Browse Books

The XVI International Numismatic Congress held in Warsaw Poland in September 2022 was a landmark event drawing the largest number of participants in its history. With over 550 papers presented during thematic sessions and round tables this congress showcased the latest advancements and research in the field of numismatics from leading experts and scholars in their field.

A curated selection of papers from the conference have now been drawn together into peer-reviewed conference proceedings representing a comprehensive spectrum of numismatic studies from antiquity to modern times. Each paper is meticulously illustrated with high-quality images often of unique specimens along with detailed diagrams maps and die/typological chains. Topics covered include coins and coin finds medals tokens banknotes the history of collections and collecting and cutting-edge chemical analyses and technologies used in coin examination.

This volume the first in four thematic volumes focuses on Greek numismatics and comprises fifty-nine chapters exploring different elements of Greek coinage as well as touching on coins from ancient India.

Judaism Christianity and Islam have always formed re-formed and transformed themselves in conversation. That is these religions have come to exist in all their varieties by interacting with thinking about and imagining each other. In this sense they are co-produced linked by a dynamic and ongoing inter-dependence. The fifteen essays collected in this volume explore moments of such religious coproduction from the second to the twenty-first century from early pilgrimage sites to social media. The case studies range across textual and material cultures showing how a variety of artefacts coins rituals communities narratives theological doctrines and scholarly concepts were all co-produced across the three religious traditions. In so doing they present a panorama of possibilities from the past as well as a taxonomy that can help us think about the future of religious co-production. An introductory essay describes the advantages of approaching the past present and future of these religions through the lens of co-production and reflects on crucial methodological issues related to the understanding of Judaism Christianity and Islam as co-produced religions.

People have been living in Uist’s island landscapes for millennia; shaping and shaped by the unique environments of machair and moorland we see today. Uist Unearthed tells the story of 5000 years of the islands’ prehistory and history through five key archaeological sites.

Based on the award-winning Uist Virtual Archaeology Project this interactive book brings Uist’s past to life. Readers are invited to dig deeper and discover Uist’s unique archaeology through colourful and creative mixed media including illustrations infographics and photography enhanced with state-of-the-art augmented reality.

This book provides an excellent introduction to Uist’s archaeology for novices and professionals alike. It discusses the importance of Gaelic language and culture in our interpretation and understanding of archaeological landscapes. It is for all those interested in exploring alternative ways of reimagining interpreting and presenting the past through digital storytelling.

Codificata a partire da una sezione specifica del corpus aristotelico la logica rappresentava nel Medioevo latino quell’"arte delle arti" (ars artium) che studiava le regole del ragionamento corretto e le era riconosciuta una universalità di tipo strumentale. Come notato sin dai primi biografi e commentatori Dante dimostra in svariate occasioni una maestria e una padronanza della materia del tutto degne per dirla col Boccaccio di un «maraviglioso loïco». Giustamente celebri sono i versi di Inferno XXVII in cui «un d’i neri cherubini» con un raffinato ragionamento strappa l’anima di Guido da Montefeltro all’impotente San Francesco («forse / tu non pensavi ch’io loïco fossi!» v. 123); ma è soprattutto nel Convivio nella Monarchia e nella controversa Questio de aqua et terra che l’Alighieri sfoggia una competenza difficilmente riducibile alla consultazione occasionale di qualche ‘manuale’. Questo studio analizza sistematicamente i passaggi dell’opera dantesca riconducibili a questo specifico ambito disciplinare; e offre una panoramica sugli ambienti culturali in cui il Poeta avrebbe verosimilmente potuto formarsi (Firenze Bologna la Toscana occidentale la marca Trevigiana). Da un lato quindi si inserisce nel fortunato filone di studi che si è occupato di valutare la conoscenza che Dante poté avere delle dottrine di Aristotele e dei suoi interpreti. Dall’altro tenta di ricostruire i tempi i luoghi e i modi in cui «peregrino quasi mendicando» poté acquisire tale competenza specialistica. In tal modo non viene solo illuminato un lato inesplorato di questo eccezionale «amatore di sapienza» ma viene anche offerto uno scorcio privilegiato sullo stato delle conoscenze filosofiche in Italia fra XIII e XIV secolo.

La météorologie ancienne et médiévale se distingue de son équivalent contemporain par un domaine d’études autrement plus vaste s’étendant bien au-delà des phénomènes atmosphériques. Le premier livre des Météorologiques d’Aristote aborde en effet des sujets aussi divers que l’action de la sphère céleste sur la région terrestre les liens entre mouvement lumière et production de chaleur les rapports quantitatifs entre les quatre éléments la formation des comètes et de la Voie lactée l’origine et le mouvement des fleuves les variations périodiques dans la répartition entre mers et terres sèches. Fondée sur l’analyse d’une grande quantité de textes inédits et prenant la forme d’un voyage de la Lune à la Terre la présente étude explore les débats que ces sujets ont suscités chez les maîtres scolastiques qui de la fin du XIIe au milieu du XVe siècle se sont confrontés au texte aristotélicien dans le cadre de leur enseignement à la Faculté des arts.

