MEDIEVAL STUDIES MAGAZINE FROM MEDIEVALISTS.NET

MedievalNumber 43 November 23, 2015

Getting under the skin The Snow Baby A Carolinigan Mother toher Son

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The

Is Ashgate Publishing about to close?

Magazine

How to Murder aByzantine

Emperor

The Medieval Magazine November 23, 2015

Yale University acquires‘treasure trove’ of medievalmanuscripts

With Ashgate Publishing’s Americanoffice closing this week, and its Britishoffice rumoured to do the same nextmonth, it seems that days are numberedfor one of the most important publisher’sin the field of medieval studies.

Is Ashgate Publishing about toclose?

How to Murder a ByzantineEmperor

We take a look at three successfulassassination attempts against the ruler ofByzantium

Read an excerpt from the new book byMartin Wall

The Anglo-Saxon Age: The Birthof England

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Otto F. Ege, an Ohio-based scholar andbook dealer, made a controversial practiceof dismantling medieval and Renaissancemanuscripts and selling the individualleaves for profit during the first half of thelast century.

THE MEDIEVAL MAGAZINE

Edited by:Peter Konieczny Website: www.medievalists.net This digital magazine is published eachMonday. Cover Photo: Death of an Emperor,depicted in the Madrid Skylitzes

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Yale University acquires ‘treasure trove’ of medieval manuscripts Getting under the skin of a medieval mystery "Releasing the Story of Sutton Hoo" project gets funding Mosaic, wine presses, discovered in Israel Is Ashgate Publishing about to close? The Snow Baby: A Cautionary Tale Isidore of Seville on... Emperors How to Murder a Byzantine Emperor The Anglo-Saxon Age: The Birth of England Last Words from a Medieval Mother to her Son

Table of Contents

Yale University acquires‘treasure trove’ ofmedieval manuscripts

Otto F. Ege, an Ohio-based scholar and book dealer, made acontroversial practice of dismantling medieval and Renaissancemanuscripts and selling the individual leaves for profit during thefirst half of the last century. Ege (pronounced EGG-ee) argued that hisbook-breaking served a noble purpose byproviding people access to medieval relicsthat they otherwise would never be able toafford. Scholars lament the damage he did tonumerous significant manuscripts. When he died in 1951, Ege left to his familya collection of full manuscripts andmanuscript fragments. Yale’s Beinecke RareBook & Manuscript Library recently acquiredEge’s collection, adding dozens ofmanuscript fragments and more than 50complete manuscripts to the library’s richcollection of medieval material. “This remarkable collection will providestudents and scholars with an unprecedentedopportunity to study both a wide variety ofhundreds of previously unknownmanuscripts and fragments, as well as thecomplex man who collected them,” saysRaymond Clemens, curator of the library’sCollection of Early Books and Manuscripts. The Beinecke purchased the collection fromEge’s grandchildren: Jack, Tom, Susan, and JoFreudenheim.“Otto Ege was a scholar and educator whose

passion was to make manuscripts and earlyprinted books accessible to non-scholars andscholars alike,” says Susan Freudenheim onthe family’s behalf. “The Beinecke’scommitment to preserving his collection andto making the works he collected available tostudents, scholars and the public, bothdigitally and in the library, is very much inkeeping with Ege’s work.” Born in 1888, Ege was a longtime professorof graphic design and the history of the book,and later a dean, at the Cleveland Institute ofArt. As a young man, he began collectingmanuscripts from the Middle Ages andRenaissance. Over the course of his career, hebroke apart hundreds of medieval andRenaissance manuscripts and early printedbooks, selling off the pages, or leaves. Hewould often sell combinations of leaves fromdifferent manuscripts as sets. He defended his practice of unbinding booksin “I am a Biblioclast,” an essay published inin the March, 1938 issue of Avocations, ahobby and leisure magazine.

Medieval News

By Mike Cummings

Among the Ege acquisitions is this leaf from a 15th-century Italian liturgicalvolume. The miniature depicts the assumption of Mary. Image courtesy Yale

University

“Surely to allow a thousand people ‘to haveand to hold’ an original manuscript leaf, andto get the thrill and understanding that comesonly from actual and frequent contact withthese art heritages, is justification enough forthe scattering of fragments,” he wrote. “Few,indeed, can hope to own a completemanuscript book; hundreds, however, mayown a leaf.” Lisa Fagin Davis, executive director of theMedieval Academy of America says that, inmany cases, the books Ege took apart wereunique and important. “Ege left an indelible imprint on thelandscape of early manuscripts and books inNorth American collections; there are morethan 25,000 single leaves of earlymanuscripts in the United States and Canada,and it has been estimated that at least 10%of these passed through Ege’s hands,” FaginDavis says. She says that technology is allowing scholarsto reunite Ege’s “scattered leaves” anddigitally reconstruct the manuscripts. “But there has always been a missing piece,”she says. “It was known to scholars that theEge family retained ownership of a very largecollection of leaves and books, but thecollection was inaccessible and its contentsunknown, the subject of rumor andspeculation. The Beinecke Library’sacquisition of this extraordinary treasuretrove will yield immediate and importantfindings and inspire scholars and students fordecades to come.” Clemens says that the more than 50 unbrokenmanuscripts, which had been on deposit atthe Cleveland Museum of Art, are thecollection’s highlight. “It appears that he never intended to breakor sell these books and kept them togetherin a collection that appears to be designed toinstruct students in the wide variety of

medieval manuscripts. He also had Greek,Arabic, and Ethiopic manuscripts,” Clemenssays. “The collection includes complete booksin their original bindings, and in some cases,substantial portions of manuscripts that werebroken up for sale, enabling us to date themanuscripts with much greater specificitythan was possible before.” The Beinecke has several programs underwayresearching medieval fragments, mostlyrecovered from bookbindings that recycledmedieval parchment when the text wasdeemed no longer important, often becauseprint began to supplant manuscript copies inthe 15th and 16th centuries. The collection will be available for researchonce it is cataloged. The Beinecke plans tohost a conference on broken books andfragments in 2018.

