Mirator
type: channel
description: Mirator on monikielinen, keskiajantutkimukseen erikoistunut vertaisarvioitu avoimesti saatavilla oleva verkkojulkaisu, jota julkaisee Keskiajantutkimuksen seura Glossa ry.
publisher: Glossa ry
language: fi
publication name: Mirator
issn: 1457-2362
items: Book review: Frisian Land Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Freeska Landriucht, eds. Han Nijdam, Jan Hallebeek & Hylkje de Jong
items: Book-review: Medieval Perceptions of Magic, Science, and the Natural World. Borderlines, eds. Carolina Escobar-Vargas & Anne Lawrence-Mathers
items: Between Science and Magic: Foreword
items: Medicine and Magic in Early Modern English Witchcraft Pamphlets
items: Book review: Inventing the Church: The Pull of the Past in Ecclesial Politics, Bénédicte Sère
items: Sources of Astrology and Secret Knowledge in Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis
items: Preparing for Death and Being Ready to Live.
items: Gränslinjer i terrängen och i huvudet. En gränsforskares vistelser i Finland
items: Introduction to the thematic number ‘Fighting for the East’
items: Jyrki Nissi: Kuolema keskiajalla – Hyvä kuolema mustan surman ajan Euroopassa
items: Preservation – Renewal – Change
items: Folkeviser fra Kong Hans og Christian 2.s tid
items: Ærkebiskop Erik Valkendorf og kortlægningen af det yderste nord i begyndelsen af 1500-tallet
items: Uppsala mod tyrken
items: Erik af Pommern og striden om Gotland 1435–1449
items: Norwegian ármaðr – Swedish ari – Gothic airus
items: Var der en dominikansk (og franciskansk) mission omkring Den Finske Bugt i middelalderen?
items: Aleksanteri Julma – Aleksanteri Nevski tataaripäällikkönä
items: References to Children in Henry’s Livonian Chronicle
items: Pro Fide Catholica
items: “Heir to his Name and Blood”
items: Hämeen kapina – uudelleentulkinta
items: Revealing Medieval Books’ Dirty Little Secrets
items: Skúli Þórðarson Thorlacius on Historical Nordic Wrestling
items: Image and Memory in Medieval Germany
items: Information and Lived Religion in Inquisition Records from Medieval Languedoc (15.12.2023, Tampere University)
items: Peter Biller & L. J. Sackville (eds): Inquisition and Knowledge 1200–1700. (Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages 10.)
items: Mikko Kauko: Pyhän Mechtildin ilmestykset
items: Cosmic Position in Chaucer's House of Fame
items: Icelandic Hospitals, Clergy, and Disability in the Saga of Bishop Lárentíus

Book review: Frisian Land Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Freeska Landriucht, eds. Han Nijdam, Jan Hallebeek & Hylkje de Jong
type: item
description: Book review
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
subject: land law
  topic: keywords
subject: Frisia
  topic: keywords
subject: land law
  topic: subjects
subject: Frisia
  topic: subjects
creator: Mia Korpiola
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mia Korpiola https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/tcprf845

Book-review: Medieval Perceptions of Magic, Science, and the Natural World. Borderlines, eds. Carolina Escobar-Vargas & Anne Lawrence-Mathers
type: item
description: Book review
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
subject: science
  topic: keywords
subject: magic
  topic: keywords
subject: weather
  topic: keywords
subject: science
  topic: subjects
subject: magic
  topic: subjects
subject: weather
  topic: subjects
creator: Mari-Liisa Varila
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mari-Liisa Varila https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/f10kg891

Between Science and Magic: Foreword
type: item
description: Foreword to the special issue “Between Science and Magic”.
subject: Teemanumeron johdanto
  topic: section
subject: science
  topic: keywords
subject: magic
  topic: keywords
subject: science
  topic: subjects
subject: magic
  topic: subjects
subject: introduction
  topic: subjects
creator: Ida Meerto
creator: Karolina Kouvola
creator: Sara Norja
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Ida Meerto, Karolina Kouvola, Sara Norja https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/5wyjq194

