By Weapons Made Worthy

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By Weapons Made Worthy

Author : Jos Bazelmans
Publisher : Amsterdam University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789053563250

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By Weapons Made Worthy by Jos Bazelmans Pdf

In this book Jos Bazelmans offers a new perspective on the relationship between lord and retainer in early medieval society. This perspective goes beyond established politico-economic interpretations and aims for an interpretation of this relationship in ritual-cosmological terms. Drawing on recent developments within French structuralist anthropology and the anthropology of gift exchange, Bazelmans develops a new model of early medieval socio-political structure (as represented in Old English Beowulf) which explicitly deals with exchange relations between the living and the supernatural, the commensurablity of subject and object in gift exchange, and the whole set of interdependent life-cycle rituals of lords and their warrior-followers. The value of gifts is considered to be determined not only by their function within a competitive game about prestige, status and power, but also by its equivalence with a constituent. The value of the gift is fundamental to the noble person and develops through a man's life-time. It is, ultimately, of a supernatural origin. The model enables us to understand certain acts at Beowulf's funeral pyre which at first sight appear to be no more than an ethnographic curiosity (Beowulf 3111b-3114a). The warrior's contributions to his pyre form the concluding part of a grand ritual undertaking in which society as a whole is involved and in which the constitution of the noble person, and the disarticulation of that person at his death, is realized. This ritual undertaking goes beyond the politico-economic concerns of the participants which are central to established power-based models of early medieval societal structure. The volume includes an extensive overview of the anthropology of gift exchange.

Creating Consilience

Author : Edward Slingerland,Mark Collard
Publisher : OUP USA
Page : 467 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-01-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199794393

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Creating Consilience by Edward Slingerland,Mark Collard Pdf

Calls for a "consilient" or "vertically integrated" approach to the study of human mind and culture have, for the most part, been received by scholars in the humanities with either indifference or hostility. One reason for this is that consilience has often been framed as bringing the study of humanistic issues into line with the study of non-human phenomena, rather than as something to which humanists and scientists contribute equally. The other major reason that consilience has yet to catch on in the humanities is a dearth of compelling examples of the benefits of adopting a consilient approach. Creating Consilience is the product of a workshop that brought together internationally-renowned scholars from a variety of fields to address both of these issues. It includes representative pieces from workshop speakers and participants that examine how adopting such a consilient stance -- informed by cognitive science and grounded in evolutionary theory -- would concretely impact specific topics in the humanities, examining each topic in a manner that not only cuts across the humanities-natural science divide, but also across individual humanistic disciplines. By taking seriously the fact that science-humanities integration is a two-way exchange, this volume takes a new approach to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities. The editors and contributors formulate how to develop a new shared framework of consilience beyond mere interdisciplinarity, in a way that both sides can accept.

Thinking through the Body

Author : Yannis Hamilakis,Mark Pluciennik,Sarah Tarlow
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781461506935

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Thinking through the Body by Yannis Hamilakis,Mark Pluciennik,Sarah Tarlow Pdf

What is the archaeology of the body and how can it change the way we experience the past? This book, one of the first to appear on the subject, records and evaluates the emergence of this new direction of cross-disciplinary research, and examines the potential of incorporating some of its insights into archaeology. It will be of interest to students, researchers, and teachers in archaeology, as well as in cognate disciplines such as anthropology and history.

Apples and Oranges

Author : Bruce Lincoln
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2018-08-22
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780226564104

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Apples and Oranges by Bruce Lincoln Pdf

