High Middle Ages

Netzwerke bestimmen seit alters her das Leben und die Handlungsmöglichkeiten von Menschen. Mit diesem Begriff und durch die Anwendung verschiedener Methoden, darunter der mathematisch-statistischen Verfahren der sogenannten Graphentheorie, können viele historische Phänomene beschrieben und analysiert werden. Basierend auf geeigneten, idealerweise seriellen Quellen, lassen sich Netzwerkmodelle erstellen, deren Struktur bzw. Strukturwandel Rückschlüsse auf dahinterstehende historische Phänomene ermöglicht. Es handelt sich hierbei um personale Netzwerke der Händler oder Adeliger, die sich untereinander verschwägerten und vielfältige Geschäftsbeziehungen anknüpften, um räumliche Netzwerke der Handelsorte und ihrer Straßenund Seeverbindungen, schließlich um Netzwerke von Dingen (etwa Münzen), die sich im archäologischen Fundgut widerspiegeln.
Die Tagung möchte diese verschiedenen Formen von Netzwerken mit Schwerpunkt auf Ostmitteleuropa diskutieren und hierbei den Fokus auf ein bisher weniger erforschtes Problem richten, die Diskonnektivität. Hierunter verstehen wir die Störung oder gar den Zerfall von Netzwerkstrukturen, wie sie etwa im Verschwinden bestimmter Handelsgüter oder dem Abreißen sozialer und kommunikativer Beziehungen zwischen Räumen oder Personen erkennbar sind.
In erster Linie soll die Frage erörtert werden, wo Zerfallsphänomene greifbar und wie sie zu erklären sind. Wo möglich, sollte auch die Perspektive der Zeitgenossen berücksichtigt werden: Waren sie sich dieser Netzwerke und ihrer Transformationen bewusst? Inwieweit konnten sie Verund Entflechtung beeinflussen? Versuchten sie eventuell Zerfallstendenzen entgegenzuwirken, und wenn ja, wie? Schließlich: Wie wirkte sich der Zerfall von Netzwerkstrukturen auf gesellschaftliche, ökonomische oder politische Strukturen aus?

The formation and development of the estate of the town of Plzeň (Pilsen). The paper describes the development of the estate of the royal town od Pilsen from its beginnings until the abolition of its statute labour system. It explores the motivation and financial tactics of the town administration in the construction of municipal landed property and also reflects in great depth on territorial development and changes in the settlement of the countryside underthe direct government of the town of Pilsen

Il Secondo stato e l’Illuminismo: il contributo dei nobili alla stesura della Dichiarazione dei Diritti dell’Uomo e del Cittadino del 1789

