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Throughout the nineteenth and for much of the twentieth century archives were considered to be containers of knowledge holding material that was deemed to be objective and unbiased. In more recent years however as scholars have begun to engage more with archival material this perception has changed and archives have increasingly been recognized as sites of contention holding curated historical documents — a re-evaluation that in turn has led to a new understanding of the role and significance of both archives and archiving practices as well as to revived interest in their contents.

Taking renewed scholarly interest in archives as its starting point this volume highlights the importance of archival material both as a source of study and as a way of unleashing hitherto ‘lost’ knowledge. The chapters gathered here present previously unpublished material for the first time as well as offer new insights into archival and curatorial practices. Through this approach the authors not only reveal unknown aspects and histories of both past and ongoing excavations but also shed light on the creation processes of an archive an element that is typically lost by the time the material is designated as an archive by those who study it. The result is a volume that can shape best archival practices and approaches for the future.

Archive archaeology has in recent years become increasingly acknowledged as an important component of archaeological research. However the vast amounts of empirical data contained in such archives — among them fieldwork diaries working notebooks finds sheets and photographs — together with a sense that the field is often skewed towards ‘one’s own data’ have made it difficult to develop a clear methodological approach that fits all eventualities. The result is that archive archaeology is still not always recognized for what it can bring to the discipline of archaeology as a field of study that focuses on the contexts within which humanity developed.

This volume draws together contributions from scholars who work with archives in a variety of capacities: as fieldwork directors of decades-long excavations; as archivists interested in the history of collections; as specialists focusing on certain object groups or regions; and as researchers broadly interested in what archival material brings to the table in terms of new knowledge about archaeological situations. In showcasing contributions of work in progress the chapters published here bring to the fore knowledge about archives that has long been overlooked and examine how archival archaeology should be shaped in the future so that it can become more firmly integrated within archaeological practice.

The Pore Caitif is a popular late-fourteenth-century carefully crafted compilation of biblical catechetical devotional and mystical material drawing on patristic and medieval sources in Middle English consisting of a Prologue and a variable number of sections of differing lengths according to each manuscript assembled probably by a clerical writer for an increasing literate lay readership/audience.The Prologue sets out the reason for writing and its overall structure as an integrated ladder leading the reader to heaven. The text begins with basic catechetical instruction modelled on John Peckham’s Lambeth Constitutions of 1281 before continuing with more affective material meditating for example on the Passion and concludes with a treatise on virginity leading the reader from an active to a contemplative way of life.

The Pore Caitif was written about the time the Lollards were starting to propagate their programme of universal vernacular education. The writer believes in the need to educate his readers in the truths necessary for salvation without necessarily subscribing to Lollard positions.   

Although referred to in a number of secondary articles and books and serving as the focus of three doctoral dissertations an edition of the work was not published until 2019. Penkett's publication is the first Modern English translation based on the 2019 publication and is in a readily accessible format for the modern reader accompanied by a series of ground-breaking essays.

In the last two decades objects have become increasingly relevant to historical studies as the primary focus of research discussing cross-cultural relations. Objects are produced used modified preserved and destroyed according to historically specific political and cultural settings thus providing researchers with information and insights about their original background. However they can also throw light on a large array of cross-cultural encounters when their mobility is put to the fore. Objects can move by being bought gifted bartered and sold borrowed or stolen collected and dispersed just as they can be modified repaired reshaped repurposed and destroyed in the process.

The Mediterranean as a barrier and as a meeting place for different polities and communities and as the setting of conflicted experiences of cultural political economic and social transformation easily lends itself to this kind of historical analysis. Featuring articles on Byzantine imperial silks and bronze doors from southern Italy eastern luxuries in Istanbul and African bolsas from the Canary Islands Arabic geographies and Hebrew religious texts travelling from shore to shore and from manuscript to the press and the ‘dead’ bodies of holy women and men this volume intends to tackle objects as sources and subjects of the history of cross-cultural encounters in innovative ways: focusing on the ‘second-handedness’ of displaced objects across the Mediterranean the volume intersects different chronologies — from antiquity to the present-day — and varying scales from the individual objects to the much larger one of the histories of their reinterpretation and repurposing.

This is the first book length examining closely Themistius’ philosophical thought and his understanding of Aristotelian philosophy. Themistius well known as an eloquent orator and political personality of Constantinople during the fourth century ad is an influential commentator on works of Aristotle. By assessing both of these aspects of Themistius’ intellectual accomplishments the present work explores and contextualizes his thought in both his paraphrases of the works of Aristotle and in his orations. Themistius’ interpretation of Aristotelian thought deeply influential in both the Arab and Latin worlds and his strategy for teaching Aristotle even outside the professional schools of philosophy are major foci of this study.

In particular this work explicates Themistius’ understanding of the nature and causality of the First Principle of the cosmic order and of the human soul and intellect. It argues that Themistius’ approach reflects not only the systematization imparted by Alexander of Aphrodisias to the doctrines of Aristotle but also the increasing though oftentimes silent influence of Plotinus. This is evident in the consideration of the three philosophical issues of God cosmos and soul analysed in Themistius which reveal the preponderance of Plotinus’ philosophy reflected in the Themistian orations. Concomitantly it explores how Themistius’ teachings proved decisive in the medieval understanding of Aristotle both among Arabic and Hebrew readers as well as in the universities of Latin Europe. As such this study challenges our understanding of philosophy in fourth-century Constantinople.

