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Talk:King Harold

Needs to be merged with Harold II of England. Note the latter page uses the convention we've been using for wikipedia page names for monarchs.

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title: Talk:King Harold


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Talk:Homo heidelbergensis

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 August 2018 and 5 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): AmareTamashī99.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:48, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Sima not heidelbergensis
The article says that the Sima site contains Homo heidelbergensis, but new research suggests the Sima species was something new:

"The first bones were found at the Sima site many years ago, and Arsuaga and his colleagues originally lumped them together with another early human species called Homo heidelbergensis. But the new analysis, which includes the description of 17 skulls, concludes that these early humans were physically distinct from their heidelbergensis contemporaries."

Source for that quote:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/neanderthal-ancestors-in-spain-point-to-game-of-thrones-era-of-human-prehistory/2014/06/19/a37a00ac-f75d-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html?tid=a_inl

That references this article, "Neandertal roots: Cranial and chronological evidence from Sima de los Huesos", in Science:

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6190/1358

Lucas gonze (talk) 18:45, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Hi! Can you please add new sections at the bottom of the page in the future? And you might have a look here Homo antecessor ATB Wikirictor (talk) 01:51, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
 * I mentioned this on the talk page of Neanderthal but think it's relevant here. There are two definitions of Neanderthal, the older one from morphology, and a new one from cladistics. Both definitions are currently in use and apparently considered valid. Every branch of science has terms with more than one definition, sometimes strongly overlapping but different enough that a distinction needs to be made. In paleontology it's common to have cladistic definitions alongside morophological definitions.

 * Neanderthals by the morphological definition are based on the holotype skeleton Neanderthal 1, and its characters (traits). These can be reliably diagnosed going back to the end of MIS8. By the cladistic definition, Neanderthals begin at the split between Neanderthals and Denisovans (~450 ka or according to one estimate, 465+-15 ka). This is a completely separate issue from the split between the ancestors of anatomically modern humans (AMH) and the Neanderthal/Denisovan ancestors (a branch of Heidelbergensis).

 * I think it's important for us to not try to reconcile these definitions, since that would be original research. Instead, we should emphasize the distinction. Zyxwv99 (talk) 01:24, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

NOT an Ancestor
"existing in Africa as a part of the operation of the Saharan pump, and not the European forms of Homo heidelbergensis, are thought to be direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens" Can we get some citation on this? Everything I have read and heard about this says the opposite. I've flagged the section for citation and if it's not cited in a few day's I'll look into a rewrite.

Lunarctic 21:58, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Yes, H. sapiens evolved in Africa, not from European H. heidelbergensis. (c.f. Out_of_Africa_theory) Kortoso (talk) 21:08, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

The Heidelbergensis that went to Europe evolved into Neanderthals, but the ones that stayed in Africa evolved in h. Sapiens Dunkleosteus77 (talk) 23:11, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

Outdated?
Also, from what I've been reading and hearing lately, the old "Relay" theory of human evolution has been replaced with the "Melee" theory, outdating a lot of this information, ie; from >1999 many new forms of hominid have been discovered, bringing certain information about our evolution into question. This needs to be considered. All of the referenced sources are from yonks ago, so I'm really uncertain that this article is up to date. As I said, if it's not fixed in a few days I'll talk about a rewrite and probably do it myself :P.

Lunarctic 22:27, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Many of the hominid fossils from northwest Asia and dating from more recent than 500 000 years ago are considered by some paleo-anthropologists as Homo Heidelbergensis. In other words there could have been a Homo Erectus(Ergaster?) wave of migration into what is now China before or about 1.5 million years and then another wave after 800 000 years of Heidelbergensis from Africa. The article makes no reference to these fossils.

Alexselkirk1704 (talk) 19:20, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Not on subject?
An editor recently removed the following passage with an edit summary saying it's not relevant. Please explain. Durova Charge! 01:01, 7 July 2008 (UTC)
 * According to the "Recent Out of Africa" theory, similar "Archaic Homo sapiens" found in Africa (ie. Homo sapiens idaltu), existing in Africa as a part of the operation of the Saharan pump, and not the European forms of Homo heidelbergensis, are thought to be direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens. Homo antecessor is likely a direct ancestor living 750,000 years ago evolving into Homo heidelbergensis appearing in the fossil record living roughly 600,000 to 250,000 years ago through various areas of Europe.

Expansion and Inclusion
I have begun an attempt to make the pages on Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo habilis, and Homo georgicus resemble each other in format and content more closely. I shall try to present each competing interpretation, but have often settled, half-way through the page, on presenting each species as legitimately distinct (while letting readers know, of course). My main concern is that these six pages present many prevalent and valid interpretations but no conformity of tone or content between pages (or sometimes even paragraphs). I shall also try to make conglomerate authorship less detectable between pages, personally editing large chunks using my own tone. I shall attempt, however, to let no personal interpretations of our ancestry interfere with the hypotheses presented. I will not eradicate any additions to these pages' content, obviously, but will attempt to make their voice and presentation uniform. Homo Ergaster (talk) 00:23, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Sounds great, these articles are in drastic need of attention. FunkMonk (talk) 00:32, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Poor Choice of Example
Not an expert by any means, but how much sense does it make to say of the modern Maori, "...who also rarely threw objects, but used spears..." unless you are intending an unstated distinction between, say, "spears" that are used as stabbing weapons and "spears" that are thrown? Seems to me that if you want to make that distinction it should be made more explicit, particularly as this is cited as an exemplar. Maybe easier to choose a better example. 87.112.56.130 (talk) 08:03, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Heidelbergensis over 7 feet tall.
I stumbled across a 2007 interview with Prof. Lee Beger of the Univ. Witwatersrand on the BBC radio program, The Naked Scientists and my jaw dropped when I saw a photograph of the upper half of an archaic human femur, a Heidelbergensis from South Africa.

In the audio podcast Beger says that thing was "more than huge", it was so big they couldn't even calculate how big the person was. And it wasn't an abnormality.

Just a precursory look at that photo really gave me the willies. For starters, though incomplete, I honestly don't see how that thing is any less than 50% larger than the normal sized femur next to it in the picture. I think "over 7 feet tall" may be a rather conservative estimate.

So I added this information to the page. Obviously not all Heidelbergs were giants, but apparently a period of giantism was occuring in Africa for 200,000 years or so.

--75.175.83.149 (talk) 01:05, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

 * First of all, all that media nonsense about calculating size from one or two bones is only an inferrence (see Therrien & Henderson 2007). Additionally, within the great Apes femur length relative to body size varies a lot, even within Hominids it does, and even in extant humans (just compare my daughter and my son..... ). So extrapolating from one bone is not sensible. Second, "I saw/heard someone say.... and there was a picture" is not a good source. By inferrence, Deinonychus would be made an ungulate, because a stupid journalist made a researcher take a fossil of D. out of a nicer-looking cupboard once, which was in the mammals collection...... So what you see in the media may be total nosnense. Are you sure it was a Homo heidelbergensis femur? Who determined that, on the basis of half a femur? That's tricky at best! Or was there more of the skeleton - a skull even? And what about the "femur next to it" - maybe that was a malnourished modern human from China, died in 1905, at a total size of about 5 feet?
 * I'd be very careful interpreting anything about huge body size into this.
 * Furthermore, 7 feet isn't that tall, when you take the error bar of extrapolation into account: I'd fall into that range (granted, at the lower end), and so do very many grown males today.

 * Therrien, F.; and Henderson, D.M. (2007). "My theropod is bigger than yours...or not: estimating body size from skull length in theropods". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (1): 108–115. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[108:MTIBTY]2.0.CO;2 HMallison (talk) 06:43, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Well, I think professor Lee R. Beger might have some decent training in regression and formula estimates for heights of human and hominid bones, especially ones he has found-- He seems to be an eminent and well repsected giant in his field-no pun intended. In the radio interview he says these are "archaic homo sapiens, or as some call them Homo Heidelbergensis." The interviewers ask if the femur he has is just an abnormality, and he says no, because they found "a lot" of bones indicating these people were huge. He stresses to make the point some of them "truly were giants", and that the particular femur in the photograph probably belonged to someone in the height range of a big NBA player, or as Berger says, "something like over 7 feet."

