Medieval Town Research Articles

Kinship, gender and the spiritual economy in medieval Central European Towns

ABSTRACT The present contribution starts from the debate about kinship as a social institution in medieval Europe initiated by Jack Goody's pioneering anthropological work in the 1980s and drawn upon by historians and anthropologists alike. We focus on the aspect of the allegedly systematic separation of kinship from the organization of memory of the dead brought about by the establishment of Christianity. However, throughout the European Middle Ages families did not completely cede memorial tasks to religious institutions. Rather, they re-affirmed memorial bonds to religious institutions by legal arrangements and through family members within these communities, just as kinship continued to play a key role in medieval political organization. Given their social heterogeneity medieval cities provide a rich documentation of networks across ties of family, kinship, friends, and clients that intersected with more institutionalized communities (parish churches, monasteries, hospitals). People bestowed economic benefits on these communities in return for their members' “eternal” prayer for the donators' souls. This created mutual bonds both between kin and religious communities. The ensuing forms of belonging were part of a more complex frame of social exchange, as families used the same institutions as “hubs” to corroborate social and political relations to their peers. These bonds would intersect with ties between representatives of kin groups with positions in key political organizations such as city councils. A further clue to understanding these relations is gender. Economic transactions and related memorial practices feature a considerable number of female actors underlining the salience of bilateral kin relations and practices of property devolution.

The Oath of a New Burgess from the Comparison Point of View

The Oath of a New Burgess from the Comparison Point of ViewThe role of immigration in the life of the late medieval and early modern town was important. A key part of this process (and best captured in the sources of urban origin) was the integration of a new burgher into existing urban social and economic structures. Like most of the power-economic relations of this time, the individual-burgher relationship to the group was based on mutual guarantees confirmed by an oath taken by a newly-accepted member. The essay will focus on the relevance and usability of early modern and modern codifications of urban oaths to explore the development of urban structures in the late Middle Ages and Early Modernity. It will also focus on comparing the content of the oath of the new burgher both in the general context of the oaths used in the urban environment and in the context of the specific development of the urban community in the area under consideration (Silesian and north Moravian towns based on Magdeburg rights) compared to the situation in the Western part of Holy Roman Empire.

Zooarchaeology of Tver Kremlin (12th–18th centuries, Tver, Russia)

AbstractThe paper is focused on the comparative zooarchaeological analysis of one of the Russian medieval strongholds. Animal bones originating from the sediments of the Tver stronghold (Tver Kremlin), accumulated over the period of its existence (12‐18th centuries), are analysed. The composition and nature of the bones of animals from Tver Kremlin correspond in general to those from strongholds of other medieval cities of Russia's forest zone. The basic set of bones and characteristics of animals from the Tver Kremlin are similar to bones and animals from medieval Tver town. At the same time, some features characterize the Tver Kremlin as a status place. The paper provides the first chronological breakdown of the substantial zooarchaeological assemblages from the excavations at Tver.

La ciudad de León: contradicciones y avances en la economía urbana medieval

Whith me definition of a new framework of production, the mediaeval town was to be mediatized in its organisation, structure and historic facture by the contradictions inherent in feudal economy. The continuation of mis was based on the levyng of feudal rent as the specific was ofappropriating surplus products. One method of increasing the said rent was by fomenting the commercial activities and trades which had begun to be organised in the town. At the beginning they were activities that formed part of the feudal economy, but their very projection as productive, mercantile activities implied elements capable ofdisolving the economic system that was encouraging them. This led to a great contradiction, in which the medioeval urban process took root.León cannot strictly he said to he a commercial town in which the contradictions resulting fron a feudal economy in an accelerated process of disolution reached an extreme; however, the essential elements that make up the model of a mediaeval town can be identified in the particular phenomenology analysed: a structural conflict with complex interweaving between social groups, a guild structure which was not only growing but also had aspirations towards autonomy, and the institutionalisation of bodies to manage and control the new economic activities, such as the «Fuero» (jurisdiction), the «Ordenanzas» (code of laws) and the various local council regulations.