This book offers the first survey of philosophical pedagogy in Jewish culture during the Middle Ages with a focus on Northern France the Provence Italy and Spain. By examining not only the discourse of renowned philosophers such as Maimonides and Gersonides but also oft-neglected manuscript evidence of educational practices and students’ notes the book offers a nuanced understanding of the medieval Jewish intellectual landscape and shows how Jewish educators brought intricate debates on metaphysics ethics and epistemology into the classroom. The book also sheds light on the broader societal and cultural contexts that influenced these philosophical pursuits.

An essential read for anyone interested in the history of philosophy Jewish studies or medieval intellectual culture this book celebrates the enduring legacy of Jewish philosophical thought and its pivotal role in shaping the intellectual currents of the Middle Ages.

Charters and other administrative texts have long had the full attention of medievalists as primary sources in their historiographical work. This also applies to scholars from the Netherlands. Ever since the late Middle Ages they recognised the value of these sources included them as testimony in their historiography and gradually began to realise that charters and other documents required a specific form of textual criticism and a special way of editing. In this Dutch historians usually followed developments abroad. Sometimes as in the early seventeenth century they were ahead methodologically but for long periods they depended for new insights on developments elsewhere. This was especially true in the nineteenth century when scientific diplomatic methods and editing techniques emerged which would only be introduced and applied in the Netherlands in the next century. In the twenty-first century Dutch scholars are fully participating in the ‘digital turn’ that is creating new research tools in diplomatics.

Ultimately the history of diplomatics in the Netherlands is part of the broad development of historiography in the country and therefore a valuable aspect of the history of scholarship in general.

This volume is a collection of reflections from leading senior and junior historians regarding the merits of historical comparativism in the field of Iberian history. The first purpose of the book is to encourage a dialogue between scholars of the Iberian Empires and to foster a reconsider how they see the broader history of the early modern world in light of recent historiography. The second aim of the book is to prompt scholars of other regions in global history to consider the recent literature on the Iberian Empires anew to move beyond the tropes of the Black Legend and narrative of growth splendour and decline and to study those imbrications had connected disparate parts of the world and which the postcolonial turn has unearthed. In a series of articles and interviews contributors were encouraged to consider the role of linguistic divides in the growth of historiographical strands and to speak plainly about the possible siloes that have emerged in the field. Contributors discuss the Atlantic turn corporate cultures the Catholic adoption of Protestant ideals gender and race all while drawing on insights from scholars who work on early modern nuns the material history of sugar and coffee or those who are exploring the uses of the concept of barbarity in borderlands.

The territory known as Livonia on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea emerged as a result of the Baltic Crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was a region of multiple nations languages and cultures and the scene of their mutual interaction connected to the Holy Roman Empire the papal curia Scandinavia and Lithuania and mediating the Hanseatic trade with Russia. This book is a significant new study of the multiple facets of Baltic history taking in social history urban and rural culture peasant economy and literacy with novel perspectives on crusading political history and the chief agents of power notably the Teutonic Order. This first comprehensive treatment of Livonian history in English will serve as a valuable source of information for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as a resource for studying the Baltic Crusades and crusader territories in general.

Il s’agit de revisiter ici une phase cruciale de l’histoire de la peinture dans une optique bien spécifique. On se démarque en effet d’une vision ayant crédité de manière trop exclusive l’Italie des environs de 1300 d’une « révolution » ouvrant la voie à la modernité. En revenant sur ce qui a préludé à cela dans la Péninsule même et surtout en accordant une égale attention à ce qui a simultanément – ou antérieurement à maints égards – été produit dans le monde byzantin on tend à un radical rééquilibrage de la perspective. C’est alors dans sa véritable dimension que se perçoit l’évolution artistique de l’époque en lien étroit avec un contexte politico-religieux tout à fait particulier : celui d’une installation des Latins à Constantinople et dans plusieurs territoires de l’Empire d’Orient et d’un projet de réunion des obédiences catholique et orthodoxe ; avec dans ce cadre une décisive action des nouveaux Ordres Mendiants vite implantés dans tout le monde méditerranéen et développant une prédication réellement accessible au plus grand nombre étayée – chez les Franciscains au premier chef – par une imagerie traduisant la geste du Christ et des saints sur le mode le plus crédible incorporant précisément les avancées déjà opérées à cette fin dans la zone orientale.

Après un panorama historiographique faisant le point sur les positions plus ou moins anciennes et leur impact jusqu’à nos jours on aborde en premier lieu ce qu’il en a été des conceptions et fonctions dévolues à l’image trop volontiers considérées comme différentes d’un milieu à l’autre. Puis on affronte le champ de l’iconographie en propre avec les accents spécifiques qui y sont portés. Ensuite vient l’examen des divers aspects formels (et des moyens techniques mis en œuvre) ; examen non moins capital puisque ce sont le naturalisme et l’expressivité de la figure ainsi que son insertion dans un espace tridimensionnel qui visent à une communication plus efficace avec le fidèle ; cela par la forte sollicitation de ses sens pour sa profonde imprégnation de ce qui s’offre à sa vue. On peut dans cette démarche reconnaître une authentique humanisation de la foi. Et il s’avérait donc essentiel de souligner que dans cette mutation où l’image s’est trouvée investie d’un rôle majeur la contribution de la chrétienté byzantine a été aussi déterminante que celle de l’Italie.