principiu mai funcţiona încă în secolul al VI-lea (Velkov, 1987, 147). De când Arnold H. M. Jones... more principiu mai funcţiona încă în secolul al VI-lea (Velkov, 1987, 147). De când Arnold H. M. Jones a interpretat quaestura exercitus ca fiind o reformă administrativă menită a asigura aprovizionarea cu alimente a trupelor de la graniţa dunăreană a imperiului, mulţi învăţaţi au insistat asupra atribuţiilor fiscale ale quaestor-ului. El era răspunzător pentru annona ce trebuia distribuită armatei din Moesia Secunda și din Scythia Minor (Jones, 1964, 280; Torbatov, 1998; Gkoutzioukostas, Moniaros, 2009). De altfel, sigiliile de plumb ce au fost descoperite în Peninsula Balcanică scot la lumină comunicaţii mai mult sau mai puţin regulate dintre cele două provincii ce erau incluse în quaestura exercitus și guvernul central. Nu mai puţin de 15 sigilii imperiale, dintre care 12 de la Iustinian, arată că funcţionarii din Scythia Minor primeau destul de frecvent scrisori și ordine scrise de la împărat (Gkoutzioukostas et al., 2023, 180-181). Materialul arheologic confirmă aceste concluzii. Potrivit izvoarelor papirologice din Egipt, raţia zilnică pentru un soldat era de trei livre de pâine, două livre de carne, doi sextarii de vin și un sfert de sextarius de ulei de măsline (Böttger, 1990, 926). Cel puţin două dintre aceste alimente erau mărfuri transportate de obicei în amfore. Amforele din secolul al VI-lea sunt de două tipuri principale: burduf și alungit. Cel dintâi tip este reprezentat cu precădere de amforele Late Roman 2, care erau produse în bazinul egeean și transportau fie vin (așa cum arată seminţele de struguri găsite pe fundul amforelor de la bordul epavei de la Yassı Ada; Van Doorninck, 1989, 252) sau ulei de măsline (Hautumm, 1981, 48). Astfel de amfore sunt frecvent întâlnite în Grecia în secolul al VI-lea, la Argos, bunăoară, dar și în cetăţile de la Dunăre, precum și în regiunea centrală a
This book explores the uncharted territory of the history of archaeology under Communism through ... more This book explores the uncharted territory of the history of archaeology under Communism through the biographies of five women archaeologists from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland. They were all working in medieval archaeology, with a specific focus on the (early) Slavs. The choice of specialists in medieval archaeology has much to do with the fact that in the five East European countries considered in this book, medieval archaeology began to develop into a serious discipline less than a century ago. The main catalyst for the sudden rise of medieval archaeology was a dramatic shift in emphasis from traditional political and constitutional to social and economic history. In all five countries, the rise of medieval archaeology thus coincides in time, and was ultimately caused by the imposition of Communist regimes. The five women were therefore true pioneers in their field, and respective countries.
The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300 is the fir... more The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300 is the first of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of the whole of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.
While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology, and historiography. This vast region represents more than two thirds of the European continent, but its history in general – and its medieval history in particular – is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade, and the experiences of women and children.
Much has been written in recent years about the continuity between Antiquity and the Middle Ages.... more Much has been written in recent years about the continuity between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Few are those who would now challenge the model of the “transformation of the Roman world” established in the 1990s through a 5-year research program generously funded by the European Science Foundation. There has so far been no attempt to test the model on the eastern part of the European continent, not even on the Balkans, a region which is conspicuously absent from Chris Wickham’s book on Europe and the Mediterranean between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. This book tests the model, but goes much farther than that. From an economic and social point of view, the “long sixth century” is a crucial period in the history of Eastern Europe. However, the evidence pertaining to that history is primarily archaeological, as beyond the Balkans and the neighboring territories to the north of the river Danube, much of Eastern Europe was not on the radar of the written sources pertaining to the 6th and 7th centuries. As a consequence, there have been no attempts to write an economic and social history of this region of the continent, since few historians inclined to do so could keep up with the rapidly accumulating evidence, and equally changing interpretations of the archaeological material. While based on an in-depth analysis of the archaeological data, combined, where possible, with the written sources, the picture in this book is different from both the standard Marxist interpretation, which was the rule in most countries in Eastern Europe until 1989, and the neo-Marxist model of analysis offered by Chris Wickham for Europe and the Mediterranean between ca. 400 and ca. 800.
Slavs in the Making takes a fresh look at archaeological evidence from parts of Slavic-speaking E... more Slavs in the Making takes a fresh look at archaeological evidence from parts of Slavic-speaking Europe north of the Lower Danube, including the present-day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
Nothing is known about what the inhabitants of those remote lands called themselves during the sixth century, or whether they spoke a Slavic language. The book engages critically with the archaeological evidence from these regions, and questions its association with the "Slavs" that has often been taken for granted. It also deals with the linguistic evidence—primarily names of rivers and other bodies of water—that has been used to identify the primordial homeland of the Slavs, and from which their migration towards the Lower Danube is believed to have started. It is precisely in this area that sociolinguistics can offer a serious alternative to the language tree model currently favoured in linguistic paleontology. The question of how best to explain the spread of Slavic remains a controversial issue. This book attempts to provide an answer, and not just a critique of the method of linguistic paleontology upon which the theory of the Slavic migration and homeland relies.
The book proposes a model of interpretation that builds upon the idea that (Common) Slavic cannot possibly be the result of Slavic migration. It addresses the question of migration in the archaeology of early medieval Eastern Europe, and makes a strong case for a more nuanced interpretation of the archaeological evidence of mobility. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in medieval history, migration, and the history of Eastern and Central Europe.
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era. Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
The Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages is a fundame... more The Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages is a fundamental source of information for the study of the history and archaeology of medieval East Central and Eastern Europe, an area of great interference and symbiosis of influences from Scandinavia, Western Europe, the steppe lands of Eurasia, as well as Byzantium. The bibliography provides comprehensive coverage of all publications, in all languages, pertaining to this vast area of the European continent and its impact on European history from about 500 to the aftermath of the Mongol invasion of 1241. The bibliography aims to encourage further research, but also to provide guidance through an enormous amount of information available in a variety of languages and a great multitude of publications. It offers search capabilities which are particularly useful for very narrowly defined research goals, thus encouraging comparative work with materials from other parts of Europe.
