Medieval Central Europe Research Articles

The die for the production of the hammered kaptorgas from Kouřim, Central Bohemia

Kaptorgas were small trapezoidal boxes with lids worn by women and girls in early medieval central Europe as magic or protective amulets. The paper presents a new find of a bronze cast die for hammering the front side of kaptorgas, which was excavated at the Nad Dolnicí settlement site located in the hinterland of the important central Bohemian hillfort of Kouřim. The die was used to produce type 1A kaptorgas with a motif of a four-legged eared gryphon with an indication of a wing and a tail ending in a floral decorative element. Although kaptorgas with this particular motif have not been recorded in Bohemia, it has analogies in Bulgaria and Poland. Based on the stylistic assessment of this originally Mediterranean motif and the chronology of type IA kaptorgas in Bohemia, the die can be dated to the 10th and beginning of the 11th century. X-Ray fluorescence analysis and elemental mapping of the object's surface show that it was made from bronze with a significant lead admixture and a small admixture of zinc. The die is discussed in terms of the spread of Mediterranean motifs and their adaptation by local craftsmen.

Silver mining and landscape changes in medieval Central Europe: Reconstructing ore processing in a buried fir forest on the Bohemian‐Moravian Highlands (Koječín, Czech Republic)

Silver mining and landscape changes in medieval Central Europe: Reconstructing ore processing in a buried fir forest on the Bohemian‐Moravian Highlands (Koječín, Czech Republic)

Copper-alloy belt fittings and elite networking in Early Medieval Central Europe

This paper attempts to change the traditional view of the Late Avar belt fittings, which in the 8th century AD delineated an extremely dense communication network within the Carpathian Basin and beyond, by using a groundbreaking combination of iconography, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), lead isotope analysis, digital morphometry and 3D comparative prototyping. It presents a complex analysis of bronze belt ends decorated with an exceptional scene of a snake eating a frog-like creature, discovered in the last decade in Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. According to the iconography, this motif represents an important cosmogonic and fertility myth, known to various early medieval populations living in Central Europe. Some of these belt ends come from the same workshop and/or are derived from a common model, even though they were found in very distant regions. The study also focuses on the provenance of the raw material used in the production of Avar-style belt fittings in general. For the first time, it was possible to locate the Early Medieval source of copper in the Slovak Ore Mountains, using lead isotope analysis.

K otázce vývoje a rozšíření pokliček a tzv. pokliček-misek v keramických okruzích střední Evropy ve středověku / Zur Frage der Entwicklung und Verbreitung von Deckeln und sogenannten Deckeln-Schüsseln in den mitteleuropäischen Keramikkreisen im Mittelalter

On the Issue of the Development and Spread of Lids and “Lid-Bowls” in the Pottery Circles of Medieval Central Europe</strong> The emergence and development of lids in the Czech lands in the 12th–14th century was part of the transformation of central European pottery. At the beginning of this process was a vessel with domestic origins and for which on the general level we cannot rule out a dual function – the “lid/bowl”. A variety of types of lids are encountered during the 13th century and their origins can be traced to the neighbouring German-speaking lands. The basic types of lids took shape in the 10th–12th century in south Germany, from where they spread around Bohemian-Moravian territory, where they arrived during the 13th century from neighbouring lands. In outlying areas (Austria, Saxony), the number of types was reduced to one or two main forms, which were also used the most in the Czech lands. It appears that lids emerged from the need to improve the process of food preparation. In several border areas and trade centres inclusive Prague, the transformation led from the late 12th century to the beginning of the 13th century to the advent of a specific habit and hybrid identity in the population that was also reflected in some components of material culture, including ceramics. Innovation in the field of ceramics took two main forms, and, among other things, the end of the transformation process in ceramics in the 14th century led to the predominance of bell-shaped lids throughout Bohemia and Moravia.

Heretical refugees and persecution of German Waldensians, 1393–1400

ABSTRACT Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long discussed the mobility and initiative of prosecutors – episcopal or mendicant inquisitors – as one of the main factors behind the intensification of anti-heretical activity during the 1390s and the early years of the fifteenth century. However, the mobility of heretical refugees produced by these inquisitions also constituted an important factor that helped to perpetuate anti-heretical violence. This article examines late medieval refugees by looking at two case studies involving individuals who left their home towns during the period of intensified persecutions of German Waldensians in the 1390s. Their itineraries demonstrate that Waldensian followers knew of the heretical communities in other cities and reveal the effect the refugees had on their host communities. Waldensian refugees contributed to destabilising local communities or attracting inquisitorial attention, which stoked religious violence and caused further waves of displacement.