" 7 feet isn't that tall" - I guess that depends on what you want to call tall? 7 feet is an exceedingly rare height, and all the more extraordinary if that was a fairly routine height for some Heidelberg populations, even today it takes one in well over a thousand men to reach seven feet depending on demographic makeup. If calculating size from one or two bones is only inference, fair enough. There is a hell of a lot of inference in the fossil record that makes the news headlines--Let's start with Dubois, hmm how about Homo Floresiensis too?--although at least in that case you have at least some sort of intact skeletons there. The caption on the photo says the skeleton next to the giant femur was that of a "modern South African Female"-- and her hip looks about level with the apparent 3 foot tall counter, which would put her in the 5 ft 6 to 5 ft 7 range -- but that is only my speculation. Let's err on the safe side and assume it was a 5 ft tall malnourished woman from china, using Trotter and Glesser tested mesthods of height extrapolations for mean height and race based on femoral lengths would give us a femur length in the range of around 16.5 inches. If the giant femur is about 50% larger in length, and girth this would indicate a femur about 24.75 inches. Assuming the Heidelbergensis were longer in the leg and shorter in the torso than modern man, this gives us a height range of about 6'11", but if he had a femur/height ratio of a 6 ft Caucasian man, he might be as tall as 7 ft 7.

Any way you chip at it, I can't easily see that femur belonging to a man of much less than 7 feet, and probably significantly above that. But hey, maybe I should contact Mr. Berger to get the specific measurements of that femur joint. I wonder If I can find his home phone number on Zabasearch..... --75.175.67.155 (talk) 22:49, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I guess this wouldn't be an appropriate time to mention the Castelnau giant... yeah never mind. --75.175.67.155 (talk) 23:00, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

The Smithsonian's Human Origins page describes these guys a quite petite, i.e., as a compact form adapted to cold climates. I suspect this pages may need updating. http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-heidelbergensis — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.231.180.23 (talk) 06:53, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

It could be that different groups of Heidelbergensis adapted to different climates, representing a range of heights and sizes just as we see in modern man today. Anything from 5 foot people to over 7 foot tall giants. The African Heidelberg bones Prof. Berger mentions in his podcast may have been from a particularly robust population. We have people in Africa today who are over 7 feet tall. --184.100.154.17 (talk) 18:19, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

They were so tall that some speculate they might be behind Bigfoot Dunkleosteus77 (talk) 23:12, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

 * The part about H. heidelbergensis being 7 ft tall has three refs behind it, currently 29, 30, and 31. The last two don't mention anything about it. The second (Becoming Human, 30) is a general description of H. heidelbergensis. The third (Sci News, 31) is about a 2012 research paper on the estimated heights of the Sima people from Sima cave in Spain. It found that their height was intermediate between Neanderthals and modern humans. (At the time the Sima people were thought to be H. heidelbergensis.) That leaves the first ref (29), the interview with Lee Berger on The Naked Scientist. There he says these people were something like over 7 feet tall. The problem is he didn't say this in a formal research paper, which would give other scientists an opportunity to evaluate the evidence and respond. I think the whole thing should be deleted on grounds of WP:RS, WP:UNDUE, and WP:FRINGE. It is fringe science, not because it is inherently implausible, but because it never became part of formal scientific discourse. Zyxwv99 (talk) 00:33, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

 * I agree that it should be deleted if those are the only refs, but there are links to possible better ones at . Dudley Miles (talk) 08:57, 17 September 2017 (UTC)
 * I've already examined this link, and what it links to. There are no better sources in the link you supplied. There's a link to a 1995 research paper that says nothing about being 7 feet tall. Zyxwv99 (talk) 19:18, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

Regarding the references that did not confirm or directly contradicted Berger's claim, I moved them to more appropriate places in the article. I don't know what to do about the claim itself. A 2005 post on the personal blog of Prof. John Hawks (University of Wisconsin, Madison) makes for interesting reading on the topic, but presently I am in accord with Zyxwv99 above. It seems inappropriate to fight informal scientific discourse with more informal scientific discourse in the context of a Wikipedia article. If anyone else has some input as to whether Berger's claim should be removed, I would welcome it. --Reedside (talk) 22:23, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Picture at Morphology and interpretations, really a Homo heidelbergensis?
What proof do we have that this picture really is representing Homo Heidelbergensis? Where was this picture taken? Also, commentaries at the source given states En realidad ese es un neandertal. which means this is in reality a neanderthal.--Narayan (talk) 19:31, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The author says that it was an exposition by the Atapuerca Foundation in Asturias. I suppose the Atapuerca Foundation might have put a diorama with all named human species (its Museum of Human Evolution at Burgos has a model of every one from Australopithecus afarensis down after all), but since this was an itinerant exposition it makes sense that it was more limited and only about the species represented in Atapuerca, H. antecessor and H. heidelbergensis. I don't remember which book was, La especie elegida or El collar del neanderthal, where Juan Luis Arsuaga said that they had found H. antecessor, H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens (in the form of Neolithic burials and a couple of Medieval skeletons) at Atapuerca, and that they only needed to find H. neanderthalensis to have samples of all human species that had inhabited the area for the last one million years.--Menah the Great (talk) 14:57, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

Height redux
Why does the article still say 6 feet while the Smithsonian says 5 foot 9, as does this site ? Shouldn't we just say a range of heights have been suggested from 5'9" to over seven feet? Not surprisingly, it appears no one has done a literature review of published papers (which is where one needs to look for this). Dougweller (talk) 05:29, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

A recent paper has come out suggesting the average Heidelbergensis in Spain were only a few centimeters taller than Neanderthal. http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/article00369.html The study was based on 27 complete limb bones, the average ht was about 164 cm, about 5 ft 4 1/2 for both males and females, which is similar to modern Mediterranean populations. Taller finds of archaic Homo in Europe and Africa might indicate local variations as can be seen within our own homo sapien populations, i.e tribes in africa commonly have men exceeding 6 sometimes 7 ft. --174.25.90.146 (talk) 22:25, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

I think the height study based on these 27 limb bones is still questionable. Some scientists in Paris and Britain are calling into questions some of the dating and interpretations of bones from "La Sima de los Huesos" in Spain, incidentally where all 27 complete limb bones were used in this latest height study of Heidelbergensis. The Guardian reported: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jun/10/fossil-dating-row-sima-huesos-spain Apparently there are arguments that these may not be Heidelbergensis but Neanderthal skeletons, thus making this Heidelbergensis study inaccurate. Further studies from bones in Box Grove Engdland to Germany, and Africa indicate Heidelbergensis was tall, some times very tall, 5 ft 9 to 6 feet (1.75 - 1.82 m) and even taller in South Africa. --174.25.69.231 (talk) 21:32, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Merger proposal
Homo heidelbergensis is sometimes called Homo rhodesiensis (see the references in Homo rhodesiensis), but there is a separate article on rhodensiensis which wrongly treats is as a separate species. I therefore propose merging the two articles. Dudley Miles (talk) 19:00, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

 * No merge, not yet at least. There are still some anomalies in the data, such as different datings.  Since the fossils are still undergoing study and evaluation, a merge is premature.  It's a good call to keep an eye on this, though, to readdress it every so often and remedy it when (and if) it becomes necessary. –  P AINE E LLSWORTH  C LIMAX !  19:51, 19 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I'd support a merge once it is sorted out. FunkMonk (talk) 22:31, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

Largely support this, the weight of evidence seems to be on that side, so the two should be discussed together. What would be wrong is the merged article then playing down the possibility of separate species or sub-species. Also, very disconcerted to find 'Archaic Homo sapiens' redirects to Homo rhodesiensis - I'd been looking for an article on early Homo Sapiens compared to Homo Sapiens Idaltu, don't see how that redirect makes sense. Rhillman (talk) 13:40, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
 * There is a discussion on the wrong redirect at Talk:Homo rhodesiensis. Dudley Miles (talk) 14:22, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

 * No merge for the time being. I agree with User:PAINE ELLSWORTH above. Namely, I believe we should maintain separate Articles until and unless the ICZN officially merges the named species, and then the merged Article could just as easily be titled Homo rhodesiensis as it could be Homo heidelbergensis. It's a 50/50 coin flip depending what ICZN actually decides. We should recall, just as a quick side note, that if the 2 are separate species after all it would push back the common ancestry of Homo sapiens (descendent from H. rhodesiensis) and Homo neanderthalensis (descendent from H. heidelbergensis). It would thus push back Neanderthal/Modern shared ancestry to Homo antecessor if my calculations are correct. The Mysterious El Willstro (talk) 01:56, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
 * The ICZN has nothing to say here: it decides only on nomenclature (things like: which name gets priority if we decide they represent the same species?) not on taxonomy (do these names actually represent the same species?). If the two names are considered to represent the same species, then, barring unusual circumstances, Homo heidelbergensis Schoutensack, 1908, has priority over Homo rhodesiensis Woodward, 1921. Ucucha (talk) 04:49, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
 * The broader point still stands. What's the name of the commission that decides on taxonomy rather than nomenclature? The Mysterious El Willstro (talk) 01:33, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
 * There isn't one. It's scientific consensus. Of course there are bodies that people listen to in specific areas (e.g., the International Ornithological Union for birds), but I don't think there's a highly influential one in paleoanthropology. Ucucha (talk) 05:51, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
 * If the names are synonyms, there is no question Homo heidelbergensis will be the valid one, due to age priority. FunkMonk (talk) 13:45, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Anyway, the main point still stands that whether these names are actually synonyms remains controversial. (To think Homo rhodesiensis, but not Homo heidelbergensis, was controversially thought in some circles to be a subspecies of Homo erectus just a few years ago. Obviously, that controversy must have been resolved for this current one to surface.) Like I said, if these names turn out not to be synonyms, it would push the common ancestry of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis as far back as Homo antecessor. The Mysterious El Willstro (talk) 18:33, 14 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Would it be proper at least to describe the controversy in the article? The hoi polloi are not likely to know about this matter unless they see this talk page. Kortoso (talk) 19:18, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
 * No Merge - There are multiple different definitions of heidelbergensis and rhodesiensis. Some researchers use heidelbergensis to refer to early Neanderthals, ancestors of AMH, and the common ancestor of both, others (e.g., Tim D. White) use heidelbergensis to mean early Neanderthals and rhodesiensis to mean ancestors of AMH, and others (e.g., Jean-Jacques Hublin) have argued to discard heidelbergensis and use rhodesiensis to refer to early Neanderthals, ancestors of AMH, and the common ancestor of both. Thegreyanomaly (talk) 18:42, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

