Contributions of the group Medieval Europe

Mystras - Hagios Demetrios

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:24:13 +0000

Mystras is a Byzantine ruined city near the village of the same name, northwest of Sparta.

The history of Mystras begins with the Fourth Crusade. When the Crusaders conquered the Peloponnese in 1206/1207, Godfrey I of Villehardouin became Prince of Achaea. His son, William II, conquered the rest of Laconia and in 1249 built a strong hilltop fortress in Mystras, which had previously been uninhabited.

In 1259, William II was captured by the troops of the Byzantine Emperor and secured his release by surrendering Mystras. The Greek inhabitants of Sparta, weary of Crusader rule, settled in Mystras, located just three kilometers away. A flourishing city grew up below the castle, eventually boasting a population of tens of thousands.
Mystras was conquered by the Ottomans in 1460. Minarets began to appear alongside churches and monasteries. The city came under Venetian control in 1687, but fell back to the Ottoman Turks as early as 1715.

In 1770, during a Russo-Turkish war, troops from the Balkans, who had invaded the Peloponnese on Ottoman orders, devastated the city. This marked the end of Mystras's heyday. During the Greek War of Independence, the city was subsequently so severely destroyed that plans for its reconstruction were abandoned. Instead, a short time later, Sparta, which had been abandoned centuries earlier, was rebuilt.

Mystras has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

The Church of Hagios Demetrios, the earliest of the surviving churches of Mystras, is the metropolitan church, It is a wooden roofed basilica.
The church was founded between 1263 and 1272 by the Bishop Eugenios, whose tomb was discovered in the church. The paintings were commissioned by Bishop Theodosios and date to approximately 1272.
Inscriptions dedicate the structure to Nikiphoros, Metropolitan of Laconia, however, he was undoubtedly not the founder, he likely only commissioned the construction of the narthex around 1310.

Mystras

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 20:31:12 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Argos - Byzantine Museum of Argolida

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:35:07 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The museum houses an extensive collection of artefacts representing early Byzantine culture, that is, the Christianisation that took place at the end of the Roman Empire. These were collected in the Argolis region, of which Argos forms part.

Part of a marble slab depicting
an acrobat
12th c AD / Crusaders-Franks

Larnaca - Pierides Museum

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 21:59:51 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

With a population of over 50,000, Larnaca is one of the largest cities in Cyprus.

The Pierides Museum is the oldest private museum in Cyprus. The Pierides family, which worked as consuls for various countries, created this collection over five generations with the aim of protecting and preserving Cyprus' antiquities and preventing the loss of the island's history. Since 2000, the museum has been mainly supported by the Cyprus Popular Bank.

In 1191, King Richard the Lionheart of England, who had co-led the Third Crusade, conquered the island. In the same year, he sold the island to the Knights Templar, who returned it to him in 1192 following a Cypriot uprising that had been quelled with great difficulty. Richard then sold the island to Guy of Lusignan, the deposed titular King of Jerusalem. His brother and heir, Amalric, recognised the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI as his suzerain in 1196, thereby legitimising his position against the Byzantine Emperor’s formal claim, and had himself crowned King of Cyprus by one of Henry’s representatives. The Kingdom lasted until 1489. This "Frankish Period" connected Cyprus to European civilisation without dislodging it from its Hellenistic, Byzantine and Eastern origins.

Clay bowl - wedding bowl
Such bowls,decorated with a couple embracing, were gifts at weddings
14th c. AD

Warburg - Museum im Stern

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:30:53 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Warburg was first mentioned in a document around 1010. There was a castle from which one could monitor a ford that merchants had to pass through to Warburg and Paderborn. The castle owned by Count Dodiko passed to the Bishop of Paderborn in 1020. People settled under the protection of the castle and around 1180 the old town of Warburg was granted town charter.

The new town of Warburg was founded in 1228-29 by Bernhard IV zur Lippe, Bishop of Paderborn, in order to strengthen his political position in the area against attacks by the Bishop of Cologne. By 1239, the new town had developed into an independent town. In 1260, the new town was granted the right to build a city wall, not only against armies from afar, but even - explicitly - against the old town.

In 1364, both the Old Town and the New Town became members of the Hanseatic League. By 1436 they had settled their differences and in the same year they merged into one city.

The Museum im Stern is the city museum of Warburg. It is housed in Haus Stern, a former medieval noble residence in Warburg's Neustadt.

This is the document in which Bishop Simon of Paderborn decreed the legal equality of the inhabitants of both cities in 1256.

