http://www.netserf.org/ NetSERF brings you the latest news and information concerning topics from the Middle Ages. en-us Beau A.C. Harbin Copyright Beau A.C. Harbin, 2005 2009-07-04 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 (BBC News) The Vatican is to publish a book which is expected to shed light on the demise of the Knights Templar, a Christian military order from the Middle Ages. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1353 2007-10-05T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (University of York) "A lost medieval gild roll which yields important clues about the origins of the York Mystery Plays has been uncovered by experts at the University of York." http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1352 2007-02-14T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (This is Lancashire) A former army major from Preston has joined the world of literature at the grand of age of 81. Philip Kenyon, started work on his novel called Beausire more than 20 years ago but has only recently finished it off. He said: "I've always been interested in medieval history which is where I got the inspiration for the book." The story is based around Sir Phillip Beausire who battles in England and France against his sworn enemies Sir Ralph Pendalby and Jean de Corbeau. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1350 2006-12-21T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Scotsman.com) Viking longships ruled the seas 1,000 years ago and even crossed the Atlantic and now three of them may face a new perilous trip -- albeit just 6 km (4 miles) across Oslo. Oslo University, which looks after them, wants to move the ancient wooden vessels from the Viking Ship Museum on the edge of the Norwegian capital to a new city-centre museum for all Viking artefacts. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1348 2006-12-21T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (The Sentinel) Work is under way on a £200,000 scheme to improve the surroundings of an historic abbey.Improvements around Hulton Abbey include clearing overgrown plants, erecting new fencing, making improvements to paths, and adding new lighting, seats and interpretation boards, telling the story of the abbey and the monks who lived there. Stoke-on-Trent City Council and regeneration agency Renew North Staffordshire asked Abbey Hulton residents what work they wanted to see. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1349 2006-12-20T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (BBC News) An ancient church in East Sussex has been found to be 100 years older than was thought after restoration work uncovered hidden windows and paintings. The original construction of St Andrew's Church, at Bishopstone, near Seaford, is now being dated back as far as the late 7th Century. A four-year project costing £115,000 gave the church its first major restoration since the 1840s. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1347 2006-12-20T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Times Online) Home buyers are being forced to take out home insurance to avoid falling foul of medieval laws that mean they have to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for church repairs. More than 2,500 lawyers are calling for the scrapping of chancel repair liability, which they say is spawning a £20 million industry for insurance companies and increasing conveyancing costs for house buyers. The Law Society, the solicitors professional body, which has started an on-line petition signed by thousands of solicitors, says that historic tax on church repairs is unfair. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1351 2006-12-19T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (The Art Newspaper) An astonishing discovery in an Irish bog is posing an unusual conservation challenge. A chance find by a peat cutter last summer in County Tipperary, southern Ireland, turned out to be a psalter, which has been dated to around 800 AD. The discovery has been described as the Irish equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls. National Museum of Ireland conservator Rolly Read and his team are now stabilising the compacted vellum mass. The difficult issue is how to separate the pages, preserving as much as possible of the ancient text. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1344 2006-12-18T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Times Online) Roman and Anglo-Saxon jewellery and other artefacts are still being sold illegally on eBay, despite the websites promise to clamp down on the trade. The British Museum has told The Times that it is alarmed at the number of sellers offering gold and silver that has apparently been found on British soil but has not been reported. The Treasure Act 1996 requires the reporting of all gold and silver objects more than 300 years old, and groups of coins that are more than 300 years old and found on the same site. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1346 2006-12-18T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Copenhagen Post) The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde has reconstructed a long ship from the Viking age to undertake a voyage to Dublin, Ireland. An exact reconstruction of a Viking ship from the 11th century will be launched in 2007 on a historic journey from Roskilde to Dublin and back. Ship owner Carsten Brebøl's non-profit foundation has donated DKK 2 million to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde to support the project. The new ship has been dubbed The Sea Stallion. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1345 2006-12-18T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Berwick Today) A silver coin dating from the 13th century reign of King Henry III is among the medieval finds uncovered by archaeologists in the Walkergate area of Berwick. The short-cross penny, which is still in very good condition having been preserved in the soil for centuries, dates from the 1260s. "This date and the quality of the building's construction suggest that it may relate to the medieval heyday of Berwick," explained Chris Burgess, Northumberland county archaeologist. "It appears to have been slightly disturbed by some of the later pits and robbing, but should be in a comparatively good state of preservation, having been largely protected by the depth of the dark-earths that overly it. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1343 2006-12-14T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Times Online) French scholar who became England's foremost authority on Anglo-Norman official documents. Pierre Chaplais was for 30 years Reader in Diplomatic at Oxford and for a longer period the dominant figure in his field in England. The historical study of the forms of official documents was developed in France, and he was a bridge between the methodical scholarship of the École des chartes in Paris and the pragmatism of English medieval historians. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1338 2006-12-13T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (BBC News) Schoolchildren on the Wirral are being encouraged to find out more about their Viking heritage on a new website. The site, which features educational videos as well as games, photographs and even Viking recipes, came from an idea from council chief Steve Maddox. Mike McCartney, brother of Sir Paul, presents the video clips and local writer Brian McCann provides the voice of lead character Ingimund the Viking. Wirral was once an independent Viking state with its parliament at Thingwall. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1341 2006-12-12T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (The Sentinel) When pupils moved into their brand-new school, they were astonished to discover it bordered an ancient monument that held the secret of Newcastle's past.For just yards from the grounds of St Giles' and St George's Primary are the remains of the 12th century castle which gave the town its name. The motte and bailey wooden castle - home to the first settlers - has long since disappeared. But hidden under a tangle of trees at the edge of Queen Elizabeth Gardens, off Pool Dam, is the original mound. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1337 2006-12-11T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Times Online) When it comes to castles, the Scots, not to mention the Welsh and English, usually have the edge on the Irish. But when it comes to the unsung delights of Malahide Castle, there is an outside chance that the Irish might even have managed to outshine their neighbours. A 15 minute drive from Dublin airport, or a short ride on the D suburban railway from OConnell Street if you happen to be part of a stag or hen party and a hangover precludes any proximity to a steering wheel, Malahide is a castle to make a Hollywood location scout coo with delight, ticking off the turrets, battlements, gothic windows and sea views. It looks pretty good on its 800 years. From 1185 until 1973 it was home to the Talbot family (once they found a place they liked, the Talbots took some shifting). http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1339 2006-12-10T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (BBC News) A 13th Century statue at a former Nottinghamshire abbey has been restored and placed back on display. The Virgin and Child statue at Newstead Abbey had been damaged by extreme weathering over the centuries. It was restored during the abbey's Adopt-a-Stone Appeal and will be returned to a niche in the West Front. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1342 2006-12-10T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (The Cumberland News) There is to be no Christmas tree at Carlisle castle this year. English Heritage, which owns the castle, has opted to light up the ancient building as part of a project with Carlisle City Council. Residents were outraged when English Heritage broke with tradition in December 2004 and said it could not afford to buy and install a tree. Locals labelled organisation bosses Scrooges. Last year, the Christmas tree returned to grace the battlements, and Richard Polley of English Heritage said that 2004s decision had been a one-off. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1335 2006-12-08T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (24 Hour Museum) The Museum of London has unveiled its latest acquisition, a pair of rare medieval paintings, known as the Westminster Panels, which miraculously survived the mass destruction of English religious art during Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries. Acquired by the museum for £190,000, the panels were commissioned by or for George Fascet, Abbot of Westminster from about 1498-1500. They depict the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin standing on plinths which bear the shield of arms of Westminster Abbey and the Abbot himself. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1336 2006-12-08T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (BBC News) Three youths have been cautioned after church windows thought to date back to the 12th Century were smashed in Lydd. The cost of the damage to about 15 plain leaded windows at St Augustine's Church is not known at this stage, said a police spokesman. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1340 2006-12-05T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Telegraph) Tomorrow marks the start of an unusual exhibition in St Petersburg when the State Hermitage Museum puts 31 stolen items, returned to them by the police, on exhibition  in order to say thank you to the art collectors and dealers who have returned them. The exhibition highlights the mystery surrounding the disappearance of 226 objects from the museum's Russian Treasury. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1332 2006-12-05T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (News & Star) Carlisle Castles much-loved Christmas tree has been ditched this year. English Heritage, which owns the castle, has opted to light up the ancient building as part of a project with Carlisle City Council. Residents were outraged when English Heritage broke with tradition previously at Christmas 2004, labelling the organisation scrooges when they said they could not afford to buy and install a tree. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1333 2006-12-04T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin (Sofia News Agency) The unique Boyana Church, on the outskirts of Sofia, has reopened after thorough restoration work for over 50 years. The restored church was officially re-opened on Monday by President Georgi Parvanov and Sofia Mayor Boyko Borissov. The hardest work was paid for restoration of the medieval frescoes of the church, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979. http://www.netserf.org/newsLink.cfm?NewsID=1334 2006-12-04T12:00:00-04:00 Beau A.C. Harbin