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This volume is the first in a new series of editions of Coptic-language "magical" manuscripts from Egypt, written on papyrus, ostraca, parchment, and paper, and dating to between the fourth and twelfth centuries CE. Their texts attest to non-institutional rituals intended to bring about changes in the lives of those who used them - heal disease, curse enemies, bring about love or hatred, or see into the future. These manuscripts represent rich sources of information on daily life and lived religion of Egypt in the last centuries of Roman rule and the first centuries after the Arab conquest, giving us glimpses of the hopes and fears of people of this time, their conflicts and problems, and their vision of the human and superhuman worlds. This volume presents 37 new editions and descriptions of manuscripts, focusing on formularies or "handbooks", those texts containing instructions for the performance of rituals. Each of these is accompanied by a history of its acquisition, a material description, and presented with facing text and translations, tracings of accompanying images, and explanatory notes to aid in understanding the text

"Dionysius Bar Ṣalībī's Treatise against the Jews offers rare and illuminating insight into Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations during the Crusader era, not from the perspective of western Crusaders, but from the frequently neglected viewpoint of the Oriental Orthodox tradition. Bar Ṣalībī, a distinguished hierarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church, lived in a turbulent time of heightened tensions in the Levant. The Treatise against the Jews, which forms part of the corpus of Syriac polemical works, investigates the prejudices of Christians and Jews towards each other during the 12 century AD.This edition and translation is based on all the available manuscripts of the text, accompanied by extensive introductions, notes and commentary as well as studies of its place in the field of Syriac Patristic polemics"--

"The crusading movements provoked a vast and diverse mass of reactions in the medieval West. While Latin sources provide official versions of its preaching, organisation and events, the vernacular lyrics of the troubadours and trouvères present a secular perspective, through a cornucopia of on-the-spot responses in France, Occitania, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, Cyprus, Syria and Greece. This book constitutes the first comprehensive, modern analysis of Old French and Occitan lyric texts relating to the crusades. It brings out their full range, from propaganda for the crusades, to criticisms of crusading and crusaders through vituperation, humour or cynicism, to their use as a pretext for political or personal wrangling. It also shows how they shed light on many aspects of medieval life, among them chivalric and courtly values (often in tension with clerical ones), regional politics, sexual behaviour, personal experiences of crusading and captivity, the complex interaction of Christians, Greeks and Muslims, and bafflement in the face of failure and God's imponderable purposes"--Back cover image

Ecrite entre 1386 et 1389 pour le jeune roi français Charles VI dans une situation d'instabilité extrême causée par la guerre avec l'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme, cette oeuvre d'un clerc et juriste provençal constitue un miroir de prince très particulier. Sur la base de sources latines, les quatre livres réunissent un abrégé de l'histoire d'Israël et de l'Eglise catholique, un résumé de l'histoire des quatre royaumes de l'Antiquité et un traité sur les problèmes juridiques de la guerre. L'auteur insiste sur les conséquences dévastatrices des conflits guerriers, sociaux ou religieux. Il incite le jeune roi à exercer le pouvoir de manière juste et à rétablir la paix dans le monde chrétien. Le texte s'est répandu immédiatement parmi la noblesse, du Sud de l'Europe jusqu'en Ecosse, et principalement à Paris. Parmi les quatre-vingt-sept manuscrits conservés, celui qui sert de base à l'édition présente est le plus ancien manuscrit daté et localisé (Paris, 1397).

L'elogio della sconfitta: Le Divisions sur la maniere des richeces et povretez de ce monde e il sogno imperiale di Teodoro Paleologo / Marco Di Branco -- Enseignments e le Divisions di Teodoro Paleologo tra la Francia Valois e la corte borgognona (XIV secolo) / Angelo Izzo -- Divisions sur la maniere des richeces et povretez de ce monde -- Riflessioni sui modi della ricchezza e della povertà di questo mondo

The legend of Sergius Bahira in the light of Christian apologetics vis-a-vis Islam -- Muslim-Christian confrontation and counterhistory -- The Islamic Bahira -- The apocalypse of Bahira -- Bahira's teachings -- Breaking crosses -- God's word and his spirit-Bahira's christology -- Protection and recognition-Bahira and Q 5:82 -- The physics of heaven -- The Qur'an against Islam -- The legend outside the legend -- Bahira the source -- Bahira the heretic -- Bahira the false witness -- Bahira the victim -- Jewish traditions about Bahira -- Bahira the forecaster -- Concluding discussion -- Texts and translations -- The recensions and the manuscript tradition -- Some characteristics of the recensions -- Textual genealogy -- Manuscripts -- Conspectus siglorum -- Methodological considerations -- The East-Syrian recension -- The West-Syrian recension -- The short Arabic recension -- The long Arabic recension