Medicine and Magic in Early Modern English Witchcraft Pamphlets
type: item
description: This paper investigates accounts of bewitching in English witchcraft pamphlets to identify connections between medicine and witchcraft in the minds of common people. The focus is especially on how the symptoms of bewitching are described and the diagnosis of bewitching is justified. In addition, this paper analyzes how people reacted to bewitching in the accounts: is there any evidence of considering medical causes for the afflictions, or of resorting to medical practitioners to alleviate the symptoms? The findings indicate that people had a very clear understanding of the stereotypical symptoms of bewitching, and they were also resistant to learned medical views and practices that suggested alternative explanations for bewitching.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: witchcraft pamphlets
  topic: keywords
subject: medicine
  topic: keywords
subject: early modern England
  topic: keywords
subject: witchcraft pamphlets
  topic: subjects
subject: medicine
  topic: subjects
creator: Carla Suhr
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Carla Suhr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/7w28j115

Book review: Inventing the Church: The Pull of the Past in Ecclesial Politics, Bénédicte Sère
type: item
description: Book review
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
subject: church history
  topic: keywords
subject: historiography
  topic: keywords
subject: history of knowledge
  topic: keywords
subject: historiography
  topic: subjects
subject: church history
  topic: subjects
subject: history of knowledge
  topic: subjects
creator: Reima Välimäki
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Reima Välimäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/bbatm194

Sources of Astrology and Secret Knowledge in Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis
type: item
description: Around the turn of the fifteenth century, Konrad Kyeser of Eichstätt (1367–after 1405) composed a work on military and other technology under the title Bellifortis. Composed in response to the embarrassing defeat of the crusader army at Nicopolis in 1396, the contents of this illustrated book range from descriptions of technical wonders and astrological exposition to alchemistical and magical recipes. In addition to the obscure hexametric captions in Latin composed by the author, Bellifortis incorporates both verse and prose passages lifted from previously existing sources. Some of the most notable examples are the excerpts from Liber ignium of Marcus Graecus included in the main manuscript, Göttingen ms. philos. 63, and the material previously considered lifted from Pseudo-Albertus Magnus’s De mirabilibus mundi but identified in the present article as excerpts from the anonymous Liber vaccae. In his prologue, Konrad explicitly states that he has collected material from Vegetius, someone called Antonius Romanus, “and other authors”. This article will discuss Konrad’s sources on astrology, recipes, and experiments, suggesting new identifications and expounding on the significance of borrowings in the composition of his work.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Medieval literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Konrad Kyeser
  topic: keywords
subject: astrology
  topic: keywords
subject: De mirabilibus mundi
  topic: keywords
subject: Liber vaccae
  topic: keywords
subject: Kyranides
  topic: keywords
subject: Bellifortis
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval Latin literature
  topic: subjects
creator: Antti Ijäs
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Antti Ijäs https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
doi: 10.54334/m9qyrj94

Preparing for Death and Being Ready to Live.
type: item
description: The article examines the will made by the Lübeck merchant Hinrik Hoveman in 1454. The objective of the article is two-fold: firstly, to provide a full edition of the will included in FMU entry 2960, which has not been edited in its entirety. Secondly, to make an analysis of the will against its contemporary context. Hinrik Hoveman's religious bequests are in focus and what these tell about his social position, origin, and religiosity. The article demonstrates how wills provide important insight into the religious life on locations, such as Turku, where other sources are absent.
subject: Ad Fontes
  topic: section
subject: lived religion
  topic: keywords
subject: saints
  topic: keywords
subject: 15th century
  topic: keywords
subject: donations
  topic: keywords
subject: Hansa towns
  topic: keywords
subject: confraternities
  topic: keywords
subject: Baltic Sea region
  topic: keywords
subject: Lübeck
  topic: keywords
subject: Northern Europe
  topic: keywords
subject: testaments
  topic: subjects
subject: donations
  topic: subjects
subject: confraternities
  topic: subjects
subject: benefactors
  topic: subjects
subject: Middle Ages
  topic: subjects
subject: lived religion
  topic: subjects
subject: Baltic Sea Region
  topic: subjects
creator: Anna-Stina Hägglund
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2024-02-21
publication date: 2024-02-21
starting page: 51
ending page: 71
doi: 10.54334/9rackx91

