The Viking and Norse trade in Walrus Ivory

Recently published research into the trading networks established by Viking and Norse  seafarers across the North Atlantic in search of walrus ivory and their internal trade routes across Europe as far as Kyiv to sell this valuable commodity were reported upon recently by The Independent and on the Life Science website.

The period concerned stretches from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, the period of the colonisation of the coasts of southern Greenland by Europeans.

Analysis of the physical makeup of surviving examples of such craftsmanship has been compared with that from existing walrus colonies on the coasts of Greenland and northern Canada. What has emerged is that the sources of the tusks were further afield than had been thought and this opened up the possibility of more contact between the Vikings or Norse and the Inuit of the sub-Arctic than had been thought previously.

The Independent article can be seen at Study of walrus ivory gives remarkable insights into how Vikings travelled

The longer and more detailed account from Live Science can be accessed at Medieval walrus ivory may reveal trade between Norse and Indigenous Americans hundreds of years before Columbus, study finds

Establishing the Anglo-Saxon defences of Oxford

Archaeological investigations inevitably expand our knowledge of the past and Need us to reassess our understanding of what we think we know about the history of the environment around us. In centre of a city like Oxford the opportunities to carry out such investigations are inevitably limited by the very nature of the city that we know today. Any new building work likely to turn up evidence of past occupation in the city centre and indeed in the historic suburbs.

A very Good instance of this has happened at Oriel with the discovery of the line of the eastern ditch defending the tenth century town as originally laid out. This is often associated with the burh foundations made by Æthelflæd  Lady of the Mercians ( c.870-918 ) the daughter of King Alfred. This town, whose street plan underlies that of much of the present city centre, is where the town, and later city began as a trading community alongside St Frideswide’s religious foundation. Rebuilding of the kitchens at Oriel has revealed the width and depth of the defensive ditch which lies alongside what is now called Magpie Lane*. A century or so later this town was expanded east and south-eastwards along the line of the High Street down towards Magdalen Bridge. As a result the ditch was filled in or gradually accumulated soil and rubbish and disappeared as a consequence. 

The Oxford Mail reported on the discovery in an article which can be seen at Archaeologists solve 125-year-old mystery about origins of Oxford

More or less the same account can also be seen in the Daily Express at Archaeologists discover hidden secret behind one of the UK's prettiest cities

This is an important  insight into the history of the origins and development of the urban community in Oxford. 

Never let be said that Oriel has neglected its responsibilities to record the history of the city and university, even if we had to pull down the kitchens in order to do so.

 * The various names over the centuries of this narrow lane are of interest, and informative, but far too indelicate for a blog like this. The answer can be found in volume i of The History of the University of Oxford - try the map of Oxford in the thirteenth century.

 

Results of a survey on Communion in the hand

Yesterday the Zenit website reported on a survey that have been undertaken in the United States about the attitude of the laity to communion in the hand and other related Eucharistic practices of the contemporary Church. Although I am often suspicious of the value of public opinion research on issues that don’t always come down to a simple affirmative or negative this has been apparently the largest survey that has been undertaken of lay opinion. The results are actually encouraging for those of us of a traditional frame of mind. It does of course depend where the survey was taken because as we know the church in the US shows great extremes of opinion and practice in a way that is perhaps less evident in this country. The report was commissioned by a clearly conservative group but the results are striking. That being so it is perhaps all the more surprising to read it on Zenit which often seems to be very much the voice for current Vatican orthodoxy.

What the survey, the largest so far conducted with regular worshippers, suggests is a desire for greater reverence for the Eucharist, not by only by favouring reception on the tongue but also in externals such as genuflecting and avoiding the use of lay ministers. There was a desire to re-establish in churches the centrality of the Tabernacle. Only a minority of respondents were attending the pre-Conciliar liturgy. The US bishops are being forwarded the report as part of an initiative on the part of those who commissioned it to restore reverence for the Eucharist. 

The article can be seen at Communion in the Hand or in the Mouth? Results Are Published of the Largest Survey in the U.S. on the Eucharist

Ultima Thule identified?

The website Greek Reporter is a useful resource for stories about Classical Greece and the Hellenistic world. A recent report outlined the latest theory to emerge to try to identify Thule, or Ultima Thule, as described by Pytheas of Massalia ( Marseilles ) and which survives only in quotations and citations by later Greek authors. 

In the years leading up to 300BC Pytheas sailed from his home city, or possibly from the mouth of the Loire, around the islands to the north for which he gives the first record of their name - Britain. He then sailed a further six days northwards to a wintry world of ice and snow, the very limit of humanity. This he named Thule, or Ultima Thule. Where exactly he was has been a source of much speculation. However the latest theory, which looks on the surface reasonable, given our fragmentary knowledge of Pytheas’ work, identifies it as most probably being Iceland. The article making the case can be read at Greek Discovery of Iceland Supported by Linguistic Evidence

It contains a link to an earlier article on the same website about Pytheas’ exploration of the north-east Atlantic, and his recording of Britain, which can be seen at The First Ancient Greek to Reach Britain and the Arctic

To know more about Pytheas, or at least about the theories about him, Wikipedia has a quite detailed account at Pytheas

Both articles reproduce an Italian map made in 1490 that sought to reconstruct Ptolomey’s second century AD map of the British Isles which was based partly on evidence accumulated during the Roman conquest in the previous century and partly based on Pytheas’ measurements.