"La Dichiarazione dei Diritti dell’Uomo e del Cittadino costituisce l’esito giuridico, sociopolitico e intellettuale delle influenze illuministiche sulla Rivoluzione francese e rappresenta uno dei capisaldi dell’identità giuridica liberale europea (e mondiale). Emanata a Versailles nell’agosto del 1789, essa rappresenta uno dei testi giuridici fondamentali per i diritti umani, nonché uno dei primi e più rilevanti atti dell’Assemblea nazionale costituente, prima istituzione legislativa dell’età rivoluzionaria francese. Il documento, che è composto da un preambolo e da 17 articoli, sancì formalmente il crollo dell’Ancien Régime e del sistema feudale in Francia (basato sulla distinzione in “ordini”), determinando la nascita del soggetto unico di diritto, ovverosia il “cittadino”. Tale evento segnerà irreversibilmente la storia europea.
L’idea di un documento politico e giuridico che facesse da preambolo alla Costituzione fu avanzata dal deputato del Delfinato Jean-Joseph Mounier, ma furono presentate diverse bozze di progetto. Il dibattito in sede assembleare ebbe durò sei giorni, dal 20 al 26 agosto 1789. Alla stesura del testo, nelle sue varie fasi di realizzazione, contribuirono in misura significativa anche alcuni esponenti del Secondo stato. Tra i nobili francesi che si sarebbero distinti per il proprio cruciale apporto alla realizzazione della Déclaration occorre menzionare Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti conte di Mirabeau, appartenente a una famiglia aristocratica ma eletto rappresentante del Terzo stato in Provenza nel corso della convocazione degli Stati Generali del 1789, così come il celebre marchese di Lafayette, già reduce dell’esperienza della Rivoluzione americana e membro della Società dei Trenta. Entrambi gli aristocratici avrebbero redatto delle proposte di Dichiarazione, che testimoniano efficacemente la permeazione del clima culturale dei Lumi nella forma mentis di certi settori nobiliari. Similmente, l’articolo 6 del testo («La loi est l'expression de la volonté générale») contiene forti richiami rousseauiani, ed è attribuito a Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand. Ulteriori articoli di marcata impostazione illuministica furono redatti da Louis Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld e da Charles-François marchese di Bonnay.
Inoltre, per avere un panorama completo del contributo del Secondo stato alla nascita della Déclaration è necessario ripercorre alcuni dei cahiers de doléances dell’aristocrazia francese, segnatamente quelli caratterizzati da una tendenza liberale e monarchico-costituzionale. Le doléances prodotte dai nobili di taluni baliati e siniscalcati, infatti, sorprendono per la vicinanza a posizioni particolarmente influenzate dalle formulazioni dei filosofi illuministi più celebri (Rousseau, Montesquieu, Locke) e per la tendenza all’adesione al modello monarchico-costituzionale britannico. Sarà rilevante, pertanto, osservare come taluni cahiers anticipino la stesura degli articoli della Dichiarazione dei Diritti dell’Uomo e del Cittadino, qui analizzata in qualità di prodotto della circolazione intraeuropea ed extraeuropea degli ideali liberali illuministici del XVIII secolo."

This article examines a group of five surviving twelfth- and thirteenth-century wax seal impressions from the British Isles that depict a scene of an armed knight in combat with a lion. This seal motif has tenuously been linked with crusading in the past, and so this paper seeks to address the connections between the sigillants and crusade, as well as the significance of commemoration of crusade culture on medieval seals. It highlights numerous links between this specific design and crusading experiences, literature and allegory. This paper focuses on an aspect of the medieval memory of crusade and the means of displaying chivalric, crusading identities within literate culture (on charters and letters) and in personal adornment.

The main subject of this study is a survey and evaluation of field fortifications located in Nebesa near Aš (Karlovy Vary Region, Czech Republic). Although the site was already surveyed in 2019, following earlier surveys between 1980 and 1984, it is still not possible to link it to a particular military event in the second half of the 18th century. The ceramic assemblage recovered is extremely heterogeneous in terms of typology, morphology and chronology. The assemblage mostly consists of vessels which cannot for the most part be connected to civil activities (forest work) and the deposition of waste in the trench area after the period the fortifications were in use. field fortifications-18th century-modern age-pottery-stoneware

Venetian Podestàs, Noble Sorceresses, and the Commune of Motovun: Critique, Corrections, and Additions to the Book “Case against Diletta [Motovun 1271]: On the Intersection between Roman, Canon, Customary, and Venetian Law” by Dunja and Ivan Milotić (Pazin – Motovun: State Archives in Pazin – Motovun Municipality, 2022) - The author takes a detailed critical look at the latest monograph by Dunja and Ivan Milotić on the trial against the sorceress Dilecta held in Motovun in 1271, showing that the work is full of serious technical, factual and interpretive errors, as well as methodological flaws, which completely invalidate the majority of the drawn conclusions. Following a detailed presentation of the book, the author corrects numerous incorrect statements and criticizes interpretive procedures, especially the position and role of notary Bonaventura, the jurisdictional position of the Commune of Motovun in relation to the Patriarchate of Aquileia and Venice, and the issue of the court process conducted against Dilecta in Motovun and against  Thomas Michiel in Venice. Based on contemporary historiography and the analysis of relevant historical sources, both published and unpublished, it is concluded that: (1) Bonaventura was not a notary with papal authority who found himself in an uncertain position in Motovun with the arrival of the Venetian authorities, but that he was a notary with imperial authority who was employed as chancellor of the Motovun podestàs; (2) Motovun did not fall under the de facto rule of Venice in 1271, but first briefly in 1276 and then in 1278, as interpreted by traditional Istrian historiography; (3) both processes, the one led by Thomas against his wife Dilecta, and the one initiated by the Venetian authorities against Thomas, were most probably conducted properly, although no relevant minutes have been preserved due to the lack of surviving archival registers. Therefore, the authenticity of Dilectaʼs confession, which the Milotićs essentially declared to be a fictitious original, is completely rehabilitated. The work closes with appendices, two tables and critical editions of thirteen historical sources, eight relevant to the mechanisms of the elections of podestàs in the Istrian communes that recognized the secular authority of the patriarchs of Aquileia, and five for the case of the executed Dilecta. [Written in Croatian with summaries in Italian and English; the English version of the paper is forthcoming]

