Syllabus for Western Civilization course on Medieval and Early Modern Europe taught at UCLA in Spring 2016.

Being part of a monography on the origins of Portuguese and Galician identities, this paper studies how future Portugal and Galicia, being part of a same polty in the Early Middle Ages, became different countries although maintaining strong cultural and historical links.

Case study on the territorialization of Early Medieval Galicia (NW Iberia) centered on the land of O Salnés, taking into account the meaning of the place-name, the Roman past, the political organziation (county of Slnés), the appropriation of the land and the defensive system agains the Northmen iand Moslem sea-attacks.

Being part of a monography on the origins of Portuguese and Galician identities, this paper studies how future Portugal and Galicia, being part of a same polty in the Early Middle Ages, became different countries although maintaining strong cultural and historical links.

Case study on the territorialization of Early Medieval Galicia (NW Iberia) centered on the land of O Salnés, taking into account the meaning of the place-name, the Roman past, the political organziation (county of Slnés), the appropriation of the land and the defensive system agains the Northmen iand Moslem sea-attacks.

This paper considers how the narratives composed by seventh- and eighth-century authors reflect conceptions of one of the communities of which the authors were a part; the community of the
regnum Francorum. I will focus on five historical authors who particularly embody the developments which took place in these centuries: the compiler of the…[Read more]

This paper considers how the narratives composed by seventh- and eighth-century authors reflect conceptions of one of the communities of which the authors were a part; the community of the
regnum Francorum. I will focus on five historical authors who particularly embody the developments which took place in these centuries: the compiler of the…[Read more]

This paper considers how the narratives composed by seventh- and eighth-century authors reflect conceptions of one of the communities of which the authors were a part; the community of the
regnum Francorum. I will focus on five historical authors who particularly embody the developments which took place in these centuries: the compiler of the…[Read more]

This paper examines a 9th-century Arabic text of genethlialogical astrology, arguing that while it presents itself as heir to a Greek science deriving from India, it is also a testament to the pervasive role played by Sasanian intellectual culture in the 8th- to 10th-century Greek-Arabic translation movement. After a description of the…[Read more]

Spaniards often feel surprised when they visualise the renowned drawing reproduced below, ascribed (erroneously as it seems, but that is another story) to Lucas Cornelisz van Kunst, the successful Dutch painter of the Tudor era. A brief glance to John of Gaunt’s portrait suffices to notice the distinctive coat of arms of the English members of t…[Read more]

The historical narrative of water purity tends to chart a process of secularisation with an
increasing importance on cleanliness. We suggest otherwise – that rhetorically at least, water
has never been secularised. Moral impurity and water contamination have a long and
interrelated history. Even before the connection had been made between c…[Read more]

The historical narrative of water purity tends to chart a process of secularisation with an
increasing importance on cleanliness. We suggest otherwise – that rhetorically at least, water
has never been secularised. Moral impurity and water contamination have a long and
interrelated history. Even before the connection had been made between c…[Read more]

Thābit b. Qurra (d. 288/901), a Sabian of Ḥarrān, and his descendants remained in their ancestral religion for six generations. Why did they persist despite pressure to convert? This article argues that religious self-identification as a Sabian could be a distinct advantage in Baghdad’s elite circles. It focuses on Thābit’s great-grandson Abū…[Read more]

War Studies Primer is an introductory course on the study of war and military history. It is available at http://www.warstudiesprimer.org under a Creative Commons license.

Computer Histories is an introductory course on the history of computing. It is available at http://www.computerhistories.org under a Creative Commons license.

This short piece reflects on the reception of the reissue of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ in 2016, and serves as an end piece to a collection of articles on ‘Mein Kampf’ curated by the German Historical Institute, London, in 2017. The collection appears in the Bulletin of the German Historical Institute and can be accessed in its entirely on the…[Read more]

During the Thirty Years’ War, John Taylor served at the Habsburg courts in Brussels, Madrid, and Vienna. Although he figured prominently in Charles I’s secret Habsburg foreign policy during the war, published information on Taylor is sparse. His story is especially compelling given his own and his family’s connections with Continental Catho…[Read more]

During the seventeenth century, the expansion of central administration and the confessionalization of court patronage offered able and educated Catholic commoners and lesser nobles increased opportunities for successful careers in the Imperial service and, consequently, for upward mobility. This study will trace the rise of one such man, Clement…[Read more]

This article argues that during World War I, the Syrian and Lebanese periodical press in the American mahjar created new space for transnational political activism. In São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and New York City, diasporic journalists and political activists nurtured a new nationalist narrative and political culture in the press. In a public…[Read more]

Established in 1920, al-Nadi al-Homsi in Sao Paulo, Brazil was a young men’s club devoted to ˜Syrian patriotic activism and culture in the American mahjar (diaspora). Founded by a transnational network of intellectuals from Homs, the fraternity committed itself to what it saw as a crucial aspect of Syrian national independence under Amir Fa…[Read more]