Latest news of all things medieval

Our collection of articles today includes a few archeaological discoveries, a new fiction book by the author Avi, and USA Today's take on Beowulf:



Abbey dig reveals remains of ancient hospitality
16 August 2006
Yorkshire Post

"Let everyone that comes be received as Christ" was the watchword of the monks when welcoming travellers to a monastic guesthouse at Byland Abbey being unearthed on the North York Moors yesterday.

That was one of the best known parts of the Rule of St Benedict, which lays down guidelines for every detail of a cloistered existence and was written in Italy, probably at Monte Cassino around AD530, during a period of great social upheaval.

One of the reasons for the rule was that despite the cultural chaos, Benedictine communities still had to cater for the large numbers of brothers visiting shrines in Europe, as well as other travellers, both rich and poor.

But the rule also said that those who got their feet under the table and made too many demands, or were not very Godly, should be politely told - translating roughly from the Latin - to sling their hooks "lest they contaminate others."

Byland's hospitality was legendary in its day and has now been underlined by English Heritage's discovery of the medieval hostelry on the edge of the moors, ironically buried beneath the charity's first ever gastro-pub, Abbey Inn.

The stone walls, believed to be part of the guesthouse at the 800-year-old site near Coxwold, were discovered after a geophysical survey revealed the bold outline of a major building under the soil. The plot showed a probable two-storey complex, covering 44 yards x 22 yards, with walls up to 5ft high. Now archaeologists have uncovered more stonework, roof tiles and pottery, after trenches were dug nearby.

The work was undertaken to pave the way for services to be installed to the abbey's proposed admissions point and museum guided by the need to avoid sensitive archaeological areas.

English Heritage visitor operations manager John Lax said they knew there were ruins in this part of abbey grounds from 18th century engravings.

He added: "We thought these might belong to the vanished guesthouse, but now we have evidence that seems to prove the point. The new discoveries are providing an exciting link between the past and present."

Under the Rule of St Benedict, monasteries were expected to provide food and lodgings, the guesthouse being used by distinguished visitors. Lesser folk would have been catered for separately.

Byland's hospitality was said to be the best in northern England and guests included King Edward II. Little is known of the building's fate after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538.

Abbey Inn was built on the site in 1845, originally as a farm building, but then becoming a hostelry. English Heritage acquired the gastro-pub last year to protect the ancient setting and use the profits to maintain historic monuments.

According to research Benedictine hospitality guaranteed every visitor - the poor, the traveller, the curious, non-believers, and social lepers - a warm welcome.

In a time when members of small monasteries made regular pilgrimages to the shrines of Europe, the Benedictines welcomed them, fed them, kept them and accepted them as their own, though the Saint urged them to be choosy over Abbey guests.

"If during their stay they have been found excessive in their demands or full of faults, they should certainly not be admitted as a member of the community. Instead, they should be politely told to depart, lest their ways contaminate others," he added.



Unearthing secrets of monastic guesthouse
16 August 2006
The Northern Echo

ONE of the region's great ruins has revealed one of its hidden secrets - a long forgotten medieval hostelry.And, in an ironic touch, the remains have been discovered under the first-ever pub created by its modern-day custodians, English Heritage.Ancient stone walls, believed to be part of a monastic guesthouse at 800-year-old Byland Abbey, near Coxwold, North Yorkshire, have been discovered after a geo-physics survey.The technique - as used by TV's Time Team - revealed the bold outline of a major building under the soil by the Abbey Inn.

The plot showed what was probably a two-storey complex, covering 40 metres by 20 metres, with walls up to 1.5 metres high.And after digging exploratory trenches nearby, a team of archaeologists has uncovered more stonework as well as roof tiles and pottery.The work was undertaken to prepare for services to be installed to the abbey's proposed admissions point and museum, opposite the inn.English Heritage's visitor operations manager John Lax said: "Eighteenth Century engravings show ruins in this part of the precinct."We thought these might belong to the vanished guesthouse, but now we have physical evidence that seems to prove the point. The new discoveries are providing an exciting link between the past and present."Under what was known as the Rule of St Benedict, monasteries were expected to provide food and lodgings, with the guesthouse used by distinguished visitors. Lesser folk would have been catered for separately.In its heyday, Byland's hospitality was said to be the best in northern England and guests who stayed there included King Edward II and his huge entourage.Little is known of the original building's fate after the monastery's dissolution in 1538.Abbey Inn was built on the site in 1845, originally as a farm building, but then becoming a hostelry. Mr Lax said: "Abbey Inn could not have been built in a more appropriate place. Today's guests are clearly not the first ones to enjoy the view over the monument."The on-site archaeological investigations are being carried out by York-based Field Archaeology Specialists Limited, on behalf of English Heritage




September Harvest of Books from Bestselling Author and Newbery Medal Winner Avi
15 August 2006

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Fans of one of America's premier storytellers will have plenty to keep them reading this fall. In September, Hyperion will publish Crispin: At the Edge of the World, the long-awaited sequel to Avi's Newbery Medal-winning book, Crispin: The Cross of Lead. In this new book, Crispin, the outcast orphan, and his friend, the red-bearded juggler and occasional spy, Bear, face mortal danger in 14th-century England. As Crispin struggles to understand what it means to be a man, Avi sets a swift pace in a suspenseful tale that deftly captures the language and culture of a turbulent period in English history.