This book examines the remarkable Velestino hoard, found in Thessaly in the 1920s, and analyses t... more This book examines the remarkable Velestino hoard, found in Thessaly in the 1920s, and analyses the light that this collection of artifacts sheds on a poorly studied period of Byzantine history, and on largely neglected aspects of Byzantine civilization. Many collections of Byzantine gold- and silverware, such as Vrap and Seuso, have been surrounded by controversy. None, however, has been under more suspicion than the Velestino hoard, particularly with regards to its authenticity. The hoard contains no gold and no silver, and is in fact a collection of bronze and leaden plaques, some with human, and others with animal or geometric representations. The authors examine three distinct aspects of the hoard: the iconography of its components, the method of its production, and the function of those components. The conclusions that they reached provide valuable new insights into eighth-century Byzantine culture. The book explores the Byzantine cultural and political context of the Velestino hoard and will appeal to historians and art historians of early Byzantium, as well as archaeologists and historians of early medieval technologies.
principiu mai funcţiona încă în secolul al VI-lea (Velkov, 1987, 147). De când Arnold H. M. Jones... more principiu mai funcţiona încă în secolul al VI-lea (Velkov, 1987, 147). De când Arnold H. M. Jones a interpretat quaestura exercitus ca fiind o reformă administrativă menită a asigura aprovizionarea cu alimente a trupelor de la graniţa dunăreană a imperiului, mulţi învăţaţi au insistat asupra atribuţiilor fiscale ale quaestor-ului. El era răspunzător pentru annona ce trebuia distribuită armatei din Moesia Secunda și din Scythia Minor (Jones, 1964, 280; Torbatov, 1998; Gkoutzioukostas, Moniaros, 2009). De altfel, sigiliile de plumb ce au fost descoperite în Peninsula Balcanică scot la lumină comunicaţii mai mult sau mai puţin regulate dintre cele două provincii ce erau incluse în quaestura exercitus și guvernul central. Nu mai puţin de 15 sigilii imperiale, dintre care 12 de la Iustinian, arată că funcţionarii din Scythia Minor primeau destul de frecvent scrisori și ordine scrise de la împărat (Gkoutzioukostas et al., 2023, 180-181). Materialul arheologic confirmă aceste concluzii. Potrivit izvoarelor papirologice din Egipt, raţia zilnică pentru un soldat era de trei livre de pâine, două livre de carne, doi sextarii de vin și un sfert de sextarius de ulei de măsline (Böttger, 1990, 926). Cel puţin două dintre aceste alimente erau mărfuri transportate de obicei în amfore. Amforele din secolul al VI-lea sunt de două tipuri principale: burduf și alungit. Cel dintâi tip este reprezentat cu precădere de amforele Late Roman 2, care erau produse în bazinul egeean și transportau fie vin (așa cum arată seminţele de struguri găsite pe fundul amforelor de la bordul epavei de la Yassı Ada; Van Doorninck, 1989, 252) sau ulei de măsline (Hautumm, 1981, 48). Astfel de amfore sunt frecvent întâlnite în Grecia în secolul al VI-lea, la Argos, bunăoară, dar și în cetăţile de la Dunăre, precum și în regiunea centrală a
This book explores the uncharted territory of the history of archaeology under Communism through ... more This book explores the uncharted territory of the history of archaeology under Communism through the biographies of five women archaeologists from the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland. They were all working in medieval archaeology, with a specific focus on the (early) Slavs. The choice of specialists in medieval archaeology has much to do with the fact that in the five East European countries considered in this book, medieval archaeology began to develop into a serious discipline less than a century ago. The main catalyst for the sudden rise of medieval archaeology was a dramatic shift in emphasis from traditional political and constitutional to social and economic history. In all five countries, the rise of medieval archaeology thus coincides in time, and was ultimately caused by the imposition of Communist regimes. The five women were therefore true pioneers in their field, and respective countries.
The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300 is the fir... more The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300 is the first of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of the whole of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.
While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology, and historiography. This vast region represents more than two thirds of the European continent, but its history in general – and its medieval history in particular – is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade, and the experiences of women and children.
Much has been written in recent years about the continuity between Antiquity and the Middle Ages.... more Much has been written in recent years about the continuity between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Few are those who would now challenge the model of the “transformation of the Roman world” established in the 1990s through a 5-year research program generously funded by the European Science Foundation. There has so far been no attempt to test the model on the eastern part of the European continent, not even on the Balkans, a region which is conspicuously absent from Chris Wickham’s book on Europe and the Mediterranean between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. This book tests the model, but goes much farther than that. From an economic and social point of view, the “long sixth century” is a crucial period in the history of Eastern Europe. However, the evidence pertaining to that history is primarily archaeological, as beyond the Balkans and the neighboring territories to the north of the river Danube, much of Eastern Europe was not on the radar of the written sources pertaining to the 6th and 7th centuries. As a consequence, there have been no attempts to write an economic and social history of this region of the continent, since few historians inclined to do so could keep up with the rapidly accumulating evidence, and equally changing interpretations of the archaeological material. While based on an in-depth analysis of the archaeological data, combined, where possible, with the written sources, the picture in this book is different from both the standard Marxist interpretation, which was the rule in most countries in Eastern Europe until 1989, and the neo-Marxist model of analysis offered by Chris Wickham for Europe and the Mediterranean between ca. 400 and ca. 800.
Slavs in the Making takes a fresh look at archaeological evidence from parts of Slavic-speaking E... more Slavs in the Making takes a fresh look at archaeological evidence from parts of Slavic-speaking Europe north of the Lower Danube, including the present-day territories of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia.
