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This translation of the memoirs of a German mercenary who lived in Russia throughout the first decade of the seventeenth century makes available a unique eyewitness account of the Time of Troubles (1598-1613).
This volume examines the relationship between medieval cults of saints and regional and national identity formation in Europe both during and, to some extent, beyond the Middle Ages. It studies how collective identities have been expressed through saints’ cults and their appropriations in texts, visual representations, and music. Attention is given to various aspects of the role of medieval saints’ cults in European identity formation, as saints were used in the service of both religious and political agendas. Focusing on a range of European regions, this volume uses cults of medieval saints and their religious, cultural and political appropriations over time as a vehicle for studying changing cultural and social values. The articles here report research carried out under the European Science Foundation’s collaborative EuroCORECODE project: Symbols that Bind and Break Communities: Saints’ Cults as Stimuli and Expressions of Local, Regional, National and Universalist Identities (2010–2013/14), an international, interdisciplinary research venture funded by the National Research Councils of five countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, and Norway.
Founded as an ecclesiastical center, trading hub, and intended capital of a feudal state, Riga was Old Livonia's greatest city and its indispensable port. Because the city was situated in what was initially remote and inhospitable territory, surrounded by pagans and coveted by regional powers like Poland, Sweden, and Muscovy, it was also a fortress encased by a wall. The House of Hemp and Butter begins in the twelfth century with the arrival to the eastern Baltic of German priests, traders, and knights, who conquered and converted the indigenous tribes and assumed mastery over their lands. It ends in 1710 with an account of the greatest war Livonia had ever seen, one that was accompanied by ...
This book examines the evolution and changes in Swedish infantry and artillery uniforms during the Great Northern War. The author reconstructs in detail the appearance of infantry and artillery officers, NCOs, and privates of the time of Charles XII, drawing on a number of studies and articles, and based on extant artifacts, and written and iconographic documents that have survived to our time. The book illustrates both major and minor changes in the cut, style, and adornments of the uniforms of infantry and artillery officers, NCOs, and privates that occurred shortly before or during the war. It also provides detailed insights into the differences between the Carolean uniforms of the “old...
Following the format of Fitzroy Dearborn's highly successful International Dictionary of Historic Places and International Dictionary of University Histories, the International Dictionary of Library Histories provides basic information for each institution - location and holdings - followed by an extensive (1,000-5,000 word) essay on its history as well as a Further Reading list. In addition, the dictionary includes introductory articles on the history of various types of libraries and a library history in various regions of the world. The dictionary profiles more than 200 institutions from around the world, including the world's most important research libraries and other libraries with glo...
Skylarks and Rebels is a story about the fate of Latvia in the 20th century as told by Rita Laima. Laima, a Latvian-American, chose to leave behind the comforts of life in America to explore the land of her ancestors, which in the 1980s languished behind the Iron Curtain. In writing about her own experiences in a totalitarian state, Soviet-occupied Latvia, Laima delves into her family’s past to understand what happened to her fatherland and its people during and after World War II. She also pays tribute to some of Latvia’s remarkable people of integrity who risked their lives to oppose the brutal and destructive Soviet state.
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The study of medieval clothing and textiles reveals much about the history of our material culture, as well as social, economic and cultural history as a whole.
Long ignored, the fascinating Baltic-German author Werner Bergengruen (d. 1964), once even nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, is reintroduced here through the English translation of a selection of his best short stories. The bulk of the book consists of his Death from Reval (1939), in which we are confronted with a variety of perspectives on death as intertwined with people’s lives in that Estonian city. We are invited to follow curious habits and attitudes by various survivors and thus learn to smile about and with death. In other novellas chosen from his extensive œuvre, Bergengruen offers thought-provoking and intriguing accounts about events in the Middle Ages and the early modern age concerning honor, love, freedom, marriage, power, and the importance of humility particularly in politics. Bergengruen emerges as an excellent observer of people’s values and ideals, shortcomings and failures, as his short stories provide timeless messages relevant for our lives, often couched in historical settings.