Discussion:
Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
(too old to reply)
Chris Phillips
2006-06-04 17:51:36 UTC
Permalink
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
recently been made available there:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm

This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material. The results are presented in
narrative form and are organised geographically. The files, in HTML format,
are freely available on the Foundation's website (note that some of the
files are very large and may take a while to download through slow
connections).

The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources. In the current version,
most data are available for Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and
Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600 years of the medieval period.
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.

Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.

Chris Phillips
Sutliff
2006-06-04 18:27:17 UTC
Permalink
I do hope that people here will keep in mind that this new project is a work
in progress and realize that it already contains errors. Ultimately the
success and value of the data will depend on the sources used. I must admit
I am troubled to see Alison Weir used as a source.

For example, the four younger sons attributed to Henry III and his wife of
Eleanor of Provence (Richard, John, Henry and William) were disproved by
Margaret Howell some years ago. The alleged son William was actually proved
to be Henry III's half-brother William de Valence and the original pedigree
had been misread.

Also, John Carmi Parsons, who used to post here frequently, through sources
like the Household accounts, was able to completely revise the listing of
the children of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile by adding previously
unlisted children and subtracting children (Beatrice & Blanche) after Edward
II as there was no evidence Eleanor was pregnant after her last son.

This is an ambitious project so it is hoped that eventually these and other
similar errors will be corrected.

HS
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material. The results are presented in
narrative form and are organised geographically. The files, in HTML format,
are freely available on the Foundation's website (note that some of the
files are very large and may take a while to download through slow
connections).
The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources. In the current version,
most data are available for Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and
Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600 years of the medieval period.
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.
Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.
Chris Phillips
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-04 21:08:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Sutliff
I do hope that people here will keep in mind that this new project is
a work in progress and realize that it already contains errors.
Ultimately the success and value of the data will depend on the
sources used. I must admit I am troubled to see Alison Weir used as
a source.
For example, the four younger sons attributed to Henry III and his
wife of Eleanor of Provence (Richard, John, Henry and William) were
disproved by Margaret Howell some years ago. The alleged son William
was actually proved to be Henry III's half-brother William de
Valence and the original pedigree had been misread.
Also, John Carmi Parsons, who used to post here frequently, through
sources like the Household accounts, was able to completely revise
the listing of the children of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile by
adding previously unlisted children and subtracting children
(Beatrice & Blanche) after Edward II as there was no evidence
Eleanor was pregnant after her last son.
This is an ambitious project so it is hoped that eventually these and
other similar errors will be corrected.
I saw the presentation too and was most impressed. One thing that
Charles Cawley made clear was that he had done no research on the
English Sovereigns and major landholders. He had just copied an
outline from known secondary sources.

What we can see now is the first edition. He is already working on the
second edition, so it is likely that the first edition will not be
revised. He made one methodological point: he has now decided on a
policy of putting all unresearched, or hearsay, material in square
brackets; but this policy has not been fully implemented in the first
edition. He said that, correctly now, all the English material should
be in square brackets. Perhaps the advantage of the English major
landowners is that they are already very well researched in Complete
Peerage and its Amendments so there is no urgency for this to be done
yet.

In addition his principal attraction is that he is referencing all
known facts to published source documents. This can be seen for
instance in the article on the "Nobility in Flanders" in the Northern
France section within France within Medieval Lands data by Region. So if
you find an article without square brackets which also lacks these
reference numbers, it is not to be relied on. (I wonder if we can also
go as far as to say that if you find a fact without a reference number,
that too is not to be relied on?)

To me the totally commendable target is that of relying solely on
(mainly published) primary documents. His explicit and stated intention
is to do away with any reliance on any secondary documents. I wish him
every success in the long process of completing this massive work.
Particularly for continental European genealogy this should satisfy a
long felt need for properly referenced information in English (for our
blinkered race of non-linguists) on the early major landed families and
their rulers.
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
Stewart Baldwin
2006-06-05 04:36:59 UTC
Permalink
On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 18:51:36 +0100, "Chris Phillips"
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
After looking at some of the places where the above project overlaps
my own work (which is quite a bit), I would give the site mixed
reviews based on what I have seen so far. Although it is clear that
there is much useful material on the website, I think that that much
more care than what we see now is going to be required if the site is
to live up to its stated ambitions. As an example, here is a quote
from the website's Introduction regarding "new discoveries":

"The "back-to-basics" approach to source material has
produced many surprises. It has enabled numerous new
discoveries to be made and many challenges to
traditionally accepted family relationships to be
proposed. By way of example, browse for Æthelberht
King of Wessex (ANGLO-SAXON Kings), the wives of
Péter Orseolo King of Hungary (HUNGARY), and the wife
of Guy I Comte de Mâcon (BURGUNDY Duchy, Nobility).
The approach has also highlighted many cases where no
supporting source material has so far been found,
despite extensive research. Of particular interest is
the example of Emma, wife of Ludwig II "der Deutsche"
King of the East Franks (GERMANY, Kings): the primary
source reference to her supposed Welf origin has so
far proved elusive. Hopefully a reader will be able
to provide the correct reference."

Now, I would expect that items pointed out in such an introduction
would be ones on which a reasonable amount of thoroughness and care
had been exercised, but that is clearly not the case with one of the
above items, the supposed wife of Guy I de Mâcon. The "solution"
given is that Guy is married off to the sister of his grandmother
Gerberge, which results from confusing Guy's son Otto with Guy's
father Otte-Guillaume (making both Guy's wife and his paternal
grandmother Gerberge daughters of Lambert of Chalon).

As for the others, I am not familiar with the Hungarian case, but I do
recall that Todd Farmerie has mentioned the problem with Æthelberht of
Wessex in this newsgroup before.

As for Emma's parentage, it can be found in Annales Xantenses, MGH SS
2: 225: "Anno 827. ..., et Ludewicus rex accepit in coniugum sororem
Iudith imperatricis."


I also noticed a tendancy to use late sources which make some of the
accounts very unreliable in places. Two clear examples are the
treatment of origin legends for Anjou (Tertulle, etc.) and Flanders
(Lideric, etc.) as if they might be historical, using late sources
which contradict earlier, more reliable sources. Also, there are very
serious problems with the early Scandinavian lines, using sources like
Heimskringla and even Saxo(!) as sources for periods much earlier than
they can be seriously considered as reliable. The account of the
early Danish kings, which has been built using ES's awful "Haithabu"
chart as the framework, is a complete mess.

The plan seems to have been to start with ES (and perhaps some other
secondary sources) as a start, and then to insert various
documentation as it was found (often from other secondary sources).
The result is that it is often not clear whether or not sufficient
documentation has yet been added, sometimes making the reliability of
a randomly chosen account difficult to decide without checking the
sources given.

Stewart Baldwin
Chris Phillips
2006-06-05 09:19:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stewart Baldwin
After looking at some of the places where the above project overlaps
my own work (which is quite a bit), I would give the site mixed
reviews based on what I have seen so far. Although it is clear that
there is much useful material on the website, I think that that much
more care than what we see now is going to be required if the site is
to live up to its stated ambitions.
I should have mentioned that Charles Cawley gave a presentation on "Medieval
Lands" at the Annual General Meeting of the FMG in London on Saturday, which
is where some of my information came from. But there's also some detailed
information and guidance (PDF file) here:
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Intro.pdf

It's evident that he has devoted an enormous amount of work to the project
and is very serious about getting things right, so I'm sure he will welcome
constructive criticism and suggestions.

Obviously what he is doing is tremendously ambitious, and my feeling is that
one of the hardest aspects is to use scholarly secondary sources effectively
without sacrificing the emphasis on primary sources. In what little I've
done on Complete Peerage corrections, I've always been very conscious that
I'm "standing on the shoulders of giants", whose help is needed to get the
framework right, and to evaluate and interpret the primary sources
correctly.

It's worth repeating what Tim said - that for some parts of the work
undocumented material is indicated by square brackets, but that in others
it's not explicitly indicated, and has to be judged from the nature of the
citations given. If I understand correctly, the parts covering England after
the Norman Conquest are generally documented from secondary sources only.

Chris Phillips
Carl H. Jones
2006-06-05 14:31:59 UTC
Permalink
-----Original Message-----
From: Stewart Baldwin [mailto:***@mindspring.com]
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 12:37 AM
To: GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"

<snip>

After looking at some of the places where the above project overlaps
my own work (which is quite a bit), I would give the site mixed
reviews based on what I have seen so far. Although it is clear that
there is much useful material on the website, I think that that much
more care than what we see now is going to be required if the site is
to live up to its stated ambitions.

<snip>

Now, I would expect that items pointed out in such an introduction
would be ones on which a reasonable amount of thoroughness and care
had been exercised, but that is clearly not the case with one of the
above items, the supposed wife of Guy I de Mâcon. The "solution"
given is that Guy is married off to the sister of his grandmother
Gerberge, which results from confusing Guy's son Otto with Guy's
father Otte-Guillaume (making both Guy's wife and his paternal
grandmother Gerberge daughters of Lambert of Chalon).

As for the others, I am not familiar with the Hungarian case, but I do
recall that Todd Farmerie has mentioned the problem with Æthelberht of
Wessex in this newsgroup before.

As for Emma's parentage, it can be found in Annales Xantenses, MGH SS
2: 225: "Anno 827. ..., et Ludewicus rex accepit in coniugum sororem
Iudith imperatricis."


I also noticed a tendancy to use late sources which make some of the
accounts very unreliable in places. Two clear examples are the
treatment of origin legends for Anjou (Tertulle, etc.) and Flanders
(Lideric, etc.) as if they might be historical, using late sources
which contradict earlier, more reliable sources. Also, there are very
serious problems with the early Scandinavian lines, using sources like
Heimskringla and even Saxo(!) as sources for periods much earlier than
they can be seriously considered as reliable. The account of the
early Danish kings, which has been built using ES's awful "Haithabu"
chart as the framework, is a complete mess.

The plan seems to have been to start with ES (and perhaps some other
secondary sources) as a start, and then to insert various
documentation as it was found (often from other secondary sources).
The result is that it is often not clear whether or not sufficient
documentation has yet been added, sometimes making the reliability of
a randomly chosen account difficult to decide without checking the
sources given.

Stewart Baldwin

Stewart,
Since this work overlaps your own (as you mention in the above quote), and
since apparently both you and Charles Cawley wish this work to be accurate,
and since the work is so monumental in scope and historical significance,
why not offer to assist Mr. Cawley in this undertaking??

This should insure a work that can be a cornerstone for genealogical
research for years, if not decades, to come.
Stewart Baldwin
2006-06-05 19:44:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Carl H. Jones
Stewart,
Since this work overlaps your own (as you mention in the above quote), and
since apparently both you and Charles Cawley wish this work to be accurate,
and since the work is so monumental in scope and historical significance,
why not offer to assist Mr. Cawley in this undertaking??
This should insure a work that can be a cornerstone for genealogical
research for years, if not decades, to come.
There is a problem here which involves what is apparently a complete
difference in opinion regarding quality control. My own approach is
to TRY (recognizing that I will never be completely successful) to
prevent errors from appearing in the first place, at least in items
presented for public consumption. A good look at the genealogical
literature will show that I am hardly alone in that approach to
genealogy.

On the other hand, another common approach, completely different, has
been to enter everything found in various secondary sources, and then
to try and add documentation and eliminate errors. This is clearly
the approach followed by Mr. Cawley's database. The source which
forms the apparent core of this database, ES, is very deficient in the
early medieval time period, with the result that the database has
started off with a large number of errors, and finding all of these
errors and correcting them in the process of adding documentation will
be a monumental effort. These errors will continue to mislead the
unwary until they are corrected (if ever).

Thus, since I am currently working on a project of my own (for which,
see http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/provis.htm), I see no
reason to abandon it to help with a project using an approach about
which I am skeptical.

Stewart Baldwin
Roger LeBlanc
2006-06-05 22:16:46 UTC
Permalink
I am as excited as anyone with the appearance of a new internet
resource, but it strikes me as odd that for the individuals that can be
found in Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project there should be discrepancies.
Is it that the author's of the new website are ignorant of its existence
(?) or are they willfully disregarding it. I suppose either possibility
speaks to their credibility. How many times does the wheel have to be
re-invented?
The Baldwin pages are excellently documented as to their sources, and
alternate theories are often explored. Any criticisms of the information
presented can be discussed right here on this forum, and necessary
updates are made. For me the Henry Project is the cornerstone of
internet genealogy and is the first place I look with regard to the
individuals included there.
At first glance I don't know that the information available at "Medieval
Lands" goes much beyond say the Roglo database-which does get updated.
I'm sure we don't need another Hull database at this juncture either.

Roger LeBlanc
Chris Phillips
2006-06-06 09:10:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Roger LeBlanc
I am as excited as anyone with the appearance of a new internet
resource, but it strikes me as odd that for the individuals that can be
found in Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project there should be discrepancies.
Is it that the author's of the new website are ignorant of its existence
(?) or are they willfully disregarding it. I suppose either possibility
speaks to their credibility. How many times does the wheel have to be
re-invented?
As already discussed, the point is that the author has made limited use of
secondary sources to provide a framework, but has concentrated on looking at
primary sources. If the Henry Project pages are not referred to, that is
probably the reason, though another possible reason is that the version of
"Medieval Lands" just released has taken at least four years to prepare
(about the same time as the Henry Project has been in progress), so parts of
it will have been written before the relevant "Henry" pages appeared.

As I thought had also been made clear, "Medieval Lands" is the work of only
one man, Charles Cawley. I think that, and the tremendous scope of the
project, should be borne in mind when criticising it.
Post by Roger LeBlanc
At first glance I don't know that the information available at "Medieval
Lands" goes much beyond say the Roglo database-which does get updated.
I'm sure we don't need another Hull database at this juncture either.
Perhaps it would be worth giving it more than just a "glance" before passing
judgment. I haven't used the Roglo database, but the comparison with the
Hull database is so ludicrous that it makes me wonder whether you have
looked at "Medieval Lands" at all!

Chris Phillips
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-06 13:57:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Roger LeBlanc
I am as excited as anyone with the appearance of a new internet
resource, but it strikes me as odd that for the individuals that can be
found in Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project there should be discrepancies.
Is it that the author's
If this is a grocer's plural, there is but one author.
Post by Roger LeBlanc
of the new website are ignorant of its existence (?) or are they
willfully disregarding it.
I asked him about it and he was well aware of it. The only comment he
made was that it did not cover the same areas as he was trying to cover,
which were all of Europe.
Post by Roger LeBlanc
I suppose either possibility
speaks to their credibility. How many times does the wheel have to be
re-invented?
The Baldwin pages are excellently documented as to their sources, and
alternate theories are often explored. Any criticisms of the information
presented can be discussed right here on this forum, and necessary
updates are made. For me the Henry Project is the cornerstone of
internet genealogy and is the first place I look with regard to the
individuals included there.
Of course.
Post by Roger LeBlanc
At first glance I don't know that the information available at "Medieval
Lands" goes much beyond say the Roglo database-which does get updated.
I'm sure we don't need another Hull database at this juncture either.
The Hull database is noteworthy for the lack of references in its text,
for the fact that its author states that it is not a genealogy project
and because the author refuses to deal with gross mistakes that have
been passed on to him. Perhaps this comparison is odious?
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
Chris Phillips
2006-06-06 08:57:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stewart Baldwin
On the other hand, another common approach, completely different, has
been to enter everything found in various secondary sources, and then
to try and add documentation and eliminate errors. This is clearly
the approach followed by Mr. Cawley's database.
As far as his intentions go, this is not what I understood from his
presentation at the weekend, and it's not what I understand from the online
documentation.

What he says is that Europaische Stammtafeln has been used to provide a
framework, and that primary sources are being used to verify and supplement
the material from ES. Clearly some other secondary sources have been used
too, but the overriding emphasis is on documenting everything from primary
sources.