Our thanks to Mike Cummings andYale University for this article

Getting under the skinof a Medieval mysteryA simple PVC eraser has helped an international team of scientistsled by bioarchaeologists at the University of York to resolve themystery surrounding the tissue-thin parchment used by medievalscribes to produce the first pocket Bibles

Non-invasive sampling extracting protein from parchment using eraser crumbs.Photo courtesy of The John Rylands Library, University-of-Manchester

Thousands of the Bibles were made in the13th century, principally in France but alsoin England, Italy and Spain. But the origin ofthe parchment -- often called ‘uterine vellum’-- has been a source of longstandingcontroversy. Use of the Latin term abortivum in manysources has led some scholars to suggest thatthe skin of fetal calves was used to producethe vellum. Others have discounted thattheory, arguing that it would not have beenpossible to sustain livestock herds if so muchvellum was produced from fetal skins. Olderscholarship even argued that unexpectedalternatives such as rabbit or squirrel mayhave been used, while some medievalsources suggest that hides must have beensplit by hand through use of a lost technology. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers, ledby Dr Sarah Fiddyment and ProfessorMatthew Collins of the BioArCh researchfacility in the Department of Archaeology atYork, developed a simple and objectivetechnique using standard conservationtreatments to identify the animal origin ofparchment. The non-invasive method is a variant onZooMS (ZooArchaeology by MassSpectrometry) peptide mass fingerprintingbut extracts protein from the parchmentsurface simply by using electrostatic chargegenerated by gentle rubbing of a PVC eraseron the membrane surface. The research, which is published inProceedings of the National Academy ofSciences (PNAS), involved scientists andscholars from France, Belgium, Denmark,Ireland, the USA and the UK. They analysed72 pocket Bibles originating in France,England and Italy, and 293 further parchmentsamples from the 13th century. Theparchment samples ranged in thickness from0.03 - 0.28mm. Dr Fiddyment said: “We found no evidence

for the use of unexpected animals; however,we did identify the use of more than onemammal species in a single manuscript,consistent with the local availability of hides. “Our results suggest that ultrafine vellumdoes not necessarily derive from the use ofabortive or newborn animals with ultra-thinskin, but could equally reflect a productionprocess that allowed the skins of maturinganimals of several species to be rendered intovellum of equal quality and fineness.” The research represents the first use oftriboelectric extraction of protein fromparchment. The method is non-invasive andrequires no specialist equipment or storage.Samples can be collected without need totransport the artifacts -- researchers cansample when and where possible and analysewhen required. Bruce Holsinger, Professor of English andMedieval Studies at the University of Virginiaand the initial humanities collaborator on theproject, said: "The research team includesscholars and collaborators from over a dozendisciplines across the laboratory sciences,the humanities, the library and museumsciences--even a parchment maker. Inaddition to the discoveries we're making,what I find so exciting about this project is itspotential to inspire new models for broad-based collaborative research across multipleparadigms. We think together, modeltogether, write together." Alexander Devine, of the SchoenbergInstitute for Manuscript Studies at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, said: “The biblesproduced on a vast scale throughout the 13thcentury established the contents andappearance of the Christian Bible familiar tous today. Their importance and influencestem directly from their format as portableone-volume books, made possible by theinnovative combination of strategies ofminiaturization and compression achievedthrough the use of extremely thin parchment.

through the use of extremely thin parchment.The discoveries of this innovative researchtherefore enhance our understanding of howthese bibles were produced enormously, andby extension, illuminate our knowledge ofone of the most significant text technologiesin the histories of the Bible and of WesternChristianity.” Professor Collins added: “The level of accesswe have achieved highlights the importanceof this technique. Without the erasertechnique we could not have extractedproteins from so many parchment samples.Further, with no evidence of unexpectedspecies, such as rabbit or squirrel, we believethat ‘uterine vellum’ was often anachievement of technological productionusing available resources.”

Since finishing the work, parchmentconservator Jiří Vnouček, a co-author on thepaper, has used this knowledge to recreateparchment similar to ‘uterine vellum’ from oldskins. He said: "It is more a question of usingthe right parchment making technology thanusing uterine skin. Skins from younger animalare of course optimal for production of thinparchment but I can imagine that every skinwas collected, nothing wasted." The paper ‘The animal origin of thirteenth-century uterine vellum revealed using non-invasive peptide fingerprinting’ is publishedin PNAS. Click here to read the article.

Sarah Fiddyment (right) examines Codex in the Rylands Library, Manchester.

The £2.4million project will transform theexperience visitors have when visiting the siteof the world famous Anglo-Saxon burialmounds and release the full potential of thedramatic landscape and its fascinating story. An HLF first round pass grant of £150,000 hasnow been awarded to help the Trust progressthe project through its early developmentstages, which will see the overall plans takeshape in consultation with National Trustmembers and the local community. Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, is oneof the most important archaeological sites inthe world and the 7th-century burial mounds,excavated from the late 1930s onwards, haverevealed items including the iconic SuttonHoo helmet that have helped shape ourunderstanding of the origins of Englishhistory. The landscape has been cared for bythe National Trust since 1998. Luke Potter, East Suffolk General Manager,said: “We want to enrich and enhance theexperience people have when visiting SuttonHoo. This special place is about so much morethan the treasure, it tells the hugely significantstory of how the first English people lived theirlives. Their significance continues to resonatedown the centuries in our language, our crafttraditions and our connections to land andlandscape.