 * You seem uninterested in providing cites to back your conclusions. What about Is Homo heidelbergensis a distinct species? A. Mounier et al. / Journal of Human Evolution 56 (2009).
 * It's a pretty exhaustive statistical analysis of the subject and shows that "Homo rhodesiensis" and "Homo heidelbergensis" have much more in common morphologically than they do with Neanderthals. Formerly, the names were used simply to represent African and European populations only, which you must admit is a somewhat thin reason for creating species distinction. If there is a significant morphological distinction, I'd like to look at the journal in which it is presented. Kortoso (talk) 21:04, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
 * That is not a thin reason for creating a division if you think one population lead to humans and the other led to Neanderthals. White et al. (2003) have said that Homo rhodesiensis (i.e., Kabwe and Bodo) can be considered the ancestral to Homo sapiens idaltu (which is in turn ancestral to us), implying that H. rhodesiensis has nothing to do with Neanderthals and really is a chronospecies of Homo sapiens. Thegreyanomaly (talk) 23:31, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

Migration?
I see little discussion on how H. heidelbergensis and crew got to Europe. Spain, France and England suggest a trans-Mediterranean route. What was the sea level like at that time (600,000-1.3 million years ago)? I thought I recall seeing a Wikipedia article on the topic. Merged and lost? Kortoso (talk) 21:14, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
 * I think the Mediterranean coastline was not noticeably different at the time. The most accepted theory is local evolution from Eurasian populations of the Homo erectus complex, who would have in turn arrived from Africa via the Middle East. Fewer researchers support a direct migration over the Gibraltar straits (e.g. the partidaries of the Orce Man being real), and even fewer support a migration via Sicily and Italy (I personally know no one, and have seen it listed only as the less likely possibility).--Menah the Great (talk) 14:44, 26 September 2014 (UTC)
 * They probably made dugouts, rafts, or canoes. Or they were really good swimmers. Pick your choice. 137.118.104.149 (talk) 02:07, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

Schöningen
The Schöningen section was originally copied and pasted; the links and cites were lost from the original. I restored this. Kortoso (talk) 16:32, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I hate it was people do that, and it was also a copyright violation, our material is not public domain and we have to be able to identify the original authors - I've made a null edit and put a link to Schöningen Spears in the edit summary to do that. Dougweller (talk) 17:30, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Denisova hominin
Lede of this article states that H heid. is "very likely" ancestral to h. neanderthalensis and "perhaps" to the Denisova species. I believe this is NOT the currently accepted thinking. I believe that while there is debate whether Denisova and Neanderthals are two distinct species, and whether they are on the same branch or are 'sister' species, there doesn't seem to be much question that they were closely related - so either they BOTH are "very likely" descendants of H. Heid. or neither are. I think the lede should be changed to correct this minor error, but I'm not sure enough of my facts (and interpretation) to make the change myself. It also mentions Denisova as being located in Central Asia, but DNA from Spain indicates a wider range.173.189.74.95 (talk) 18:44, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
 * There's ample doubt and debate as to whether Neanderthal and H sapiens are separate species. (Is Homo heidelbergensis a distinct species? []) Whether Heidelberg is of the same species or a separate one... well, that's a fine can of worms.
 * The original (and only) Denisova bone was found in Central Asia, but the Sima de los Huesos H heidelbergensis bones seem to have Denisova DNA.
 * Would you suggest a re-write based on your sources? Kortoso (talk) 21:11, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Well seeing how most modern people have some Neanderthal and Denisvoan DNA in their genome I would call them human. Are they, along with H. heid. Homo Sapien? Maybe, as someone else said there's room for discussion and plus species has mutliple definitions, and the commonly used one that involves having fertile kids would mean that all three would be subspecies of Homo Sapien. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.85.118.24 (talk) 19:19, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

IP Note
This species isn't mentioned in the Human Timeline at all, looks like someone just borrowed a timeline from another article. If it was ancestor to Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans as the article states, then it should be on the time line. [posted by 164.51.92.46 at 10:37, 26 October 2016]
 * FWIW - the species is well noted on relevant human timeline articles that have more details - for example, please see => "Human evolution" and "Timeline of human evolution" - hope this helps in some way - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:19, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
 * How come Neanderthal is listed under this type of human being? For the longest of time it was thought to be a subspecies of H. sapien or it's own species of human/hominid.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.85.118.24 (talk) 19:00, 9 November 2018 (UTC)

Language
Found source for some claims about language, for what it's worth.
 * https://books.google.com/books?id=3Huo_r-w2WcC&dq=%22migratory+descendant%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s

There's also this, The Singing Neanderthals:
 * http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/music1052008/readings/Mithen_etal_response06.pdf
 * Kortoso (talk) 23:05, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Homo erectus
At the beginning of the section Divergent evolution, it says, The original Homo erectus who lived approximately 700,000 years ago... Homo erectus came on the scene around 2 million years ago. I suspect this was meant to refer to the immediate H. erectus ancestor of H. heidelbergensis. I can't figure out how to reword it. Zyxwv99 (talk) 05:12, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
 * The source uses this wording, but it is clear in the context that this means the date when erectus evolved into heidelbergus. I have amended. Dudley Miles (talk) 07:20, 2 August 2017 (UTC)

Discrepancy on Ancestry
The diagram "Human Evolutionary Tree" under the "Evolution" section seems to disagree with the first sentence of the 3rd paragraph of the "Homo Heidelbergenis" section. The sentence reads, "Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans are all considered to have descended from Homo heidelbergensis [7][8]", while the diagram indicates that modern humans are descended directly from Homo erectus.

Thus, not sure this diagram is worth keeping with the article, since it creates confusion and ambiguity - for me at least.

 * I agree. The diagram is out of date - and the text is in German. I have deleted it. Dudley Miles (talk) 15:20, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Merge suggestion
It has become nigh impossible to discuss Middle Pleistocene humans in isolated pages on proposed species. There should be pages on notable individual fossils (i.e. Kabwe skull and Ceprano calvaria), but Homo rhodesiensis and  Homo cepranensis should be discussed in context under the header of H. heidelbergensis. This can include the entire taxonomic debate on the derivation of Middle Pleistocene humans from H. erectus, and the derivation of both Neanderthals and H. sapiens from Middle Pleistocene variants.

Based on the literature cited in the article, it seems to me that after a phase, in the 1990s to 2000s, of postulating new species or subspecies names every time a new fossil was discovered (H. cepranensis, H. georgicus, H. s. idaltu, H. gautengensis, H. tsaichangensis, ...), in the 2010s, the recognition dawned that the perceived distinctness of these "species" was merely due to the sparsity of fossil evidence, and most of these new proposals were recategorized as subtypes of either of Even H. habilis appears to be about to be reclassified as Australopithecus. The only recently proposed species that appears to remain valid is the very peculiar case H. floresiensis (possibly H. naledi?)
 * 1) Homo erectus (sensu lato, including ergaster),
 * 2) Homo heidelbergensis (sensu lato, including rhodesiensis, and possibly also antecessor) or
 * 3) Homo sapiens

This has been going on since about 2010 or so, and obviously as an ongoing scholarly debate it was impossible to cover properly in an encyclopedic format, but the literature over the last five years or so does seem to present a picture that we may be able to work into a coherent summary. --dab (𒁳) 09:53, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

Work to Contribute
Hi I am student at the University of Oklahoma. I have been assigned this page to edit for my History of Science class. I was wondering if you had any suggestions as to what I should edit or add to the page. I am willing to do research for a new section to add to the page. I am new to wikipedia editing so please be patient with me. I apologize for my previous edit. I as I have stated, I am still trying to get a hang of things.

Thank you for your time.

