Secret Passageways and Trebuchet Trick Shots: Medieval News Roundup

This week's news for medievalists features the mystery of how books were being stolen from a medieval monastery's library, and the plans to build an Anglo-Saxon house.<br/><br/><div class="storify"><iframe src="//storify.com/medievalists/secret-passageways-and-trebuchet-trick-shots-medie/embed?header=false&border=false" width="100%" height=750 frameborder=no allowtransparency=true></iframe><script src="//storify.com/medievalists/secret-passageways-and-trebuchet-trick-shots-medie.js?header=false&border=false"></script><noscript>[<a href="//storify.com/medievalists/secret-passageways-and-trebuchet-trick-shots-medie" target="_blank">View the story "Secret Passageways and Trebuchet Trick Shots: Medieval News Roundup" on Storify</a>]</noscript></div><br/><br/>Finally, check out our <b><a href="http://instagram.com/medievalistsnet">Instagram page</a></b>, where you can see some of the photos we have been taking, such as this fun picture from Southwark Cathedral: <br/><br/><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiihI-uiK4HKxdk_mmObAhacnYHQEX4N9TMj0-zJHwi_Z_xl8C6VuF8sEujGHMyyjkVl1B2bcirrhakdPZnf2fso7MDPCQEXIP-lfL5d93sWC4jzmM1SqsPrG-LdFd-2xS4S0zBpFEjFJA/s1600/Southwark+Cathedral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiihI-uiK4HKxdk_mmObAhacnYHQEX4N9TMj0-zJHwi_Z_xl8C6VuF8sEujGHMyyjkVl1B2bcirrhakdPZnf2fso7MDPCQEXIP-lfL5d93sWC4jzmM1SqsPrG-LdFd-2xS4S0zBpFEjFJA/s400/Southwark+Cathedral.jpg" /></a></div>

Secret Passageways and Trebuchet Trick Shots: Medieval News Roundup

This week's news for medievalists features the mystery of how books were being stolen from a medieval monastery's library, and the p...

+ Read more »

Gutenberg, Executions, Medicis, Vikings, Hobbits and more - medieval news roundup

