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Hastinapur is one of the prominent painted grey ware archaeological sites in the Ganga Valley. In the present communication, we report the results of the metallurgical analysis of the excavated slag samples from the site. The existence of a large number of iron objects for this site can be dated between c. 6th century BCE and c. 16th century CE, with early iron from the 8th century BCE. The morphological, microstructural and elemental studies of the excavated slag indicate a high amount of carbon in iron, indicating crucible carburization activities at this site. In addition, the presence of niobium, cobalt, etc. in the slag indicates the usage of non-traditional iron ores in the primary ironmaking stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1540, in Ingolstadt, Germany, the influential astronomer and printer Peter Apian produced the Astronomicum Caesareum: a printed and hand-coloured astronomical book visualising the Ptolemaic universe through the use of diagrams and wheelcharts, worthy of his imperial patron, Charles V. About 130 copies have survived to this day, with varying degrees of paper quality and level of decoration, and only eleven volumes are considered deluxe copies. We thoroughly analysed one deluxe volume held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and compared the results with four (one deluxe and three standard) other copies from institutions in the UK. A non-invasive analytical protocol was applied, including extensive microscopy, fibre-optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), X-ray spectroscopy (XRF), macroscale XRF (MA-XRF) and Raman spectroscopy. The most interesting pages were chosen based on art-historical evidence and the variety of the colour palette, including on volvelles (wheelcharts) and coats of arms. Following a systematic approach, we analysed the same pages in each volume, gathering information on the colour palette in all the volumes. The type of paper and the presence of watermarks were also documented. A wide range of materials was identified in the five copies, including red, purple and yellow organic dyes, lead white, verdigris, vermilion, azurite, indigo, smalt, and lead–tin yellow. Mosaic gold was used to embellish certain paint passages in the deluxe volumes and metals (gold and silver) were applied on some pages. The comprehensive findings were essential to identify specific traits related to Apian's workshop, to differentiate deluxe from standard copies, to suggest an order of production of the copies, and to provide new information on this landmark book and more generally in an under-researched field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians have thoroughly documented the development of mercury-based silver refining in Spanish America in the late sixteenth century, and its use for over 300 years on an industrial scale unknown in Europe. However, we currently lack any consensus about the significance of this technology in the global history of knowledge. This article critically reassesses the invention and improvement of this refining method with the aim of addressing two interrelated issues. Firstly, how experiential knowledge and practical skills in silver refining were deliberately harnessed to solve a specific technical problem. Secondly, how economic incentives and patronage set the stage for empirical practices and a collaborative culture that facilitated the widespread use of this novel technique. In so doing, this article places silver refining within the theoretical constructs and historiography of useful knowledge, and bridges narratives that have remained largely isolated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the legal status of servants in Europe is a sparsely researched field. Concentrating on the case of the Habsburg Empire since the sixteenth century, this article emphasizes the importance of considering the evolution of servant laws in discussions about protective legislation for servants. This article argues that the issue of granting rights and protections to servants has always pivoted on the definition of their status in society. Since servants occupied an intermediary position on the freedom scale, the control of people who occupied this position—not slave, yet not entirely free—has been a point of concern for several centuries. Research on how servant laws have historically contributed to the survival of paternalistic attitudes that cripple the rights and freedoms of servants is essential to understanding the more complex parameters of race, gender, and class that govern the lives of this category of predominantly migrant, minority, and female labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inonotus obliquus, also known as Chaga, is a medicinal mushroom that has been used for therapeutic purposes since the sixteenth century. Collections of folk medicine record the application of Chaga for the treatment of diseases such as gastrointestinal cancer, diabetes, bacterial infection, and liver diseases. Modern research provides scientific evidence of the therapeutic properties of I. obliquus extracts, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, hepatoprotective, renoprotective, anti-fatigue, antibacterial, and antiviral activities. Various bioactive compounds, including polysaccharides, triterpenoids, polyphenols, and lignin metabolites have been found to be responsible for the health-benefiting properties of I. obliquus. Furthermore, some studies have elucidated the underlying mechanisms of the mushroom's medicinal effects, revealing the compounds' interactions with enzymes or proteins of important pathways. Thus, this review aims to explore available information on the therapeutic potentials of Inonotus obliquus for the development of an effective naturally sourced treatment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians often compare the relationship between humanists and scholastics in the early sixteenth century to a battle. In such accounts, the Parisian Faculty of Theology plays the role of a major combatant keeping humanists away from religious studies. This article paints a different and more harmonious picture of humanists and scholastics in the decade before the Reformation. It draws on hitherto little explored evidence from manuscripts authored by official orators at the University of Paris: their speeches to graduating students at the Faculty of Theology in 1510 and 1512. It will be argued that the speakers celebrated both humanist and scholastic competences and the speeches themselves demonstrate that eloquence had a role to play within the institution. In this way, the article adds nuance to our understanding of how the Faculty of Theology viewed humanists and introduces important new sources to the history of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the essay the Descriptio Silentii (Description of Silence) by Celio Calcagnini, a humanist scholar from Ferrara, an essay written in the early sixteenth century and published in 1544. The article provides the first English translation of the essay, describes its inspiration and sources and reviews the content of the essay in order to assess Calcagnini's contribution to the philosophy of silence from the Renaissance and before. Calcagnini's