Folk Songs and Material Culture in Medieval Central Europe: Old Stones and New Music by Nancy van Deusen

Reviewed by: Folk Songs and Material Culture in Medieval Central Europe: Old Stones and New Music by Nancy van Deusen Kathleen E. Nelson van Deusen, Nancy, Folk Songs and Material Culture in Medieval Central Europe: Old Stones and New Music (Studies in the History of Daily Life 800–1600, 6), Turnhout, Brepols, 2019; hardback; pp. xiii, 279; 23 b/w figures; R.R.P. €110.00; ISBN 9782503541327. This is a remarkable and rewarding book, one that will hold interest for a broad range of readers, including medievalists, historical musicologists, and ethnomusicologists. Professor of Music and the Louis and Mildred Benezet Chair in the Humanities at Claremont Graduate University in California, Nancy van Deusen’s publications span disciplines including historical musicology, music theory, and historical anthropology. In this book, van Deusen challenges commonly perceived boundaries between disciplines, inviting the reader to engage with the discussion and move beyond limits of specialization. Hungarian folk song is the focus, with the book drawing on the author’s long experience of research in Hungarian archives. Purpose and method are effectively introduced in the opening sentence of the author’s preface: The purpose of this book is to deal with the present through the attainments of the past, namely through a system of analysis using terms and concepts taken over from centuries of thinking and writing during Latin Antiquity, through what is now known as the European Middle Ages, enduring relatively unchanged well into the nineteenth century (p. xi). The many illuminating discussions include examination of the term ‘silva’ as used by Chalcidius in his fourth-century translation into Latin of Plato’s Timaeus, and the ways in which the term has been interpreted, demonstrating the fruitfulness of its re-examination; thorough consideration of the concept of type and how types are identified, relevant to the study on Hungarian folk song and more broadly; and her illumination of the musicological concept of form and its prominence since the mid-twentieth century in analysis, pedagogy, and writing about music. Van Deusen draws insightfully on her many years of research in archives of central Europe, especially in Hungary, as well as on her extensive knowledge of medieval music, and medieval and more recent philosophy. Thoughtful narratives or ‘vignettes’ of personal experiences during her research in and around Budapest are interwoven and serve to illustrate points. Chapter topics include ‘Herder and his Influence: A Background for Conceptualization’, ‘Historiography of Ideology: Conceptual Bases for the Collection of Folk Song’, ‘Old Stones, Useful Chunks: Working with Material’, ‘Methodology and the Question of “Types”’, ‘Transcription, Translation, Transmutation’, and ‘Nationalism and Folk Music’. A helpful glossary of mainly Latin terms is also provided. [End Page 283] Kathleen E. Nelson The University of Sydney Copyright © 2022 Kathleen E. Nelson

Márta Font, Gábor Barabás: Coloman, King of Galicia and Duke of Slavonia (1208–1241). Medieval Central Europe and Hungarian Power. (Beyond Medieval Europe.)

Márta Font, Gábor Barabás: Coloman, King of Galicia and Duke of Slavonia (1208–1241). Medieval Central Europe and Hungarian Power. (Beyond Medieval Europe.)

The Ascetic Measure: A New Category for the Philosophical Analysis of Self-Inflicted Pain as an Expression of Love for God

The paper identifies the measure of pain monastic Christian ascetics in medieval central Europe inflicted on themselves to express the right measure of love for God. I ask whether the measure of pain had significance; whether a ratio existed between the measure of pain ascetics experienced and the measure of love they expressed; how self-inflicted painful acts enabled the epistemic achievement of expressing the right measure of love for God; what made the right measure such; and what was the difference between ascetics and martyrs regarding the measures of pain and love respectively. Providing answers to these questions, unaddressed in existing studies, is the main contribution of this paper. While addressing them, I present a new category, the category of measure, for philosophical analysis of the old religious phenomenon under discussion. This category allows me to demonstrate that the measure of pain had significance and that there was an adequacy ratio between the measure of pain monastic ascetics experienced and the measure of love they expressed. It also lets me argue that the right measure of pain for expressing their love for God, following His example, was the exposure of blood, regardless of its quantity.