A medieval news roundup for the weekend...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfIhMo_ck1UtOvBG4ZpCmTLFvinugoBf6QBVQWv8-5skHcQNQKriLNebawWvb_PzPa-doUEVHFxsDYkkBNvFYQEbpQHicD3ryg0pberrXVhGt_uIPsPHfMVR3rFrgZhJClsY8wASRxyY/s1600/gutenberg.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfIhMo_ck1UtOvBG4ZpCmTLFvinugoBf6QBVQWv8-5skHcQNQKriLNebawWvb_PzPa-doUEVHFxsDYkkBNvFYQEbpQHicD3ryg0pberrXVhGt_uIPsPHfMVR3rFrgZhJClsY8wASRxyY/s320/gutenberg.gif" width="262" /></a></div>If you are a fan of Marshall McLuhan or have an interest in the history of printing, <b><a href="http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/the_future_is_medieval.php?page=all">this interview from the Columbia Journalism Review</a></b> might interest you. In this post, entitled <i>The future is medieval</i>, they talk with Thomas Pettitt and Lars Ole Sauerberg from the University of Southern Denmark about their “Gutenberg Parenthesis” idea. It deals with how digital media will be tipping the scales between oral and print communication, the first change we have seen since Gutenberg started his printing machine. It includes some talk about the medieval period, such as:<br /><br /><i>The Middle Ages was not strong on membership of communities. They were not obsessive about inside versus outside. They didn’t emphasize, “I’m a denizen of this town, I’m a citizen of this country, I belong in this nation, behind these frontiers.” They saw themselves rather like Hobbits (Tolkien was a medievalist). Hobbits knew their relatives to the seventh degree: second cousins three times removed, and so on. In the Middle Ages people saw themselves as part of a network of connections. They knew their family trees. They knew with whom they were related. They identified themselves as a node in a network and they saw pathways, connections to other people in their extended family. They also saw themselves in terms depending on their profession. If they were in the Church, they saw themselves in the Church hierarchy as being a priest here, subject to the archdeacon here, subject to the bishop there, and the archbishop and the pope. You could have status by being the servant to a servant to someone important.</i><br /><br />You can also listen to this talk they were part of from MIT:<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F95712755" width="100%"></iframe> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhharf8loKxG0vaNTisB1ppi6wCTZVVtqxAZhgYa8ztJT9JBDqcg-_27T0vXz10TUxAPDxwT7w-XE8gq4sqC8bQjqDADjbbMYRLwJ0XMwK_s0acjaF-m_fYUh984Vz8yj9Gh2vph-U2CbY/s1600/faithful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhharf8loKxG0vaNTisB1ppi6wCTZVVtqxAZhgYa8ztJT9JBDqcg-_27T0vXz10TUxAPDxwT7w-XE8gq4sqC8bQjqDADjbbMYRLwJ0XMwK_s0acjaF-m_fYUh984Vz8yj9Gh2vph-U2CbY/s200/faithful.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>Slate magazine offers this <b><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/05/executioners_in_medieval_europe_history_of_capital_punishment.single.html">fascinating excerpt</a></b> from <i>The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century</i>, by Joel F. Harrington. It details how 16th century executioners performed their task. For example:<br /><br /><i>During his own 45-year career and 187 recorded executions with the sword, Meister Frantz required a second stroke only four times (an impressive success rate of 98 percent), yet he dutifully acknowledges each mistake in his journal with the simple annotation <u>botched</u>. </i><br /><i><br /></i>The New York Times has a <b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/18/science/rickets-plagued-children-of-the-medicis.html?_r=2&">short article</a></b> about how nine children from the wealthy and poweful Medici family have been found to have rickets, a disease caused by a lack of Vitamin D and usually associated with the poor. In this case, "the researchers said the children were probably deprived of sunlight, which spurs the body to make vitamin D. Wealthy children of that time were often tightly swaddled and kept inside, with suntans discouraged as signs of low standing."<br /><br />Sticking with the Medici's, <i>Three Pipe Problem</i> (a great blog) has an <b><a href="http://www.3pipe.net/2013/06/edward-goldberg-interview.html">interview with Edward Goldberg</a></b>, who does extensive research on that family and on the Jewish community in Renaissance Italy.<br /><br />ScienceNordic reports that a <b><a href="http://sciencenordic.com/oldest-charlemagne-coin-norway">1200 year old Carolingian coin has been discovered in Norway</a></b>. Jon Anders Risvaag, from NTNU University Museum, explains “Two factors make this find stand out. Firstly, this coin is older than the Carolingian coinage reform, and so far the oldest coin from Charlemagne’s reign found in Norway. Secondly, this coin was not found in a grave, in contrast to almost all other coins from Charlemagne and his successors that have been found in Norway.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-td6AplUQ2sf6RzxPUAoXs0Xbn00P6IFDdogJsJ-b7vsODcNq88qF2v8cvXctKrmpQsQ1Sk_GvNEdwB5-3QfrI5-55BV_IaDNfCUBxARyQELJZY6AdilqxDVfY24DHsgezR10rabfPbw/s1600/viking-ship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-td6AplUQ2sf6RzxPUAoXs0Xbn00P6IFDdogJsJ-b7vsODcNq88qF2v8cvXctKrmpQsQ1Sk_GvNEdwB5-3QfrI5-55BV_IaDNfCUBxARyQELJZY6AdilqxDVfY24DHsgezR10rabfPbw/s200/viking-ship.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>If you are interested in the Vikings, go over to <b><a href="http://medievalhistories.com/">Medieval Histories</a></b>, where Karen Schousboe has written several posts about the Norsemen, including an indepth review of an exhibition Vikings 2013 at the National Museum in Copenhagen.<br /><br />Finally, the CBC (our public broadcaster here in Canada), has this article <b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/the-buzz/2013/06/film-set-tourism-spikes-with-game-of-thrones-the-hobbit.html">Film, TV tourism spikes with Game of Thrones, The Hobbit</a></b>. Fans seem to be heading to Northern Ireland, Dubrovnik and New Zealand to check out the beautiful backdrops to their favourite shows/movies. New Zealand tourism is cashing on in the Hobbit (like they did with Lord of the Rings movies) with their "100% Middle-earth, 100% Pure New Zealand" campaign.<br /><br /><br /><br />

Gutenberg, Executions, Medicis, Vikings, Hobbits and more - medieval news roundup

A medieval news roundup for the weekend... If you are a fan of Marshall McLuhan or have an interest in the history of printing, this intervi...