Gränslinjer i terrängen och i huvudet. En gränsforskares vistelser i Finland
type: item
description: A recollection of John Lind's research visits to Finland and his collaboration with Jarl Gallén.
subject: Muut
  topic: section
subject: John Lind
  topic: keywords
subject: Jarl Gallén
  topic: keywords
subject: John Lind
  topic: subjects
subject: Jarl Gallén
  topic: subjects
creator: Henrik Stenius
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Henrik Stenius https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 4
ending page: 6
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.160660

Introduction to the thematic number ‘Fighting for the East’
type: item
description: This text presents the content of the thematic number 'Fighting for the East'
subject: Teemanumeron johdanto
  topic: section
subject: John Lind
  topic: keywords
subject: John Lind
  topic: subjects
creator: Jens E. Olesen
creator: Kurt Villads Jensen
creator: Kirsi Salonen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Jens E. Olesen, Kurt Villads Jensen, Kirsi Salonen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 1
ending page: 3
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159799

Jyrki Nissi: Kuolema keskiajalla – Hyvä kuolema mustan surman ajan Euroopassa
type: item
description: Kirja-arvio
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
creator: Janika Aho
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mirator
date: 2025-03-14
publication date: 2025-03-14
starting page: 65
ending page: 66
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i2.159792

Preservation – Renewal – Change
type: item
description: Introduction to a special issue.
subject: Teemanumeron johdanto
  topic: section
subject: muuutos
  topic: keywords
subject: säilyttäminen
  topic: keywords
subject: uudistaminen
  topic: keywords
subject: Introduction
  topic: subjects
creator: Sanna Supponen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mirator
date: 2025-03-13
publication date: 2025-03-13
starting page: 1
ending page: 3
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i2.159789

Folkeviser fra Kong Hans og Christian 2.s tid
type: item
description: Denmark was among the first countries to publish medieval ballads, which were highly valued especially in the 19th century. However, later scholarship has adopted a much more skeptical stand towards these ballads, generally suggesting that they are no older than the time when they were written down (1550–1600). This article critically examines this suggestion and presents a new reading of four ballads that comment on events from the reigns of Danish kings John and Christian II.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Folkeviser
  topic: keywords
subject: Adel
  topic: keywords
subject: Kong Hans
  topic: keywords
subject: Kong Christian 2.
  topic: keywords
subject: Hof
  topic: keywords
subject: Folkeviser
  topic: subjects
subject: Adel
  topic: subjects
subject: Kong Hans
  topic: subjects
subject: Kong Christian2.
  topic: subjects
subject: Hof
  topic: subjects
creator: Lars Bisgaard
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Lars Bisgaard https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 152
ending page: 164
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159713

Ærkebiskop Erik Valkendorf og kortlægningen af det yderste nord i begyndelsen af 1500-tallet
type: item
description: This article examines how the North was perceived and described during the Renaissance, particularly in the early 1500s. The northernmost border of the known Christian world began to be described on maps of the 15th and early 16th centuries as part of the Renaissance endeavour to describe the world cartographically. In particular, the article focuses on Norwegian Archbishop Erik Valkendorf’s (c. 1465–1522) descriptions of the North and their significance for the contemporary perception of the Arctic and Greenland, in a European context. The article argues that Valkendorf’s descriptions had a greater impact than previously thought on the perception of the North, and the people who lived there, outside Scandinavia. Particularly important in this respect was the connection between Valkendorf and the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller’s map, which is presented for the first time in the article. At the same time, the article points out that the existing knowledge was allegedly spread through international networks of scholars, diplomats and clergy, which have not been seriously explored in this context before.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Erik Valkendorf
  topic: keywords
subject: 1500-tallet
  topic: keywords
subject: Norden
  topic: keywords
subject: Kartografi
  topic: keywords
subject: Erik Valkendorf
  topic: subjects
subject: 1500-tallet
  topic: subjects
subject: Norden
  topic: subjects
subject: Kartografi
  topic: subjects
creator: Janus Møller Jensen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Janus Møller Jensen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 132
ending page: 151
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159712

