Book on medieval astrology wins award

Dr. Scott Hendrix, assistant professor of history at Carroll University, has published a new book that has been awarded the D. Simon Evans Prize for “Outstanding Contributions to Medieval Studies.”

How Albert the Great’s Speculum Astronomiae Was Interpreted and Used by Four Centuries of Readers: A Study in Late Medieval Medicine, Astronomy and Astrology was published this year by The Edwin Mellen Press.

Click here to read the full article on Medievalists.net

New Zealand medieval scholar wins award from university

Dr Simone Celine Marshall has been named one of the 2010 recipients of the University of Otago’s Early Career Awards for Distinction in Research for her work work on medieval literature. The awards are given out by the university for outstanding research achievements and comes with $5000 to support their research and scholarly development.

Dr Marshall is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English where she conducts research into medieval literature. After studying at Victoria University of Wellington and Waikato University, she completed a PhD at the University of Sydney in 2005.

Click here to read the full article from Medievalists.net

Roman Theatre, Cistercian Monastery, win EU Conservation award

The Roman Theatre in Cartagena, Spain, and Le Collège des Bernardins in Paris, France were among two of the three Grand Prix winners at the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, which were held last month in Istanbul.

The awards, which were held in the 6th century Byzantine church, Aya Irini (Hagia Eirene), were to celebrate the extraordinary initiatives within the field of Europe’s cultural heritage with the aim to promote high standards and high-quality skills in conservation practice.

Click here to read the article on History of the Ancient World

York Archaeological Trust hopes to win award

The Hollywood Oscars are still a few months away but the York Archaeological Trust is waiting with bated breath to hear whether it has won the archaeology equivalent. They are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the prestigious British Archaeological Awards for which they have been shortlisted under the “Best Archaeological Innovation” category.

Click here to read the article on Medievalists.net

The Sephardic Frontier: The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia

When Jonathan Ray looks at history, he’s not looking for easy answers. In his efforts to piece together the daily lives and identities of medieval Jews living in Christian and Muslim territories, he’s found that “the norm is something a little bit messier, [a little bit] more complex” than many might imagine.

Ray is the Samuel Eig Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Georgetown. His latest book, The Sephardic Frontier: The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia, recently received the prestigious John Nichols Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy of America, presented annually for the best first book on any topic in Medieval Studies. The prize committee applauded "Ray's exceptional book” and its interdisciplinary approach that “brings an entirely new dimension that will encourage future researchers to look beyond accepted models.” They continue, “It is a book that many medievalists, whether Iberianists or not, will want to know and share, as a model, with their students."

Click here to read the full article from Georgetown University

Staffordshire Hoard nominated Best Archaeological Discovery in Great Britain

The Staffordshire Hoard is among three nominees for Best Archaeological Discovery in the British Archaeological Awards. The nominees in six categories were announced last week with the awards ceremony taking place next month at the British Museum.

The Staffordshire Hoard discovery was made in July 2009 by Terry Herbert, a metal detector enthusiast, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. The items he discovered – over 1,500 pieces of beautifully crafted gold and silver from the 7th century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia - amount to the most valuable treasure hoard ever discovered in the UK, worth £3.3 million.

The other two nominees in this category are a Neolithic carving of a face, found in the Orkney Islands, and Late Bronze Age Copper and Tin Ingots from Moor Sand, off the south coast of Devon.

The Chairman of the British Archaeological Awards trustees, Dr Mike Heyworth MBE, said “The wide-ranging nominations for the 2010 British Archaeological Awards demonstrate the high standard of work going on in archaeology across the United Kingdom. There is huge public interest in archaeology and increasing opportunities for everyone to get involved in archaeological projects in their area. We congratulate all the nominated projects and look forward to a lively ceremony in July when the winners of the Awards will be announced.”

The archaeological dig at another medieval site - Wisbech Castle in Cambridgeshire, has been nominated for Best Community Archaeology Project, while the new Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) website has been shortlisted in the 'archaeological innovation' category. The PAS website includes the scheme's database of almost 600,000 archaeological objects found and registered by members of the public across England and Wales.

“Making the shortlist in this year’s awards is a fitting tribute for the work that our regional FLOs and the public of England and Wales have put in to making the Scheme’s database such an essential resource for studying the archaeology of this country," explained Roger Bland, Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum.

"Hopefully, this news and the story of the Staffordshire Hoard, will make people more aware about the potential uses of these data and raise public awareness of their local archaeology.”

Established in 1976, the British Archaeological Awards are a showcase for the best in British archaeology and a central event in the archaeological calendar. The awards are handed out every two years.

The winners of the six Awards will be announced at the 2010 Awards ceremony which will take place on 19 July at the British Museum, hosted by historian and broadcaster Michael Wood. The ceremony will be a major event within the Council for British Archaeology's Festival of British Archaeology, a huge UK-wide celebration of archaeology with more than 650 events attended by more than 250,000 people, which will attract huge national TV, radio, newspaper and magazine coverage.