essay is an ekphrasis of a picture supposedly located in the ruins of the Roman temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste, the inspiration for its format is the late Hellenistic text the Tabula Cebetis, and the principal content is an appeal for the virtues of silence in human affairs and the castigation of the garrulous following the example of Plutarch's essay De Garrulitate from the Moralia. However, this appeal to the virtues of silence is a prelude to the deeper theme and purpose of the essay: the theme of mystical silence, a silence by which it is possible to approach and understand the god-head and the divine, and which can only be expressed in non-verbal language, riddles or poetic imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Colonial Period, Maya communities underwent significant social and religious transformations. This paper investigates how the Maya communities of Lamanai, Belize maintained resilience in the 16th century. By examining ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence at Lamanai, especially zoomorphic effigies at two Christian churches, the study demonstrates that resilience was not solely a product of human agency but also arose from engagement with other species and materials. Drawing influence from process philosophy, this paper redefines resilience as a dynamic and creative process encompassing active adaptation, reorganisation, and transformation. It argues that the ability to cross boundaries is essential to resilience. Maya communities were able to transcend the boundaries of properties, entities, realities, and cultures, which enabled them to re-envision their relationships with others and the world. Boundary-crossing allowed them to navigate complex changes with ease and integrate diverse cultural elements into their identity, ultimately fostering resilience in the face of colonial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monsoon is crucial for human sustenance and economic stability. This study explores the correlation between long-term climatic conditions and major invasions on the Indian subcontinent. The study utilizes paleoclimate records of 2500 years for different locations across South and Central Asia. The findings reveal that invasions often occurred during periods of favourable Indian Summer Monsoon. The study highlights how these favourable conditions made the region an attractive target for external forces seeking wealth and control. The presence of trade routes further facilitated invasions by providing access to valuable resources. Understanding this complex relationship between climate and invasions deepens our understanding of the historical dynamics of the region and highlights the role of climate in shaping the socio-political landscape. Overall, the study emphasizes the importance of considering climatic factors when analysing historical events and provides insights into the motivations behind invasions in the Indian subcontinent. The correlation between good monsoon seasons, agricultural prosperity, and external interest in the region indicates the influence of climatic conditions on the course of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the implications of organizational control on the race for technological leadership in merchant empires. I provide an illustrative framework in which poor organizations have reduced incentives to invest, which in turn stifle technology improvements making leaders lag new entrants. In the late sixteenth century, Portugal's large ships carried more merchandise and were more fitting of the monarch's grandiose preferences, but they also were more prone to disaster. The merchant-controlled Dutch East India Company however, invested in smaller but more seaworthy vessels conducting more voyages at a much lower loss rate. The surviving historical evidence shows Portugal relying on large ships well into the seventeenth century suggesting her technological edge was gone by the time the Dutch dominated the Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multispectral imaging for study of the Sarajevo Haggadah. • Non-invasive scientific analysis of medieval illuminated Hebrew manuscripts. • Application of image processing techniques to recover erased text. Over the last two decades, multispectral imaging (MSI) has established itself as the most important tool in recovering illegible text in erased or damaged manuscripts, and to a lesser extent as an aid to the codicological study of manuscript supports and media. Rarely, however, have spectral imaging initiatives involved Hebrew illuminated manuscripts. In 2022, an international team of scholars, imaging scientists, and conservators from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Lazarus Project of the University of Rochester imaged the Sarajevo Haggadah multispectrally. Produced for a Jewish commissioner and housed at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this 14th-century illuminated manuscript contains, inter alia , a partially erased text of a sale contract on folio 106v* that is now newly legible. Codicological details of the manuscript – ink, stains, type of animal used for parchment – have also benefitted from material analysis via MSI. Herein, we describe the MSI process of the Sarajevo Haggadah and the application of image processing algorithms to recover the erased text on folio 106v*. A complete text of a sale contract is revealed for the first time, providing significant information about the ownership and provenance of the Sarajevo Haggadah at the beginning of the 16th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ATR-FTIR spectroscopy is used to assess the condition of historical silk samples. • Evaluating the conditions of historical textiles guides conservation and preventive measures. • Differentiation between original and later interventions is also possible. • Visual, bivariate and multivariate methods are used to evaluate the data. • Spectral evaluation reveals deterioration markers, explained according to literature. Understanding the conservation condition of historical silk yarn allows to define appropriate storage, care and display of historical silk collections. This paper discusses the characterisation of silk fabrics from a collection of traditional Japanese samurai armours which date back from the 16th to the 20th century (Morigi Collection, Museo delle Culture, Lugano, Switzerland). An analytical protocol to assess silk fabrics conditions was defined, based on microinvasive ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. In particular, the amide I and II region was studied in order to extrapolate the conformational information about silk proteins. According to literature, this kind of information can be related to different degradation stages. A linear correlation was found between the amide I and the amide II shifts, allowing to assess the silk fibre condition. Along with this bivariate approach based on intensity ratios, a multivariate approach based on Principal Component Analysis was also applied to ATR-FTIR spectra. This allowed to group together silks with the same state of preservation. The findings of this research offer a valuable method to researchers and conservators to identify the most damaged textiles; the differentiation between original