Examining the history of Nagyrév in Bihar County between the 13th and 15th centuries, we can see the development of a settlement that took advantage of the natural environment. The village located on the banks of the Sebes-Körös was an important crossing point, which generated significant traffic. The settlement was in royal ownership in the first third of the 13th century, and probably came under private lordship in the decades before the Tatar invasion. At the end of the Age of Arpad, the village became part of the estate of James Borsa the Bald, Palatine of Hungary, in Sólyomkő, enabling it later to be merged into the royal estate by Charles I, who broke the power of the oligarch Borsas. By the end of the 1390s, Rév was controlled by the noble family Kaplai. After they were involved in a rebellion against Sigismund of Luxembourg, the king confiscated their lands.

The article discusses the mythologization of the Bouvines battle based on the data of the official chroniclers of King Philip II Augustus. The author examines the image of the warring opponents, their mythology and sacred appearance, presented in the presentation of the French side. An alternative conclusion is proposed about the discrepancy with the reality of the thesis characterizing the Battle of Bouvines as the first French national event.
В статье рассматривается мифологизация битвы при Бувине на основе данных официальных хроникеров короля Филиппа II Августа. Исследуется образ воюющих противников, их мифология и сакральный облик, представленный в изложении французской стороны. Предлагается альтернативный вывод о несоответствии с реальностью тезиса, характеризующего Бувинскую битву как первое французское национальное событие.

L’identità europea si è plasmata nel corso della storia non soltanto in termini di entità geografica ma anche come civiltà, tradizioni ed etnie straordinariamente creative, sia nello spirito unitario, sia nelle differenti prospettive culturali.
Il XXI secolo, con l’avvento dell’Unione Europea, sembrava essersi lasciato alle spalle gli orrori della guerra e delle altre crisi globali che avevano attraversato il Novecento.
Tuttavia, la pandemia da “covid-19” e il conflitto bellico contro l’Ucraina hanno rappresentato, e rappresentano ancora oggi, due shock di tale portata da scuotere in profondità il patto di pacificazione e di coesione che aveva dato origine all’idea stessa di Europa unita.
È proprio nella diversità di approcci ideologici e di metodi intrapresi per la risoluzione di questi macro-problemi che gli Stati membri hanno, per un verso, consolidato un patrimonio comune di valori e, per altro verso, svelato le loro più radicali differenze e disuguaglianze. Per tali ragioni, s’impone l’esigenza di un dibattito di ampio respiro e dal taglio multidisciplinare che restituisca centralità ad alcuni interrogativi: in quale misura la storia e le tradizioni degli Stati europei possono contemperarsi con l’odierna realtà globalizzata? In che modo le innovazioni scientifiche e tecnologiche hanno influito sula vita dei cittadini europei? Come sono mutate negli ultimi decenni le strutture sociali dei paesi europei? La Student Conference organizzata dai dottorandi di ricerca in Scienze Politiche e in Scienze della Pubbliche Amministrazioni dell’Università degli Studi di Messina è rivolta a dottorande/i e dottori di ricerca, che abbiano conseguito il titolo da non più di tre anni, in Scienze politiche, pubbliche amministrazioni, giuridiche, economiche e umanistiche.