Here is the full list of nominees:

Best Archaeological Project:
1) Archaeology of Inchmarnock Research Project
2) Mellor Heritage Project 2007-9
3) The Tarbat Discovery Programme

Best Community Archaeology Project:
1) 'Discover the Lost Bishop's Palace' - Wisbech Castle Community Archaeology Project
2) Fin Cop - Solving a Derbyshire Mystery
3) Mellor Heritage Project 2007-9

Best Archaeological Book:
1) Britain's Oldest Art: The Ice Age Cave Art of Creswell Crags by Paul Bahn and Paul Pettitt
2) Europe's Lost World: the re-discovery of Doggerland by Vince Gaffney, Simon Fitch and David Smith
3) The Rose and The Globe, playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark: Excavations 1988-1991 by Julian Bowsher and Pat Miller

Best Representation of Archaeology in the Media:
1) Tinderbox Productions for BBC Radio 4: In Pursuit of Treasure and The Voices Who Dug Up The Past
2) Time Team Series 16, Episode 5: Blood, Sweat and Beers - Risehill, North Yorks
3) The Thames Discovery Programme web site

Best Archaeological Innovation:
1) Integrated Archaeological Database
2) Lindow Man: a Bog Body Mystery Exhibition at the Manchester Museum
3) The Portable Antiquities Scheme web site

Best Archaeological Discovery:
1) Late Bronze Age Copper and Tin Ingots from Moor Sand
2) Links of Noltland excavations - discovery of Orkney Venus figurine
3) The Staffordshire Hoard

Click here to see our special Feature on the Staffordshire Hoard

Sources: British Archaeology Awards, British Museum

The Likeness of the King: A Prehistory of Portraiture in Late Medieval France wins award

The Likeness of the King: A Prehistory of Portraiture in Late Medieval France, by Stephen Perkinson has been awarded the Morris D. Forkosch Prize, which goes to the best book by a first-time author in the field of intellectual history. The award is presented by the Journal of History of Ideas.

Perkinson, who is an Associate Professor of Art History at Bowdoin College, takes a fresh look at the development of portraiture, and takes readers through a fascinating tour of late Medieval history, literature, science, philosophy—ultimately using the face to enter the subtle, very human underpinnings of court life.

The book was recognized for offering "an interdisciplinary approach to visual and textual cultures [that] will prove deeply rewarding and inspiring to scholars across a wide range of customary academic boundaries."

"It's a real honor, it's very flattering," says Perkinson. "Especially since the book was so fun to write."

Whereas earlier studies tended to treat the invention of portraiture as a sign of artistic progress, The Likeness of the King examines it as part of an important shift in the history of ideas.

"For most of the Middle Ages, people made pictures of people, of rulers, that looked generic to our eyes, though they represented specific people," says Perkinson. "Their felt that facial features were an unreliable way of representing people, because your face is always in flux, you age, it's transitory. They used more stable signs of identity: names, coats of arms and heraldry."

Something changed in the late 14th century. Portraits began to include distinctly personal details. The standard account in art history is that artists developed better skills, that they became more knowledgeable about people as individuals.

Perkinson argues that this evolution came about as a result of social, political and scientific changes. "It's no coincidence that these changes we look at in portraiture occur at late medieval aristocratic courts, with their complex political and social structure," notes Perkinson. "If you're an artist and can, seemingly effortlessly, replicate the features of your lord, your ruler, that's a sign that you have a strong memory of that person. You're displaying your loyalty.

"That's critical at these courts, a way of currying the favor of the king. It works for artists, it also works for the person paying for the portrait as a gift. There is a connection between likeness and loyalty."

Although he traveled to France to study texts relating to the Valois court, one of the primary focuses of the work, Perkinson says many of the surprising directions of the research were uncovered at Bowdoin.

"This is very much a Bowdoin book as it required me to move among a range of fields, some I'm comfortable with, some farther afield: political theory, the history of science, theories of vision and memory, optics. I was able to discuss ideas with colleagues, and search through our Special Collections. I spent my junior sabbatical holed up in the Bowdoin library.

'Sometimes I'd spend weeks just reading old French romances to get an understanding of how people used concepts of likeness in literary sources, or how they talk about memory. Then I'd get to shift gears and spend time reading medieval theories of visions, or political treatises, or other sources. It was great fun, because the project got me connected with a really wide variety of ideas and topics."

The Journal of the History of Ideas awards the Morris D. Forkosch Prize each year, with $2000 going to the winner. To be eligible it must be the first book published by a single author, and must pertain to one or more of the disciplines associated with intellectual history and the history of ideas, including history, philosophy, political thought, the social sciences and literature.

Sources: Bowdoin College, Journal of the History of Ideas

God’s Philosophers: How the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science

The Royal Society has unveiled its longlist for Prize for Science Books, the world’s most prestigious award for science writing, which includes a book about science in the Middle Ages. God’s Philosophers: How the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science, by James Hannam, debunks many of the myths and stereotypes about science and technological advancement during the Middle Ages, and profiles some of the important thinkers of period, such as Thomas Aquinas, Nicole Oresme and William of Ockham.

The five-member committee who made the choice said that Hannam's book "is a revelation, contradicting the popular idea of the Middle Ages as the “dark” ages, mapping key progressions during an era none of us associate with scientific advances and celebrating the lesser known mathematicians, 'philosophers' and anatomists on whose shoulders modern science stands."

Eleven other books also made the longlist, including Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England by Steve Jones. This year’s longlist includes eight authors who are new to the prize, three who have been previously shortlisted and one previous winner (Jones, who won in 1994).