and restoration materials was also possible in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems that the early Jesuits misinterpreted the key Neo-Confucian terms taiji/li from an Aristotelian perspective in the seventeenth century, thereby leading to a dialogical failure in their initial encounter with Neo-Confucian tradition. What necessitates interreligious dialogue today is a pluralistic stance that deems all religious quests worthy in their own context. Therefore, this paper renews the dialogue between two spiritual traditions, long overdue, by reading two representative texts, side by side, from each tradition on self-cultivation: Reflections on Things at Hand (twelfth century) and The Spiritual Exercises (sixteenth century). The comparison showcases that the notion of "wanwuyiti", a concomitant of the Confucian ren, is tantamount to a religious imperative for human ethical engagements, and the Ignatian axiom "Finding God in All Things" energizes a spiritual self-transformation to forge an intimate bond with God and the world. While Neo-Confucian cultivation focuses on the removal of desires, seeking to maintain "equilibrium" and "centrality", the Ignatian exercises foreground commitment to "discernment" and "indifference". The Neo-Confucians address human and worldly affairs in a procedural manner, with ever-broadening horizons, to establish an orderly society. In contrast, the Ignatian self is directed toward an orderly life to serve, love, and bring ever more to God's Divine Majesty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over five centuries, the History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China, written by Spanish missionary Juan González de Mendoza and published in 1585 in Rome, has captured the interest of the international academic community. However, scholarship has primarily focused on Mendoza's depiction of China as rich and powerful, potentially overlooking the evangelical purpose of his narrative and failing to explain the correlation between the positive Chinese image and the author's evangelical intention. This study aims to clarify the image of China presented by the Spanish author through a detailed textual analysis, concluding that Mendoza portrayed China as a rich and great nation that also had misguided beliefs and was open to evangelization. The Spanish author's identity as an Augustinian preacher and ambassador of King Philip II of Spain to the Ming dynasty of China, as well as the global and evangelistic social context in which he lived, significantly influenced his perceptions of China. Furthermore, his hybrid profile of China was accepted in Europe at the time and became a collective memory because it embodied the spiritual context shared by the European community in the 16th century. This spiritual purpose was achieved through the idealized imagination, which serves as an affective medium in the formation of collective memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into the history of alchemy and Paracelsianism in Italy has highlighted the role of Italian courts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as centres of elaboration and diffusion of alchemical knowledge. Among these, one of the best known is the Medici court which already dedicated spaces in the ducal foundry to the alchemical arts in the time of Cosimo I. This interest would remain alive with Francesco I and his son, Don Antonio de' Medici, one of the greatest supporters of Paracelsian medicine in Italy. This contribution presents previously unpublished sources, now preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze and in the collection of the Biblioteca degli Intronati in Siena, that can help us reconstruct in greater detail some significant aspects of Medici alchemical engagement and can, above all, help further determine Paracelsus's influence in seventeenth century Florence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of similative origin, Polish jakoby derives from the connective jako 'how, that' univerbated with the irrealis enclitic by. From the earliest attested stages (late 14th century) into the 17th century, jakoby was used as a comparison marker and as a subordinator of manner or purpose clauses. The former use has persisted, and the latter was ousted. After the 16th century jakoby further evolved into a reportive marker, as a particle or complementizer. Contrary to what pathways explaining the connection between similative and evidential marking would suggest, jakoby's now predominant function as a reportive marker was apparently not prepared by inferential use, nor was its complementizer function mediated by a purpose function. Instead, purpose and reportive complementizers belong to different "branches", both of which can be motivated by an indiscriminate similative-manner function. The evidence in favor of this derives from a systematic evaluation of extant research and a corpus study covering almost the entire period from 1600 to our day. A crucial moment to understanding jakoby's functional changes is the insight that similatives can acquire propositional scope prior to entering the evidential domain and marking a metonymic relation between speech acts and epistemic attitudes expressed by the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the debate over the theory and practice of the Spanish empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century, political, religious, and legal discourses differentiated conquered peoples and recent converts to Christianity from so-called "old Christians", thereby creating distinct categories of Spanish subjects. In Spain itself, cultural markers like language, dress, and diet became the foundations of fiscal and legal differences, while normative codes were promulgated and negotiated across a range of documents, e.g., legal instruments, civic and ecclesiastical records, university debates, and juridical theory. Concomitant with this process, a set of Christian catechisms was produced in Spain, both before and after the promulgation of Tridentine reforms, that were directed especially at the converted morisco populations in Granada and Valencia. These catechisms were produced in Iberian Arabic and Romance languages and included instructions about how new converts from Islam should behave, as well as what they should believe in order to participate in liturgical activities and to be recognized as full members of the Christian community. This article examines the morisco catechisms produced in Spain between 1496 and 1566, as these documents are representative of a unique period in both the history of Latin Christianity and the burgeoning Spanish empire. Through the emergence of this corpus and against the backdrop of targeted legislation and new policies aimed at Arabic-speaking moriscos, first in Granada and later in Valencia, the ideological foundations constraining the morisco experience were forged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lingyan lishao 靈言蠡勺 [LYLS] (Humble Attempt to Discuss the Soul, 1624) by the Calabrian Jesuit Francesco Sambiasi (1582–1649) and the Chinese mandarin Xu Guangqi 徐光啓 (1562–1633) was the first Chinese-language treatise on the scholastic Aristotelian soul and a pioneering work in Sino–Western intellectual exchanges. Until now, the dominant