Discoveries from medieval Central Europe

There have been several recent online reports of significant archaeological finds from sites in central Europe.

The first is from the Slovakian city of Zvolen, which lies in the central part of the country. Wikipedia has an account of the city at Zvolen

The discovery of note there is a handsome episcopal ring which has been dated to circa 1300. At that time, and until 1918, it was part of Hungary. The ring was found at the site of the castle of Pustý hrad, for which Wikipedia has an illustrated account at Pustý hrad

The ring is described by LiveScience at Medieval gold ring found in castle in Slovakia has rare purple sapphire imported from Sri Lanka

allthatsinteresting.com also reports on the discovery at 700-Year-Old Gold Ring Discovered In The Ruins Of A Slovakian Castle Found To Feature A Sapphire From Sri Lanka

To the north in Silesia an amethyst in a gold setting was found in an excavation at the site of a castle. This was slightly later in date but equally  striking. 

LiveScience reports on the find.and includes a useful and detailed link to a history of the castle. This can all be found at 600-year-old amethyst 'worthy of a duke' found in medieval castle moat in Poland

There is another, similar article about the brooch, but with a set of detailed drawings, on the Greek Reporter website at Amethyst of Incalculable Worth Discovered in a Castle in Poland

Further north in Gdansk/Danzig archaeologists have uncovered the carved tomb cover and grave of a knight from the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth century. The city passed from the control of the Dukes of Pomerania to that of the Teutonic Knights in 1308, so the clearly important occupant of the grave could have been associated with either.

Medievalists.net has an account of the discovery at Medieval Knight’s Grave Discovered in Poland

The discovery has received considerable publicity. There are other accounts online from Men’s Journal, with more pictures, at Archaeologists Discover Rare Skeleton of Medieval Knight Under Old Ice Cream Parlor and from archaeologymag com which has even better images of the monumental slab, at Rare medieval knight tombstone discovered in heart of Gdańsk

The article about the grave  in the Indian Defence Review concentrates too much, in my view, on the man’s height, as there is plenty of evidence that many mediaeval people were similar in height to their modern descendants, even allowing for the twentieth century spurt in height. The article can be seen at Archaeologists Discover Giant Medieval Knight in Gdańsk, Challenging Our View of the Past

Notes from Poland also report on the discovery at "Medieval knight" found buried in Polish city as does CBS at Skeleton of medieval knight found under former ice cream parlor

These discoveries all illustrate the life of elite figures in areas most English speaking people are largely unaware of in the period. Hopefully as such discoveries as they are publicised they will make people more aware of the rich and complex history of the region.

Tonsure scissors

The Liturgical Arts Journal has a short but informative article from J.P.Sonnen about liturgical scissors used for conferring the first tonsure. As I understand it in more recent centuries this was somewhat attenuated to snipping small lock or piece of hair from the head of the candidate. Chateaubriand describes receiving the ‘first tonsure’ in a such a manner in his Memoirs.

Sonnen’s article can be seen at Tonsure Scissors for Liturgical Rites

As I understand it the tonsure originated as an adaptation of the Roman custom of shaving the heads of male slaves to indicate their status, and monastics adopted it as a symbol of their subjugation to Christ, with, in the best known form, the remaining ring of hair as a reminder of the Crown of Thorns. The practice was then taken up by the secular clergy.

The Catholic Encyclopaedia has a short account of the tonsure, including an explanation of its disappearance in the English speaking world at Tonsure

An illustrated article in Ancient Origins takes the story down to its official abolition in 1972 and can be seen here

The full tonsure largely disappeared in the Tridentine era for most clergy, secular or religious. As we know from the Venerable Bede different styles of tonsure were seen as distinctive marks of confessional orthodoxy by Roman and Irish clergy in the seventh century.

In the high and later middle ages the more austere Orders, such as the Carthusians retained the idea of the shaven head. Fra’ Angelico in the mid-fifteenth century depicts his fellow Dominicans with just a circle of hair surrounding a shaven pate. 

Melozzo da Forli and Pintoricchio depict Pope Sixtus IV and his Curia and Pope Alexander VI respectively with large tonsures but with their hair falling forward similar to contemporary lay styles

Small tonsure of The secular clergy in later medieval England are depicted on brasses and effigies with a much smaller tonsure. This can also be seen in the symbol used in early printed Missals for guides to ordering processions. In these a cleric is depicted by a circle of hair around a small tonsure in what is intended as a bird’s eye view.