I suspect that some of the problems that have been identified here have
arisen because of the desire to _minimise_ dependence on secondary sources -
the author has perhaps taken a flawed framework from ES rather than doing a
more extensive survey of the secondary literature. But after all, given the
scope of the work, a complete survey of the secondary literature would be a
life's work in itself, and the point of the project is to document things
from primary sources. In principle, if everything is being verified against
primary sources, flaws in the framework itself would eventually be
corrected.
Post by Stewart Baldwin
The source which
forms the apparent core of this database, ES, is very deficient in the
early medieval time period, with the result that the database has
started off with a large number of errors, and finding all of these
errors and correcting them in the process of adding documentation will
be a monumental effort. These errors will continue to mislead the
unwary until they are corrected (if ever).
Again, as I understand it, in the best documented parts of the database the
author has tried to indicate unverified material from secondary sources by
putting it in square brackets. I realise that this isn't the case for the
whole work, and that in other parts of it the reader has to try to
distinguish between primary and secondary source citations. I think it would
be very helpful if the distinction could be made explicit throughout, or a
more prominent caveat displayed.
Post by Stewart Baldwin
Thus, since I am currently working on a project of my own (for which,
see http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/provis.htm), I see no
reason to abandon it to help with a project using an approach about
which I am skeptical.
I'm not sure the suggestion was that other people should abandon their own
work and devote themselves to "Medieval Lands". I would hope people will
help as they are able, and that this can be done in ways that aren't
necessarily time-consuming - perhaps just by sending the occasional email to
say "There is an up-to-date scholarly study of family X in such-and-such a
journal", or "A correction to the ES table on family Y is described at
http://whatever".

Chris Phillips
Stewart Baldwin
2006-06-06 19:06:00 UTC
Permalink
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 09:57:56 +0100, "Chris Phillips"
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Stewart Baldwin
On the other hand, another common approach, completely different, has
been to enter everything found in various secondary sources, and then
to try and add documentation and eliminate errors. This is clearly
the approach followed by Mr. Cawley's database.
As far as his intentions go, this is not what I understood from his
presentation at the weekend, and it's not what I understand from the online
documentation.
What he says is that Europaische Stammtafeln has been used to provide a
framework, and that primary sources are being used to verify and supplement
the material from ES. Clearly some other secondary sources have been used
too, but the overriding emphasis is on documenting everything from primary
sources.
That may be the stated intention, but I don't see it being put into
practice in the parts that I have examined. Some examples:

1. The part on the counts of Gâtinais (in the Central France section)
has the appearance of being largely documented from primary sources,
until you look at the footnotes and see that they are all indirect
citations via the articles of Saint-Phalle and Settipani which
appeared in Onomastique et Parenté.

2. The section on the counts of Luxemburg has rejected the general
consensus that Siegfried of Luxemburg and Adalbero of Metz were
brothers (at least through their mother), and has instead adopted a
proposal of Donald Jackman which appears on the latter's internet site
(a source which I know because I am familiar with it, although you
would not know that it is a website from the footnote, and it does not
appear in the list of sources).

3. I see poor judgement being used with regard to the choice of
sources. For example, the account of the early counts of Anjou is
heavily based on the very unreliable "Gesta Consulum Andegavorum".
This uncritical use of primary sources has resulted in ADDING errors
to the ES framework.

4. There seems to be ample space devoted to modern unproven theories,
such as #2 above, or to theories about "Poppa" (in this case not even
mentioning the main primary source, Dudo, while mentioning later ones
like Orderic).
Post by Chris Phillips
I suspect that some of the problems that have been identified here have
arisen because of the desire to _minimise_ dependence on secondary sources -
the author has perhaps taken a flawed framework from ES rather than doing a
more extensive survey of the secondary literature. But after all, given the
scope of the work, a complete survey of the secondary literature would be a
life's work in itself, and the point of the project is to document things
from primary sources. In principle, if everything is being verified against
primary sources, flaws in the framework itself would eventually be
corrected.
But how long will "eventually" be, with all of those errors just
sitting there ready to be copied, along with just enough source
citations to mislead the unwary into believing that the facts have
been carefully checked. As I pointed out above, I think that the
theory and practice are two different things. One of the reasons that
I posted my Baldwin I of Flanders page in its present state is because
it is an example of something which I have done almost entirely from
primary sources. I will discuss this example in more detail in a
later posting.

Stewart Baldwin
Chris Phillips
2006-06-06 20:58:02 UTC
Permalink
Stewart Baldwin wrote:
[I wrote]
Post by Stewart Baldwin
Post by Chris Phillips
What he says is that Europaische Stammtafeln has been used to provide a
framework, and that primary sources are being used to verify and supplement
the material from ES. Clearly some other secondary sources have been used
too, but the overriding emphasis is on documenting everything from primary
sources.
That may be the stated intention, but I don't see it being put into
1. The part on the counts of Gâtinais (in the Central France section)
has the appearance of being largely documented from primary sources,
until you look at the footnotes and see that they are all indirect
citations via the articles of Saint-Phalle and Settipani which
appeared in Onomastique et Parenté.
2. The section on the counts of Luxemburg has rejected the general
consensus that Siegfried of Luxemburg and Adalbero of Metz were
brothers (at least through their mother), and has instead adopted a
proposal of Donald Jackman which appears on the latter's internet site
(a source which I know because I am familiar with it, although you
would not know that it is a website from the footnote, and it does not
appear in the list of sources).
Frankly, I'm not familiar enough with the Continental material to comment on
it sensibly in any detail (or the material on Anglo-Saxon England, for that
matter). But as a general point of principle, I'm more reassured than
otherwise if recent scholarly work has been taken into account. (If you were
suggesting it had been used inappropriately, that would be a different
matter.)

But I am curious to know whether your impression is really that the emphasis
is _not_ on primary sources (as your comments seem to suggest). Certainly in
the bibliography primary sources outnumber secondary ones by a very wide
margin. From an admittedly superficial look through the account of
Anglo-Saxon England, the same seems to be true of the sources actually cited
on that page.
Post by Stewart Baldwin
3. I see poor judgement being used with regard to the choice of
sources. For example, the account of the early counts of Anjou is
heavily based on the very unreliable "Gesta Consulum Andegavorum".
This uncritical use of primary sources has resulted in ADDING errors
to the ES framework.
Of course, if the sources have been used uncritically, that's a cause for
concern. But surely it's an essentially different question from the one
about the balance between primary and secondary sources.
Post by Stewart Baldwin
4. There seems to be ample space devoted to modern unproven theories,
such as #2 above, or to theories about "Poppa" (in this case not even
mentioning the main primary source, Dudo, while mentioning later ones
like Orderic).
I must admit I couldn't even find the discussion of #2 - no doubt owing to
my ignorance about the subject matter. I have to say that as far as I can
see all but one sentence of the entry on "Poppa" is concerned with quoting
primary sources, not discussion.
Post by Stewart Baldwin
Post by Chris Phillips
I suspect that some of the problems that have been identified here have
arisen because of the desire to _minimise_ dependence on secondary sources -
the author has perhaps taken a flawed framework from ES rather than doing a
more extensive survey of the secondary literature. But after all, given the
scope of the work, a complete survey of the secondary literature would be a
life's work in itself, and the point of the project is to document things
from primary sources. In principle, if everything is being verified against
primary sources, flaws in the framework itself would eventually be
corrected.
But how long will "eventually" be, with all of those errors just
sitting there ready to be copied, along with just enough source
citations to mislead the unwary into believing that the facts have
been carefully checked.
Well, I did say "in principle", and I do understand the danger.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that a high priority should be to
make the distinction between verified and unverified material explicit and
clear throughout the web pages.

(Incidentally, I'm still not sure everyone appreciates the sheer volume of
material involved, and the huge amount of work that has gone into even the
final stage of making it available through the Internet - chiefly by Joe
Edwards of the FMG. One poster has suggested "all the unverified data should
be deleted". My own idea was that it could perhaps be colour-coded. Whatever
happens it is going to involve a lot of work and won't happen instantly.)
Post by Stewart Baldwin
One of the reasons that
I posted my Baldwin I of Flanders page in its present state is because
it is an example of something which I have done almost entirely from
primary sources. I will discuss this example in more detail in a
later posting.
At least one thing everyone seems to agree about is the exceptional value of
the work you are doing in the "Henry Project". But I think we have to accept
that it is just not possible to address the whole of medieval European
royalty and nobility in the same depth and with the same meticulous
standards, in anything less than several dozen lifetimes.

My hope is that people will be supportive of this project and offer
constructive criticism. I plan to offer such help as I'm able with the
later-medieval English part, peripheral though it is at the moment.

Chris Phillips
Chris Phillips
2006-06-07 22:22:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
At least one thing everyone seems to agree about is the exceptional value of
the work you are doing in the "Henry Project". But I think we have to accept
that it is just not possible to address the whole of medieval European
royalty and nobility in the same depth and with the same meticulous
standards, in anything less than several dozen lifetimes.
At the risk of pursuing a conversation with myself, I've had a few more
thoughts on this question.

I think it's instructive to consider the Complete Peerage, which is rightly
viewed as a triumph of what J. H. Round used to describe as "scientific
genealogy" - that is, genealogy worked out logically from contemporary
evidence.

What we think of as CP is, of course, itself a revision of "G.E.C.'s" first
edition published in the 1880s and 1890s, and was the work of numerous
editors and innumerable individual contributors, over a period of nearly 50
years (1910-1959). The final publication was a volume of corrections and
additions by Peter Hammond in 1998 (111 years after Cokayne's first volume
appeared).

I think it's absolutely right that CP is viewed as a genealogical triumph,
but of course we know that - even after more than a century of effort by the
most eminent British genealogists - hundreds upon hundreds of errors still
remained. Nor are these errors just trifling ones. For example, Tony
Ingham's work has shown that CP got pretty much the whole of the genealogy
of Heron of Ford wrong, including the principal male line. Similarly, the
account of Say not only muddled the 12th-century wives, but proposed a
chronology that was out by about a generation.

Nor were the errors confined to the "small fry" of the peerage. Rosie Bevan
has demonstrated a similar muddle over the wives of the early earls of
Warwick (I'm pleased to see that Charles Cawley has noted this recent
correction). Another serious blunder was the misplacement of Robert de
Quency, husband of Hawise, Countess of Lincoln, even though the evidence
proving his identity had been in print since the 17th century (and I'm also
pleased to see that Charles Cawley has also noted this correction).

No doubt there are many more such errors in CP, some still waiting to be
discovered.

What this brings home to me is that wide-ranging genealogical compilations
simply have to be judged by different standards from in-depth studies
covering limited areas. Perhaps this is just a rather long-winded way of
stating the obvious, but I think in the discussion of "Medieval Lands" it
should be borne in mind that this is the work of only one man who is trying
to cover an enormous territory.

Chris Phillips
Stewart Baldwin
2006-06-09 01:29:08 UTC
Permalink
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:58:02 +0100, "Chris Phillips"
<***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk> wrote:

[snip]
Post by Chris Phillips
The more I think about it, the more I feel that a high priority should be to
make the distinction between verified and unverified material explicit and
clear throughout the web pages.
It is certainly very important to have some sort of clear indication
along these lines, and I suspect that the author's evident failure to
do this in a consistent way is going to cause him headaches along the
line as he adds more information.

It was exactly to deal with such things that I chose to have a
"Commentary section" on my Henry Project pages whenever lack of
verification (or falsehood) was an issue. It has proved to be a very
useful feature in the compilation stage too. Early versions of my
pages (which others don't get to see) will often have "uncertain"
children or parents in the commentary section until I find the
documentation. Regardless of the format, researchers compiling data
on this kind of material need to have some consistent way of dealing
with the problem of unverified information.
Post by Chris Phillips
(Incidentally, I'm still not sure everyone appreciates the sheer volume of
material involved, and the huge amount of work that has gone into even the
final stage of making it available through the Internet - chiefly by Joe
Edwards of the FMG. One poster has suggested "all the unverified data should
be deleted". My own idea was that it could perhaps be colour-coded. Whatever
happens it is going to involve a lot of work and won't happen instantly.)
As someone who has worked on a project covering only a small fraction
of what appears to be the intended goal, I have a very good idea of
what is involved. My impression is that the stated scope of the
project is simply too much for one person to take on.

Stewart Baldwin
Chris Phillips
2006-06-09 08:08:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stewart Baldwin
As someone who has worked on a project covering only a small fraction
of what appears to be the intended goal, I have a very good idea of
what is involved.
Yes - that comment wasn't directed at you, but at some of those who appeared
to be writing the whole thing off "at first glance", or implying that it
would be a trivial matter to remove all the material not documented from
primary sources.

Chris Phillips
Todd A. Farmerie
2006-06-06 00:09:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Stewart Baldwin
I also noticed a tendancy to use late sources which make some of the
accounts very unreliable in places. Two clear examples are the
treatment of origin legends for Anjou (Tertulle, etc.) and Flanders
(Lideric, etc.) as if they might be historical, using late sources
which contradict earlier, more reliable sources. Also, there are very
serious problems with the early Scandinavian lines, using sources like
Heimskringla and even Saxo(!) as sources for periods much earlier than
they can be seriously considered as reliable. The account of the
early Danish kings, which has been built using ES's awful "Haithabu"
chart as the framework, is a complete mess.
I note that with the Iberian material, it is a curious mix of modern
research and discredited material, in some cases showing more caution
than most modern writers, in other cases following 17th century fantasy
(derivation of Guzman) or 20th century excess ingenuity (illegitimacy of
Vermudo II).

taf
t***@comcast.net
2006-06-06 15:47:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material. The results are presented in
narrative form and are organised geographically. The files, in HTML format,
are freely available on the Foundation's website (note that some of the
files are very large and may take a while to download through slow
connections).
The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources. In the current version,
most data are available for Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and
Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600 years of the medieval period.
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.
Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.
Chris Phillips
Might I suggest that all data which has not been verified from primary
source material be deleted and added to the project only when it is so
verified?

Much less confusion that way as to what is and is not "real".

--
The Verminator
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-06 18:21:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by t***@comcast.net
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material. The results are presented in
narrative form and are organised geographically. The files, in HTML format,
are freely available on the Foundation's website (note that some of the
files are very large and may take a while to download through slow
connections).
The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources. In the current version,
most data are available for Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and
Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600 years of the medieval period.
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.
Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.
Chris Phillips
Might I suggest that all data which has not been verified from primary
source material be deleted and added to the project only when it is so
verified?
Much less confusion that way as to what is and is not "real".
Quite.

But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and
would much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of
Edition 1 as that would delay him significantly. And he had firmly
decided on a recent policy change to enclose all non-primary-referenced
items in square brackets, presumably intending to implement this in
Edition 2; in this context he said (or I thought I heard him say) the
whole of the English material should be in square brackets. Though he
did say he would be glad to hear of genealogical corrections.
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
Douglas Richardson
2006-06-06 20:55:14 UTC
Permalink
Dear Newsgroup ~

Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.

Due to the number of glaring errors, both of omission and commission,
which I found in the Cawley database, I strongly disagree with Mr.
Phillips' assessment that people will find this database "an extremely
useful resource." Rather, I believe that people will find this work of
extremely limited value.

Regardless, I extend Mr. Cawley my personal wishes for much success in
this endeavor. Hopeully future editions of this database will improve
over time and come to help many people searching for answers in the
mists of the medieval past.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

Website: www. royalancestry. net
Chris Phillips
2006-06-06 21:17:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Douglas Richardson
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.
Thank you for your opinion.

Perhaps you can explain in what sense you think "Medieval Lands" is similar
to the Hull database (as I've already said, I think the comparison is a
ludicrous one, but I'm always interested to hear assertions backed up).

Or perhaps you can share with us some of the errors you spotted?

Chris Phillips
Nathaniel Taylor
2006-06-06 21:58:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.
Due to the number of glaring errors, both of omission and commission,
which I found in the Cawley database, I strongly disagree with Mr.
Phillips' assessment that people will find this database "an extremely
useful resource." Rather, I believe that people will find this work of
extremely limited value.
Regardless, I extend Mr. Cawley my personal wishes for much success in
this endeavor. Hopeully future editions of this database will improve
over time and come to help many people searching for answers in the
mists of the medieval past.
It's interesting that Douglas would take the time to post this
high-handed dismissal of the Cawley site, with an ill-founded and
misleading comparison to the Hull database, while at the same time
Douglas's much-touted books regularly include citations to Miroslav
Marek's website, genealogy.euweb.cz, whose pages are totally without
source citations and therefore a poor shadow of the new Cawley work.