AmareTamashī99 (talk) 19:50, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

I was thinking I could add a section about current archaeological research and the discovery of the species. I know there are bits and pieces mentioned on the page, but I think it would be great for the topic to have its own section.

AmareTamashī99 (talk) 19:54, 14 November 2018 (UTC)

New Information Added
The information I added and changed on the page was made based off information collected from peer reviewed journals. I will looked into combining Homo rhodesiensis page and Homo Heidelberngensis. I will first analyze if there is enough evidence to prove that they are the same species. I will remind you this is for a school project. I would greatly appreciated it if you contacted me first if you plan to change anything. I will be happy to correct information that is wrong. Thank you for your time.

AmareTamashī99 (talk) 21:06, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

 * Thank you for your contributions; with that said, please review our no original research policy, and also be aware that wikipedia is a global online encyclopedia whose articles are not anyone's school project that they have exclusive ownership of. [[User:Firejuggler86|Firejuggler86 (talk) 01:59, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Map of Africa?
There is currently a map of Africa on this page, that claims it is there for reference. It is just a blank green map of Africa, not even Africa on Earth. Seriously, who could possibly read this page, and not know what Africa is‽ It should be removed. 174.3.228.242 (talk) 07:59, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
 * I agree and have removed it. Dudley Miles (talk) 09:30, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Anyone still call them Archaic Homo sapiens?
I see them called that in some works, mostly from the 1900s.

Seems these days they are another species of human. Then what about Neanderthal? Some classifications have Neanderthals as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and not Homo heidelbergensis neanderthalensis though with all the new information these days I suppose that could be valid too.137.118.102.246 (talk) 01:05, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

 * A search of Google Scholar shows that it is used as a generic term, not specifically for heidelbergensis. Dudley Miles (talk) 09:49, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

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The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reasons for deletion at the file description pages linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 13:37, 6 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Burgos - Museo de la Evolución Humana (MEH) - Homo Heidelbergensis (cropped).jpg
 * Burgos - Museo de la Evolución Humana (MEH) - Homo Rhodesiensis.JPG

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title: Talk:Homo heidelbergensis


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User talk:Ptk~enwiki

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The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

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High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 1500 (by historiographical convention).

Key historical trends of the High Middle Ages include the rapidly increasing population of Europe, which brought about great social and political change from the preceding era, and the Renaissance of the 12th century, including the first developments of rural exodus and urbanization. By 1350, the robust population increase had greatly benefited the European economy, which reached levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. That trend faltered during the Late Middle Ages because of a series of calamities, most notably the Black Death, but also numerous wars as well as economic stagnation.

From around 780, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance stimulated scientific and philosophical activity in Northern Europe. The first universities started operating in Bologna, Oxford, Paris, Salamanca, Cambridge and Modena. The Vikings settled in the British Isles, France and elsewhere, and Norse Christian kingdoms started developing in their Scandinavian homelands. The Magyars ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary had become a recognized state in Central Europe that was forming alliances with regional powers. With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, major nomadic incursions ceased. The powerful Byzantine Empire of the Macedonian and Komnenos dynasties gradually gave way to the resurrected Serbia and Bulgaria and to a successor crusader state (1204 to 1261), who continually fought each other until the end of the Latin Empire. The Byzantine Empire was reestablished in 1261 with the recapture of Constantinople from the Latins, though it was no longer a major power and would continue to falter through the 14th century, with remnants lasting until the mid 15th century.

In the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began a more intensive settlement, targeting "new" lands, some areas of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Western Roman Empire. In what historian Charles Higounet called the "great clearances", Europeans cleared and cultivated some of the vast forests and marshes that lay across much of the continent. At the same time, settlers moved beyond the traditional boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers beyond the Elbe River, which tripled the size of Germany in the process. The Catholic Church, which reached the peak of its political power around then, called armies from across Europe to a series of Crusades against the Seljuk Turks. The crusaders occupied the Holy Land and founded the Crusader States in the Levant. Other wars led to the Northern Crusades. The Christian kingdoms took much of the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim control, and the Normans conquered southern Italy, all part of the major population increases and the resettlement patterns of the era.

The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual and artistic works. The age also saw the rise of ethnocentrism, which evolved later into modern national identities in most of Europe, the ascent of the great Italian city-states and the rise and fall of the Islamic civilization of Al-Andalus. The rediscovery of the works of Aristotle, at first indirectly through medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy, led Maimonides, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of the period to expand Scholasticism, a combination of Judeo-Islamic and Catholic ideologies with the ancient philosophy. For much of this period, Constantinople remained Europe's most populous city, and Byzantine art reached a peak in the 12th century. In architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed around this period.

The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages began at the start of the 14th century and marked the end of the period.

Great Britain and Ireland
In England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland in 1169 and soon established themselves throughout most of the country, although their stronghold was the southeast. Likewise, Scotland and Wales were subdued into vassal states at about the same time, though Scotland later asserted its independence and Wales remained largely under the rule of independent native princes until the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282. The Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I, and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy, King John signed the Magna Carta into law, which limited the power of English monarchs.

Iberia
A key geo-strategic development in the Iberian Peninsula was the Christian conquest of Toledo in 1085. Dominated by war, the societal structures and relations in the northern Christian kingdoms were subordinated to the demands of omnipresent military conflict. The territorial expansion of the northern Christian kingdoms to the south brought the creation of border societies, where military demands on knights and foot soldiers and the promotion of settlement were privileged to possible seigneurial income; military orders also played an important role in the borderlands in the southern meseta. Agricultural models in areas with Mediterranean climate were generally based on biennial crop rotation. Despite population growth, agricultural output remained relatively rigid throughout the period; between the 10th and 13th centuries, migration southwards to exposed areas was incentivized by the possibility of enjoying privileges and acquiring properties. Conversely, the intensive agriculture-prevalent model in Muslim-ruled lands did not require territorial expansion. While Muslim lands enjoyed from a certain demographic and financial edge, Almoravids and Almohads from northern Africa featured volatile state structures. Barring (unsuccessful) attempts to take Toledo, Almoravids and Almohads did not stand out for carrying out an expansionist policy.

Italy
In Italy, with the Norman conquest, the first great and powerful state was formed, the Kingdom of Sicily with hereditary monarchy. Subsequently joined to the Holy Roman Empire, it had its moment of maximum splendor with the emperor Frederick II.

In the rest of Italy, independent city states grew affluent on Eastern Mediterranean maritime trade. These were in particular the thalassocracies of Pisa, Amalfi, Genoa and Venice, which played a key role in European trade from then on, making these cities become major financial centers.

Scandinavia
From the mid-10th to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway. After Cnut's death in 1035, England and Norway were both lost, and with the defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man, while Sweden, under Birger Jarl, built up a power-base in the Baltic Sea. However, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240.

France and Germany
By the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. France pushed to the west. The Angevin Empire controlled much of France in the 12th century and early 13th century until the French retook much of their previous territory.

Germany
By the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was significantly more eastern. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, which reached its high-water mark of unity and political power under Kaiser Frederick Barbarossa.

Georgia
During the successful reign of King David IV of Georgia (1089–1125), the Kingdom of Georgia grew in strength and expelled the Seljuk Empire from its lands. David's decisive victory in the Battle of Didgori (1121) against the Seljuk Turks, as a result of which Georgia recaptured its lost capital Tbilisi, marked the beginning of the Georgian Golden Age. David's granddaughter Queen Tamar continued the upward rise, successfully neutralizing internal opposition and embarking on an energetic foreign policy aided by further decline of the hostile Seljuk Turks. Relying on a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated vast lands spanning from present-day southern Russia on the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Georgia remained a leading regional power until its collapse under the Mongol attacks within two decades after Tamar's death.

Hungary
In the High Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary (founded in 1000), became one of the most powerful medieval states in central Europe and Western Europe. King Saint Stephen I of Hungary introduced Christianity to the region; he was remembered by the contemporary chroniclers as a very religious monarch, with wide knowledge in Latin grammar, strict with his own people but kind to foreigners. He eradicated the remnants of the tribal organisation in the Kingdom and forced the people to sedentarize and adopt the Christian religion. He founded the Hungarian medieval state, organising it politically into counties using the Germanic system as a model.

The following monarchs usually kept a close relationship with Rome, such as Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary, and a tolerant attitude with the pagans that escaped to the Kingdom searching for sanctuary (for example Cumans in the 13th century), which eventually created certain discomfort for some Popes. By entering into Personal union with the Kingdom of Croatia and the establishment of other vassal states, Hungary became a small empire that extended its control over the Southeast Europe and the Carpathian region. During medieval times, the Hungarian royal house contributed the most saints to the Catholic Church.

