Cities of God? Medieval urban forms and their Christian Symbolism

Situated in the context of recent geographical engagements with 'landscape', this paper combines 'morphological' and 'iconographic' landscape interpretations to examine how urban forms were perceived in late medieval Europe. To date, morphological studies have mapped the medieval city either by classifying urban layouts according to particular types, or by analysing plan forms of particular towns and cities to reveal their spatial evolution. This paper outlines a third way, an 'iconographic' approach, which shows how urban forms in the Middle Ages conveyed Christian symbolism. Three such 'mappings' explore this thesis: the first uses textual and visual representations which show that the city was understood as a scaled-down world â?? a microcosm â?? linking city and cosmos in the medieval mind; the second 'mapping' develops this theme further and suggests that urban landscapes were inscribed with symbolic form through their layout on the ground; while the third looks at how Christian symbolism of urban forms was performed through the urban landscape in perennial religious processions. Each of these 'mappings' points to the symbolic, mystical significance urban form had in the Middle Ages, based on religious faith, and they thus offer a deepened appreciation of how urban landscapes were represented, constructed and experienced at the time.

Search for 1-10 Hz modulations in coronal emission with SECIS during the August 11, 1999 eclipse

Results of the search of the periodic changes of the 530.3 nm line intensity emitted by selected structures of the solar corona in the frequency range 1-10 Hz are presented. A set of 12 728 images of the section of the solar corona extending from near the north pole to the south-west were taken simultaneously in the 530.3 nm ("green") line and white-light with the Solar Eclipse Coronal Imaging System (SECIS) during the 143-seconds- long totality of the 1999 August 11 solar eclipse observed in Shabla, Bulgaria. The time resolution of the collected data is better than 0.05 s and the pixel size is approximately 4 arcsec. Using classical Fourier spectral analysis tools, we investigated temporal changes of the local 530.3 nm coronal line brightness in the frequency range 1-10 Hz of thousands of points within the field of view. The various photometric and instrumental effects have been extensively considered. We did not find any indisputable, statistically significant evidence of periodicities in any of the investigated points (at significance level alpha = 0.05).

The Newsletter of the International Federation for Research in Women's History: Presentation to Its Conference in Sofia, 8 August 2007

Presented as part of the twentieth anniversary celebrations of the International Federation for Research in Women's History in Sofia in August 2007, this paper examines the association's newsletter to explore what it reveals about the expansion of the academic infrastructure for women's history from 1987 to 2007. It looks at the rapid advancement of the subject in the 1980s and early 1990s and its slower growth in the following decade. It also explores briefly the problems that the establishment of Women's Studies Centres presented for women's history.