Perhaps someone could post (with his and/or with FMG's approval) a
sample portion of Cawley's work on a particular lineage or patrimony,
for group discussion? Perhaps such an excerpt could be paired
side-by-side with similar coverage from other on-line sources?

Nat Taylor
Stewart Baldwin
2006-06-09 00:56:11 UTC
Permalink
On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 21:58:05 GMT, Nathaniel Taylor
<***@earthlink.net> wrote:

[snip]
Post by Nathaniel Taylor
Perhaps someone could post (with his and/or with FMG's approval) a
sample portion of Cawley's work on a particular lineage or patrimony,
for group discussion? Perhaps such an excerpt could be paired
side-by-side with similar coverage from other on-line sources?
In fact, since this is a work in progress which is obviously far from
complete in places, perhaps the author could identify for us a
particular section of the current version which he regards as being
more complete and closer to what is intended for the project as a
whole.

Stewart Baldwin
Todd A. Farmerie
2006-06-07 07:39:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
That is a completely unwarranted comparison, specious from the start.
Hull was never even intended to convey information, but rather to study
how people used a database. Further, the the detail of the information
and the level of documentation is completely different. While you can
argue about the choice of sources and the conclusions reached, which I
myself have done, the Medieval Lands pages give specific in-line
citations for many of the statements (unlike certain books I could
mention, which only cluster references, relevant and irrelevant,
confirmatory and contradictory alike, at the end).

As to another comparison with Hull, only time will tell how willing the
compiler is to make corrections or entertain alternatives. The Hull
compiler can't be bothered (after all, it is not about the information,
but how people access the information). Other authors of web pages and
books would be more than happy to make corrections, but can never admit
to having been wrong. I guess we shall see.

taf
Leo van de Pas
2006-06-07 08:09:34 UTC
Permalink
----- Original Message -----
From: "Todd A. Farmerie" <***@interfold.com>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 5:39 PM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"

<snip>

. Other authors of web pages and
books would be more than happy to make corrections, but can never admit to
having been wrong. I guess we shall see.
taf
What do you mean by this? On my website is a request to have errors or
omissions pointed out. I always reply to the person if they send only one
message, there are some who send me many. The correstions are made as
quickly as possible and they show up when the site is updated. How can you
imagine that anyone_not even Richardson_ would say they are never wrong?
Leo
Peter Stewart
2006-06-10 03:00:55 UTC
Permalink
I did not intend to post in this newsgroup again, and much less did I expect
to return in support of Douglas Richardson.

However, I second his remarks copied below - with only the reservation that
I have not looked at the Hull Project database and know nothing about it
beyond the comments that have appeared in this forum. I don't believe that
SGM has ever been told of errors in it as gross as Charles Cawley has
committed in his misconceived and misguided effort at scholarship. Also I
think Douglas Richardson probably meant to write "a few primary sources
thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship" - the veneer of
having "reconstructed" the lineages from medieval records is demonstrably
untrue.

Much of it is unexceptionable, since it is simply a rehash of the tables in
ES with a few (and in proportion to the details given far too few) snippets
from sources thrown in: these are often ill-chosen, from much later sources
or someimtes contradicting better evidence that has been overlooked. The
scope of the work is impracticable, yet the amount of work that has actually
gone into it is not all that impressive. Many people, including Douglas
Richardson, have more voluminous - and more accurate - notes on wide swathes
of medieval genealogy and sources than are offered in the Medieval Lands
database.

I will write a detailed review of this when time permits, in conjunction
with a review of Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project. The latter work is vastly
better than Charles Cawley's, of course, but both are vitiated by some of
the same faults and neither in my view comes up to the standard that would
(or at any rate should) be required of peer-reviewed scholarly work.

Nonetheless Stewart Baldwin's work is more reliable than Charles Cawley's by
a far greater degree than his field of study is smaller.

To give one example for the time being, as a warning to people who may wish
to copy information from the Medieval Lands database - or to endorse this as
worthy of presentation to the public in its current form, apparently without
having evaluated it thoroughly - please consider the following:

In the Introduction the reader is told: 'The "back-to-basics" approach to
source material...has enabled numerous new discoveries to be made and many
challenges to traditionally accepted family relationships to be proposed. By
way of example, browse for...the wives of Péter Orseolo King of Hungary'. On
the HUNGARY page under the second marriage, after a derivative and
unintersting discussion of the first that hasn't even taken into account the
standard scholarship on this subject, Charles Cawley writes: 'The marriage
is not mentioned in Wegener, although he refers cryptically to "Lui von
Frizberg, I. Tuta Regina. II. Judith von Schweinfurt" [282]. Should this
reference be interpreted to mean that Lui von Frizberg (to whom no other
reference has been found) married firstly (as her second husband) Tuta von
Formbach, and secondly (also as her second husband) Judith von Schweinfurt?'

Endnote 282 reads 'Wegener, pp. 80 and 141 footnote 2, the latter quoting a
manuscript "Haus Frizberg (Post Wildon) 1955, S. 1-26".'

First, as anyone using _Genealogische Tafeln zur mitteleuropäischen
Geschichte_ (Göttingen, 1962-1969) ought to realise, Wilhelm Wegener was the
editor of this but NOT the author of the bulk of it including pages 80 and
141 that were written by Franz Tyroller.

Secondly, Lui von Frizberg was an amateur historian who self-published two
papers on the wives of Peter Orseolo in 1955.

I don't beleive that the Hull database, or indeed Roderick Stuart at his
worst, ever confounded a citation in a footnote with a genealogical
conjecture, or crazily imagined that a modern author might have been a
shadowy medieval figure with a most unlikely name who married two ex-wives
of a famous king of Hungary in succession while remaining so obscure that no
other reference to him could be found.

Peter Stewart
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.
Due to the number of glaring errors, both of omission and commission,
which I found in the Cawley database, I strongly disagree with Mr.
Phillips' assessment that people will find this database "an extremely
useful resource." Rather, I believe that people will find this work of
extremely limited value.
Regardless, I extend Mr. Cawley my personal wishes for much success in
this endeavor. Hopeully future editions of this database will improve
over time and come to help many people searching for answers in the
mists of the medieval past.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www. royalancestry. net
Merilyn Pedrick
2006-06-11 00:37:07 UTC
Permalink
Dear Peter
Nice to have you back, even if it's just briefly. Please stay.
Merilyn

-------Original Message-------

From: Peter Stewart
Date: 06/10/06 12:39:08
To: GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"

I did not intend to post in this newsgroup again, and much less did I expect
to return in support of Douglas Richardson.

However, I second his remarks copied below - with only the reservation that
I have not looked at the Hull Project database and know nothing about it
beyond the comments that have appeared in this forum. I don't believe that
SGM has ever been told of errors in it as gross as Charles Cawley has
committed in his misconceived and misguided effort at scholarship. Also I
think Douglas Richardson probably meant to write "a few primary sources
thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship" - the veneer of
having "reconstructed" the lineages from medieval records is demonstrably
untrue.

Much of it is unexceptionable, since it is simply a rehash of the tables in
ES with a few (and in proportion to the details given far too few) snippets
from sources thrown in: these are often ill-chosen, from much later sources
or someimtes contradicting better evidence that has been overlooked. The
scope of the work is impracticable, yet the amount of work that has actually
gone into it is not all that impressive. Many people, including Douglas
Richardson, have more voluminous - and more accurate - notes on wide swathes
of medieval genealogy and sources than are offered in the Medieval Lands
database.

I will write a detailed review of this when time permits, in conjunction
with a review of Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project. The latter work is vastly
better than Charles Cawley's, of course, but both are vitiated by some of
the same faults and neither in my view comes up to the standard that would
(or at any rate should) be required of peer-reviewed scholarly work.

Nonetheless Stewart Baldwin's work is more reliable than Charles Cawley's by
a far greater degree than his field of study is smaller.

To give one example for the time being, as a warning to people who may wish
to copy information from the Medieval Lands database - or to endorse this as
worthy of presentation to the public in its current form, apparently without
having evaluated it thoroughly - please consider the following:

In the Introduction the reader is told: 'The "back-to-basics" approach to
source material...has enabled numerous new discoveries to be made and many
challenges to traditionally accepted family relationships to be proposed. By
way of example, browse for...the wives of Péter Orseolo King of Hungary'. On
the HUNGARY page under the second marriage, after a derivative and
unintersting discussion of the first that hasn't even taken into account the
standard scholarship on this subject, Charles Cawley writes: 'The marriage
is not mentioned in Wegener, although he refers cryptically to "Lui von
Frizberg, I. Tuta Regina. II. Judith von Schweinfurt" [282]. Should this
reference be interpreted to mean that Lui von Frizberg (to whom no other
reference has been found) married firstly (as her second husband) Tuta von
Formbach, and secondly (also as her second husband) Judith von Schweinfurt?'

Endnote 282 reads 'Wegener, pp. 80 and 141 footnote 2, the latter quoting a
manuscript "Haus Frizberg (Post Wildon) 1955, S. 1-26".'

First, as anyone using _Genealogische Tafeln zur mitteleuropäischen
Geschichte_ (Göttingen, 1962-1969) ought to realise, Wilhelm Wegener was the
editor of this but NOT the author of the bulk of it including pages 80 and
141 that were written by Franz Tyroller.

Secondly, Lui von Frizberg was an amateur historian who self-published two
papers on the wives of Peter Orseolo in 1955.

I don't beleive that the Hull database, or indeed Roderick Stuart at his
worst, ever confounded a citation in a footnote with a genealogical
conjecture, or crazily imagined that a modern author might have been a
shadowy medieval figure with a most unlikely name who married two ex-wives
of a famous king of Hungary in succession while remaining so obscure that no
other reference to him could be found.

Peter Stewart
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.
Due to the number of glaring errors, both of omission and commission,
which I found in the Cawley database, I strongly disagree with Mr.
Phillips' assessment that people will find this database "an extremely
useful resource." Rather, I believe that people will find this work of
extremely limited value.
Regardless, I extend Mr. Cawley my personal wishes for much success in
this endeavor. Hopeully future editions of this database will improve
over time and come to help many people searching for answers in the
mists of the medieval past.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www. royalancestry. net
Roger LeBlanc
2006-06-11 00:52:50 UTC
Permalink
My sentiments exactly.
Roger LeBlanc
Post by Merilyn Pedrick
Dear Peter
Nice to have you back, even if it's just briefly. Please stay.
Merilyn
-------Original Message-------
From: Peter Stewart
Date: 06/10/06 12:39:08
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
<message snipped>
p***@hotmail.com
2006-06-11 11:41:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Merilyn Pedrick
Dear Peter
Nice to have you back, even if it's just briefly. Please stay.
Merilyn
I second.

Pierre
f***@gmail.com
2006-06-11 08:03:26 UTC
Permalink
Dear Peter,

If you are back that's Charles Cawley's biggest achievment.

Regards,
Francisco
Post by Peter Stewart
I did not intend to post in this newsgroup again, and much less did I expect
to return in support of Douglas Richardson.
However, I second his remarks copied below - with only the reservation that
I have not looked at the Hull Project database and know nothing about it
beyond the comments that have appeared in this forum. I don't believe that
SGM has ever been told of errors in it as gross as Charles Cawley has
committed in his misconceived and misguided effort at scholarship. Also I
think Douglas Richardson probably meant to write "a few primary sources
thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship" - the veneer of
having "reconstructed" the lineages from medieval records is demonstrably
untrue.
Much of it is unexceptionable, since it is simply a rehash of the tables in
ES with a few (and in proportion to the details given far too few) snippets
from sources thrown in: these are often ill-chosen, from much later sources
or someimtes contradicting better evidence that has been overlooked. The
scope of the work is impracticable, yet the amount of work that has actually
gone into it is not all that impressive. Many people, including Douglas
Richardson, have more voluminous - and more accurate - notes on wide swathes
of medieval genealogy and sources than are offered in the Medieval Lands
database.
I will write a detailed review of this when time permits, in conjunction
with a review of Stewart Baldwin's Henry Project. The latter work is vastly
better than Charles Cawley's, of course, but both are vitiated by some of
the same faults and neither in my view comes up to the standard that would
(or at any rate should) be required of peer-reviewed scholarly work.
Nonetheless Stewart Baldwin's work is more reliable than Charles Cawley's by
a far greater degree than his field of study is smaller.
To give one example for the time being, as a warning to people who may wish
to copy information from the Medieval Lands database - or to endorse this as
worthy of presentation to the public in its current form, apparently without
In the Introduction the reader is told: 'The "back-to-basics" approach to
source material...has enabled numerous new discoveries to be made and many
challenges to traditionally accepted family relationships to be proposed. By
way of example, browse for...the wives of Péter Orseolo King of Hungary'. On
the HUNGARY page under the second marriage, after a derivative and
unintersting discussion of the first that hasn't even taken into account the
standard scholarship on this subject, Charles Cawley writes: 'The marriage
is not mentioned in Wegener, although he refers cryptically to "Lui von
Frizberg, I. Tuta Regina. II. Judith von Schweinfurt" [282]. Should this
reference be interpreted to mean that Lui von Frizberg (to whom no other
reference has been found) married firstly (as her second husband) Tuta von
Formbach, and secondly (also as her second husband) Judith von Schweinfurt?'
Endnote 282 reads 'Wegener, pp. 80 and 141 footnote 2, the latter quoting a
manuscript "Haus Frizberg (Post Wildon) 1955, S. 1-26".'
First, as anyone using _Genealogische Tafeln zur mitteleuropäischen
Geschichte_ (Göttingen, 1962-1969) ought to realise, Wilhelm Wegener was the
editor of this but NOT the author of the bulk of it including pages 80 and
141 that were written by Franz Tyroller.
Secondly, Lui von Frizberg was an amateur historian who self-published two
papers on the wives of Peter Orseolo in 1955.
I don't beleive that the Hull database, or indeed Roderick Stuart at his
worst, ever confounded a citation in a footnote with a genealogical
conjecture, or crazily imagined that a modern author might have been a
shadowy medieval figure with a most unlikely name who married two ex-wives
of a famous king of Hungary in succession while remaining so obscure that no
other reference to him could be found.
Peter Stewart
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Having some free time on my hands the night before last, I decided to
examine Charles Cawley's newly released medieval database. Based on
the ringing endorsement posted by Chris Phillips, I expected a "major
new online resource." What I found was a database on a level with the
scorned and heavily criticized Hull Project, with a few secondary
sources thrown in to give the database a thin patina of scholarship.
After encountering the hundreth major error, my eyes glazed over, I
closed down my computer, and went to bed.
Due to the number of glaring errors, both of omission and commission,
which I found in the Cawley database, I strongly disagree with Mr.
Phillips' assessment that people will find this database "an extremely
useful resource." Rather, I believe that people will find this work of
extremely limited value.
Regardless, I extend Mr. Cawley my personal wishes for much success in
this endeavor. Hopeully future editions of this database will improve
over time and come to help many people searching for answers in the
mists of the medieval past.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www. royalancestry. net
Douglas Richardson
2006-06-17 12:39:31 UTC
Permalink
Dear Newsgroup ~

Since the discussion regarding the Cawley/Foundations database has
continued unabated here on the newsgroup, I decided give the database
yet another look to see if other sections of the database which I had
not yet examined might rise to anything credible by modern scholarly
standards. As such, I went through several additional sections of the
database tonight involving various English earldoms, several English
kings, and some Anglo-Norman families such as Gournay and Tony.

My overall impression of the Cawley/Foundations database can be
described in two words: utterly wretched. Moreover, as I went through
the database, the handling of the English material repeatedly reminded
me of Burke's Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, which
work was published in 1883. While I personally like Burke's work, it
is obviously quite dated. One gets the decided impression, however,
that Mr. Cawley is completely unaware that what was acceptable content
back in 1883 is not at all acceptable in 2006. Be that as it may, once
one accepts this serious flaw, it becomes obvious that this work is
neither major, nor new, but only extremely dated material with a 2006
copyright slapped on it.

Lastly, and most telling of all, I saw no evidence or hint that Mr.
Cawley had even the slightest familiarity with medieval primary sources
for English families. I saw no flashes of insight, no probity, and no
depth. Although "new discoveries" were promised in Mr. Cawley's online
introduction, NONE whatsover were found in ANY section I examined.
Rather, I found section after section replete with errors, omissions,
half truths, and misstatements. As such, I believe this work is beyond
redemption and recommend its withdrawal.

