Institute for Medieval Research

The strontium isotope ratio 87Sr/86Sr is a key tracer with wide-ranging applications in geochemistry, hydrology, paleoclimatology and migration research. To make sound interpretations of 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios in the context of biogeosciences, researchers need high quality data. In this contribution, we critically evaluate the accuracy of two conceptually different analytical protocols for 87Sr/86Sr determination on the example of a large dataset (n = 135) comprising biogenic and abiogenic materials. Water, soil extracts, and hydroxyapatites (tooth enamel) were prepared according to established procedures and analyzed by solution-based multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC ICP-MS). For the calibration we used two protocols: internal normalization (also termed internal mass bias correction or internal calibration) and standard-sample-bracketing (external calibration). Isotope dilution mass spectrometry was not considered suitable, because this calibration approach becomes very time- and cost-intensive when applying to a large sample set.Analysis of water, soil extracts and hydroxyapatites showed that the majority of 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios which were determined by internal normalization shifted towards higher values in comparison to data determined by standard-sample-bracketing. Extensive evaluations ruled out sample preparation or measurement errors. Instead, internal normalization yielded biased data, because it is based on the assumption that all samples have the same 88Sr/86Sr isotope ratio, which can be used for normalization. However, in 90% of the investigated samples the 88Sr/86Sr significantly deviated from the assumed invariant value; in particular, the 88Sr/86Sr that is conventionally expressed as δ(88Sr/86Sr)SRM987 ranged from -1.01‰ to 0.20‰. As a consequence, internally normalized 87Sr/86Sr data biased by up to 0.00043, which was 2-times larger than previously predicted by theoretical calculations. These results demonstrate that the choice of calibration method has a much higher impact on the accuracy of 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios than initially expected. The implication of these findings in biogeoscience applications will be discussed.This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n°856453 ERC-2019-SyG).

Abstract In what is now its last folio, codex Laurentianus Plutei 57.40, a major witness of Michael Psellos’ epistolary and rhetorical works dated to the beginning of the 12th century, transmits a short text titled “Epigramma for a woman who is in labour but cannot give birth”. The text is otherwise unattested. Yet, one can recognise elements known from texts meant to be written on birthing amulets that circulated in various languages and regions throughout Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and beyond. What is unique in this short text is that it intentionally departs from the traditional discourse of amulets: known amuletic formulas are rewritten in ways that associate them with other genres - starting with the term “Epigramma” in the title. Furthermore, interest in it stems from the fact that it is one of the very rare testimonies for a birthing amulet that has survived from the Byzantine period. In this article, the text is edited for the first time. Moreover, the article attempts to trace the underlying amuletic formulas and analyse the process of rewriting.

ABSTRACT This article explores the exceptional Liber Sermonum composed by Martin of León around 1200. First, it describes the work in its manuscript form, illuminating the historical context of its production. Then, the article maps the occurrence of motifs pertinent to crusading throughout the Liber. This data unveils Martin’s expertise and, thus, involvement in several crusade arenas, straddling action against scholastics, Jews, heretics and ‘pagans’ (that is, Muslims). Lastly, three texts of the Liber are analysed in-depth: A Palm Sunday sermon evidences Martin’s involvement in depth the Third Crusade and anti-heretical action; a treatise on the Acts of the Apostles shows how he tried to promote popular preaching in León; and a treatise on rogation liturgy elucidates how a providential logic entangled various crusade arenas despite their geographical distance. The methodological tools developed for identifying ‘the crusade’ in these texts demonstrate the pertinence of liturgical sermons for studying the crusade movement.

This research note introduces the Maronite Chronicle of 713, a hitherto unknown Christian world chronicle in Arabic, recently identified by the author in the collection of manuscripts at St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai. Extant in a single thirteenth-century manuscript (Sinai Ar. 597), this Arabic chronicle is a translation of a lost Syriac work, originally composed in 712-713 CE, probably in a Syriac Monothelete milieu with close ties to the Monastery of Mar Maron. The chronicle covers the history of the world from Adam to 692-693 CE and exhibits numerous parallels with the so-called »eastern source«, which informed the chronicles of Theophanes, Michael the Syrian, Agapius of Mabbug and the anonymous Syriac Chronicle of 1234. To demonstrate the links between these sources and the new chronicle, the note analyses, as a case study, a passage discussing the main events of the year 633-634 CE. The author argues that the Maronite Chronicle of 713 provides an alternative chronology of events for this year and thus represents an independent source for the early stages of the Arab conquests. A more detailed study and a critical edition and annotated translation of this new chronicle are in preparation.

Traditionell wird der Ursprung der modernen Bodenkunde in Europa in den Überlegungen zum Boden bei Autoren der „klassischen“ griechisch‐römischen Antike gesucht. Im Folgenden wird zuerst dieser Bestand an schriftlichen Quellen in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache gesichtet. Dann werden deren Angaben zur Charakterisierung und Bearbeitung von Böden mit der Praxis kontrastiert, soweit sie sich aus Untersuchungen zur vorindustriellen Landwirtschaft im Mittelmeerraum und archäologischen und insbesondere aus neueren geoarchäologischen Befunden zur antiken Landwirtschaft rekonstruieren lässt. Ein besonderes Augenmerk gilt dem immer noch verbreiteten Narrativ einer in der Antike beginnenden und allgemeinen Degradierung der Böden und Landschaft des Mittelmeerraums aufgrund vermeintlicher Über‐ oder Fehlnutzung, das sich aufgrund der neueren Erkenntnisse der Forschung nicht mehr aufrechterhalten lässt.