Uppsala mod tyrken
type: item
description: In recent decades there has been a growing interest in the knowledge and attitudes towards Islam in the Nordic Middle Ages and in stereotypes about Muslims. The empirical material has been quite sparse, but a rich and unique source material exists that has been almost completely neglected by previous research. These are extensive notes for a 1484 lecture at Uppsala University by Ericus Olai, who interpreted Revelation as a prophecy about Muhammad and with sure signs of the imminent fall of the Ottoman Empire.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Uppsala universitet
  topic: keywords
subject: 1400-tallet
  topic: keywords
subject: anti-islamiske undervisning
  topic: keywords
subject: Ericus Olai
  topic: keywords
subject: Uppsala universitet
  topic: subjects
subject: 1400-tallet
  topic: subjects
subject: anti-islamiske undervisning
  topic: subjects
subject: Ericus Olai
  topic: subjects
creator: Kurt Villads Jensen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Kurt Villads Jensen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 124
ending page: 131
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159711

Erik af Pommern og striden om Gotland 1435–1449
type: item
description: The Union King Eric of Pomerania (c. 1382–1459) is a well-known figure in Scandinavian History. He ruled the three Nordic realms for many years, but after a fundamental political defeat 1436 he took up his residence on the island of Gotland, which was an object of controversy between Denmark and Sweden. Several scholars have stated that Eric of Pomerania lived by piracy until he left the island 1449. This article argues that this somehow romantic interpretation of King Eric as a ‘pirate-king’ is misleading and has to be modified. The old king continued, however, to play a central role in Nordic politics involving the Hanseatic cities and the Teutonic Order in his endeavours to reach an agreement with king Christopher of Bavaria and the Counsellors of the realms. Gotland continued to be an object of controversy between Denmark and Sweden during the following decades.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Erik af Pommern
  topic: keywords
subject: Gotland
  topic: keywords
subject: Kalmarunionen
  topic: keywords
subject: 1400-tallet
  topic: keywords
subject: Politik
  topic: keywords
subject: Erik af Pommern
  topic: subjects
subject: Gotland
  topic: subjects
subject: Kalmarunionen
  topic: subjects
subject: 1400-tallet
  topic: subjects
subject: Politik
  topic: subjects
creator: Jens E. Olesen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Jens E. Olesen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 107
ending page: 123
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159710

Norwegian ármaðr – Swedish ari – Gothic airus
type: item
description: The medieval royal administration in Norway and Sweden we had two officials with cognate titles ON ármaðr and OSw āri, both related to Gothic airus ‘emissary, messenger’. The stem ār- in these words denote an itinerant official: in the religious sphere, an angel, in the prophane sphere of the medieval royal administration in Sweden, an emissary, a king’s representative. The Norwegian ármaðr is probably a later developed composition, where the ár- has lost this “itinerant” semantic content and resulted in a term for a “stationary” royal official in the local administration.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Scandinavia
  topic: keywords
subject: Middle Ages
  topic: keywords
subject: Royal administration
  topic: keywords
subject: Emissaries
  topic: keywords
subject: Scandinavia
  topic: subjects
subject: Middle Ages
  topic: subjects
subject: Royal administration
  topic: subjects
subject: Emissaries
  topic: subjects
creator: Stefan Brink
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Stefan Brink https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 103
ending page: 106
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159709

Var der en dominikansk (og franciskansk) mission omkring Den Finske Bugt i middelalderen?
type: item
description: While several recent studies have questioned a traditional view of the Dominican Order as deeply involved with a mission to the non-Catholic peoples of medieval Europe, I have argued that such proselytising efforts are probably still to be acknowledged when looking at Dominican contacts to pagan peoples on the north-eastern and northern borders of Western Christianity. In this chapter, evidence and indications are presented and discussed in terms of a possible Dominican involvement in the mission to the peoples along the Gulf of Finland, i.e. the Estonians, Finns, Tavastians and Carelians – and perhaps even the Orthodox Russians.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Mission
  topic: keywords
subject: Conversion of pagans
  topic: keywords
subject: Dominican Order
  topic: keywords
subject: Estonia
  topic: keywords
subject: Finland
  topic: keywords
subject: Mission
  topic: subjects
subject: Conversion of pagans
  topic: subjects
subject: Dominican Order
  topic: subjects
subject: Estonia
  topic: subjects
subject: Finland
  topic: subjects
creator: Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig Jakobsen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig Jakobsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 72
ending page: 85
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159704

