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Additions to Silk Road

Islamic era (8th–13th centuries)[edit]

Further information: History of Islamic economics The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.

A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara

By the Umayyad era, Damascus had overtaken Ctesiphon as a major trade center until the Abbasid dynasty built the city of Baghdad, which became the most important city along the silk road.

At the end of its glory, the routes brought about the largest continental empire ever, the Mongol Empire, with its political centres strung along the Silk Road (Beijing in North China, Karakorum in central Mongolia, Sarmakhand in Transoxiana, Tabriz in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.^{[citation needed]}

The Islamic world expanded into Central Asia during the 8th century, under the Umayyad Caliphate, while its successor the Abbasid Caliphate put a halt to Chinese westward expansion at the Battle of Talas in 751 (near the Talas River in modern-day Kyrgyzstan). However, following the disastrous An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the conquest of the Western Regions by the Tibetan Empire, the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia. Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point. In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander Zhang Yichao, were only able to reclaim the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu from the Tibetans. The Persian Samanid Empire (819–999) centered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) continued the trade legacy of the Sogdians. The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic Kara-Khanid Khanate, yet Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Buddhism in Central Asia virtually disappeared.

During the early 13th century Khwarezmia was invaded by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler Genghis Khan had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and Samarkand burned to the ground after besieging them. However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new Timurid Empire. The Turko-Mongol ruler Timur forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural entrepôts of the Islamic world.

Judaism on the Silk Road

Adherents to the Jewish faith first began to travel eastward from Mesopotamia following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 559 by the armies of Cyrus the Great. Judean slaves freed after the Persian conquest of Babylon dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. Some Judeans could have traveled as far east as Bactria and Sogdia, though there is not clear evidence for this early settlement of Judeans. After settlement, it is likely that most Judeans took up trades in commerce. Trading along the silk trade networks by Judean merchants increased as the trade networks expanded. By the classical age, when trade goods traveled from as far east as China to as far west as Rome, Judean merchants in central Asia would have been in an advantageous position to participate in trade along the Silk Road.

Additions to and Bibliography for Medieval ships

This article consists of very small bits of information for different ship types from the middle ages. what I intend to do is to add more information for sailing ships specifically. I also aim to add more much needed in-line citations.

Bibliography

Flatman, Joe. Ships & Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts. London: The British Library, 2009.

McGrail, Sean. Boats of the World from the stone Age to Medieval Times. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.beloit.edu/lib/beloit-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1223136&query=.

Notes for article

Ships & Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts

It is not possible to accurately date the emergence of the hulk because no wreck has ever been found. The only evidence we have is from manuscripts and other iconography. We can say that hulks were used in the High Middle Ages (between eighth and fifteenth centuries). Hulks are characterized by a reverse-clinker planking vessels that have a castle at either end of the ship, a single mast amidship with a square sail, and a rudder. Hulks share some of these features with some viking ships. Hulks served as cargo vessels, military warships, and ceremonial vessels.

The German Hansa

Hulk appeared in the Hansa around the fourteenth century. It served as a new, larger cargo vessel that could carry 300 tons of cargo. It replaced the cog. It is characterized as being wider than the cog and having a flat bottom. Hulks increased in size as time went on.

Boats of the World from the stone Age to Medieval Times

Iconography depicting hulk-like vessels date back to around the ninth century. The hulk is built using reverse-clinker planking. It has two castles at both the bow and stern and a single mast at amidship. The ship is depicted with a rounded hull shape, though this may just be done for artistic purposes. A recorded increase in taxes levied on hulks in England point to hulks carrying more cargo, which means that there was an increase in the size of hulks.

"Warships and Cargo Ships in Medieval Europe"

The hulk emerged in the lowlands as a river craft and were adopted by the Hanseatic League around the fourteenth century.