+ Read more »

Medieval silver treasure found on Gotland

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurk6a5hWbPAU0xkANMVChPVgVrb-wyWuFBntFaciv6WVrit-CwDUpGQDUWJ8L31HnbiIuaz4pEnC99dJTn7nPzUWtMeiED-c4qEGMA1OpslliZM_WB6NNLnPFJjQ17BaNYdcXK1X1mL8/s1600/ImageHandler.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurk6a5hWbPAU0xkANMVChPVgVrb-wyWuFBntFaciv6WVrit-CwDUpGQDUWJ8L31HnbiIuaz4pEnC99dJTn7nPzUWtMeiED-c4qEGMA1OpslliZM_WB6NNLnPFJjQ17BaNYdcXK1X1mL8/s320/ImageHandler.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>A silver treasure from the 12th century has been found on the Baltic island Gotland, where over 600 pieces of silver coins have been unearthed, according to reports in local media.<br /><br /> “This is an amazing find. It’s unbelievable that treasures of this scale exist here on Gotland,” Marie Louise Hellquist of Gotland’s County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) told local newspaper Hela Gotland.<br /><br /> The medieval treasure was uncovered last Monday, as the landowner was moving soil. Some 500 pieces of coin were discovered in the field, and following further searches conducted once archaeologists arrived on Wednesday, that figure has swollen considerably.<br /><br /> “In total we’ve reached 650 pieces, so far,” Hellquist said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thelocal.se/42422/20120804/" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article from The Local</a></b><br /><br />See also the Swedish article: <b><a href="http://www.helagotland.se/nyheter/artikel.aspx?articleid=7852711" target="_blank">Skatter från en tid som flytt</a></b>

Medieval silver treasure found on Gotland

A silver treasure from the 12th century has been found on the Baltic island Gotland, where over 600 pieces of silver coins have been unearth...

+ Read more »

Viking-era 'piggy bank' yields silver treasure

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKCB0e4vLNBSeBU-HNrLtzCgorOm95c59ZO49PkRAtVp4i7hfcNhvYOfPiOUUE9GV1QKD_S4h9E6nZvskzK5r5ggpIiOEq9NvO34Xraahch_okKqorTE-gwiqVORqNnNGldBkTo0ky18/s1600/gotland.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRKCB0e4vLNBSeBU-HNrLtzCgorOm95c59ZO49PkRAtVp4i7hfcNhvYOfPiOUUE9GV1QKD_S4h9E6nZvskzK5r5ggpIiOEq9NvO34Xraahch_okKqorTE-gwiqVORqNnNGldBkTo0ky18/s320/gotland.png" width="176" /></a></div>A bronze, Viking-era "piggy-bank" containing thousands silver coins dating from the 11th century has been unearthed on the Baltic island of Gotland in what Swedish archaeologists have described as a "fantastic" treasure find.<br /><br /><br />The silver treasure was found last Thursday during an archaeological examination of a field in Rone, on southern Gotland.<br /><br />"We had an expert out there with a metal detector who got a signal that he's found something pretty big," Per Widerström, an archaeologist with the Gotland Museum, told The Local.<br /><br />The same field has yielded previous treasure finds, including a well-known discovery from the 1880s, when a collection of nearly 6,000 coins dating from the 11th century were uncovered.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thelocal.se/40206/20120411/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from The Local</a></b><br />

Viking-era 'piggy bank' yields silver treasure

A bronze, Viking-era "piggy-bank" containing thousands silver coins dating from the 11th century has been unearthed on the Baltic ...

+ Read more »

Norway: Ancient coins offer clues about medieval society

Norway’s economic system in the Middle Ages was more sophisticated than previously thought. This claim is based on research on coin circulation in Norwegian society in the years between 1050 to 1320. In this period the use of coins was widespread and frequent, according to historian Svein Gullbekk at the University of Oslo. His study, <i>The velocity of circulation of Norwegian coins c. 1050 to c. 1320</i> was recently published in a history periodical.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKyh03uf29jG7kw3bgSCAIZfPjP3KJD6vLNiRFLFnL3cbmjoMr4e0j4x9XhOYdvqvygAzAhMT3pARKKlaKrF-k0NPg1mrDSwf9wDgXwBMKvKADDCl5Y8YNmZ6YGP9ZoY0GJWFxbuBN8o/s1600/norwaycoins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKyh03uf29jG7kw3bgSCAIZfPjP3KJD6vLNiRFLFnL3cbmjoMr4e0j4x9XhOYdvqvygAzAhMT3pARKKlaKrF-k0NPg1mrDSwf9wDgXwBMKvKADDCl5Y8YNmZ6YGP9ZoY0GJWFxbuBN8o/s400/norwaycoins.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />“This debate has been going on for 10 to 15 years,” says Svein Gullbekk. “The main question has been if goods were paid for by coins or commodities.”<br /><br />The answer to the question reaches further than one might think. Coin circulation in a medieval society says something about its economic system, and whether it was possible for the national government to organize, carry out, and maintain a system based on a fixed currency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sciencenordic.com/ancient-coins-offer-clues-about-medieval-society" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from ScienceNordic</a></b><br /><br /><br />

Norway: Ancient coins offer clues about medieval society

Norway’s economic system in the Middle Ages was more sophisticated than previously thought. This claim is based on research on coin circulat...

+ Read more »