Hüsten - St. Petri

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 13:25:23 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Neheim-Hüsten existed from 1941 to 1974. It was created by merging the town of Neheim and the municipality of Hüsten. The town was incorporated into Arnsberg in 1975 and continues to exist as a single district.

Hüsten was first mentioned in a document in 802, making it one of the oldest communities in Westphalia. The parish of St. Petri was first mentioned in 1179. In 1360, Count Gottfried IV of Arnsberg granted the town civil rights. In 1604, almost all the houses and stables burned down. In 1613, nearly half of the population died of the plague. In 1807, a major fire destroyed Hüsten.

The industrial revolution reached the town with the founding (1839/1846) of a heavy industrial company ("Hüstener Gewerkschaft"). In 1839, the Hüsten rolling mill was founded. Until the closure of this operation in 1966, Hüsten was as closely associated, both positively and negatively, with the "Gewerkschaft." From 1871 to 1911 the population increased from 1578 to 6609 inhabitants.

The history of St. Petri Church dates back to the 9th century, the time of Christianization. St. Petri church in Hüsten was thus one of the main parishes in the Sauerland region. The parish originally encompassed the entire Röhrtal valley and the present-day Arnsberg city area. As late as 1179, Hüsten was still officially the mother church of the Oelinghausen nunnery, founded in 1174.

The first church building was made of wood. A stone structure followed around 1150. The building was a Romanesque pillar basilica. It had a central nave and two side aisles. The tower still dates from that building. After a fire in the 15th century, the church was rebuilt in the original style. In the 17th century, the tower was raised several meters.

By the 19th century, the building had finally proved too small. Initial plans for a new building date back to 1831. However, due to financial difficulties, construction did not begin until 1861. The old building was demolished except for the tower.

The new building is a neo-Gothic hall church.

Saint-Côme d'Olt - on va par là ?

nobody@ipernity.com (Anne H) — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 14:15:05 +0000

Anne H has posted:

altes Fenster in der Stadt Viana de Castello

nobody@ipernity.com (Ulrich Dinges) — Fri, 24 May 2024 13:45:46 +0000

Ulrich Dinges has posted:

Château de Nemours

nobody@ipernity.com (Eric Desjours) — Sat, 25 May 2024 20:53:19 +0000

Eric Desjours has posted:

(meilleure en plein écran)
D'origine médiévale (if fut édifié au XIIe siècle), ce château se situe idéalement au cœur de la vieille ville, en bordure de la rivière qui la traverse, le Loing. Il est particulièrement bien conservé et est inscrit aux monuments historiques en 1977.
Il fut bâti en conjonction avec l'église Saint-Jean Le Baptiste que je montrerai ultérieurement. Au XVe siècle, il est restauré pour le rendre plus habitable, dans le goût de la Renaissance.
Il fit office tantôt de prison et de tribunal, et au XIXe siècle d'école, de théâtre, de salle de bal et de magasins. Pour éviter sa destruction suite à une lente détérioration, un comité de sauvegarde le transforme en musée en 1903.
Restauré en 2007, il abrite un fonds de plus de 25 000 œuvres d'art (estampes, dessins, peintures, sculptures, puis photographies) régulièrement exhibées lors d'expositions temporaires.

Je ressens comme un souffle historique et épique à la vue de cet édifice, qui s'apparente, pour moi, à celui du Scherzo de la 5ème de Mahler :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabQ6sq7x5E&t=224s

Eglise Saint-Germain, commune de Boësses (Loiret)

nobody@ipernity.com (Eric Desjours) — Mon, 13 May 2024 19:31:04 +0000

Eric Desjours has posted:

Inscrite au registre des monuments historiques.
Son admirable porche roman en forme de promenoir (PiPs), en appentis couvert d'un toit de tuiles, date de la fin du XIIe siècle. Ses colonnettes sont coiffées de chapiteaux à corbeilles, tous décorés de motifs différents : feuillage, masques, dessins géométriques, ...

L'église, non visitable en dehors des messes qui y sont célébrées, se compose d'une nef avec bas-côtés, d'un transept et d'un chœur à chevet plat.
Les deux premiers étages de la tour du clocher carré datent également de l'époque romane. Celle-ci est surmontée d'une flèche qui s'est légèrement vrillée lors de travaux de restauration au XIXe siècle où sa charpente fut libérée. D'où son enregistrement à l'Association des Clochers Tors d’Europe.