Avi reaches even farther back in time in The Book Without Words (Hyperion), new in paperback this fall. Set in 1046 England, it features a crazed alchemist, a servant girl, a talking bird, and a mysterious book that may hold the secret to immortality. This story of loyalty and betrayal with a dose of medieval magic will keep readers ages 10-14 on the edge of their seats. It's perfect for Halloween, as is Avi's recently released short story collection, Strange Happenings (Harcourt).

The release of the paperback edition of Avi's Poppy's Return has prompted HarperCollins to issue redesigned editions of all the books in the Poppy series, with new covers and interior art by Brian Floca. Books in the series include Poppy, Poppy and Rye, Ereth's Birthday, and Ragweed, and have sold more than 1,000,000 copies.

"The Poppy books became a series over the course of several years," according to the publisher. "Because the books are sequential and so closely linked to one another, we realized that the publication of Poppy's Return in paperback provided us with the perfect opportunity to create a strong, graphic look that communicated the serial nature of the Poppy stories."

September also brings Best Shorts: Favorite Short Stories for Sharing (Houghton Mifflin) an anthology selected by Avi with Carolyn Shute. This collection by some of the best-loved authors of the past and present -- including Washington Irving, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Patricia McKissack, Richard Peck, and Natalie Babbitt - offers young readers a bounty of laughter, suspense, chills, mystery, intrigue, and amazement.

Learn more about Avi at www.avi-writer.com.



All bets are off for guardians of Siena's sacred horse race
Barbara McMahon
13 August 2006
The Observer

With Jockeys dressed in medieval costume, riding bareback on horses that thunder around an ancient piazza, it is one of Italy's most colourful and chaotic summer traditions. The Palio or horse race of Siena is a spectacle of speed, danger and no-holds-barred rivalry, and attracts thousands to the Tuscan town.

But when it was suggested last week that punters might like to have a flutter on the contest, supporters of the Palio were horrified. Calling the idea 'blasphemous', they have got official betting shelved. For now.

The Palio, meaning banner, dates to the 13th century and takes place each year on 2 July and 16 August. Jockeys from 10 of the city's 17 contrade , or districts, compete for a painted silk flag during the 90-second race around Siena's main square, the Piazza del Campo.

The only rule in the competition is that the jockeys, called fantini , are not allowed to grab the reins of their adversaries. Crashing into a rival's horse, hitting other horses or riders with a whip or even knocking a fellow rider off his steed is allowed.

Victory goes to the first horse to complete three laps of the square with its head ornaments intact, even if the animal arrives at the finishing post without a rider. The Sienese, dressed in the colours of their contrade , work themselves into a frenzy before, during and after the race and the winning horse and jockey are treated like celebrities.

Unofficial betting has probably been going on for hundreds of years but official betting has never been allowed. In 1970 the Italian Lottery organisation failed to persuade the Sienese to allow spectators to gamble on the outcome.

Last week the Monopoli di Stato, which regulates gambling in Italy, suggested it was time to allow people to place commercial wagers on the race. The idea was turned down by the grandly-named Consorzio per la Tutela del Palio, which protects the event. It enlisted local politicians to intercede on its behalf and the idea was also rejected by Italy's biggest betting company, SNAI. 'We decline the invitation of the Monopoli and will not accept bets on the Palio,' said its president, Maurizio Ughi. 'We accept bets on many races and festivals, on the Oscars, but we would consider it blasphemous to bet on the Palio.'

Local author Dario Castagno said that Siena's residents regarded the race 'as sacrosanct'. He said: 'It's not just a horse race, this is a way of life for us. You would never bet on your life. The Sienese aren't even happy that the race is televised these days. The idea of going into a betting office and putting money on the Palio is distasteful. It has become too commercial already.'

He said that it would be impossible to calculate odds on the race because the Palio does not play by normal sporting rules.

However, the idea of placing bets on the Palio has not been entirely discounted. The Monopoli di Stato will raise it again next month during talks with Siena's authorities.

This is not the first time there have been moves to protect the Palio from commercialisation, though Siena makes a small fortune in income from tourists who watch the race. Vogue had to pay damages after using contrade colours in a photoshoot and Fiat was refused permission to use the name Palio for a make of car. The matter was resolved after 10 years.

Bets can be placed on the Palio outside Italy. The British online gaming group Betfair has published odds for the race on Wednesday. Siena's mayor, Maurizio Cenna, said he was aware that foreign companies placed bets on the Palio. 'We're not happy about it, but there's not much we can do to stop it. The important thing is, that it's not going to happen here.'


