Apocalypse and Atonement in the Politics of Æthelredian England
This paper discusses contemporary responses to the events of the reign of King Æthelred II (“the Unready”) of England (978–1016). It focuses on two particularly well-evidenced interpretations of the tribulations of the age: the penitential view of these as divine punishment, which might be lifted by an appropriate form of atonement; and the apocalyptic view of them as signs of the approaching Last Judgement and end of time. These have traditionally been treated as distinct and mutually exclusive lines of interpretation; however, it is argued here that they were, in fact, intimately related. On this basis, it is suggested that a closer connection existed between penitential and eschatological thought in the early and central Middle Ages than has hitherto been appreciated.
The Coinage of Æthelred II: A New Evaluation
ABSTRACT Even at the beginning of his long and turbulent reign (978–1016), Æthelred II's coinage was an impressive institution. Mint-places across the kingdom issued silver pennies of identical design, each sporting an image of the king surrounded by his name and title while the reverse named both the man responsible for manufacture (the moneyer) and the location where he produced the coin. Æthelred and his subjects inherited this currency from Edgar (959–75) and Edward the Martyr (975–8), but were not content to rest on their laurels. Indeed, the reign of Æthelred saw the evolution of the most ambitious form of coinage yet seen in England. Nationwide recoinages became frequent for the first time since the ninth century, and the coinage emerged as a potent tool of symbolic expression. It probably also helped attract the attention of Viking aggressors, and facilitated the collection and transfer of tribute.
Snapshots of the Balkans through ethnographic investigation of the linguistic landscape
This paper investigates the linguistic landscape of Dubrovnik and Kotor on the Southeastern Adriatic coast, and Mytilene in the north Aegean attempting a theorization of its findings at the intersection of (socio)linguistics, ethnography, and semiotics, which has gained ground as the platform of choice in linguistic landscape (LL) research. I argue that the influx of both tourists and refugees, despite the obvious differences between the two groups, has had radical consequences for the LL which have so far attracted virtually no attention in the relevant literature. And yet, tourism and the arrival of new populations have considerable and lasting effects on the LL which can only be adequately investigated by systematic ethnographic studies of the semiotic means employed in inscribing it. Nevertheless, ethnography, as a methodological sociolinguistic tool, cannot substitute or supersede cognitive aspects of language. If doing LL research means doing semiotic landscape research, then we also have to consider semiosis and higher-order indexicality qua categorization. I understand ethnographic LL research as contributing to a better comprehension of the dynamic indexical relation between language and physical space (turned into place through human agency). Just as a certain accent and particular morphosyntactic choices may index the place of origin of a speaker, a specific LL may index populations and their socioeconomic relations at a certain historical moment. Focusing on these dynamic indexical relations may have far-reaching consequences for superdiversity as a way of making sense of language-in-society.