Newsletter 25
Autumn / Automne / Herbst 2023
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
11th International Conference The Medieval Chronicle / Die mittelalterliche Chronik / La Chronique au Moyen Age, 2nd half of July 2026, Munich, Germany
Organizing Institutions: Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, History Department
Dates: 20–24 or 27–31 (Monday to Friday) July, 2026
There will be an excursion (by coach) to Regensburg
For more information write to: Prof. Dr. Julia Burkhardt, Medieval History julia.burkhardt[at]mg.fak09.uni-muenchen.de
Prof. Dr. Eva Haverkamp-Rott, Medieval Jewish History: eva.haverkamp[at]lrz.uni-muenchen.de
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Important notice – Changes of Address
Members are requested to send changes of address or position to the secretary of the Medieval Chronicle Society at the address below: Dr. Cristian Bratu, Dept. of Modern Languages & Cultures (French and Italian) – Baylor University – Waco, TX – USA, E-mail: Cristian_Bratu[at]baylor.edu
The Medieval Chronicle Series
N.B. – Permanent 50 per cent Discount for MCS members
Members of the MCS are offered a permanent discount of 50 per cent on any volumes of MedChron if these are ordered directly from the publisher at: http://www.brill.com/products/series/medieval-chronicle
To obtain the discount price use the discount code: 71423 (new number!)
The Medieval Chronicle 15 – Essays in Honour of Erik Kooper, Ed. Graeme Dunphy and Sjoert Levelt (2023) – Available
The Medieval Chronicle 16 (2023) – Out now!
Members are reminded that they may submit articles at any time, in particular editions of short chronicle texts (full texts or important sections) which cannot easily be published elsewhere
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New Publications
General
Graeme Dunphy and Isabel de Barros Dias, eds, Medievalista 34 (2023). This is a special issue on Medieval Chronicles. The volume represents a sampling of current research on Medieval Chronicles, including works from Portugal, Spain, France, England, and Hungary in the high and late Middle Ages. Most of the contributions focus on one particular work, but the cross-sectional nature of the historiography of the period means that each has a broader relevance.
For the contents, see: https://medievalista.iem.fcsh.unl.pt/index.php/medievalista/article/view/620.
Jakub Kujawiński
1. Routledge Resources Online was launched in June 2023. The platform offers a group of articles on medieval historiography, including:
– Jakub Kujawiński, ‘History Writing’ (https://doi.org/10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO377-1)
– Benjamin Pohl, ‘Anglo-Norman Histories’ (https://doi.org/10.4324/9780415791182-RMEO359-1)
– several entries on selected medieval chroniclers (e.g. Bede, Salimbene de Adam) and scholars of medieval historiography (e.g. Beryl Smalley, Richard W. Southern).
2. S. Niskanen, with the assistance of V. Rovere, eds. The Art of Publication from the Ninth to the Sixteenth Century. IPM 93. Turnhout 2023, available in open access: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/book/10.1484/M.IPM-EB.5.131849
It includes several chapters dedicated entirely or partly to medieval and humanistic historiography by Jakub Kujawiński, Lauri Leinonen, Outi Merisalo, Giovanna Murano, and James Willoughby.
John Scattergood, Time’s Subjects. Horology and Literature in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2022. Pp. 205. € 50.
Although the book’s main concern is to describe the impact of clocks on practically every aspect of life, its first chapter is of particular relevance for chronicle specialists as it deals with the measurement of time: ‘There is ample evidence, from the earliest periods, that men have sought to measure and organize temporal movement by means of calenders and a variety of timekeeping devices’ (p. 15), all based on the concept of linear time.
Baltic States – Teutonic Order
Rombert Stapel (ed.), Rombert Stapel and C.M. Saridjo (transl.), The Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order. A History of the Crusades in the Holy Land, Prussia and Livonia. The Military Religious Orders: History, Sources, and Memory. London: Routledge, 2024. £ 130.
The Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order (‘Croniken van der Duytscher Oirden’) is a late-fifteenth-century Middle Dutch text that strongly influenced early modern historiography in north-eastern Europe. In German scholarship the text is commonly known as the Jüngere Hochmeisterchronik (‘Younger Chronicle of the Grand Masters’) and it offers a rare insight into the self-image of members of the military orders at that time. The chronicle describes the history of the Teutonic Order from its supposed biblical origins in the Holy Land to the order’s involvement in the Baltic crusades, to which a history of the local Utrecht bailiwick is added. Interwoven are summaries of papal and imperial privileges and indulgences, creating a mixture between the genres of crusading literature, gesta, and cartulary chronicles.
This book offers a diplomatic edition and parallel English translation of the recently rediscovered ‘author’s copy’ (Vienna, Deutschordenszentralarchiv, Hs. 392), written in direct cooperation with the original author. It is the first complete edition of the Utrecht Chronicle and includes several passages that have never been edited.
Rombert Stapel, Medieval Authorship and Cultural Exchange in the Late Fifteenth Century. The Utrecht Chronicle of the Teutonic Order. London: Routledge, 2021.
Cyprus
Jesse W. Torgerson, ed., The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes. The Ends of Time in Ninth-Century Constantinople. Brill’s Series on the Early Middle Ages, 28. Leiden, 2021. € 147.15.
The ninth-century Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes is the most influential historical text ever written in medieval Constantinople. Yet modern historians have never explained its popularity and power. This interdisciplinary study draws on new manuscript evidence to finally animate the Chronographia’s promise to show attentive readers the present meaning of the past. Begun by one of the Roman emperor’s most trusted and powerful officials in order to justify a failed revolt, the project became a shockingly ambitious re-writing of time itself—a synthesis of contemporary history, philosophy, and religious practice into a politicized retelling of the human story. Even through radical upheavals of the Byzantine political landscape, the Chronographia’s unique historical vision again and again compelled new readers to chase after the elusive Ends of Time.
England
Edmund King, ed. The Chronicles of Peterborough Abbey.Vol. 2. Robert of Swaffham and Walter of Whittlesey. Anthony Mellows Memorial Trust, 8; Northamptonshire Record Society, 53. Pp. 254 plus 4 colour plates. Northampton: Northamptonshire Record Society, 2022. £20.00. ISBN 978-0-901275-80-6.
There are several chronicles associated with Peterborough Abbey. The text edited here may be termed the ‘house chronicle’ of Peterborough Abbey. It covers the period from its foundation until the mid thirteenth century. It is known under the names of three of the monks of the house, Hugh Candidus, Robert of Swaffham and Walter of Whittlesey. The text has been published in its entirely only once, by Joseph Sparke in 1723. The new edition will be published in two volumes, of which the latter is the first to appear; the seond (vol. 1) will follow soon.
This volume contains the deeds of fourteen abbots, from Benedict (1177-1193), the biographer of Thomas Becket, to Adam of Boothby (1321-1338). It has a detailed account of the impact on the abbey of the ‘barons’ wars’ against Henry III, of 1265-1272; records of its dealings with the masterful Edward I and the irresponsible Edward II; and a very full account of the work of ‘the magnificent’ Godfrey of Crowland (1299-1321).
Bernard J. Muir and Nicholas A. Sparks, eds. The Peterborough Chronicle. Vol. 1. Introduction and Text. London: Anthem Press, 2022. Price: £120.00 / $195.00.
The book consists of three parts: I. Introduction, including the history of research, detailed paleographical and codicological analysis, and discussion of the other Anglo-Saxon Chronicle manuscripts and their textual relations; II. The Critical Edition, presenting the text in its immediate seventeenth-century manuscript context, with notes; III. The Modern English Translation, including detailed historical and philological notes. A bibliography, indexes and extensive comparanda complete the book.
England and Wales
Mary Bateman, Local Place and the Arthurian Tradition in England and Wales, 1400-1700. Boydell & Brewer, 2023. £ 90.00; $ 135.00.
Places have the power to suspend disbelief, even concerning unbelievable subjects. The many locations associated with King Arthur show this to be true, from Tintagel in Cornwall to Caerleon in Wales. But how and why did Arthurian sites come to proliferate across the English and Welsh landscape? What role did the medieval custodians of Arthurian abbeys, churches, cathedrals, and castles play in “placing” Arthur? How did visitors experience Arthur in situ, and how did their experiences permeate into wider Arthurian tradition? And why, in history and even today, have particular places proven so powerful in defending the impression of Arthur’s reality?