Definition of reverse-clinker planking

starting clinker planking at the sheer strake and planking down to the keel

Drafting for: Hulk (medieval ship type)

A hulc (or "hulk") was a type of medieval sea craft, a technological predecessor of the carrack and caravel. The hulk appears to have remained a relatively minor type of ship apparently peculiar to the low countries of Europe where it was probably used primarily as a river or canal boat, with limited potential for coastal cruising

Original Article

The name hulk may come from the Greek word holkas, meaning a towed boat, which would be consistent with the use of the hulk as a river barge. The word hulk also has a medieval meaning of "hollowed-out" or "husk-like" which is also apposite for the shape of the basic hulk. In the fourteenth century the hulk began to develop until it was able to rival the cog as a major load carrier in the medieval economy. Whether this was a consequence of a perception of the cog's shortcomings or a result of a shift in the economic geography of Northern Europe towards the Dutch low countries is not easy to discern. By the 15th century, the hulk was replaced by the caravel.

The weakest part of an enlarged hulk would be its stem and stern. Since it has no proper keel or substantial stem or stern posts those parts of the boat would have to be reinforced by the introduction of substantial aprons and breasthooks, perhaps augmented by sacrificial stem and stern posts between which the unsupported hull planking could be sandwiched. Early hulks, like all of the other northern boat types, were initially shell-built using lapstrake or clinker planking which was subsequently reinforced by the insertion of grown crooks of timber as frames. Using these techniques, perhaps better understood as a result of technological transfers from architectural woodworking, shipwrights were able to extend the hulk in size until it rivaled and surpassed the cog.

Hulc (Medieval Ship Type)

Design and Function

The hulc was a sailing ship that ended the dominance of the cog in Northern Europe. Hulcs were depected with a single mast at the amidship that was commonly depicted with a square sail. The hull was constructed using reverse-clinker planking which involves starting clinker planking at the sheer strake and planking down to the keel. This is the earliest form of reverse-clinker planking in Europe. Hulcs had a flattened bottom. A hulc had two castles, one at the bow and one at the stern. Hulcs went through two forms of rudder design. Earlier depictions showed hulcs with a starboard quarter-rudder, while later depictions had median rudders. The overall design of the hulc appears to borrow or build off of earlier shipbuilding traditions. The single mast with a square sail and the use of a quarter rudder appear to be borrowed from viking vessels while the shape of the keel is similar to that of cogs.

Because of their widespread use by the Hanseatic League and English documents regarding trade, it is accepted by scholars that the hulc was predominantly a cargo vessel. It is also possible that hulcs served as warships. The use of the median rudder as well as oars as depicted in some illuminated manuscripts would make the hulc more maneuverable than the cog, and the larger vessel could provide a better platform for fighting.

History

It is not clear when the hulc first appeared in medieval Europe. There is a lack of archaeological evidence because no wreck has been found. The only solid evedince of hulcs come from iconography of ships scholars believe to be hulcs and medieval documentation of trade and regulations. It is commonlly accepted by scholars that the hulc originated in the European low countries as river vessels. It is worth noting, however, that a conclusive origin point for the hulc is not known. References to hulcs in Aethelred II's legal code from England date from 1000 C.E. Hulcs had fewer taxes levied on them than keels and cogs with the tax tied to the amount of goods. By the fourteenth century, English regulations imposed greater taxes on hulcs than other vessels meaning that they were carrying more cargo than other vessels. This points to an increase in the hull size of hulcs. It was by the fourteenth century that the Hanseatic League had adopted the hulc as their main vessel, capable of rivaling the cog's carrying capacity.

Depictions of Hulcs from Medieval Europe

• Town seal of New Shoreham (1295) - a seal that depicts a ship resembling a hulc with a single centered mast, two castles on either end, and reverse-clinker planking.
• John of Worcester's Chronicle (completed prior to his death in 1140)
• Life of St. Thomas of Canterbury (1240)
• Holkhan Bible Picture Book (c. 1327-35)
• John Lydgate's Life of Saints Edmund and Fremund (c. 1443-1444)
• Seal of the Admiralty Court of Bristol (1446)