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

Website: www. royalancestry. net
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 12:45:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Douglas Richardson
Lastly, and most telling of all, I saw no evidence or hint that Mr.
Cawley had even the slightest familiarity with medieval primary sources
for English families.
Perhaps you didn't read my initial message, or various follow-ups, in which
it was pointed out that the post-Conquest sections for England are taken
from mainly secondary sources, and are not among those the author considers
well-documented.

Chris Phillips
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-17 13:57:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Douglas Richardson
Lastly, and most telling of all, I saw no evidence or hint that Mr.
Cawley had even the slightest familiarity with medieval primary
sources for English families.
Perhaps you didn't read my initial message, or various follow-ups, in
which it was pointed out that the post-Conquest sections for England
are taken from mainly secondary sources, and are not among those the
author considers well-documented.
I think I have said before that I even remember Charles Crawley saying
that he was embarrassed to say that the English Lands section had no
research behind it. Further he said that with his new editorial style -
for the second edition, in all likelihood - he would put the whole of
it in square brackets to indicate this. Finally I even recollect him
asking for assistance in doing the English landowners.
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 13:37:59 UTC
Permalink
Hear, hear. Well said.

Peter Stewart
Post by Douglas Richardson
Dear Newsgroup ~
Since the discussion regarding the Cawley/Foundations database has
continued unabated here on the newsgroup, I decided give the database
yet another look to see if other sections of the database which I had
not yet examined might rise to anything credible by modern scholarly
standards. As such, I went through several additional sections of the
database tonight involving various English earldoms, several English
kings, and some Anglo-Norman families such as Gournay and Tony.
My overall impression of the Cawley/Foundations database can be
described in two words: utterly wretched. Moreover, as I went through
the database, the handling of the English material repeatedly reminded
me of Burke's Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, which
work was published in 1883. While I personally like Burke's work, it
is obviously quite dated. One gets the decided impression, however,
that Mr. Cawley is completely unaware that what was acceptable content
back in 1883 is not at all acceptable in 2006. Be that as it may, once
one accepts this serious flaw, it becomes obvious that this work is
neither major, nor new, but only extremely dated material with a 2006
copyright slapped on it.
Lastly, and most telling of all, I saw no evidence or hint that Mr.
Cawley had even the slightest familiarity with medieval primary sources
for English families. I saw no flashes of insight, no probity, and no
depth. Although "new discoveries" were promised in Mr. Cawley's online
introduction, NONE whatsover were found in ANY section I examined.
Rather, I found section after section replete with errors, omissions,
half truths, and misstatements. As such, I believe this work is beyond
redemption and recommend its withdrawal.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www. royalancestry. net
W***@aol.com
2006-06-07 15:31:46 UTC
Permalink
In a message dated 6/7/2006 12:53:13 AM Pacific Standard Time,
***@interfold.com writes:

As to another comparison with Hull, only time will tell how willing the
compiler is to make corrections or entertain alternatives.


And Hull is sooooooo ... sloooooooow
I grew a beard waiting for a page to load.
Will
p***@hotmail.com
2006-06-11 13:19:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material. The results are presented in
narrative form and are organised geographically. The files, in HTML format,
are freely available on the Foundation's website (note that some of the
files are very large and may take a while to download through slow
connections).
The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources. In the current version,
most data are available for Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and
Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600 years of the medieval period.
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.
Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.
I have browsed through the genealogy of the Palaiologoi: it seem to
contain a myriad of inexactnesses but, compared to other websites,
relatively few blatant errors. Its major problem is the use of a
bibliography which is scarce, dated (Runciman), not absolutely (Nicol)
or even not at all (Sturdza) reliable, and of course almost exclusively
in English. The page shows almost no effort to use primary sources. At
least, some pieces of information (but not all) have a footnote with a
bibliography, which can make a little less uneasy to find the actual
primary source hidden (or not) behind: that at least makes this page a
bit more useful than the other Palaiologoi genealogies available on
line. There is also an effort to distinguish between dates which are
deduced and dates which are in the sources.

Pierre
Chris Phillips
2006-06-11 13:36:14 UTC
Permalink
***@hotmail.com wrote:
<<
I have browsed through the genealogy of the Palaiologoi:
...
The page shows almost no effort to use primary sources.
As I mentioned, the geographical areas for which there are most data from
primary sources are Germany, Northern France, Lombardy and Anglo-Saxon
England.

As I understand it, the remainder does come mainly from secondary sources
and should be regarded as unverified.

Chris Phillips
W***@aol.com
2006-06-11 16:27:29 UTC
Permalink
It would be nice if Charles Cawley himself would say something. The excuse
that he is "not subscribed" is not very satisfying, seeing as we are discussing
his work, you'd think he's want to read the reviews.

Will
Chris Phillips
2006-06-11 18:37:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
It would be nice if Charles Cawley himself would say something. The excuse
that he is "not subscribed" is not very satisfying, seeing as we are discussing
his work, you'd think he's want to read the reviews.
I don't know whether Charles Cawley has followed any of the discussion or
not (I suspect not). I am planning to send him details of the specific
criticisms that have been made, though obviously in cases where people claim
to have found errors but refuse to give any details, that can't be done.

I'm sure he will want to consider these specific criticisms carefully, and I
hope "Medieval Lands" will be revised where necessary. It may be that he'll
also want to consider some changes to his wider research strategy and the
presentation of the data.

Other than that, I'm not sure what you'd like Charles Cawley to say. I've
tried to provide some general information about the project as I understand
it, or else to indicate where it's to be found online. If you have any
specific questions or requests for information, I'll be happy to pass them
on.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 00:11:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
Post by W***@aol.com
It would be nice if Charles Cawley himself would say something. The excuse
that he is "not subscribed" is not very satisfying, seeing as we are
discussing
Post by W***@aol.com
his work, you'd think he's want to read the reviews.
I don't know whether Charles Cawley has followed any of the discussion or
not (I suspect not). I am planning to send him details of the specific
criticisms that have been made, though obviously in cases where people claim
to have found errors but refuse to give any details, that can't be done.
I can't see any reason why Charles Cawley should be obliged to respond to
this newsgroup - SGM is not the official headquarters of medieval genealogy,
or the prime repository for views on the subject. It is just a forum for
discussion amongst people of vaguely similar or overlapping interests.
Lately it has been mainly a clearing house for individual research into
gateway ancestries, that may be creditable and indeed valuable but not at
all the field of work that Cawley has chosen for himself.

Having said that, I consider the implied criticism of Douglas Richardson
above to be misplaced. He has not "refused" to give any details of errors,
but simply stated that he had come across a hundred or so glaring ones &
given up at that point, not (yet) choosing to answer a request for more
specific information. As Stewart Baldwin remarked, others are not bound to
drop their own work in order to help improve Cawley's.

Douglas Richardson also said that the Medieval Lands database was "on a
level" with the Hull Project in his view, and somehow this has been twisted
into a "ludicrous" idea as if he had said the two were of like kind rather
than standard.

Pierre Aronax has remarked on Cawley's failure to try using primary sources
for the Palaiologoi. I must say, I think it would be best for Cawley if he
stopped trying to use primary sources altogether, and dropped the pretense
that he is working up lineages from research of his own. The man is so
ignorant of Latin that he does not understand basics of case, number and
even conjunctions - for instances of total illiteracy in the language of the
majority of his sources, look at the section for the Orseolo family under
Hungary, that Cawley himself drew attention to in his Introduction:

Under the princess whom Cawley wrongly labels as doubtfully named "Grimelda"
and says "may have been baptised as Maria" (in fact her name is not
recorded, but Litta suggested she was called Helena in Venice), Cawley wrote
out: "Petrum, sororis suæ [=Stephanus Ungariorum rex] filium". "Suae" is
genitive, but the interpolated gloss is nominative.

Under Pietro Orseolo Cawley writes: "The Annalium Hildesheimensium records
that King Péter was expelled", using a genitive plural followed by a
singular verb. Cawley has taken this from the heading 'Annalium
Hildesheimensium continuatio', MGH SS III 103, obviously without realising
that this means 'continuation of the Hildesheim annals'.

Under Peter's sister Froiza (spelled "Froizza" for some reason), Cawley
attempts to quote from an imperial diploma as follows: '"Heinricus.Romanorum
imperator augustus" granted property to "Adelberti marchionis [et] uxorique
sue Froize"'. Believe it or not.

Can some who doesn't know how "and" is expressed in Latin seriously propose
himself to survey the whole of European medieval genealogy from sources,
"back-to-basics"? Can someone who understands so little of German that he
took a citation to Lui von Frizburg's papers circulated in Gestetner copies
as a reference to an otherwise unknown spouse of medieval queens seriously
put himself forward to review the secondary literature in this field?

Charles Cawley would be weall-advised to withdraw himself from the field
until he has acquired some basic skills for the work he wants to do, and in
the meantime also to withdraw his datatbase from public view. The original
content in this at present is a tissue of errors and incompetence. As I said
before, I will post a more detailed review when I have time.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-12 07:11:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Charles Cawley would be weall-advised to withdraw himself from the field
until he has acquired some basic skills for the work he wants to do, and in
the meantime also to withdraw his datatbase from public view.
Are you now saying that you think the FMG was wrong to provide hosting for
Charles Cawley's work?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 07:42:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
Charles Cawley would be weall-advised to withdraw himself from the field
until he has acquired some basic skills for the work he wants to do, and
in
Post by Peter Stewart
the meantime also to withdraw his datatbase from public view.
Are you now saying that you think the FMG was wrong to provide hosting for
Charles Cawley's work?
Not at all - hosting someone else's files for access and the implicit
endorsement of the work by co-holding the copyright are two quite different
things.

The FMG asked my advice on the initial proposal from Charles Cawley in July
last year, and since you are clearly angling towards discussion of this I
have copied my response below.

I don't retract this now, although I would certainly have given different
advice if I had seen more of the work, as I now have. All that I and the
rest of the advisory group (then - I have since withdrawn) were shown was
the Flanders file, on which I commented in similar terms to those posted
here more recently by Stewart Baldwin.

Cawley's work on this was less than mediocre as to scholarly standards, but
the FMG is not - and perhaps never will be - a focus for scholarship. They
were proposing to set up again a discussion site, and this kind of database
from an amateur contributor seemed to me a useful basis for starting topics,
bringing in traffic and perhaps members to the FMG. I did not consider that
they should spend time, energy and resources on a collaboration with Cawley.

Now that I find the work on Flanders to be some of the least careless and
error-ridden that Cawley has done, and given the pretentious and misleading
presentation of it as "reconstructive" work from sources, I would strongly
advise withdrawal of the whole lot.

Peter Stewart


Private e-mail from me, written 26 July 2005:

<snip of brief reference to 3rd party>

Cawley has undertaken a huge task, and appears to have gone about this with
the best of intentions if not quite the best of methodologies. I hope that
FMG can come to a decision that will be encouraging to him. Hosting his
files without any kind of editorial endorsement of the contents, indeed with
a dislaimer in this respect, would perhaps be a good outcome, both for him
and for the Foundation.

The availability of this kind of work would be a useful addition to online
resources for many people. However, it's apparent from the scope of the
project and from the example provided that Cawley has skimmed over many
sources rather than making a close study of the lineages or geographic areas
included. The result is not a systematic prosopography of the ruling class,
kindred or individuals, and not a substantial addition to the genealogical
literature, at least for Flanders: he contents himself with giving a source
or two (some not the most proximate or plausible) for the details he has
found. The format is a good choice and easy to follow.

Unfortunately Cawley has deprived himself of benefits from a great deal of
modern scholarship by using 19th-century editions, mainly Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, when more recent ones are to be preferred for many -
usually the most important - sources. The way he uses what he has found in
isolation sometimes from what he would have found by further research of his
own, or in editorial glosses, is unsatisfactory by scholarly standards. His
use of cartularia and narrative sources tends to be uncritical and even
careless.

Some instances of these problems just from the first few generations in
Chapter 1 A:

'The Cartulaire de Saint-Bertin records the death in 808 of "Lidericus
Harlebecanus", first in the list of counts of Flanders' - the list of counts
cited here was compiled in the 16th century, but no indication of this is
given: without knowing the source of information behind it the reference has
no value as evidence on the points for which it has been cited.

'The Annales Formoselenses record the death in 817 of "Lidricus comes" and
his burial at "Harlabecce"' - true, but these early 9th-century events are
recorded from a tradition that can be traced only to a mid-11th century
source. Cawley has failed to note here that Annales Blandinienses record
exactly the same information under 836, while he mentions this under
Lideric's
purported grandson Odoacre commenting that the name may be substituted in
error. It might have been, of course, but the point needing to be made is
that any confusion was due to the much later compilation of legendary
material in these sources. This entry in the two annals was copied from one
to another under different years, whether or not the scribe/s who set down
the discrepancy understood which person was thought to be the subject.

The remainder of the chapter is similarly riddled with points of evidence
and analysis that I would suggest need revision.

Having said this, I would not recommend that FMG should demand more work
from Cawley to go over what he has ready now. Since he wishes to release his
files to the public as a work-in-progress, it is worth advising him that he
may have to spend a lot of time in editorial supervision of contributions if
these are invited, and in correspondence with people asking questions or
raising issues with the information presented. I'm not sure that a
collaborative approach from this point on is worthwhile, as no-one else is
likely to have covered all the same ground in a complementary way & anyone
who could make a significant difference to the parts would likely prefer to
do their own work independently. Cawley deserves to have his name attached
to the work as sole compiler in my view, unless he wishes to hand over whole
sections to others who have specialiesd knowledge of the local history,
sources and literature.

Assuming the FMG website can spare the capacity for all his files, having
them accessible there will bring in some traffic, and more favourable
attention than otherwise. I would not recommend hosting the material if
Cawley wants to charge a fee, either to FMG or to users; and I would also
not recommend this if it is necessary to charge him for the service, as it
would be a kind of vanity publishing that soon others might seek to abuse.
Chris Phillips
2006-06-12 08:58:55 UTC
Permalink
Peter Stewart wrote:
[I wrote]
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Are you now saying that you think the FMG was wrong to provide hosting for
Charles Cawley's work?
Not at all - hosting someone else's files for access and the implicit
endorsement of the work by co-holding the copyright are two quite different
things.
Please can you point out where the FMG claims to "co-hold" the copyright on
Charles Cawley's work?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 09:27:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
[I wrote]
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Are you now saying that you think the FMG was wrong to provide hosting
for
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's work?
Not at all - hosting someone else's files for access and the implicit
endorsement of the work by co-holding the copyright are two quite
different
Post by Peter Stewart
things.
Please can you point out where the FMG claims to "co-hold" the copyright on
Charles Cawley's work?
You haven't improved in nous or frankness over the past 11 months.

The copyright in layout, code, logos and titles of the Medival Lands
database is explicitly held by the FMG, by their own statement on the home
page.

They are unmistakably associating themselves with the contents by devoting
such time & trouble to presenting the material. This, especially in the
absence of any kind of disclaimer as I advised them to make, amounts to an
endorsement of its value. The FMG co-holds copyright to the whole product,
in the same way as the illustrator of a children's book might do with the
author of the story. Artists & designers don't usually choose to promote
themselves in this way with stuff that doesn't meet with their approval.

Peter Stewart
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-12 09:43:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
[I wrote]
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Are you now saying that you think the FMG was wrong to provide
hosting for Charles Cawley's work?
Not at all - hosting someone else's files for access and the
implicit endorsement of the work by co-holding the copyright are
two quite different things.
Please can you point out where the FMG claims to "co-hold" the
copyright on Charles Cawley's work?
The copyright in layout, code, logos and titles of the Medival Lands
database is explicitly held by the FMG, by their own statement on the
home page.
They are unmistakably associating themselves with the contents by
devoting such time & trouble to presenting the material. This,
especially in the absence of any kind of disclaimer as I advised
them to make, amounts to an endorsement of its value. The FMG
co-holds copyright to the whole product, in the same way as the
illustrator of a children's book might do with the author of the
story. Artists & designers don't usually choose to promote
themselves in this way with stuff that doesn't meet with their
approval.
But FMG's © sign does not mean that they actually own any copyright.
They may allow stuff to go on their site for which they have no
copyright agreement and for which the owner of the copyright is
ignorant of FMG's claim. (Their site is uncontactable at the mo so I
can't check further.)