Helen Fulton, ’Sir John Prise and his Books: Manuscript Culture in the March of Wales.’ Welsh History Review 31 (2022): 55–78.
Abstract: Sir John Prise (1501/2–55) was a Welsh lawyer and book collector who was one of the royal commissioners responsible for closing down the monasteries at the Dissolution of the 1530s. Operating mainly in the March of Wales, Prise was able to save around 100 medieval manuscripts which would otherwise have been destroyed. As a Welsh speaker, Prise was keenly interested in medieval Welsh writing and some of the most famous medieval Welsh manuscripts passed through his hands. He was particularly interested in the British history of Geoffrey of Monmouth and in his Latin prose treatise, Historia Britannicae Defensio, published in 1573 after his death, Prise put forward a spirited defence of the ‘British history’ related by Geoffrey, based almost entirely on his reading of manuscripts that he owned. This article examines the significance of Sir John Prise, his writing and his book collection in relation to the transmission of medieval texts into the Tudor age.
France
Christiane Raynaud
1. ––– (dir.), Cohésion sociale, identités, contestations et révoltes au moyen âge (XIIIe-XVe siècles) Miscellanea Recordium, préface de M. Pastoureau. Cahiers du Léopard d’or, 19. Paris: Le Léopard d’or. 2022. 355 p., 10 fig., carte, index. https://www.leopardor.fr/index.php/histoire-medievale/les-cahiers-du-leopard-d-or-volume-19-cohesion-sociale-identites-contestations-et-revoltes-au-moyen-age-xiiie-xve-s-miscellanea-recordium.html.
2. –––, ‘Fidélités du lignage et trahisons du sang ? Le règne de Jean le Bon de 1350 à 1356 dans les Grandes Chroniques de France de Charles V.’ Dans Publications du Centre européen d’études bourguignonnes, 2022, Loyauté et trahison dans les pays bourguignons et voisins (XIVe-XVe siècles) sous la direction d’Alain Marchandasse et Gilles Docquier, Lausanne 2022 (n° 62), pp.203-222. https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782839937078-1.
3. –––, ‘La deuxième génération dynastique dans les Grandes Chroniques de France : l’exemple de Jean II le Bon.’ Dans Prendre les armes, prier le ciel et tenir la plume à la fin du Moyen Âge. Mélanges en l’honneur du professeur Bertrand Schnerb. E. Lecuppre-Desjardin, V. Toureille, Revue du Nord, tome 105, n°. 446, n° 2, janvier-juin 2023, pp. 375-394 https://revue-du-nord.univ-lille.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/446_revue_du_nord_sommaire.pdf
Germany / Old Prussia
Rasa Mažeika, ‘Morality tale or attempt at reportage? Yet another look at chronicler Peter von Dusburg’s description of Prussian pagan religion.’ Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis 44 (2023). <in press>
Italy
Luigi Andrea Berto, Christians and Muslims in Early Medieval Italy: A Sourcebook. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2023.
Luigi Andrea Berto, The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops: A Critical Edition and Translation of the ‘Gesta Episcoporum Neapolitanorum’. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2023.
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Calls for Papers
BRUT IN BRISTOL
Society for International Brut Studies
27-29 June, 2024 – St James’ Priory, Bristol
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers in English or French on the wider Brut tradition from all angles and disciplines, including Medieval and Early Modern languages and literatures, and art, book, cultural, intellectual, political, religious, or any other kind of history. Proposals are welcome from academics at allcareer stages and from independent scholars.
Deadline for abstracts: 15/01/2024
Please, send 200 word abstracts to: brut-conference 2024@bristol.ac.uk
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Eastern Europe
The editors of Ruthenica, Journal of East European History and Archeology invite contributions in the field of medieval history and historical writing of Eastern Europe. The journal is a platform for the studies of Rus (Kyivan Rus) and historical writing of Rus as well as all related topics. It is focused on Kyivan Rus and the whole region in the context of and in its relations with medieval Europe. The chronological scope includes the period from the expansion of Slavs in the 6th – 8th centuries to approximately 1500.