Medieval burial site and Iron Age settlement found under a dry fieldÁ. ZAFRA
12 August 2006
El Pais - English Edition

Construction work for a cultural center in a Madrid town has unearthed the remains of a medieval necropolis and a Celtiberian settlement dating back to the Iron Age.

The remains, which were made public Thursday, were unearthed on May 24 after construction machinery started digging up a field that until recently was used for dry land cultivation in Torres de la Alameda, a town located between Alcalá de Henares and Arganda del Rey. Machine operators alerted authorities to the presence of several skeletons, and a local archaeologist was called in to appraise the remains.

"After a first inspection, we were able to identify three complete burial sites from the Middle Ages, possibly between the ninth and 14th centuries. And under those sites we found the remains of an Iron Age settlement," said archaeologist César Heras.

Heras said that the lack of valuables near the bodies suggests the medieval necropolis was a burial ground for the lower classes.

Excavations will last at least four months, after which the surface area of the necropolis will be delimited - Heras estimates it will be around 4,000 square meters and hold some 200 tombs. The mayor said he wants part of the remains to be visible through glass floors.

'Beowulf' undertakes glorious deeds on stage and in films ; Epic poem's hero conquers pop culture
Maria Puente
10 August 2006
USA Today

Odds are, unless you're a college English major, you haven't read Beowulf in years -- if you read it at all. Which makes the sudden flourishing of the 1,000-year-old epic in popular entertainment all the more peculiar.

An opera and three movies, including a big-budget version with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, are the current or coming attractions featuring the blood-and-guts story of Beowulf, the great hero of the Danes, and Grendel, the Dane-eating monster, plus Grendel's way-nasty mama (played by Jolie), who does a fair amount of Dane-munching herself.

Oh, there's a dragon, too.

Why Beowulf and why now? A 3,182-line poem is not exactly a beach read. But it's usually the first thing studied in any English-lit survey course because it's the first piece of literature in English - - actually, Old English, which eventually became modern English.

Beowulf is a warrior who sails from his home, Geatland (Sweden), to Denmark to kill a man-eating monster named Grendel. Then, when Grendel's mom comes looking for revenge, he kills her, too. But much later, Beowulf is killed by a treasure-hoarding dragon.

"It's Anglo-Saxon with Scandinavian influences, set in Denmark but almost certainly written in what is now Britain, because no one was speaking Old English anywhere else but there (at the time)," says Beowulf and medieval-lit scholar Michael Drout, an English professor at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.

"The manuscript dates from around 1000, but the poem itself is a couple hundred years older."

"Difficult" doesn't begin to describe it. "Even the people teaching it didn't like it," Drout says.

But J.R.R. Tolkien helped change that, he says. A scholar of Old English, Tolkien argued that Beowulf should be read for its literary merits. Better translations made it possible to "teach it as it really is, not dusty and boring but a great story," Drout says.

The Tolkien connection may be why Beowulf is suddenly hot. The author of the Lord of the Rings books drenched them in Beowulf- style Anglo-Saxon mythology -- as were the Rings movies, which grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide.

Indeed, money can be made on epic-poem movies, just not necessarily in the USA. Recall that Troy, the big-budget ($175 million) costume drama based on Homer's The Iliad and starring Brad Pitt, was critically panned in 2004, and it made only $133 million domestically. But it grossed nearly $500 million worldwide.

This isn't the first time Beowulf has appeared in popular entertainment. There was an animated TV movie in 1998 (with Joseph Fiennes as the hero) and a sci-fi-style film in 1999, but neither made much of an impact. A more recent boost to Beowulf awareness came in 2000, when the Irish Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney produced a new translation that was well-regarded and even sold well.

More Beowulf, both now and in the future:

* Beowulf & Grendel.

Released in June, this Canadian art film was made in Iceland, starred Scottish actor Gerard Butler as Beowulf, and was directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, a Canadian descendant of Vikings.

* Grendel: Transcendence of the Great Big Bad.

The opera, which premiered in June, is based on John Gardner's 1971 book Grendel, which tells the story from the point of view of the monster. The opera, featuring mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as the dragon, was written and directed by Lion King queen Julie Taymor and composed by her companion, Elliot Goldenthal.

*Beowulf: Prince of the Geats.

Due in 2007 and filmed in such locales as Norway and South Africa, it features a little-known cast and Emmy-winning filmmaker Scott Wegener at the helm. He rewrote the story to make Beowulf a man caught between two cultures as the son of an African explorer who marries into a Geat clan.

*Beowulf.

Also due in 2007, director Robert Zemeckis' version of the epic will use the performance-capture technique of his Polar Express. Besides Jolie and Hopkins (as the Danish king harassed by Grendel), the cast includes Ray Winstone as Beowulf and Crispin Glover as Grendel.