I recall reading many years ago in a book about St Paul’s Cathedral that in the treasury one of the cathedrals in Belgium is a metal circle designed to be a guide when shaving the tonsure on a cleric’s head that is believed to have originally been at St Paul’s.

In the age of clerical wigs it was the custom in Catholic countries to create a small tonsure with seed pearls on the top of such wigs.

My friends the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem wear a tonsure very much in the tradition of Fra’ Angelico and I also knew an Anglo-Catholic cleric who wore a very small one, like a late medieval English secular priest.

I decided some years ago that my thinning crown was my “Grow Your Own Tonsure Kit”…..

Expanding our knowledge of early Anglo-Saxon Essex

The BBC News website has a report about the discovery of a significant gold pendant, made in imitation of a Byzantine coin of the Emperor Justin II. Dated to the later sixth century and believed to have been made on the continent in imitation of the Byzantine court the pendant was found near Thaxted and adds further to knowledge about Essex in this early Anglo-Saxon period. It has been declared to be Treasure Trove and the museum in Saffron Walden hopes to acquire it.

Together with the grave of the Prittlewell Prince  on the other side of the county and other finds such as a fine ring from Epping Forest, which are referenced in the article, they all contributes to an understanding of the material wealth of the elite of the realm of the East Saxons.

The article can be seen at Thaxted gold pendant find sheds light on county's history

The Feast of St Mary Magdalene

Today is the feast day of St Mary Magdalene and the New Liturgical Movement has a very interesting article about the history of her liturgical commemoration in the traditional and historic rites of the Church. This can be accessed at “Apostle of the Apostles” - Liturgical Notes on the Feast of St Mary Magdalene

In the medieval centuries Mary Magdalene, with her great cult centre at Vézelay in France, was a popular choice for the patron of parish churches and hospitals across western Christendom. Wikipedia has an account of the great Burgundian shrine at Vézelay

In those medieval centuries the saint did, of course, frequently appear in paintings and sculptures. This of course continued in later centuries, but her role as a patroness appears to have declined.

St Mary Magdalene pray for us

A medieval Welsh quayside at Laugharne

Nation Cymru has a report about the excavation of another medieval quay. This time it is at Laugharne in Carmarthenshire. The site had undergone changes as the river shifted its course, the quay being extended towards the water until it finally became unusable in the seventeenth century.

The excavation has also revealed remains of buildings along the quayside including a substantial medieval hall house.

The excavation is taking place as part of the renovation of historic house nearby and I hope these new discoveries can be incorporated into the landscaping of its grounds.

The illustrated article about the excavation can be seen at Medieval quay discovered by archaeologists in shadow of Welsh castle

Coincidentally I recently came across a travel  article about Laugharne and its neighbourhood from the Daily Telegraph which might help to provide a background to the town, and which can be seen at Britain’s forgotten seaside jewel – with Roman relics, rolling hills and glorious beaches

Medieval Norwegian leather goods

Sticking with the subject of historic footwear - and some of it again on the large side - an excavation of the area of a medieval harbour in Oslo has revealed on the waterlogged site a very impressive collection of some 200 medieval shoes of varying sizes.. There are also knife scabbards and a number of belt purses and maybe handbags. Writing that makes me wonder if one can envisage a medieval Lady Bracknell and Miss Prism …..

Getting back to hard, or in this case soggy, archaeological facts the discovery is reported upon by Live Science at Thousands of leather shoes, bags and sword scabbards discovered during dig in medieval harbor in Norway

Putting one’s big feet in it on Hadrian’s Wall

Recent excavations at the site of the Roman fort of Magna, which is close to the residential town of Vindolanda, in the hinterland of Hadrian’s Wall, have yielded more leather Roman shoes similar to those from Vindolanda. Preserved in the particular soil conditions of the area, what is especially notable about these new finds are the sizes of many of these military sandals in that they were the equivalent of a modern British size 13.

The finds are discussed in an online article from Live Science at 8 ancient Roman shoes of 'exceptional size' discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall

Revealing a new aspect of the history of the Tower of London

The Daily Telegraph reports on an excavation by archaeologists under the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London. The present chapel dates from the beginning of the sixteenth century but the excavation has revealed evidence of its predecessors and twenty burials, some of which may be of victims of the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century who had been buried in a common grave.

The article can be seen at Tower of London dig unveils possible links to Black Death

Medieval music from a Devon monastery

Buckland Abbey in north Devon is administered by the National Trust and is a well known historic building. 