“The project aims to release the power andmagical inspiration of Sutton Hoo’s history byuntapping the human stories that reside withinits landscape. We aim to create a layeredexperience that reaches out and appeals todiverse and new audiences, from the academicto the casual visitor.” Therese Coffey, MP for Suffolk Coastal, said:“I’m delighted Sutton Hoo has been successfulin obtaining a grant from HLF. Creating a newinteractive experience to showcase the storyof this hugely important excavation isimportant for our national heritage and willattract many more visitors to Suffolk importantfor our local economy.” Robyn Llewellyn, Head of HLF East of England,said: “Sutton Hoo is one of the most importantAnglo-Saxon sites in the world and it's excitingthat thanks to National Lottery players, SuttonHoo will be transformed for visitors from nearand far. This is a great opportunity to sharethis amazing place and its stories from the past6000 years.” Although still in the early development stage,Releasing the Story of Sutton Hoo willultimately see visitors take a whole new routethrough the landscape, with the importanceand setting of the burial mounds playing acentral role.

The National Trust has received initial support from the HeritageLottery Fund (HLF) for a new project it is unveiling last week, calledReleasing the Story of Sutton Hoo.

'Releasing the Storyof Sutton Hoo'project gets funding

Plans include building a raised platform toprovide views over the entire burial groundand to the River Deben beyond, which itselfplayed such a significant part in the Sutton Hoostory. It was from the river that the Anglo-Saxonship was hauled up the valley before it wasused in the burial chamber found in MoundOne, where the famous treasure wasdiscovered, and it is hoped that visitors willalso follow in the footsteps of the final stagesof this dramatic journey. New innovativeinterpretation will help bring both thelandscape and the museum to life. The aim of the project is to create an experiencethat will appeal to a wide range of visitors,whether they are holidaymakers looking for afamily-friendly day out, local people who

regularly enjoy the landmark, studentsstudying the Anglo-Saxon period or peoplefrom around the world with an interest inarchaeology. The project will bring a wide range of inclusivelearning and hands-on/participatoryopportunities for all visitors to Sutton Hoo,including an enhanced formal educationprogramme, an art and craftsmanshipprogramme and a range of new volunteeringroles. The project is scheduled for completion in2021.

The mounds at Sutton Hoo - Photo by Justin Mimms / Heritage Lottery Fund

Mosaic, wine presses,discovered in IsraelThe Israel Antiquities Authority announced last week two newarcaheological discoveries - a second mosaic at Lod, and theremains of a Byzantine village in the southern part of the country.

The mosaic, which dates from late antiquity,was discovered near the site of anothermosaic in Lod, a town near Tel Aviv.Measuring 11 × 13 metres, the mosaic depictshunting and hunted animals, fish, flowers inbaskets, vases and birds. It was found as part of a villa dating backabout 1,700 years. According to Dr. AmirGorzalczany, excavation director on behalf

of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The villawe found was part of a neighborhood ofaffluent houses that stood here during theRoman and Byzantine periods. At that timeLod was called Diospolis and was the districtcapital, until it was replaced by Ramla afterthe Muslim conquest. The building was usedfor a very long time”.

Detail of the mosaic. Photo: Assaf Peretz, courtesy of the Israel AntiquitiesAuthority

Meanwhile, archaeologists working onoutskirts of the Negev Desert have found theremains of a late Byzantine period villagedating to the 6th and 7th centuries. One ofthe most impressive finds of the excavationis a sophisticated wine press that was usedto mass-produce wine. The site includes a workshop, variousbuildings and two wine presses. Fragmentsof marble latticework in the form of a crossand flowers indicate the existence of a publicbuilding. Other findings include tools usedin daily life, such as clay cups, oil candles andseals. Ilan Peretz, who supervised the dig for theIAA, noted that one of the most impressivefinds of the excavation is a sophisticated

wine press that was used to commerciallyproduce wine. He described the process:"First, the grapes were pressed. Then the juicewas funneled through canals to a pit wherethe sediment settled. From there, the winewas piped into vats lined with stone andmarble, where it would ferment until it wasstored in clay bottles called 'Gaza jugs'" -hundreds of which have been found on thesite. On the basis of a cross etched into seashellsadorning one of the vats of the wine press,the researchers determined that the siteserved the Christian community living there1400-1500 years ago.

Byzantine wine presses discovered in Israel. Photo by Assaf Peretz, courtesyIsrael Antiquities Authority

With Ashgate Publishing’s American officeclosing this week, and its British officerumoured to do the same next month, itseems that days are numbered for one of themost important publisher’s in the field ofmedieval studies. Founded in 1967, Ashgate Publishing is oneof the largest publisher’s in the humanitiesand social sciences, producing over 800books a year. Many of them are about theMiddle Ages, including series such asCrusades Texts in Translation and VariorumCollected Studies. Earlier this year Ashgate was bought byInforma, owners of the academic publishinggroup Taylor & Francis, for a reported £20million. At the time of acquisition, Ashgatecommented on its own website that”we seethis as a positive move for all our authors andthe academic and professional communitieswe serve.” The US office, based in Burlington, Vermont,will be closing on November 24th, andrumours have circulated that the UK office,based in Farnham, Surrey, will follow in

December. An online petition asking Informa to stop theclosures has already garnered 6000signatures. The petition states:

Independent academic presses likeAshgate have offered a safe haven forscholars working in certain subfields asUniversity presses closed entire publishingspecializations and fired editorial staff inresponse to campus austerity measures.Academic presses are more than profitmargins, income from the backlist, utilitybills, payroll, and marketing campaigns.Ashgate flourished through the bondsformed between editors and authors, thecare and attention of copy editors, andabove all, the good will of authors andreaders.

An email was sent to Informa asking aboutthe future of Ashgate Publishing. LouiseRiordan, Head of Corporate Communicationsfor Informa, responded “we aren’t making anycomments or statements at this time.”

Is Ashgate Publishingabout to close?

