This thesis is composed of an introduction and five chapters. The introduction examines the various sources which can be used in establishing the actions of the family (chronicles, charters, central government rolls and so on) and attempts to make some general remarks about them. From this discussion of the sources, chapters one and two move on to examine the careers of the ten members of the family who, over the course of nine generations, ruled over the lands which were acquired between 1066 and 1316. The composition of these estates and the ways in which they came into the family's possession is also considered here. Chapter three looks at the family's demesne manors, examining the various franchises which the family held, the revenues these estates produced - in so far as they can be recovered - and the location and economic structure of the demesne manors in England, Ireland and Wales. Chapter four examines the household officials employed by the family and identifies those who formed the most prominent members of the de Verduns' following. The chapter also discusses the tenantry, seeking to establish why individuals were granted lands by the family and identifying any relationships between the tenants of their English estates and those found living in their Irish lordships. Chapter five looks at the family as a unit. The various cadet lines are identified where possible, and the patronage and role of younger sons or siblings is discussed. The identities of the de Verduns' wives or husbands are examined and the treatment meted out to widows is explored. So too are the family's possible views of its own identity. This has been done by looking at, for example, naming patterns and the various marriages which were made.

Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI)

This thesis re-evaluates the chronology of Lower Normandy’s integration into the duchy growing around Rouen from the tenth century onwards. The introduction argues that modern accounts of Normandy’s development remain dependent on the works of Dudo of Saint-Quentin and Flodoard of Rheims. Difficulties with these authors and alternative approaches to Normandy’s early history are identified. It is argued that regional distinctions throughout the later duchy hindered efforts to bring about political cohesion. Chapters One and Two identify the ninth-century Breton occupation and early tenth-century Scandinavian settlement of Lower Normandy as the twin sources of ongoing regional divisions. The early dukes’ interest in and influence over the west are also called into question. Chapters Three and Four instead posit that ducal interest in Lower Normandy was a product of the late tenth century, with direct intervention following in the favourable circumstances of the early eleventh century. Ducal success in this period depended upon the co-operation of regional aristocrats and ecclesiastical institutions and continuing constraints on Rouen’s influence and authority are emphasised. Chapter Five argues that Robert the Magnificent was a more assertive ruler, who actively strengthened ducal authority in Lower Normandy in spite of renewed opposition. Chapter Six considers how rebellion against William the Conqueror in 1047 reveals growing local interest in the conduct of ducal government. Victory allowed William to consolidate ducal authority in Lower Normandy, encouraging further expansion beyond its borders. Local landholders, however, resultantly received little direct ducal patronage, including scant reward in the post-Conquest settlement of England. In conclusion, while Lower Normandy had been brought firmly under ducal control by 1087, it is argued that it was only under William’s son, Henry I, that the region’s aristocrats acquired any major influence over ducal policy and secured an equal position within the wider Anglo-Norman nobility.

