Russian Medieval Castles

Castles of Order of Sword-bearers and Livonian Order

Here you will find information about medieval (ancient) castles was built by Crusaders on Latvian's nowadays territory. This castles was built by Crusaders of Order of Sword-bearers and later Livonian Order. Furthermore some of the castles built in accord Riga's Bishops and Archbishops order. On this land Order's and Archbishop's liegemen (vassals) also built their castles.
go to the site:
www.castle.lv

Cluny

Abbey of Cluny:

Founded in 910, the Abbey at Cluny was the center of a monastic reform movement that would spread throughout Europe. The abbey was built on a forested hunting preserve donated by William I the Pious, duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne.Unlike most monastic patrons, William relieved the monks of Cluny of all obligations to him except for their prayers for his soul. It was much more common for patrons to retain some proprietary interest in the abbey and they usually expected to install their relatives as abbots. Thus Cluny was able to avoid the secular entanglements that plagued many other monasteries. Cluny answered to the Pope alone, and would come to develop very close ties with the papacy.The Abbey of Cluny was founded by Benedictine monks who wished to observe closer adherence to the Benedictine rule. One distinction was their commitment to offer perpetual prayer, emphasizing liturgy and spiritual pursuits over labor and other monastic activities.Another uniqueness of Cluny was in its administration. Before Cluny, most monasteries were autonomous and associated with others only informally. But when new monasteries were founded in the Cluniac tradition, these were designated "priories," not abbey, and were accordingly overseen by a prior who reported to the abbot of Cluny. The abbot of Cluny made regular visits to these priories and the priors met at Cluny once a year.
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/cluny-abbey.htm

Medieval Drinks

Medieval Drinks

Among the Medieval Drinks, beer was much in vogue. Charlemagne ordered that skilled brewers to be attached to his farms. Everywhere, the monastic houses had their own breweries, a tradition which is continuing even in our times (the Belgian Abbey Biers, like Leffe or Affligem are good examples). However, during the reign of St. Louis, there were only few breweries in Paris itself, and despite their privileges, the brewers had to leave the capital, as there was no demand for their product. They reappeared in 1428, and, either as a caprice of fashion or because wine was more expensive, the consumption of beer became again general across France. The flavored beers became much in fashion. The beer was sweetened with honey or scented with raspberries.
n the 13th Century, hydromel, composed of one part of honey and twelve parts of water, was especially appreciated by the monks, who feasted on it on the great anniversaries of the Church. Cider was also popular, and in the 13th Century, the inhabitants of the Auge and Normandy made cider their daily drink. Our forefathers, who loved dainty dishes, were also connoisseurs in wine. The cultivation of the vine became general, and kings themselves planted them, even in the gardens of their palaces. The wine became the most appreciated of all Medieval Drinks, and the wine trade had acquired an enormous importance, especially in France.
The trade of a wine-merchant is one of the oldest established in Paris, but this does not mean that the sale of wine was exclusively carried on by special tradesmen. For a long time, the owner of the vineyard retailed the wine which he had not been able to sell in the cask. A broom, a laurel wreath, or some other sign hung over a door, denoted that any one passing by could purchase or drink wine within. Sometimes, the wine-growers placed a man before the door of their cellar, who enticed the public to enter and taste the new wines. Others established a tavern in a room of their house, where they retail the drink. The monks also opened this kind of taverns in the monasteries, as they only consumed part of their wine themselves. The custom was adopted even by the nobles, who had the advantage that, whilst they were retailing their wines, no one in the district was allowed to enter into the competition with them.

The wines of France in most request from the 9th to the 13th Century were those of Cahors, Rheims, Choisy, Marne, Meulan, Orleanais. In the 13th Century, wines like the Beaune, in Burgundy, the Saint-Emilion in Guyenne, Chablis, Epernay, in Champagne, were much appreciated. In the 14th Century, a man of fashion would drink nothing but Saint-Pourçain.
go to the site:
www.medieval-spell.com/Medieval-Drinks.html

Medieval Library and collections

The Special Collections Department of the Syracuse University Library is fortunate to hold a small but significant collection of Latin medieval manuscripts on parchment of Spanish, English, Italian, French, Flemish, and German/Austrian origin which range in date from the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries. The collection includes an apocalyptic text by Telesphorus; glossed decretals of popes Innocent IV and Gregory IX; a Dominican gradual of saints; a part of the Old Testament which consists of a fragment of the Books of Tobit and Esther, and a complete Book of Judith; and six Books of Hours.The artwork represented in these manuscripts vary in content and style from decorative initials to historiated initials, from intricately ornamented decorative floral borders to narrative scenes and borders, and from incompleted line drawings to partial and full page religious compositions.

go to the site:
http://library.syr.edu/digital/collections/m/MedievalManuscripts/mainpage/#top

Islamic Medical Manuscripts

Islamic Medical Manuscripts

Islamic cultures are among the most interesting, complex, and dynamic in the world. At the same time, they are among the least known in the West. From its dramatic rise in the seventh century A. D. to the present, Islamic civilization has covered a large part of the globe, incorporating many subcultures and languages into its orbit, and vigorously engaging the peoples around it.
Medicine was a central part of medieval Islamic culture. Disease and health were of importance to rich and poor alike, as indeed they are in every civilization. Responding to circumstances of time and place, Islamic physicians and scholars developed a large and complex medical literature exploring and synthesizing the theory and practice of medicine. This extensive literature was not specialized in the sense that modern medical literature is. Rather, it was integrated with learned traditions in philosophy, natural science, mathematics, astrology, alchemy, and religion. go to the site:
www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/arabichome.htm

Medieval Arab Cookery

Medieval Arab Cookery

Readers of Claudia Roden's masterworks have long been aware of the continuities in Middle Eastern cookery, others have been tantalized by the influence of Islamic cooking on the medieval West, all will rejoice in this new gathering of papers and documents relating to medieval Arab food and cookery. The French scholar, Maxime Rodinson's contributions are legendary, yet have only been seen in translation in Petits Propos Culinaires. We include those already published there, together with the text of his longest paper, 'Recherches sur les documents Arabes relatifs a la cuisine', translated by Barbara Yeomans. The American scholar Charles Perry has been entertaining participants at the Oxford Symposium with regular gleanings from his researches into medieval Arab cookery, and several of his papers are gathered here, together with a new study of fish recipes, and other items previously published in PPC. Subjects include grain foods of the early Turks, rotted condiments, cooking pots, and Kitab al-Tibakhah, a 15th-century cookery book.
go to the site:
www.kal69.dial.pipex.com/shop/pages/isbn912.htm

Medieval world in maps: the Arab world

Historical maps of the Arab world
Medieval arabic history in maps:
go to the site:
www.al-bab.com/arab/maps/maps2.htm