[Steppes] Period Week in Review 01-14-2007 through 01-20-2007

[Mike]

Heilsa,

Hope the reader will enjoy this look at History
within Period - both from the past and the present
as it affects the history that is known today.


01-14-2007
Modern Day
England
BRITISH MUSEUM PURCHASES EXCEPTIONAL
ANGLO-SAXON SWORD HILT
By 24 Hour Museum Staff
    The British Museum has acquired a set of decorative
Anglo-Saxon sword hilt fittings that provide valuable clues about
trade and workmanship in medieval times.
     Discovered by a metal detectorist in 2002 near Market Rasen,
Lincolnshire, the high quality fittings are the first of their kind to come
from Anglo-Saxon England, being dated to between 600-650.
     The pommel and hilt fittings, bought for £125,000, are covered in
an intricate Celtic pattern and set with large garnets, making it a
very rare find. The price was raised with the help of £70,000 from
the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and funds from the
Museum and its Friends.
     "It is wonderful that the generous support of the National Heritage
Memorial Fund and the British Museum Friends has enabled us to
preserve this extraordinary set of sword hilt fittings in the public
domain," said Sonja Marzinzik, Curator of Prehistory and Europe
at the British Museum.
    "We will probably never know whether the sword they decorated
was ever used in battle, but there is no doubt that it would have
been a stunning weapon to anyone who saw it."
     The 'cocked hat' style pommel and hilt collars are made of gold
sheet decorated with filigree wire and an interlaced design woven
over the surfaces, ending in angular animal heads. The pieces
have been described as exceptional by experts, some of the finest
yet discovered, highlighting the skill of the makers and indeed the
importance of Anglo-Saxon England in the wider medieval world.
     Comparable finds have been found in Italy and Scandinavia
(at the Nocera Umbra grave and Stora Sandviken respectively),
raising questions about the mobility of people and goods in the early
middle ages. The deep bands binding the grip are very unusual -
unique in fact - in an Anglo-Saxon sword, being found more
commonly on continental swords.
    The large garnet settings have been pointed out as extraordinary,
too, as substantial garnets like this are scarce, particularly in the
7th century when supplies from the Indian subcontinent and Sri
Lanka dried up. Analysis of the gemstones and their provenance
could shed light on trading networks of the time.
     Research on the Market Rasen find will also give crucial insights
into 7th-century workshop practices, about which little is currently
known. One finding is that the ornamentation is slightly asymmetrical,
which it has in common with other finds in the Anglian area of England,
in contrast to items found in Kent, for example, which tend to be more
symmetrical.
     There are similarities with the famous sword found at the Sutton
Hoo burial, but there isn't any obvious connection between the two.
The Market Rasen sword may have been deposited in a grave, but
archaeological investigations at the place where the fittings were
found did not yield any evidence of a burial.
     The fittings are currently on display in Room 2 at the British
Museum, and will shortly be moved to the medieval galleries.
They will also be loaned to Lincolnshire, where they were found, at
some point.
     "These rare sword fittings provide valuable clues about medieval
trade and travel in Anglo-Saxon England," said Stephen Johnson,
Head of the NHMF. "This National Heritage Memorial Fund grant
has ensured it is displayed among other treasures from this
fascinating period."


01-15-2007
Modern Day
England
             Attention heirs to English throne: Where are you?
     LONDON (Reuters) - An international quest is being launched for
historical heirs to the throne of England.
     Advertisements appearing this week in British, U.S., Australian,
German and Norwegian newspapers will ask "Can you trace your
family tree back to 1066? Might your ancestors have claimed the
English throne?"
     Edgar Aetheling was named heir apparent by his great-uncle
King Edward the Confessor but was not crowned when the King died
in 1066 because he was too young. Harold II was crowned instead.
     William the Conqueror crossed over from Normandy, defeating
Harold at the Battle of Hastings. The teenage Aetheling later
submitted to William.
     English Heritage, which seeks to protect the country's historical
environment, asks in its advertisements: "Are you of Edgar the
Aetheling's lineage and believe you have a legitimate claim?"
     Researching what might have been, genealogists are asking
respondents on www.english-heritage.org.uk/hastings to supply
documentary proof along with the name of their most likely
"gateway ancestor."
     "If William had not taken the throne in 1066, the entire course of
English history would have been very different," genealogist Nick
Barratt said.
     "We'd probably be speaking a different language, consider our
closest allies to be Scandinavian and have a completely different
system of government."

