The Chertsey Tiles, the Crusades, and Global Textile Motifs
The Chertsey Tiles, the Crusades, and Global Textile Motifs

Author: Amanda Luyster

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-12-31

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1009353152

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While visual cultures mingled comfortably along the silk roads and on the shores of the Mediterranean, medieval England has sometimes been viewed – by both medieval and more recent writers – as isolated. In this Element the author introduces new evidence to show that this understanding of medieval England's visual relationship to the rest of the world demands revision. An international team led by the author has completed a digital reconstruction of the so-called Chertsey combat tiles (sophisticated pictorial floor tiles made c. 1250, England), including both images and lost Latin texts. Grounded in the discoveries made while completing this reconstruction, the author proposes new conclusions regarding the historical circumstances within which the Chertsey tiles were commissioned and their significant connections with global textile traditions.

‘Ethiopia’ and the World, 330–1500 CE
‘Ethiopia’ and the World, 330–1500 CE

Author: Yonatan Binyam

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-05-30

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1009116096

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This Cambridge Element offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the histories of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands from late antiquity to the late medieval period, updating traditional Western academic perspectives. Early scholarship, often by philologists and religious scholars, upheld 'Ethiopia' as an isolated repository of ancient Jewish and Christian texts. This work reframes the region's history, highlighting the political, economic, and cultural interconnections of different kingdoms, polities, and peoples. Utilizing recent advancements in Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies as well as Medieval Studies, it reevaluates key instances of contact between 'Ethiopia' and the world of Afro-Eurasia, situating the histories of the Christian, Muslim, and local-religious or 'pagan' groups living in the Red Sea littoral and the Eritrean-Ethiopian highlands in the context of the Global Middle Ages.

Swahili Worlds in Globalism
Swahili Worlds in Globalism

Author: Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-01-31

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1009075438

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This Element discusses a medieval African urban society as a product of interactions among African communities who inhabited the region between 100 BCE and 500 CE. It deviates from standard approaches that credit urbanism and state in Africa to non-African agents. East Africa, then and now, was part of the broader world of the Indian Ocean. Globalism coincided with the political and economic transformations that occurred during the Tang-Sung-Yuan-Ming and Islamic Dynastic times, 600-1500 CE. Positioned as the gateway into and out of eastern Africa, the Swahili coast became a site through which people, inventions, and innovations bi-directionally migrated, were adopted, and evolved. Swahili peoples' agency and unique characteristics cannot be seen only through Islam's prism. Instead, their unique character is a consequence of social and economic interactions of actors along the coast, inland, and beyond the Indian Ocean.

Laywomen and the Crusade in England, 1150-1300
Laywomen and the Crusade in England, 1150-1300

Author: DR GORDON M. REYNOLDS

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1837652244

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Considers how elite women could participate in Crusade, their means and motivations. The popular perception of the medieval Crusades is of conflicts spanning from the Holy Land to the Baltic, with huge armies of religious zealots led by knights wearing crosses. However, the reality is far more nuanced. The vast majority of those living in western Europe did not go on crusade at all. But that does not mean that crusading was not on their minds, or that they could not influence the movement. They urged others to take up the cross, provided financial support, and prayed for the campaigns in the Holy Land; for them, this was crusade. This book investigates how English laywomen were encouraged to support crusades and identify with holy war during the Middle Ages, challenging preconceptions of what crusade "meant", and bringing out the diverse ways of their participation. It draws on detailed analysis of cartularies, judicial records, chronicles and lyrical sources; it also examines the rich material culture of commemoration that celebrated the endeavour, alongside the papal propaganda which idealised women's sponsorship of crusade. This study therefore sheds new light not only on the role of women in crusade, but on their influence and piety more generally.

The Emperor and the World
The Emperor and the World

Author: Alicia Walker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1107004772

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Offers a new perspective on Byzantine imperial imagery, demonstrating the role foreign styles and iconography played in the visual articulation of imperial power.

The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs
The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs

Author: Robert Beer

Publisher: Shambhala

Published: 1999-10-12

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9781570624162

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For artists, designers, and all with an interest in Buddhist and Tibetan art, this is the first exhaustive reference to the seemingly infinite variety of symbols found throughout Tibetan art in line drawings, paintings, and ritual objects. Hundreds of the author's line drawings depict all the major Tibetan symbols and motifs—landscapes, deities, animals, plants, gurus, mudras (ritual hand gestures), dragons, and other mythic creatures—ranging from complex mythological scenes to small, simple ornaments.

The Arcane Schools
The Arcane Schools

Author: John Yarker

Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.

Published: 2007-03-01

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1602061424

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This hardbound edition of Yarker's classic opus is not merely another facsimile edition. It has been completely reformatted, yet retains a look and feel that is comparable to the original 1909 edition, right down to the blue cloth binding and gold stamped spine. From Alchemy to Zoroaster, and everything in between, The Arcane Schools continues to be one of the most comprehensive and authoritative works concerning the history and migration of the Western Mystery Tradition. Students of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy will find this to be an indispensable addition to their collection.

The Market in Poetry in the Persian World
The Market in Poetry in the Persian World

Author: Shahzad Bashir

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 75

ISBN-13: 9781108948647

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'Poetic speech is a pearl, connected to the king's ear.' This statement gestures to words as objects of material value sought by those with power and resources. I provide a sense for the texture of the Persian world by discussing what made poetry precious. By focusing on reports on poets' lives, I illuminate the social scene in which poetry was produced and consumed. The discussion elicits poetry's close connections to political and religious authority, economic exchange, and the articulation of gender. At the broadest level, the study substantiates the interdependency between cultural and material reproduction of society.