Nothing is known about what the inhabitants of those remote lands called themselves during the sixth century, or whether they spoke a Slavic language. The book engages critically with the archaeological evidence from these regions, and questions its association with the "Slavs" that has often been taken for granted. It also deals with the linguistic evidence—primarily names of rivers and other bodies of water—that has been used to identify the primordial homeland of the Slavs, and from which their migration towards the Lower Danube is believed to have started. It is precisely in this area that sociolinguistics can offer a serious alternative to the language tree model currently favoured in linguistic paleontology. The question of how best to explain the spread of Slavic remains a controversial issue. This book attempts to provide an answer, and not just a critique of the method of linguistic paleontology upon which the theory of the Slavic migration and homeland relies.
The book proposes a model of interpretation that builds upon the idea that (Common) Slavic cannot possibly be the result of Slavic migration. It addresses the question of migration in the archaeology of early medieval Eastern Europe, and makes a strong case for a more nuanced interpretation of the archaeological evidence of mobility. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in medieval history, migration, and the history of Eastern and Central Europe.
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era. Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
The Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages is a fundame... more The Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages is a fundamental source of information for the study of the history and archaeology of medieval East Central and Eastern Europe, an area of great interference and symbiosis of influences from Scandinavia, Western Europe, the steppe lands of Eurasia, as well as Byzantium. The bibliography provides comprehensive coverage of all publications, in all languages, pertaining to this vast area of the European continent and its impact on European history from about 500 to the aftermath of the Mongol invasion of 1241. The bibliography aims to encourage further research, but also to provide guidance through an enormous amount of information available in a variety of languages and a great multitude of publications. It offers search capabilities which are particularly useful for very narrowly defined research goals, thus encouraging comparative work with materials from other parts of Europe.
This book examines the remarkable Velestino hoard, found in Thessaly in the 1920s, and analyses t... more This book examines the remarkable Velestino hoard, found in Thessaly in the 1920s, and analyses the light that this collection of artifacts sheds on a poorly studied period of Byzantine history, and on largely neglected aspects of Byzantine civilization. Many collections of Byzantine gold- and silverware, such as Vrap and Seuso, have been surrounded by controversy. None, however, has been under more suspicion than the Velestino hoard, particularly with regards to its authenticity. The hoard contains no gold and no silver, and is in fact a collection of bronze and leaden plaques, some with human, and others with animal or geometric representations. The authors examine three distinct aspects of the hoard: the iconography of its components, the method of its production, and the function of those components. The conclusions that they reached provide valuable new insights into eighth-century Byzantine culture. The book explores the Byzantine cultural and political context of the Velestino hoard and will appeal to historians and art historians of early Byzantium, as well as archaeologists and historians of early medieval technologies.
Far from being an illustration of the struggle for freedom in the 14th
century, the earliest acco... more Far from being an illustration of the struggle for freedom in the 14th century, the earliest accounts of the military events taking place in Wallachia in 1330 to be found in the supplement to the chronicle of Peter of Dusburg and in its translation by Nicolaus of Jeroschin highlight an unusual chain of communication between the Ordensland in Prussia and the Kingdom of Hungary, which predates the coronation of the Hungarian king Louis I as king of Poland by a few decades. The news about the defeat suffered by Louis’s father, Charles I, at the hands of the Vlachs may have reached Prussia through aristocratic, if not royal mediation, which explains such details as the name of the Hungarian captain to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in a vision.
On the other hand, the received news were recast in a version that put to good work some of the main themes in the current-event reports at that time. Particularly important in that respect is the attempt to explain the defeat as resulting from tactics used by unworthy combatants–peasants–who preferred an ambush in a narrow place to a pitched battle in a field. The trope of the angry and armed peasants was one more time adapted to a moral story, for the one defeated in Wallachia was the enemy of the Teutonic Knights.
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Late Antique Art and Archaeology, 2025
early ninth century. In Eastern Europe, it is also possible to study the relations the Empire est... more early ninth century. In Eastern Europe, it is also possible to study the relations the Empire established not only with its agriculturist neighbours (such as the Goths), but also with its pastoralist and 'nomadic' ones (such as the Cutrigurs) (Figs 43.1 and 43.2). Jordanes' Getica contains the quintessential account of a migration across Scythia. The Goths, who hailed from Scandza, crossed the sea and moved across Scythia until reaching the shores of the Black Sea. Taking this account at face value, generations of archaeologists have identified the Gothic migration with one of two (or both) archaeological cultures in Eastern Europe -Wielbark in northern Poland and (Sântana de Mureș-)Černjachov in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. While the former started in the mid first century ce in Pomerania before moving to the south and south-east during the second and third centuries, when it reached Ukraine, Černjachov emerged in the third century and reached its peak around 300. By that time, the Goths appear to have been the dominant ethnic group in a large area of Eastern Europe stretching from the Danube to the Don rivers. Within this vast area, there may have been between six and ten political units, only two of which -the Tervingi and the Greutungi -appear in the sources. The Passion of St Saba, for example, written shortly after 373, offers inestimable details about the Tervingian society in an area close to the river Danube in what is now south-eastern Romania. Military status was apparently gaining in importance there, with a group of prominent men called reiks in Gothic playing a great role in local communities. Their status was more one of formal 9781107037243c43_p759-776.indd 759 17/12/24 12:19 PM fig. 43.1 location map of the main sites in Eastern Europe mentioned in the text.