Mendicant Orders in Sibiu/ Hermannstadt in the First Half of the 16th Century

The 16th century life of a medieval Hungarian town differs from its previous history, being conditioned by circumstances unthought of before: the defeat of the Hungarians by the Ottomans in 1526, the death of the Hungarian king during the battle, the conflicts between his “rightful” successors and the rise of the Lutheran Reformation. Transylvania, namely Sibiu, as part of the Hungarian kingdom did not meet any different conditions during this century. Our analysis strives to emphasize the fate of the mendicant orders – Dominican and Franciscan – in Sibiu in these particular times by first showing what it meant for them to develop cloisters here, where they were located in relation to the fortified town and the events of the 16th century that eventually led to their dissolution and the banishment of the friars.

Раскопки на городище Эски-Кермен в 2019 г.

2019 archaeological studies allow to define the layout of the central part of the medieval town on Eski-Kermen plateau, Crimea. The central part of the town included the main basilica with a square approximately 5 m wide in front of it. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the last period of the town’s existence, the western part of the square was closed by a parapet made of massive limestone blocks. Behind the parapet were residential quarters with two-storey tiled manors. The project resulted in the discovery of evidence preservation of religious life on the plateau and in the 14th century. In slab-graves cleared out in 2018–2019 the archaeo­logists first discovered a silver coin of Ozbeg Khan, coined in 1320–1341, as well as golden earrings (the 14th century) in the shape of a question mark, and a clay jar (the 14–15th centuries). All graves of the first half of the 14th century were dug in a destruction stratum dated late 13th century. Probably, after most quarters perished in fire, the townspeople continued resi­ding in a central part of the town. Most likely, at the end of the 13th and 14th centuries a chapel was added to the main basilica. In 1930s the researchers found by the basilica a tomb model of the 14th century cross-in-square temple carved from local limestone now kept in Hermi­tage museum.

Tracing the Trigger of Social Change in the Medieval Town through Imported Food, Objects, and their Biographies

Quantitative analysis of imported artefacts and ecofacts is a method often applied to study trade networks and cultural contacts of the medieval town. Even though such studies may be indicative, th...

The Water-Use of Mining Towns and Their Villages in Medieval Hungary: The Example of Kremnica

The paper addresses the long-term impact of mining towns and the villages under the authority of these towns on the waterscapes in the northern mining area of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (presentday Slovakia). The paper focuses on the privileging practices of the settlers of villages founded by burghers of a medieval mining town, Kremnica. The paper argues that analysing Kremnica’s practice in settling the towns’ surroundings may on the one hand shed light on the privileges of the settlers of the town itself, and on the other, be crucial to understanding a previously neglected environmental impact of mining in pre-modern times. The paper argues that while charters of privilege provided to mining towns seldom refer to the freedom to exploit water, the towns’ settlers did use the waterways to their benefit. In arguing for this the paper discusses the freedoms of the settlers’ villages of Kremnica in the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries. The freedom of settlers – or the leading of the settling process – led to an increased pressure on waterways in mining town areas that had lasting consequences on the landscapes of these regions.

The Dedication of Churches in the Medieval Towns of Prussia

This article discusses the practice of dedicating churches to saints in cities on the territory of the state of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. Special attention is paid to three church groups — parish churches, churches owned by monastic orders — Dominicans, Franciscans, Cistercians and Augustinians — Heremites, as well as cathedrals in the capitals of the bishoprics of Kulm, Pomesan, Warmia and Sambia. Among the most popular patron saints was the Virgin Mary, which was due to her patronage of the Teutonic Order as well as the cultural influence of the Hanseatic cities, and her veneration in certain mendicant orders such as the Cistercians. Other popular saints included St Peter and St Paul, and St Nicholas, who also acted as the patron saint of merchants. St Adalbert was also worshipped locally, due to his missionary work in Prussia. Patrons of the churches were also venerated in medieval Europe and were introduced to the region during the process of Christianization.

Archaeobotanical Remains from the Medieval Town of Braničevo (Serbia)

Archaeobotanical Remains from the Medieval Town of Braničevo (Serbia)

The Middle Ages in the Landscape of the Present-Day Pereslavl-Zalessky

Among ancient Russian towns, Pereslavl-Zalessky stands out for the rare preservation of its historical town-planning structure. The basis for such estimation is provided by the evidence of sources on the town’s history during the 12th — 17th centuries and a comparative analysis of cartographical documents of the early modern time. The views on the formation of Old Russian towns and assessment of the factors affecting the town-planning have recently undergone considerable changes. The comparison of historical and archival as well as archaeological evidence with the present-day topography of Pereslavl allows us to trace the modification of the planning structure that has retained not only separate architectural objects of the 12th — 17th centuries but also parcels of the medieval town layout. The article presents examples of the ‘exceptions to the rule’ during the execution of a regular plan at the end of the 18th century that, together with historical evidence on the composition and occupations of the trading quarter’s population, permit to more precisely determine the historical peculiarity of Pereslavl.