Comparison is an indispensable intellectual operation that plays a crucial role in the formation of knowledge. Yet comparison often leads us to forego attention to nuance, detail, and context, perhaps leaving us bereft of an ethical obligation to take things correspondingly as they are. Examining the practice of comparison across the study of history, language, religion, and culture, distinguished scholar of religion Bruce Lincoln argues in Apples and Oranges for a comparatism of a more modest sort. Lincoln presents critiques of recent attempts at grand comparison, and enlists numerous theoretical examples of how a more modest, cautious, and discriminating form of comparison might work and what it can accomplish. He does this through studies of shamans, werewolves, human sacrifices, apocalyptic prophecies, sacred kings, and surveys of materials as diverse and wide-ranging as Beowulf, Herodotus’s account of the Scythians, the Native American Ghost Dance, and the Spanish Civil War. Ultimately, Lincoln argues that concentrating one's focus on a relatively small number of items that the researcher can compare closely, offering equal attention to relations of similarity and difference, not only grants dignity to all parties considered, it yields more reliable and more interesting—if less grandiose—results. Giving equal attention to the social, historical, and political contexts and subtexts of religious and literary texts also allows scholars not just to assess their content, but also to understand the forces, problems, and circumstances that motivated and shaped them.

Monarchs and Hydrarchs

Author : Christian Cooijmans
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2020-03-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780429535826

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Monarchs and Hydrarchs by Christian Cooijmans Pdf

As the politico-economic exploits of vikings in and around the Frankish realm remain, to a considerable extent, obscured by the constraints of a fragmentary and biased corpus of (near-)contemporary evidence, this volume approaches the available interdisciplinary data on a cumulative and conceptual level, allowing overall spatiotemporal patterns of viking activity to be detected and defined – and thereby challenging the notion that these movements were capricious, haphazard, and gratuitous in character. Set against a backdrop of continuous commerce and knowledge exchange, this overarching survey demonstrates the existence of a relatively uniform, sequential framework of wealth extraction, encampment, and political engagement, within which Scandinavian fleets operated as adaptable, ambulant polities – or ‘hydrarchies’. By delineating and visualising this framework, a four-phased conceptual development model of hydrarchic conduct and consequence is established, whose validity is substantiated by its application to a number of distinct regional case studies. The parameters of this abstract model affirm that Scandinavian movements across Francia were the result of prudent and expedient decision-making processes, contingent on exchanged intelligence, cumulative experience, and the ongoing individual and collective need for socioeconomic subsistence and enrichment. Monarchs and Hydrarchs will appeal to both students and specialists of the Viking Age, whilst serving as an equally valuable resource to those investigating early medieval Francia, Scandinavia, and the North Sea world as a whole.

The Civilian Legacy of the Roman Army

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 528 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2024-06-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9789004698017

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The Civilian Legacy of the Roman Army by Anonim Pdf

The Roman army represented an important social and organizational reference model for the Romano-Barbarian societies, which progressively replaced the Western Empire in the transition from Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages. The great flexibility of the decision-making and organizational solutions used by the Roman army allowed the ‘new lords’ to readapt them and thus maintain power in early medieval Europe for a long time. From a perspective ranging from political, social and economic history to law, anthropology, and linguistic, this book demonstrates how interesting and fruitful the investigation of this specific cultural imprint can be in order to gain a better understanding of the origins of the civilization that arouse after the fall of the Roman world. Contributors are Francesco Borri, Fabio Botta, Francesco Castagnino, Stefan Esders, Carla Falluomin, Stefano Gasparri, Wolfgang Haubrichs, Soazick Kerneis, Luca Loschiavo, Valerio Marotta, Esperanza Osaba, Walter Pohl, Jean-Pierre Poly, Pierfrancesco Porena, Iolanda Ruggiero, Andrea Trisciuoglio, Andrea A. Verardi, and Ian Wood.

Early Medieval English Life Courses

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 381 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2021-11-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9789004501867

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Early Medieval English Life Courses by Anonim Pdf

How did the life course, with all its biological, social and cultural aspects, influence the lives, writings, and art of the inhabitants of early medieval England? This volume explores how phases of human life such as childhood, puberty, and old age were identified, characterized, and related in contemporary sources, as well as how nonhuman life courses were constructed. The multi-disciplinary contributions range from analyses of age vocabulary to studies of medicine, name-giving practices, theology, Old English poetry, and material culture. Combined, these cultural-historical perspectives reveal how the concept and experience of the life course shaped attitudes in early medieval England. Contributors are Jo Appleby, Debby Banham, Darren Barber, Caroline R. Batten, James Chetwood, Katherine Cross, Amy Faulkner, Jacqueline Fay, Elaine Flowers, Daria Izdebska, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Thijs Porck, and Harriet Soper.

