABMxjCCbznncSJLVZEx0JvPyZb_fsr-PGN846g3XSvahFL7Yj49f7hOHYNeCOmwH4qivGMwBQJ1BP2FE/s1600/Guedelon.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr3gTDpufGhrpC3YOrZT-mUgcblswnCUZlvE7BJLyKaYIJ3msRndW7KU616DXABMxjCCbznncSJLVZEx0JvPyZb_fsr-PGN846g3XSvahFL7Yj49f7hOHYNeCOmwH4qivGMwBQJ1BP2FE/s1600/Guedelon.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><br /> Learning to use 13th century building techniques effectively has not been easy, he says, especially when the walls are three metres thick and the stone is being quarried locally, by hand (the site is located in an old quarry).<br /><br /> “It’s ironstone, a very hard stone that we had to learn to extract,” he said. Quarry workers also had to master the art of searching for lines of weakness in blocks of sandstone, before drilling holes and inserting steel wedges with sledgehammers, creating shock waves to neatly split the rock. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://connexionfrance.com/Trades-come-alive-at-medieval-site-13966-news-article.html" target="_blank">Click here to read the rest of this article from The Connexion</a></b><br /><b><br /></b> <object height="420" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J__VMHRNAuc?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J__VMHRNAuc?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="420" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Guédelon: Trades come alive at ‘medieval’ site

Visitors are not usually welcome at building sites but not so at Guédelon, a site in Burgundy which is being run entirely along medieval lin...

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France's hidden gem...not any more! Beautiful medieval hamlet overrun with tourists after scooping travel award

Recognition in the lucrative holiday market is what most destinations dream of garnering. However, one pretty French hamlet is experiencing the pitfalls of over-exposure after its tourist figures soared when it picked up a prestigious award.  <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02tOEnz23glUZ_f_GCdPdl0dytrwyFYzUZNdgpP49f-9IU1BiY_fyYKeDlnol86ZOt2im3sv63upve060UZeMZA7HxaNx7cwJXdSG4Y4sKKqxSp2eQeMsYdHBvm5pAStVlcNXY6dD_9I/s1600/Saint-Cyrq-Lapopie_34.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02tOEnz23glUZ_f_GCdPdl0dytrwyFYzUZNdgpP49f-9IU1BiY_fyYKeDlnol86ZOt2im3sv63upve060UZeMZA7HxaNx7cwJXdSG4Y4sKKqxSp2eQeMsYdHBvm5pAStVlcNXY6dD_9I/s400/Saint-Cyrq-Lapopie_34.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br />On some days during the summer, the local population of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie - just 217 people - has been dwarfed by visitors flocking to the medieval village, which lies 20 miles east of Cahors in south west France. Perched on a steep cliff 100ft above a river, the hamlet has a riveting history of battling off feudal rulers, Richard the Lionheart and religious fanatics in the Middle Ages.<br /><br />But its tourist office has been almost overrun. 'The sudden increase in visitors has taken us a bit by surprise, not that I'm complaining,' said office chief Clare. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2180955/Frances-hidden-gem--Beautiful-medieval-hamlet-overrun-tourists-scooping-travel-award.html" target="_blank">Click here to read the rest of this article from The Daily Mail</a></b> <object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7u-mSH6ABb8?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7u-mSH6ABb8?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object height="420" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yxq_n8N9anc?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yxq_n8N9anc?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="420" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

France's hidden gem...not any more! Beautiful medieval hamlet overrun with tourists after scooping travel award

Recognition in the lucrative holiday market is what most destinations dream of garnering. However, one pretty French hamlet is experiencing ...