Aleksanteri Julma – Aleksanteri Nevski tataaripäällikkönä
type: item
description: Aleksanteri Nevski (k. 1263) oli Rusin suuriruhtinas, joka nykyisin on kunnioitettu sotilassankarina ja ortodoksisen kirkon pyhänä. Hänen sanotaan torjuneen Venäjää uhanneet katolisen lännen ja idän tataarien hyökkäykset. Nykyisellään Aleksanteri on suuri isänmaallinen symboli. Historiallinen kuva on kuitenkin syntynyt pyhimyselämäkerrallisessa ja nationalistisessa kirjallisuudessa uudella ajalla osana Moskovan Venäjän ja nykyisen Venäjän historiallisen legitimaatiokertomuksen luomista. Ruhtinas Aleksanterin aikalaislähteet ovat hänestä niukkasanaisia, mutta vanhimpien tekstien pohjalta hän näyttää olleen itäisen Rusin merkittäviä sotapäälliköitä ja ennen muuta tataarien hallitsijan lojaali vasalli monen muun aikalaisruhtinaan tavoin. Hän vahvisti tataarien valtaa erityisesti pohjoisessa ja pisti Novgorodin maksamaan veroja heille.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Aleksanteri Nevski
  topic: keywords
subject: Novgorod
  topic: keywords
subject: Pyhimyselämäkerta
  topic: keywords
subject: Kronikkalähteet
  topic: keywords
subject: Historiakuva
  topic: keywords
subject: Aleksanteri Nevski
  topic: subjects
subject: Novgorod
  topic: subjects
subject: Pyhimyselämäkerta
  topic: subjects
subject: Kronikkalähteet
  topic: subjects
subject: Historiakuva
  topic: subjects
creator: Jukka Korpela
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Jukka Korpela https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 55
ending page: 71
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159703

References to Children in Henry’s Livonian Chronicle
type: item
description: In his Chronicon Livoniae, Henry of Livonia frequently mentions the presence of Estonian and Latvian children defeated by the crusaders. Typical of crusader chronicles, his references to children are brief and sporadic, often appearing as part of lists of non-combatant victims of atrocities. The examples can be roughly divided into three groups: children baptized with their parents, peasant children slaughtered or enslaved with their mothers either by crusaders or pagans, and highborn children who were taken hostage into German-speaking areas to restrain their relatives from attacking the crusaders. The last two groups in particular reflect the conventional associations with the roles of children in the histories of the crusades.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Baltic Crusades
  topic: keywords
subject: Children
  topic: keywords
subject: Henry of Livonia
  topic: keywords
subject: Chronicon Livoniae
  topic: keywords
subject: Baltic Crusades
  topic: subjects
subject: Children
  topic: subjects
subject: Henry of Livonia
  topic: subjects
subject: Chronicon Livoniae
  topic: subjects
creator: Sini Kangas
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sini Kangas https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 43
ending page: 54
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159702

Pro Fide Catholica
type: item
description: It is a well-known fact that the Order of the Sword Brothers in Livonia relied heavily on the support of Western crusaders who came to Livonia on an annual basis to fight the ‘Lord’s Wars’ against the pagan enemies of the Church. However, we know less about the use of other types of enlisted fighting men serving the Order. Therefore, this article will discuss the use of two main groups of armed men associated with the Sword Brothers: the recruitment of enlisted troops who served the Order primarily in return for money, and the acceptance of individual, secular knights who, for a shorter or longer period, chose to join a military order to fight in its wars. They did so with the promise of spiritual rewards in the afterlife. In some sources, these secular knights were referred to as ‘milites ad terminum’. The article will also briefly touch upon the Sword Brothers’ use of local warriors as an integral part of the Livonian army commanded by the Order’s own Master when on campaign. The article also takes a brief look at the relationship between the Sword Brothers and the (mostly German) merchants, whose ships linked the new mission fields in the East with the Christian heartlands in the West, thus forming an important military resource for the Order.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Crusade
  topic: keywords
subject: Baltic Sea Region
  topic: keywords
subject: Livonia
  topic: keywords
subject: Sword Brothers
  topic: keywords
subject: Henry of Livonia
  topic: keywords
subject: Crusade
  topic: subjects
subject: Baltic Sea Region
  topic: subjects
subject: Henry of Livonia
  topic: subjects
subject: Sword Brothers
  topic: subjects
subject: Livonia
  topic: subjects
creator: Carsten Selch Jensen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Carsten Selch Jensen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 25
ending page: 42
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159701