Cet ouvrage qui se réalise en l’honneur de la professeure Marie-Anne Vannier dans une perspective interdisciplinaire réunit les experts sur les grands thèmes qu’elle a parcourus : les Pères de l’Église les mystiques rhénans et Nicolas de Cues les études juives et orthodoxes l’histoire de la mystique et la réflexion systématique sur la relation entre théologie et mystique en centrant les propos autour de la conformation au Christ. L’ouvrage prend en compte des recherches récentes et se déploie comme une étude originale de théologie mystique structuré comme un parcours historique qui s’étend des origines judéo-chrétiennes à nos jours et se termine par des réflexions systématiques sur la relation entre théologie et mystique.

Parmi les lettrés entrés au service de Charlemagne à la fin du VIIIe siècle Théodulf est une figure à la fois représentative et singulière. Par ses productions et ses fonctions de missus d’évêque d’abbé il contribue à l’élaboration et à la mise en œuvre des réformes et fait partie des proches du souverain. Sa déposition en 818 jette cependant une ombre sur sa carrière et sur ce qu’il est possible d’en reconstituer. À partir de l’étude de son œuvre et des variations de son image dans les sources du premier Moyen Âge y compris manuscrites cet ouvrage examine les différentes facettes de son action et de son parcours comme lettré et comme prélat et met en lumière le jeu d’échelles qui caractérise les réformes carolingiennes. Grâce à l’analyse de son environnement relationnel la participation de Théodulf à la révolte de Bernard d’Italie et sa disgrâce font l’objet de nouvelles hypothèses.

Dissent polemics and rivalry have always been at the centre of intellectual development. The scholarly Streitkultur was given a fresh impetus by the newly founded universities in the High Middle Ages and later turned into a quintessential part of early modern intellectual life with the emergence of the Protestant Reformation creating a new momentum. It was not only mirrored in various well-known intellectual disputations and controversies but also embodied in numerous literary genres and non-literary modes of expression as well as discursive or political strategies. Moreover the harsh debates notwithstanding consensus was also actively searched for both within particular disciplines and within society as a whole.

This volume collects thirteen contributions offering a very rich variety of topics with regard to the negotiation of disagreements from the twelfth till the eighteenth centuries. They reflect inter alia upon the rules and conventions of the intellectual debate upon the media used to negotiate dissent as well as upon the role of formal institutions created to judge and decide in cases of dissent. The contributions are offered by scholars from fields as diverse as history of literature political history history of philosophy history of Church and theology and legal history.

Medieval astronomers used tables to solve most of the problems they faced. These tables were generally assembled in sets which constituted genuine tool-boxes aimed at facilitating the task of practitioners of astronomy. In the early fourteenth century the set of tables compiled by the astronomers at the service of King Alfonso X of Castile and León (d. 1284) reached Paris where several scholars linked to the university recast them and generated new tables. John of Lignères one of the earliest Alfonsine astronomers assembled his own set of astronomical tables mainly building on the work of previous Muslim and Jewish astronomers in the Iberian Peninsula especially in Toledo. Two major sets had been compiled in this town: one in Arabic the Toledan Tables during the second half of the eleventh century and the Castilian Alfonsine Tables under the patronage of King Alfonso.

This monograph provides for the first time an edition of the Tables of 1322 by John of Lignères. It is the earliest major set of astronomical tables to be compiled in Latin astronomy. It was widely distributed and is found in about fifty manuscripts. A great number of the tables were borrowed directly from the work of the Toledan astronomers while others were adapted to the meridian of Paris and many were later transferred to the standard version of the Parisian Alfonsine Tables. Therefore John of Lignères’ set can be considered as an intermediary work between the Toledan Tables and the Parisian Alfonsine Tables.

In 1517 the Brabant city of Louvain witnessed the foundation of the Collegium Trilingue (Three Language College). Funded by means of the legacy of the humanist and diplomat Jerome of Busleyden (d. 1517) and steered by guiding spirit Erasmus of Rotterdam this institute offered courses in the three so-called sacred languages Hebrew Greek and Latin which students could attend for free. However this kind of initiative was not unique to Louvain in the early 16th century. In a time span of barely twenty years Greek and Hebrew were also offered in Alcalá de Henares (near Madrid) Wittenberg and Paris among other places. It would not take long before these ‘sacred’ languages were also on the educational agenda at universities throughout the whole of Europe.

The present volume examines the general context in which such polyglot institutes emerged and thrived as well as the learning and teaching practices observed in these institutes and universities. Devoting special attention to the study of the continuity or rather the discontinuity between the 16th-century establishment of language chairs and the late medieval interest in these languages it brings together fifteen selected papers exploring various aspects of these multilingual undertakings focusing on their pedagogical and scholarly dimensions. Most of the contributions were presented at the 2017 LECTIO conference The Impact of Learning Greek Hebrew and ‘Oriental’ Languages on Scholarship Science and Society in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance which was organized at the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the Louvain Collegium Trilingue.