An anticyclone (opposite to a cyclone) is an atmospheric system in which there is a descending movement of the air and a relative increase in barometric pressure over the part of the earth's surface affected by it. At the surface the air tends to flow outwards in all directions from the central area of high pressure, and is deflected on account of the earth's rotation so as to give a clockwise, spiral movement in the northern hemisphere, and a counter-clockwise, spiral movement in the southern hemisphere. Since the air in an anticyclone is descending, it becomes warmed and dried, and therefore transmits radiation freely whether from the sun to the earth or from the earth into space. Hence in winter anticylonic weather is characterized by clear air with periods of frost, causing fogs in towns and low-lying damp areas, and in summer by still, cloudless days with gentle variable airs and fine weather (EB 124).
A dynasty in the medieval kingdom of the Franks, which produced mayors of the palace (613-751), kings (751-987), and emperors (800-911); it is named for Charlemagne. The origin of this dynasty, which is variously called Arnulfings, Pippinids, or Carolingians, was in the marriage of Begga, daughter of Pepin of Landed, the Austrasian mayor of the palace, to Ansegis, son of Arnulf, later bishop of Metz. Pepin's son Grimoald attempted prematurely to replace the ineffectual but sacrosanct Merovingian king with his own son but both were murdered in 661. Then Begga and Ansegis' son, Pepin II of Heristal (mayor 680-714), revived the family's prestige and Pepin governed the kingdom as mayor of the palace while carefully retaining the "do-nothing" kings. Only his illegitimate son Charles Martel (714-41) survived him, but Charles succeeded in his 5-year struggle to win recognition as his father's heir. Charles' consolidation of the Frankish kingdom contributed to Carolingian greatness. He supported missionary efforts abroad as a means of unifying this extensive kingdom, although he secularized Church property at home to support his followers. His victory against the Moslems at Poitiers (Tours) in 732 checked their advance in the West. His sons, Carloman and Pepin III (741-68), continued to support the Church's missionary work and permitted St. Boniface to reform the Church in Gaul itself. . . . Carloman retired to a monastery in Italy (747) and Pepin seized his lands, uniting all under his rule. Deciding that the time was ripe to replace the effete Merovingian dynasty, Pepin gained the support of Pope Zachary for his finally assuming the name of king (751) to match the regnal power he had long exercised. (NCE 139-40). NOTE: If you scroll to the end of the LEXICON, you can get more information on the later history of the Carolingian empire.
A compass is a device for determining horizontal directions. Compasses are used to determine the direction in which a vessel, aircraft, or land vehicle is traveling; the direction in which a person is walking; or the direction or situation of one object with respect to another (CE 104). It is not known where or when it was discovered that the lodestone (a mineral composed of an iron oxide) aligns itself in a north-south direction, as will a piece of iron that has been magnetized by contact with a lodestone. Neither is it known where or when marine navigators first availed themselves of these discoveries. Plausible records indicate that the Chinese were using the magnetic compass around AD 1100, western Europeans by 1187, Arabs by 1220, and Scandinavians by 1300. The device could have originated in each of these groups, or it could have been passed from one to the others. All of them had been making long voyages, relying on steady winds to guide them and sightings of the Sun or a familiar star to inform them of any change. When the magnetic compass was introduced, it probably was used merely to check the direction of the wind when clouds obscured the sky. The first mariner's compass may have consisted of a magnetized needle attached to a wooden splinter or a reed floating on water in a bowl. In a later version the needle was pivoted on a pin fixed to the bottom of the bowl. By the 13th century a card bearing a painted wind rose (see description below in this LEXICON) was mounted on the needle; the navigator could then simply read his heading from the card.
The curragh was a skin boat with wickerwork filling the spaces between the heavy wooden ribs. Hides were stretched over the hull to make it watertight. The stern was drawn up a bit more sharply than the bow. Curraghs are usually associated with the Irish coast and apparently were in common use there and along the Atlantic coast throughout the Middle Ages. Curraghs could reach twelve meters in length and could carry a sail, though they were often rowed. The relatively long and rounded hull allowed the curragh to bob like a cork in the water and to bend and twist, riding on top of the waves so it could survive in the open ocean (DMA 239).
