The Week's News

Black Death not indiscriminate killer

AND

Black Death targeted the weak


Doctor writes about medieval murder


Gold ring treasure found in field

A Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine: The Sources, Compilation
and Transmission of the Hippiatrica.


TRAVELING EUROPE IN STYLE WITH AUCKLAND DINGIROO, DARK-AGE TOURIST AND
CRITIC OF FOOD AND DRINK: MYSTICS, HERMITS,AND PROPHETS


Bones found as site is cleared

Visitors flock to castle after TV exposure

CASTLE SHOULD BECOME 'A UNIQUE ATTRACTION'

UNVEILING OF PAST GLORIES

Medieval treasure at centre of ownership row


TREASURE LINK THEORY


Dig at homes site uncovers skeletons of eight monks


Minister rules out 'nonsense' chessmen bid

Experts unearth medieval Berlin under car park


More on the Lewis Chessman bruhaha:

Burning issue: Should the Lewis chessmen be brought back to Scotland?

Squabble after ancient seal find






Feb 4
Saints:
846 St. Joannicius
869 - Saint Cyril, Greek missionary to the Slavs
1189 St. Gilbert of Sempringham

Deaths:
211 Septimus Severus of Rome
708 Pope Sisinnius
855 Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, dies
1498 Antonio Pollaivolo, sculptor

Events:
362 Roman Emperor Julian promulgates an edict that recognizes equal
rights to all the religions in the Roman Empire.
900 Coronation of Louis, "the Child," King of Germany
960 The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song
1194 Richard I, King of England, freed from captivity in Germany
1454 Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act
of disobedience to the Grand Master.



Feb 5
Saints:
251 St. Agatha - the model wife, patroness of Malta
348 St. Abraamius, bishop of Arbela, martyr
525 Avitus of Vienne, son of Isychius

Birthdays:
976 - Sanjō, Emperor of Japan

Deaths:
995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine

Events:
1205 Alexius V declared Eastern Roman Emperor
1265 Election of Pope Clement IV


Feb 6
Saints:
679 St. Amand of Maastricht

Deaths:
891 Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople
1215 Hojo Tokimasa
1378 Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V of France
1497 Jean d' Ockeghem

Events:
337 Election of Pope Julius I
743 Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik, 10th Moslem caliph, dies at about 52
1190 Jews of Norwich, England are massacred
1481 First Auto-da-Fe of the Spanish Inquisition

Feb 7
Saints:
St. Theodore the General (Stratelates)

Birthdays:
1478 Sir Thomas More


Events:
421 Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
457 Leo proclaimed Eastern Roman Emperor
1301 Edward I revives the title Prince of Wales, confers it on his
son
1313 Robert, "the Bruce," captures Dumfries, Scotland


Feb 8
Saints:
412 St. Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople

Birthdays:
1191 Yaroslav II of Russia
1291 King Afonso IV of Portugal
1405 Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last reigning Emperor of the
Byzantine Empire
1487 Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg

Deaths:
1204 Alexius IV Angelus, deposed Eastern Roman Emperor
1250 Robert I of Artois, French crusader
1250 AL MANSURA; death of Fakhr ad-Din
1250 William II Longespee
1265 Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler
1296 King Przemysł II of Poland


Events:
1250 7th Crusade defeated by Baibars
1254 William of Rubrick records the use of oracles among the Mongols
1492 Charles VIII of France enters Paris



Feb 9
Saints:
St. Apollonia
St. Teilo of Llandaff

Birthdays:
1119 Constantine Palaeologus

Deaths:
720 Umar II
1011 Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
1088 Muiredach MacRory (Marianus Scotus), Abbot of Ratisbon
1199 Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun
1450 Agnès Sorel, mistress of King Charles VII of France

Events:
474 Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
1098 Ridwan fails to relieve the Crusader's Siege of Antioch)
1119 Coronation of Pope Calixtus II in France
1292 First Scottish Parliament assembles at Scone
1401 Burning of a Mr. Sawtre as a Lollard heretic
1458 Marriage of Mathias I, King of Hungary, to Catherine of Bohemia


Feb 10
Saints:
Clare of Rimini

Birthdays:
1499 Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist

Deaths:
543 St. Scholastica
1126 William IX, Duke of Aquitaine
1162 Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem
1221 Muhammad Ala-ed-Din, Shah of Khwarizm
1242 Emperor Shijō of Japan
1278 Margaret II of Flanders
1471 Fredrick II

Events:
1258 Mongols sack Baghdad
1306 Murder of the Red Comyn
1354 1355 - The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1480 The Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado occupies his Palace in Kyoto
1494 Founding of Aberdeen University
1495 Sir William Stanley, English lord chamberlain, executed



Blog of the Week: Got Medieval Muses on Medieval Warm Period in the News


Quote of the Week:
A Translation of O Mea Cella by Alcuin from
http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/120A/Alcuin.html

MY cell, my dearly lovely dwelling, farewell for ever, my cell. The trees stand all round you with their murmuring branches, a copse forever laden with flower-bearing leaves. All your fields will bloom with health-bringing herbs, which the hand of the physician plucks to cure the sick. Streams with blossoming banks gird you round, and there the cheerful angler stretches his nets. Thy cioisters smell of apple-trees in the gardens, and white lilies mingle with little red roses. Every kind of bird strikes up his matin song and by his singing praises God who made him. Once the kind voice of the master was heard in you, reading the holy books with devout lips. In you from time to time the holy praise of the Almighty rose from peaceful voices and hearts. My cell, I weep for you now in tearful songs, and I groan as I bewail my misfortune; for you have suddenly fled from the poets' songs and an unknown hand now possesses you. No longer now will Flaccus or the poet Homer or the youths come and sing under your roof. Thus suddenly does all the beauty of the earth come to an end, and all things are swept away one after another; nothing lasts for ever, nothing indeed is immutable. Dark night overwhelms even a holy day. Cold winter swiftly cuts off the beautiful flowers and a most bittcr wind ruffles the calm sea. The devoted youth who once chased Stags across the fields now leans on a stick, a tired old man. Wretched that we are, why do we love you, O world, as you flee from us? You flee from us, falling all the time and on every side. Keep on fleeing if you wish. Let us love Christ always and let the love of God possess our hearts for ever. May he defend His faithful servants from the dread enemy and snatch our souls away to heaven. Let us praise and love him equally with our whole heart; in his mercy he is our glory, our life, and our salvatlon.