Une idée de la musique profane de l'époque :
www.youtube.com/shortlink
(Raimon de Miraval, troubadour de langue d'oc, région de l'Albigeois, haut lieu Cathare aux 12 et 13è siècles)

Jerez de la Frontera - Muralla

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 21:18:42 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Vandals and the Visigoths ruled the area until in 711 the Arabs defeated the troops of Visigoth King Roderic in a battle near Jerez.

In 1145 the Almohads conquered the city. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Jerez underwent a period of great development, building its defense system and setting the current street layout of the old town.

In 1231 the Battle of Jerez took place. Christian troops under the command of Álvaro Pérez de Castro, grandson of Alfonso VII, defeated the troops of the Emir Ibn Hud. After a month-long siege in 1261, the city surrendered to Castile, but its Muslim population remained. It rebelled and was finally defeated in 1264.

Today Jerez de la Frontera has well over 200,000 inhabitants.

The Wall of Jerez is a structure of Andalusian origin, built during the Almoravid dynasty. It includes the Alcazar and today's old town.

The walls are 2.60 meters thick and 9 meters high. They are made of rammed earth, partly of bricks and masonry.

Córdoba - Mezquita-Catedral

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 22:36:22 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Córdoba shares its history with many cities in Southern Spain. It was Carthaginian and Roman (from 260BC on), later it belonged to the Byzantine Empire for two decades, was looted by the Vandals before the Visigoths conquered it in 572. In 711 it was taken by the by the Umayyad army and became a provincial capital.
At that time a Christian church erected by the Visigoths was on the site, it was divided and shared by Muslims and Christians. The sharing agreement lasted until 784 when the Christian half was purchased by Emir Abd al-Rahman I, who then demolished the church and started to build the grand mosque of Córdoba on its ground. This narrative goes back to the tenth-century historian al-Razi.

The work of building the Mezquita employed thousands of artisans and laborers. After the first completion, it underwent numerous subsequent changes: Abd al-Rahman II ordered a new minaret, and Al-Hakam II enlarged the building and enriched the Mihrab. The Mezquita reached its current dimensions in 987 with the completion of the outer naves and courtyard.

It covers an area of more than 23.000 m².

The Mezquita still is one of the largest sacred buildings on earth. In the 10th century it was in the center of Cordoba, that with a population of upto 500.000, at that time it was one of the largest cities in the known world.

Toledo - El Cristo de la Luz

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 21:56:06 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

In 192 BC, the Romans conquered the area and founded the outpost Toletum. Due to its iron ore deposits, Toledo developed into an important settlement. Since the first barbarian invasions, the ancient walls were reinforced. In 411 the Alans and later the Visigoths conquered the city. Toledo was the capital of the Visigoths' empire from about 531 to 711.

The Moors conquered the place in 712. Toledo experienced its heyday during the period of Moorish rule as Ṭulayṭula during the Caliphate of Córdoba until its conquest by Alfonso VI in 1085, after a four-year siege. In 1088, only a few years after the conquest, Archbishop Bernard of Toledo obtained confirmation from Pope Urban II that Toledo should hold the "primatus in totis Hispaniarum regnis" (primacy in all the kingdoms of the Iberian dominions). The Archbishop of Toledo is still today the Primate of the Catholic Church of Spain.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Toledo school of translators translated ancient philosophical writings (Plato, Aristotle) that had been translated from Greek into Arabic, but also genuinely Arabic writings from the fields of astronomy, mathematics, Islamic religion and theology into Latin.

After the conquest by Alfonso VI, Toledo became the residence of the Kingdom of Castile in 1087 and remained the capital of Spain until 1561.

El Cristo de la Luz was erected in 999 as a mosque. It is in much the same state as it was when it was originally built. The Arabic inscription in Kufic on the building states that Musa Ibn Ali built it.

Legend has it that a shaft of light guided the king to a figurine of the crucified Christ that had been hidden for centuries. The legend says that King Alfonso VI arrived in Toledo after capturing the city in 1085 when his horse fell in front of this chapel.

In 1186, Alfonso VIII gave the building to the Knights of the Order of St John, who established it as the Chapel of the Holy Cross (Ermita de la Santa Cruz). It was at this time that the mosque was renamed and the apse was added.

The small, almost cubic mosque (side lengths and height are each about eight meters) has a square ground plan. About half of the building material used is fired brick and half is roughly hewn quarry stone, which is mostly arranged in horizontal bands, following the Roman model.