How Joannites\u2019 economy eradicated primeval forest and created anthroecosystems in medieval Central Europe

During European states’ development, various past societies utilized natural resources, but their impact was not uniformly spatially and temporally distributed. Considerable changes resulted in landscape fragmentation, especially during the Middle Ages. Changes in state advances that affected the local economy significantly drove trajectories of ecosystems’ development. The legacy of major changes from pristine forest to farming is visible in natural archives as novel ecosystems. Here, we present a high-resolution densely dated multi-proxy study covering the last 1500 years from a peatland located in CE Europe. The economic activity of medieval societies was highly modified by new rulers—the Joannites (the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller). We studied the record of these directorial changes noted in the peat profile. Our research revealed a rapid critical land-use transition in the late Middle Ages and its consequences on the peatland ecosystem. The shift from the virgin forest with regular local fires to agriculture correlates well with the raising of local economy and deforestations. Along with the emerging openness, the wetland switched from alkaline wet fen state to acidic, drier Sphagnum-dominated peatland. Our data show how closely the ecological state of wetlands relates to forest microclimate. We identified a significant impact of the Joannites who used the novel farming organization. Our results revealed the surprisingly fast rate of how feudal economy eliminated pristine nature from the studied area and created novel anthroecosystems.

Multilingualism in Greater Poland court records (1386–1448): tagging discourse boundaries and code-switching

This paper introduces the Electronic Repository of Greater Poland Oaths, eROThA (1386–1446), a digitisation project of a diplomatic edition of mediaeval land court oaths recorded in Latin and Old Polish, resulting in a small, lightly tagged specialised bilingual corpus. We present the background, aims, design and methodology of the project. We also discuss the problems and limitations entrenched in turning a printed diplomatic edition into a machine-readable diplomatic edition equipped with a new interpretative layer that is sensitive to the switches between Latin and Old Polish. In addition to the automatic annotation of code-switched items on the basis of typographic characteristics of the printed edition, flexible coding of recurrent language and discourse boundary phenomena has been introduced manually to account for linguistically ambiguous or neutral forms. The project offers a fully multilingual corpus, as well as customised Polish-only and Latin-only datasets, and enables filtered metadata searches in the online front-end. Overall, the report presents a methodology for constructing multilingual corpora in the context of legal cultures in medieval Central Europe that may be extrapolated to datasets originating in other periods and regions.

Quam ecclesiam in honore sancta Marie Virginis intitulari volumus: Study on the Kłodzko Monastery of Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the Pre-Hussite Period by Pavel Otmar Krafl

Reviewed by: Quam ecclesiam in honore sancta Marie Virginis intitulari volumus: Study on the Kłodzko Monastery of Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the Pre-Hussite Period by Pavel Otmar Krafl Thomas A. Fudge Krafl, Pavel Otmar, Quam ecclesiam in honore sancta Marie Virginis intitulari volumus: Study on the Kłodzko Monastery of Canons Regular of St. Augustine in the Pre-Hussite Period, trans. by Miroslav Košek (Canonici regulares sancti Augustini, 1), Brno, Středoevropské centrum slovanských studií, 2018; hardback; pp. 93; ISBN 9788086735191. Since the Potsdam conference at the end of World War Two, Kłodzko has been part of Poland. In the Middle Ages, it belonged to the Kingdom of Bohemia (as Kladsko), though there were bitter conflicts because Poland also claimed the town. Modern Kłodzko lies ninety kilometres south of Wrocław, 150 kilometres north [End Page 265] of Brno (the capital of Moravia), and 200 kilometres east and slightly north of Prague. These relevant details are absent from the book and the author takes for granted that Western readers are au fait with Central European geography. The volume could benefit from the inclusion of a map. Established formally on 25 March 1349, the Augustinian cloister emerged as a key font of culture in late medieval Central Europe and played a significant religious and political role in the history of Bohemia. Between the 1330s and the outbreak of the Hussite Revolution, the Canons Regular of St Augustine were a major influence in the Czech territories. These religious houses were centres of education and artistic achievement. For scholars of religious renewal it is worth noting that the Devotio moderna found receptive soil amongst the Augustinians. Czech bishops seemed to favour the order and many of the monasteries established in the Kingdom of Bohemia owe their foundations to episcopal influence. This slim volume seeks to emphasize the role of the Kłodzko canonry in the period leading up to the Hussite movement. Pavel Krafl is among the very best scholars equipped to deal with the topic, having established himself over the past twenty years as a leading scholar of Czech religious history, publishing numerous papers, essays, monographs, and editions in areas related to the present study. The bibliography lists no fewer than twenty-seven items from his pen. In late medieval Czech history, the Hussite uprising forms a dividing line in the historiography. This is true of this book and its author adheres to that demarcation. The entire district of Kłodzko plays a role in the history of Hussites but that is not part of the present study. In the period between its foundation and the Hussite movement (c. 1350 to c. 1415) numerous conflicts involving the religious house and the community can be observed. Beyond these, extant records reveal numerous internal disputes that convulsed the Kłodzko canonry. The book comprises a brief introduction, a substantial survey of sources, and relevant historiography including editions of monastic records, encyclopaedias, synthetic studies, monographs, and essays. This enables the reader to situate the present volume within the larger body of scholarship. This introduction is followed by chapters dealing with the foundation of the Augustinian house at Kłodzko, especially the role of Ernest of Pardubice, archbishop of Prague, an elaboration of the canonry and its sphere of operations, an explanation of the law of patronage and its relation to incorporated churches, a discussion of the important dispute with the Hospitaller commandery (Order of Saint John), and a delineation of the election of provosts in the pre-Hussite period, complemented with brief treatments addressing the jurisdiction of the provost and prior over members of the convent, and disputes between the Augustinian provost and the convent. One of the longer chapters deals with the confraternities of the convent followed by a prosopographical survey up to the Hussite period. Krafl presents the reader with brief allusions to a number of particularly interesting and piquant notes from the sources. These include an archiepiscopal mandate against anyone wishing to attack the monastery or rob the Augustinians, [End Page 266] and a decree issued by King Charles IV enlarging the judicial immunities enjoyed by the Kłodzko canonry. The most interesting element...