Maggie Philbin, Chair of the judges, said: “There were some fascinating books in this year’s entries, all of which explore science in very different ways. Narrowing it down to just twelve was very challenging and left us with a wonderful, diverse longlist that we’re all looking forward to really getting our teeth into. "

The shortlist will be announced on 24th August 2010. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Royal Society on 21st October 2010 and awarded £10,000. The authors of each shortlisted book will receive £1000.

God’s Philosophers has received very positive reviews since being released last year. James Hannan has also set up a website Medieval Science and Philosophy and a Facebook page to promote his book.

Click here to see the full list of books up for this year's prize

See also the Medievalists.net page for Aladdin’s Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World

Source: Royal Society

Medievalist awarded Guggenheim Fellowship to research Chaucer

Sarah Stanbury, English professor at the College of the Holy Cross, has recently been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a prestigious annual award that funds travel and research needs. Stanbury, who joined the Holy Cross faculty in 1992, was one of 180 recipients selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants, and will begin her fellowship in January 2011..

Stanbury won for her proposed manuscript, titled Creole Things in Chaucer’s World, which investigates the significance of manmade objects in the writing of Geoffrey Chaucer and by some of his 15th-century successors. In order to complete her research, Stanbury plans to travel to London, Prague and parts of Italy.

According to Stanbury, the idea for her manuscript evolved from previous work she had done on the work of Chaucer, one of her areas of interest.

“My work on Chaucer lately emerged from a book that I wrote in 2008, called The Visual Object of Desire in Late Medieval England,” says Stanbury, who will be on leave for three semesters, having also won a fellowship through Holy Cross. “That book talked about the way people in England wrote about religious objects, like the crucifix or statues of the Virgin Mary. I became interested in how ordinary household objects could be viewed. So this current research I am doing grew right out of my earlier work.”

Stanbury received tenure in 1996, serving as chair of the English department from 1997-99. The author of numerous articles and books, including The Visual Object of Desire in Late Medieval England (University of Pennsylvania Press, Middle Ages Series, 2008), Pearl (Medieval Institute Publications, 2001) and Seeing the Gawain-Poet: Description and the Act of Perception, (Middle Ages Series, 1991), Stanbury has also won the O’Leary Faculty Recognition Award. Stanbury earned her B.A. in literature at Bennington College and her Ph.D. in English at Duke University.

The Guggenheim Fellowship competition is in its 86th year and awards are given to a diverse group of applicants, from artists to scientists, based on a candidate’s accomplishments and the promise of their project

Source: Holy Cross

John van Engen wins Grundler Prize

Western Michigan University has awarded the prestigious Grundler Prize to a University of Notre Dame scholar for his book, Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life: The Devotio Moderna and the World of the Later Middle Ages.

The prize was awarded at the 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies May 15 to John van Engen, professor of history at Notre Dame. The Grundler Prize was established to honor the late Dr. Otto Grundler, former director of the WMU Medieval Institute, which sponsors the annual congress.

Published in 2008 by the University of Pennsylvania Press, van Engen's book is based on research about a noteworthy religious movement in the later Middle Ages--the Devotio Moderna, or Modern Devout. Beginning in the 1380s in market towns along the Ijssel River of the east-central Netherlands and in the county of Holland, they formed households organized as communes and forged lives centered on private devotion. They lived on city streets alongside their neighbors, managed properties and rents in common, and worked in the textile and book trades, all the while refusing to profess vows as members of any religious order or to acquire spouses and personal property as lay citizens.

"Drawing upon an unrivalled knowledge of writings by and about the Modern Devout, van Engen succeeds in giving context to the humanity, the urban and religious community, even the spiritual longings of this vanished experiment in communal living, set amid the rich complexity of Dutch urban life," stated the citation for van Engen's prize. "…the Devout were committed to the 'simplicities' of Christian conversion, communal living, education of the young, and propagation of holy texts. And it was in these things that the influence of the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life would extend to the lives of such disparate figures as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Ignatius Loyola, and John Calvin."

The book also has been awarded the 2009 John Gilmary Shea Prize of the American Catholic Historical Association and the 2009 Philip Schaff Prize of the American Society of Church History.

Source: Western Michigan University

Caferro and Gerstel awarded Guggenheim Fellowships

William Caferro, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University, and Sharon E.J. Gerstel, Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology at UCLA, have been named 2010 Fellows by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

The two highly regarded medieval scholars are among 180 recipients in the United States and Canada selected for the coveted fellowship. Artists, scholars and scientists in all fields are eligible to apply for the fellowships, which are awarded on the basis of impressive achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. This year’s recipients were chosen from a group of more than 3,000 applicants.

Caferro will use the funding to complete a book project on the intersection of war, culture and economy in late medieval and Renaissance Italy, which was during the time of the Black Death. The research represents the culmination of his many years of work in Italian archives, he said.

“As an economic historian, I look at the Italian economy of the 14th and 15th centuries and try to understand what aspects of that economy would fall under the category of Renaissance,” he said. It’s also very important to me to look at the impact of violence and war on society in Italy at that time.”