Returning from a four-month tour in America, the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940) sto... more Returning from a four-month tour in America, the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940) stopped for a few days in Switzerland, on his way home. On May 7, 1930, he gave a lecture in Bern on medieval peasants and their struggle for freedom in the 14 th century. Peasants against feudal armies inspired memories Q2 from America. However, Iorga, who was at the time preoccupied with questions of world history and comparative research, did not simply associate the War of Independence with the victory of the Swiss "peasants" at Sempach against Duke Leopold III of Tyrol. 1 He drew a parallel between the military success of the Eidgenossen of 1386 and the defeat inflicted 56 years earlier upon the king of Hungary, Charles I, by Romanian peasants. The battle, on the 600 th anniversary of which Iorga delivered his lecture, was illustrated in the Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle. The Romanian historian was convinced that the illustrator had been an eyewitness or, at least, somebody informed by a participant. 2 There is no mention of peasants in the text of the Chronicle, but on the basis of the last illuminations in the manuscript, Iorga thought he could recognize the dress of the Romanian peasants of his own time: the woolen hat (căciulă, a sort of Phrygian cap); the long, braided hair; the leather jacket doubled with wool; the leggings; and the leather sandals (opinci). 3 The Romanians fought like peasants as well: they cut trees in the forest, which they then pushed over King Charles and his heavy cavalry. 4 Iorga did not find this detail either in the text or in the illuminations of the Hungarian Chronicle. He got it from the Chronicle of the Prussian Land by Peter of Dusburg, although that source is not mentioned in the lecture. 5 Iorga was most likely aware that Peter of Dusburg had explicitly called "peasants" (rustici) those who had obtained the victory in 1330 against King Charles I of Hungary and his men. However, his 1930 interpretation of the battle was very influential, and most Romanian historians of later generations were encouraged to imagine that the Hungarians had been
Lucrurile și cuvintele. Obiecte ale cotidianului în Țările Române, 2024
One of the thorniest questions in the medieval archaeology of
Romania, which has to this day rema... more One of the thorniest questions in the medieval archaeology of Romania, which has to this day remained without a solution, concerns the disappearance from ceramic assemblages of clay kettles. This ceramic category has been at the center of scholarly debates for some fifty years now. Some have explained the disappearance in terms of the end of nomadism, under the assumption that the clay kettles had been introduced to the lands now in eastern and southern Romania by the Pechenegs during the 10th century. However, clay kettles disappear during the second half of the 13th century, when those lands were under Mongol rule, which invalidates the argument any explanation based on the presumed end of nomadism. Others have advanced the idea that clay kettles became obsolete because of changes in the cooking technology. However, cooking in pots continued uninterrupted, and boiling meat in those vessels is no different from cooking in a kettle. Nor is there any sign of change in meat consumption patterns, for beef continued to be the staple in the local diet, both before and after the disappearance of clay kettles. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the archaeological record of two settlement sites dated to the 13th century (Dridu-La Metereze and Bratei), on one hand, and another two dated to the 14th century (Coconi and Zimnicea), on the other hand, the author seeks a plausible answer to the question in the title. While underlining the changes in the ceramic repertoire that took place shortly before AD 1300, the paper highlights the social reorganization during the period immediately before the rise for the medieval state of Wallachia.
Memoriile secției de științe istorice și arheologie a Academiei Române, 2024
No century is like the 7th in the history of the Balkans. There is a migration at its end, follow... more No century is like the 7th in the history of the Balkans. There is a migration at its end, followed by state formation. The 7th century also opens with the general withdrawal of Roman power, followed by demographic collapse, a situation without any parallel in the subsequent history of the Balkans. Its special nature makes it difficult for any attempt to subsume the 7th century into a historical narrative, whether privileging continuity (a viewpoint that is not easy to sustain for the Balkans) or, by contrast, favoring discontinuity. More often than not, historians explain the chasm in ethnic terms: the Romans are out, the Slavs are in. At a closer look, the idea that the Roman defense on the Lower Danube collapsed in 602 and a Slavic tide inundated the Balkans turns out to be a product of the Cold War. In that respect, of all countries behind the Iron Curtain, the official view in Communist Romania was closer to that of historians in Western Europe than to that of Soviet historians. This may have something to do with the apparent volte-face of the Romanian Communists distancing themselves from Moscow in the 1960s. If so, then the idea of a Slavic flood inundating the Balkans after 602 was astutely linked to the dichotomy between Roman civilization and barbarians. The latter has been a traditional feature of research on the Late Roman empire long before World War II. Meanwhile, such ideas had no impact on the historiography of other countries in the Balkans, such as Bulgaria or Yugoslavia. American and British historians nowadays – John Haldon, Chris Wickham, and Peter Heather – perpetuate the Cold War tropes, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. One of the most important platforms for criticism against such tropes is the emerging picture of a demographic collapse in the Balkans between ca. 620 and ca. 680. One can only hope that scholarly effervescence will force the abandonment of the interpretation and models of the past and will make room for a broader evaluation of the newly accumulated data.
Archaeologists can rarely contribute to any discussions among linguists. However, they are in a p... more Archaeologists can rarely contribute to any discussions among linguists. However, they are in a privileged position, when it comes to identifying and delineating migrations. The paper is an attempt to assess the archaeological evidence pertaining to the supposed migration of the Slavs in the 6 th century, from their original homeland to the Danube. Wherever that homeland was located, in order to reach the Lower Danube (where the northern frontier of the Empire was located in the 6 th century), the Slavs had to cross the territory of present-day Romania. A special emphasis is therefore placed on the archaeological evidence of that country, particularly on those classes that have been typically associated with the early Slavs. However, no class of evidence attests to the existence of any migration across the territory of Romania. Migration is therefore not the mechanism that can explain the spread of Slavic.
Magistra famosa. Zbornik u čast profesorici Mirjani Matiejvić Sokol, 2023
Modern historians have dismissed Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum as not being serious h... more Modern historians have dismissed Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum as not being serious history. Within the tradition of history writing in 12th-century England, Geoffrey’s work appears as an outlier, something spurious, and therefore outside the historical mode. More recently, others have argued that his work ought to be understood as a parody of that mode, in that, while taking the form of other medieval histories, it is in fact something written in direct contradiction to those and other, previous works. Textual authority and claims to truth by someone who was a magister at Oxford are therefore to be seen in the light of complex intertextuality. Such arguments, however, have been only rarely, if ever employed in the analysis of a very similar work from Hungary, the Gesta Hungarorum, written by another magister called “P.,” a notary of a king named Béla. This chapter is an attempt to apply the elements of Monika Otter’s analysis of De gestis Britonum to Gesta Hungarorum, particularly the idea of parody. In doing so, I use a comparative approach, and bring into discussion narrative strategies employed by the author of the earliest piece of Hungarian medieval historiography.
