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This is the first English translation of a chronicle written in Latin during the thirteenth century at the traveling court of Manfred von Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily, son and heir of the great Frederick II, who ruled lands and peoples from Saxony to Sicily
Includes bibliographic references and index.
How early did the Chinese explore the world? Did the Treasure Fleets, led by Admiral Zheng He, discover many parts of the world before Christopher Columbus? While it is known that Christopher Columbus discovered America and Europe ushered in the Age of Discovery, there is an ongoing debate on the 'unknown' areas depicted in Western maps from the period and earlier. There is agreement among scholars that certain areas seem to have been mapped out prior to the arrival of Western explorers.Chinese Global Exploration in the Pre-Columbian Era: Evidence from an Ancient World Map analyses the world's first modern map — known as Kunyu Wanguo Quantu (KWQ) 《坤輿萬國全圖》 in Chinese, transl...
A guide to Sicilian family history research. Mendola covers everything from parochial, civil and tax records to genetic haplotyping. Social context--folk customs, government, religion, law, rural life--is considered at length.
This is the first major work in English on the political and social history of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a state that flourished under five kings of the House of Bourbon from 1734 until its annexation to the newly-unified Italy in 1861. Formally constituted in 1816, the Two Sicilies united the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to form the largest and most prosperous of the pre-unitary Italian states. At its demise in 1860, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies boasted a treasury of gold reserves exceeding those of all the other Italian states combined, and the largest royal palace in Europe, at Caserta outside Naples. It was the most industrialized state in the Italian peninsula, home to Italy'...
Every once in a while a long-forgotten work emerges from the shadows of the Middle Ages to be published in English for the first time. This is the first complete English translation of the prose chronicle named for the abbey of Santa Maria della Ferraria. It was written during the reign of Frederick II, Italy's greatest medieval ruler, early in the thirteenth century about the Normans and Swabians in southern Italy. Based in part on the work of Falco of Benevento and others, it complements our knowledge of a complex era of Italian history. The identity of its author, a monk in an abbey in the Volturno Valley near Naples, is not known. Discovered in the nineteenth century, his manuscript - wh...
Eighteen women. Eighteen stories. Each one unique. Some never told before. They are the semi-forgotten women of European medieval history. This is the first compendium of detailed scholarly biographies of the countesses and queens of the Kingdom of Sicily during the Hauteville and Hohenstaufen reigns, based on original research in medieval charters, chronicles and letters, augmented by extensive on-site research at castles, cathedrals and towns across Europe. The multicultural Kingdom of Sicily described here encompassed the island and nearly half of the Italian peninsula. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms of Europe and the Mediterranean. Its queens came from Italy, England, France, S...
"Margaret of Navarre was the most powerful woman in Europe for five years of the 12th century. This is the first biography of the descendant of El Cid and friend of Thomas Becket who became Queen of Sicily, ruling a polyglot nation of Christians, Muslims and Jews. It is the story of a wife, mother and leader who inspired millions. Included are original translations from medieval chronicles and characters published here in English for the first time, and a chapter on Monreale Abbey, a jewel of Norman, Arab and Byzantine art." --Back cover.
Can the eclectic medieval history of the world's most conquered island be a lesson for our times? Home to Normans, Byzantines, Arabs, Germans and Jews, 12th-century Sicily was a crossroads of cultures and faiths, the epitome of diversity. Here Europe, Asia and Africa met, with magical results. Bilingualism was the norm, women's rights were defended, and the environment was protected. Literacy among Sicilians soared; it was higher during this ephemeral golden age than it was seven centuries later. But this book is about more than Sicily. It is a singular, enduring lesson in the way multicultural diversity can be encouraged, with the result being a prosperous society. While its focus is the ci...
This supplement to the author's groundbreaking compendium, Queens of Sicily 1061-1266, brings us further insight into the lives and times of the earliest countesses and queens of Sicily, introducing a few topics and details considered here for the first time. Chapters are dedicated to such subjects as: the queens' use of power in suppressing adversaries, reginal patronage, reginal titles and heraldry, words spoken by the queens, court cuisine, court poetry, places identified with the queens, the queens as part of Sicilian cultural identity, and more. A chapter also lists current work in the field by various historians. This book begins a new conversation in Sicilian women's studies.