The reconstructed Ptolemaic map

Image: Wikipedia 

It may not be the Ordnance Survey, but, all things considered, it is no mean achievement as one looks back across the space of two millennia.

Roman armour from Trimontium

The BBC News website reports on the return to the National Museum of Scotland from the exhibition at the British Museum of the restored and reconstructed Roman brass arm guard from the military camp at Trimontium.

Trimontium, in the Borders, takes its name from the distinctive and dominant Eildon Hills, and was a forward post in the Roman attempts to either subjugate what is now Scotland or to at very least maintain a degree of control beyond Hadrian's Wall in the first and second centuries. 

There is a good introduction to the site on Wikipedia at Trimontium (Newstead)

as well as other online links to information.

Although discovered over a century ago it is only recently that this piece of armour has been identified as protection for the arm of the wearer from shoulder to wrist, and that it has been pieced together from numerous fragments. It is one of only three such pieces known to survive from the Roman Empire.

The online report can be seen at Rare reconstructed Roman armour goes on display 

An award for Wentworth Woodhouse

In my recent article about the plan to rebuild the north-west tower of the Abbey of St Denis I commented that such schemes of restoration  of great buildings struck a deep emotional chord with me. Another example I cited is the ongoing project to restore the great eighteenth century country house at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire. The fact that this building, so historcally and architecturally important, faced such a sequence of threats to its very survival and is now, seemingly against the odds, being so imaginatively and impressively restored is, I find, deeply moving.

Yesterday the BBC News website reported that the restoration of the Camellia House and Lady Rockingham’s Tea Room at its rear had won an award from the Georgian Group as their 2024 outstanding repurposing of a building of the period. The camellias, thought to be the first imported into this country, are themselves doughty survivors as their home fell into decay around them before they, and it, were rescued.

The article can be seen at Wentworth Woodhouse Camellia house restoration recognised

For those unfamiliar with Wentworth Woodhouse there is, literally, an overview of the spectacular house - it is in effect two stately homes back-to-back - and the equally impressive stable block which can be seen at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire

The interior of part of the house can be seen in a video at Wentworth Woodhouse  - Inside the grand house

The state of much of the interior, and its very real need of restoration, is shown in another of the excellent videos produced by the Preservation Trust at Wentworth Woodhouse Off Limits: breathtaking exteriors mask a brutal reality 

A friend shared with me the latest information video from Wentworth on the ambitious aims for the Stable Block which blends the prosaic realities of adapting historic buildings with a spectacular vision of what might be achieved in coming  years. It can be seen at Stables Regeneration Phase 1: September 2024 update

Carmelite Traditional Rite

To mark the Feast of St Teresa of Avila yesterday the New Liturgical Movement posted an article with a film from the 1950s or early 1960s of the celebration at Aylesford Priory of Mass according to the traditional Carmelite Use. 

As the article explains this originally was used by the Carmwes as it was the Use of the Church of Jerusalem in the Crusader epoch. As the Carmelites moved into Europe they brought the liturgy they were used to with them. It has remained a possession and preserve of the older Carmelite community. The reformed, discalced version established by St Teresa and St John of the Cross were, after their deaths to adopt the 1570 form of Mass.

The article gives a few further introductory comments and then links to the film of the Mass. This is therefore the Mass as attended by SS Teresa and John of the Cross in the Spain of King Philip II, but also the one offered across medieval Europe in Carmelite friaries, and, until more recently, in those of the White Friars  who followed the ancient practice of the Order. Ultimately it is a living 000 link to the spiritual life of the Crusader kingdoms if the Holy Land and the founding fathers of the Order on Mount Carmel.

The article can be seen at For the Feast of St Theresa of Avila - A Film of Mass in the Ancient Carmelite Rite

The Knights Templar seek redress

We live in a litigious age, with so many seeking redress to the courts for wrongs, be they real or imagined. It reaches to the highest levels and can have wide implications.

In recent years the rather curious legal processes of the Vatican have been in the news with internal espionage and more recently charges relation to high-level fraud and corruption. All grist to the journalist’s mill and those of webmasters and bloggers. 

However a story on the usually very sober Rome based  Zenit website promised something that could be not the trial of the century but of the millennium: the Knights Templar are seeking to sue the Holy See for restitution and compensation, and to establish a new legal basis for their relationship with the Papacy.

The report can be seen at Knights Templar Sue the Pope and Call for Their Rehabilitation

Now, maybe these are not the Knights Templar from 1312, but then who knows? Some Freemasons claim thatthey are, for what that is worth…. not much in my opinion. The Portuguese Order of Christ has a good claim, as they were re-established from the Templars by King Dinis.

This Spanish based group has tried several times in recent years to sue, so we shall have to wait and see what happens.

Try to imagine calculating over seven centuries of lost income, maybe at compound interest, let alone the restitution of property. What about compensation for reputational damage? Will they want the Holy Shroud back? Will they make the French State a party as successor to King Philip IV? Given the present Pope’s oft stated opposition to the death penalty will he feel compelled to pay compensation to the heirs of Jacques de Molay, Geoffrey de Charnay and the other victims? 

Normally I have an instinctive reaction against anything other than a purely academic work that refers to the Knights Templar. Who knows, with the right lawyer, this could be fun. Maybe the courts in California would be a good place to pursue the suit.