The spread of Hungarian literacy reached a major turning point by the early 16th century. Previously, scribes only used Hungarian language (along with Latin) in literary works, apart from the occasional Hungarian additions in Latin documents. However, a significant shift happened in the second half of the 15th century, both in terms of quality and quantity, with the appearance of documents that were written entirely in Hungarian. Initially thiswas only observed in matters related to private law, however it became more commonplace in legal documents by the middle of the 16th century. The most noticeable developments could be observed among the peasantry. The inhabitants of market towns and villages started using Hungarian for the writing of deeds and contracts that were previously only written in Latin. This publication presents a total of 24 Hungarian documents from the 16– 18th century (wills and real estate purchase agreements) from the Tokaj-Hegyalja region and its vicinity, which showcase the formation of Hungarian literacy in official, legal writing during the modern period.

Among the examples that make it possible to study the growing role of women linked to the Byzantine court between the 5th and 6th centuries, the figure of Antonina, the wife of the general Belisarius, deserves attention. She is mentioned several times in the course of events narrated by Procopius. Beyond the historian's perspective on gender issues, some data allow us to place her in the gallery of Augustas and high-ranking women who, in the West and East, especially from the 4th century onwards, resorted to various strategies to gain spaces of power at the expense of their male counterparts. Through the analysis of specific events, the article focuses on Antonina's interpretation of motherhood within a familial framework that was already conditioned by her intimate relationship with the Empress Theodora. This perspective ultimately aims to move beyond the image of Antonina as the unfaithful wife of Belisarius to focus on the position she had to assume at the Byzantine court and in certain events concerning her husband.

V těchto inscenacích se Pařízek snaží rekonceptualizovat stávající interpretační a jevištní tradici těchto národních mýtů v zemích jejich vzniku. Autorka studie nahlíží Pařízkovy interpretační postupy, zaměřuje se na dramaturgické úpravy textů, scénické pojetí a herectví. Reflektuje také kritické zhodnocení režisérovy tvorby. Jedním z cílů studie je nahlédnout Pařízkovu tvorbu jako apelativní a kriticky vymezující se vůči aktuálnímu politickému dění ve střední Evropě.

Some notes and main points (+ succession of kings) on Sverre Bagge's "From Viking Stronghold to Christian Kingdom: State Formation in Norway c. 900 - 1350" that might be useful to students and scholars alike, read and studied for Viðar Pállsson's class "The Medieval North" (academic year 2020).

Lliurat el 3 de juny de 2022. Acceptat l'1 de juliol de 2022. Resum Aquest article presenta una reflexió sobre la utilització de fonts de caràcter literari per part dels historiadors, i de com uns límits deguts a la metodologia de l'època o a les creences personals, tant polítiques com religioses, en el cas de Ramon d'Abadal, van condicionar la seva lectura i, de retruc, influenciar la seva interpretació de la història, en especial de la figura de l'abat-bisbe Oliba. Paraules clau Abat Oliba, bisbes segle xi, fonts literàries, èpica medieval.

The author analyses in detail the appeals presented to the Holy See by
Boniface, the bishop of Poreč (1282–1305) which exist in two versions: the unredacted and the redacted. Since only the redected version of Boniface’s appeals has been known and analysed in the existing literature, wrongly dated to 1301, the author presents new critically prepared transcripts of both versions of the appeals. Both texts have been preserved only as copies in the first book of privileges of the Diocese of Poreč. A thorough analysis of both versions revealed that Boniface wrote to the Holy See at the end of the thirteenth century; more precisely, between the first quarter of 1295 and January 1296, while he was personally present in Rome. Moreover, the analysis undoubtedly points out that the Poreč bishop complained about Raymond della Torre, the Patriarch of Aquileia (1273–1299), who was his metropolitan and with whom he had disputes regarding the secular authority over Poreč, Rovinj, and Motovun, properties that were at the time (even though only de facto) under Venetian rule. Finally, the author shows why Pope Boniface VIII could not successfully resolve this problem due to the magnitude of the conflict involving the patriarchs of Aquileia and the Commune of Venice. Due to his unrelenting attitude and the burning desire to restore the secular jurisdictions of his Church, at this point irrevocably lost to Venice, the patriarchs of Aquileia, the counts of Gorizia and their many retainers, Bishop Boniface of Poreč ended his life as an excommunicated prelate who ultimately failed in his mission to recover the splendor of his impoverished and weakened bishopric. NOTA BENE: The work is written in Croatian and the appended summary in English is horrible (not written by the author); the two documents edited in the appendix are also available on Fontes Istrie medievalis together with editorial comments in English: https://fontesistrie.eu/1295_BP1 and https://fontesistrie.eu/1295_BP2.