Предварительные результаты исследования антропологического материала из гробницы 1 однонефного квартального храма на плато Эски-Кермен

In 2018, the joint expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the History and Archaeology of the Crimea Research Centre of the V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University continued the long-term systematic excavations of a residential quarter of the mediaeval town located atop of Eski-Kermen plateau. The regular research uncovered new rooms in the previously excavated mediaeval buildings with adjacent areas of the main and streets and a wall of a previously unknown church with tomb I annexed to it. The researchers of Crimean medieval Christian monuments have paid attention to a great variety of burial traditions connected with constructions of burials and the ways of using them. As a rule, the majority of mediaeval burial constructions at Eski-Kermen plateau were continuously used throughout a long period. The given paper examines the material obtained from tomb I annexed to the wall of an aisleless church. In the tomb under study, there are skeletons of some of the buried persons laying in anatomic order. All the bones of the individuals buried in the tomb occurred within this burial construction. The preservation of bone remains can be evaluated as satisfactory. In the course of work, quantitative and sex-age-related characteristics of the buried persons have been determined; the analysis of palaeopathological conditions has been made; a number of non-metric features has been documented. Epigenetic features more often appeared on the cranium bones; it is possibly connected with the preservation of the bones of postcranial skeletons. Among pathological developments, diseases related with teeth-maxillary apparatus are most common. Diseases of locomotor apparatus have been documented on the bones of vertebral column and big joints of long bones of arms and legs of all sexually mature individuals. Some changes typical of the Forestier disease have been recorded at the backbone of one of the buried male individuals. Pathological changes caused by iron-deficient conditions, inflammatory processes, and changes of osseous tissues connected with physical overexertion of osseous apparatus caused by extreme physical burden have been recorded among those who were buried in tomb 1. Only one traumatic lesion has been documented at the new material.

Access to Courtrooms in the Late Medieval Town Halls of the Low Countries

Access to Courtrooms in the Late Medieval Town Halls of the Low Countries

Elements of Medieval Town in Indian and Pakistan City Borders: Case of Amritsar and Lahore

The article presents various elements of the medieval cities of Lahore and Amritsar which are at an approximate distance of 51 km. These two-share various similar characteristics and patterns and were part of one state, Punjab. Although, the borders have been divided in India–Pakistan partition of 1947, still the urban fabric of both cities remains the same, and they share common features and elements. The common pattern and themes will be discussed by the author. This article briefly analyses the elements of both cities and attempts to bring out the similarity between the two.

Interfaces and Crossroads, Contexts and Communications: Early Medieval Towns in the Syr-Darya Delta (Kazakhstan)

In the late first millennium ad , the Aral Sea region comprised two broad cultural zones: in the south the civilizations of Central Asia, in the north the steppe nomads. On their interface, in the delta of the Syr-Darya, there is an isolated cluster of urban sites, including Dzhankent. Fieldwork results show that in the ninth to eleventh centuries ad this site was a fortified urban settlement, but it had a predecessor from the sixth/seventh century onwards. Urban design and finds indicate close links to the southern civilization of Khwarazm, but also to local populations and Turkic nomads. It is suggested here that Dzhankent may originally have been a Khwarazmian trading post, later serving as nomad winter quarters while continuing as a transhipping point on the crossroads of two important trade routes. Location and functions also raise questions about the application of emporia typologies to this case.

EARLY SGRAFFITO WARES FROM THE TERRITORY OF TODAY’S BULGARIA (11TH – 12TH CENTURIES)

The sgraffito pottery production flourished in the Byzantine Empire during the late 11th and 12th centuries. During this period, the Bulgarian territories were occupied by the Empire, which facilitated the penetration and wide distribution of Sgraffito Wares. The South Bulgarian lands had always been a buffer zone and a way of transmission for Byzantine culture, goods, and influence. Sgraffito vessels are discovered not only in Bulgarian medieval towns and fortresses but also in small villages, convents, and seasonal settlements. The sgraffito plates found in them find exact parallels in Byzantine centres like Corinth, Athens, Sparta, Pergamon and, of course, the capital of Constantinople. Furthermore, some of the specimens have no analogue, and there is indirect evidence that somewhere in today’s South Bulgaria, there used to be local sgraffito production centres. This work will present and review all of the published materials from the territory of today’s Bulgaria, as well as some unpublished sgraffito pottery from South Bulgaria’s museums.