PS: Also glad to see you're back.
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
Chris Phillips
2006-06-12 09:54:56 UTC
Permalink
Peter Stewart wrote:
[I wrote]
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Please can you point out where the FMG claims to "co-hold" the copyright on
Charles Cawley's work?
You haven't improved in nous or frankness over the past 11 months.
I had hoped this could be discussed without people stooping to personal
insults. The reason I asked was to check whether there really was any such
statement that I had overlooked.
Post by Peter Stewart
The copyright in layout, code, logos and titles of the Medival Lands
database is explicitly held by the FMG, by their own statement on the home
page.
But that is accompanied by a clear statement that the actual content is the
copyright of Charles Cawley. In other words, the FMG is asserting copyright
for the purely technical aspects of presenting the material on the
Internet - such as the pop-up navigation menus - and not at all for the
content.

As you know, the FMG acts on advice in these matters. In this case it acted
on your advice as much as on anyone else's. You advised that the material
should be hosted without requiring any revision, and gave your opinion that
this would bring "more favourable attention than otherwise". This was said
with an awareness that the work contained errors - indeed, you were aware of
the very issues on which Stewart Baldwin has concentrated his criticism.
Nevertheless, you evidently didn't feel there was any need to see more of
the work than the sample provided.

I suggest that in the circumstances, the appropriate course is to try to be
constructive, rather than attacking the project and its author.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 10:37:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
[I wrote]
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Chris Phillips
Please can you point out where the FMG claims to "co-hold" the
copyright
on
Charles Cawley's work?
You haven't improved in nous or frankness over the past 11 months.
I had hoped this could be discussed without people stooping to personal
insults. The reason I asked was to check whether there really was any such
statement that I had overlooked.
No stopping involved. It was you whose attitudes drove me away from SGM, and
then from the FMG. Your obtuseness and complacency have forfeited any
respect I previously had for you, and as you may have noticed over years I
tend to say what I think about people I don't respect.
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
The copyright in layout, code, logos and titles of the Medival Lands
database is explicitly held by the FMG, by their own statement on the home
page.
But that is accompanied by a clear statement that the actual content is the
copyright of Charles Cawley. In other words, the FMG is asserting copyright
for the purely technical aspects of presenting the material on the
Internet - such as the pop-up navigation menus - and not at all for the
content.
If you had read all of my post you - or at least a more honest & fothright
person - would not try to persevere in this line of argument in isolation
from the context of the copyright statement, that is the FMG has put its own
effort into the Medieval Lands database and co-presents it to the public
insterad of merely hosting it by providing storage and hyperlinks with a
disclaimer as to the contents. That was what I advised.
Post by Chris Phillips
As you know, the FMG acts on advice in these matters. In this case it acted
on your advice as much as on anyone else's. You advised that the material
should be hosted without requiring any revision, and gave your opinion that
this would bring "more favourable attention than otherwise". This was said
with an awareness that the work contained errors - indeed, you were aware of
the very issues on which Stewart Baldwin has concentrated his criticism.
Nevertheless, you evidently didn't feel there was any need to see more of
the work than the sample provided.
Quite so, because I didn't contemplate that the FMG would link its own
credibility to the stuff. Having been made aware by me that it didn't come
up to scholarly standards, they then chose to swallow whole & represent to
the public Cawley's claims about its value as prosopography and as genealogy
"recontructed" from sources. This is hooey.
Post by Chris Phillips
I suggest that in the circumstances, the appropriate course is to try to be
constructive, rather than attacking the project and its author.
I am not trying to be constructive, as the Medival Lands database needs to
be withdrawn and totally reconstructed to be up to its own claims. I have no
intention of doing this work. I know exactly how much is involved: one
person can't do it. In four years Cawley has done a tiny fraction of the
task he has set for himself, and has done this so incompetently that it
isn't going to do him or the FMG the credit that both parties sought.

Charles Cawley started out not knowing the extent of his own ignorance - no
harm in that - but his work so far has evidently not taught him the
beginnings of this vital lesson. There is nothing to be achieved by
constructiveness with such a thick head & hide: however, a sharp shock to
the system might get him thinking in a more sensible direction; then he will
take himself off quietly and learn the basics of the scholarly discipline he
aspires to practice.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-12 11:06:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
No stopping involved. It was you whose attitudes drove me away from SGM, and
then from the FMG. Your obtuseness and complacency have forfeited any
respect I previously had for you, and as you may have noticed over years I
tend to say what I think about people I don't respect.
Well, there's obviously no point trying to continue this discussion. I won't
say any more for the time being.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 12:20:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
No stopping involved. It was you whose attitudes drove me away from SGM,
and
Post by Peter Stewart
then from the FMG. Your obtuseness and complacency have forfeited any
respect I previously had for you, and as you may have noticed over years I
tend to say what I think about people I don't respect.
Well, there's obviously no point trying to continue this discussion. I won't
say any more for the time being.
You may reflect that the discussion was not mainly about what I think of
you, so that this is a typically feeble pretext for running away from the
real issues that you have not yet addressed.

Remember your remarks about Douglas Richardson allegedly "refusing" to
provide specific detail to back up his views? Well, you now have some of
this from various other posters, including me. You pretend to want more, so
long as it is "constructive".

However, we haven't yet seen any responses from you that substantiate your
original endorsement of Cawley's work as a "major" and "extremely useful
resource", or alternatively that modify this opinion, but only some
irresolute cherry-picking of aspects of other people's remarks that you
think you can fudge in isolation from whatever is too difficult to address
in context.

Not an approach to controversy that many honest & rigorous thinkers on the
subject would take.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-12 12:39:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
You may reflect that the discussion was not mainly about what I think of
you, so that this is a typically feeble pretext for running away from the
real issues that you have not yet addressed.
I'm sorry, but if you're going to be personally abusive, I am _not_ going to
continue the discussion.

I have no interest in your kind of "controversy".

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 13:19:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
You may reflect that the discussion was not mainly about what I think of
you, so that this is a typically feeble pretext for running away from the
real issues that you have not yet addressed.
I'm sorry, but if you're going to be personally abusive, I am _not_ going to
continue the discussion.
I have no interest in your kind of "controversy".
I don't believe you are "sorry" at all, but rather relieved to have found
what you falsely imagine to be an honourable way out of the sticky problem
you have made for yourself, by trying to pass off as a "major resource"
something you either haven't taken the trouble or don't have the means to
assess properly.

But there is no way out as long as the Medieval Lands database sits on the
FMG website as a reproach to everyone involved, including me to the extent
that my advice a year ago wasn't fully informed and consequently wasn't
negative enough.

Peter Stewart
W***@aol.com
2006-06-11 18:42:16 UTC
Permalink
In a message dated 6/11/2006 11:38:52 AM Pacific Standard Time,
***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk writes:

Other than that, I'm not sure what you'd like Charles Cawley to say.


Anything at all. Hello, goodbye, you suck. Whatever.
Will
W***@aol.com
2006-06-12 00:36:29 UTC
Permalink
In a message dated 6/11/2006 5:10:02 PM Pacific Standard Time,
***@msn.com writes:

ely it has been mainly a clearing house for individual research into
gateway ancestries, that may be creditable and indeed valuable but not at
all the field of work that Cawley has chosen for himself.


You're the second person who has brought this charge in the last month and I
really don't see it. The majority of the posts over the last few weeks have
been about people who are several centuries earlier than any gateway person.

Will
Peter Stewart
2006-06-12 01:05:24 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
In a message dated 6/11/2006 5:10:02 PM Pacific Standard Time,
ely it has been mainly a clearing house for individual research into
gateway ancestries, that may be creditable and indeed valuable but not at
all the field of work that Cawley has chosen for himself.
You're the second person who has brought this charge in the last month and I
really don't see it. The majority of the posts over the last few weeks have
been about people who are several centuries earlier than any gateway person.
It's not a "charge" but just a comment, and "lately" doesn't mean just "over
the past few weeks".

Most of the interest generated in SGM from the start has been over descents
from medieval ancestors to present-day researchers, not purely over the
relationships between medieval individuals. I doubt that many people would
participate in a thread about the paternity of a medival abbess, for
instance, although she & her connections may have been far more important
than the posterity of some dim squireen and the transmission of his estate,
the kind of discussion that in aggregate wins the most sustained attention
here.

The thread that has gained the most enthusiastic adherents over the past
week or so has been a claim of personal Christhood.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 11:24:31 UTC
Permalink
Since Chris Phillips needs reminding, below is his original announcement
interspersed with extracts from my advice to the FMG on 26 July 2005 that
Post by Chris Phillips
Charles Cawley's "Medieval Lands", subtitled "A prosopography of medieval
European noble and royal families", is being hosted on the website of the
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and the first edition of the work has
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm
"Cawley has skimmed over many sources rather than making a close study of
the lineages or geographic areas included. The result is not a systematic
prosopography of the ruling class, kindred or individuals"
Post by Chris Phillips
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material.
"he contents himself with giving a source or two (some not the most
proximate or plausible) for the details he has found".
Post by Chris Phillips
The results are presented in narrative form and are organised
geographically.
The files, in HTML format, are freely available on the Foundation's
website
(note that some of the files are very large and may take a while to
download
through slow connections).
The geographical area covered is Europe together with adjacent regions of
Asia and Africa, and the time period is roughly 500-1500. Some secondary
works have been drawn on to provide a framework, but the emphasis is on the
extraction of evidence from contemporary sources.
"Unfortunately Cawley has deprived himself of benefits from a great deal of
modern scholarship by using 19th-century editions, mainly Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, when more recent ones are to be preferred for many -
usually the most important - sources. The way he uses what he has found in
isolation sometimes from what he would have found by further research of his
own, or in editorial glosses, is unsatisfactory by scholarly standards. His
use of cartularia and narrative sources tends to be uncritical and even
careless."
Post by Chris Phillips
In the current version, most data are available for Germany, Northern
France, Lombardy and Anglo-Saxon England, and for the earliest 600
years of the medieval period.
[Unknown to me last July, but reportedly emerging from the presentation at
the annual general meeting of the FMG, the entirety of material relating to
England is as yet unverified from primary sources - yet according to the
"factual" presentation of Phillips afterwards, this is among the sections of
this project allegedly drawing from primary sources with most data
available.]
Post by Chris Phillips
Statements not yet documented from primary sources are indicated in some
parts by [...], and in others by the absence of source citations.
Work on the project is continuing, and it is hoped to produce a more fully
documented second edition in due course. However, as it stands now the work
contains a tremendous amount of information, and I'm sure people will find
it an extremely useful resource.
"The availability of this kind of work would be a useful addition to online
resources for many people, However, it's apparent from the scope of the
project and from the example provided that Cawley has skimmed over many
sources rather than making a close study of the lineages or geographic areas
included."

I am at a loss to know how useful it may be to be told that a count of Macon
was married to his paternal grandmother's sister, or to read a conjecture
that two queens of Hungary might have been married to a modern historian who
wrote about them. And these are two of the three "new discoveries"
highlighted by the author in his Introduction!

This is a "major resource" in the same way as a guano deposit might be so
called, except that crops would not be fertilised by Cawley's work nearly as
well as by old bird poo.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 11:33:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
[Unknown to me last July, but reportedly emerging from the presentation at
the annual general meeting of the FMG, the entirety of material relating to
England is as yet unverified from primary sources - yet according to the
"factual" presentation of Phillips afterwards, this is among the sections of
this project allegedly drawing from primary sources with most data
available.]
My understanding from the presentation was precisely as I posted - that
_Anglo-Saxon_ England was among those areas more fully covered

And this is confirmed by the online introduction:
"Much new information is contained in the documents which cover Germany, the
northern half of France, the Italian Lombard kingdom and principalities, and
the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles."
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Intro.pdf

Your information about the AGM seems to be incorrect. Where did it come
from?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 12:13:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
[Unknown to me last July, but reportedly emerging from the presentation at
the annual general meeting of the FMG, the entirety of material relating
to
Post by Peter Stewart
England is as yet unverified from primary sources - yet according to the
"factual" presentation of Phillips afterwards, this is among the sections
of
Post by Peter Stewart
this project allegedly drawing from primary sources with most data
available.]
My understanding from the presentation was precisely as I posted - that
_Anglo-Saxon_ England was among those areas more fully covered
"Much new information is contained in the documents which cover Germany, the
northern half of France, the Italian Lombard kingdom and principalities, and
the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles."
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Intro.pdf
Your information about the AGM seems to be incorrect. Where did it come
from?
Tim Powys-Lybbe's post of 7 June, as folllows:

"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and would
much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of Edition 1
as that would delay him significantly. And he had firmly decided on a
recent policy change to enclose all non-primary-referenced items in square
brackets, presumably intending to implement this in Edition 2; in this
context he said (or I thought I heard him say) the whole of the English
material should be in square brackets."

You will surely note that I wrote "reportedly", because I was not present.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 12:08:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
I am at a loss to know how useful it may be to be told that a count of Macon
was married to his paternal grandmother's sister, or to read a conjecture
that two queens of Hungary might have been married to a modern historian who
wrote about them. And these are two of the three "new discoveries"
highlighted by the author in his Introduction!
I think you have misunderstood. Surely this is not what he is referring to
in the Introduction as a "discovery". He is referring to the identity of the
second wife of King Peter, isn't he?

I realise you are eager to ridicule the work, but in fairness it should be
pointed out that what you call a "conjecture" is actually a note about a
footnote he couldn't understand, and a query about its possible meaning. It
wasn't anything that was included in the genealogical structure of the work,
even provisionally.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 12:21:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
I am at a loss to know how useful it may be to be told that a count of
Macon
Post by Peter Stewart
was married to his paternal grandmother's sister, or to read a conjecture
that two queens of Hungary might have been married to a modern historian
who
Post by Peter Stewart
wrote about them. And these are two of the three "new discoveries"
highlighted by the author in his Introduction!
I think you have misunderstood. Surely this is not what he is referring to
in the Introduction as a "discovery". He is referring to the identity of the
second wife of King Peter, isn't he?
I realise you are eager to ridicule the work, but in fairness it should be
pointed out that what you call a "conjecture" is actually a note about a
footnote he couldn't understand, and a query about its possible meaning. It
wasn't anything that was included in the genealogical structure of the work,
even provisionally.
There is absolutely NOTHING new in Cawley's work regarding the second wife
of King Peter Orseolo. He absurdly chooses to quote Annalista Saxo about the
matter, when the passage in question was lifted word for word from the
earlier and more proximate chronicle written by Cosmas of Prague - and that
is compromisingly included in Cawley's bibliography, yet not consulted on
this cardinal point of evidence given in it.

If you don't have the wherwithal to assess Cawley's work properly, or can't
be bothered doing so, why do you choose to bandy words about it?

The eagerness to ridicule is not on my part - I can substantiate everything
I have to say, unlike you who are clearly floundering.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 12:25:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
There is absolutely NOTHING new in Cawley's work regarding the second wife
of King Peter Orseolo.
Perhaps not, but I think it's clear that the identification of the second
wife was what he was highlighting in his Introduction, not the query about
"Lui von Frizberg".
Post by Peter Stewart
If you don't have the wherwithal to assess Cawley's work properly, or can't
be bothered doing so, why do you choose to bandy words about it?
I make no claim to be an expert in Hungarian genealogy, but at least I can
understand plain English.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 12:39:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
There is absolutely NOTHING new in Cawley's work regarding the second wife
of King Peter Orseolo.
Perhaps not, but I think it's clear that the identification of the second
wife was what he was highlighting in his Introduction, not the query about
"Lui von Frizberg".
Post by Peter Stewart
If you don't have the wherwithal to assess Cawley's work properly, or
can't
Post by Peter Stewart
be bothered doing so, why do you choose to bandy words about it?
I make no claim to be an expert in Hungarian genealogy, but at least I can
understand plain English.
WRONG again, in plain English - the identity of the second wife is not and
NEVER HAS BEEN in question. Whether or not she really married him HAS been
questioned, but Cawley offers NOTHING new whatsoever on this issue.