Submitted texts may be of five genres: articles, notes, documents (publications of sources), reviews (review articles), and summaries (book reviews). The texts may be submitted in English. For submitting manuscripts and further information, contact managing editor Vadym Aristov, aristov3000@ukr.net
For Vol. 17, see: https://www.academia.edu/98175844/RUTHENICA_Journal_of_East_European_History_and_Archaeology_17and http://resource.history.org.ua/ejournal/EJ0000005
For the special issue of ‘Seminarium’: https://www.academia.edu/103143803/Seminarium_Ruthenica_Special_Issue_2023 and http://resource.history.org.ua/ejournal/EJ0000005
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Project Information
“Chronicles and Travel Accounts of Afro-Eurasia, 1205-1533 CE”
on Engineering Historical Memory (EHM)
Since 2007, the international initiative Engineering Historical Memory (EHM) has explored solutions to translate static bookish knowledge of primary historical sources into dynamic web-based applications to advance visual learning in historical sciences. Today, EHM collaborates with over 130 scholars and software engineers worldwide to identify technologies (e.g., information visualisation, search algorithms, sentiment analysis, blockchain) and test them on primary historical sources with a focus on Afro-Eurasian maps, chronicles, and travel accounts dated at the transition between postclassical and modern times (1100 and 1500 CE). So far, the EHM research team has developed and launched more than 20 web-based interactive applications featuring a diverse range of heritage objects.
One of the recent developments on EHM is the “Chronicles and Travel Accounts of Afro-Eurasia, 1205-1533 CE” application, which compiles all the historical textual sources published on EHM. The application not only supports the browsing of transcribed and translated historical texts and links the selected paragraphs to the images of the original manuscripts but also allows content search by critical categories, including locations, people, events, governments, and trade and commerce. Place names described in the primary historical sources have also been geo-located in OpenStreetMap, corresponding to their contemporary locations. Moreover, a critical dynamic feature of EHM is providing users with additional relevant information in real time. This is achieved by the algorithms automatically retrieving secondary references from a range of established online repositories (e.g., Taylor & Francis, Scopus-Elsevier, Europeana, Gallica, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Images, Bing Images) via API and aggregating the knowledge in multi-media forms (i.e., written, visual, and audio-visual).
More information can be found on the EHM website. A theoretical companion is also available for open access as a book: Nanetti, A. (2023). Computational Engineering of Historical Memories: With a Showcase on Afro-Eurasia (ca 1100-1500 CE). Routledge: London and New York https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003310860.
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Brief Notices
Boydell & Brewer’s Writing History in the Middle Ages Series
Series Editors:
Laura Cleaver (Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Liesbeth Van Houts (Emmanuel College, Cambridge)
History-writing was a vital form of expression throughout the European Middle Ages, and is fundamental to our understanding of medieval societies, politics, modes of expression, cultural memory, and social identity. This series publishes innovative work on history-writing from across the medieval world; monographs, collections of essays, and editions of texts are all welcome. Please write to us simultaneously at laura.cleaver@sas.ac.uk and emcv2@hermes.cam.ac.uk
And see also: Writing History in the Middle Ages – Boydell and Brewer
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Research Stipends
Notre Dame’s programs for visiting medievalists (from Julia Marvin)
The Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame has several year-long and short-term programs for visiting scholars, including an A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Medieval Studies (for faculty at US institutions), Stipends for Short-term Postdoctoral Research, Stipends for Ambrosiana Microfilms Collection Research, and the SIEPM Fellowship in Medieval Philosophy.
For more information, see http://www.nd.edu/~medinst/funding/funding.html
Notre Dame has substantial collections of microfilms and facsimiles, which may be searched here:
http://medieval.library.nd.edu/mss_microfilms/http://medieval.library.nd.edu/mss_facs/
http://homepages-nw.uni-regensburg.de/~dug22463/FAZ_22May2011_p60-63.PDF
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The Medieval Chronicle Society – https://medievalchronicle.org/
For information contact:
Dr Cristian Bratu, Dept. of Modern Languages & Cultures (French and Italian) – Baylor University – Waco, TX – USA, E-mail: Cristian_Bratu[at]baylor.edu
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The Medieval Chronicle 
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