assumption has been that the first volume (juan) of this work is simply an adaptation of the Coimbra commentaries on De Anima [DA] and Parva Naturalia [PN]. This article demonstrates, however, that while most of the first juan is based on these Coimbra commentaries, its treatise on the substance of the soul was likely derived from another source, namely the Enchiridion, a 16th century confessional manual by the Spanish Augustinian Martín de Azpilcueta (1492–1586), or Doctor Navarrus. Through a close textual comparison, this article shows how LYLS adopts the same structure, content, and citations of the Enchiridion to construct an accessible and concise theological definition of the soul that was better suited for the Chinese missionary context than the dense philosophic definitions of the Coimbra commentaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Descriptions, depictions and of imitations of the Roman triumph were ubiquitous in the early modern period, beginning in the mid-fifteenth century. Despite the considerable attention that has been paid to many facets of this topic, a curious detail has gone unnoticed—the prayers (long taken as genuine) that the triumphing general was supposed to have pronounced at the beginning and end of the ritual procession. Following the trail through erudite scholarship from the 15th to the 19th century I look into the mysterious origins of the words of these prayers as they were handed down and highlight some less predictable instances of their re-use over the centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Josse Ravesteyn, or Judocus Tiletanus, was promoted as a doctor of theology in 1546, acted as participant in the Council of Trent in 1551, and was appointed as inquisitor-general of the Low Countries in 1559. This temporal triptych alone reflects the precipitous degradation of Christian and civil cohesion in the second half of the sixteenth century and how the responsibilities of theologians accordingly changed. Throughout this period, Louvain, its University and its Faculty of Theology were increasingly called upon to provide their expertise to the various appeasement attempts. Inside the Faculty, Tiletanus was also his colleague Michael Baius' main theological opponent from 1564 onwards; after the Council of Trent came to an end, the former called upon different levels of authority to have the latter's works and assertions censured, culminating in Pius V's 1567 bull Ex omnibus afflictionibus. Seeing however how Baius' confidence and notoriety were left somewhat unscathed, Tiletanus confronted him directly in a personal correspondence made up of six letters in 1568. This article is the first attempt to determine to what extent the Council shaped Tiletanus' sense of responsibility as a theologian as well as his relationship with Michael Baius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the sphere of education, early modern Jesuit documents prescribed a large variety of didactical methods. As a result, Jesuit education was perceived as facilitating a dialogue between traditional Scholasticism and humanism or scientific progress. However, complaints from the first half-century of the order indicate that Jesuit schools fell short in terms of their compliance with prescriptive regulations. Indeed, non-Jesuit scholars often considered the order to be conservative traducers of Renaissance scholarship. To assess these contradictory evaluations, this article proposes to scrutinize manuscripts produced by students during their philosophical studies at the colleges of Vienna, Olomouc, and Graz, falling within the timeframe of c. 1580–90. Here, I look to argue that, even before the universal presence of comprehensive Jesuit textbooks, the teaching of philosophy was not only surprisingly unified within the province but new scientific and scholarly developments, including the Gregorian Reform and the debates around Copernican views, were also presented in the Jesuit classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco quickly found favour in Japan after its introduction in the late sixteenth century, leading to the development of the kiseru—a distinctive Japanese tobacco pipe. Building upon a long-standing tradition of concealing weapons within a variety of mundane objects, tobacco pipes and smokers' accessories were soon modified to incorporate hidden spikes, blades, and even firearms. This short article, believed to be the first detailed assessment in the English language, explores the fascinating world of these covert self-defence tools. Through the examination of select artefacts, historical sources, and popular culture, this study provides a concise overview of these objects, shedding light on their design and purpose, and situating them within the broader Japanese arms and armour tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several black and white Italian cabassets, and associated armours, are described. All share an unusual, recessed construction and typically bear an etched family crest on the front. The cabassets also have (1) a predominantly Spanish distribution, (2) a high frequency of damage, including tears (that may reflect exposure to ballistic projectiles), (3) a high frequency of paired holes in the brim (for conversion into make-shift buckets?), and (4) distinctive copper-alloy plume-holders. We critically evaluate the stylistic, historical, geographic, ballistic and archaeological evidence that may link these recessed cabassets with the 1588 Spanish Armada. Furthermore, the distinctive family crest on the cabassets, and one breastplate, may provide specific links with a Spanish infantry company commanded by Captain Fernando de Ayala on the Armada's flag galleass, the San Lorenzo. In combination, these independent lines of evidence suggest that the recessed cabassets were used by troops on the Spanish Armada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study targeted one of the prominent imams (in the ninth century AH sixteenth century AD), that is Imam Zakaria Al-Ansari in his book (Fatehu Al-Baqi bi Sharh Alfiyyat Al-Iraqi) as being one of the most important works in the science of hadith. The author has included most of the issues of this art. It is a very valuable explanation, characterized by clarity of expression, mentioning of the hadith and linguistic benefits, and the comments made by the later scholars on Al-Hafiz Al-Iraqi, with answers to them if possible . Accordingly, I divided the study into an introduction, four sections and a conclusion: The first one is a brief autobiography of Imam Zakaria Al-Ansari, in which I explained his name, lineage, nickname, birth, upbringing, and death. The second section is a preface to the book. The third section presented The Imams resources in his book (Fatehu al-Baqi) dividing them according to their topics, then arranging these topics according to the seniority of the date of death and attributing these resources to their source in the book. The fourth section is a study of Imam Al-Ansaris approach to these resources. I showed in it the ways to deal with it and how to transfer from it [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse facial similarity and apply it to identify the individuals depicted in the mural paintings of the apse of St. Leocadia Church, located in