You don't need to be an expert in Hungarian genealogy to have the sense to
shut up about what you don't know.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 12:52:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
You don't need to be an expert in Hungarian genealogy to have the sense to
shut up about what you don't know.
I think you are still missing the point.

I am pointing out to you that when Charles Cawley speaks in his introduction
of a discovery concerning "the wives of Peter Orseolo King of Hungary", it
is clear that he is referring to the information he has found in Annalista
Saxo concerning Peter's second marriage, and not to the query about "Lui von
Frizberg" as you claimed. The text makes it clear that he sees the
information about Judith as an addition to the information in the volume
edited by Wegener (but written by Tyroller according to you), and as
providing extra chronological information about the first marriage.

You have pointed out that this is not in fact new, but that doesn't change
the facts that he clearly thought it was, and that this is what he was
referring to in the Introduction.

I really think you need to calm down, stop flinging around insults and
posting in capital letters, and try to be objective about all this.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 13:17:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
You don't need to be an expert in Hungarian genealogy to have the sense to
shut up about what you don't know.
I think you are still missing the point.
I am pointing out to you that when Charles Cawley speaks in his introduction
of a discovery concerning "the wives of Peter Orseolo King of Hungary", it
is clear that he is referring to the information he has found in Annalista
Saxo concerning Peter's second marriage, and not to the query about "Lui von
Frizberg" as you claimed. The text makes it clear that he sees the
information about Judith as an addition to the information in the volume
edited by Wegener (but written by Tyroller according to you), and as
providing extra chronological information about the first marriage.
You have pointed out that this is not in fact new, but that doesn't change
the facts that he clearly thought it was, and that this is what he was
referring to in the Introduction.
I really think you need to calm down, stop flinging around insults and
posting in capital letters, and try to be objective about all this.
Once again, this is rot - I am trying to get through to you that there is
NOTHING new in Calwey's account of Peter Orseolo's wives apart from the
absurdity about Lui von Frizburg.

No matter how much you resist this straightforward fact, it remains a fact.

The essential ponts are not even made by Cawley, but nothing newer than 1125
is adduced for the second wife.

It is you who need to calm down, and stop trying to manufacture quibbles out
of hot air. The _objective_ reality is that Cawley has done even worse with
Peter Orseolo of Hungary than he did with Otto II of Macon. He CANNOT have
read the primary and secondary sources he cited (NOT of the appropriate ones
for the relevant points in either case) and still have imagined that his
discussion of the second wife was a "new discovery".

How many times do you need to be advised to keep your total ignorance on
these matters to yourself? No wonder you made (and astonishingly continue to
make) a travesty of interpreting my straightforward advice to the FMG last
year.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 13:47:49 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
How many times do you need to be advised to keep your total ignorance on
these matters to yourself? No wonder you made (and astonishingly continue to
make) a travesty of interpreting my straightforward advice to the FMG last
year.
OK. Once more.

All I am pointing out is that he is not referring in the Introduction to
what you claimed he was - "Lui von Frizberg". I am not saying any more or
less than that.

Do you agree, or not?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 00:13:48 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
How many times do you need to be advised to keep your total ignorance on
these matters to yourself? No wonder you made (and astonishingly continue
to
Post by Peter Stewart
make) a travesty of interpreting my straightforward advice to the FMG last
year.
OK. Once more.
All I am pointing out is that he is not referring in the Introduction to
what you claimed he was - "Lui von Frizberg". I am not saying any more or
less than that.
Do you agree, or not?
Once more: there is nothing else besides the "Lui von Frizburg" nonsense in
the material on Peter Orseolo's wives that could conceivably be regarded as
"new". Consequently you are on a hiding to nothing with this failed defense
of Cawley.

However, it is an improvement that you are at least trying to address the
problems in specific terms.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 01:08:53 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Once more: there is nothing else besides the "Lui von Frizburg" nonsense
in the material on Peter Orseolo's wives that could conceivably be
regarded as "new".
In fact, the discussion of Peter Orseolo's presumed first wife, the famous
Tuta regina, is markedly "old" precisely because Cawley had not found his
way to Lui von Frizburg's work.

If he had, he would have discovered some good reasons for concluding that
she was not the daughter of Heinrich I (Hesso) of Formbach after all, but
rather his siter-in-law of unknown family. If he had bothered to read
Szabolcs de Vajay on the subject, he would have come across the proposal
that she belonged either to the Babenberg family or to that of the
castellans of Regensburg.

This is not "new", dating from 1955 and 1962 respectively, but it is
certainly newer than the less plausible theory presented by Cawley.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 07:56:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Once more: there is nothing else besides the "Lui von Frizburg" nonsense in
the material on Peter Orseolo's wives that could conceivably be regarded as
"new". Consequently you are on a hiding to nothing with this failed defense
of Cawley.
Are you really saying you honestly believe that Charles Cawley was referring
in his Introduction to his noted query about what a "cryptic" footnote
meant, and presenting this as a major new discovery? Of course he couldn't
have considered that a new discovery - it was a footnote written in the
1960s! The idea is absolutely absurd.

He was clearly referring to the information he had found in a primary source
about the marriage to Judith, which he believed was new.

It's sheer nonsense to say it could not "conceivably" be regarded as new.
How many times on this newsgroup have we had discussions about facts people
have regarded as new discoveries, which have turned out not to be?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 08:46:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Peter Stewart
Once more: there is nothing else besides the "Lui von Frizburg" nonsense
in
Post by Peter Stewart
the material on Peter Orseolo's wives that could conceivably be regarded
as
Post by Peter Stewart
"new". Consequently you are on a hiding to nothing with this failed
defense
Post by Peter Stewart
of Cawley.
Are you really saying you honestly believe that Charles Cawley was referring
in his Introduction to his noted query about what a "cryptic" footnote
meant, and presenting this as a major new discovery? Of course he couldn't
have considered that a new discovery - it was a footnote written in the
1960s! The idea is absolutely absurd.
He was clearly referring to the information he had found in a primary source
about the marriage to Judith, which he believed was new.
It's sheer nonsense to say it could not "conceivably" be regarded as new.
How many times on this newsgroup have we had discussions about facts people
have regarded as new discoveries, which have turned out not to be?
O dear - if you WON'T be told, perhaps you can be shown. You are starting
from the false premise that Cawley is somehow not quite as deeply foolish as
he demonstrably is.

Cawley's full remarks on the second wife of Peter Orseolo are as follows:

"m [secondly] (Apr 1055) as her second husband, JUDITH von Schweinfurt,
widow of BRETISLAV I Duke of the Bohemians, daughter of HEINRICH von
Schweinfurt Markgraf auf dem Nordgau & his wife Gerberga [von Gleisberg]
([1010/15] [endnote 280: Her first child by her first marriage was born in
1031.]-2 Aug 1058, bur Prague St Veit). According to the Annalista Saxo,
Judith was expelled from Bohemia by her son Duke Spytihnev after his
father's death and married "Petri regi Ungariorum" to spite her son [endnote
281: AS 1058]. The marriage is not mentioned in Wegener, although he refers
cryptically to "Lui von Frizberg, I. Tuta Regina. II. Judith von
Schweinfurt" [endnote 282: Wegener, pp. 80 and 141 footnote 2, the latter
quoting a manuscript "Haus Frizberg (Post Wildon) 1955, S. 1-26"]. Should
this reference be interpreted to mean that Lui von Frizberg (to whom no
other reference has been found) married firstly (as her second husband) Tuta
von Formbach, and secondly (also as her second husband) Judith von
Schweinfurt?"

Now the only way that Cawley could imagine there is a "new discovery" here
apart from the risible stuff about Lui von Frizberg would be if he were
idiotic enough to suppose that no-one had read Annalista Saxo before him.
This is one of the major narrative sources of the time, and contains no
secret or undiscovered information. In fact, as I said earlier, it isn't
even the appropriate source for this, which came from Cosmas of Prague's
chronicle. The relevant passage was copied a decade or so later by the
annalist, word for word, adding to it only the name of Judith's brother that
Cawley has inexplicably failed to mention - so that I wonder if he even
looked at Annalist Saxo, or just found this cited in a secondary work
somewhere & copied the reference.

Just where do you suppose Cawley can have found the added details for which
he gives no source - "m [secondly] (Apr 1055)...", "Her first child by her
first marriage was born in 1031", "-2 Aug 1058, bur Prague St Veit" - if not
in secondary material that DOES include the marriage of Judith to Peter
Orseolo? Do you think he made up "Apr 1055" for the event out of thin air,
and this fabrication was his "new discovery"? He can't have got the detail
from Tyroller, misnamed Wegener, because he says the marriage is not
mentioned in that work: but this cannot mean it is "new" since the marriage
in April 1055 must be included in ES or wherever else Cawley found the
purported (and, of course, unsupported) dating for it.

Peter Stewart

So that leaves "Lui von Frizberg". Get over it.
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 09:14:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Now the only way that Cawley could imagine there is a "new discovery" here
apart from the risible stuff about Lui von Frizberg would be if he were
idiotic enough to suppose that no-one had read Annalista Saxo before him.
This is one of the major narrative sources of the time, and contains no
secret or undiscovered information. In fact, as I said earlier, it isn't
even the appropriate source for this, which came from Cosmas of Prague's
chronicle.
That's plain silly. Don't you remember how many hundred times people on this
newsgroup have claimed new discoveries on the basis of published primary
sources?

It's certainly a lot more credible than that anyone would claim a new
discovery on the basis of a footnote in a work published in the 1960s, as
you are suggesting!
Post by Peter Stewart
Just where do you suppose Cawley can have found the added details for which
he gives no source - "m [secondly] (Apr 1055)...", "Her first child by her
first marriage was born in 1031", "-2 Aug 1058, bur Prague St Veit" - if not
in secondary material that DOES include the marriage of Judith to Peter
Orseolo? Do you think he made up "Apr 1055" for the event out of thin air,
and this fabrication was his "new discovery"? He can't have got the detail
from Tyroller, misnamed Wegener, because he says the marriage is not
mentioned in that work: but this cannot mean it is "new" since the marriage
in April 1055 must be included in ES or wherever else Cawley found the
purported (and, of course, unsupported) dating for it.
You have only to click a hyperlink to go to the account of her first
marriage, and you can see where most of the information comes from - it
comes from Cosmas of Prague, funnily enough, which is also cited there for
her marriage to King Peter.

The marriage is dated "after Jan 1055" in the section on Bohemia, which
suggests to me that the date given under Hungary is just an estimate, based
on the date of the death of her first husband, given as 10 January 1055.

At any rate, it's obvious that the date doesn't come from ES, because Cawley
makes the point that if King Peter's second marriage was in 1055, his first
wife "must have died many years before the "after 1070" which is suggested
by Europäische Stammtafeln".

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 09:32:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
Now the only way that Cawley could imagine there is a "new discovery" here
apart from the risible stuff about Lui von Frizberg would be if he were
idiotic enough to suppose that no-one had read Annalista Saxo before him.
This is one of the major narrative sources of the time, and contains no
secret or undiscovered information. In fact, as I said earlier, it isn't
even the appropriate source for this, which came from Cosmas of Prague's
chronicle.
That's plain silly. Don't you remember how many hundred times people on this
newsgroup have claimed new discoveries on the basis of published primary
sources?
It's certainly a lot more credible than that anyone would claim a new
discovery on the basis of a footnote in a work published in the 1960s, as
you are suggesting!
STILL you don't get it: how dense are you?

Cawley thought that "Wegener" didn't put two and two together, since he had
not included the marraige of either Judith or Tuta to Peter Orseolo but had
referred in a footnote to them both in connection with Lui von Frizburg. So
Cawley thought he was the first to twig to this double - or quadruple -
nexus of marriages.

That is why in his Introduction he highlighted "the wives of Peter Orseolo",
plural, as one of his "new discoveries", NOT just the second wife.

When it finally comes, your apology WILL be accepted.

Peter Stewart

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 11:10:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Cawley thought that "Wegener" didn't put two and two together, since he had
not included the marraige of either Judith or Tuta to Peter Orseolo but had
referred in a footnote to them both in connection with Lui von Frizburg. So
Cawley thought he was the first to twig to this double - or quadruple -
nexus of marriages.
I'm sorry, but I still can't see that this makes any sense at all. Far from
giving any prominence at all to the query about the meaning of the footnote,
Cawley doesn't even incorporate "Lui von Frizberg" into the structure of the
database. There is no indication that he takes the suggested interpretation
seriously. It is clearly inconsistent with the rest of the information he
gives in the entry. Clearly he believes King Peter's first marriage ended
with the death of Tuta, and that Judith's second husband was Peter, not
"Lui".

Having said that, if the marriage of Peter and Judith is mentioned elsewhere
in ES, that means _all_ the marriages mentioned come from the secondary
literature, and it is difficult to see what the discovery is meant to be. I
don't see that this is any justification for your jumping to the most
damaging conclusion, when the appearances are so much against it.

As a matter of interest, which family is covered by the ES table, "ES I/1
table 88", in which the marriage is shown?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 11:50:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
Cawley thought that "Wegener" didn't put two and two together, since he
had
Post by Peter Stewart
not included the marraige of either Judith or Tuta to Peter Orseolo but
had
Post by Peter Stewart
referred in a footnote to them both in connection with Lui von Frizburg.
So
Post by Peter Stewart
Cawley thought he was the first to twig to this double - or quadruple -
nexus of marriages.
I'm sorry, but I still can't see that this makes any sense at all. Far from
giving any prominence at all to the query about the meaning of the footnote,
Cawley doesn't even incorporate "Lui von Frizberg" into the structure of the
database. There is no indication that he takes the suggested
interpretation
seriously. It is clearly inconsistent with the rest of the information he
gives in the entry. Clearly he believes King Peter's first marriage ended
with the death of Tuta, and that Judith's second husband was Peter, not
"Lui".
Having said that, if the marriage of Peter and Judith is mentioned elsewhere
in ES, that means _all_ the marriages mentioned come from the secondary
literature, and it is difficult to see what the discovery is meant to be. I
don't see that this is any justification for your jumping to the most
damaging conclusion, when the appearances are so much against it.
O blimey, this is flat dishonesty on your part if you are not a complete
moron: THERE IS NO OTHER CONCLUSION TO BE REACHED.

The ONLY matter covering BOTH WIVES of Peter Orseolo is the nonsense about
Lui von Frizberg. Cawley wrote of a "new discovery" regarding the "wives" of
Peter Orseolo.

I have shown you that the salient details about Judith of Schweinfurt APART
FROM the Lui von Frizberg cadenza, that is unique to Cawley, are given in
ES.

"April 1055" is NOT 1058 as in Annalista Saxo, who provides no warrant at
all for the earlier month and year. ES gives April 1055. That is where
Cawley found the date, and OF COURSE he knew that copying this marriage and
its purported timing from ES was not a "new discovery" of his own.

He remarked that "Wegener" (acutally Tyroller) had NOT GIVEN the marriages
of either Tuta or Judith to Peter Orseolo, then puzzled over the reference
to Lui von Frizberg indicated, as he thought, in sequential marriages with
each of these two ladies. Presumably he thought that Tuta might have been
divorced from one or other husband in order to marry again, as he was
perhaps "discovering", and apparently that Judith must have been too since
Cawley chooses to believe that Peter Orseolo outlived her (however, this is
a probable error in a Polish source, that he has not picked up on).

There is nowhere to scurry next over this: NOTHING that Cawley has to say in
the section about Tuta is new, indeed it has been out of date for more than
40 years, and NOTHING that he says about Judith is new in the Medieval Lands
account EXCEPT the bizarre howler about Lui von Frizberg THAT ALONE APPLIES
TO BOTH WIVES.

If you can't bring yourself to admit this plain, inescapable fact &
apologise, then kindly refrain from trying to lecture other people about
manners since you are no sort of gentleman, indeed you are a very stupid
and/or lying poltroon.
Post by Chris Phillips
As a matter of interest, which family is covered by the ES table, "ES I/1
table 88", in which the marriage is shown?
Judith of Schweinfurt's own family.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 12:23:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
If you can't bring yourself to admit this plain, inescapable fact &
apologise, then kindly refrain from trying to lecture other people about
manners since you are no sort of gentleman, indeed you are a very stupid
and/or lying poltroon.
You can insult me just as much as you like, but I really do not believe that
Charles Cawley would highlight, as a "new discovery" resulting from a "Back
to Basics" approach concentrating on primary source material, a noted query
about the meaning of a footnote he didn't understand, from a work published
in the 1960s, when the suggested interpretation was not included even
provisionally in the structure of the database, and was clearly inconsistent
with the rest of his article on the family.

