This study compares the Visio Thurkilli, a thirteenth-century English visionary narrative, with the Greek apocryphon Testament ofAbraham, highlighting striking thematic and structural parallels. Although there is no evidence for direct knowledge of the text in the Anglo-Norman world, the paper explores the possibility of mediated transmission through florilegia, collections of exempla, and oral narratives, within the broader framework of intense cultural exchanges between East and West. Particular attention is given to St. Albans Abbey and to the circle of translators working around Robert Grosseteste, Nicholas the Greek, and John of Basingstoke, whose linguistic and cultural mediation may have provided the material for a reworking of the Visio Thurkilli in light of the Greek apocryphal tradition.
The concept of Familie der Konige ('family of kings') has often been used to investigate dynastic relations between early medieval sovereigns. However, a static approach prevails in historiography, which often focuses on marriages and prosopographical data and pays little attention to the diachronic evolution of this phenomenon. The adoption of a perspective based upon social network analysis makes it possible to fully exploit the potentialities inherent in the category of the 'family of kings', while at the same time also taking into consideration diplomacy and military alliances, as well as episodes of cooptation within a royal family that cannot be traced back to a marriage bond, such as the adoptio per arma. This approach enables us to grasp both the exceptional nature of diplomatic exogamy, which acquires a significant periodising value, and the main turning points in early medieval history, which are mirrored by the appearance or disappearance of networks of dynastic relations.
The article examines in the detail the intersection between the eschatological tradition of the Last World Emperor crusading expectations, and the motif of the dry tree between the late medieval and the early modern times. After a short introduction presenting the main traits of the Last World Emperor prophecy (unification and pacification of the world under the banner of a Christian universal ruler carrying quasi-messianic traits) and its wide popularity in several European regions, the paper explores the first known sources, dating back to the time of the Third Crusade, that bear witness of a prophetic and eschatological use of the dry tree motif (as the location in which the final battle marking the triumph of the Last World Emperor would take place) in connection with crusading expectations. Later, the paper explores various iterations of this peculiar connection all along the thirteenth century, with a special focus on the French Liber Sidrac, in which the connection Last World Emperor-crusading endeavor-dry tree is extensively and originally thematised in clear pro-French and pro-papal overtones. Eventually, the paper focuses on the wide diffusion and popularity of this peculiar eschatological tradition in the German area, where the expectations on a reforming and Messiah-like returning German emperor were deeply rooted. In presenting the various developments of this tradition, the paper also illustrates the impact of the Legend of the Wood of the Cross on the conflation between the dry tree motif and eschatological ideas.
This essay considers the so-called "deposition" of Sancho II of Portugal in favour of his brother, the Count of Boulogne and future Afonso III, and the involvement of Pope Innocent IV in the events. It shows how the pontiff had no bias toward either of the factions involved in the dispute (at least not openly). Actually, the papacy adopted a prudent and willingly ambiguous behaviour in a Portuguese context already in turmoil further evidence of the papal Realpolitik often adopted on these occasions.The "struggle for life" and the limited ability to intervene in another kingdom played a fundamental role in Innocent IV's chosen strategy, in which he tried to "play on multiple tables".
The Bischoefliches Dioezesanarchiv of Aachen, Juliacensis 599, preserves a heterogeneous collection of texts centered on the figure of the beguine Christina of Stommeln. Compiled at the initiative of the Dominican friar Peter of Dacia her closest friend and confidant this corpus includes the Vita puellae, a firsthand account of Christina's childhood, which she dictated to the parish priest of Stommeln and later entrusted to Peter. He subsequently incorporated it into the collection, occasionally adding his own commentary. Scholars have debated the Vita puellae's degree of autonomy within the compilation. This study argues for its independence, drawing on a close textual analysis of the other texts within the Codex Juliacensis, primarily the Visitationes and Epistolae. The findings suggest that the interpersonal dynamic between Peter and Christina was instrumental in shaping the Vita puellae and, more broadly, the collection itself. Within the context of their profound intimacy and mutual understanding, the moment Christina entrusted Peter with the quaternus containing her account emerges as the foundational act around which the entire corpus was structured. By reassessing the textual relationships within the collection, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the Codex Juliacensis's formation and the textual strategies that shaped its transmission.