The Snow Baby:A CautionaryTale

Once upon a time, so the story goes, therewas a merchant who traveled a lot. One day,the merchant set out on a long business trip.“He was gone for two whole years,” says theanonymous fabliard, “and while he was awayhis wife, with the help of a young man sheknew, got herself pregnant” (p.17). This wasthanks to “Love, which lies always in wait”(p.17), especially in fabliaux about merchanthusbands. When the merchant returned andasked his wife about it, she replied:

Husband, once when I was looking out foryou up there on the high balcony, all sadand sorrowful at your delay, I chanced tolook up at the sky, and it being winter andthe snow falling heavily, a little snow fellinto my mouth. Before I was aware of it Iswallowed it, and it was so sweet that fromthe little I swallowed I conceived thisbeautiful child. (p.18)

The merchant exclaimed that they were

blessed by God, but “in his heart, he did notbelieve her story” (p.18). (Maybe someonehad already told him about swallowingwatermelon seeds.) The merchant bided histime until the boy had grown to be fifteenyears old, at which point the merchant toldhis wife it was time he took the boy on a trip,to teach him about the family business. Thewife was wary, but had no choice but to lether son go with her husband. They merchant and the boy travelled toGenoa, where “the merchant sold the boy toa man who took him to Alexandria to sell himon the slave market,” writes the fabliard(p.19). The merchant then returned home tohis wife, who (after myriad fainting spells)pleaded with the merchant to tell her whathad become of the boy. The merchant replied:

In medieval France, a type of story grew up amidst the epics andromances that was focused on pure entertainment: the fabliau.Like fables, fabliaux are short tales, although their purpose is notto teach morals, but rather to get a good laugh. Most of the time,fabliaux are lighthearted and lusty, but occasionally they stray intodark humour, like “The Snow Baby”.

By Danièle Cybulskie

A snow flake under the microscope – image by ZEISS Microscopy / Flickr

It was on a hot summer’s day just aboutnoon in the country where we weretraveling, when I and your son went for awalk on a very high hill where the rays ofthe sun, which were very bright and burninghot, fell full on our heads. Alas, that walkcost us dear! For the boy, exposed to thefull heat of the sun, all at once melted away.And it is no wonder that he did, for as weknow he was made of snow.

Thus the merchant had his revenge on hisfaithless wife, the fabliard tells us, and hiswife “had to drink what she herself hadbrewed” (p.20). This type of dark humour isn’t typical offabliaux in general (although the character ofthe lusty, cheating wife certainly is), but thestory seems to have roots in conventional folktales, and is itself the first instance of a

popular type of baby-from-swallowed-objectstories, according to Robert Hellman andRichard O’Gorman (p.20). Medieval listeners,it seems, would have appreciated the sinisterwit of the merchant in the face of hiscuckolding. As the first snows begin to fall in the northernhemisphere this month, you may want to thinktwice about lifting your face up to catch asnowflake on your tongue. You never knowwhat trouble you may end up getting into. (The translation used here is from Hellmanand O’Gorman’s book, but for a great (andmore complete) modern collection, Irecommend Nathaniel E. Dubin and R. HowardBloch’s The Fabliaux.)

For the Romans, the title imperator was at first given only to those on whom supremacy inmilitary affairs was settled, and therefore the imperatores were so called from ‘commanding’(imperare) the army. But although generals held command for a long time with the title ofimperator, the senate decreed that this was the name of Augustus Caesar only, and he wouldbe distinguished by this title from other ‘kings’ of nations. To this day the successive Caesarshave employed this title. Indeed it is customary for later kings to use the name of the firstone, as among the Albans all the kings of the Albans are called Silvii after the name ofSylvius; similarly for the Persians the Arsacidae, for the Egyptians the Ptolemies, for theAthenians the Cecropidae. For the Romans, ‘Augustus’ is the name of the imperial office, because formerly the emperors‘enlarged’ (augere) the republic by extending its borders. Originally the senate bestowedthis name on Octavius Caesar, so that he might be honored in his very name and title forenlarging their territory. Moreover, this same Octavius was now called Caesar and emperor,or Augustus. Afterwards, when it was announced to him while he was watching the gamesthat he would also be called ‘Lord’ (Dominus) by the people, he immediately, by gestureand with face averted, repressed this indecorous adulation and, as a human being, declinedthe title of Lord. On the next day he rebuked the whole populace with a very severe edict,and after this allowed no one to call him Lord, not even his own children.

EmperorsWhat did Isidore of Seville, the 7th-century Archbishop of Sevilleand author of Etymologiae, have to say about the imperial title?Here is an excerpt where he describes cities of the origins ofemperors from the Roman world:

Isidore of Seville on...

The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville has been edited and translated by StephenA. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach and Oliver Berghof, and was published byCambridge University Press in 2006 Click here to visit the Publisher's website for more details

Leo V, murdered on December 25,820 The first account is told by John Scylitzes inhis Synopsis of Histories, and tells of the deathof Emperor Leo V, who reigned from 813 to820. Scylitzes remarked that while thisemperor was diligent and successful inmanaging the state, he was also very crueland harsh, and had “earned the hatred of allhis subjects.” The historian adds that “he was very proudof his voice and aspired to be something ofa musician, but his natural gifts were not

commensurate with this aspiration. He couldnot keep time and he had little talent forsigning in tune either.” Still, whenever he wasin church he would join in on the psalm-singing. When word reached Leo that one of hisgenerals, Michael of Amorion, was speakingill against him, the Emperor sent out his spiesto collect evidence. Soon enough, Michaelwas overheard plotting against Leo. Hearrested and found guilty by a court presidedover by the emperor, and sentenced to bekilled by being tossed into the furnace thatheated the palace baths. However, the