Dialect conventionally designates the sum of linguistic peculiarities proper to a given region. Dialectal boundaries cannot be absolute, since any linguistic feature may overlap across the frontiers that have been arbitrarily imposed by the linguist. Nevertheless, the notion that a set of regional peculiarities effectively constitutes a linguistic entity was a medieval as well as a modern one. Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence (late twelfth century) claimed his dialect was "good" because he was born in the Ile-de-France and a century later Jean de Meun apologized for his dialect because he was not born in that region. Politics, not literary expressivity, was ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a dialect. Thus the Francien dialect mentioned in the examples above triumphed over more productive literary dialects like Provencal or Picard because of the strength of the centralized monarchy in Paris. Indeed, Francien finally became the accepted standard for all of France, at least in bureaucratic matters (DMA 168).
Until 1066 the history of the British Isles was dominated by the political, institutional, religious, and cultural achievements of the Anglo-Saxon state. After the middle of the tenth century this state stretched north from the English Channel to the southern border of the kingdom of Scotland, which ran southwest from the Tweed to the Irish Sea, and west to that squarish peninsula known as Wales, which was never incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon kingdom but was held by a number of Welsh chiefs descended from the Celts. Also outside the Anglo-Saxon orbit was Ireland, the eastern part of which, however, had succumbed to bands of Norwegians after 850. In 1066 the long period of Anglo-Saxon ascendancy was terminated by a political regime that wrought change so fundamental historians have considered this year a major watershed in the history of England. It was then that the Normans crossed the English Channel to conquer Anglo-Saxon England and to build what soon became the most remarkable political structure of western Europe. The Normans ruled England from 1066 to 1154, and their descendants, the Angevins, from 1154 to 1216. These two exceptionally able dynasties laid the foundation for political and legal institutions, unique in western Europe, that with modification still function today. After 1066, England became part of a complex of lands encompassing much of northwest France that has sometimes been called the Angevin Empire. (DMA 460-1).
On early compass cards the north point was emphasized by a broad spearhead and the letter ~T~ for tramontana, the name given to the north wind. About 1490 a combination of these evolved into the fleur-de-lis, still almost universally used. The east point, pointing toward the Holy Land, was marked with a cross; the ornament into which this cross was developed continued on British compass cards well into the 19th century. The use of 32 points by sailors of northern Europe, usually attributed to Flemish compass makers, is mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer in his _Treatise on the Astrolabe_ (written in 1391). It also has been said that the navigators of Amalfi, Italy, first expanded the number of compass points to 32, and they may have been the first to attach the card to the needle (BM 751).
The rudder is that part of the steering apparatus of a ship which is fastened to the stern outside, and on which the water acts directly. The word is often used as if it were synonymous with "helm," but the helm is the handle by which the rudder is worked. The tiller, which is perhaps derived from a provincial English name for the handle of a spade, has the same meaning as the helm. In the earliest times a single oar, at the stern, was used to steer the vessel. Later, oars with large blades were fixed on the sides near the stern. In Greek and Roman vessels two sets were sometimes employed so that if the pitching of the ship lifted the after pair out of the water, the foremost pair could still act. As these ancient ships were, at least in some cases, sharp at both ends and could sail either way, steer oars were fixed both fore and aft. The steer oar in this form passed through a ring on the side and was supported on a crutch, and was turned by a helm, or tiller. Norse and medieval vessels had, as far as we can judge, one steer oar only placed on the right side near the stern - hence the name "starboard," i.e.,: steerside, for the right side of the ship looking forward. In the case of small vessels the steer oar possesses an advantage over the rudder, for it can bring the stern round quickly. Therefore it is still used in whaling boats and rowing boats which have to work against wind and tide, and in surf when the rudder will not act. It is not possible to assign any date for the displacement of the side rudder by the stern rudder. They were certainly used together, and the second displaced the first in the course of the 14th century when experience had shown that the rudder was more effective at the stern than at the side. (Encyclopedia Britannica 814).
In a navigational sense, a ton is a unit of internal capacity for ships equal to 100 cubic feet. Tonnage capacity, then, is figured in terms of the total number of tons registered or carried or the sum of their carrying capacity. Instead of being figured in terms of weight, it is figured in terms of area (Webster's Third New International Dictionary).