This paper is a contribution to the understanding of the perception of time in the early Middle A... more This paper is a contribution to the understanding of the perception of time in the early Middle Ages (6 th-7 th centuries) through the analysis of an archaeological phenomenon: the "recycling" of artefacts of Roman origin, mainly coins and fibulae. Authors' analysis shifts the emphasis away from artefacts as simply markers of time to an understanding of artefact symbolism that takes into account the social and cultural context in which their meaning is attached to various notions of temporality. In the 6 th century, interest in the Roman past was prevalent among intellectuals like Jordanes and John the Lydian who glorified the Roman golden age, the republican past and the achievements of the "good" emperors. Although Byzantine scholars disagreed on the interpretation of past events, their choices reflected both the concerns of their time as well as their own profound sense of history as a meaningful tool for understanding the present. Outside the circle of the educated elites in Constantinople, no signs of nostalgia may be detected in the archaeological record of the Byzantine Balkans. However, the situation in the western and northwestern parts of the Balkan Peninsula that were outside the Empire in the 6 th century, as well as in the Middle Danube region, was completely different. The archaeological evidence in Near Barbaricum leaves no doubt that the glory of Rome was worth commemorating. A Roman chronotope is likely to have been present in those communities, perhaps embedded in stories or myths associated with the Roman objects. There is a remarkable correspondence between the choices made by the authors writing in the 6 th century and those "barbarians" who buried their dead with Roman coins. The same emperors seem to have captured people's imagination, although perhaps for different reasons. Coins deposited in graves were clearly selected and historical memory was an important criterion. Since most of the these ancient objects were found inside or in the proximity of old Roman settlements, it is likely that the Roman objects deposited in early medieval graves were procured locally, through accidental or intentional digging in Roman ruins. As far as coins are concerned, in most cases the main object of attention was the imperial portrait, either the selection of a particular emperor or the idea of empire in general. Some of the coins were kept in monetary form, while others were turned into pieces of jewellery, usually pendants. They served as public reminders of the Roman past just as fibulae were a reminder of old Roman fashion.
Marxism and Medieval Studies Marxist Historiography in East Central Europe, 2024
The common perception nowadays is that, outside the Soviet Union, Marxism had no significant, if ... more The common perception nowadays is that, outside the Soviet Union, Marxism had no significant, if any, influence on the archaeology practiced in Eastern Europe under Communism. The conclusion of the debate that took place 30 years ago between Paul Barford and Jacek Lech is now generally accepted: instead of an archaeology inspired by Marxism, only "residual Marxism" may sometimes transpire from the works of archaeologists in Communist countries. More often than not, that took the form of quotes from Marx or Engels, the purpose of which was to divert attention from the fundamentally culture-historical approach to material culture.2 In Czechoslovakia, Marxism
Fortunatus Ligo. Zbornik povodom sedamdesetog rođendana Ante Miloševića, 2024
The number of Avar-age finds from Croatia has rapidly increased over the last years or so, with m... more The number of Avar-age finds from Croatia has rapidly increased over the last years or so, with many from burial assemblages in the north(east)ern part of the country. This chapter is an attempt at synthesis, taken into consideration the social significance of belt sets. Many of the finds in the environs of Vukovar, the Croatian part of the Danube region and the valley of the Drava river were part of the qaganate during the Late Avar period (ca. 680 to ca. 820). This is also true for a few finds on settlement sites in the Mura region of Slovenia, but in that country, belt fittings are typically found on hillfort sites. In Dalmatia, spectacular finds such as the belt set from Smrdelje near Kistanje may have been the conceptual parallel to the rich male burials with horses in northeastern Croatia. Finds in Dalmatia must be interpreted as the desire of local elites to emulate those inside the Avar qaganate. There may even be indications of the local imitation of belt fittings coming from the Carpathian Basin. The phenomenon seems to coincide in time with the flood of gold coins minted in Sicily under Constantine V. Whether or not the penchant for Avar belts was a response to the latter phenomenon, the revision of the chronology of belt fittings raises new and important questions about the political connections with the Avar qaganate during the last decades of its existence.
Historians have relied for too long on written sources (the letters that Pope Martin I wrote from... more Historians have relied for too long on written sources (the letters that Pope Martin I wrote from Cherson, as well as De Administrando Imperio) to assess the economic situation in the Crimea, especially in Cherson, during the so-called Dark Ages (7 th to 9 th centuries). Many still believe that that city could not have survived without shipments of grain from the outside, particularly from the lands along the southern coast of the Black Sea. Seals of Byzantine officials found in Cherson tell a different story, as they indicate commercial exchanges between the Crimea and Constantinople. If the peninsula participated in trade, something must have been offered in exchange for the goods coming from the Capital. The archaeological evidence strongly suggests that during the 8 th and 9 th centuries, the hinterland of Cherson, as well as the Kerch Peninsula (eastern Crimea) witnessed rapid economic development, largely based on the cultivation of crops. Silos found on several settlement sites, both open and fortified, suggest a surplus, which was most likely commercialized. If so, the closest markets were across the Black Sea, to the south, primarily in Constantinople. Other commodities, such as wine transported in amphorae, traveled in the opposite direction, across the Sea of Azov and into the interior of Khazaria. In exchange, the peninsula received shipments of grain, which were then re-exported to Constantinople. Far from relying on shipments of grain from the Capital, Cherson and the rest of the Crimean Peninsula in fact supplied Constantinople with food. Numerous vats for the production of fish sauce have been found in Cherson, and many were in operation before 900. A good deal of the garum served at tables in Constantinople between the 7 th and the 9 th century must have come from Cherson. The archaeological evidence therefore calls for a re-assessment of the economic situation in the Crimean Peninsula during the "Dark Ages".
Istoria azi. Congresul Național al Istoricilor Români. Lucrările din plen, Alba Iulia, 8-10 septembrie 2022, 2023
Ideea de a aborda Gesta Hungarorum ca operă literară nu l-a ispitit încă pe niciun istoric. Ce-i ... more Ideea de a aborda Gesta Hungarorum ca operă literară nu l-a ispitit încă pe niciun istoric. Ce-i drept, stilul şi vocabularul magistrului P. au fost cercetate cu de-amănuntul într-o seamă de studii de specialitate. Unii au mers chiar până la a afirma că magistrul P. şi-ar fi dorit să scrie ceva cu totul neobişnuit, motiv pentru care a şi încălcat multe din regulile genului literar reprezentat de gesta Evului Mediu. Cu toate acestea şi în pofida insistenței cu care Gesta Hungarorum este descalificată ca nefiind altceva decât pură literatură, fără valoare istorică, nimeni nu s-a încumetat până acum să abordeze lucrarea magistrului P. ca operă literară. Principalul obstacol în calea unui astfel de demers este aprehensiunea pe care istoricii o resimt îndeobşte când vine vorba de ficțiune ca poveste. Nu a fost deloc explorată cealaltă posibilitate, anume că acest text să fie o parodie a genului origo gentis.