Abstract The dissertation examines the settlement and interactions of the Late Iron Age communities of northern Finland by focusing on the archaeological sites and finds documented in the regions of Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu. The point of departure for the study is to understand the data from a local point of view as in the previous evaluations the hunter-gatherer population inhabiting the area has been overlooked with most of the discussions revolving around the peasant influence arriving from southwestern Finland and Karelia. Partially for this reason, the period in question has appeared problematic and many questions regarding the settlement remain unadressed. The reason for the poor research situation articulates with the problems related to the archaeologica remains. Most of the material must be classified as so-called stray finds or archaeological objects to which no context can be determined without excavations taking place. These stray finds comprise the most significant portion of the available data, as besides them only a few burials, dwelling sites or other feasible remains are documented in Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu. In spite of this, the research interest towards these finds has been relatively minor until recent years. The research questions are approached via three case studies, which represent stray finds that were excavated during the research process of the dissertation. These sites are addressed by taking into consideration their form, function and dating as well as examining their archaeological context on a borader geographical scale. In addition to the case studies, the dissertation considers previously known sites and finds in the research area and elsewhere in the interior and northern Fennoscandia. Based on the study, it is argued that several stray finds are associated with burial sites, dwellings and other indicators of settlement whose formation process has likely been affected by local traditions and subsistence as well as contacts and interactions with other Iron Age communities. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimus tarkastelee Pohjois-Suomen myöhäisrautakautista asutusta ja väestön vuorovaikutussuhteita Pohjois-Pohjanmaan ja Kainuun maakuntien alueelta tunnettujen löytöjen ja kohteiden valossa. Tutkimuksen keskeisimpänä lähtökohtana on näiden teemojen hahmottaminen paikallisesta näkökulmasta, sillä monissa aikaisemmissa tulkinnoissa alueella asunut metsästäjä-keräilijäväestö on jäänyt kohtalaisen vähäiselle huomiolle keskustelujen keskittyessä Lounais-Suomesta ja Karjalasta tulleeseen talonpoikaisvaikutukseen. Osittain tästä syystä kyseinen aikakausi on pitkään näyttäytynyt ongelmallisena, eikä moniin alueen asutusta koskevaan kysymykseen ole voitu vastata. Syy myöhäisen rautakauden heikkoon tutkimustilanteeseen niveltyy arkeologiseen aineistoon liittyvään problematiikkaan. Valtaosa tutkimusalueelta talletetusta materiaalista on luettava niin kutsutuiksi irtolöydöiksi, eli arkeologisiksi esinelöydöiksi, jolle ei ilman kenttätutkimuksia ole mahdollista määrittää tarkkaa löytöyhteyttä. Irtolöydöt muodostavat merkittävän aineistokokonaisuuden, sillä niiden lisäksi Pohjois-Pohjanmaalta ja Kainuusta tunnetaan ainoastaan muutamia myöhäisrautakautisia asuinpaikkoja, hautoja tai muita arkeologisia kohteita. Tästä huolimatta, niihin kohdistunut tutkimuksellinen mielenkiinto on viimevuosiin saakka ollut pääosin vähäistä. Väitöskirja lähestyy aineistoa kolmen tapaustutkimuksen kautta. Tapaustutkimukset koostuvat kaivauksin tutkituista irtolöytökohteista sekä niiden lähiympäristön sekä laajemman arkeologisen kontekstin havainnoinnista. Kaivauksin tutkittujen kohteiden lisäksi tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös muuta myöhäiselle rautakaudelle ajoittuvaa aineistoa niin tutkimusalueella kuin sen lähialueilla. Tutkimuksen perusteella useat irtolöydöt voidaan liittää hautoihin, asuinpaikkoihin tai muihin asutuksesta kertoviin muinaisjäännöksiin, joiden muodostumisprosessiin ovat vaikuttaneet niin paikalliset traditiot ja elinkeinot kuin yhteydet ja vuorovaikutus muiden rautakautisten yhteisöjen kanssa.

This dissertation is concerned with brewers and the practice of beer brewing in late medieval Stockholm. It considers the operational aspects of production and sale, the ways in which the practice was licensed and regulated by the city authorities, and the nature of the people who acted as brewers, in terms of their gender and social background. A key area of interest is the character of brewing as a regulated professional occupation within the city rather than as an unregulated domestic activity as was its character outside of the city borders. Particular attention is paid to the under-researched role played by brewing in the working lives of women. In order to analyse Stockholm’s brewing practices during the period 1460–1525, the study draws upon a range of source materials, such as city rolls, tax rolls, city ordinances, and court records. Evidence of women’s roles in the brewing trade is traced in the scarce amount of source material available and pieced together by using an investigative method. The main results show that strict local regulations divided the brewing trade into two branches, the production and the selling of beer, both in which women played a significant role. The brewing itself was female-dominated for several consecutive years. These women were the professionals of the trade, who were hired to brew batches of beer by the owners of brew houses or by persons who hired the brew houses for a small sum. Although the brewsters themselves did not take part in the legal sale of beer, other women had access to this part of the trade. They were however restricted to the domestic and local type of beer, while their male counterparts had access to imported and more valuable drinks. The difference in pay, to the brewer per finished brew or to the beer-seller per barrel, shows that profit was reserved to those who had the means to sell beer, rather than the local professionals who produced it.  Local regulations limited the access to brewing and the selling of beer within the city, where one group in particular was deemed an undesirable presence; the loose women. This implies an earlier connection between alcohol and decency, in Sweden having previously been researched mainly regarding its early-modern history, as these so-called loose women were considered to be morally inferior and were blamed for the moral and social problems associated with alcohol. Brewing and beer-selling appear to have been trades that were available to women, during a time in history when women were seriously restricted in terms of the professional occupations they were permitted to engage in, and the significance of brewing as a vital means of support for these precarious individuals has, arguably, not hitherto been fully appreciated.