How to Murdera ByzantineEmperor By Peter Konieczny

An empire like Byzantium does not last for a thousand yearswithout its own share of political intrigue. Many of its emperorswould not go on to live full lives, for their position was often underthreat by both external enemies and internal rivals. While anunlucky Byzantine emperor who found himself usurped could beexiled to a monastery (sometimes after being blinded or castrated),there are a handful of episodes where Byzantine emperors weremurdered. Here are three accounts told by medieval chroniclers invivid detail, in which the plot did not go as smoothly as theconspirators hoped, but in end resulted with a new man on thethrone.

heated the palace baths. However, theEmperor’s wife came out to plead forMichael’s life. Leo eventually agreed, but saidto the empress,”Woman, thanks to yourravings, I have done as you required. Butbefore long, you will see that shoots thatspring forth from my innards and what badfortune is reserved for us, even though youhave delivered me from sinning today.” The emperor had the Palace-keeper takeMichael away and hold him, but he was stillvery uneasy about the situation and for manynights he could not get any sleep. Finally, hedecided to go check on Michael and went overto Palace-keeper’s quarters. John Scylitzeswrites:

As he entered the room, a sight met his eyeswhich left him dumbfounded. He beheldthe condemned man lying gloriouslyensconced in a high bed, whilst the Palace-Keeper lay on the bare floor. He approachedand looked more carefully at Michael. Didhe have the shallow and troubled sleep ofthose whom destiny tosses around andwhose life is a gamble? Or did he, on thecontrary, enjoy a calm, untroubled rest?When he found him sleeping calmly (hecouldn’t waken him even when he touchedhim) his anger became yet more inflamedat this unexpected revelation. He went offhurling terrible verbal insults not onlyagainst Michael, but against the Palace-keeper too.

The staff of the Palace-keeper were worriedabout the situation, fearing that the Emperorwould punish them as well, and they spokewith Michael, who came up with a plan. Heasked for a priest named Theoctistos to cometo his chambers so he could make hisconfession to God, but once he arrivedMichael told him, “Now is the hour,Theoctistos. Threaten the conspirators thatunless they make haste to get me out ofdanger, I am going to tell all to the Emperor.” Theoctistos did as he was told, and he met

with Michael’s supporters. After debatingwhat they should do, it was decided that theyneeded to make an attempt on the Emperor’slife, and planned to attack him while he in thepalace church for dawn service. John Scylitzesexplains that they gathered outside thechurch:

The conspirators mingled discreetly withthe clerks, their daggers hidden in theircloaks, and went in with them. They thenassembled in a dark corner of the church,awaiting the prearranged signal. As thehymn was being sung, the Emperor - whowas already there - took up the refrain, aswas his custom: “They poured contempt onthe yearning of the king of all kings.” (Aswe remarked, he had a fine voice whichcarried well.) It was then that theconspirators struck, en masse. Their firstattack went awry because they mistook themaster of the clerks for the Emperor,perhaps because he bore a certain physicalresemblance to him; or because he waswearing the same kind of head-gear. For itwas a cold winter night, so everybody wasin heavy clothing and each man hadcovered his head with a tightly-fitting felthat. The master of the clerks contrived tosave himself by removing his felt hat, thusrevealing that he was bald. When theEmperor realised that he was beingattacked, he went into the sanctuary andseized the thurible by its chains (some sayit was the divine cross) with which to wardoff the blows of his attackers. But theconspirators attacked all together, not oneat a time. He was able to resist for sometime by parrying the sword-thrusts with thedivine cross, but then he was set upon fromall sides, like a wild beast. He was alreadybeginning to flag from his wounds when,at the end, he saw a gigantic person aboutto deal him a blow. Then, with an oath, heinvoked the grace which inhabited thetemple and begged to be delivered. Thenoble was of the Krambonitai family; “Thisis not the time for swearing oaths, but forkilling,” he declared - and dealt him a blow

killing,” he declared - and dealt him a blowwhich cut off the arm at the joint, not onlysevering the member, but also sunderingan arm of the cross. Someone also cut offhis head, which was already damaged bywounds and hanging down.

The conspirators then released Michael fromthe Palace-keeper’s quarters, although theycould not remove the shackles from his feet.So Michael was place on the Imperial throne,still wearing his fetters - he would go on torule Byzantium for nine years.

Nikephoros II Phokas, murdered onDecember 11, 969 Nikephoros II Phokas was a brilliant generalbefore he took control of the Byzantinethrone, with the help of Theophano, the wifeof the previous Emperor. However,Nikephoros was done in by a plot launchedby Theophano and his own nephew, JohnTzimiskes. While John had helped his unclein his wars and in gaining the throne,Nikephoros was apparently worried about hisnephew’s growing influence, and for a fewyears he was exiled away fromConstantinople and from military command. According to the History of Leo the Deacon,it was Theophano who convinced theEmperor to bring John Tzimiskes back to the

capital and into a position of power. WhatNikephoros did not know was that Theophanoand John were having an affair, and that hewas using secret passageways into theImperial Palace to send his hand-picked meninside and hide out in the empresses’quarters. The plotting did not escape everyone’snotice, and a priest handed Nikephoros a notesaying:

“Let it be known to you, O Emperor, that aterrible death is being prepared for youtonight. Because this is true, order a searchof the women’s quarters, where armed menwill be apprehended who are planning tocarry out your murder.”