The paper evaluates the representation of early modern economic history at the 12th congress of Czech historians in Ústí nad Labem in September 2022 and responds to opinions about the current decline of the discipline of economic history and its replacement by the “new” cultural history. It emphasises the continuing importance of classical economic history and the need to enrich it with new approaches, based on complexity, a comparative approach, and interdisciplinarity. Two historiographic probes demonstrating the meaning and significance of the study of territorial economic relations in the 16th and 17th centuries are presented. The first is a microhistorical insight into the management and function of the suburban estates of the Czech nobility in the immediate vicinity of the provincial capital, Prague, at the end of the 16th century, as can be observed through the example of the small manor of Košíř, owned in the years 1585–1597 by the lords of Hradec. The second probe shows the...

Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind Migrationsprozesse von literarischen Migrantenfiguren in den folgenden Erzahlungen des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts: Graf Rudolf, Arabel des Ulrich von dem Turlin, Partonopier und Meliur des Konrad von Wurzburg (darin die Figuren Gaudin und Fursin/Anshelm) und Wilhelm von Osterreich des Johann von Wurzburg. Untersucht wird die Darstellung von Auswirkungen der Migrationssituation auf die Identitatskonstitution. Methodisch wird dabei versucht, bestehende Hybriditatsansatze der Mittelaltergermanistik durch die postkolonialen Konzepte Homi K. Bhabhas gewinnbringend zu erweitern. Die Migrantenfiguren dieser Texte verbindet, dass deren Migration in den Orient bzw. in den Okzident Wechselwirkungen auslost zwischen der eigenen (ursprunglichen) Identitat und der Identitat der Angehorigen des neuen kulturellen Umfeldes. Die Werke behandeln diese Dynamiken auf diskursiver Ebene in facettenreicher Weise, sie reflektieren diese und problematisieren sie auch. In den Anal...

Andrzej Kozicki - książka "Dwu cesarzy zachodnich jako zasada ustrojowa w czasach Chrobrego" (2023).

Analiza politycznej wyobraźni instytucjonalnej w X i XI wieku, czyli w okresie formowania się obecnej mapy politycznej Europy. Tezą książki jest trwałość antycznych instytucji ustrojowych, niedoceniana i niezauważana przez mediewistów, co czyni ich bezradnymi wobec fenomenu podwójnej (1000 r. i 1025 r.) koronacji Bolesława Chrobrego. Książka jednocześnie jest napisana w formie polemiki z krytykami poprzedniej książki Kozickiego, której tezy i ostrze krytyki zostały streszczone na pierwszych kilku stronach. Luminarzami, z którymi fechtuje autor są: profesor Jacek Banaszkiewicz (mediewista, specjalista od Karolingów i Liudolfingów), profesor Stanisław Suchodolski (numizmatyk, specjalista od monet z czasów Chrobrego) i profesor Paweł Żmudzki (źródłoznawca, specjalista od kronik owej doby).

For centuries, Marco Polo’s legends of the Old Man of the Mountain, his paradise garden, and his assembly of assassins have fascinated readers. Modern scholarship, however, has demonstrated that these are a fanciful history of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims of the state of Alamut. This article analyses the causes and motivations for the persistence of these tales and their trappings. The trope permeates popular culture ranging from medieval fables to the multi-billion dollar Assassin’s Creed video game franchise. More surprising, the offensive “assassin” moniker and its associated images are strangely resilient within academia itself, long after Orientalist portrayals of the Muslim world stopped being fashionable. The study also introduces several little-known works, often newly discovered, which emanate from the state centred at Alamut. These allow us a rare glimpse into the community’s self-perception. The steady recovery of such long-lost sources sheds new light on the Nizaris, revealing the life of a community that is equally fascinating, if less fantastic, than the “assassins” of Marco Polo’s imagination.