The presence of the Avars in Eastern Europe, particularly in the lands between the Carpathian Mou... more The presence of the Avars in Eastern Europe, particularly in the lands between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Dnieper, has so far been a matter of concern for historians. Archaeologists are skeptical: with the exception of a couple of finds from Budureasca, there are no Early Avar belt fittings anywhere to the north, east, and south from the Carpathian Mountains. In Poland, Avarage finds cluster in the south (Silesia and Lesser Poland) and are dated after AD 700. The vast majority of those finds, however, are from the very end of the 8 th or even the early decades of the 9 th century. The sudden interest in things Avar in the lands north of the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains may signal a desire of local elites to employ the modes of status (and, supposedly, power) representation inside the Avar qaganate. It is however truly surprising that such an interest coincides in time with what historians believe to be a period of decline of the Avar polity. The symbolism of the Avar belt fittings was also harnessed by members of communities who buried their dead in cemeteries excavated in southern Romania. By contrast, there are no Avar-age belt fittings anywhere in the lands to the east from the Carpathian Mountains. During the second half of the 8 th and the early 9 th century, this region experienced something of a demographic boom, as indicated by the large number of settlement sites. There are also hillforts, but a true concern with marking social status in the material culture cannot be dated before the mid-9 th century. When such markers of social prominence became necessary, the language of representation was completely different from that employed earlier by elites in southern Poland who wanted to emulate the Avars. In Eastern Europe, after 850, elites emulated the Khazars, not the Avars.
Named after a folk tale first recorded in the nineteenth century, the Serpent Ramparts in the Ukr... more Named after a folk tale first recorded in the nineteenth century, the Serpent Ramparts in the Ukraine have been thoroughly investigated archaeologically in the 1970s and 1980s. The results of the excavations clarified the chronology of the earthworks, but also revealed a sophisticated building technique employing timber structures. The relation of the dykes to neighboring strongholds and especially open settlements have been the focus of the subsequent research. The dates initially advanced for the earthworks (late tenth to early eleventh century) may not apply to all surviving segments, but the initial impetus for the building of the Serpent Ramparts seems to have come from the Rus’-Pecheneg confrontations along the northern boundaries of the steppe belt in Eastern Europe.
Much has changed in the last forty years in the study of the early medieval earthworks of East Ce... more Much has changed in the last forty years in the study of the early medieval earthworks of East Central and Eastern Europe. While the exact chronology and cultural attribution of the Csörsz Dykes in Hungary or the Bessarabian Dykes in Moldova and Ukraine remains a matter of debate, significant progress is clear in other cases, particularly the West Bulgarian Dykes, as well as the Large Earth Dyke in Dobrudja. The use of radiocarbon dating, as well as stratigraphical observations suggest that, in both cases, the key period for the building and use of those earthworks was the ninth century. The article surveys the main problems of interpretation raised by the recent studies of dykes in the region.
The presence of the Avars in Eastern Europe, particularly in the lands between the Carpathian Mou... more The presence of the Avars in Eastern Europe, particularly in the lands between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Dnieper, has so far been a matter of concern for historians. Archaeologists are skeptical: except for a couple of finds from Budureasca, there are no Early Avar belt fittings anywhere to the north, east, and south from the Carpathian Mountains. In Poland, Avar-age finds cluster in the south (Silesia and Lesser Poland) and are dated after AD 700. The vast majority of those finds, however, are from the very end of the 8 th or even the early decades of the 9 th century. The sudden interest in Avar things in the lands north of the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains may signal a desire of local elites to employ the modes of status (and, supposedly, power) representation inside the Avar Qaganate. It is however truly surprising that such an interest coincides in time with what historians believe to be a period of decline of the Avar polity. The symbolism of the Avar belt fittings was also harnessed by members of communities who buried their dead in cemeteries excavated in southern Romania. By contrast, there are no Avar-age belt fittings anywhere in the lands to the east from the Carpathian Mountains. During the second half of the 8 th and the early 9 th century, this region experienced something of a demographic boom, as indicated by the large number of settlement sites. There are also hillforts, but a true concern with marking social status in the material culture cannot be dated before the mid-9 th century. When such markers of social prominence became necessary, the language of representation was completely different from that employed earlier by elites in southern Poland who wanted to emulate the Avars. In Eastern Europe, after 850, elites emulated the Khazars, not the Avars.
The article is both a survey of the literature since the publication in 1997 of Gottfried Schramm... more The article is both a survey of the literature since the publication in 1997 of Gottfried Schramm's book, and a critical review of the conclusions drawn by the most recent research. The survey focuses on the main theses put forward by Schramm (his famous eight theses on Romanian ethnogenesis) and the way they fared in the literature. His 1985 and 1986 articles, which formed the basis of the book's fourth part have been translated into both Hungarian and Romanian. However, there has been very little, if any engagement with Schramm's arguments, which are primarily, if not exclusively linguistic, and no retort came either from archaeologists or from historians. Much ink has been spilled on the political implications of his "eight theses" for the presence of Romanians in Transylvania, but few have noted that the key to the understanding of Schramm's viewpoint is his envisioning of the Slavic migration. The article brings to the fore the results of the archaeological excavations in the countries of the central Balkan region and in Romania (both north and south of the Carpathian Mountains) in an attempt to verify Schramm's theory of a migration of Vlach pastoralists from the Balkans to the territory of present-day Romania. The last part of the paper discusses the episode of the Romanian immigration that appears in the so-called Cantacuzene Annals, the earliest chronicle of Wallachia.
In this presentation Dr. Florin Curta guides us thoroughly and intensely into not just the histor... more In this presentation Dr. Florin Curta guides us thoroughly and intensely into not just the history of the early Slavs but into the very heart of the origins of the Slavic Peoples themselves.