Chaves Municipality (North of Portugal), which were painted during the first quarter of the 16th century. This study also compares the portraits of this mural paintings with the oil paintings by the Proto-Renaissance Portuguese painter Nuno Gonçalves. Through this research, the feasibility of face recognition technology is explored to answer many ambiguities about Manueline stylistic identity and iconography. Additionally, it aims to associate historical events, artistic discoveries, and the expansion of portraiture as propaganda of power during the Portuguese Proto-Renaissance and Early Renaissance. On the other hand, it focuses on the prevalence of the religious and devotional over the sacred in Manueline painting. A proposal was made to identify the characters that are fundamental to the meaning of the mural paintings. An experiment was conducted on seven characters from the paintings at St. Leocadia Church, which were then compared to Nuno Gonçalves' portraits. Facial similarity analysis was conducted on the faces portrayed in the Panels of St. Vincent, a remarkable portrait gallery from 15th-century Portugal, which has been the subject of national and international research for 130 years. Other paintings that were analysed were the oil paintings of St. Peter and St. Paul and of Infanta St. Joana, which were created by the same Quattrocento master. The purpose of the mural paintings of St. Leocadia Church could be catechetical in nature or related to the ritual practices of royal ancestor worship in royal portrait apses of the churches. It could also be associated with the Portuguese maritime expansion and the macro-imperial ideology of D. Manuel I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous people in Mexico encountered and interacted with the visual images of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints via Catholic missionaries in the sixteenth century. I examine the complexity of Franciscan changing attitudes and practices toward transforming what they perceived as idols into icons in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indigenous Christians also adapted and synthesized artistic forms and meanings. Furthermore, artists from various cultures drew sources from Indigenous Mexican, European, and Asian traditions and created a visual Christian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important artillery manuals of the 15th century is the Feuerwerkbuch. The treatise was one of the first European didactic technical texts, intended for both artillerymen and their employers. After circulating in manuscript copies for over a hundred years, the text was first printed in 1529. By 1619 it had been published thirteen times in total, making it exceptional among military manuals published in Central Europe at that time. The content of the work has been studied by various medievalists and codicologists to date, but they were not usually concerned with later transformations of the publication. The aim of this paper is to characterise the changes in this work between the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the Thirty Years' War and to trace its publication history and its publication relationship to other educational texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American legal scholars can't stop talking about Confucius: there were over 100 law review articles in 2022 alone that reference Confucian ideas, and nearly 1,500 during the last five years. Almost all of them are wrong about what Confucius has meant for Chinese legal culture. In the face of five decades of contrary historical scholarship, these law review articles argue or imply that Chinese law started to become "Confucian" about 2,000 years ago and has never really changed since. That continuity (or stagnation), these scholars claim, is one of the keys to understanding contemporary Chinese law. As this Article will show, the reality is very different. From the sixteenth century to the present day, scholars, politicians, and others with an axe to grind have constructed a series of legally influential "Confuciuses" to score points in the debates of their day. Unfortunately, American legal scholars are stuck repeating these self-interested stories with little idea of where they came from or what they mean. American authors largely view this "Confucian" legal legacy as something suspicious, or at least exotic, and their descriptions exacerbate the Sino-American cultural and political gulf. Chinese authors, on the other hand, often view it as a matter of national pride, a demonstration of the power, and centrality of a Chinese civilization destined to sway modern Asia. In this Article, I argue that these erroneous views of the "Confucian" nature of Chinese legal culture have profound implications, impairing our ability to clearly understand contemporary Chinese law and contributing to a global and domestic atmosphere of suspicion and hatred. Only by untangling where our ideas about "Confucian law" come from and what they really imply can we hope to avoid exacerbating Sino-American hostility on the one hand and nationalist Chinese expansionism (of the kind felt most sharply in Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang) on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the development of a new discourse on habitability in the sixteenth century, which breaks with the ancient notion that distinguished between habitable and uninhabitable spaces according to their climate and location. In it, a new conception of the world as completely habitable and exploitable is articulated, and the European ideal of a temperate climate as a reference to characterize the territories and inhabitants of various latitudes is put forward. I considered more than sixty texts related to cosmography, and a hundred maps and diagrams that were published and circulated as Europe expanded around the globe in the early modern period, and that exhibit new semantics and meanings about habitability. This study, through the analysis of these specific sources, aims to contribute to the debate on the origins of the Anthropocene and the political and imaginative logic that enables its development. The author suggests that the discursive pillars that shaped modern thinking about habitability were crucial in giving life to the ideas of extractivism, speculation, and unlimited connectivity that structures the Anthropocene. • The study contributes to our understanding of how this discourse about habitability helped to structure thinking about the planet as an infinite reservoir of resources. • The modern habitability discourse serves to interpret the Anthropocene. • The American continent played a role in breaking the old discourse of habitability and introducing a new definition of it. • The discourse of habitability of early modernity proclaims the possibility of inhabiting the whole world and that all spaces can be exploitable and profitable if they are populated. • The modern habitability discourse imposes the temperate European condition as the ideal for inhabiting the Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to clarify the methodology of Jewish legal history and illustrate how the historical examination of Jewish law serves as a valuable tool to discern the distinctive character of the early modern