“Heir to his Name and Blood”
type: item
description: This article examines the relations between the Valdemarian rulers of Denmark and their Slavic allies and subjects around the Baltic. The article examines John H. Lind’s work on the marriage alliances between the Danish royal family and the Ryurikid’s in the twelfth century and explore how Valdemar I, Cnut VI and Valdemar II utilised these and other connections in their relationship with Slavic elites. On this basis, the article argues that the relationships were stronger than has often been recognised and that the Valdemarian Empire in large part was created and maintained through the cultivation of such links with local elites.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Empire
  topic: keywords
subject: Dynasty
  topic: keywords
subject: Denmark
  topic: keywords
subject: Slavs
  topic: keywords
subject: Crusade
  topic: keywords
subject: Empire
  topic: subjects
subject: Dynasty
  topic: subjects
subject: Denmark
  topic: subjects
subject: Slavs
  topic: subjects
subject: Crusade
  topic: subjects
creator: Lars Kjær
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Lars Kjær https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 7
ending page: 24
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159700

Hämeen kapina – uudelleentulkinta
type: item
description: Suomalaisen historiankirjoituksen mukaan Hämeen kapina oli hämäläisten kirkonvastainen kansannousu vuosina 1236/1237, jonka seurauksena paavi Gregorius IX joulukuussa 1237 kehotti ruotsalaisia tekemään ristiretken kapinoivia hämäläisiä vastaan. Historiankirjoituksessa hämäläisten kapina on yhdistetty silloisen Suomen piispan Tuomaan kovakouraisiin käännytystapoihin ja kirkollisen verotuksen vastustamiseen. Niin ikään suomalainen historiankirjoitus yhdistää niin kutsutun toisen ristiretken Suomeen paavilliseen kirjeeseen ja tarpeeseen rauhoittaa hämäläiset, mutta historioitsijat eivät ole päässeet yhteisymmärrykseen siitä, koska Hämeen-ristiretki on toteutettu. Historioitsijat eivät myöskään ole yksimielisiä siitä, mikä – jos lainkaan – oli vuonna 1240 Nevalle, novgorodilaisia vastaan suunnatun sotaretken tarkoitus ja mahdollinen yhteys Hämeen kapinaan tai paavilliseen ristiretkibullaan. Artikkelin tarkoitus on tarkastella tätä tapahtumavyyhteä ja yrittää selvittää mahdollisia linkkejä eri tapahtumien välillä. Artikkeli on rakennettu niin, että aluksi esitellään lyhyesti kaikki edellä mainitut olennaiset historialliset tapahtumat ja sen jälkeen käydään läpi Hämeen kapinasta kertovaa historiankirjoitusta. Artikkelissa pohditaan lopuksi, missä suhteessa olemassa olevat tulkinnat Hämeen kapinasta ovat totuudenmukaisia. Pohdinnan tuloksena syntyy ehdotus siitä, että Hämeessä on tuskin koskaan ollutkaan laajamittaista kapinaa ja että tulkintoja Hämeen-ristiretkestä olisi syytä arvioida uudelleen.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Hämeen kapina
  topic: keywords
subject: Toinen ristiretki Suomeen
  topic: keywords
subject: Historiografia
  topic: keywords
subject: Hämeen historia
  topic: keywords
subject: Piispa Tuomas
  topic: keywords
subject: Paavillinen ristiretkikirje
  topic: keywords
subject: Hämeen kapina
  topic: subjects
subject: Toinen ristiretki Suomeen
  topic: subjects
subject: Historiografia
  topic: subjects
subject: Hämeen historia
  topic: subjects
subject: Piispa Tuomas
  topic: subjects
subject: Paavillinen ristiretkikirje
  topic: subjects
creator: Kirsi Salonen
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Kirsi Salonen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
date: 2025-04-15
publication date: 2025-04-15
starting page: 86
ending page: 102
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v25i1.159696