Jewish Physicians in Late Medieval Ashkenaz

Summary Medical writings written by Jews in late medieval Western and Central Europe demonstrate that although Jews were excluded from universities, the medical world outside of the universities was open to them. Jewish medical writers relied on Latin and vernacular sources and often they wrote in German. Emphasising the importance of knowledge of authoritative books, they attempted to secure their social standing by demonstrating that they confirmed to the generally accepted social norm that required physicians and surgeons to rely on learned medicine. Nevertheless, only a few Jewish medical practitioners wrote books.

Waste Management and Attitudes Towards Cleanliness in Medieval Central Europe

Abstract The paper deals with the relationships between people and waste in the Middle Ages, primarily in urban environments in Central Europe. At the center of interest are the attitudes of the inhabitants of medieval cities towards cleanliness and a description of different waste management practices. This paper also describes an experiment using ashes to launder clothing as one possible use of a particular waste material.

Topographies of the afterlife: Reconsidering infant burials in medieval mortuary space

Across societies, deaths which take place in early infancy often trigger distinctive responses in burial practices, signifying the ambivalent social status of those who died before they really lived. This paper focuses on burial practices in medieval Central Europe pertaining to children who died before, during or shortly after birth. It discusses the relationship between medieval laity, ecclesiastic power and social space, using three medieval cemeteries in Switzerland and Austria as examples. By integrating considerations of medieval practices of infant baptism, afterlife topography and social theories of space, a methodological and interpretative framework is outlined and employed for approaching burials of early-deceased infants, the social dimension of related local burial practices, and processes of power negotiation between medieval laypeople and church authorities.

Growth and health status of children and adolescents in medieval Central Europe

Subadult growth and health have been analyzed in three cemetery samples from medieval Poland, including two early-urban sites: Cedynia dated to the 10t–14th centuries AD, and Ostrów Lednicki dated to the 13th–15th centuries AD, and a rural site Słaboszewo dated to the 14th–17th centuries AD. The nutritional status was not expected to have substantially differed among the settlements, due to the culturally induced undiversified diet of children, and predominant share of medium-to-low status individuals. However, city life and village life were supposed to differ in factors correlated with the spread of infections, and as such it was expected to find significant differences in respiratory health among early-urban and rural dwellers.The prevalences of diet-dependent diseases, scurvy and rickets, were found to be statistically indistinguishable among the three studied populations, while higher frequency of skeletal signs of poor respiratory health was observed in early-urban Cedynia than rural Słaboszewo. Slightly lower prevalences of skeletal stress indicators were found for the rural than the early-urban site. Skeletal growth profiles and the dynamics of long bone growth were found to be remarkably similar for the early-urban samples (Cedynia and Ostrów Lednicki), with the rural subadults having the shortest diaphyseal lengths, and lower growth dynamics.It can be concluded that adverse factors associated with the urban settlement were more detrimental to respiratory health than those in the village. A variety of factors are potentially responsible for this pattern, including population density, building structure, quality of air and water, sanitation, and occupation. Perhaps, the key factor in response to environmental and socio-cultural constraints was the stability of living conditions in the village, which allowed the inhabitants to develop sufficient adaptive mechanisms. In contrast, the history of strongholds such as Cedynia was changeable due to political situation, military threats and migrations of people.