The abbey was a late addition to the monasteries of medieval England, being founded in the laterr thirteenth century by the Countess of Devon for Cistercian monks from Quarr in the Isle of Wight. 

It is probably best known these days for its post- dissolution history and adaptation as the home of the Grenville family and then of Sir Francis Drake. 

A recent discovery from the monastic life of Buckland is that of sections of plain chant in a Customary from the abbey which is now amongst the Harleian MSS in the British Library. 

My friend Professor James Clark from Exeter University was the person who realised the significance of the musical notation in the manuscript. From this has come an exhibition at Buckland until the end of October and recordings of the music. As James Clark says this enables us to hear the daily chant of an English monastery on the eve of the dissolution.

The story was reported by the Daily Telegraph in Music silenced by Henry VIII to be heard for first time in 500 years

More on the Viking North exhibition

The Guardian has a review of Viking North, the new exhibition in York about the Viking era in northern England about which I wrote in my previous post. The article gives a much more detailed resumé of the items on display and the themes explored by the exhibition than does the original BBC article I linked to.

The article can be seen at Clash of cultures: exhibition tells story of when Vikings ruled the north of England

A very short back and sides Norman style

The announcement by M. Macron that the Bayeux Tapestry will be lent for a year to the British Museum, whilst its normal home in Bayeux is reconstructed, was one of the highlights of his State Visit last week. As the loan will extend into 2027 it will also celebrate the millennium of the birth of King William I.

Coincidentally I came across a relevant article on the often irritating, but also frequently informative website, Quora. This directly related to the Tapestry as it concerned the hair styles affected by the Norman men in it - a fringe at the front but with the area above the ears and from the nape of the neck almost to the crown of the head shaved. It makes King Henry V and his contemporaries look positively long haired.

The comments quoted from Aelfric of Eynsham, writing about 1000, can be compared with those of Alcuin of York, writing from the continent in the wake of the Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793, which he appears to blame, in part at least, on what he had presumably observed on a recent visit to his homeland, the fashion for long hair amongst the Northumbrian elite - such seeming effeminacy was clearly responsible ….

The article, with the comments - less interesting or relevant - can be seen at 

Why did the Normans, even by today’s liberal standards, have such odd haircuts?

New exhibition on the Vikings in northern England

The BBC News website has an article about the opening of a major exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum in the grounds of St Mary’s Abbey in York. The exhibition, entitled Viking North will run for the next two years, and there is no additional charge to visit it. 

The display brings together items from the collection in York and from other museums. It includes items recently discovered and not previously on public display. The aim appears to be to show the whole range of life in the region  between the beginning of major Viking settlement in 866-868 with the invasion of those years and the Norman Conquest two centuries later.

The article about the exhibition can be seen at York exhibition tells story of Viking Age in the North

Fr Ray Blake - Daily Telegraph obituary

Last weekend I wrote in my post Fr Ray Blake RIP about my memories of the much esteemed Brighton priest who had died the previous week. 

The Daily Telegraph now has an illustrated and judicious obituary of him which brings out his character as both priest and human being. It can be seen at Fr Ray Blake, priest who was unafraid to air his controversial views from the pulpit or in his blog

Medieval cellarage in Southampton

The BBC News website had a very interesting article recently about a striking twelfth century cellar in Southampton which is one of the surviving fragments of the castle. It was constructed to hold barrels of wine imported for the use of the King’s court. This was presumably.from Gascony after 1154, although some may have come directly across the Channel from Normandy or the Loire.

Southampton still has impressive remains of the town walls and was an important trading centre in the medieval centuries. This was not just for wine but also for the range of luxury goods  from the Mediterranean imported by Genoese and Venetian merchants.

The article can be seen at Secret Hampshire: Inside city's largest medieval vault

The Monomachos Crown

Live Science has a short article about the Monomachos Crown, apparently made in the years 1042-1050, and which features the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and his two co-Empresses, his wife Zoë and her sister Theodora.

The crown was found in what was then northern Hungary, and is now Slovakia, in 1860 it is displayed in the National Museum in Budapest.

The article describes the crown and links to discussions as to its authenticity- which it appears to favour - or otherwise. It also discusses how the gold plaques may have been mounted originally.

Although it is short the article does serve as a useful introduction to what appears to be a precious survival from the eleventh century.

