How can historians of small spaces and cities focus on local events and issues and at the same time carry on conversations with peers in a disciplinar... [more]
Building on recent works that question a simplistic, White narrative of the history of academic oral history, this article focuses on the labors of Bl... [more]
Over the last quarter century, a plethora of studies on literacy, reading and writing in medieval Europe have contributed significantly to our understanding of medieval society and culture. Nevertheless the sheer number of these studies and their authorsh
It is claimed that the 'problem of the arrow of time in classical dynamics' has been solved. Since all classical particles have a self-field (gravitational and in some cases also electromagnetic), their dynamics must include self-interaction. This fact
This paper examines the process of modelling a complex empirical phenomenon in modern astrophysics: extended extragalactic radio sources. I show that modelling is done piecemeal, addressing selected striking or puzzling features of that phenomenon separat
Sedimentological, paleontological analysis and C-14 dating of 17 cores obtained in the vicinity of the Phoenician military harbor (VIII-IV BC) of Kition Bamboula (Cyprus) provide new paleo-environmental information for the reconstruction of shoreline chan
Potentials and limitations of the near-UV pulsed laser cleaning of parchment (wavelength 308 nm, pulse duration 17 ns) are demonstrated by the application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), colour metrics and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier trans
The chantry was a phenomenon of the later middle ages whose origins have never been satisfactorily explained. It is argued here that what led to its emergence in the thirteenth century was the inability of the monastic orders, at a time of rising populati
Historians have differed widely in their assessments of the Byzantine historian, Nicetas Choniates, and his account of the collapse of the Byzantine empire during the years 1180-1204. Some have seen him as blaming the Latins in general and as doggedly bel
Emperor Frederick II is generally regarded as having been a 'strong' ruler, yet the puzzle remains as to how he managed his governance of Germany without the benefit of the more centralized institutions with which he was familiar as king of Sicily. This
Given the prominent role played by martyrological literature among the Jewish communities of northern France, and the close relationship between the two communities, the absence of martyrological writing from England is striking. Until now, scholars have
The early fourteenth-century polyptych representing the life of Humility of Faenza (Florence, Uffizi and Berlin, Gemaldegalerie), and ascribed to Pietro Lorenzetti, places its subject within the medieval tradition of strong, independent abbesses. This cha
Unjustifiably, but often, dismissed as the driest of sources, medieval accounts can be a mine of historical and social information, and those of Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of Charles VI of France, are particularly fascinating. One of the many consequences
A seemingly ordinary law case in fifteenth-century Oxford reveals contemporary concerns over issues of due process, jurisdictional disputes and town-gown conflicts. The case concerns an argument over debt between the Peddingtons, a widow and her son, who
A common theme of medieval miracle collections was to highlight the inadequacies of secular medicine while promoting the divine healing power of the saints. An outspoken and contrasting view of divine healing is afforded by the fourteenth-century Parisian
This paper seeks to reinterpret the life and work of J. B. S. Haldane by focusing on an illuminating but largely ignored essay he published in 1927, The Last Judgment'' - the sequel to his better known work, Daedalus (1924). This astonishing essay expre
This paper compares the argumentative practices of the English and French scientific communities from the origin of the scientific journal in 1665 up to 1700. To that end, we ask a uniform set of questions related to argumentative practice in a large samp