period. Principal elements of the analysis are the role of Jewish law in communal governance, its relationship to civil legislation, and its responsiveness to social and economic challenges. Communal autonomy, a hallmark of the early modern Jewish community and its self-governing institutions, had well-established roots in the medieval period, but it was only in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the post-Westphalia (1648) era, that its distinctive legislative and judicial features were fully developed and widely adopted. The participation of rabbinic authorities in communal government and their consultative role alongside lay governing officials was of particular importance. As unofficial jurisconsultants, they provided guidance on matters of legislation, when a legal ambiguity required clarification, or when litigation involving the community was pending. Poskim (halakhic decisors) were asked to review and, in some instances, interpret communal bylaws. Important new trends in legal decision-making in areas of dispute resolution and judicial discretion and the devising of legal remedies to ease social or economic difficulties provides valuable illustrations of responsiveness to social and economic change. Legal activism is especially notable in areas of law relating to the rights of women regarding inheritance and marital property. Despite lay hegemony in community affairs, religion continued to be a potent force in civil government and legislation, and there was a far greater degree of cooperation between the lay and rabbinic authorities than has been previously assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examine how earlier 18th and 19th c. antiquaries and scientists mentioned the presence of textile remnants on metal objects • We draw a parallel with contemporary work on a related mechanism, the petrification of wood • We show that the petrification of wood gave rise to experimental archaeology as early as the 16th c. • We discuss how material transformation is influenced by alchemical views of transmutation and imprinting • This conceptualisation has an impact on our contemporary study of mineralised textiles In temperate latitudes, archaeological textiles are rarely found during excavations, except when they have been mineralised in contact with metal artefacts, copper or iron-based. Mineralised textiles are often the only direct source of information on the textile techniques and processes of ancient civilisations. Vivi Sylwan's description of textiles along the Silk Road in the early 20th century is often considered the first detailed archaeological description of mineralised textiles, while the physico-chemist Leo Biek pioneered their microscopic description. In this paper, we examine how antiquaries and scholars from the 18th and the first half of the 19th century identified and studied the presence of textile remains on metal objects, seemingly aware of the significance of these findings. These descriptions share common concepts and vocabulary with writings from the 16th to the early 18th century on petrification of wood. The authors not only show an awareness of and an interest in textile remains, but also question, including experimentally, the process of mineralisation, shaping the modern perception of it with concepts such as "transmutation" or "imprinting". These ancient sources had a lasting impact on our contemporary appraisal of these materials, as we shall discuss in the second stage of this review, which will be devoted to contemporary methods of studying archaeological mineralised textiles. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a study of a rare seventeenth century palm-leaf manuscript named the Grahaṇamukura, which has been carefully preserved in a private collection for more than 400 years. This manuscript was used to calculate eclipses, and has bilingual text, with verses in Sanskrit and a commentary in Kannaḍa, a southern Indian language. It is a handy manual for the prediction of eclipses following the methods prescribed in treatises. In the absence of the name of the author anywhere in the text, we conjecture that it was written by the father-son duo, Demaṇa Joyisaru and Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa Joyisaru of Sringeri. In this paper the contents of the text are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard model of the Universe in the 16th and 17th centuries was a geocentric planetary system imbedded in a homocentric shell that held the stars. In a previous paper, we discussed the book Alae seu Scalae Mathematicae of 1573 in which Thomas Digges laid out his methodology for the measurement of small diurnal parallaxes of celestial objects. Further, we discussed that book's sequel, the essay A Perfit Description of the Caelestiall Orbes of 1576, in which he claims to disprove the theory that the Earth is the center of the Universe. Here we examine the empirical grounds upon which Digges' claim rests in order to see whether the data that he might have collected support his claim. The methodology of the present argument is spelled out. We conclude that line-of-sight instruments like cross-staffs cannot account for Digges' claims, but that the higher resolution offered by telescopes can. The context of Digges' works is briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates and discusses four instruments found in a sixteenth century Spanish book of navigation. The night clock is a rather standard application of similar instruments known since the fourteenth century in Europe. Cortés' explanation of the causes of the deviation of the magnetic and geographical north is quite original. His instrument to correct for that the Polaris deviates from the North Celestial Pole is an original way of presenting the practical tradition of Spanish mariners. The general sundial is essentially a copy of the same instrument appearing in in Peter Apian's books Cosmographia LIber and Ein kunstlich Instrument but with an addition for finding the azimuth of sunrise and sunset. The paper also investigates a simple rule for finding the age of the Moon for any date. Observations of the Moon and its phases were an important part of navigational art for predicting with the tides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nova Zembla is a tall, skinny island north of Russia above the Arctic Circle. This article is about the maps that describe Nova Zembla and the geographical region surrounding it that were published from 1562 to 1650. From 1562 until 1592, all maps spelled it "Nova Zemla" and drew it either as one of the giant circumpolar islands or as a peninsula of one. Thereafter, some maps used "Zemla," and some used "Zembla," but almost all maps represented it as an independent island. This article discusses the explorers who sailed near Nova Zembla in the last half of the sixteenth century and how they created the history of the name Nova Zembla. The evolution of the spelling and shape of Nova Zembla is analogous to punctuated equilibria in paleontological evolution. Using maps containing Nova Zembla, this article shows that the Dutch-Drake La Heroike Interprinse ... map was made in the last decade of the sixteenth century, probably around 1594. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a historical perspective, 'psychology' can be studied from an abundance of angels. Thus, a selected perspective requires some historiographical reflections, but also a conscious awareness of the actual chosen terms that are at stake. In this study, the historiographical perspective follows an emergent understanding of the history, which implies that the actual chosen terms are dynamically contributing to a web of terms, in which all of them may change in more or less unpredictable directions. In line with this, the aspect of music is consciously chosen, as it probably is one of the most ignored aspects of psychology in historical research. Thus, the findings in this study reveal that music as the 'direct factor' played an overarching role in the nineteenth centuries experimental psychology, but also that the changes in the understanding of music in the early sixteenth century is comparable with the changes the understanding of the soul underwent along with the introduction of the neologism 'psychology'. In the understanding of both music and the soul the sensational aspects replaced the mathematical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussion of the battle of Blore Heath (23 September 1459) has focused on the role of Cheshire gentry. This reflects a historiographical tradition that began early in the sixteenth century with Edward Hall. Attempts to reframe analysis of the battle, and in particular to understand dispositions and manoeuvres on the battlefield itself, have placed weight on the evidence of Jehan de Waurin's chronicle of Great Britain. Compiled from his vantage point at the duke of Burgundy's court using newsletters and similar materials, Waurin's account has significant limitations. These are assessed here, alongside further evidence in other narrative sources. This allows for a clearer understanding of the participation of men from across the north-west midlands in the king's forces, as also of the small group of core followers who accompanied the earl of Salisbury on his journey to rendezvous with the duke of York and other opponents of the court party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsidy rolls of the 1540s and 1560s from the collection of Thomas Gregory, Coventry city clerk from 1528 to 1570, provide relative comparisons among Coventry's wards over time. The various wards remained fairly consistent in relative wealth during the sixteenth century, and despite more diverse markets in the latter part of the century textiles still remained important. The central wards were the wealthiest, and wealth decreased moving towards the suburbs. The outer wards and suburbs were not necessarily poor, they just held few of the wealthiest merchants. The suburban wards of Spon and Gosford benefited from the growth of cap making. The incredibly wealthy wool and cloth merchants disappear by the mid-sixteenth century, but there is clear retention of the class of moderately wealthy gentry and merchants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Young, Restless, Reformed" movement has sought to establish itself upon reformational foundations rooted within the sixteenth century. The new movement's undertaking, however, has virtually ignored the differences between its own adherence to "limited atonement" and the developed theology of Martin Luther. Even on an academic level, the legacy of gratia universalis ensconced within confessional Lutheranism has been largely lost to the Reformed imagination. This article focuses upon relevant materials in Luther's Lectures on Galatians (1531/1535) and his Sermon on John 1:29 (1537), as well as the pertinent statements found within early Lutheran confessions. What emerges is a Lutheran tradition that espoused both "unconditional election" and a robust form of "unlimited atonement," a divine provision of redemption and satisfaction for all. In Lutheran theology, this provision in Christ extra nos serves as an objective foundation for confident faith. As contemporary Reformed scholars increasingly delve into the diversity of the Reformed tradition within early modernity, the distinctive Lutheran voice is another legacy worth remembering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mañjuśrībhāṣita-Citrakarmaśāstra, a Sanskrit śilpa work discovered in Sri Lanka, deals exclusively with Buddhist image making. It provides technical instructions for the fabrication of Buddhist images as well as guidance for initial and final consecrations. This article offers a comparative intertextual study of the main body of the manuscript, including chapters concerning tree selection, the ratnanyāsa ritual, the techniques of clay modeling in the making of images, and the eye-opening ceremony. This study suggests that the Mañjuśrībhāṣita-Citrakarmaśāstra bears a remarkable resemblance to South Indian Hindu śilpa texts and does not perfectly correspond with actual practices and performances. The main part of the Mañjuśrībhāṣita-Citrakarmaśāstra is probably dated no earlier than the 11th century but no later than the 16th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titian's work has from the sixteenth century to the present day motivated an important series of literary allusions and ekphrastic or culturalist exercises. This study addresses, in a way that is unprecedented, a critical analysis of the presence of Titian and his work in Spanish Renaissance and Baroque poetry. A considerable number of great authors (from Gutierre de Cetina to Lope de Vega and Quevedo) show Titian's influence on their works over a wide range of literary themes and techniques. Within the field of study of the ancient relationships between painting and poetry, the texts selected in this work are important because they represent a first lyrical interpretation of the brilliant Venetian painter in Spanish literature, a precedent for the rich and heterogeneous contemporary poetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political and economic discussions of inequality have boomed since the second half of the twentieth century, but concepts of equality and inequality are far older. Understanding the longer intellectual history of inequality helps deepen understandings of how the concept has changed over time, as well as across different societies, and how concepts of equality have been pre-figured to accommodate concepts of inequality. Concepts of equality have been informed by culturally relative theories of justice and beliefs about institutions that can help rationalise situations of inequality. This article examines how Scholastic examinations of equality in Europe during the Middle Ages came to focus both on the importance of property and proportionality, the need to differentiate between people of different status, and how this was developed by the so-called Second Scholastics during the emergence of the Spanish Empire in the sixteenth century and helped lay the foundations for the concepts of inequality that came to structure global imperialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spelled in several different ways, the word 'doubt', usually in the plural 'doubts' (dubbi, dubitazioni) appears on the frontispiece of several works printed in Venice and elsewhere in Italy in the sixteenth century. Building on different traditions, ranging from the pseudo‐Aristotelian Problemata to