Naumburg - Dom

nobody@ipernity.com (Percy Schramm) — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:24:13 +0000

Percy Schramm has posted:

Blick in das Innere des Doms Richtung Ostlettner und Ostchor.
Der Naumburger Dom St. Peter und Paul stammt in seiner heutigen Form aus der 1. Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Es handelt ich bei dem Dom um eine sog. Doppelchoranlage - d.h. mit einem Chor an den beiden Schmalseiten.
Seit dem 1. Juli 2018 gehört der Naumburger Dom zum UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe.
Wünsche Allen einen schönen Donnerstag !
Better see large !

HFF !!!

nobody@ipernity.com (Percy Schramm) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 09:02:58 +0000

Percy Schramm has posted:

The best wishes for a nice and sunny weekend - and naturally for peace !
Das Foto zeigt den Pulverturm, einen Teil der mittelalterlichen Stadtbefestigung der brandenburgischen Kleinstadt Angermünde (s. auch das PiP mit einer anderen Perspektive). Wahrscheinlich wude der Turm im 15. Jh. als Wachturm der bereits bestehenden Stadtmauer errichtet. Er wurde u. a. als Verlies genutzt, ab 1740 wurde hier auch Pulver gelagert. Von 1877 bis 1914 befand sich im Turm eine Wohnung für Arme.
Der Turm ist 24 m hoch, und auf seiner Spitze befindet sich ein Storchennest. Eine Besichtigung ist z.Zt. nicht möglich.

Varese Ligure- Castello dei Fieschi

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 20:36:30 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Built by the Fieschi counts in the Middle Ages, the castle completed the new urban planning work started by the Fieschi feudal lords in the center of Varese and was called "Borgo Rotondo", due to its elliptical shape, a sort of "fortified citadel".

Schwarzrheindorf - St. Maria und Clemens

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 08:29:10 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The romanesque church "St. Maria und Clemens" in Schwarzrheindorf, now part of Bonn, is a "Doppelkirche". The "double church" has an upper church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and a lower church dedicated to Pope Clement I.

The church was built mid 12th century as a private chapel for Arnold of Wied, since 1151 Archbishop and Elector of Cologne. Adjacent to the church was once part of a castle belonging to the Wied family. In 1151 the church was dedicated in the presence of King Conrad III of Germany. After Arnold´s death his sister Hadwig founded a convent of Benedictine nuns here.

Later, the monastery became a "stift", a collegial body for female canons of noble origin. The upper gallery of the church was accessible only to the noble members of the community. In 1803 the stift was dissolved and the church was used for secular purposes until in 1868 it became a parish church.

The church is known for the medieval frescoes, which were covered by plaster for centuries, before they were discovered and restaurated in the mid 19th century.

Turmblick

nobody@ipernity.com (Percy Schramm) — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 22:44:46 +0000

Percy Schramm has posted:

Dieser Turm gehört als Bergfried zur mitterlalterlichen Burg von Burg Stargard, der nördlichsten Höhenburg Deutschlands - erbaut im 13. Jh. als Backsteinbau für den Markgrafen von Brandenburg. Der Bergfried selbst wurde 1821-1823 durch den Baumeister Friedrich Wilhelm Buttel umgebaut.

Altenkrempe - Basilika

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:29:42 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

In 1170 "Crempine" was mentioned for the first time. The origins of the name and the place are Slavic.

This "Crempene" was made a German location by Adolf III of Holstein in the course of the Slavic conversion and conquest and the Christian and German penetration of the area. Around 1280 the place was mentioned as "Antiqua Krempa". The additional name "Old" became necessary from 1244 to distinguish it from the new foundation "Nyge Crempe".

The basilica in Altenkrempe was probably begun in about 1190. Presumably, the start of the construction of the Altenkremper church marked the end of the local Slavic mission during the Wendish Crusade.

The church was built over eight hundred years ago from red bricks. On some of the bricks of the outer walls you can still find the fingerprints of the people who formed these bricks at that time.

Neues Tor

nobody@ipernity.com (Percy Schramm) — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 10:34:33 +0000

Percy Schramm has posted:

Der obere Teil des "Neuen Tores" - eines von 4 Stadttoren in Neubrandenburg (Landkreis Mecklenburgische Seenplatte). Dieses Tor im Stil der Backsteingotik stammt aus dem 15. Jh. An der Stadtseite des Haupttores befinden sich acht sog. Adorantinnen, die die Hände segnend der Stadt entgegenstrecken. Über ihre genaue Bedeutung ist Nichts bekannt (vielleicht Schutzengel).
Wünsche Allen einen schönen Samstag !
Better see large !