Lithuania
During the High Middle Ages Lithuania emerged as a Duchy of Lithuania in the early 13th century, then briefly becoming the Kingdom of Lithuania from 1251 to 1263. After the assassination of its first Christian king Mindaugas Lithuania was known as Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Unconquered during the Lithuanian Crusade, Lithuania itself rapidly expanded to the East due to conquests and became one of the largest states in Europe.

Poland

In the mid-10th century Poland emerged as a duchy after Mieszko I, the ruler of the Polans, conquered the surrounding Lechitic tribes in the region. Then in 1025 under the rule of Bolesław I the Brave, Poland became a kingdom.

Southeast Europe

The High Middle Ages saw the height and decline of the Slavic state of Kievan Rus' and emergence of Cumania. Later, the Mongol invasion in the 13th century had great impact on the east of Europe, as many countries of the region were invaded, pillaged, conquered and/or vassalized.

During the first half of this period (c. 1025—1185) the Byzantine Empire dominated the Southeast Europe, and under the Komnenian emperors there was a revival of prosperity and urbanization; however, their domination of Southeast Europe came to an end with a successful Vlach-Bulgarian rebellion in 1185, and henceforth the region was divided between the Byzantines in Greece, some parts of Macedonia, and Thrace, the Bulgarians in Moesia and most of Thrace and Macedonia, and the Serbs to the northwest. Eastern and Western churches had formally split in the 11th century, and despite occasional periods of co-operation during the 12th century, in 1204 the Fourth Crusade treacherously captured Constantinople. This severely damaged the Byzantines, and their power was ultimately weakened by the Seljuks and the rising Ottoman Empire in the 14–15th century. The power of the Latin Empire, however, was short-lived after the Crusader army was routed by Bulgarian Emperor Kaloyan in the Battle of Adrianople (1205).

Climate and agriculture
The Medieval Warm Period, the period from the 10th century to about the 14th century in Europe, was a relatively warm and gentle interval ended by the generally colder Little Ice Age which would continue until the Middle of the 19th century. Farmers grew wheat well north into Scandinavia, and wine grapes in northern England, although the maximum expansion of vineyards appears to occur within the Little Ice Age period. During this time, a high demand for wine and steady volume of alcohol consumption inspired a viticulture revolution of progress. This protection from famine allowed Europe's population to increase, despite the famine in 1315 that killed 1.5 million people. This increased population contributed to the founding of new towns and an increase in industrial and economic activity during the period. They also established trade and a comprehensive production of alcohol. Food production also increased during this time as new ways of farming were introduced, including the use of a heavier plow, horses instead of oxen, and a three-field system that allowed the cultivation of a greater variety of crops than the earlier two-field system—notably legumes, the growth of which prevented the depletion of important nitrogen from the soil.

The rise of chivalry
During the High Middle Ages, the idea of a Christian warrior started to change as Christianity grew more prominent in Medieval Europe. The Codes of Chivalry promoted the ideal knight to be selfless, faithful, and fierce against those who threaten the weak. Household heavy cavalry (knights) became common in the 11th century across Europe, and tournaments were invented. Tournaments allowed knights to establish their family name while being able to gather vast wealth and renown through victories. In the 12th century, the Cluny monks promoted ethical warfare and inspired the formation of orders of chivalry, such as the Templar Knights. Inherited titles of nobility were established during this period. In 13th-century Germany, knighthood became another inheritable title, although one of the less prestigious, and the trend spread to other countries.

Christian Church
The East–West Schism of 1054 formally separated the Christian church into two parts: Roman Catholicism in Western Europe and Eastern Orthodoxy in the east. It occurred when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I excommunicated each other, mainly over disagreement over the filioque, an addition to the creed concerning the origin of the Holy Spirit, as well as disputes as to the existence of papal authority over the four Eastern patriarchs, use of unleavened bread in the liturgy, and fasting days.

Crusades
The Catholic Crusades occurred between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were conducted under papal authority, initially with the intent of reestablishing Christian rule in The Holy Land by taking the area from the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimids had captured Palestine in AD 970, lost it to the Seljuk Turks in 1073 and recaptured it in 1098, just before they lost it again in 1099 as a result of the First Crusade.

Military orders
In the context of the crusades, monastic military orders were founded that would become the template for the late medieval chivalric orders.

The Knights Templar were a Christian military order founded after the First Crusade to help protect Christian pilgrims from hostile locals and highway bandits. The order was deeply involved in banking, and in 1307 Philip the Fair (Philippine le Bel) had the entire order arrested in France and dismantled on charges of alleged heresy.

The Knights Hospitaller were originally a Christian organization founded in Jerusalem in 1080 to provide care for poor, sick, or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. After Jerusalem was taken in the First Crusade, it became a religious/military order that was charged with the care and defence of the Crusader states. After the Holy Lands were eventually taken by Muslim forces, it moved its operations to Rhodes, and later Malta.

The Teutonic Knights were a German religious order formed in 1190, in the city of Acre, to aid Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands and to operate hospitals for the sick and injured in Outremer. After Muslim forces captured the Holy Lands, the order moved to Transylvania in 1211 and later, after being expelled, invaded pagan Prussia with the intention of Christianizing the Baltic region. Yet, both before and after the Order's main pagan opponent, Lithuania, converted to Christianity, the Order had already attacked other Christian nations such as Novgorod and Poland. The Teutonic Knights' power hold, which became considerable, was broken in 1410, at the Battle of Grunwald, where the Order suffered a devastating defeat against a joint Polish-Lithuanian army. After Grunwald, the Order declined in power until 1809 when it was officially dissolved. There were ten crusades in total.

Scholasticism
The new Christian method of learning was influenced by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109) from the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle, at first indirectly through Medieval Jewish and Muslim Philosophy (Maimonides, Avicenna, and Averroes) and then through Aristotle's own works brought back from Byzantine and Muslim libraries; and those whom he influenced, most notably Albertus Magnus, Bonaventure and Abélard. Many scholastics believed in empiricism and supporting Roman Catholic doctrines through secular study, reason, and logic. They opposed Christian mysticism, and the Platonist-Augustinian belief that the mind is an immaterial substance. The most famous of the scholastics was Thomas Aquinas (later declared a "Doctor of the Church"), who led the move away from the Platonic and Augustinian and towards Aristotelianism. Aquinas developed a philosophy of mind by writing that the mind was at birth a tabula rasa ("blank slate") that was given the ability to think and recognize forms or ideas through a divine spark. Other notable scholastics included Muhammad Averroes, Roscelin, Abélard, Peter Lombard, and Francisco Suárez. One of the main questions during this time was the problem of universals. Prominent opponents of various aspects of the scholastic mainstream included Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, Peter Damian, Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Victorines.

Golden age of monasticism

 * The late 11th century/early-mid 12th century was the height of the golden age of Christian monasticism (8th-12th centuries).
 * Benedictine Order – black-robed monks
 * Cistercian Order – white-robed monks
 * Bernard of Clairvaux

Mendicant orders

 * The 13th century saw the rise of the Mendicant orders such as the:
 * Franciscans (Friars Minor, commonly known as the Grey Friars), founded 1209
 * Carmelites (Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel, commonly known as the White Friars), founded 1206–1214
 * Dominicans (Order of Preachers, commonly called the Black Friars), founded 1215
 * Augustinians (Hermits of St. Augustine, commonly called the Austin Friars), founded 1256

Heretical movements
Christian heresies existed in Europe before the 11th century but only in small numbers and of local character: in most cases, a rogue priest, or a village returning to pagan traditions. Beginning in the 11th century, however mass-movement heresies appeared. The roots of this can be partially sought in the rise of urban cities, free merchants, and a new money-based economy. The rural values of monasticism held little appeal to urban people who began to form sects more in tune with urban culture. The first large-scale heretical movements in Western Europe originated in the newly urbanized areas such as southern France and northern Italy and were probably influenced by the Bogomils and other dualist movements. These heresies were on a scale the Catholic Church had never seen before and as such the response was one of elimination for some (such as the Cathars). Some Catholic monastic leaders, such as Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscans, had to be recognized directly by the Pope so as not to be confused with actual heretical movements such as the Waldensians.

Cathars

Catharism was a movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church as heretical. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its origination was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France.

The name Cathar stems from Greek katharos, "pure". One of the first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau who wrote on heretics from Cologne in 1181: "Hos nostra Germania catharos appellat." ([In] our Germany [one] calls these [people] "Cathars".)

The Cathars are also called Albigensians. This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the southern town of Albi (the ancient Albiga). The designation is hardly exact, for the centre was at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts.

The Albigensians were strong in southern France, northern Italy, and the southwestern Holy Roman Empire.