Weaving Words and Binding Bodies

Author : Megan Cavell
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-05-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781442624900

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Weaving Words and Binding Bodies by Megan Cavell Pdf

References to weaving and binding are ubiquitous in Anglo-Saxon literature. Several hundred instances of such imagery occur in the poetic corpus, invoked in connection with objects, people, elemental forces, and complex abstract concepts. Weaving Words and Binding Bodies presents the first comprehensive study of weaving and binding imagery through intertextual analysis and close readings of Beowulf, riddles, the poetry of Cynewulf, and other key texts. Megan Cavell highlights the prominent use of weaving and binding in previously unrecognized formulas, collocations, and type-scenes, shedding light on important tropes such as the lord-retainer “bond” and the gendered role of “peace-weaving” in Anglo-Saxon society. Through the analysis of metrical, rhetorical, and linguistic features and canonical and neglected texts in a wide range of genres, Weaving Words and Binding Bodies makes an important contribution to the ongoing study of Anglo-Saxon poetics.

Vikings Across Boundaries

Author : Hanne Lovise Aannestad,Unn Pedersen,Marianne Moen,Elise Naumann,Heidi Lund Berg
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2020-10-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000204728

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Vikings Across Boundaries by Hanne Lovise Aannestad,Unn Pedersen,Marianne Moen,Elise Naumann,Heidi Lund Berg Pdf

This volume explores the changes that occurred during the Viking Age, as Scandinavian societies fell in line with the larger forces that dominated the Insular world and Continental Europe, absorbing the powerful symbiosis of Christianity and monarchy, adapting to the idea of royal lineage and supremacy, and developing a buzzing urbanism coupled with large-scale trade networks. Presenting research on the grand context of the Viking Age alongside localised studies, it contributes to the furthering of collaborations between local and ‘outsider’ research on the Viking Age. Through a diversity of approaches on the Viking homelands and the wider world of the Vikings, it offers studies of a range of phenomena, including urban and rural settlements; continuity in the use of places as well as new types of places specific to the Viking Age; the social significance of change; the construction and maintenance of social identity both within the ‘homelands’ and across large territories; ethnicity; and ideas of identity and the creation and recreation of identity both at home and abroad. As such, it will appeal to historians and archaeologists with interests in Viking-Age studies, as well as scholars of Scandinavian studies.

Wealth and the Material World in the Old English Alfredian Corpus

Author : Amy Faulkner
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2023-01-24
Category : Bible
ISBN : 9781783277599

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Wealth and the Material World in the Old English Alfredian Corpus by Amy Faulkner Pdf

A new, materialistic reading of the Alfredian corpus, drawing on diverse approaches from thing theory to Augustinian principles of use and enjoyment to uncover how these works explore the material world. The Old English prose translations traditionally attributed to Alfred the Great (versions of Gregory's Regula pastoralis, Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae, Augustine's Soliloquia and the first fifty Psalms) urge detachment from the material world; but despite this, its flotsam and jetsam, from costly treasures to everyday objects, abound within them. This book reads these original and inventive translations from a materialist perspective, drawing on approaches as diverse as thing theory and Augustine's principles of use and enjoyment. By focussing on the material, it offers a fresh interpretation of this group of translations, bringing out their complex, often contradictory, relationship with the material world. It demonstrates that, as in the poetic tradition, wealth in Alfredian literature is not simply a tool to be used, or something to be enjoyed in excess; rather, in moving away from these two static binaries, it shows that wealth is a current, flowing both horizontally, as an exchange of gifts between humans, and vertically, as a salvific current between earth and heaven. The prose translations are situated in the context of Old English poetry, including Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, the Exeter Book Riddles and The Dream of the Rood.

Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England

Author : Catherine A. M. Clarke
Publisher : DS Brewer
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : History
ISBN : 9781843843191

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Writing Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Catherine A. M. Clarke Pdf

Explores how power is shaped and negotiated in later Anglo-Saxon texts, focusing on how hierarchical, vertical structures are presented alongside patterns of reciprocity and economies of mutual obligation, especially within the context of secular, spiritual, literal or symbolic patronage relationships.