01-16-2007
Germany  1301 - 1400
On January 16th, 1362   A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys
the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
    A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm.
Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living
along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 m (17 ft)
above the normal tide.
    The Grote Mandrenke (Dutch: "Great Drowning of Men") was the
name of a massive southwesterly Atlantic gale, (see also European
windstorm), which swept across England, the Netherlands, northern
Germany and Schleswig around January 16, 1362, causing at
minimum 25,000 deaths.
    An immense storm tide of the North Sea swept far inland from the
Netherlands to Denmark, wiping out entire towns and districts, such
as Rungholt on the island of Strand in North Frisia. This island was
cut into several smaller islands; today's Nordstrand, Pellworm,
Nordstrandischmoor and Südfall.
    This storm tide, along with others of like size in the 13th century
and 14th century, played a part in the formation of the Zuider Zee,
and was characteristic of the unsettled and changeable weather in
northern Europe at the beginning of the Little Ice Age.


01-17-2007
Germany  1201 - 1300
On January 17th, 1229 - Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier,
 died at age 64.
      Albrecht von Buxthoeven (alternative spellings Albert von
Buxhoeveden, Buxhövden, Buxhöwde, * ca. 1165 in Bexhövede,
near Cuxhaven, Germany;  17 January 1229 in Riga, now Latvia)
was bishop of Riga.
      The career of Albert von Buxthoeven and his brother Hermann
exemplify the double nature of power, ecclesiastical and secular,
especially on the marches of Europe, where Roman Catholicism
was pushing aggressively to the East. Albert, who was venerated as
a Catholic saint until the Reformation, headed the armed forces that
forcibly Christianized the eastern Baltic region, in the nature of a
crusade that was undertaken at just the same time as the Fourth
Crusade was sacking Constantinople. Hermann, his brother, who
succeeded him as Prince-Bishop, built a cathedral at Dorpat
(now Tartu) and ruled there, but is best known for suffering defeat at
the hands of Alexander Nevsky in the famous "Battle on the Ice" of
1242, which stopped the eastward push of the Teutonic Knights.
     Albert and his brother were members of the powerful family of the
Buxhoeveden (now Bexhövede). Albert was a mere canon in Bremen,
however, when his uncle Hartwig, Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg,
named him Bishop of Livonia (today Latvia and southern Estonia),
provided that he could conquer and hold it, and convince the pagan
inhabitants to become Christians. The patent was granted March 28,
1199, and by the beginning of spring 1200 he started, with a Baltic
fleet of 23 vessels and more than 1500 armed crusaders. He had the
support of the Hohenstaufen German King, Philip of Swabia, and the
more distant blessing of Pope Innocent III.
     In 1201, together with merchants from Gotland, the island in the
Baltic Sea, he founded Riga, where a small community of Hanse
traders from Lübeck held a tentative trading encampment. He
successfully converted many Livs under their leader Caupo and later
also some Letts, offering them protection against neighboring
Lithuanian and Estonian tribes. He created a knightly Order, the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword, and subsequently (in 1215) began to
build his cathedral. King Philip made him a Prince of the Holy Roman
Empire, with Livonia for a fief, and thus he was an excellent example of
a "Prince-Bishop". In 1225 King Henry VII of Germany confirmed the
title of Prince for Albert and his brother, Bishop of Dorpat Hermann I
of Buxhoeveden. Albert declared his diocese independent of Bremen,
and later Riga was raised to an archbishopric.
      The full conquest of Livonia occupied almost three decades of his
life. A first-hand account of Albert is in the contemporary Chronicle of
Henry of Livonia ("Henricus Lettus").
      Albert of Buxhoeveden was unmarried and had no descendants.
His brother Theodoricus is the progenitor of the family de Raupena
(also known as de Ropa, today as von der Ropp), that founded
manors in Livonia, Courland and Latvia.