The Bogomils were strong in the Southeastern Europe, and became the official religion supported by the Bosnian kings.
 * Dualists believed that historical events were the result of struggle between a good (spiritual) force and an evil (material) force and that the world was of the evil force, though it could be controlled or defeated through asceticism and good works.
 * Albigensian Crusade, Simon de Montfort, Montségur, Château de Quéribus

Waldensians
Peter Waldo of Lyon was a wealthy merchant who gave up his riches around 1175 after a religious experience and became a preacher. He founded the Waldensians which became a Christian sect believing that all religious practices should have strictly scriptural bases. Waldo was denied the right to preach his sermons by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which he did not obey and continued to speak freely until he was excommunicated in 1184. Waldo was critical of the Christian clergy saying they did not live according to the word. He rejected the practice of selling indulgences (simony), as well as the common saint cult practices of the day.

Waldensians are considered a forerunner to the Protestant Reformation, and they melted into Protestantism with the outbreak of the Reformation and became a part of the wider Reformed tradition after the views of John Calvin and his theological successors in Geneva proved very similar to their own theological thought. Waldensian churches still exist, located on several continents.

Trade and commerce
In Northern Europe, the Hanseatic League, a federation of free cities to advance trade by sea, was founded in the 12th century, with the foundation of the city of Lübeck, which would later dominate the League, in 1158–1159. Many northern cities of the Holy Roman Empire became Hanseatic cities, including Amsterdam, Cologne, Bremen, Hanover and Berlin. Hanseatic cities outside the Holy Roman Empire were, for instance, Bruges and the Polish city of Gdańsk (Danzig), as well as Königsberg, capital of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In Bergen, Norway and Veliky Novgorod, Russia the league had factories and middlemen. In this period the Germans started colonising Europe beyond the Empire, into Prussia and Silesia.

In the late 13th century, a Venetian explorer named Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China. Westerners became more aware of the Far East when Polo documented his travels in Il Milione. He was followed by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, André de Longjumeau, Odoric of Pordenone, Giovanni de' Marignolli, Giovanni di Monte Corvino, and other travellers such as Niccolò de' Conti.

Science
Philosophical and scientific teaching of the Early Middle Ages was based upon few copies and commentaries of ancient Greek texts that remained in Western Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Most of them were studied only in Latin as knowledge of Greek was very limited.

This scenario changed during the Renaissance of the 12th century. The intellectual revitalization of Europe started with the birth of medieval universities. The increased contact with the Islamic world in Spain and Sicily during the Reconquista, and the Byzantine world and Muslim Levant during the Crusades, allowed Europeans access to scientific Arabic and Greek texts, including the works of Aristotle, Alhazen, and Averroes. The European universities aided materially in the translation and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities.

At the beginning of the 13th century there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then, the natural science contained in these texts began to be extended by notable scholastics such as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus and Duns Scotus. Precursors of the modern scientific method can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his Opus Majus.

Technology
During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. In less than a century there were more inventions developed and applied usefully than in the previous thousand years of human history all over the globe. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption or invention of windmills, watermills, printing (though not yet with movable type), gunpowder, the astrolabe, glasses, scissors of the modern shape, a better clock, and greatly improved ships. The latter two advances made possible the dawn of the Age of Discovery. These inventions were influenced by foreign culture and society.

Alfred W. Crosby described some of this technological revolution in The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 and other major historians of technology have also noted it.
 * The earliest written record of a windmill is from Yorkshire, England, dated 1185.
 * Paper manufacture began in Italy around 1270.
 * The spinning wheel was brought to Europe (probably from India) in the 13th century.
 * The magnetic compass aided navigation, first reaching Europe some time in the late 12th century.
 * Eye glasses were invented in Italy in the late 1280s.
 * The astrolabe returned to Europe via Islamic Spain.
 * Fibonacci introduces Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe with his book Liber Abaci in 1202.
 * The West's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be found on church carvings dating to around 1180.

Visual arts

Art in the High Middle Ages includes these important movements:
 * Anglo-Saxon art was influential on the British Isles until the Norman Invasion of 1066
 * Romanesque art continued traditions from the Classical world (not to be confused with Romanesque architecture)
 * Gothic art developed a distinct Germanic flavor (not to be confused with Gothic architecture).
 * Indo-Islamic architecture begins when Muhammad of Ghor made Delhi a Muslim capital
 * Byzantine art continued earlier Byzantine traditions, influencing much of Eastern Europe.
 * Illuminated manuscripts gained prominence both in the Catholic and Orthodox churches

Architecture

Gothic architecture superseded the Romanesque style by combining flying buttresses, gothic (or pointed) arches and ribbed vaults. It was influenced by the spiritual background of the time, being religious in essence: thin horizontal lines and grates made the building strive towards the sky. Architecture was made to appear light and weightless, as opposed to the dark and bulky forms of the previous Romanesque style. It was commonly thought that light was an expression of God; therefore, architectural techniques were adapted and developed to build churches that reflected this teaching. Colorful glass windows enhanced the spirit of lightness. As color was much rarer at medieval times than today, it can be assumed that these virtuoso works of art had an awe-inspiring impact on the common man from the street. High-rising intricate ribbed, and later fan vaultings demonstrated movement toward heaven. Veneration of God was also expressed by the relatively large size of these buildings. A gothic cathedral therefore not only invited the visitors to elevate themselves spiritually, it was also meant to demonstrate the greatness of God. The floor plan of a gothic cathedral corresponded to the rules of scholasticism: According to Erwin Panofsky's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, the plan was divided into sections and uniform subsections. These characteristics are exhibited by the most famous sacral building of the time: Notre Dame de Paris.

Literature
A variety of cultures influenced the literature of the High Middle Ages, one of the strongest among them being Christianity. The connection to Christianity was greatest in Latin literature, which influenced the vernacular languages in the literary cycle of the Matter of Rome. Other literary cycles, or interrelated groups of stories, included the Matter of France (stories about Charlemagne and his court), the Acritic songs dealing with the chivalry of Byzantium's frontiersmen, and perhaps the best known cycle, the Matter of Britain, which featured tales about King Arthur, his court, and related stories from Brittany, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland. An anonymous German poet tried to bring the Germanic myths from the Migration Period to the level of the French and British epics, producing the Nibelungenlied. There was also a quantity of poetry and historical writings which were written during this period, such as Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Despite political decline during the late 12th and much of the 13th centuries, the Byzantine scholarly tradition remained particularly fruitful over the time period. One of the most prominent philosophers of the 11th century, Michael Psellos, reinvigorated Neoplatonism on Christian foundations and bolstered the study of ancient philosophical texts, along with contributing to history, grammar, and rhetorics. His pupil and successor at the head of Philosophy at the University of Constantinople Ioannes Italos continued the Platonic line in Byzantine thought and was criticized by the Church for holding opinions it considered heretical, such as the doctrine of transmigration. Two Orthodox theologians important in the dialogue between the eastern and western churches were Nikephoros Blemmydes and Maximus Planudes. Byzantine historical tradition also flourished with the works of the brothers Niketas and Michael Choniates in the beginning of the 13th century and George Akropolites a generation later. Dating from 12th century Byzantine Empire is also Timarion, an Orthodox Christian anticipation of Divine Comedy. Around the same time the so-called Byzantine novel rose in popularity with its synthesis of ancient pagan and contemporaneous Christian themes.

At the same time southern France gave birth to Occitan literature, which is best known for troubadours who sang of courtly love. It included elements from Latin literature and Arab-influenced Spain and North Africa. Later its influence spread to several cultures in Western Europe, notably in Portugal and the Minnesänger in Germany. Provençal literature also reached Sicily and Northern Italy laying the foundation of the "sweet new style" of Dante and later Petrarca. Indeed, the most important poem of the Late Middle Ages, the allegorical Divine Comedy, is to a large degree a product of both the theology of Thomas Aquinas and the largely secular Occitan literature.

Music
The surviving music of the High Middle Ages is primarily religious in nature, since music notation developed in religious institutions, and the application of notation to secular music was a later development. Early in the period, Gregorian chant was the dominant form of church music; other forms, beginning with organum, and later including clausulae, conductus, and the motet, developed using the chant as source material.

During the 11th century, Guido of Arezzo was one of the first to develop musical notation, which made it easier for singers to remember Gregorian chants.

It was during the 12th and 13th centuries that Gregorian plainchant gave birth to polyphony, which appeared in the works of French Notre Dame School (Léonin and Pérotin). Later it evolved into the ars nova (Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Machaut) and the musical genres of late Middle Ages. An important composer during the 12th century was the nun Hildegard of Bingen.

The most significant secular movement was that of the troubadours, who arose in Occitania (Southern France) in the late 11th century. The troubadours were often itinerant, came from all classes of society, and wrote songs on a variety of topics, though with a particular focus on courtly love. Their style went on to influence the trouvères of northern France, the minnesingers of Germany, and the composers of secular music of the Trecento in northern Italy.