The dead emperor Leo V depicted in the 13th century manuscript MadridSkylitzes

The Emperor ordered a search to be done ofthe Empresses’ rooms, but nothing wasfound. That night, the empress was withNikephoros and explained she had to gocheck in on some guests. She said, “I amleaving to give some instructions about theircare, and then I will come back to you. Butleave the bedchamber open and don’t lockit for now; for I will lock it when I come back.” As she left, John Tzimiskes was setting thefinal part of his plan into motion:

The clock was just indicating the fifth hourof the night, a fierce north wind filled theair, and snow was falling heavily. ThenJohn arrived with his fellow conspirators,sailing along the shore in a light boat anddisembarking on land where the stone lionis seizing the bull (traditionally the placeis called Boukoleon), whistling to hisretainers, who were leaning out from theterrace above, he was recognized; for thiswas the signal he had given to themurderers. They let down from above abasket attached to ropes, and hauled upfirst all the conspirators one at a time, andthen John himself. After thus ascendingwithout being detected, they entered theimperial bedchamber with swords drawn.When they reached the bed and found itempty with no one sleeping in it, they werepetrified with terror and tried to hurlthemselves into the sea [from the terrace].But a dastardly fellow from [the staff of]the women’s quarters led them andpointed out the sleeping emperor; theysurrounded him and leapt at him andkicked with their feet.

One of the men struck the sleeping emperoron the head with a sword, leaving a woundalong on his eyebrow. The bleeding emperorpleaded, “Help me, O Mother of God!”, butTzimiskes had his men seize Nikephoros andhold him on the bed. According to Leo theDeacon, John then began to monologue likean evil villain:

"Tell me, you most ungrateful and

malicious tyrant, wasn't it through me thatyou attained the Roman rule and receivedsuch power? Why then did you disregardsuch a good turn, and driven, by envy andevil frenzy, did not hesitate to remove me,your benefactor, from the command of thetroops? Instead you dismissed me to wastemy time in the countryside with peasants,like some alien without any rights, eventhough I am more brave and vigorous thanyou; the armies of the enemy fear me, andthere is no one who can save you from myhands. Speak then, if you have any groundsof defense remaining against thesecharges."

The emperor, who was already growingfaint and did not have anyone to defendhim, kept calling on the Mother of God forassistance. But John grabbed hold of hisbeard and pulled it mercilessly, while hisfellow conspirators cruelly andinhumanely smashed his jaws with theirsword handles so as to shake loose his teethand knock them out of the jawbone. Whenthey had their fill of tormenting him, Johnkicked him in the chest, raised up his sword,and drove it right through the middle of hisbrain, ordering the others to strike the man,too. They slashed at him mercilessly, andone of them hit him in the back with anakouphion [a hooked hammer] and thrustit right through to the breast.

With Nikephoros dead, John Tzimiskeswalked over to the imperial throne room, anddeclared himself the new emperor. By now,the news of the attack in the palace wasspreading. Leo the Deacon adds:

When Nikephoros’ bodyguards heard, toolate, about the murder, they rushed todefend him, in the belief that the man wasstill among the living, and they tried toforce open the iron gates with all theirstrength. But John ordered thatNikephoros’ head be brought in and shownto his bodyguards through a window. Aman named Atzypotheodorus came andcut off the head and showed it to the

to his bodyguards through a window. Aman named Atzypotheodorus came andcut off the head and showed it to theturbulent group of men. When they saw themonstrous and unbelievable sight, they lettheir swords fall from their hands, changedtheir tune, and with one voice proclaimedJohn as emperors of the Romans.

John I Tzimiskes would rule as emperor untilthe year 976. Romanos III Argyros, murdered onApril 11, 1034 The story of this death was told by MichaelPsellus in his Chronographia. Romanos’ sixyear reign was not a particularly successfulone, and he was targeted with severalconspiracies. In the end, his demise came atthe hands of his wife Zoe, and her loverMichael the Paphlagonian. Michael Psellusexplains that Emperor Romanos had beensuffering an unusual illness that sapped him

of much of his strength. The chronicler, whowas 16 years old at time, wrote that he sawthe emperor himself:

His whole face was swollen and the colourof it was no more pleasant to look uponthan that of men three days dead in thetombs. His breathing was fast, and aftermoving a few paces he had to rest. Most ofthe hairs on his head had fallen out, asthough he were a corpse, but a few strands,scattered here and there, were tousledround his forehead, moved, I suppose, byhis breathing. The others despaired of hislife, but he himself was by no meanswithout hope. He had put himself in thehands of the doctors and he expected to berestored to health by their skill.

Psellus thinks that illness might have beendue to slow poisoning by Zoe, but he is notsure. However, since this was not acting fastenough, a new, more direct, strategy wasimplemented. The emperor had gone to hisswimming pool:

The murder of Romanos III in his bath, as depicted in the Madrid Skylitzes

swimming pool, and according to thechronicler:

To begin with, he enjoyed himselfswimming on the surface and floatinglightly, blowing out and refreshing himselfwith the greatest of pleasure. Later onsome of his retinue came in to support himand give him rest, according to his ownorders… when Romanus plunged his headunder the water - his usual custom - theyall pressed his neck and held him down forsome considerable time, after which theylet him go and went away. The air insidehim, however, caused his body to rise andit brought him to the surface, almostbreathless,. There he floated about in ahaphazard way, like a cork. When he had recovered a little and saw inwhat an evil plight he was, he stretchedout his hand and begged someone to takehold of it and help him to his feet. In pityfor him, and because of his sad condition,one man did indeed go to this aid. Puttinghis arms around him, he drew him out ofthe water and carried him to a couch, wherehe laid him, just as he was, in a pitiablestate.

At this an uproar ensued. Several personscame into the room, among them theempress herself, without any bodyguardand apparently stricken with grief. Afterone look at him, however, she went off,having satisfied herself with her own eyesthat he was a dying man. Romanus gaveone strong deep moan, and then keptlooking around, this way and that, withoutbeing able to speak, but showing by signsand nods, what he wanted. Then, as stillnobody could understand him, he shut hiseyes and began to breathe more fast again.Suddenly his mouth gaped open and thereflowed gently from it some dark-coloured,coagulated matter, and, with two or threegasps, he died.

The next day Zoe and Michael were married,with the latter becoming Michael III. He wouldrule Byzantium for another seven years.

