Urbanisation 8th-9th century

This paper focuses on practical function, social significance and symbolic meaning of early medieval central places from the East-Central Europe, in particular from the area of so-called Great Moravia, which was a important (pre-)state formation on the eastern periphery of the Frankish Empire. It is argued that the vast local agglomerations were not mere military forts, but very complex centres – genuine civitates or urbs of Moravian Slavs as they are mentioned in Royal Frankish Annals. Only rarely can we identify the settlements known from Carolingian written sources with specific places. Although the majority eludes localization, we assume that the place names given in the written sources refer to some of the rich archaeological sites explored by archaeologists over the last 50 years in the Czech Republic. The most important ones are Mikulčice, Staré Město and Pohansko near Břeclav.

Early Islamic techniques and tools of stonecutting, Study on traces of work and workflows on the ornament on the building of the desert castle Qasr al-Mshatta/Jordan

The Kingdom of Jordan kindly allows public access and research on cultural treasures in a exemplary way. Surely one of the most famous and important monuments is the Qasr al-Mshatta, important for understanding the transformation of art and craft skills from late antiquity to early Islamic time. His splendor facade in large parts is now situated in Berlin at the Museum of Islamic Art. This Object was the starting point of the present investigation, which could be continued in Jordan. Parallel to construction work at the Qasr and intensive art historical research this text is dedicated to the traces of stonecutting and will try to draw a picture of the possibilities of the artisans and stonemasons in the early Islamic period. Specifically for Mshatta it will examine technology, craftsmanship and artistic realization of a major project that should take prototypical character. Be considered are stonecutting tools, the ornament and the development of their tracks and their change - to give statements about the staff and a groundwork for an art historical perspective that cannot work in such close proximity to the object as it was granted for the author during drawing the documentation of the decoration of the entrance facade of Mshatta.

Das Königreich Jordanien ermöglicht dankenswerter Weise beispielhaft Forschung und Öffentlichkeit Zugang zu seinen Kulturschätzen. Zu einem der berühmtesten, und für das Verständnis der Transformation von Kunst und handwerklichen Fähigkeiten von der Spätantike in frühislamisch-mittelalterliche Zeit bedeutendsten Denkmäler gehört das Qasr al-Mschatta. Seine Prachtfassade befindet sich heute in großen Teilen in Berlin im Museum für Islamische Kunst der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin und war Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Untersuchung. Sie konnte vor Ort in Jordanien fortgesetzt werden. Unabhängig von den parallelen baulichen Maßnahmen am Qasr und der intensiven kunsthistorischen Betrachtung widmet sie sich den Spuren der Steinbearbeitung, um ein Bild der Möglichkeiten der Handwerker in frühislamischer Zeit zu zeichnen und speziell für Mschatta Technologie und handwerklich-künstlerische Umsetzung eines Großprojektes zu untersuchen, dass überregional vorbildhaften Charakter tragen sollte.
Betrachtet werden Steinmetzwerkzeuge, ihre Spuren und deren Wandel am Ornament und in dessen Entwicklung - um Aussagen über das eingesetzte Personal zu treffen und einer kunsthistorischen Betrachtung zuzuarbeiten, die nicht in so unmittelbarer Nähe zum Objekt arbeiten kann, wie es dem Verfasser bei der zeichnerischen Dokumentation des Fassadendekors vergönnt war.

Toen Karel de Grote in 814 stierf, liet hij een enorme erfenis en een groot rijk achter dat sinds de val van het Romeinse Rijk niet meer gezien was. Johannes Fried presenteert hier een nieuwe magistrale biografie van deze legendarische Frankische koning en keizer, waarbij hij zijn leven duidelijk verheldert over hoe deze heerser het lot van Europa drastisch veranderde. Karel de Grote was boven alles een christelijk vorst die zijn hof in Aix-la-Chapelle het centrum van een religieuze en intellectuele Renaissance maakte en Alcuinus van York als zijn persoonlijke mentor aanstelde, waarbij hij eiste dat monniken geletterd waren om logica en retoriek te begrijpen. Hij richtte een enorme kathedraal op in zijn hoofdstad, die schitterend gedecoreerd werd. Daarnaast vergrootte hij de invloed van de paus, die hij tevens vrijstelde van het recht op legale wijze, een beslissing die invloed had op de eeuwen die gingen komen. Hoewel toegewijd was hij geen heilige. Het was een strijdkoning die niet onbekend was met geweld en bloedvergieten. Ook hij genoot van aardse plezieren zoals lichamelijke liefde.

Despite their documentary reoccurrence, fires have received sparse attention in historiography. Above all those which devastated the urban spaces of Regnum Italicum between 880 and 1080. When they do not naturalize occurrences of this type as fatalities or accidents, the explanations in force make them appear as cases of supposed feudal disorder, widely revised by historians. In relation to understanding the history of the calamity of urban fires, much needs to be done. This
article seeks to contribute to this undertaking. Starting from diplomatic and chronicle documentation, we analyze their meaning and the way these references are used in the composition of the written records: fires emerge as a social and multidimensional action. Moreover, we seek to explain the changes associated with the nature of this practice. The hypothesis of this paper is that the documentary appearance of the fires belongs to a political temporality.

It seems that the Tuva fortress of Por Bajin might be described in an Arabic source, a fact which in turn has consequences on the interpretation of the site, the hitory of teh Arabic geographers, and teh political context of 9th c. Central Asia.

This is a short note, a small draft. I should add pictures and a map.