The significance of this manuscript which was written about the year 1322 lies not only in its artistic decoration, but also in the extensive texts which are preserved only in this form. A remarkable series of tewlve full-page miniatures describes the life of the great spanish philosopher, Ramon Lull, and presents in allegorical form the content of his work. The miniatures close with an impressive dedication-page portraying the presentation on three manuscripts by Thomas Le Myésier, a pupil of Lull in Paris, to the Queen of France, Jeanne de Bourgogne-Artois, the wife of Philip V. The Karlsruhe manuscript is one of these books, the „Electorium parvum seu Breviculum“. These three books - of which two are preserved - are compendia of Lull’s works and teachings prepared by Le Myésier (died in 1336), who sought to make the works of his master known to a wider public.

The contributions in this volume assess the value of the acoustic in the Middle Ages and evaluate its importance in medieval literature. Although a great deal of research in Medieval Studies has focused on issues related to visuality, there has never been an in-depth study of the significance of auditivity in medieval courtly culture. The implications of sound and hearing have likewise remained unexamined. The essays (from John Greenfield, Harald Haferland, Susanne Knaeble, Andreas Kraß, Claudia Lauer, William Layher, Sylvan Wagner and Viola Wittmann) face the challenge of recovering that which seems to have faded away: the audible Middle Ages. Using a rigorous approach to examine acoustic phenomena and their reception in medieval texts and the cultures that produced them, this volume presents new insights about the richness of cultural production in the Middle Ages.

Die in diesem Band versammelten 930 Inschriften dokumentieren die Geschichte Passaus als bedeutender Bischofssitz im Südosten des Reiches und Handelsstadt am Zusammenfluss von Inn und Donau. Besondere Schwerpunkte der Überlieferung bilden die Bereiche des Domhofes und der Spitäler, in die viele Inschriften aus anderen Kirchen im 19. Jahrhundert verbracht wurden. Neben den Inschriften der Domkanoniker und des bischöflichen Haushaltes findet sich in den Denkmälern auch das Passauer Bürgertum. Gerade für diese Personengruppe bildet die Inschriftenedition auf Grund der besonderen Überlieferungssituation in Passau eine wichtige neue Quelle. Inschriftenkundlich besonders interessant ist das Auftreten der Gotico-Antiqua, die einzig in Passau in der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts zur dominierenden epigraphischen Schrift wurde.

This book offers a new interpretation of early Abbasid palaces as “impermanent monuments.” Synthesizing an array of sources, ranging from archaeological finds and classical Arabic literature to modern studies on the social and intellectual history of Islamic civilization, it reveals ways in which the Abbasid court designed, decorated, presented, and documented its palaces to leave lasting legacies of imperial power with what were considered at the time to be impermanent structures. In doing so, it sheds light on an architectural concept endemic to early Islamic Iraq that challenges popular notions of the monument as permanent and unchanging. The main palace of Samarra, known as the Dār al-Khilāfa, serves as the primary case study for this phenomenon, and the book includes an inventory of some of the fragments of architectural ornament found in this palace during the excavations of Ernst Herzfeld.

The most striking feature of Michael Psellos' “Chronographia”, one of the major works of byzantine historiography, is the intensive presence of its author's personality, manifested by long autobiographical digressions. This feature has been criticised by many scholars as a violation of traditional historiographical rules. However, a thorough analysis of the text shows that the autobiographical elements of the “Chronographia” are well integrated in its narrative structure and fulfil carefully calculated functions. Psellos’ self-presentation in his “Chronographia” is not a literary fault but a successful innovation.

Zwischen 1986 und 1996 wurden auf dem Gräberfeld von Lauchheim (Ostalbkreis) über 1300 Gräber ausgegraben. Es gehört damit zu den wichtigsten Bestattungsplätzen des Frühmittelalters. Die Auswertung der Gräber und der reichhaltigen Beigaben stellte aufgrund des immensen Umfangs eine Herausforderung dar, die nur durch den Einsatz innovativer Dokumentationsansätze und moderner Restaurierungsmethoden bewältigt werden konnte. Der zweite Teil des Katalogwerks umfasst die Gräber 301–600 und stellt die Befunde und Funde in einem ausführlichen Text und auf über 300 farbigen Tafeln vor.