Sources: John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057 , translated by JohnWortley (Cambridge University Press, 2012) The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the TenthCentury, translated by Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan (Dumbarton Oaks,2005) Fourteen Byzantine Rulers: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus , translatedby E.R.A. Sewter (Penguin, 1966)

The Anglo-Saxon Age:The Birth ofEnglandBy Martin Wall Amberley Publishing, 2015ISBN:: 9781445647722The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard in 2009 has capturedthe imagination and stimulated renewed interest in the historyand culture of the Anglo-Saxons. The discovery poses someinteresting questions. Who owned the treasure and how did theyacquire it? Was it made locally or did it originate elsewhere? Whywas it buried in an obscure field in the Staffordshire countryside?To answer these questions, Martin Wall takes us on a journey intoa period that still remains mysterious, into regions and countrieslong forgotten, such as Mercia and Northumbria.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 3: TheAnglo-Saxon Conversion Many of us will recall the famous story fromour schooldays. The year was AD 597, theplace Thanet in Kent. A party of monks hadbeen permitted to land there by KingAethelbert of Kent. Solemnly and with greattrepidation, they processed inland singingthe litany, following a silver cross and animage of Christ painted on a board. The kingwas awaiting them, not at his royal hall, butout of doors seated beneath an oak treesurrounded by bodyguards. He feared thepotential for magical spells these strangersmight cast. Eventually, the fierce pagan kingwas persuaded to allow the holy men topreach and win converts among his peopleand granted them land around the ruined oldRoman church of St Martin in Canterburywhich they were allowed to restore. Ahandful of intrepid monks led by Augustinehad dared the dangerous sea crossing, riskingtheir lives in a barbarian realm to spread thelight of Christ to an uncivilised pagan island.It is a charming vignette but it is not quite assimple as it may seem. Firstly, there had already been a RomanCatholic presence in Kent for some time.Aethelbert was married to a Catholic Frankishprincess, Bertha, who brought with herBishop Liudhard, her personal chaplain. Hisinfluence was not just confined to thespiritual guidance and comfort of his royalcharge and it seems he may have beenallowed to refurbish St Martin’s atCanterbury, before Augustine’s mission hadeven set foot in Kent, and from this base hehad been allowed to proselytise in a limitedway with the tacit support of the king. Thistoleration must have been a signal to PopeGregory the Great that here was a king readyto do business. Gregory had taken an interestin the affairs of the English for a long time.As a young man he had seen blonde-haired,blue-eyed children for sale in the slavemarket at Rome, and, enquiring as to theirorigins, had been told that they were Angles

from Deira, one of the territories ofNorthumbria. He is said to have replied thatthey looked more like angels from God.Aethelbert had his eye on developing widertrade with the Franks and imitating their lawcodes, their coinage and their planned towns.All these innovations were predicated on theunifying role of Roman Catholic religion, andthere must have been many among the paganpriesthood and the warrior nobility who drewthe line at abandoning the ways of theirforefathers. But in 601 Aethelbert was finallybaptised, and where a king went, his subjectswere bound to follow. Gregory had notrealised how much change had taken placein Britain and still thought there were grandcities there as in Gaul, in which new sees couldbe implanted. In fact, as we have seen, urbanlife had all but collapsed and the London heimagined as the centre for an archbishopricwas a collection of half-timbered settlementslocated outside the Roman ruins. Soon,Canterbury and Rochester were diocesancentres and London followed, but it was notdirectly under Aethelbert’s control. Instead,Canterbury, Augustine’s first see, became theseat of the archbishop. Secondly, there were of course Christiansamong the British in the far-off western lands.Columba, the Irishman whose distinctiveCeltic Christianity was one day to spread thefaith to the people of the north, had died inthe same year that Augustine’s mission hadarrived. It was a signal of which way the windsof faith were blowing. Augustine presumedthat the British Church would immediatelybow to his authority and expected theircooperation in his project, but like Gregory,whose view of the English was based on thecharms of pretty, wide-eyed children andmaps of Roman provinces with grand citieswhich no longer existed, Augustine simplyfailed to understand the political realities ofthe island he had come to evangelise. In hismind, the relations between Britons andAnglo-Saxons did not seem so very differentto those of the Gauls to the Franks, but theenmity between the two peoples was so toxic

to the Franks, but the enmity between thetwo peoples was so toxic that it threatenedto undermine even Christian unity. However,seven British bishops, when they received asummons to meet with Augustine at a placeon the borders between the English and theCymric lands, agreed to meet with him todiscuss terms. Where the meeting took placeis unclear. Aust in Gloucestershire may be acontraction of Augustine, but there is atradition that it could have been near GreatWitley in the Abberley Hills ofWorcestershire. Before going out to meetAugustine, the British bishops had visited aholy man, a hermit visionary, to take advicefrom him about how they should approachnegotiations. The hermit’s wise policy was totest the Catholic archbishop. If, when theyarrived to meet him, he rose from theepiscopal seat to greet them courteouslythen he was a man to be trusted, and to whomthey should offer obedience, but if heremained seated then he was a proud haughtyman whose arrogance precluded furtherdiscussions. Augustine, of course, remained

in his chair, and the chance for Christian unityhad been lost. Augustine was not happy to berebuffed in this way and is said to haveprophesied that the British would ‘suffer thevengeance of death’ at English hands. Theindependent-minded British and IrishChristians of the west who had guarded thelight of Christianity against every peril andfierce pagan foes for so long alone were notabout to conform with Augustine’s planunless they received due respect from him.His mission had been a beginning, that wasall, and for all they knew Kent could just asswiftly become apostate. So, the conversionwas not going to be easy, and as the seventhcentury commenced there were threereligious influences at work in the island. Inthe south-east, Augustine’s mission; in the farnorth and the west, British and Irish CelticChristianity; and in the vast majority of theEnglish speaking areas, Germanic paganism.Two kingdoms were to prove particularlyresistant to Christianity: Sussex and Mercia.