Caferro’s other books include Mercenary Companies and the Decline of Siena (Johns Hopkins, 1998) and John Hawkwood, English Mercenary in Fourteenth Century Italy (Johns Hopkins, 2006), which won the Otto Grundler Prize in 2008 as the best book on medieval studies. His most recent book, Contesting the Renaissance (Blackwell, 2010), explores the meaning and use of the term “Renaissance” in historical writings.

Caferro teaches a variety of courses in European history, including upper-level courses in pre-modern European economic history and 14th century English literature and history. He received his doctorate from Yale University and is a previous recipient of the Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Vanderbilt.

Sharon E.J. Gerstel will use her fellowship to complete a book Landscapes of the Village: The Devotional Life and Setting of the Late Byzantine Peasant, which will be published by Cambridge University Press. She is analyzing the devotional lives of the area’s Eastern Orthodox Christian villagers between the 13th and 15th centuries. Her previous publications include Thresholds of the Sacred: Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical, and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West and A Lost Art Rediscovered: The Architectural Ceramics of Byzantium.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by U.S. Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife as a memorial to their late son.

See also our earlier article Research reveals new details about mercenaries in 14th century Italy

Sources: Vanderbilt University, UCLA

Kathryn Kerby-Fulton wins 2010 Haskins Gold Medal

Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, has received the 2010 Haskins Gold Medal from the Medieval Academy of America for her work, “Books Under Suspicion: Censorship and Tolerance of Revelatory Writing in Late Medieval England.” This award is given annually to a book, published in the previous six years, that is judged to be distinguished in the field of Medieval studies.

“It is rare that a book requires the reevaluation of major writers and movements in both Latin and the vernacular, in the realm of both theological treatises and literary art, permitting us to see both discourses as parts of a broader fabric,” the committee announced in presenting the award. “Kerby-Fulton’s magnum opus presents a fresh panorama of theology, literature, and history in the age of Chaucer with an originality that promises to have an impact across numerous disciplines within and beyond Medieval studies for years to come.”

“Books Under Suspicion,” published by University of Notre Dame Press, explores censorship and tolerance of controversial revelatory theology in England from 1329 to 1437, suggesting that writers and translators as different as Chaucer, Langland, Julian of Norwich, “M.N,” and Margery Kempe positioned their work to take advantage of the tacit toleration that both religious and secular authorities extended to this type of writing. Kerby-Fulton makes use of neglected material in manuscripts and archives to construct an acclaimed revisionist account of theological politics in late medieval England and academic freedom in universities of the time.

A member of the Department of English faculty at Notre Dame since 2005, Kerby-Fulton also is affiliated with the College of Arts and Letter’s Medieval Institute.

“The Haskins Medal is an extraordinary recognition of the achievement of a scholar who has in just a few years become absolutely central to Notre Dame’s high place in the world of Medieval studies and our doctoral program,” said John Sitter, chair of the Department of English, says. “Our colleague Kathryn Kerby-Fulton’s award of course shines a light on her important work, but it also brightens the department, the Medieval Institute and the University.”

“Books Under Suspicion” also was awarded the John Ben Snow Prize from the American Conference on British Studies in 2007. That prize is awarded annually for the best book by a North American scholar in any field of British Studies dealing with the period from the Middle Ages through the 18th century.

Kerby-Fulton specializes in Middle English literature and related areas of medieval studies. She has written several books and articles on medieval literary writers, including “Reformist Apocalypticism and Piers Plowman.” Her edited collections include “Written Work: Langland, Labour and Authorship with Steven Justice; Iconography and the Professional Reader: The Politics of Book Production in the Douce Piers Plowman” with Denise Despres; and “Voices in Dialogue: Reading Women in the Middle Ages” with Linda Olson.

The Medieval Academy of America, founded in 1925, is the largest professional organization in the world devoted to Medieval studies. The Haskins Medal was established in 1940 to honor the academy’s founder and second president, Charles Homer Haskins.

Source: University of Notre Dame

Disseminal Chaucer wins award

Peter W. Travis, the Henry Winkley Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English Language and Literature at Dartmouth College, is the winner the 2009 Warren-Brooks Award for Outstanding Literary Criticism, for his book Disseminal Chaucer: Rereading the Nun’s Priest’s Tale (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009).

Given by the Robert Penn Warren Center at Western Kentucky University, the award will be presented April 16 during the annual Robert Penn Warren Symposium at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY.

Among 42 books submitted for this year’s contest, Travis’s work, nominated by the University of Notre Dame Press, was chosen for the breadth and depth of Travis’s scholarship, and the wit and originality of his writing, according to the jury.

“I'm quite overwhelmed by this honor,” says Travis. “While I spent many years working on Disseminal Chaucer, I never for a moment imagined that it would be singled out for any kind of award. I am especially pleased that the Warren-Brooks jury found that a rather specialized book on a medieval subject nevertheless succeeded in communicating with a modern readership."

Travis’s primary interests are medieval literature and contemporary critical theory. He recently developed and taught a course on contemporary masculinities called “The Masculine Mystique.” Disseminal Chaucer sees the Nun’s Priest’s tale as a kaleidoscopic parody of a broad range of medieval intellectual concerns— medieval theories of argument, ways of reading stories, sexual politics, and ways of reflecting upon the political and social world.