The article, with its illustration and relevant  links  can be seen at Monomachos Crown: The 1,000-year-old crown honoring 'the one who fights alone' found by a farmer in a field

Fr Ray Blake RIP

I was very sorry indeed to hear last Thursday that Fr Ray Blake, formerly parish priest of St Mary Magdalene in Brighton, had died earlier that day.

I first became aware of Fr Ray through his blog, and it was one which influenced me to start this one. Some time later I was due to attend the wedding of two friends in East Sussex on an August Daturday and, as the next day was my birthday, arranged to stay overnight in Brighton and join another friend, who worshipped at Fr Ray's church, for the Solemn Mass. This was followed, after I had joined in moving some pews around the church, by a very convivial lunch at a Tapas bar in The Lanes. 

On a number of occasions thereafter I went on day or overnight visits to attend Mass at St Mary Magdalene’s, including the church’s 150rh anniversary, or for their patronal feast.

I also encountered Fr Ray when we found ourselves in the crowd watching pope Benedict XVI travel from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey on his visit. Like so many others at Fr Blake’s church one was immediately made welcome and drawn into a wide and diverse circle of interesting and friendly people. I would be greeted as “Ah, the Clever Boy” and made to feel at home at his parish events.

On his blog and in person he was forthright, but at the same time gentle and attentive - maybe not everyone understood that and he sometimes, unfairly, attracted misunderstanding and hostility. To those who knew him, even slightly, as I did, he was a faithful and fearless priest of the type we need.

I regret that in recent years I was less able to meet up with him, and his health began to decline. The last time I saw him, at the ordination of a mutual friend in 2019, he was still the gregarious man I had encountered in his blog, and still with a glass and cigarette in hand.

I wish I had lived close so that there might have been more opportunities to meet or to attend his celebration of the Mass in its traditional form.  He will be sadly and sorely missed by many.

Eternal rest grant onto him, O Lord.

St Leonard’s Hospital in York

There have been two reports online recently about the discovery of foundations of part of the buildings of the medieval Saint Leonard‘s Hospital in York. 

This late Anglo-Saxon foundation survived until the dissolution of the monasteries and related institutions in the sixteenth century. Unlike the great mediaeval hospitals of London this York foundation was suppressed and largely destroyed. Although parts of the site have been investigated since the early nineteenth century the only remains above ground out of part of the gate house and the adjoining chapel, dated to about 1240, adjacent to the City Library. The remainder lies under.Duncombe Place, the Theatre Royal and adjoinhg buildings, and adjacent to the York Oratory.

The VCH for York has an article describing the various religious precinct of the mediaeval city, including that of St Leonard’s, together with a map. This can be accessed here

There is more about the history and buildings of the hospital from the York Archives at History in the remains: A look at St. Leonard’s hospital

By 1300 the Hospital had up to 225 inmates, ministered to by thirteen chaplains and eight sisters. However in 1350 the buildings were said to be in great disrepair. 

I recall reading in the VCH volume on the City of York - which I cannot find online - that a few days before the battle of Towton in 1461 King Henry VI and Queen Margaret together with the Dukes of Somerset and Exeter, and, I assume, others of the Lancastrian court, attended Vespers in the chapel of St Leonard’s.

In 1515 the chapel and other buildings were described as dilapidated. The foundation was surrendered to the Crown in 1540, and after sale and repurchase a branch of the Royal Mint was established on part of the site in 1546.

In January 1556 the City Council petitioned Cardinal Pole for the re-establishment of the Hospital, but without success before the end of the Marian Restoration.

The recent online articles can be seen, from Archaeology Magazine, at Sinkhole in York uncovers remains of medieval St Leonard’s Hospital, one of northern England’s largest and, in a very similar account, from GB News at Archaeologists discover remains of medieval England's largest hospital after sinkhole opens up in historic British city

A Roman wrist purse from Moravia

The Greek Reporter website has an interesting account of the discovery in Moravia of the remains of a bronze Roman wrist purse for coins that would have been worn by a junior officer or someone concerned with supplies and provisions. 

Coins were found scattered nearby from the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who had a forward military present in the area in the years 172 to 180. This was with a view to extending the Roman presence into Moravia. Resistance by the local tribes led Marcus Aurelius to withdraw and his son and successor Commodis subsequently abandoned the whole project. It is perhaps interesting to speculate what would’ve happened if the Roman had established themselves in this part of central Europe at that time.

The illustrated article can be seen at Rare Roman Soldier’s Wrist Purse Discovered in Czech Republic