A storm or wind from the west (American Heritage Dictionary 1373). When air reaches the western extreme of a high, it turns poleward and then eventually returns eastward in the middle latitudes. The poleward-moving air is now warm, moist maritime tropical air, and it gives rise to the warm, humid, showery climate characteristic of the Caribbean region, eastern South America, and the western Pacific island chains. The westerlies are associated with the changeable weather common to the middle latitudes. Migrating extratropical cyclones and anticyclones (see definition in this LEXICON) associated with contrasting warm, moist air moving poleward from the tropics and cold, dry air moving toward the pole from polar latitudes yield periods of rain, sometimes with violent thunderstorms, snow, sleet, or freezing rain interrupted by periods of dry, sunny, and sometimes bitterly cold conditions. Furthermore, these patterns are seasonally dependent, with more intense cyclones and colder air prevailing in winter but with a higher incidence of thunderstorms common in spring and summer. In addition, these migrations and the associated climate are complicated by the presence of landmasses and major mountain features, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere (Britannica Macropaedia 460).
(See also the discussion of the Compass and Points of the compass in this LEXICON)
The addition of a compass card bearing the rose of the winds is attributed to Flavio di Gioia of Amalfi about 1302. Before the addition of the compass card, medieval compasses generally had a meridian line and the four cardinal points marked on the base of the compass box. The ~stella maris~, which became the standard form of decoration of the compass rose, first appeared in an illustration of a poem by either Gregorio or Leonardo Dati in the late fourteenth century. Early compass cards were divided into equal sectors of eight, sixteen, or thirty-two points, with the north point originally identified by a special device such as a dart, trident, triangle, or star. The fleur-de-lis became the common symbol for the north point from about 1500. The east point was originally indicated with a cross to signify the direction of the Holy Land, while the remaining six points were indicated by the first letters of the Frankish or Italian names for the appropriate winds. The rhumbs were customarily painted in black, though blue and gold were sometimes used in alternating order. A wind rose of twelve winds was known to have been used by the Greeks in antiquity, and by about the fourteenth century one of sixteen points was in use among Frankish navigators; later a transition to a wind rose of eight points with subdivisions into sixteen and thirty-two points occurred. The application of the wind rose to the marine compass had an important effect on sea travel because it enabled the mariner to know the direction of his course and to delineate with greater accuracy the coastal outlines of routes traveled. It led directly to the development of loxodromic sailing charts for use in the Mediterranean by the early fourteenth century. Direct routes were indicated by the directions of the winds, the lines emanating from a center that formed the ~rosa ventorum~ (rose of the winds). (DMA 506-7).
Further information on Carolingian Empire (from entry above)
Charlemagne's efforts to consolidate and expand his kingdom required almost incessant warfare; fortified border provinces were set up forming the east mark, the Spanish march, and Denmark. He finally conquered the Lombards (773-74) and, far from donating the conquered territory to the Pope, assumed the title King of Italy, to the dismay of Pope Adrian I. He gradually conquered the pagan Frisians, but his struggle to subdue and convert the Saxons required 20 campaigns (772-803) and was marred by his policy of forced conversions and harsh legislation, which Alcuin and others criticized and finally caused Charles to modify. His support of the calumniated Pope Leo III was followed by his coronation as emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day, 800, certainly the high point in the fortunes of the Carolingian dynasty. His administration through ~missi dominici~, usually clerics, and his legislation, economic and ecclesiastical, through capitularies were positive achievements. He was survived by only one son, Louis I, the Pious (814-40), who seems to have glimpsed the advantages of undivided succession. Accordingly, Louis made his eldest son, Lothair I, emperor with some authority over both Louis the German and Charles II the Bald. Their furious resentment at these plans manifested itself even during Louis' lifetime and continued after his death in the civil wars that hastened the dismemberment of the Carolingian empire and caused its prostration before the Viking inroads. Six kingdoms were formed by the break-up of Charlemagne's empire: France, Germany, Lorraine, Italy, Burgundy, and Provence. All were ruled by Carolingian dynasties until the 10th century. The last Carolingian to rule in Germany was Louis the Child (d. 911); in France, Carolingians alternated with the Counts of Paris (Robertians, later Capetians) until the accession of the latter family in the person of Hugh Capet in 987. Meanwhile the imperial title after the deposition of Charles the Fat (887) went begging among minor Carolingians until 911, becoming less and less meaningful.
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