Travis captures the debates about the nature of rhetoric and literature that went on in Chaucer’s world, one juror commented, noticing how often the medieval rhetoricians Chaucer both loved and mocked in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale argue in ways that closely resemble recent developments in literary theory, from Stanley Fish to Paul de Man and Jacques Derrida.

Travis has been a member of the Dartmouth faculty since 1970. “It's a real pleasure to see a dedicated scholar-teacher recognized for an award that has had such an illustrious series of honorees,” says Katharine Conley, Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Arts and Humanities.

The award’s namesakes, Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks, says Patricia McKee, acting chair of Dartmouth’s Department of English, “were notable twentieth-century literary critics whose highly influential method of reading literature, called the New Criticism, set the standard for textual explication. The members of the English Department are honored to have our colleague awarded this prize.”

The award, created in 1994, goes each year it to an outstanding work of literary scholarship or criticism that exemplifies in the broadest sense the spirit, scope and standards represented by the critical tradition established by Warren and Brooks.

Source: Dartmouth College

Jonathan Ray wins John Nicholas Brown Prize for The Sephardic Frontier

Professor Jonathan Ray of Georgetown University has been named one of the co-winners of John Nicholas Brown Prize, given out for the best first book in medieval studies. He won the award for his work, The Sephardic Frontier: The "Reconquista" and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia, which was published in 2006.

Professor Ray received the award at the Medieval Academy of America's Annual Meeting, which was held last month. The other co-winner was Bissera V. Pentcheva for her book, Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium.

Professor Ray tells Medievalists.net, "I’m very pleased and extremely honored to be the co-recipient of the John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy. It is always gratifying to have your work receive praise, but it was particularly meaningful for me to see my work on Medieval Jews transcend the boundaries of Jewish Studies and be recognized by colleagues in Medieval Studies. One of my goals for The Sephardic Frontier was to bridge some of the disciplinary boundaries that still separate scholars of medieval Jewish and medieval Iberian history."

The prize committee noted in their decision that "Ray's exceptional book will significantly mark a wide range of fields within medieval studies, as well as some beyond its confines: Iberian studies, including both the history of the "three cultures" and that of monarchic practices; Sephardic studies, to which it brings an entirely new dimension that will encourage future researchers to look beyond accepted models; the emerging field of frontier or borderland studies; and the study of cross-cultural contact in many places outside the Iberian Peninsula. It is a book that many medievalists, whether Iberianists or not, will want to know and share, as a model, with their students."

The book has received many positive reviews since it was published. For example, Abraham D. Lavender writes in The Journal for the Study of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry that Ray "challenges the traditional view concerning the characteristics of the Jewish community as a permanent and inevitable feature of medieval Iberian Jewish life."

Ray specializes in medieval and early modern Jewish history. He says, "I have always been interested in the complex and layered nature of religion and culture, and have been drawn to those regions of the world, such as medieval Iberia, in which different religious communities developed in dynamic symbiosis with one another."

He adds that his current project, "traces the Jews who were expelled from Spain 1492 as they re-established communities throughout the Mediterranean world of the sixteenth century. Rather than view the formation of Sephardic Diaspora as something of a continuation medieval Spanish Jewry in exile, this work aims to demonstrate that it was only after their expulsion from Spain that the so-called “Sephardim” truly acquired a unified identity “Spanish and Portuguese” identity."

Sources: Medieval Academy of America

2010 European Heritage Awards Announced

The European Commission and Europa Nostra have announced 29 winners from 15 countries for the 2010 Edition of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards.

Known as the "Oscars for heritage protection," this unique awards programme highlights some of Europe’s best achievements, and showcases remarkable efforts made in safeguarding Europe’s rich architectural, landscape, archaeological and artistic heritage.

Among the winners are several projects or sites associated with the Middle Ages. They include a project to restore the medieval town walls of 's-Herogenbosch in the Netherlands, research into a 12th century Italian castle in the town of Noale, and the Becov Castle conservation project in the Czech Republic.

The awards will be presented during the 8th Annual European Heritage Awards Ceremony, taking place in Istanbul, Turkey on 10 June 2010, as part of the Europa Nostra Annual Congress. These events contribute to the celebration of Istanbul as a European Capital of Culture 2010 and are included in the official programme of Istanbul 2010.

Each year, the European cultural heritage community and its supporters turn their attention to the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. Proudly celebrated annually since 2002, the ceremony showcases the greatest achievements in maintaining and preserving Europe's shared cultural heritage. Jointly organised by the European Commission and Europa Nostra - the Voice of Cultural Heritage in Europe – this grand Award Ceremony starts off celebrations that will continue at local level and at the sites themselves throughout the year.

The Awards celebrate not only outstanding initiatives, conservation projects, research, and education successes within Europe's cultural heritage sector, but also reward the exceptionally dedicated service to heritage conservation by individuals and/or groups. The 2010 winners have been selected from nearly 140 submitted projects, stemming from 26 countries. The selection of Laureates is made by one of the 4 Heritage Awards Juries, composed of independent experts from across Europe.

A major aim of the Awards is to stimulate trans-border exchanges in the heritage sector. By spreading the "Power of Example", the Awards scheme encourages further efforts and projects related to heritage protection throughout Europe. This is in keeping with the goals set down by other Europe-wide cultural projects, such as the European Heritage Days whose slogan - "Europe, a Common Heritage" - promotes a shared European legacy.