I am not _pretending_ I don't believe it. I just don't believe it, that's
all.
Post by Peter Stewart
There is nowhere to scurry next over this: NOTHING that Cawley has to say in
the section about Tuta is new, indeed it has been out of date for more than
40 years, and NOTHING that he says about Judith is new in the Medieval Lands
account EXCEPT the bizarre howler about Lui von Frizberg THAT ALONE APPLIES
TO BOTH WIVES.
But the point is, as I've already pointed out at least half a dozen times,
the author did _not_ think that was new, because it came from a footnote in
a book published in the 1960s.

Do you not see how inconsistent your argument is? You argue that he could
not have been referring to Judith's marriage to Peter as a "discovery",
because it is in ES. But by exactly the same logic, he could not have been
referring to "Lui von Frizberg" because it is in Tyroller.

I can only guess what the explanation is, but presumably when he described
this as a new discovery, he had forgotten one of these facts.

It does not seem likely to me that he had forgotten that "Lui von Frizberg"
came from Tyroller, because it is right there in the article, and equally it
does not seem likely he would give it prominence as a discovery stemming
from his "Back to Basics" approach, because it didn't even come from a
primary source, because he acknowledged he wasn't even sure what it meant,
and because he therefore hadn't incorporated it into his database, even
provisionally.

Perhaps he had forgotten that Judith's marriage to Peter was in a different
table in ES? I don't know, but I find it a far more plausible explanation
than the assumption you are trying to force on everyone as a "plain,
inescapable fact".

(By the way, the reason that the Judith identification would affect both
wives is that it also implies a substantial correction to the ES chronology
for Tuta. Perhaps you missed this when I pointed it out before.)

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 13:36:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
If you can't bring yourself to admit this plain, inescapable fact &
apologise, then kindly refrain from trying to lecture other people about
manners since you are no sort of gentleman, indeed you are a very stupid
and/or lying poltroon.
You can insult me just as much as you like, but I really do not believe that
Charles Cawley would highlight, as a "new discovery" resulting from a "Back
to Basics" approach concentrating on primary source material, a noted query
about the meaning of a footnote he didn't understand, from a work published
in the 1960s, when the suggested interpretation was not included even
provisionally in the structure of the database, and was clearly inconsistent
with the rest of his article on the family.
I am not _pretending_ I don't believe it. I just don't believe it, that's
all.
Then more fool you - the blind prejudice you are demonstrating in favour of
Cawley's having commonsense and competence, in light of all you have been
told about his work since July 2005, is truly astonishing obtuseness.
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
There is nowhere to scurry next over this: NOTHING that Cawley has to
say
Post by Chris Phillips
in
Post by Peter Stewart
the section about Tuta is new, indeed it has been out of date for more
than
Post by Peter Stewart
40 years, and NOTHING that he says about Judith is new in the Medieval
Lands
Post by Peter Stewart
account EXCEPT the bizarre howler about Lui von Frizberg THAT ALONE
APPLIES
Post by Peter Stewart
TO BOTH WIVES.
But the point is, as I've already pointed out at least half a dozen times,
the author did _not_ think that was new, because it came from a footnote in
a book published in the 1960s.
And the point I have been making is that the book published in the 1960s
DIDN"T PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER the way Cawley imagines that he might have
done in his utterly absurd postulation about Lui von Frizberg AND THE WIVES
OF PETER ORSEOLO. "Wegener" in his view had only realised that these two
women were wives of Lui von Frizberg, and had NOT given them as wives of
Peter Orseolo. Combining the two streams of evidence and mistaken conjecture
was, in Cawley's warped and ignorant view of things, a "new discovery" on
his part. That is perfectly plain, cut & dried.
Post by Chris Phillips
Do you not see how inconsistent your argument is? You argue that he could
not have been referring to Judith's marriage to Peter as a "discovery",
because it is in ES. But by exactly the same logic, he could not have been
referring to "Lui von Frizberg" because it is in Tyroller.
BUT Judith's marriage to Peter Orseolo is NOT in Tyroller. Cawley thought
that HE would have the credit of first putting these disparate elements
together into a "new discovery", presented interrogatively becasue he didn't
know enough German to be sure of himself.
Post by Chris Phillips
I can only guess what the explanation is, but presumably when he described
this as a new discovery, he had forgotten one of these facts.
It does not seem likely to me that he had forgotten that "Lui von Frizberg"
came from Tyroller, because it is right there in the article, and equally it
does not seem likely he would give it prominence as a discovery stemming
from his "Back to Basics" approach, because it didn't even come from a
primary source, because he acknowledged he wasn't even sure what it meant,
and because he therefore hadn't incorporated it into his database, even
provisionally.
Perhaps he had forgotten that Judith's marriage to Peter was in a different
table in ES? I don't know, but I find it a far more plausible explanation
than the assumption you are trying to force on everyone as a "plain,
inescapable fact".
You are trying to come up with any explanation that will satisfy your need
to go on trusting in the broken reed of Cawley's work.
Post by Chris Phillips
(By the way, the reason that the Judith identification would affect both
wives is that it also implies a substantial correction to the ES chronology
for Tuta. Perhaps you missed this when I pointed it out before.)
No I didn't. There is no such thing as "the Judith identification": from the
first source reporting her marriage to Peter Orseolo (Cosmas of Prague, who
was around 10 years old when this happened) there has been no question over
who she was, only about whether Cosmas is reliable on the matter.

The ES chronology for Tuta is inconsistent, but that is not the burden of
Cawley's "discovery". We know that Judith can't have married Peter until
after her first husband died in January 1055, so that Tuta (presumbably,
remembering that HER identification is not definite) was either dead or
divorced by then - but naturally this has been recognised for many centuries
now. Cawley is so ignorant about the evidence for Tuta, so incompetent at
reading German, and so lazy at checking things for himself, that he has made
a hash of the chronology, but this cannot be regarded as something
"discovered" about the wives anyway. Judith died in 1058, as Cosmas and
Annalista Saxo identically relate, so that obviously her marriage to Peter
fell between 1055 & 1058 and the previous wife was out of the way before
1059 or 1070. No-one could seriously propose this as a "new discovery".

All we know for sure is that Tuta founded Suben abbey in 1040, that she was
apparently married to Peter Orseolo before November/December 1046 (somebody
was, and she is the prime candidate), that it is most likely she was married
to him between October 1031 and August 1038 (forget Cawley's bumbling
analysis - the probability is that St Stephen and his Bavarian wife Gisela
arranged this marriage for his heir with a Bavarian noblewoman from a
powerful family), and that she was dead before 1055, perhaps soon after 1046
as a result of the privations inflicted on her and Peter after his downfall
(related by Hermannus Contractus, but again overlooked by Cawley who goes
off into a pointless disquisition about whether or not he left Hungary).

Cawley, pretending to familiarity with German and the relevant sources,
wrote: "Archbishop Eberhard (von Sulzbach) names "Tuta" (in a document dated
1153, more than a century after the events) as "die Gründerin von Suben,
Königin", and that in an even later document from the monastery she is
called "Königin von Ungarn", although it cannot be concluded from these
documents that she was queen at the date she founded the monastery."

This is misleading. The 1153 privilege of Archbishop Eberhard actually says
"Subensem ecclesiam a quadam regina Tuta nomine...primo fundatam" (Suben
abbey, first established by a certain queen named Tuta), which is not in
German and does indeed suggest that Tuta was a queen at the time of the
foundation: The "even later document" calling her "Tuota" and describing her
as regina Hungariae is actually not medieval and not "from the monastery"at
all, but a preface written by a German editor of the Suben abbey muniments
and published in 1765. This is not of any value as supporting evidence, but
probably correct as a guess (if that's what it was). Cawley has not taken
the trouble to get his thick head around the evidence, direct or indirect.
He has merely repeated ES and paraphrased from other secondary works for the
important points, apparently borrowing even the few ill-chosen and
ill-understood sources from other people's research.

Ludicrous and nonsensical as it is on Cawley's part, the only conclusion
available to be drawn is that he meant to bring the "Lui von Frizberg"
conjecture to attention as one of his "new discoveries".

There is no mystery about this: the man is totally incapable of doing the
work he set himself, has done it very badly, and doesn't know enough to
realise his own shortcomings. Phillips on the other hand has been told more
than enough to see all this, time & again, and yet refuses to acknowledge
it.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 13:47:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
And the point I have been making is that the book published in the 1960s
DIDN"T PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER the way Cawley imagines that he might have
done in his utterly absurd postulation about Lui von Frizberg AND THE WIVES
OF PETER ORSEOLO. "Wegener" in his view had only realised that these two
women were wives of Lui von Frizberg, and had NOT given them as wives of
Peter Orseolo. Combining the two streams of evidence and mistaken conjecture
was, in Cawley's warped and ignorant view of things, a "new discovery" on
his part. That is perfectly plain, cut & dried.
So you keep saying. But in truth, you have no evidence for any of this
supposition about what you imagine might have been in Charles Cawley's mind.

Anyway, it occurs to me that there is a rather easy way of settling the
question. The next time I am in touch with him, I'll ask him what he meant.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 14:03:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Peter Stewart
And the point I have been making is that the book published in the 1960s
DIDN"T PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER the way Cawley imagines that he might have
done in his utterly absurd postulation about Lui von Frizberg AND THE
WIVES
Post by Peter Stewart
OF PETER ORSEOLO. "Wegener" in his view had only realised that these two
women were wives of Lui von Frizberg, and had NOT given them as wives of
Peter Orseolo. Combining the two streams of evidence and mistaken
conjecture
Post by Peter Stewart
was, in Cawley's warped and ignorant view of things, a "new discovery" on
his part. That is perfectly plain, cut & dried.
So you keep saying. But in truth, you have no evidence for any of this
supposition about what you imagine might have been in Charles Cawley's mind.
Anyway, it occurs to me that there is a rather easy way of settling the
question. The next time I am in touch with him, I'll ask him what he meant.
And you'll be fool enough to believe him, no doubt, or at least to say so,
as if he won't have even more compelling motive than you to scramble for
excuses.

You are giving the SGM community a most unedifying chance to see how little
intelligence and integrity you have when it comes to some obvious but
uncomfortable truths. This is the most disgraceful episode of futile &
self-interested denial that I can remember on the newsgroup, bar none.

So much for caring about medieval genealogy: clearly you place ignorant
pride before it.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 09:51:24 UTC
Permalink
"Chris Phillips" <***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk> wrote in message news:e70h12$jjf$***@nntp.aioe.org...

<snip>
Post by Chris Phillips
At any rate, it's obvious that the date doesn't come from ES, because Cawley
makes the point that if King Peter's second marriage was in 1055, his first
wife "must have died many years before the "after 1070" which is suggested
by Europäische Stammtafeln".
"Obvious"?

ES is perfectly capable of contradicting one table in another. Most readers
are sharp enough to work this out for themselves, let alone when claiming to
have made "new discoveries".

Even Cawley isn't perceptibly sillier than Chris Phillips on this matter.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 09:21:50 UTC
Permalink
"Peter Stewart" <***@msn.com> wrote in message news:ojPkg.10923$***@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

<snip>
Post by Peter Stewart
"m [secondly] (Apr 1055) as her second husband, JUDITH von Schweinfurt,
widow of BRETISLAV I Duke of the Bohemians, daughter of HEINRICH von
Schweinfurt Markgraf auf dem Nordgau & his wife Gerberga [von Gleisberg]
([1010/15] [endnote 280: Her first child by her first marriage was born in
1031.]-2 Aug 1058, bur Prague St Veit). According to the Annalista Saxo,
Judith was expelled from Bohemia by her son Duke Spytihnev after his
father's death and married "Petri regi Ungariorum" to spite her son
[endnote 281: AS 1058]. The marriage is not mentioned in Wegener,
although he refers cryptically to "Lui von Frizberg, I. Tuta Regina. II.
Judith von Schweinfurt" [endnote 282: Wegener, pp. 80 and 141 footnote 2,
the latter quoting a manuscript "Haus Frizberg (Post Wildon) 1955, S.
1-26"]. Should this reference be interpreted to mean that Lui von
Frizberg (to whom no other reference has been found) married firstly (as
her second husband) Tuta von Formbach, and secondly (also as her second
husband) Judith von Schweinfurt?"
Now the only way that Cawley could imagine there is a "new discovery" here
apart from the risible stuff about Lui von Frizberg would be if he were
idiotic enough to suppose that no-one had read Annalista Saxo before him.
This is one of the major narrative sources of the time, and contains no
secret or undiscovered information. In fact, as I said earlier, it isn't
even the appropriate source for this, which came from Cosmas of Prague's
chronicle. The relevant passage was copied a decade or so later by the
annalist, word for word, adding to it only the name of Judith's brother
that Cawley has inexplicably failed to mention - so that I wonder if he
even looked at Annalist Saxo, or just found this cited in a secondary work
somewhere & copied the reference.
I checked the MGH SS edition that Cawleys lists in his bibliography, and
this suggests more strongly that he never looked it up for himself: the
relevant passage is printed in a smaller font, the conventional way to
indicate derivative text, and the source is clearly given in the margin
beside it as Cosmas. The chronicle of Cosmas of Prague is also listed by
Cawley as one of the primary sources he used, so that there would be no
excuse for his failure to find the original source in this instance if he
had actually looked at the page he cited in Annalista Saxo, under 1058.

And of course 1058 is not April 1055 anyway, so that Cawley obviously had
information from elsewhere. Sure enough, in ES I/1 table 88 the second
marriage of Judith is given, to Peter Orseolo king of Hungary, in April
1055.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 09:25:53 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Peter Stewart
Once more: there is nothing else besides the "Lui von Frizburg" nonsense
in
Post by Peter Stewart
the material on Peter Orseolo's wives that could conceivably be regarded
as
Post by Peter Stewart
"new". Consequently you are on a hiding to nothing with this failed
defense
Post by Peter Stewart
of Cawley.
Are you really saying you honestly believe that Charles Cawley was referring
in his Introduction to his noted query about what a "cryptic" footnote
meant, and presenting this as a major new discovery? Of course he couldn't
have considered that a new discovery - it was a footnote written in the
1960s! The idea is absolutely absurd.
He was clearly referring to the information he had found in a primary source
about the marriage to Judith, which he believed was new.
It's sheer nonsense to say it could not "conceivably" be regarded as new.
How many times on this newsgroup have we had discussions about facts people
have regarded as new discoveries, which have turned out not to be?
We await the apologetic retraction by Phillips of his supercilious and
fatuous remarks above about my "absolutely absurd" idea and "sheer
nonsense", that prove to be correct.

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-16 12:36:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Peter Stewart
I am at a loss to know how useful it may be to be told that a count of
Macon
Post by Peter Stewart
was married to his paternal grandmother's sister, or to read a conjecture
that two queens of Hungary might have been married to a modern historian
who
Post by Peter Stewart
wrote about them. And these are two of the three "new discoveries"
highlighted by the author in his Introduction!
I think you have misunderstood. Surely this is not what he is referring to
in the Introduction as a "discovery". He is referring to the identity of the
second wife of King Peter, isn't he?
PS The single detail that Annalista Saxo adds to Cosmas of Prague is an
explicit statement of King Peter Orseolo's second wife's family, by
definitively naming her brother - yet this interesting detail is completely
overlooked by Cawley.

And he doesn't even manage to expound the very simple rationale for King
Peter's HAVING a first wife before her.

If he can't work these things out for himself, Phillips might do better to
curb his incontinent desire to criticise me over details, and wait for my
review of the Medieval Lands database.

Meanwhile he might tell us if he sticks to his original endorsement of this
in general, and why. This is not an order from me, but an imperative from
commonsense & honesty.

Peter Stewart
p***@gmail.com
2006-06-16 21:06:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
This is an ambitious project, whose aim is to document the genealogy and
biographical details of European royal and noble families through a
systematic study of primary source material.
Insufficient consideration has been given to the reliability of the
sources used. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was compiled in 891, yet it is
used as a primary source for events that supposedly happened four
centuries earlier. This fictional material has then been garnished with
the fanciful elaborations of mediaeval story tellers such as Henry of
Huntington.