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France: A Medieval Castle in the Making

The construction of Guédelon about 100 miles southeast of Paris has already been underway for 15 years, yet workers are proud about how long it’s taking. That’s because you don’t build a medieval castle in a day using 13th-century techniques only.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjoC6jzFn7q59sCKtsEnbUVpmraPMn66hlRElKqFN7HVUrbFwFJzpYbTtJFF3UAXmTKWtFBwPbyssLMRjZyXvFMJI14eLNPgEdyYn7j0_cWBjY2kkW3j9Zog1WsFGwD3XAIEJLhvcevg/s1600/Ch%25C3%25A2teau_de_Gu%25C3%25A9delon_%2528juillet_2009%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjoC6jzFn7q59sCKtsEnbUVpmraPMn66hlRElKqFN7HVUrbFwFJzpYbTtJFF3UAXmTKWtFBwPbyssLMRjZyXvFMJI14eLNPgEdyYn7j0_cWBjY2kkW3j9Zog1WsFGwD3XAIEJLhvcevg/s400/Ch%25C3%25A2teau_de_Gu%25C3%25A9delon_%2528juillet_2009%2529.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /> The project, begun in 1997, is the brainchild—or, as it was said at the time, the idée folle—of Michel Guyot, an architectural historian who restored the nearby Château de St.-Fargeau. In the process he discovered the remains of a castle that predated the elegant 17th manor. Fascinated by the building they suggested, he decided to recreate it in the forest a dozen miles from St.-Fargeau, enlisting experts who studied illuminated manuscripts, stained-glass windows and extant medieval structures to devise a fully authentic design.<br /><br /> With Guédelon now on the rise, no one’s calling Guyot crazy and the point of the exercise grows ever more apparent. Like one of those illustrated children’s books by David Macaulay—”Cathedral,” “Castle,“ “City,“ “Pyramid”—it is aimed at answering a question everyone asks when visiting remarkable edifices from the Middle Ages: How did workers do it without trucks, bulldozers and power tools?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/travel/2012/05/a-medieval-castle-in-the-making/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from Smithsonian.com</a></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guedelon.fr/en/" target="_blank">Click here to visit the Castle's website</a></b> <object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/81UaMYAxzZo?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/81UaMYAxzZo?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> <object height="410" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SR7SI7tzvhA?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SR7SI7tzvhA?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="410" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

France: A Medieval Castle in the Making

The construction of Guédelon about 100 miles southeast of Paris has already been underway for 15 years, yet workers are proud about how long...

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France celebrates Joan of Arc's 600th birthday

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7gJfSUalqKK1wzKs4i2Z7Y-QoSO_g1yqH2vZ2w5QQCoTN8F1RNwD40kmNdhPnVeafCN6LfAdIR0N5nB9y85sZvcBLW6fwDNVJQ_hYV6nwmwPBy0a17-w1cdqFG4knVXHNDDBHhxTFjI/s1600/images10.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7gJfSUalqKK1wzKs4i2Z7Y-QoSO_g1yqH2vZ2w5QQCoTN8F1RNwD40kmNdhPnVeafCN6LfAdIR0N5nB9y85sZvcBLW6fwDNVJQ_hYV6nwmwPBy0a17-w1cdqFG4knVXHNDDBHhxTFjI/s1600/images10.jpeg" /></a></div>The normally tranquil city of Orleans is buzzing with festivities over the next two weeks to mark the 600th birthday of one of France's best cultural exports: Joan of Arc.<br /><br />Looking appropriately cinematic, the Loire River swarmed with wooden boats carrying locals in medieval garb last week, re-enacting Joan of Arc's famous entry into the city in 1429.<br /><br />The day that saw Orleans liberated from English invaders has been dramatized in film the world over, most famously in 1948's Oscar-winning epic of the French martyr with Ingrid Bergman, and more recently, in Luc Besson's award-winning 1999 blockbuster with Milla Jovovich. <br /><br />Joan's place in the history books has not only been sealed through cinema, but also through myriad novels, poems, rock songs, operas and plays over the centuries — making her one of the most talked-about figures in history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120505/entlife/705069983/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from the Chicago Daily Herald</a></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/tag/joan-of-arc/" target="_blank">See more articles about Joan of Arc</a></b>

France celebrates Joan of Arc's 600th birthday

The normally tranquil city of Orleans is buzzing with festivities over the next two weeks to mark the 600th birthday of one of France's ...

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