ABSTRACT:
Although the ‘chronicle of chronicles’ compiled at Worcester c.1095–c.1140 is now firmly attributed to John of Worcester, rather than the monk Florence, major questions remain. A central issue is that the semi-autograph manuscript of the chronicle (now Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 157) underwent several alterations to its structure and contents, as codicological evidence demonstrates. These included the incorporation of important illuminations, which have been surprisingly little considered in their overall manuscript context. This article focuses on these illuminations, and will argue that their presence in this version of the chronicle makes it something even more distinctive than the learned, revisionist chronological work of Marianus Scotus upon which it was based. John of Worcester’s chosen images are linked not only to his political narrative but also to theological works and to cutting-edge science, newly translated from Arabic. The presence of such miniatures in a twelfth-century chronicle is unique, and they are central to the final form given to the Worcester chronicle by John of Worcester himself in this key manuscript. Their analysis thus brings into focus the impressive assembly of materials which the chronicle offered to readers, to shape their understanding of on-going events.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anne E. Lawrence-Mathers, History, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AA , United Kingdom

SOURCE:
John of Worcester and the science of history
By Anne E. Lawrence-Mathers
Journal of Medieval History
Published online: 13 May 2013
DOI:10.1080/03044181.2013.798742

ABSTRACT
Convergence among religious rites has long been a favoured subject of study among historians of the Latin East, who have come at it from a variety of different angles, exploiting a wide array of evidence ranging from papal correspondence to works of art. At the level of popular devotion to saints and relics, research has focused on Latin piety expressed towards local Christian cults, relics and pilgrimage sites mainly in the Holy Land and Cyprus. However, the reverse – the devotion Greeks and other Eastern Christians exhibited towards cults and relics of Latin provenance – has been but little explored. This paper examines non-Latin reactions to the emergence of two ‘indigenous’ Latin cults in fourteenth-century Cyprus, those of the Carmelite Peter Thomae and Count John of Montfort. It will be argued that the cults evolved through time in response to the expectations and needs of a ‘Cypriot’ urban public, comprised of both Latins and Greeks of a high social standing.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michalis Olympiosa, Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus, 75, Kallipoleos Avenue, CY-1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

SOURCE:
Shared devotions: non-Latin responses to Latin sainthood in late medieval Cyprus
Michalis Olympiosa
Journal of Medieval History: Published online: 16 May 2013
Routledge
DOI:10.1080/03044181.2013.795499

ABSTRACT:
The relationship between conquerors and conquered in the Latin Empire of Constantinople has traditionally been understood as a relentlessly hostile one, particularly on the religious level. Whatever its merits, the dominance of this view has sometimes resulted in the gross misinterpretation of important pieces of evidence. This article examines two unusual liturgical texts that were treated by their discoverers as products of a Latin campaign of liturgical proselytism. The texts themselves are bilingual presentations of the Western rite of mass, with Greek and Latin text presented in an interlinear format. Most unusually, the Latin text is written in Greek characters. This article makes the case, due to internal evidence as well as the broader context of ecclesiastical relations in the Latin Empire, that these texts were created by Greek clerics rather than by Latin authorities, and that their purpose was entirely different from that imagined by their discoverers.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brendan J. McGuire, Department of History , Christendom College , 134 Christendom Drive, Front Royal, Virginia, USA

SOURCE:
Evidence for religious accommodation in Latin Constantinople: a new approach to bilingual liturgical texts
By Brendan J. McGuire
Journal of Medieval History: Published online: 22 May 2013
DOI:10.1080/03044181.2013.798832

ABSTRACT:
The Prester John myth of a rich and powerful Christian saviour-sovereign beyond the Muslim Middle East was enmeshed for centuries in the desire for a revival of the crusading cause. This article examines a later phase when the legend shifted to Africa, the significance of which has not been wholly appreciated, nor the ensuing contacts between continents fully elaborated. Embassies between Ethiopia and Christian potentates of the Mediterranean – in Aragon, Portugal, Italy and Burgundy – were perceived as exchanges with the Prester. Steps were taken by both sides in the hopes of building a powerful alliance against Islam. Europe gained new information on sub-Saharan Africa and found its racial paradigm challenged. Yet reality could not match all that was imaginatively imposed on Christian Ethiopia, as gradually reflected in historical narratives and literature from the late fifteenth century. The strength of the myth and its impact on global events is nonetheless extraordinary.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Kurt, Department of History, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. Currently Dr. Kurt is investigating the many contacts between European and Ethiopian rulers in the 14th to 16th centuries aimed primarily at a Crusade against Muslim states in the Red Sea region. He hopes his examination of Muslim sources and Christian sources (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Ethiopian) will help him to create a narrative of the multi-faceted relations between peoples of different continents at a time of continuing discovery. In May of 2009 he delivered a paper titled “Mapping Prester John as African (1350-1600): the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Perspectives,” at the International Medieval Congress at Western Michigan University. In October 2012 he gave a paper at the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Seminar titled “Between Holy War and Symbiosis: the Delicate Balance of Late Medieval Ethiopia, the Neighboring Sultanates, and Mamluk Egypt.” Both are being expanded as articles

SOURCE:
The search for Prester John, a projected crusade and the eroding prestige of Ethiopian kings, c.1200–c.1540
By Andrew Kurt
In Journal of Medieval History: Published online: 22 Apr 2013
Routledge
DOI:10.1080/03044181.2013.789978