A Companion to Beowulf

Author : Ruth A. Johnston
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2005-07-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780313027291

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A Companion to Beowulf by Ruth A. Johnston Pdf

Perhaps the most important work written in Old English, Beowulf grew out of a culture very different from ours, and yet its story of war, violence, and heroism remains relevant to modern readers. Accessible to high school students, general readers, and undergraduates, this companion overviews the poem and its legacy. The initial chapters review the plot of Beowulf, while later chapters discuss its style and language, its cultural and historical contexts, and its afterlife in contemporary popular culture. The first part of the book provides information of interest to a wide range of readers, while the second covers more specialized topics. Thus the initial chapters review the merits of different translations and offer a detailed plot summary, while later chapters discuss the poem's language and style, its treatment of religion, its relation to Anglo-Saxon culture, and its legacy in popular culture. One of the greatest Beowulf scholars was J.R.R. Tolkien, and the book gives special attention to his use of the poem in his own fiction. High school students, undergraduates, and general readers will find this book a valuable guide to one of the most challenging yet enduring works of English literature.

Warfare in Bronze Age Society

Author : Christian Horn,Kristian Kristiansen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2018-04-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107185562

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Warfare in Bronze Age Society by Christian Horn,Kristian Kristiansen Pdf

The Bronze Age represents the global emergence of a militarized society with a martial culture that constructed the warrior as a 'Hero' and warfare as 'Heroic'. The book takes a fresh look at warfare and its role in reshaping Bronze Age society from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.

Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf

Author : Peter Stuart Baker
Publisher : D. S. Brewer
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : History
ISBN : 9781843843467

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Honour, Exchange and Violence in Beowulf by Peter Stuart Baker Pdf

Argues for a new reading of Beowulf in its contemporary context, where honour and violence are intimately linked. This book examines violence in its social setting, and especially as an essential element in the heroic system of exchange (sometimes called the Economy of Honour). It situates Beowulf in a northern European culture where violence was not stigmatized as evidence of a breakdown in social order but rather was seen as a reasonable way to get things done; where kings and their retainers saw themselves above all as warriors whose chief occupation was thepursuit of honour; and where most successful kings were those perceived as most predatory. Though kings and their subjects yearned for peace, the political and religious institutions of the time did little to restrain their violent impulses. Drawing on works from Britain, Scandinavia, and Ireland, which show how the practice of violence was governed by rules and customs which were observed, with variations, over a wide area, this book makes use of historicist and anthropological approaches to its subject. It takes a neutral attitude towards the phenomena it examines, but at the same time describes them fortnightly, avoiding euphemism and excuse-making on the one hand and condemnation on the other. In this it attempts to avoid the errors of critics who have sometimes been led astray by modern assumptions about the morality of violence. PETER S. BAKER is Professor of English at the Universityof Virginia.

Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070

Author : Raffaele D’Amato,Stephen Pollington
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 65 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472855367

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Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400–1070 by Raffaele D’Amato,Stephen Pollington Pdf

Richly illustrated, this title describes Anglo-Saxon monarchs, warlords and their warriors and households in Anglo-Saxon Britain, from the first post-Roman mercenaries to the Norman Conquest. In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century AD, the employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was commonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing Romano-British communities into Wales and the West Country. Against a background of spreading Christianity, the struggles of rival British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were exploited by the Vikings, but eventually contained by the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex. His descendants unified the country during the 10th century, however, subsequent weak rule saw its 25-year incorporation into a Danish empire before it finally fell to the Norman invasion of 1066. Scholars of the early Church have long known that the term 'Dark Ages' for the 5th to 11th centuries in Britain refers only to a lack of written sources, and gives a false impression of material culture. The Anglo-Saxon warrior elite were equipped with magnificent armour, influenced by the cultures of the late Romans, the Scandinavian Vendel people, the Frankish Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians, and also the Vikings. In this volume, co-authors Raffaele D'Amato and Stephen Pollington access their extended knowledge to paint a vivid picture of the kings and warlords of the time with the aid of colour illustrations, rare photos and the latest archaeological research.