Theatre
Economic and political changes in the High Middle Ages led to the formation of guilds and the growth of towns, and this would lead to significant changes for theatre starting in this time and continuing into the Late Middle Ages. Trade guilds began to perform plays, usually religiously based, and often dealing with a biblical story that referenced their profession. For instance, a baker's guild would perform a reenactment of the Last Supper. In the British Isles, plays were produced in some 127 different towns during the Middle Ages. These vernacular Mystery plays were written in cycles of a large number of plays: York (48 plays), Chester (24), Wakefield (32) and Unknown (42). A larger number of plays survive from France and Germany in this period and some type of religious dramas were performed in nearly every European country in the Late Middle Ages. Many of these plays contained comedy, devils, villains and clowns.

There were also a number of secular performances staged in the Middle Ages, the earliest of which is The Play of the Greenwood by Adam de la Halle in 1276. It contains satirical scenes and folk material such as faeries and other supernatural occurrences. Farces also rose dramatically in popularity after the 13th century. The majority of these plays come from France and Germany and are similar in tone and form, emphasizing sex and bodily excretions.

Timeline

 * 1054 – East–West Schism
 * 1066 – Battle of Hastings
 * 1073–1085 – Pope Gregory VII
 * 1071 – Battle of Manzikert
 * 1077 – Henry IV's Walk to Canossa
 * 1086 – Domesday Book
 * 1086 – Battle of az-Zallaqah
 * 1088 – University of Bologna founded
 * 1091 – Battle of Levounion
 * 1096 – University of Oxford founded
 * 1096–1099 – First Crusade
 * 1123 – First Lateran Council
 * 1139 – Second Lateran Council
 * 1145–1149 – Second Crusade
 * 1147 – Wendish Crusade
 * c. 1150 – University of Paris founded
 * 1155–1190 – Frederick I Barbarossa
 * 1159 – foundation of the Hanseatic League
 * 1169 – Norman invasion of Ireland
 * 1185 – reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire
 * 1189–1192 – Third Crusade
 * 1200–1204 – Fourth Crusade
 * 1205 – Battle of Adrianople
 * 1209 – University of Cambridge founded
 * 1209 – foundation of the Franciscan Order
 * 1209–1229 – Albigensian Crusade
 * 1212 – Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
 * 1214 - Battle of Bouvines - Medieval France is a rising power
 * 1215 – Magna Carta
 * 1216 – recognition of the Dominican Order
 * 1215 – Fourth Lateran Council
 * 1217–1221 – Fifth Crusade
 * 1218 – University of Salamanca founded
 * 1220–1250 – Frederick II
 * 1222 – University of Padua founded
 * 1223 – approval of the Franciscan Rule of Life
 * 1228–1229 – Sixth Crusade
 * 1230 – Prussian Crusade
 * 1230 – Battle of Klokotnitsa
 * 1237–1242 – Mongol invasion of Europe
 * 1241 – Battle of Legnica and Battle of Mohi
 * 1242 – Battle of the Ice
 * 1248–1254 – Seventh Crusade
 * 1257 – foundation of the Collège de Sorbonne
 * 1261 – the Byzantine Empire reconquers Constantinople.
 * 1274 – death of Thomas Aquinas; Summa Theologica published
 * 1277-1280 – Uprising of Ivaylo – Medieval Europe's only successful peasant uprising
 * 1280 – death of Albertus Magnus
 * 1291 – Acre, the last European outpost in the Near East, is captured by the Mamluks under Khalil.

title: High Middle Ages


text:
Sawbridgeworth

Sawbridgeworth is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Essex. It is 12 mi east of Hertford and 9 mi north of Epping. It is the northernmost part of the Greater London Built-up Area.

History
Prior to the Norman conquest, most of the area was owned by the Anglo-Saxon Angmar the Staller.

The Manor of "Sabrixteworde" (one of the many spellings previously associated with the town) was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. After the Battle of Hastings it was granted to Geoffrey de Mandeville I by William the Conqueror. Local notables have included John Leventhorpe, an executor of both King Henry IV and King Henry V's wills, and Anne Boleyn, who was given the Pishiobury/Pishobury estate, located to the south of the town.

The Great Hyde Hall mansion and surrounding land was acquired by Sir Walter Lawrence, the master builder, in the 1920s. In 1934, he instituted the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century in county cricket. He built a cricket ground and pavilion in the grounds where the great and the good of the cricket world came to play against Sir Walter's home team, which often included his three sons: Jim, Guy and Pat. Sir Walter also had two daughters: Molly and Gipsy. Great Hyde Hall was sold in 1945 and became a school. It is a Grade II* listed building and has now been divided into housing.

Much of the town centre is a conservation area; many of the buildings date from the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian periods.

Great St Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building; "of special interest as a substantially unaltered large medieval parish church, typical of the Hertfordshire type, and with an outstanding collection of memorials of the highest artistic quality". It was built in the 13th century (although a church on the site existed in Saxon times) and includes a Tudor tower containing a clock bell (1664) and eight ringing bells, the oldest of which dates from 1749. It is thought to be called 'Great' St Mary's to distinguish it from St Mary's, Gilston. Ralph Jocelyn of Hyde Hall, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1464 and in 1476, is buried here; images of many of his family and other locals have been engraved on brass, and the church is popular for enthusiasts of brass rubbing. The ghost of Sir John Jocelyn, known for his love of horses, is reputed to appear riding a white horse on the old carriage drive every 1 November.

The town's prosperity came from the maltings, some of which now house antiques centres. Among the maltsters were George Fawbert and John Barnard; in 1839 they set up the Fawbert and Barnard charity to fund local children and their education, funding a local infant school that still exists today.

By the time of the Norman conquest, or soon after, Sawbridgeworth's rich farming land was fully developed for cultivation as was possible with the means available at the time: it was the richest village community in the county. Many important medieval families had estates here. The land was divided among them, into a number of manors or distinct estates; the lord of each manor had rights not only over this land but also over the people who farmed it. The number of manors increased during the Middle Ages, by a process of subinfeudation, that is the granting out of a part of an existing manor to a new owner so that the new manor was created. Many manors sprang from the original Domesday Book holding of the de Mandeville family. The first came to be called Sayesbury manor, from the de Say family who inherited it from the de Mandevilles in 1189. The many important people who held these manors built themselves houses with hunting parks around them; when they died their tombs enriched the parish church, so that today St Mary's has one of the finest collections of church monuments in the country.

During the Second World War RAF Sawbridgeworth, which is not in the civil parish, operated Supermarine Spitfires, Westland Lysanders, North American Mustangs and de Havilland Mosquito, among other types - for a complete history of the airfield, see the book Where the Lysanders were ....., by Paul Doyle, published in 1995 by Forward Airfield Research Publishing. The Walter Lawrence & Son Ltd joinery works, located between the canal and the railway, built over 1,000 Mosquito fuselage shells and wing skins for de Havilland during the Second World War. Subsequently, it reverted to making joinery and doors for the building trade. The joinery works was closed in about 1982 and houses were built on the site.

Sawbridgeworth was the birthplace of composer Bernard Rose (1916–1996) and the actor Stephen Greif (1944–2022).

Sawbridgeworth has been twinned with Bry-sur-Marne in France since 1973, and Moosburg an der Isar in Germany since 2018.

Parliamentary representation
Sawbridgeworth is in the parliamentary constituency of Hertford and Stortford. Since the formation of the constituency in 1983, it has elected Conservative Members of Parliament, though the town has been represented by Conservative MPs since 1922, and the town acts as part of a Safe seat. The current MP is Julie Marson, elected in 2019.

Local government
Sawbridgeworth has three tiers of local government, at parish (town), district, and county level: Sawbridgeworth Town Council, East Hertfordshire District Council, and Hertfordshire County Council. The town council has twelve councillors. The hamlet of Spellbrook is included within the administrative boundaries of the town.

Town mayors
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Sawbridgeworth, and is usually held by a different councillor each year. Full Council meetings are chaired by the Mayor. The Mayors since 2012 have been:

Composition
Following the 2023 Sawbridgeworth Town Council election the composition of the council is as follows:

The parish of Sawbridgeworth was in the hundred of Braughing. From 1835 the parish was included in the Bishop's Stortford Poor Law Union. It therefore became part of the Bishop's Stortford Rural Sanitary District in 1872. Under the Local Government Act 1894 elected parish and district councils were created. Sawbridgeworth Parish Council came into office on 31 December 1894, and the parish was included in the Hadham Rural District. Sawbridgeworth was made an urban district on 1 April 1901, making it independent of the Hadham Rural District. It was decided that the whole parish of Sawbridgeworth was not suitable for becoming an urban district, and so the more rural western part of the parish was made a separate parish called High Wych on the same day, which remained in the Hadham Rural District.

Until 1914 Sawbridgeworth Urban District Council met at offices on Bell Street (sometimes called Cock Street). In 1914 the council moved to the upper floor of the town's fire station at 5 Church Street, which had been built in 1905. In 1937 the council built itself new offices on The Forebury, holding its first meeting in the new building on 5 July 1937.