Over the years, the Awards programme has seen remarkable examples of the conservation, management and interpretation of Europe’s heritage. These range from some of the most well-known sites in Europe, such as La Scala in Milan (2005 Laureate), to other lesser-known treasures, such as the vernacular wooden Kesälahti Church Bell Tower in Finland (2009 Laureate).

The Becov conservation project aims to repair the 14th century castle and chateau. The project is being undertaken the Czech Republic's National Heritage Institute and the Czech Technical University (CVUT) in Prague. Castle Warden Tomas Wizovsky told the Czech News Agency, "This has been the first summary in history of unique results of research and expert opinions about the castle from the past and recent years."

He hopes that the recognition will attract more visitors to Becov and speed up the planned reconstruction. It is believed that the costs to repair and conserve the castle will be up to $10 million (US).

Among the 29 selected winners of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, 6 Grand Prix winners will be announced at the European Heritage Awards Ceremony on 10 June in Istanbul Turkey, as 2010’s most outstanding examples of heritage protection. Each Grand Prix winner will receive a monetary reward of € 10,000.

Complete list of Award Laureates (listed alphabetically by country)

Category 1 — Conservation
· The Nordkette Cableway Stations, Innsbruck AUSTRIA
· La Fonderie de la Société Alsacienne de Construction Mécanique, Mulhouse FRANCE
· Le Collège des Bernardins, Paris FRANCE
· The Sarcophagi of the Dukes of Pomerania, Wolgast GERMANY
· The Neues Museum, Berlin GERMANY
· The Ancient Tower and Adjacent Buildings at Horio-Aghia Triada, Amorgos GREECE
· The National Observatory of Athens, Athens GREECE
· The Fortifications and City Walls of 's-Hertogenbosch, 's-Hertogenbosch THE NETHERLANDS
· The Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS
· The Monastery of Santa Clara-A-Velha, Coimbra PORTUGAL
· The Roman Theatre, Cartagena SPAIN
· The Church of Los Descalzos, Ecija SPAIN
· The Royal Site of San Ildefonso, SPAIN
· The Sultan's Pavilion of the Yeni Mosque, Istanbul TURKEY
· St Davids Bishop’s Palace, St Davids UNITED KINGDOM
· St Martin-in-the-Fields, London UNITED KINGDOM

Category 2 - Research
· Restoration Study for the Horní hrad of the Bečov State Castle, Bečov CZECH REPUBLIC
· Sacred Timber Architecture in the Carpathians, Munich GERMANY
· Restoration Study for the Tempesta's Fortress, Noale ITALY
· The Letters Project – Vincent van Gogh’s Letters, Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS

Category 3 — Dedicated service
· Nils Vest, Copenhagen DENMARK
· Commission to Preserve National Monuments, Sarajevo BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
· Ludmila V. Shaposhnikova, Moscow RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Category 4 — Education, training and awareness-raising
· REMPART: Volunteers for Saving Heritage, Paris FRANCE
· The East Eifel Volcano Park, Plaidt GERMANY
· The Baerwaldbad - Conservation of a Public Bath House, Berlin GERMANY
· Empathic Archaeology - On Storytelling and Identity, Borger THE NETHERLANDS
· Discovering the Museum – Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu ROMANIA
· Faith in Maintenance, London UNITED KINGDOM

Sources: Europa Nostra, Czech News Agency

University of Toronto scholars win Mellon Foundation fellowships

University of Toronto medieval historian Nicholas Everett and Walid Saleh, a scholar of religion and Near and Middle Eastern civilizations, have each been selected to receive a highly competitive New Directions Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation to pursue cross-disciplinary research. It is the first time the fellowships, created in 2002, have been awarded outside of the United States.

The New Directions Fellowships are unique in that they enable young humanists to explore new lines of research by gaining additional expertise in a field outside of their area of specialization. For Nicholas Everett, who holds a PhD in history, the fellowship means he can do research shedding new light on the history of medicine and science by undertaking specialized coursework in pharmacology and toxicology.

"There has been an explosion of interest in the medicinal potential of plant, mineral and animal products of the last decade. This renewed scientific interest in natural product pharmacy provides opportunities for a more sophisticated understanding of human interaction with the natural world in the past, and the rationale behind historical traditions of drug use, discovery and theory," Everett says. "By understanding the chemistry of natural drugs and the processes they affect, historical texts on pharmacy can be read more sensitively, claims more effectively evaluated and traditions better understood and explained."

Everett will draw upon his training to pursue three themes in the history of pharmacy which recent discoveries in biochemistry, pharmacology and neuroscience place in a new light: notions of taste and smell in relation to health and pharmacy; traditions of compound drugs; and what constituted proof or the authority to declare a drug effective or safe in the pre-modern world. Tracing these themes across different periods and cultures, says Everett, will make important contributions to our understanding of both the history of science and the history of medicine.