The Covesea Caves are a series of later prehistoric sites that form a complex mortuary landscape. Previous excavations of the caves have provided evidence for the decapitation, disarticulation, and intentional deposition of human remains. Although there has been substantial analysis of the human remains, there has been little consideration of the significant number of faunal remains recovered during numerous excavations. This research represents the first focused examination of the extensive zooarchaeological record from the Covesea Caves, with an emphasis on investigating characteristics of the faunal bone related to taphonomy and processing in order to provide a proxy for the complex funerary treatments to which the human remains were subject. Analysis of Covesea Cave 2 revealed a narrative of ritual and funerary activities, from the Neolithic to the Post-Medieval Period. Zooarchaeological analysis has illustrated how certain species were significant in ritual activity, and thus utilised specifically in funerary rites. The results from this research shed more light on past cosmologies and the importance of non-human species to humans in both life and death. / Funding for fieldwork was provided by Historic Environment Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council. Lab work and species confirmation was funded by a generous grant from the British Cave Research Association. Funding for this [comparative] analysis was provided by the following organisations: The Prehistoric Society, The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, The Natural History Society of Glasgow

Portant sur une étude typologique et chronologique du verre au Maroc, du Ier au XIVe siècle, cette recherche permet de cerner les comparaisons et les évolutions et de montrer une récurrence de formes et de techniques, notamment de l’époque romaine tardive à la haute époque médiévale. Les données, réunies en un dense corpus totalement inédit pour sa plus grande part, sont issues de 18 sites archéologiques, dont 9 antiques et 9 d’époque médiévale. Le mobilier étudié consiste en un ensemble de près de 2600 verres dont 1000 individus définissant 248 formes. Il comprend aussi bien des verres creux et plats que des parures et des étalons monétaires. Loin de s'inscrire dans une longue tradition historiographique niant l'existence de structures de production du verre au Maroc, cette thèse met en outre pour la première fois en évidence, données archéologiques à l’appui, non seulement les indices matériels de cette production, mais également les traces des ateliers de verriers. Les données recueillies dans ce travail s’avèrent particulièrement importantes pour l’histoire du début de l’artisanat verrier durant la haute époque médiévale. / Based on a typological and chronological study of the glass in Morocco from the Ist to the XIVth century, this research allows to encircle the comparisons as well as the evolutions, and to show a recurrence of forms and techniques, particularly from the late roman time to the high medieval period. The data, combined in dense one, totally unpublished corpus for its biggest part, arise from 18 archeological sites, among which 9 classic arts and 9 of the medieval period. The studied furniture consists a set of about 2600 glasses among which 1000 individuals. Far from joining a long historiographical tradition denying the existence of structures of production of the glass in Morocco, this thesis highlights for the first time, with supporting archaeological data, not only the tangible indications of this production, but also the traces of glass workshops. The results are particularly important for the history of the beginning of the small business glassworker during high medieval period.

Medieval glasses have for long been a neglected object group in archeological research in Sweden. With that in mind I choose to write about those in my essay. The aim of this paper is to bring the medieval glasses into the archaeological research. I intend to show where you can find medieval glass in Sweden and what kind of glasses have been made. I will also discuss why the archeological research is so limited when it comes to the medieval drinking glasses. The archeological sites for my analysis are Sigtuna, Stockholm, Lödöse and Skanör. My theoretical approach is Material agency and I have looked at what role the drinking glasses could have had during the medieval period. I think my essay will show that you can find medieval glasses in trade or exchange contexts and that the medieval glasses absence in the archeological research has more to do with that previous research is poor rather than that glasses do not exist in the medieval period. / Gamla Uppsala - framväxten av ett mytiskt centrum

This paper reviews a study of the skulls from the anatomy collection at Gustavianum, Uppsala university museum, historical collections in Uppsala, Sweden. The skulls were found in the central parts of Uppsala, on an area called Östra Ågatan, which is known for being one of the oldest parts in town. The skulls have been dated to medieval period between 11th and 14th centrury and came to be a part of the anatomical collection. Only skulls are available today in the big collection.  Cranial metrics were recorded, probably by the Anatomical department for all skulls in the large anatomical collection. Östra Ågatan is today a road located near Fyrisån, a river that flows through the city. Uppsala is well known for being one of the oldest city in Sweden and Europe. People have lived here for several centuries, and today the area are currently being used the same. The study aims to collect information about the health status on the medieval humans living in Uppsala. Also, to see if the skulls had a connection to the nearby churches that were located near the area under the same period. Questions that the study are examining is, -If the skulls have any connection to a church in the nearby area that they were found in? -Do the skulls have any pathologies, non-metric features or damage?

This thesis deals with archaeological evidence of medieval pottery products which were discovered during the emergency archaeological excavation in the area of former Jiřího z Poděbrad barracks on Náměstí Republiky square in Prague. This area is nowadays called Palladium shopping centre. The first part of the thesis deals with real findings. These are construction debris of burning kilns and historical evolution of its construction. The second part of the thesis compares results of excavation with historical datas. The last part of the thesis evaluates the extraordinarily huge file of ceramic artefacts from waste areas, especially defective pieces which complement the picture of medieval pottery production.