Revealing Medieval Books’ Dirty Little Secrets
type: item
description: This article examines the liturgical books used in the Turku diocese in the late 15th century, focusing on a Breviary printed by Anton Koberger in 1485. It argues that, based on the significant number of surviving copies in the Turku diocese, Koberger’s Breviary—not the 1488 Missale Aboense—marked the initial step towards liturgical harmonisation in the region through the use of printed books. The article introduces a novel method for quantifying the intensity of use of individual pages by assessing their levels of accumulated dirt. Applied to Koberger’s Breviary, this method offers new insights into the most frequently consulted sections, thereby illuminating the practices surrounding the celebration of the liturgical office in Turku during this period.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: literary culture
  topic: keywords
subject: incunabula
  topic: keywords
subject: liturgy
  topic: keywords
subject: medieval Finland
  topic: keywords
subject: literary culture
  topic: subjects
subject: medieval Finland
  topic: subjects
subject: Diocese of Turku
  topic: subjects
subject: incunabula
  topic: subjects
creator: Tuomas Heikkilä
creator: Kirsi Vikman
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mirator
date: 2025-03-13
publication date: 2025-03-13
starting page: 26
ending page: 46
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i2.147691

Skúli Þórðarson Thorlacius on Historical Nordic Wrestling
type: item
description: Skúli Þórðarson (Skulius Theodori) Thorlacius’s (1741–1815) monograph on the marriage rites of the ancient Nordics (Borealium veterum matrimonia, Copenhagen 1785) includes an excursus into spectacles that includes a section on wrestling (glíma). Thorlacius discusses the topic with references to contemporary traditions, saga literature, and comparisons with ancient athletics. Thorlacius’s treatise is one of the earliest scholarly treatments of historical Nordic wrestling, predating the Viking revival of the nineteenth century. For the benefit of recent surge in the interest in the study of historical martial cultures, this article makes Thorlacius’s text accessible both in its Latin original and an English translation with a commentary focusing on his sources. The edition and translation are followed by a critical appraisal of Thorlacius’s conclusions, with additional notes on the history and meaning of lausa-tök, a wrestling term attested from the early eighteenth century onwards.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Neo-Latin
  topic: keywords
subject: Old Norse
  topic: keywords
subject: Saga literature
  topic: keywords
subject: Icelandic wrestling
  topic: keywords
subject: Medievalism
  topic: keywords
subject: etymology
  topic: keywords
subject: historical martial arts studies
  topic: subjects
subject: sports history
  topic: subjects
subject: history of scholarship
  topic: subjects
creator: Antti Ijäs
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mirator
date: 2025-03-13
publication date: 2025-03-13
starting page: 47
ending page: 64
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i2.147001

Image and Memory in Medieval Germany
type: item
description: This article explores the decoration, perception, and function of the Sigebert Sacramentary (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS. Theol. lat. fol. 2) one of the largest and most luxurious, yet overlooked manuscripts ever created in medieval Central Europe and manufactured at the Abbey of St Gallen in the 1020s as part of a group of eight liturgical manuscripts. The contribution analyses in particular the ecclesiastical symbolism of the unique scenes in this manuscript and offers a contextualisation for its commission by the ambitious bishop Sigebert of Minden (1022-1036).
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: manuscript
  topic: keywords
subject: illumination
  topic: keywords
subject: liturgy
  topic: keywords
subject: patronage
  topic: keywords
subject: bishop
  topic: keywords
subject: Art History
  topic: subjects
subject: Manuscript Studies
  topic: subjects
subject: Church History
  topic: subjects
subject: Liturgy
  topic: subjects
subject: German Studies
  topic: subjects
creator: Jesús Rodríguez Viejo
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mirator
date: 2025-03-13
publication date: 2025-03-13
starting page: 4
ending page: 25
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i2.145782

