Medieval Commerce

This is the one and only volume of Papers of the American Research Center in Sofia. It is unfortunate that three trustees precipitated the failure of the institute in 2014. We had 3 other volumes in the pipeline and I apologize to all of the authors whose articles could not be published

Volume 1 of PARCS opens with an article by the 2013 Eugene Schuyler Lecturer, Prof. Dennis Hupchick. Th e article, entitled "James F. Clarke: Pioneer of Bulgarian Historical Studies in the United States," was presented in the aula magna of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in March 2013 and is most suitable for the inaugural volume of
PARCS. Prof. Clarke was an American pioneer in Balkan studies; his family was involved in missionary and diplomatic service in the region since the later 19th century.

All other papers in this volume spring from a two-day conference organized by ARCS, October 25–26, 2012, Communications and Commerce in the Balkans from Alexander
the Great to Alexander Battenberg. The papers present case studies of issues concerning the agents and organization of communication and commerce (private, State/military), the mechanisms of communication and commerce (e.g., rivers and ports, roads and highway stops, vehicles, marketplaces, information media, travel times), and the objects of exchange (e.g, agricultural goods and raw materials, finished goods, information and practices). The work of thirteen scholars are presented here; the chronological range begins in the classical period and ends in the late Ottoman period.

Thanks to the America for Bulgaria Foundation for the funding of the conference and volume.

CONTENTS

Preface to Volume by Eric C. De Sena

JAMES F. CLARKE, PIONEER OF BULGARIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE UNITED STATES by Dennis P. Hupchick (2013 Eugene Schuyler Lecture) 7

Communications and Commerce in the Balkans from Alexander the Great to Alexander Battenberg. Proceedings of Conference at ARCS, October 2012

PLACES, INSTRUMENTS AND ARTIFACTS OF EXCHANGE ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN BLACK SEA COAST IN THE ROMAN PERIOD by Hristo Preshlenov, National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 22

BARBARIANS AND THE BLACK SEA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD: A BRIEF HISTORY by Artur Błażejewski, University of Wroclaw 34

THE DANUBIAN DILEMMA: CONDUITS AND OBSTACLES IN UPPER AND LOWER MOESIA by Daniel Weiss, University of Virginia 42

NORTH TO SOUTH ALONG THE DANUBE: COMMERCE BETWEEN BRAŞOV AND VIDIN IN THE 15TH CENTURY by Snezhana Rakova, South-West University of Blagoevgrad 54

THE TABULA PEUTINGERIANA: A CHANGING VALUE FOR THE INTERPRETATION
OF ROMAN ROAD NETWORKS AND ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHIES ALONG THE MIDDLE AND LOWER STRYMON by Dragomir Garbov, New Bulgarian University 59

THE VIA EGNATIA – THE MOST ACTIVELY USED OVERLAND ROUTE IN THE BALKANS by Liliana Simeonova, Institute of Balkan Studies & Center of Thracology – BAS 73

ACCESS OF HEAVY-LOAD VEHICLES IN PAUTALIA, SERDICA, PHILIPPOLIS AND NICOPOLIS AD ISTRUM by Dimitrina Popova, Institute of Art Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 78

ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMPLEXES NEAR PCHELAROVO VILLAGE, KARDZHALI REGION: AN EMPORIUM FROM THE HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN ERAS? by Zdravko Dimitrov, National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, BAS 88

THE SILK ROAD: RELIGION, WAR AND TRADE by Ivan Stancioff , Karin Dom Foundation and Albina Valieva-Khairullina, Independent Scholar 97

THE ARMENIANS. TRADERS AND FRIENDS OF FREDERICK BARBAROSSA IN THE BALKANS DURING THE THIRD CRUSADE (1189-1190) by Elena Koytcheva, Institute of Balkan Studies with Centre of Thracology, BAS 106

TRADING IN EMPRESSES: THE POLITICS OF MATRIMONIAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN
BYZANTIUM AND BULGARIA IN THE 13th AND 14th CENTURIES
by Jake Ransohoff , Harvard University 114

OTTOMAN COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS DURING THE TANZIMAT PERIOD (1839–1876). LEGISLATION REFORMS AND THEIR APPLICATION IN THE TOWN OF RUSÇUK
by Ivelina Masheva, Sofia University, Faculty of History 124