This contribution engages with the emergence of commented editions of the Bible in the early medieval Latin West and illustrates their spread in the Carolingian Empire on the basis of the extant manuscript evidence. It describes their codicological and exegetical features starting from a comparison with the contemporary genre of the Byzantine frame catenae. Since the completion of a remarkably high number of commented editions can be ascribed to Otfrid of Wissembourg (d. after 871), the chapter discusses whether Otfrid might be regarded as a »cultural broker« of this new tool for biblical studies. To this end, it focuses on Otfrid’s networks, interests and intended audiences, using three short poems by Walahfrid Strabo and Otfrid’s own output, in particular his commented edition on Acts, as evidence.

“Solar Radiation Management” aims to mitigate global warming by either seeding aerosols into clouds to change their radiative properties and occurrence frequency, or injecting sulfur into the atmosphere to shield the Earth’s surface from incoming solar radiation. These approaches are inspired, among other things, by the effect of volcanic eruptions on the climate system.Here we provide a critical reassessment of a time period commonly referred to as the “Medieval Quiet Period”. For several centuries in early Medieval times (c. 750-1050 CE) the climate system was postulated to have been relatively unperturbed by natural climate forcing, resulting in a unique period of climate stability. We present evidence that just the opposite is true. In large parts of the Northern Hemisphere and in the Arctic, atmospheric aerosol loads were persistently high during this period as a result of increased volcanic activity, especially in Iceland.Our new insight is supported by evidence taken from an array of synchronized ice cores from Greenland with high time-resolution records of a large suite of trace elements, including volcanic volatiles such as sulfur, chlorine, fluorine, and heavy metals. We use crypto-tephra in ice cores to provenance the sources of many volcanic eruptions and sulfur isotopes (33S, 34S) to delineate if volcanic gas emissions occurred above or below the ozone layer.We define an “Iceland Active Period”, a time period of frequent and prolonged volcanic activity, producing persistently high levels in atmospheric aerosol burdens in the Northern Hemisphere Arctic’s preindustrial atmosphere lasting for decades to centuries. The frequency and cumulative amount of emissions of climate-impacting trace substances (e.g., sulfates, halogens, ash) is unprecedented in the late Holocene. It is exceeded at times only in the Anthropocene (since about 1900) and in the early-middle Holocene (e.g. during rapid deglaciation). We demonstrate that previous reconstructions of volcanic forcing used in PMIP3 and PMIP4 strongly underestimate volcanic aerosol emissions in the early Medieval and argue that this period should not be considered a reference climate state for the Common Era.Finally, we investigate possible aerosol-climate interactions following these eruptions using climate proxies and state-of-the-art chemistry climate models with prognostic stratospheric aerosols and chemistry.

A classroom at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris was where a late midrash session was held in the context of the Xth Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies in 2014.Tanchuma-Yelammedenu literature was one of the topics there.The room was small but full of interested listeners.The organisers were Ronit Nikolsky and Arnon Atzmon.Both presented at the sessions now exclusively dedicated to Tanchuma-Yelammedenu literature in the context of this year's 18th World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem, August 8-12, 2022), a major event that takes place every four years in Israel.This time, there were three Tanchuma-Yelammedenu sessions, the room was large, and again, full of eager listeners.The interest in this genre of rabbinic literature is manifest.Nikolsky and Atzmon are also the editors of the first collection of essays on this literature, a volume many scholars have been looking forward to having in their hands and/or their university libraries, and that makes a real contribution to a relatively understudied period in the history of Jewish literature.The collection was in the making for several years, and comprises papers originally presented at three international scholarly meetings in the years 2012-2014.It has achieved its goal, which, as the editors put it in the preface, is to put an important field, "Tanhuma-Yelammedenu studies, on the map, as it were, within Jewish studies in general and within rabbinics and midrash studies in particular" (ix).The book opens with an excellent introductory contribution by the editors on a question many scholars have whenever they come across the expressions Tanchuma, Tanchuma-Yelammedenu, tanchumaic: What is Tanhuma?What is Tanhuma-Yelammedenu? Do we have to do with a work or several works, with recensions of a work, with treatises, textual collections?Or rather with a genre?The editors opt for the label "genre" and their decision is well-grounded.

This paper presents the first corpus-based study of DOI in Maltese. In this pilot study, the potential triggering factors were tested as predictors in a descriptive model. The results show that the strongest predictor for object in-dexing in Maltese is word order, but when taking only semantic referential fea-tures into account, the analyses reveal that DOI seems to be strongly predictable by definiteness, as well as by the part of speech of the head of the NP. Our study therefore supports observations from previous investigations, both on Maltese and typological; furthermore, the analysis gives insight into the combined effects of the relevant factors.

ABSTRACT The present analysis explores for the first time main changes in gender and kinship relations of Upper Yemen between the seventh and the thirteenth century CE. An initial section outlines main continuities throughout this period. The article's three main sections then investigate, first, transformations of kinship terminologies after the seventh and eighth century. Second, changes in reckoning genealogies, as well as descent and inheritance rules are scrutinized for the early tenth century. Third, structural changes in marriages patterns are outlined for periods before and after the thirteenth century. These investigations are carried out for the region's rural tribal majorities. Moreover, they also include a substantial consideration of the region's main social and demographic minorities. They were elite groups of Persian and more importantly, of West Arabian Muslim origins. In addition, important Jewish, Christian and slave groups of socially subaltern status are taken into account. These analyses conclude with the insight that elite groups eventually succeeded in establishing their fragile regimes, assisted by genealogical discourses and scriptural conventions. Meanwhile, the socially subordinate minority groups came under increasing pressures of concubinate, conversion, and demographic constraints. For the agricultural tribal majorities of the region, these developments amounted to a continuous interplay between an enduring diversity of kinship and gender relations, and a gradual growth of hegemonic influences.