01-18-2007
Modern Day
Transylvania   Castle for sale, £40m. Would suit vampire
     The Transylvanian castle of Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram
Stoker's Count Dracula, is on sale for £40 million.
     Bran Castle, near the historic city of Brasov, in central Romania, is
one of the country's most popular tourist destinations because of its
association with 15th-century Prince Vlad Tepes III, also known as
the Impaler for his favoured method of executing opponents.
According to varied accounts, Vlad either spent several days in the
castle or was briefly incarcerated in its dungeons.
      The impressive 14th-century fortress last belonged to Queen 
Victoria's
granddaughter Queen Marie of Romania, but in 1956 it was seized by
the Communist authorities, who turned it into a museum.
      Seven months ago the castle was given back to Queen Marie's
grandson, Dominic von Habsburg, of the former House of Habsburg.
The conditions of the restitution agreement included a pledge to keep
the castle open as a state-run museum for three years, even if the
property was resold.
      Mr von Habsburg, 68, a US-based graphic designer, lived in the
castle as a child until his family were expelled by the Communist
regime in 1948. In a recent interview with The Times he claimed an
emotional attachment to his old home, but has now decided to put it
on the market for more than £40 million.
      Corin Trandafir, his lawyer in Bucharest, said the asking price was
realistic, and that the owners would like to see the castle returned to
the local community. The local council of Brasov has been given first
refusal on the property.
      "The castle is one of Romania's biggest attractions and its value
will drastically multiply when the country joins the European Union this
January. There is no organised tour of Romania that doesn't include
Bran Castle," he said.
      "The price is by no means exaggerated. The estate includes about
seven acres of forest and three smaller buildings. Once the three-year
period expires and the museum management becomes private, it will
turn into a lucrative source of income for the new owners.
      Mr Trandafir said that Mr von Habsburg wanted the castle to be
owned by local people, which was why he had offered it to the council.
"They have 30 days to review our offer, and then the property will be
put on the market," he added.
      Aristotel Cancescu, the council president, confirmed that the local
authorities were very interested in acquiring Bran Castle because it
 was part of Romania's cultural heritage. "This castle is a major tourist
attraction and a great asset for our region, and we need to seriously
think about buying it," he said.
      Doors, doors, locked and bolted
    "Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the
act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle,
from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken
battlements showed a jagged line against the sky . . . The castle is on
the very edge of a terrific precipice. A stone falling from the window
would fall a thousand feet without touching anything! As far as the eye
can reach is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift
where there is a chasm.
      Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep
gorges through the forests. But I am not in heart to describe beauty,
for when I had seen the view, I explored further. Doors, doors, doors
everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the
windows in the castle walls is there an available exit. The castle is
a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!"
      From Dracula, by Bram Stoker (published by Little, Brown)