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Last Words froma MedievalMother to herSonLast week, I stumbled across a passage from the Liber Manualis, written by aninth-century Frankish woman named Dhuoda to her fifteen-year-old son.Believing that she was dying (the date of her actual death is unknown), Dhuodapoured herself into the task of giving her son all of the life lessons she wouldnot be able to impart herself. What is left to us is a unique example of the powerand wisdom of a medieval mother’s love.

By Danièle Cybulskie

At the time of writing, William and Dhuodaare separated, as she writes, “I have heardthat your father, Bernard, has given you as ahostage to the lord king Charles [the Bald]”(p.126), but it’s very likely that Dhuoda hasnot seen her son for years already at this point.Not only was it common for the nobility tosend their sons away to be educated at othernobles’ houses, but the Frankish conflictseems to have kept the family apart quite alot: William’s younger brother was only,Dhuoda says, “the second [child] to comeforth from my body” (p.125), and his birthcame fifteen years after William’s.(Miscarriage might explain this somewhat,but long absence seems to have been adefining feature of Dhuoda’s marriage.) One of the tasks Dhudoa sets William is topass on her wisdom and love to his younger

brother. In a heartbreaking example of therelative powerlessness of many medievalnoble women’s lives, Dhuoda’s second sonwas taken from her by his father within daysof his birth. Dhuoda says, “He was still tinyand had not yet received the grace of baptismwhen Bernard, my lord and the father of youboth, had the baby brought to him in Aquitainein the company of Elefantus, bishop of Uzès,and others of his retainers” (p.125). Dhuodaherself was not permitted to go with them,since, as she says, “my lord constrains me toremain in this city” (p.125). Although her sonwas born in March, when she writes the LiberManualis between December and February,she calls him “your little brother, whose nameI still do not know” (p.126). It seems Dhuodawas a virtual prisoner with little to noknowledge of her sons’ whereabouts, well-being, or even the name of her own baby (his

the name of her own baby (his father, perhapsnot shockingly, named the baby Bernard). It’sno wonder that she says that the impetus forwriting the Liber Manualis comes from feeling“anxious and filled with longing to dosomething for [William]” (p.124), or that shefeels compelled to implore William to takecare of his little brother on her behalf: “toteach him, to educate him, to love him, andto call him to progress from good to better”(p. 126). Much of the Liber Manualis is advice on howto be a good Christian, but there are someother interesting bits of wisdom Dhuodawrites down along the way. Dhuoda sets outthe goal for every noble boy when she writes,“What is essential, my son William, is that youshow yourself to be such a man on both levelsthat you are both effective in this world andpleasing to God in every way” (p.125). Inaddition to teaching him all she knows aboutspiritual matters and the importance ofrelying on God in times of trouble, Dhuodaeducates William on the important facts ofhis family life, setting down the dates of hisparents’ wedding, his birth, and his youngerbrother’s birth. This is the type of knowledgethat mothers still pass on to their children,and Dhuoda finds it critical enough that shesets it down in writing for William to be ableto refer to it later. Interestingly, Dhuoda alsoasks William to be sure to read a lot, saying,“I urge you, O my handsome and beloved sonWilliam, that you not be distracted by themundane cares of this earthly world fromacquiring many volumes. In these books youshould seek out and learn from the wise menof the church, the holiest of masters” (p.126).Finally, she asks him to carefully pay her debtsif she should die before taking care of themherself, humbly admonishing herself foroverspending from time to time. What I love about the Liber Manualis is that,while she expectedly puts herself down forbeing unworthy of salvation, Dhuodarecognizes her own worth as a pivotal part ofher sons’ lives. She writes, “My son, my

firstborn son – you will have other teachersto present you with works of fuller and richerusefulness, but not anyone like me, yourmother, whose heart burns on your behalf”(p.126). While she may be separated from hersons, she knows the strength and value of amother’s love, and part of her teaching istelling William (and, by proxy, Bernard) howmuch he is loved. At the end of her book, Dhuoda calls for God’sblessing on her husband and sons, that theymay be “happy and joyful in the presentworld” (p.127), successful, and worthy of aplace in heaven. For herself, she entreatsWilliam and any other readers to pray for herin her “fear and grief” (p.127) at the prospectof her own death. Dhuoda very specificallywrites, “And as for any other who maysomeday read the handbook you now peruse,may he too ponder the words that follow hereso that he may commend me to God’ssalvation as if I were buried beneath thesewords” (p.129).

Because I have shared other parts of her story with you, I think it’s only fair to fulfill her lastwishes and end with those words she is so concerned with. Here is Dhuoda’s self-written“epitaph”: the last words of a ninth-century Frankish mother:

Find, reader, the verses of my epitaph:Formed of earth, in this tombLies the earthly body of Dhuoda. Great king, receive her.The surrounding earth has received in its depthsThe flimsy filth of which she was made. Kind king, grant her favor.The darkness of the tomb, bathed with her sorrow,Is all that remains to her. You, king, absolve her of her failings.You, man or woman, old or young, who walk back and forthIn this place, I ask you, say this: Holy one, great one, release her chains.Bound in the dark tomb by bitter death,Closed in, she has finished life in earth’s filth. You, king, spare her sins.So that the dark serpentNot carry away her soul, say in prayer: Merciful God, come to her aid.Let no one walk away without reading this.I beseech all that they pray, saying: Give her peace, gentle father,And, merciful one, command that she at least be enrichedWith your saints by your perpetual light.Let her receive your amen after her death.

All quotes are taken from Women’s Lives in Medieval Europe: A Sourcebook (the 1993edition), but you can find the entire translation of Dhuoda’s book in Carol Neel’s Handbookfor William: A Carolingian Woman’s Counsel for Her Son.

You can follow Danièle Cybulskie on Twitter @5MinMedievalist

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