He draws from archaeology, primary sources, material culture, DNA and so very much more to show the foundations of the Slavic world in the Early Middle Ages.
He explores a variety of issues and topics such as did they have their own origin stories? Was there actually Slavic migrations? Who were the Slavs before they were Slavs? And how did Slavic culture actually sread?
What did outside sources like the Eastern Roman Empire and Western European authors have to say about them?
What made them unique?
How influenced were they by Steppe peoples like the Avars or Sarmatians?
Their religious customs and practices before the eventual Christian conversion.
Prof. Florin CURTA s-a născut la 15 ianuarie 1965 în București, România. Este istoric și arheolog... more Prof. Florin CURTA s-a născut la 15 ianuarie 1965 în București, România. Este istoric și arheolog specializat în cercetarea evului mediu central și est-european. Între anii 1990-1993 a activat în cadrul Institutului de Arheologie "Vasile Pârvan" din București. În 1998 își susține teza de doctorat cu titlul "Making an early medieval ethnie: the case of the early Slavs (sixth to seventh century AD)", la Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Statele Unite. Din 1999, este profesor de istorie și arheologie medievală la University of Florida, Gainesville, SUA. Este autorul a patru monografii, a peste 130 de studii si articole și a peste 60 de recenzii. Este și coautor al unui dicționar de sociologie. 1 De asemenea, prof. Florin Curta a editat, singur sau în colaborare, șase volume colective, a ținut prelegeri în mai multe universități din America de nord, America de sud și Europa. 2
Exactly who were the "nomads" mentioned in the writings of the Byzantine historians for nearly a ... more Exactly who were the "nomads" mentioned in the writings of the Byzantine historians for nearly a millennium? Drawing on a wide range of archaeological and literary evidence, Professor Florin Curta (professor of history at the University of Florida) scrutinizes the identity and culture of the nomads in the 2016 Public Lecture in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks.
In this first podcast produced by the Long History of Identity, Ethnicity and Nationhood Research... more In this first podcast produced by the Long History of Identity, Ethnicity and Nationhood Research Network, co-convener Nicholas Matheou talks to Florin Curta on the topic of ‘Genetics, the Archaeology of Ethnicity, and Nationhood.’ Florin is professor of Medieval History & Archaeology at the University of Florida, and has published widely on the Balkans, Slavic identities, the early and central medieval steppe world, as well as theoretical approaches to the archaeology of ethnicity. Here he discusses how new genetic and biological approaches are creating new possibilities and avenues for research, what the most useful of these approaches might be, and their methodological pitfalls. In a wide-ranging conversation, encompassing DNA studies, isotope analysis, and the instrumentalisation of research by various movements, Florin outlines a broad and nuanced perspective on the many approaches to, and uses of genetics and archaeology in the construction of ethnicity and nationhood.
The Online International Conference devoted to the Archaeology, the History and Philosophy of War... more The Online International Conference devoted to the Archaeology, the History and Philosophy of War in Byzantine and Mediterranean Contexts (9th-16th c.), to be held virtually via Zoom from 8 to 10 December 2023, seeks to illuminate aspects of war in medieval and early modern period. Our Conference does not aim at exhausting the subject of war, but will offer an interdisciplinary forum for a selection of talks that touch upon some of the following aspects:
- Military campaigns, strategies and tactics - Philosophy of Medieval war in Byzantium and the Mediterranean - Psychological Warfare Techniques - Combat arms (lances, swords, sabers, maces, hammers, knives, axes) - Bows and crossbows - Turkic bows - Byzantine and Islamic great crossbows - Military equipment (helmets, lamellar armors - Warhorses and their equipment - Mercenaries in armies - Rus’ and Varangians - Byzantine warriors - Bulgarian warriors - Arab warriors - Crusader warriors - Seljuk warriors - Mongol warriors - Mamluk warriors - Man-powered mangonels - Man-powered beam-sling mangonel - Engines to shoot large arrows - Ballistic machines - Assault devices - Stone-throwing counter-weight mangonel (or trebuchet) - Mangonel balls - Greek Fire projecting siphons - Incendiary rockets - Ceramic Grenades - Hand cannons - Early Cannons - Siege Weapons - Mobile sheds to protect men - Byzantine Military Manuals - Arab Military Manuals - Latin Military Manuals - Siege Illustrations in Manuscripts - Arms in literature (epic poems and romances) - Depictions of warriors, sieges and combats in art - Illustrations of arms and combats in the Romance of Varqa ve Gülşah
Uploads
Books by Florin Curta
While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology, and historiography. This vast region represents more than two thirds of the European continent, but its history in general – and its medieval history in particular – is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade, and the experiences of women and children.
This book is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in the history of central and eastern Europe. More details here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-East-Central-and-Eastern-Europe-in-the-Middle/Curta/p/book/9780367226558
Nothing is known about what the inhabitants of those remote lands called themselves during the sixth century, or whether they spoke a Slavic language. The book engages critically with the archaeological evidence from these regions, and questions its association with the "Slavs" that has often been taken for granted. It also deals with the linguistic evidence—primarily names of rivers and other bodies of water—that has been used to identify the primordial homeland of the Slavs, and from which their migration towards the Lower Danube is believed to have started. It is precisely in this area that sociolinguistics can offer a serious alternative to the language tree model currently favoured in linguistic paleontology. The question of how best to explain the spread of Slavic remains a controversial issue. This book attempts to provide an answer, and not just a critique of the method of linguistic paleontology upon which the theory of the Slavic migration and homeland relies.
The book proposes a model of interpretation that builds upon the idea that (Common) Slavic cannot possibly be the result of Slavic migration. It addresses the question of migration in the archaeology of early medieval Eastern Europe, and makes a strong case for a more nuanced interpretation of the archaeological evidence of mobility. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in medieval history, migration, and the history of Eastern and Central Europe.
Studies in Global Migration History, Band: 39/13
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era.
Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology, and historiography. This vast region represents more than two thirds of the European continent, but its history in general – and its medieval history in particular – is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade, and the experiences of women and children.