LANGUAGE CONTACT, BILINGUALISM, AND COMMUNICATION IN THRACE AND MOESIA INFERIOR, 1ST–4TH Centuries AD: EPIGRAPHIC MONUMENTS FROM BULGARIA by Dimitar Iliev, University of Sofia 135

Resumo: Uma extensa escavação decorreu entre 1991 e 1998 em três edifícios contíguos na Rua das Pedras Negras, em Lisboa, cujos dados permanecem no essencial inéditos. Tendo o tema sido antes aflorado em data recente (Silva et al., no prelo), os autores publicam e descrevem o conjunto ali colectado das cerâmicas medievais importadas entre os finais do século XIII e o século XIV, que incluem produções valencianas, sevilhanas, granadinas, de Saintonge (polícroma, lisa e "mosqueada"), Norte da França, flamengas (Bruges e Antuérpia?), inglesas (Londres) e, eventualmente, dos Países Baixos. O seu conjunto a amostragem mostra um predomínio marcado das elaborações oleiras comerciadas a partir dos portos de Bordéus e La Rochele sobre todas as restantes origens, sendo sintomático quer da capacidade aquisitiva dos lisboetas atingida entre os reinados de D. Afonso III e D. Pedro I, como do papel preponderante desempenado pela cidade de Lisboa no quadro das teias de relações comerciais marítimas então estabelecidas por Portugal com o norte atlântico europeu.

Abstract: An extensive archaeological excavation occurred between 1991 and 1998 in Rua das Pedras Negras, Lisbon, but data remains mainly unpublished. The authors publish and describe the assemblage of medieval imported pottery dating from late 13th to 14th centuries, turning back to the theme already previously treated (Silva et al., forthcoming). Productions include fabrics originated in Valencia, Seville and Granada, Saintonge («polychrome», «highly decorated», plain and «mottled»), North French («highly decorated»), Flemish (from Bruges and perhaps Antwerp), English (London) and, eventually, the Low Countries. The overall assemblage demonstrates that ceramic productions exported through Bordeaux and La Rochelle harbours are predominante over the remaining, and quantity and diversity are symptomatic of high acquisition capacity verified by Lisboners between the reigns of Afonso III and Pedro I, as well as of the chief role played by Lisbon in the network of commercial maritime relations then established between Portugal and the north Atlantic European façade.

Resumo: Uma extensa escavação decorreu entre 1991 e 1998 em três edifícios contíguos na Rua das Pedras Negras, em Lisboa, cujos dados permanecem no essencial inéditos. Tendo o tema sido antes aflorado em data recente (Silva et al., no prelo), os autores publicam e descrevem o conjunto ali colectado das cerâmicas medievais importadas entre os finais do século XIII e o século XIV, que incluem produções valencianas, sevilhanas, granadinas, de Saintonge (polícroma, lisa e "mosqueada"), Norte da França, flamengas (Bruges e Antuérpia?), inglesas (Londres) e, eventualmente, dos Países Baixos. O seu conjunto a amostragem mostra um predomínio marcado das elaborações oleiras comerciadas a partir dos portos de Bordéus e La Rochele sobre todas as restantes origens, sendo sintomático quer da capacidade aquisitiva dos lisboetas atingida entre os reinados de D. Afonso III e D. Pedro I, como do papel preponderante desempenado pela cidade de Lisboa no quadro das teias de relações comerciais marítimas então estabelecidas por Portugal com o norte atlântico europeu.

Abstract: An extensive archaeological excavation occurred between 1991 and 1998 in Rua das Pedras Negras, Lisbon, but data remains mainly unpublished. The authors publish and describe the assemblage of medieval imported pottery dating from late 13th to 14th centuries, turning back to the theme already previously treated (Silva et al., forthcoming). Productions include fabrics originated in Valencia, Seville and Granada, Saintonge («polychrome», «highly decorated», plain and «mottled»), North French («highly decorated»), Flemish (from Bruges and perhaps Antwerp), English (London) and, eventually, the Low Countries. The overall assemblage demonstrates that ceramic productions exported through Bordeaux and La Rochelle harbours are predominante over the remaining, and quantity and diversity are symptomatic of high acquisition capacity verified by Lisboners between the reigns of Afonso III and Pedro I, as well as of the chief role played by Lisbon in the network of commercial maritime relations then established between Portugal and the north Atlantic European façade.