{"id":12578,"date":"2020-03-20T05:09:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T05:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=12578"},"modified":"2020-11-20T06:44:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T06:44:28","slug":"sorenson-2020-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/sorenson-2020-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorenson (2020 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

David W. Sorenson<\/strong>
\n(Alan G. Berman, Numismatist<\/em>)<\/h2>\n

“A Strange Seal from Grenoble from 1346, or<\/em><\/strong>
\nHeadbinding in France:\u00a0 Carryover and\/or Forerunner in Toulouse?”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Abstract of Paper
\nIntended<\/em><\/span> To be presented at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies [CANCELLED]<\/span>
\n(Kalamazoo, 2020)<\/h3>\n

Rescheduled<\/span> for the 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies
\n(Kalamazoo, 2021)<\/h3>\n

Session I of II on
\n\u201cSeal the Real:\u00a0 Documentary Records, Seals, and Authentications”
\nPart I:\u00a0 “Signed & Sealed\u201d<\/h4>\n

Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/strong>
\nOrganized by Mildred Budny<\/h4>\n

2020 Congress Program<\/a>
\n2021 Congress Program Planning<\/a><\/h4>\n

[Published on 10 March 2020, with an Update on 17 March 2020 reporting the Cancellation of the Congress as a whole,
\nand with an Update on 19 November reporting the Rescheduling for the 2021 Congress<\/em>]<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h4>\n

One of the benefits of studying hitherto un-studied source documents, even trivial ones, and moreover ones selected for mundane reasons, is the distinct possibility of opening up a whole new by-way of information shedding light on dark corners of history.\u00a0 The document in question is a receipt, on paper, which the author purchased as a specimen of mid-fourteenth century paper.\u00a0 It appears to be about half of a receipt for a payment of 200 florins for feudal dues, dated at Grenoble on 22 February (before Easter), 1345, viz. 1346.<\/p>\n

\"Document

Document from Grenoble dated 22 February 1345 (Old Style), with wax seal.<\/p><\/div>\n

The document has a nearly complete wax seal of an official, one Henricus Ioh<\/em>a(?).\u00a0 It features a bearded male head in profile,<\/p>\n

\"The

Seal on a Document from Grenoble of 22 February 1345 (Old Style).<\/p><\/div>\n

accompanied by some strange animals:\u00a0 a goose(?) seized by a lion extending from the man\u2019s neck, and a lizard; and by a flamboyant plume above the head.\u00a0 The plume may be from a helmet, but if so it cannot be distinguished from the head.<\/p>\n

What is immediately obvious from the general appearance is that the head is almost absurdly elongated.\u00a0 It is in fact well within the normal range of shapes of artificially deformed heads, perhaps best known from Peru, but also typical of the upper nobility among the steppe tribes of western Asia, many of which participated in the various late-antique invasions of the Roman empire, as well as the \u201cMigration Period\u201d which followed.<\/p>\n

Might this head-binding, and that more familiar sort practiced almost within living memory among the peasants around Toulouse, be survivals of this steppe-horseman tribal culture?\u00a0 Perhaps it was a holdover from, say, Avars captured by Charlemagne and settled within his empire?\u00a0 This paper attempts to look at other possible examples of this sort of artificial deformation in southern France, and to consider whether we can determine anything useful from what evidence turns up.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

We thank David Sorenson for his multiple contributions to Research Group events over the years.<\/p>\n

They include Papers for our Congress Sessions in<\/p>\n