This book is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in the history of central and eastern Europe. More details here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-East-Central-and-Eastern-Europe-in-the-Middle/Curta/p/book/9780367226558
Nothing is known about what the inhabitants of those remote lands called themselves during the sixth century, or whether they spoke a Slavic language. The book engages critically with the archaeological evidence from these regions, and questions its association with the "Slavs" that has often been taken for granted. It also deals with the linguistic evidence—primarily names of rivers and other bodies of water—that has been used to identify the primordial homeland of the Slavs, and from which their migration towards the Lower Danube is believed to have started. It is precisely in this area that sociolinguistics can offer a serious alternative to the language tree model currently favoured in linguistic paleontology. The question of how best to explain the spread of Slavic remains a controversial issue. This book attempts to provide an answer, and not just a critique of the method of linguistic paleontology upon which the theory of the Slavic migration and homeland relies.
The book proposes a model of interpretation that builds upon the idea that (Common) Slavic cannot possibly be the result of Slavic migration. It addresses the question of migration in the archaeology of early medieval Eastern Europe, and makes a strong case for a more nuanced interpretation of the archaeological evidence of mobility. It will appeal to scholars and students interested in medieval history, migration, and the history of Eastern and Central Europe.
Studies in Global Migration History, Band: 39/13
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era.
Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
century, the earliest accounts of the military events taking place in Wallachia in 1330 to be found in the supplement to the chronicle of Peter of Dusburg and in its translation by Nicolaus of Jeroschin highlight an unusual chain of communication between the Ordensland in Prussia and the Kingdom of Hungary, which predates the coronation of the Hungarian king Louis I as king of Poland by a few decades. The news about the defeat suffered by Louis’s father, Charles I, at the hands of the Vlachs may have reached Prussia through aristocratic, if not royal mediation, which explains such details
as the name of the Hungarian captain to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in a vision.
On the other hand, the received news were recast in a version that put to good work some of the main themes in the current-event reports at that time. Particularly important in that respect is the attempt to explain the defeat as resulting from tactics used by unworthy combatants–peasants–who preferred an ambush in a narrow place to a pitched battle in a field. The trope of the angry and armed peasants was one more time adapted to a moral story, for the one defeated in Wallachia was the enemy of the Teutonic Knights.
Romania, which has to this day remained without a solution, concerns
the disappearance from ceramic assemblages of clay kettles. This
ceramic category has been at the center of scholarly debates for some
fifty years now. Some have explained the disappearance in terms of the
end of nomadism, under the assumption that the clay kettles had been introduced to the lands now in eastern and southern Romania by the
Pechenegs during the 10th century. However, clay kettles disappear
during the second half of the 13th century, when those lands were under
Mongol rule, which invalidates the argument any explanation based on
the presumed end of nomadism. Others have advanced the idea that clay
kettles became obsolete because of changes in the cooking technology.
However, cooking in pots continued uninterrupted, and boiling meat in
those vessels is no different from cooking in a kettle. Nor is there any
sign of change in meat consumption patterns, for beef continued to be
the staple in the local diet, both before and after the disappearance of
clay kettles.
On the basis of a comparative analysis of the archaeological
record of two settlement sites dated to the 13th century (Dridu-La
Metereze and Bratei), on one hand, and another two dated to the 14th
century (Coconi and Zimnicea), on the other hand, the author seeks a
plausible answer to the question in the title. While underlining the
changes in the ceramic repertoire that took place shortly before AD 1300,
the paper highlights the social reorganization during the period
immediately before the rise for the medieval state of Wallachia.
themselves from Moscow in the 1960s. If so, then the idea of a Slavic flood inundating the Balkans after 602 was astutely linked to the dichotomy between Roman civilization and barbarians. The latter has been a traditional feature of research on the Late Roman empire long before World War II. Meanwhile, such ideas had no impact on the historiography of other countries in the Balkans, such as Bulgaria or Yugoslavia. American and British historians nowadays – John Haldon, Chris Wickham, and Peter Heather – perpetuate the Cold War tropes, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. One of the most important platforms for criticism against such tropes is the emerging picture of a demographic collapse in the Balkans between ca. 620 and ca. 680. One can only hope that scholarly effervescence will force the abandonment of the interpretation and models of the past and will make room for a broader evaluation of the newly accumulated data.
He draws from archaeology, primary sources, material culture, DNA and so very much more to show the foundations of the Slavic world in the Early Middle Ages.
He explores a variety of issues and topics such as did they have their own origin stories? Was there actually Slavic migrations? Who were the Slavs before they were Slavs? And how did Slavic culture actually sread?
What did outside sources like the Eastern Roman Empire and Western European authors have to say about them?
What made them unique?
How influenced were they by Steppe peoples like the Avars or Sarmatians?
Their religious customs and practices before the eventual Christian conversion.
http://torch.ox.ac.uk/genetics-archaeology-ethnicity-and-nationhood
- Military campaigns, strategies and tactics
- Philosophy of Medieval war in Byzantium and the Mediterranean
- Psychological Warfare Techniques
- Combat arms (lances, swords, sabers, maces, hammers, knives, axes)
- Bows and crossbows
- Turkic bows
- Byzantine and Islamic great crossbows
- Military equipment (helmets, lamellar armors
- Warhorses and their equipment
- Mercenaries in armies
- Rus’ and Varangians
- Byzantine warriors
- Bulgarian warriors
- Arab warriors
- Crusader warriors
- Seljuk warriors
- Mongol warriors
- Mamluk warriors
- Man-powered mangonels
- Man-powered beam-sling mangonel
- Engines to shoot large arrows
- Ballistic machines
- Assault devices
- Stone-throwing counter-weight mangonel (or trebuchet)
- Mangonel balls
- Greek Fire projecting siphons
- Incendiary rockets
- Ceramic Grenades
- Hand cannons
- Early Cannons
- Siege Weapons
- Mobile sheds to protect men
- Byzantine Military Manuals
- Arab Military Manuals
- Latin Military Manuals
- Siege Illustrations in Manuscripts
- Arms in literature (epic poems and romances)
- Depictions of warriors, sieges and combats in art
- Illustrations of arms and combats in the Romance of Varqa ve Gülşah