The results are farcical. For example, we are told that Ælle landed in
Sussex in 477 with his three sons, one of whom supposedly died in 590,
making him in excess of 113 years old at the time of his death. How
probable is that? None of this is real: Cissa has been quarried out of
Chichester and his death date is stolen from Cealwin of Wessex.

An Ecgwald is introduced as a King of Sussex on the basis of S230
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+230. But that
charter is a forgery concocted in the tenth century.
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 21:54:22 UTC
Permalink
***@gmail.com wrote:
<<
Insufficient consideration has been given to the reliability of the
sources used. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was compiled in 891, yet it is
used as a primary source for events that supposedly happened four
centuries earlier. This fictional material has then been garnished with
the fanciful elaborations of mediaeval story tellers such as Henry of
Huntington.

The results are farcical. For example, we are told that Ælle landed in
Sussex in 477 with his three sons, one of whom supposedly died in 590,
making him in excess of 113 years old at the time of his death. How
probable is that? None of this is real: Cissa has been quarried out of
Chichester and his death date is stolen from Cealwin of Wessex.
Thanks for pointing out this error. It seems that obviously inconsistent
information has been accepted incautiously from very late sources here. I
shall pass on the details to the author.


<<
An Ecgwald is introduced as a King of Sussex on the basis of S230
http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+230. But that
charter is a forgery concocted in the tenth century.
Judging from the web page you cite, opinions have differed about the
authenticity of the charter, though the three most recent "votes" seem to be
against genuineness. Would you particularly recommend any of these opinions
to the author?

Chris Phillips
W***@aol.com
2006-06-16 22:48:40 UTC
Permalink
In a message dated 6/16/06 3:09:46 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk writes:

<< Thanks for pointing out this error. It seems that obviously inconsistent
information has been accepted incautiously from very late sources here. I
shall pass on the details to the author. >>

Oh no! But didn't the author say he wasn't interested in corrections until
he got version 2 out? Or did I misunderstand that?
Chris Phillips
2006-06-16 23:00:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
Oh no! But didn't the author say he wasn't interested in corrections until
he got version 2 out? Or did I misunderstand that?
I think you probably did. Where did you get that impression from?

Chris Phillips
Leo van de Pas
2006-06-16 23:47:40 UTC
Permalink
Will Johnson is not the only one who remembers this observation.

I think by now too many flaws have been mentioned about this website and
instead of version 2 to be finalised, version 1 should be scrutinised and
lyrical descriptions should become less so.
What has been attempted (I have not seen it) sounds quite monumental, and I
can only wonder how long it has been in preparation.

Does he work alone? Or has he assistance? As a comparison, I had collected
genealogical data literally for decades (I started in 1958). In 1990 I found
someone who wrote a computer program for me, for about 12 years I have been
entering data, and only in 2002 or 2003 did Ian Fettes turn it into a
website. Knowing that so large a collection _has to be flawed_ I have
invited corrections and additions from the beginning, and almost daily they
still come in. When they do, all I can say is that they will be attended to
and only after the next update of the website (about once a month) will they
become visible. And yes, I do it all by myself, as the system I have does
not allow for co-operation, all the biographies lately entered have to be
keyed in letter by letter by myself.

These added biographies have added an enormous amount of information about
medieval England, France, Germany, Spain, the Low Countries, Bohemia, Poland
and so on.
And again I would like to ask for additions and corrections for those as
well.

I feel that Christ Phillips was perhaps too positive about this new source,
and as he does not seem to rember the remark quoted by Will Johnson, I can
only wonder what else has he forgotten?
With best wishes
Leo van de Pas
Canberra, Australia


----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Phillips" <***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by W***@aol.com
Oh no! But didn't the author say he wasn't interested in corrections
until
Post by W***@aol.com
he got version 2 out? Or did I misunderstand that?
I think you probably did. Where did you get that impression from?
Chris Phillips
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 08:33:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leo van de Pas
Will Johnson is not the only one who remembers this observation.
...
Post by Leo van de Pas
I feel that Christ Phillips was perhaps too positive about this new source,
and as he does not seem to rember the remark quoted by Will Johnson, I can
only wonder what else has he forgotten?
I presume what you and Will are remembering was this, posted by Tim
Powys-Lybbe on 4 June:
"He is already working on the second edition, so it is likely that the first
edition will not be revised."

Obviously that is not the same as "not being interested in corrections until
he got version 2 out"!

Charles Cawley certainly did say that he would like to be told about errors
in the work, and I have already sent him details of a number of those
pointed out here.

How quickly he will be able to correct errors remains to be seen.

Chris Phillips
Leo van de Pas
2006-06-17 09:05:44 UTC
Permalink
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Phillips" <***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
Post by Roger LeBlanc
Post by Leo van de Pas
Will Johnson is not the only one who remembers this observation.
...
Post by Leo van de Pas
I feel that Christ Phillips was perhaps too positive about this new
source,
Post by Leo van de Pas
and as he does not seem to rember the remark quoted by Will Johnson, I can
only wonder what else has he forgotten?
I presume what you and Will are remembering was this, posted by Tim
"He is already working on the second edition, so it is likely that the first
edition will not be revised."
Obviously that is not the same as "not being interested in corrections until
he got version 2 out"!
On 16 June under the same subject heading the following reference was made:
Tim Powys-Lybbe post of 7 June, as follows:

"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and would
much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of Edition 1
as that would delay him significantly."

Reading this, I can only presume that if he does not want references to
format, he also does not want remarks or comments on the information
displayed, as that would delay him even further. I think Will Johnson and
myself understood this to be the case.

Best wishes
Leo van de Pas
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 09:19:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and would
much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of Edition 1
as that would delay him significantly."
Reading this, I can only presume that if he does not want references to
format, he also does not want remarks or comments on the information
displayed, as that would delay him even further. I think Will Johnson and
myself understood this to be the case.
No, it means what it says - he doesn't want comments about _format_.

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 09:33:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Leo van de Pas
On 16 June under the same subject heading the following reference was
"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and
would
Post by Leo van de Pas
much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of Edition 1
as that would delay him significantly."
Reading this, I can only presume that if he does not want references to
format, he also does not want remarks or comments on the information
displayed, as that would delay him even further. I think Will Johnson and
myself understood this to be the case.
No, it means what it says - he doesn't want comments about _format_.
I had posted to precisely this effect earlier today: I really wonder if you
even read messages before spinning off into defensive mania.

Peter Stewart
Leo van de Pas
2006-06-17 09:41:47 UTC
Permalink
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Phillips" <***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Leo van de Pas
On 16 June under the same subject heading the following reference was
"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2 and
would
Post by Leo van de Pas
much rather not receive comments or requests about the format of Edition 1
as that would delay him significantly."
Reading this, I can only presume that if he does not want references to
format, he also does not want remarks or comments on the information
displayed, as that would delay him even further. I think Will Johnson and
myself understood this to be the case.
No, it means what it says - he doesn't want comments about _format_.
Chris Phillips
I think the emphasis is on not wanting _delay_ whether caused by remarks
about format or content. If he was swamped by the _by now_ numerous
criticism on the content, he would be so much more delayed. And I believe he
wanted to prevent _delay_ whatever the reason.
Leo van de Pas
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 09:49:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leo van de Pas
I think the emphasis is on not wanting _delay_ whether caused by remarks
about format or content. If he was swamped by the _by now_ numerous
criticism on the content, he would be so much more delayed. And I believe he
wanted to prevent _delay_ whatever the reason.
Leo, I was at Charles Cawley's presentation, and I spoke to him afterwards,
and he certainly said that he would like to be notified about errors.

What Tim posted is perfectly clear. It refers only to the format.

But if you want to believe otherwise, that's up to you.

Chris Phillips
Leo van de Pas
2006-06-17 10:06:25 UTC
Permalink
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Phillips" <***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-***@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Leo van de Pas
I think the emphasis is on not wanting _delay_ whether caused by remarks
about format or content. If he was swamped by the _by now_ numerous
criticism on the content, he would be so much more delayed. And I believe
he
Post by Leo van de Pas
wanted to prevent _delay_ whatever the reason.
Leo, I was at Charles Cawley's presentation, and I spoke to him afterwards,
and he certainly said that he would like to be notified about errors.
What Tim posted is perfectly clear. It refers only to the format.
But if you want to believe otherwise, that's up to you.
Chris Phillips
Chris, at the moment he doesn't want to be del.ayed by remarks on
format-----at the moment---surely later he will welcome constructive remarks
about format, and the same applies to corrections-----in my opinion. I do
not blame him one bit that _at the moment_ he does not want to be held back.
And don't forget the remark came from Tim Powys-Lybbe and in the message Tim
made that comment the subject may well have been _format_ not content.
Leo
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 10:18:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leo van de Pas
Chris, at the moment he doesn't want to be del.ayed by remarks on
format-----at the moment---surely later he will welcome constructive remarks
about format, and the same applies to corrections-----in my opinion.
I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall here.

Tim's statement was perfectly clear, and concerned format, not corrections.

I have told you what I heard Charles Cawley say at the AGM - that he wanted
to know about corrections.

What sense does it make for you to keep saying "your opinion" is otherwise?

Chris Phillips
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 10:29:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Stewart
Post by Leo van de Pas
Chris, at the moment he doesn't want to be del.ayed by remarks on
format-----at the moment---surely later he will welcome constructive
remarks
Post by Leo van de Pas
about format, and the same applies to corrections-----in my opinion.
I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall here.
And which is proving to be harder?

Peter Stewart
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 10:43:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by Leo van de Pas
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: Major new online resource: "Medieval Lands"
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Leo van de Pas
I think the emphasis is on not wanting _delay_ whether caused by remarks
about format or content. If he was swamped by the _by now_ numerous
criticism on the content, he would be so much more delayed. And I believe
he
Post by Leo van de Pas
wanted to prevent _delay_ whatever the reason.
Leo, I was at Charles Cawley's presentation, and I spoke to him afterwards,
and he certainly said that he would like to be notified about errors.
What Tim posted is perfectly clear. It refers only to the format.
But if you want to believe otherwise, that's up to you.
Chris Phillips
Chris, at the moment he doesn't want to be del.ayed by remarks on
format-----at the moment---surely later he will welcome constructive
remarks about format, and the same applies to corrections-----in my
opinion. I do not blame him one bit that _at the moment_ he does not want
to be held back. And don't forget the remark came from Tim Powys-Lybbe and
in the message Tim made that comment the subject may well have been
_format_ not content.
The plan is apparently to develop the content in a second edition, but to
change the format: hence there is no point in making criticisms about the
format (that seems quite good to me as it is) because responding will delay
Cawley's "reconstructive" work (to borrow a joke of his) when he is already
aiming to produce a different format anyway, that isn't yet available for
public comment.

Now if Chris Phillips has finished trying occasions with the brick wall, he
might get his head around the matter of ES being the source for what he
claims is Cawley's "discovery" about Judith of Schweinfurt. The truth is
surely now unavoidable even for him: Cawley can only have meant just what I
have been saying all along.

All that has resulted from the Phillips defense is the unintended statement
that Cawley's own idea, NOT mine, is "plain silly", "absolutely absurd" and
"sheer nonsense".

Or are we now going to be told that "wives" really meant "second wife", and
that information given in ES can be readily confused with Annalista Saxo by
someone who has spent four years allegedly poring over primary sources?

Peter Stewart
Tim Powys-Lybbe
2006-06-17 10:42:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Chris Phillips
Post by Leo van de Pas
On 16 June under the same subject heading the following reference
"But the author specifically said that he was working on Edition 2
and would much rather not receive comments or requests about the
format of Edition 1 as that would delay him significantly."
Reading this, I can only presume that if he does not want
references to format, he also does not want remarks or comments on
the information displayed, as that would delay him even further. I
think Will Johnson and myself understood this to be the case.
No, it means what it says - he doesn't want comments about _format_.
Agreed, that is what I (think I) heard Charles Cawley said. I could
not swear he used the work 'format' but it is definitely the meaning he
conveyed. I definitely heard him say he would welcome comments on the
facts.
--
Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          ***@powys.org
             For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org
W***@aol.com
2006-06-16 23:23:40 UTC
Permalink
In a message dated 6/16/06 4:09:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
***@medievalgenealogy.org.uk writes:

<< I think you probably did. Where did you get that impression from? >>

Well would he accept corrections of the sort "This statement is unfounded...
this next statement is also unfounded... this next statement is also
unfounded" :)

Not to be a smart-elec .....
Interesting reading on some of the points I question, are exactly the points
where he doesn't cite any authority and also doesn't enclose the point in
brackets as questionable.

Will Johnson
Peter Stewart
2006-06-17 00:30:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
In a message dated 6/16/06 4:09:17 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
<< I think you probably did. Where did you get that impression from? >>
Well would he accept corrections of the sort "This statement is unfounded...
this next statement is also unfounded... this next statement is also
unfounded" :)
Not to be a smart-elec .....
Interesting reading on some of the points I question, are exactly the points
where he doesn't cite any authority and also doesn't enclose the point in
brackets as questionable.
My memory is that Cawley did not wish to receive comments on the format, as
he is already working on a revision that will change this significantly.

I understood that he is willing to receive corrections.

However, the errors are far too many and deleterious for this to be
worthwhile. The problem is not one of accuracy (as Leo remarked, such a
large volume of work is bound to contain slips) but rather of an incompetent
researcher going about the work with totally inept methodology.

The discussion of Peter Orseolo that Cawley singled out for mention in his
Introduction is a case in point. He has managed to overlook the principal
secondary works that might have steered him in a more purposeful direction
towards the apposite primary sources - and, for an aspiring genealogist,
this means absurdly missing the relevant work of no less than Szabolcs de
Vajay, to say noting of the fundamental work of Albin Gombos.

Cawley has produced a rambling and misleading study of the chronology and
marriages of Peter Orrseolo, adducing mostly the wrong primary sources or
misunderstanding what it told in these, while hitting on a couple that do
give useful points of evidence but missing precisely these details in his
extracts.

This is not an isolated instance - casual, inexperienced and/or gullible
readers often tend to imagine that anything & everything not explicitly
pointed out to them as an error is therefore likely to be correct. I
expected better than this of Chris Phillips. We see today that John Brandon
holds to this theory in his remarks about PA3, but that is of less moment
because John has not tried to present himself as an impartial observer in
this respect.

Peter Stewart
Chris Phillips
2006-06-17 08:39:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by W***@aol.com
Interesting reading on some of the points I question, are exactly the points
where he doesn't cite any authority and also doesn't enclose the point in
brackets as questionable.
Well, what he said was that this might be the case in the sections he
regards as less adequately documented.

Unfortunately it is still the case in some other places too (such as the
problematic death date for Cissa son of Ælle, pointed out by paulvheath
yesterday - which apparently comes from an extremely late primary source).

Chris Phillips
J***@aol.com
2006-06-17 02:22:50 UTC
Permalink
Dear Peter,
Nice to hear from You again. I have visited the Medieval
Lands site a few times and have especially noted the following :
Under Anglo Saxons
(sub) Kent, Cawley intimates that Emma (or as he says Ermetrude or
Ermenhildis) was almost certainly the daughter of King Clotaire II of the Franks
because 1) Eadbald`s son Eorconbert has a non Saxon element to it and 2) because
that King named one of his sons Hlothere (persumedly a corruption of Clotaire,
and it does make an onomastic sense, but proof is rather sadly lacking)
Under Anglo Saxons (sub Wessex) Cawley posits that Ecgbert being a Kentish
name and none of the other Saxon Kingdoms seemed to have used it before the
time of Alfred, that Ecgbert`s father Ealhmund was a Oiscing rather than a member
of the house of Wessex by birth, being son not of Prince Eafa of Wessex, by a
daughter of King Wihtred of Kent (his fall- back position) but instead of his
predecessor King Ecgbert II of Kent.

Under Scotland , He indicates that King Malcolm II mac Kenneth of the Scots
was married to a daughter of someone from Ossory (one of the principal Irish
Kingdoms). I think this is the first time I have seen anyone attempt to
identify this lady.

Sincerely,

James W Cummings

Dixmont, Maine USA
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