Walid Saleh will use his fellowship to undertake a comprehensive unified history of the Arabic Bible in the Middle East where three of the world's major religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - began and still co-exist side by side. It's a research direction that arose quite serendipitously. "While researching the history of Quranic interpretation, my main field, I came across al-Biqa`i (d. 1480) who used the Hebrew Bible and the four Gospels to interpret Biblical references in the Qur'an. This was an unprecedented use of these two scriptures in Islam," says Saleh. The fortunate find led him to realize that no comprehensive study of the history of the Bible in the Islamic religious imagination had been done. "Such a study is essential since the Arabic Bible represents a truly Jewish-Christian-Islamic event in the collective religious history of the Middle East. The presence of active members of the three communities side by side make for a fascinating relationship to the Bible, with each religious community aware of the other's views of the same book," says Saleh. In particular, Saleh plans to undertake serious training in Jewish study, including Biblical Hebrew, so as to chart a detailed history of the ways in which Islamic religious tradition interacted with the Bible and how each religion's interpretation of the Bible affected and influenced the other.

"Scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries holds tremendous potential," says Meric S. Gertler, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto. "Some of the most exciting discoveries and insights occur when different fields intersect. We are delighted that the Mellon Foundation is not only enabling these two outstanding humanists to pursue their innovative research but is, through the New Directions program, fostering a standard of excellence for cross-disciplinary research more generally."

The Mellon Foundation has long been known for its support of the humanities, arts and higher education. The New Directions Fellowships assist faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences by enabling them to acquire substantive and methodological training outside of their discipline so they are able to work with sophistication on the specific research problems that interest them most. Recipients of the fellowships are relatively early in their careers, having have received their PhD between five and 15 years previously, and so the fellowships are viewed as long-term investments in a scholar's intellectual range and productivity.

Source: University of Toronto

Natalie Zemon Davis wins Holberg Prize

Natalie Zemon Davis, a renowned scholar of late medieval and early modern history, has won the prestigious Holberg International Memorial Prize, worth $785,000 US, for outstanding scholarly work in the arts and humanities, social sciences, law or theology.

The award will be given to Davis, a Professor of History at the University of Toronto, on June 9th in Norway.

The Holberg Prize Academic Committee said in a statement: “Natalie Zemon Davis is one of the most creative historians writing today, an intellectual who is not hostage to any particular school of thought or politics. Her writing is richly textured, multi-faceted and meticulously documented. She shows how particular events can be narrated and analyzed so as to reveal deeper historical tendencies and underlying patterns of thought and action. Her work brings gender to the fore, while insisting that the relationship between men and women is always embedded in the cultural discourses and social organizations specific to their time.

“Davis’ imaginative approach to history, coupled with intensive archival research, makes the past come alive; her fundamental method is to pursue a dialogue between the past and the present. The uniqueness of her work lies in connecting early modern Europe with new areas of comparative history, exploring cultural, geographical and religious interchange.”

Natalie Zemon Davis is well known for her books such as The Return of Martin Guerre, Fiction in the Archives: Pardon Tales and Their Tellers in Sixteenth-Century France and Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds. She is widely respected in the academic world and has taught at Princeton University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Toronto.

"This is simply outstanding news for the University of Toronto and such a fitting tribute to the stature of our humanities scholars in the international community," said Professor Peter Lewis, acting vice-president (research).

The Holberg Prize, which was established by the Norwegian Parliament in 2003, is awarded annually by the Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund. Both prizes are for scholarly work in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.

Please also see our earlier article: Natalie Zemon Davis discusses the challenges of being a Historian

Sources: Holberg Prize Website; University of Toronto

The Shambles in York named Britain's most picturesque street

A cobbled shopping street dating back to the middle ages has been voted Britain's most picturesque street.

The Shambles in York, which is lined with buildings dating back to the 15th century, took the prize in the Google Street View Awards.

Stockbridge High Street in Hampshire was voted the best foodie street and Milson Street in Bath won the award of best fashion street in the poll.

Ian Addyman, who owns a shop on The Shambles, said it was full of "historic charm".

He said: "There is a real feeling of community amongst shop owners and I think we all feel privileged to work in such a beautiful place. The shops here are all strikingly different and unique.

"Most people say that if you visit York, then at some point you will walk down The Shambles. It has been the backdrop for many a jigsaw, chocolate box and railway poster and once you visit you will see why."

The Royal Crescent in Bath and Grey Street in Newcastle came second and third respectively in the vote for the most picturesque street.

More than 11,000 people voted for their favourites after the streets were short-listed by a panel of experts.

Ed Parsons from Google said: "The Google Street View Awards are aimed to celebrate the many fantastic streets that Britain has to offer, and the results reveal a diverse cultural landscape of food, fashion and beauty that puts the winning towns firmly on the map."

The Shambles (official name Shambles) is one of the oldest streets in York, and is noteworthy for its verhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century. It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels (literally 'flesh-shelves'), the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat.

Ian Addyman, owner of Past Images photography shop in Shambles, said: “Shambles is a timeless street full of historic charm, and whatever time of year you come here there is something different to see.

“There is a real feeling of community amongst shop owners and I think we all feel privileged to work in such a beautiful place.

“The shops here are all strikingly different and unique.

“Most people say that if you visit York, then at some point you will walk down Shambles. It has been the backdrop for many a jigsaw, chocolate box and railway poster and once you visit you will see why.”

Staffordshire Hoard gets crowds, award

Over forty thousand people have visited the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, England, to see a fraction of the famous Staffordshire Hoard. It is another sign that discovery of Anglo-Saxon treasure is still drawing in massive interest.