01-19-2007
Modern Day
 Ancient Roman road found in Netherlands
     Archaeologists in the Netherlands have uncovered what they believe
is part of the military road Roman soldiers patrolled nearly 2,000 years
ago while guarding against hostile Germanic tribes at the Roman
Empire's northern boundary.
     Known in Latin as the "limes," the road was in use from roughly
A.D. 50 to A.D. 350, before it fell into disrepair and eventually
disappeared underground, said archaeologist Wilfried Hessing,
who is leading the excavations in Houten, about 30 miles
southeast of Amsterdam.
     The stretch of road discovered in Houten is believed to have
connected two forts -- Traiectum, which gives its name to the modern
city of Utrecht, and Fectio, modern Vechten. Wooden poles were
discovered at the site that were used to protect the roadsides from
erosion, and experts hoped to use tree-ring counting techniques to
determine the exact date they were cut, Hessing said.
     "It was used for trade, but it was first and foremost part of a 
military
strategy to guard the border," he said. With a road "you can respond
more quickly, so you need fewer troops, just like today."
      The road was discovered by the Dutch train company Prorail
during preparations to add extra rail lines in the area. Hessing and
Prorail will complete excavations of a short stretch in the coming
weeks, then carry out exploratory digs to determine the road's route
farther to the east, the city of Houton said in a statement.
      "It's in very good condition," said city spokeswoman Marloes
van Kessel.
      Excavations of other parts of the limes are also being conducted in
other European countries, and the United Nations is considering
declaring it a world heritage site.
      Hessing said the road was built of a sloping mound of sand and
clay, interspersed with layers of gravel and smashed seashells, which
would have stood about a yard above nearby fields. The top layer of
hard-packed gravel is unusually well-preserved at the site.
      Pottery shards were used as filler material and will help experts in
dating the road, Hessing said. The road was also flanked by drainage
channels, and the wooden poles were used to shore up the foundation.
     Hessing said examinations of a cross-section of the road indicated
it had been repaired several times. "It will be interesting to see if we
can tell whether those repairs correspond with known military
campaigns or were just part of standard maintenance," he said.
     Romans first entered this part of the Netherlands under Julius
Caesar in the year 53 B.C.
     According to the Roman historian Tacitus, an uprising began in
A.D. 69 when a local Germanic tribe captured two coastal forts.
Roman soldiers may have retreated eastward along the road to more
heavily protected forts in present-day Germany.
      A year later, after first losing a battle on a flooded, marshy field
near Nijmegen, the Romans pacified the Batavians, the tribe that
was the main instigator of the rebellion.
      Although the limes' course is known from medieval copies of
ancient maps, only several segments have been found intact in the
Netherlands. Archaeologists previously had been unable to
determine the exact location of the limes along the Kromme, or
"Crooked" Rhine, south of Utrecht because the river had changed
course over time.
      The find is the latest of several near Utrecht. In 2002,
archaeologists found the remains of a watchtower on the Rhine
where detachments of three or four Roman soldiers would have
served as lookouts. Near the tower, they found bones and other
remains of food the soldiers ate, as well as a spear point, coin,
ax, sickle and an ancient pen.
      In 2003, they uncovered a 25-yard-long barge, complete with
covered living quarters and a decorated chest with lock and key.
Archaeologists believe it may have been used by a paymaster to
sail upriver carrying supplies to military camps and bases.
      Among the items found with the barge were a knife, saw,
wooden shovel, shears, copper pot, clay cups and pots, paddle
with traces of blue paint, iron crowbar, leather shoe soles with
studded bottoms for extra strength, and a piece of wood with
Roman numbers on it.

01-20-2007
Modern Day
Norway  Time Period:  0801 - 0900
     New Viking Find in Western Norway
Archaeologists have made a major discovery in Western Norway,
unearthing well-preserved Viking graves from the 9th century full
of riches.
     The Viking treasures were found at Frøyland in Rogaland County.
Local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad reported Monday that items
recovered from the graves indicate they belonged to wealthy Vikings
of the time.
     In one of the graves, belonging to a woman, archaeologists found
jewellery, many pearls, glass beads, scissors, a knife and other
household utensils.
     "The size, quality and design of the jewellery is highly unusual,"
said archaeologist Olle Hemdorff. "She took with her many things."
     The archaeologists from the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger
found traces from Viking times just a half-meter below the surface at
their excavation site at Frøyland. They've found a woman's grave, a
man's grave and a child's grave, which they haven't yet examined.
     It's believed that two more graves are lying in the vicinity.
     More than 50 items from the grave, found just after New Year,
have been transported to the museum, including a large bronze
buckle engraved with bear heads and ducks.
     Both the male and female graves include Viking boats about
seven meters long, and many of the vessels' nails have been
recovered. Hemdorff said the graves are believed to belong to a
family from the 800s.

YIS,
Lord Michael Kettering