Sawbridgeworth Urban District Council was granted a coat of arms on 20 July 1962.

The urban district was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of East Hertfordshire on 1 April 1974. A successor parish (and Sawbridgeworth Town Council) was created for the former urban district. The urban district council's former offices on The Forebury are now used as the town's library, whilst Sawbridgeworth Town Council is based at Sayesbury Manor on Bell Street.

Fire service
The town has an on-call fire station, in Station Road, with one fire engine. Sawbridgeworth had its own fire brigade from 1897 until it was merged into the National Fire Service in 1941. In 1948 control of the local fire brigade passed to the Hertfordshire Fire Brigade, since renamed the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, run by Hertfordshire County Council.

Geography
Sawbridgeworth adjoins the border between Hertfordshire and Essex. The village of Lower Sheering is across the county boundary into Essex, and adjoins Sawbridgeworth along its eastern edge, east of the railway station and of the River Stort. It has a Sawbridgeworth postal address, but is in the Epping Forest District of Essex.

Geology
Underlying the town at some depth is the London Clay stratum, with a thick layer of Boulder clay laid down during the ice ages, including the Anglian. The soil on top of this is a loam, with glacial erratics of Hertfordshire puddingstone conglomerate found around the town.

Education
Sawbridgeworth has a secondary school, the Leventhorpe Academy, which also offers a public swimming pool and leisure centre. There is are also two primary schools and one infant school in Sawbridgeworth.

Media
Sawbridgeworth is within the BBC London and ITV London region. Television signals are received from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter, BBC East and ITV Anglia can also be received from the Sandy Heath transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Three Counties Radio, Heart Hertfordshire and East Herts Radio, a community-based station.

The town is served by the local newspapers, Bishop's Stortford Independent and Hertfordshire Mercury.

Sport
Sawbridgeworth Town FC, a non-league football club, was established in 1897. The Men's 1st Team currently play in the Spartan South Midlands League, step five of the English non-league system. Home matches are played at Crofters End, Sawbridgeworth.

Sawbridgeworth Cricket Club field three senior sides on a Saturday and seven colts sides, from ages nine to fifteen. The 1st XI plays in the Hertfordshire Cricket League. The main ground is Town Fields, situated behind Bell Street. The second ground is at Leventhorpe Academy.

Sawbridgeworth has tennis and bowls clubs.

Local groups
Sawbridgeworth is home to 309 Squadron of the Air Training Corps. Additionally, the 1st Sawbridgeworth Scout Group, which was established in 1908, is located in the town.

Transport
The A1184 road runs through the town. The River Stort Navigation flows north–south along the eastern edge of the town, parallel to the railway, and past the Maltings.

The town is served by Sawbridgeworth railway station, located on the West Anglia Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia.

There are bus services to Harlow, Bishops Stortford, and Stansted Airport, operated by Arriva Herts & Essex.

Nearby villages

 * High Wych
 * Spellbrook
 * Much Hadham

Notable people

 * Alexander Annesley (c. 1753 - 1813), lawyer
 * David Beckham (1975-), former England captain, and singer Victoria Beckham (1974-) lived in Rowneybury House.
 * Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 - 1536), second wife of King Henry VIII, held Pishiobury until her execution.
 * Robert Jocelyn, 1st Viscount Jocelyn (c.1688-1756), Lord Chancellor of Ireland; he was a member of the Jocelyn family of Hyde Hall.
 * Pip Pyle (1950-2006), progressive rock drummer, particularly of Canterbury scene bands.
 * Thomas Rivers (1797-1878), nurseryman.
 * Elizabeth Rivers (1903-1964), artist.
 * Rowland Alston (1782–1865), MP for Hertfordshire from 1835 to 1841.
 * John Stanier (British Army officer), Chief of the General Staff of the British Army from 1982 to 1985.
 * Frank Silcock (1838-1897), first-class cricketer and founding member of Essex County Cricket Club.
 * Christine Walkden, television presenter and gardener.

title: Sawbridgeworth


text:
John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire KG, KB (24 November 1427 – 8 May 1473) was an English nobleman, the youngest son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. In 1461 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Bath.

Career
He fought on the Yorkist side at the Battle of Hexham in 1464. In 1469, he was made Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall for life. He was made Earl of Wiltshire on 5 January 1470 by King Edward IV, and was briefly arrested under Warwick's government and prevented from attending the Parliament of November 1470 (he was one of six Yorkist nobles not to receive a summons).

In return for his loyalty he was made Chief Butler of England, and was empowered, with Lord Mountjoy to pardon rebels who surrendered by 7 June that year. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1472.

Diplomacy
He did act for some time as a diplomat, working with the Earl of Northumberland to deal with ambassadors of James III of Scotland about national grievances.

Personal life
He married Constance Green, daughter of Sir Henry Green of Drayton House Northamptonshire and Margaret de Ros. They only had one child, Edward, who succeeded him as Earl of Wiltshire, although during the latter's minority he was kept as a ward of the King, meaning revenues from his estates were paid to the Crown.

title: John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire


text:
Germain of Paris

Germain (Germanus; c. 496 – 28 May 576) was the bishop of Paris and is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early biography, he was known as Germain d'Autun, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".

Biography
Germain was born near Autun in what is now France, under Burgundian control 20 years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, to noble Gallo-Roman parents. Germain studied at Avallon in Burgundy and at Luzy under the guidance of his cousin Scallion, who was a priest. At the age of 35, he was ordained by Agrippinus of Autun and became abbot of the nearby Abbey of St. Symphorian. He was known for his hardworking and austere nature; however, it was his generous alms-giving which caused his monks to fear that one day he would give away all the wealth of the abbey, resulting in their rebellion against him. While in Paris in 555, Sibelius, the bishop of Paris, died, and Charibert I had him consecrated as the bishop of Paris.

Under Germain's influence, Childebert is said to have led a reformed life. In his new role, the bishop continued to practice the virtues and austerities of his monastic life, working to diminish the suffering caused by the incessant wars. He attended the Third and Fourth Councils of Paris (557, 573) and also the Second Council of Tours (566). He persuaded the king to stamp out the pagan practices existing in Gaul and to forbid the excess that accompanied the celebration of most Christian festivals.

Childebert was succeeded briefly by Clotaire, who divided the royal demesnes among his four sons, with Charibert becoming King of Paris. Germain was forced to excommunicate Charibert in 568 for immorality. Charibert died in 570. As his surviving brothers fought violently over his possessions, the bishop encountered great difficulty trying to establish peace, with little success. Sigebert and Chilperic, instigated by their wives, Brunehaut and the infamous Fredegund, went to war. Chilperic was defeated, and Paris fell into Sigebert's hands. Germain later wrote to Brunehaut, asking her to use her influence to prevent further war. However, Sigebert refused and, despite Germain's warning, set out to attack Chilperic at Tournai. Chilperic had fled, and Sigebert was later assassinated at Vitry in 575, under Fredegund's orders. Germain died the following year, before peace was restored.

For nine centuries, in times of plague and crisis, his relics were carried in procession through the streets of Paris.

Two stained-glass panels depicting scenes from the life of Germain are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cloisters Collection in New York.

Abbey church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
During his war on Spain in the year 542, King Childebert besieged Zaragoza. Upon hearing that the inhabitants had placed themselves under the protection of the martyr Vincent of Saragossa, Childebert raised his siege and spared the city. In gratitude, the bishop of Zaragoza presented him with Vincent's stole. When Childebert returned to Paris, he caused a church to be erected to receive the relic. In 558 St. Vincent's church was completed and dedicated by Germain on 23 December; on the very same day, Childebert died. A monastery was erected near the church. Its abbots had both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the suburbs of Saint-Germain until about the year 1670. The church was frequently plundered and set on fire by the Normans in the ninth century. It was rebuilt in 1014 and dedicated in 1163 by Pope Alexander III.

There is a treatise on the ancient Gallican liturgy that has traditionally been attributed to Germain. The poet Venantius Fortunatus, from whom Germain commissioned a Vita Sancti Marcelli, wrote a eulogy of his life.

Germain's body lay for two centuries in a tomb chamber in the chapel of Saint Symphorian, in the atrium or forecourt of the church of Saint Vincent outside the walls of Paris. The translation of his relics to a more prominent and typically Frankish position within the main church, retro altare, was effected in 756 and was justified by his vision to a pious woman. The church was reconsecrated as Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Fortunatus had visited Germain in Paris and was disappointed so described the work as "nothing but a string of miracles". Germain, according to Venantius had performed his first miracle in the womb, preventing his mother from performing an abortion.

Germain's feast day is appointed as 28 May, and his translation as 25 July.

Legacy
The commune Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris, is named after him, as well as the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Saint-Germain de Charonne which are both located in the city proper of Paris.

title: Germain of Paris