Information and Lived Religion in Inquisition Records from Medieval Languedoc (15.12.2023, Tampere University)
type: item
description: Lectio pracursoria of Saku Pihko's doctoral defence.
subject: Muut
  topic: section
subject: Inquisition
  topic: keywords
subject: Heresy
  topic: keywords
subject: Research
  topic: keywords
subject: Languedoc
  topic: keywords
subject: Information
  topic: keywords
subject: Lectio praecursoria
  topic: subjects
creator: Saku Pihko
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator
date: 2024-07-18
publication date: 2024-07-18
starting page: 73
ending page: 77
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i1.147000

Peter Biller & L. J. Sackville (eds): Inquisition and Knowledge 1200–1700. (Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages 10.)
type: item
description: A book review.
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
subject: Inquisition
  topic: keywords
subject: Heresy
  topic: keywords
subject: A book review
  topic: subjects
creator: Saku Pihko
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator
date: 2024-07-18
publication date: 2024-07-18
starting page: 81
ending page: 83
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i1.146999

Mikko Kauko: Pyhän Mechtildin ilmestykset
type: item
description: Arvio Mikko Kaukon teoksesta Pyhän Mechtildin ilmestykset
subject: Arviot / Recensior
  topic: section
subject: birgittalaisjärjestö
  topic: keywords
subject: birgittalaiset
  topic: keywords
subject: ilmestykset
  topic: keywords
subject: kirja-arvio
  topic: subjects
creator: Leena Enqvist
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator
date: 2024-07-18
publication date: 2024-07-18
starting page: 78
ending page: 80
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i1.146998

Cosmic Position in Chaucer's House of Fame
type: item
description: Chaucer’s House of Fame (ca. 1378-80) is a complex dream vision that presents its narrator, a stand-in for Chaucer himself, exploring a series of places shaped by his extensive reading. A quest for the source of fame, the poem is informed by similar narratives of dreams and imaginary journeys. Such voyages beyond the confines of the earth are expressions of the poetic imagination, but they also occur in medieval and classical literature within a divinely ordained and structured cosmos that included clear and symbolically important distinctions between the earth and the heavens. As a narrative of cosmic ascent, the House of Fame takes place within the imaginary space of the sphaera mundi, a model of the universe as a series of interlocking spheres with the earth at the center. The position of objects within this model determined their meaning and purpose. This essay examines astronomical details in Book II and argues that such details shape the setting of this part of the poem. Read in this light, the very air that the narrator moves through in Book II constitutes a setting equal in imaginative depth to the Temple of Venus in Book I or the House of Fame encountered in Book III.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: dreams
  topic: keywords
subject: space
  topic: keywords
subject: Ovid
  topic: keywords
subject: Chaucer
  topic: subjects
subject: House of Fame
  topic: subjects
subject: astronomy
  topic: subjects
subject: allegory
  topic: subjects
creator: Dean Swinford
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator
date: 2024-07-18
publication date: 2024-07-18
starting page: 56
ending page: 72
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i1.131206

Icelandic Hospitals, Clergy, and Disability in the Saga of Bishop Lárentíus
type: item
description: This study illuminates the evidence for two little-known hospitals for clergy in fourteenth-century Iceland, and contextualizes their existence in larger discourses about disability and clerical identity in Icelandic literature and culture, with a focus on Lárentíus saga biskups.
subject: Artikkelit
  topic: section
subject: Old Norse
  topic: keywords
subject: Disability
  topic: keywords
subject: Sagas
  topic: keywords
subject: Iceland
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval History
  topic: keywords
subject: Medieval Church
  topic: keywords
subject: Disability Studies
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval Iceland
  topic: subjects
subject: Medieval Hospitals
  topic: subjects
creator: Ryder Patzuk-Russell
creator: Yoav Tirosh
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Mirator
date: 2024-07-18
publication date: 2024-07-18
starting page: 1
ending page: 17
doi: 10.54334/mirator.v24i1.141618