A total of 1,852 people passed through the doors on Wednesday, taking the total number of people who have queued to see the Hoard to 41,447 over 19 days.  Over 3700 people visited the collection on its opening day in mid-February.

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery is exhibiting 118 items from the hoard, including 40 artefacts that have never before been seen, such as a filigree gold horse's head, gold snakes, what is believed to be gold helmet eyebrow adornments, and detailed helmet fragments showing warriors and animals.

They are on display at the museum until Sunday. Last night the museum extended its opening hours until 8pm to enable more people to see the Hoard. By lunchtime, those in the queue endured waits of more than three hours.

Among those browsing the gold pieces was Judith Lambert, who was amazed at the quality of the items. The Alton resident said: "The quality of the workmanship is extraordinary. We are seeing something that is not just English craftsmanship, because some of the gems have come from across the world. "I queued for three hours to see the Hoard and it was worth every minute."

Councillor Hazel Lyth, Stoke-on-Trent City Council cabinet member for culture, added: "To reach 40,000 visitors is a remarkable achievement and is a demonstration of how passionate people feel about the Hoard.

"It shows a sense of pride from people who want to keep it here and feel a connection to it."

Meanwhile, the Staffordshire Hoard team has been awarded ‘The Best Rescue Dig of the Year, 2010’ by Current Archaeology.

Current Archaeology is Britain’s best selling archaeology magazine. The award, sponsored by Andante Travel, was given on the basis of votes cast by its readers, and was presented at the Archaeology 2010 Conference, held at the British Museum on 27 February.

The award was accepted by Dr Kevin Leahy, National Advisor, Early Medieval Metalwork, on behalf of the project.

On accepting the accolade, which was presented at the ceremony by Professor Brian Fagan of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr Leahy said: “This was very much a joint award, to be shared by the many people and organisations who had worked hard on the project.”

Dr Leahy also commented on how smoothly the project has gone so far, and paid tribute to the many people and organisations involved.

He added, ”Finally, thanks must go to the 40,000 people who queued for up to five hours to see part of the hoard during the short time it was on show in Birmingham and the tens of thousands who are queuing to see it now at the Potteries Museum. They are telling us that they care.”

The Staffordshire Hoard was first discovered by metal detectorist Terry Herbert in a field near Lichfield, Staffordshire in July 2009. Containing over 1,500 pieces, mainly gold and many inlaid with precious stones, the Hoard was valued at £3.3.m on 26 November 2009 and declared the most valuable treasure found on British soil.

Click here to go to our feature on The Staffordshire Hoard.

Medieval Wall Painting project short-listed for national heritage award

A project aimed at conserving and interpreting a unique series of medieval church wall paintings has been short-listed for a prestigious British national award. The Lakenheath Wall Painting Project, which marks its first anniversary this month, has been selected as one of the finalists in the ‘Awards for the Presentation of Heritage Research 2010’. These annual awards, sponsored by English Heritage, aim to encourage researchers to present their research on British and Irish archaeology, historic buildings and heritage conservation, to the wider public.

The Lakenheath Wall Paintings Project began in January 2009 with the aim of carrying out important conservation work of the unique series of medieval wall paintings in the church at Lakenheath, Suffolk. The paintings were originally discovered during restoration work carried out on the stunning medieval church in 1864. The lime wash, which had covered these colourful examples of medieval art since the reformation, was removed to reveal at least five individual and unique painting schemes – the earliest of which is thought to date to the early 13th century. Having been exposed to the elements for over a century urgent work was needed to maintain the stability of the paintings and the plaster onto which they were painted. The physical conservation work was undertaken by a team of expert conservators from the Oxfordshire based Perry-Lithgow Partnership and took five weeks to complete.

A key element of the Lakenheath project was to encourage a wider interest and understanding of these stunning images amongst both the local population and the wider public. During the actual physical conservation work the public were encouraged to come along a meet the team, watch the work in progress and learn a little more about the church and its paintings. The project also hosted two events as part of the 2009 Festival of British Archaeology and a number of lectures, site visits and open days. In addition, Roger Rosewell, the acclaimed author of Medieval Wall Paintings in English and Welsh Churches, presented a special guest lecture to mark the project’s completion.

Father Robert Leach, the vicar of St Mary’s, commenting on the short-listing of the project for the award said, ‘We are delighted with this news and are deeply grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and others for proving the funds to enable this project to be carried out. To be a finalist in a national award programme is a real recognition of all the hard work put into the project by the conservators, church-wardens and people of Lakenheath.’

Project Manager, Matthew Champion, commenting upon the news said, ‘Thanks to the project, the wall paintings at Lakenheath are now recognised to be of national importance and the conservation has ensured that they will be preserved for future generations to enjoy. However, being short-listed for this award really emphasises that the project isn’t just about relics from the past. These fantastic images were originally paid for and created by the local community. The project has tried to bring local people back into their church to rediscover their own parish heritage.’

All the projects that have been short-listed for the award will be presenting their findings to a public audience at the British Museum on the 26th February. The audience will be invited to help the panel of judges, chaired by archaeologist Julian Richards, assess the presentations and the winner will be announced later that evening.