Medieval didactic literature, these texts, normally in the vernacular, address questions that the average reader may have on a variety of topics: from thermal baths to indulgences, from natural philosophy to duel. While usually the term 'doubt' means 'question', things can be sometimes less straightforward, especially when it comes to religious texts or works penned by unorthodox writers, as in the case of Ortensio Lando's Quattro libri di dubbi. This article will explore paratextual elements of works addressing doubts focusing on a variety of topics such as readership, definitions of doubt and its function, the role of these works in the dissemination of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the historical consumption of pork in Croatia through a comprehensive analysis of pig bones from six medieval archaeological sites, comprising three castles and three monasteries dating from the 13th to the 16th century A.D. Employing a detailed morphological analysis of pig bones and teeth, the study quantified the number of identified specimens (NISP) per site. On bones and teeth, identification of sex and age was performed, and butchery patterns were documented. The results revealed a significant presence of pork in the diet of castle and monastery inhabitants, with pig bones being the most abundant animal remains. Age analysis suggested a prevalence of juvenile pigs, predominantly males. The findings implied that from the 13th to the 16th century A.D., pork was a staple in the diet of castles and monasteries in continental Croatia, sourced from pig breeding outside these sites. Typically, male pigs aged under two years were delivered for consumption to these establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across western North America (WNA), 20th-21st century anthropogenic warming has increased the prevalence and severity of concurrent drought and heat events, also termed hot droughts. However, the lack of independent spatial reconstructions of both soil moisture and temperature limits the potential to identify these events in the past and to place them in a long-term context. We develop the Western North American Temperature Atlas (WNATA), a data-independent 0.5° gridded reconstruction of summer maximum temperatures back to the 16th century. Our evaluation of the WNATA with existing hydroclimate reconstructions reveals an increasing association between maximum temperature and drought severity in recent decades, relative to the past five centuries. The synthesis of these paleo-reconstructions indicates that the amplification of the modern WNA megadrought by increased temperatures and the frequency and spatial extent of compound hot and dry conditions in the 21st century are likely unprecedented since at least the 16th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city of Valencia (Spain) is famous for its Gothic bridges, built in the 16th century. Today, the bridges no longer cross over the Turia River but have become walkways over one of the most extensive gardens in Europe. One of these bridges is the Serranos Bridge, the oldest bridge in the city and for centuries, it was the only one that existed. This research narrates the evolution of the historical changes related to this bridge, using Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) technology. The Serranos Bridge (and related Serranos Towers) were recorded with the help of terrestrial laser scanning, and parametric 3D modelling was followed after scan-to-HBIM. By referring to historical documents and traces from the past, the height of the historic wall of the city was obtained and used to recreate the urban footprint of the area. In addition, the details of the historical bridge components and the subsequent volumetric changes were reconstructed through HBIM. This investigation shows that there is a common symbol in the historical bridges of Valencia, called Casilicium, of which no traces can be identified in the present bridge. The effective integration of historical data, geomatics and HBIM can be used to understand the past and its complex transformation over six centuries with unprecedented expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the implications of organizational control on the race for technological leadership in merchant empires. I provide an illustrative framework in which poor organizations have reduced incentives to invest, which in turn stifle technology improvements making leaders lag new entrants. In the late sixteenth century, Portugal's large ships carried more merchandise and were more fitting of the monarch's grandiose preferences, but they also were more prone to disaster. The merchant-controlled Dutch East India Company however, invested in smaller but more seaworthy vessels conducting more voyages at a much lower loss rate. The surviving historical evidence shows Portugal relying on large ships well into the seventeenth century suggesting her technological edge was gone by the time the Dutch dominated the Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isaac Abrahamides, using the predicate Hrochotius, was one of the leading figures of the Reformation in Upper Hungary at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. A large manuscript collection of his sermons has been preserved from the period 1600-1601, when Abrahamides was an evangelical preacher in Zvolen. The main language of the sermons is Slovakized Czech, accompanied by frequent passages in Latin. In addition, Germanisms and Hungarisms are also present in the Czech text. The language is also supplemented by glosses in Greek and Hebrew. The study notes the context in which the different languages were used and focuses on the rhetorical practices of the preacher. Compares the role of developed literary languages with the living vernacular that facilitated understanding for sermon audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article raises some of the philosophical relations between Spain and Latin America from the 16th century to the 20th century. Against the narrative of current philosophical historiography, according to which Spain contributed nothing to modern philosophy, the article argues that the debates around the humanity of the American Indians and the just war contributed to expanding the idea of humankind to the time contributions were made to international law; Likewise, that the political philosophy of Francisco Suárez contributed to founding the idea of contractualism and social contract in modernity. Finally, it is argued that seen from America, the Spanish Enlightenment, Krausism and the contributions of Ortega y Gasset allowed the entry of Our America into European philosophical modernity and its tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to analyze the administration of justice in the Kingdom of Navarre concerning severe crimes during 16th and 17th centuries. Despite possessing significant deterrents such as death penalties and penal servitude, the justice system seldom implemented them. The research scrutinizes both the legislative framework regarding these crimes in Navarre and its practical application, drawing insights from numerous archival records of cases involving fatal aggression preserved in the General Archive of Navarre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]