Особенности числовых пропорций плана Эски-Керменской базилики

This paper presents the results of the research of the planning structure of the basilica of the Early Byzantine castle and mediaeval town located on the plateau of Eski-Kermen in the mountainous area of the Crimea (late sixth to the late thirteenth century). In the eleventh or twelfth century, three polyhedral apses with pilasters typical of the Middle Byzantine cross-inscribed churches were added to the eastern part of the basilica, thus greatly changing the appearance of the original basilica, which reconstruction now causes certain difficulties. However, it is quite obvious that this structure belonged to the same type of basilicas featuring the nave and two aisles, one narthex, wooden raftering, and most probably one semi-circular or faceted apse. The designers of the basilicas of Cherson and Eski-Kermen most likely used the system of numerical proportions, uncovered by an architect and architectural historian Hans Buchwald. Although the ground plan of the basilica of Eski-Kermen contains numerical proportions of all three variants of the proportional system of the basilicas of Chersonese, it is not possible to attribute the basilica of Eski-Kermen to one of the said variants. Its central part, or naos (1:1 o.c./cl.) corresponds proportionally to the “shortened” basilicas of Chersonese (3rd variant of the proportional system). However, the proportions of the naos with the apse or narthex (2:3 cl./o.c.) are comparable with the basilicas of Chersonese with “medium” proportions (2nd variant). It is related to the enlarged volumes of its chancel and narthex. Although the set of numerical proportions of the basilica of Eski-Kermen is individual, almost all of them have analogies in the early Byzantine architecture of basilicas, especially in Chersonese, the administrative and religious centre of the south-western Crimea. The specificity of the planning structure of the basilica of Eski-Kermen are explained, primarily, by its small size and the need to extend the space of the chancel and narthex. The possibility of combining numerical proportions in the building of basilicas indicates that the set of these proportions was not strictly regulated, so they were chosen according to the specific conditions and needs.

Physicochemical Studies of Glazed Ceramics of 10th – 16th Century Kyrgyzstan

Aphysicochemical analysis was undertaken of fragments of medieval glazed ceramic found at different times in medieval towns located in the Chui, Talas, and Kochkor Valleys of Kyrgyzstan. The samples of glazed ceramic were studied by means of x-ray fluorescence and microscopic analyses. The physicochemical studies of the ceramic glaze from different archaeological complexes on the territory of Kyrgyzstan made it possible to identify the colorants and their features as well as the coloring technology and to note important moments in the historical development of the Gonchar crafts associated with the history of glazed ceramics in the countries of Central Asia.

Plant use in Muslim Spain: Preliminary results from the medieval town of Madīnat Ilbīra

The paper presents preliminary results of archaeobotanical studies carried out at the Madīnat Ilbīra site in Spain. The functioning of the town, which was the capital of one of the administrative districts (kūras) of al- Andalus, falls in the period between the second half of the 9th century and the 11th century. However, the analysed soil samples were collected from archaeological contexts dated mostly to the last decades of the 10th century and to the 11th century. The samples yielded an interesting set of data about the preserved plant remains. Although the taxonomic diversity of the plants is not high, the analysis revealed remains of naked and hulled wheat (emmer wheat), millet, poppy seeds, perhaps peas, cucumber or melon, and grapevine. Although crop plants played an important role in the everyday diet of the town inhabitants, wild plants also were probably collected and used. The latter are represented in the analysed materials by, for example, wild strawberry, common mallow and common purslane. The preserved charcoal remains confirm the use of different species of wood as fuel.

‘Empty’ space in Central European medieval towns through an interdisciplinary perspective

AbstractEmpty, abandoned or covered with vegetation – such areas were inherent to the medieval urban space, yet remain overlooked in research. Here, we describe three major types of ‘empty’ space of various origins and functions in Central European towns and suggest how these types can be investigated and interpreted through an interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, written, pictorial and cartographical sources. We propose a simple interdisciplinary protocol to trace empty spaces in the urban context. This study will help to change our perception of medieval urban space into one that is more dynamic and heterogeneous than commonly believed.