Frictions and Fictions of Community

This article analyses structures and representations of power in late medieval Central Europe between 1350 and 1500. Using the examples of the medieval kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, the study describes and compares social structures and their political implementation, fora of political discourse, achievements in constitutional and theoretical writing as well as codification of laws and privileges. The focus on “community” as a key term in the political discourse allows shedding light on modes of distributing political powers, the reciprocity and interconnections of political players and the development of notions of political representation. Against this background, the article presents the formation of structures and representations of power in late medieval Central Europe as a highly dynamic process, revealing both fictions and frictions of community.

Procedure, rules and meaning of political assemblies in Late Medieval Central Europe

SUMMARYThis article discusses procedure, rules and meaning of political assemblies in Poland, Hungary and Germany in the second half of the fifteenth century. During the reigns of Casimir IV (1447–92), Matthias Hunyadi (1458–90) and Frederick III (1440–93), general assemblies were regularly called by the ruler in order to negotiate and decide matters of the realm together with the political community. With regard to current debates about the ways to study pre-modern ‘cultural political history’, this article describes and compares logistic and institutional conditions, including aspects concerning the composition, procedures and contemporary pictures of the assemblies.

Origins of Political Change. The Case of Late Medieval Guild Revolts

This study investigates the origins of the guild revolts in late medieval central Europe. At first, using newly compiled city level data, their temporal evolution and spatial distribution is discussed. Afterwards, the paper provides a historical discussion and empirical analysis of their origins. The results show that pre-existing city-level political institutions and location in a large territorial state were important for the emergence of late medieval guild revolts. Furthermore, the agricultural productivity of the region around a city matters in a negative way confirming the role of the late medieval agricultural crisis in the outbreak of the revolts. Other important factors are a city’s urban environment and market potential, its degree of autonomy and its commercial, industrial as well as political importance. This suggests that economic change can trigger political changes. I also found evidence for the existence of spatial spillovers from the developments in neighboring cities implying that rational strategic considerations played a role in the spread of the revolts.

Urban and rural infant-feeding practices and health in early medieval Central Europe (9th-10th Century, Czech Republic).

In the Central European context, the 9th and 10th centuries are well known for rapid cultural and societal changes concerning the development of the economic and political structures of states as well as the adoption of Christianity. A bioarchaeological study based on a subadult skeletal series was conducted to tackle the impact of these changes on infant and young child feeding practices and, consequently, their health in both urban and rural populations. Data on growth and frequency of nonspecific stress indicators of a subadult group aged 0-6 years were analyzed. A subsample of 41 individuals was selected for nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses, applying an intra-individual sampling strategy (bone vs. tooth). The isotopic results attest to a mosaic of food behaviors. In the urban sample, some children may have been weaned during their second year of life, while some others may have still been consuming breast milk substantially up to 4-5 years of age. By contrast, data from the rural sample show more homogeneity, with a gradual cessation of breastfeeding starting after the age of 2 years. Several factors are suggested which may have been responsible for applied weaning strategies. There is no evidence that observed weaning strategies affected the level of biological stress which the urban subadult population had to face compared with the rural subadult population.

Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals High Frequency of European Lactase Persistence Allele (T-13910) in Medieval Central Europe

Ruminant milk and dairy products are important food resources in many European, African, and Middle Eastern societies. These regions are also associated with derived genetic variants for lactase persistence. In mammals, lactase, the enzyme that hydrolyzes the milk sugar lactose, is normally down-regulated after weaning, but at least five human populations around the world have independently evolved mutations regulating the expression of the lactase-phlorizin-hydrolase gene. These mutations result in a dominant lactase persistence phenotype and continued lactase tolerance in adulthood. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at C/T-13910 is responsible for most lactase persistence in European populations, but when and where the T-13910 polymorphism originated and the evolutionary processes by which it rose to high frequency in Europe have been the subject of strong debate. A history of dairying is presumed to be a prerequisite, but archaeological evidence is lacking. In this study, DNA was extracted from the dentine of 36 individuals excavated at a medieval cemetery in Dalheim, Germany. Eighteen individuals were successfully genotyped for the C/T-13910 SNP by molecular cloning and sequencing, of which 13 (72%) exhibited a European lactase persistence genotype: 44% CT, 28% TT. Previous ancient DNA-based studies found that lactase persistence genotypes fall below detection levels in most regions of Neolithic Europe. Our research shows that by AD 1200, lactase persistence frequency had risen to over 70% in this community in western Central Europe. Given that lactase persistence genotype frequency in present-day Germany and Austria is estimated at 71–80%, our results suggest that genetic lactase persistence likely reached modern levels before the historic population declines associated with the Black Death, thus excluding plague-associated evolutionary forces in the rise of lactase persistence in this region. This new evidence sheds light on the dynamic evolutionary history of the European lactase persistence trait and its global cultural implications.