We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The Macedonian Scientific Institute* (MSI) found the conclusions of the Report of the International Crisis Group, published in December 2001, highly surprising. The fact that contemporary renowned retired politicians are members of the private organization presupposes the emergence of a document of maximum competency that would offer new ideas to the international community about the future settlement of the Macedonian issue.
More...
The article analyses the life and work of Gottfried Albrecht Germann (1773–1809), the first professor of natural history in general and botany in particular at the University of Tartu after its reopening in 1802. He was born in Riga in 1773. After graduating from the local Cathedral School, he went on to the University of Jena. Next, he studied at the universities of Würzburg, Berlin and Kiel. At the latter institution, he also defended his doctoral dissertation. After return from Germany, Germann worked as a medical doctor with Count Jacob Johann Sievers, whose home manor was at Bauņi, Livonia. While in Sievers’ employ, he resided in St. Petersburg, Bauņi and Valmiera, and accompanied the former on his trips. On 24 February 1802, Germann was selected to serve at the University of Tartu. His main occupation was teaching, but he also bore the burden of founding the Chair of Natural History and the Botanical Garden. At the University, Germann lectured general natural history and various narrower specialities for 12–16 hours per week. In addition, he took an active part in the life of the University and in the diverse activities of the professors. While at the University, Germann also undertook several trips. These covered the provinces of Estonia and Livonia and the Finnish part of Russia. Germann’s research involved ornithology and botany. In addition, he compiled catalogues of botanical garden collections. He died young, yet was able to leave an altogether meritorious mark as a teacher of the University of Tartu with his work and activities.
More...
The study was conducted to clarify the current understanding of the situation on the Bosporus during the reign of Aspurgus (14/15—37/38 AD). The objects of study were the coins of this sovereign, lapidary inscriptions in the texts of which he was mentioned, as well as monuments of fine art: reliefs of the Ara Pacis and a portrait of the king from Panticapaeum. Reasons have been identified that prompted Aspurgus to issue coins with monograms, rather than a legend containing his name and title. In the course of the study, it was concluded that this ruler was one of the younger representatives of the Sapaeans and Zenonids house related to Julii. He accepted the title of a great king and agreed to be deified in order to legitimize his power on the Bosporus.
More...
The aim of this work is the multi-factor analysis of motivational priorities which English privateers and pirates had in the second half of the 16th century in their naval battles with the Spanish fleet. The historical context allows to explain different impacts of material and spiritual motives on their behaviour in a new way. It has been concluded that religious motivation was essentially weaker than economic one, both among the robbers and among their promoters. The increased role of the economic incentives became possible due to the harsh economic crisis in England and popular rumours about extremely great loot taken from the Spanish ships. On the other hand, spiritual stimuli were weakened by the lack of the religious unity of the English nation, and, respectively, of the English mariners. In particular, the current study has shown that there were not only Protestants and atheists but also secret Catholics in the crews that plundered the Spaniards.
More...
Ioan Opriș, Patrimoniul cultural național între lege și fărădelege, București, Editura Stefadina, 2018, 149 p. by Claudiu Purdea
More...
Reverend Ivan Vyshenskyi (1530-1620) was an Orthodox eremite and a famous Ukrainian writer-polemicist of the second half of the 16th century – early 17th century. This period in the history of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was marked by the events associated with the decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to break with the Eastern Orthodox Church and enter into communion with, and place themselves under the authority of the Pope of Rome in 1596. The Saint expressed a number of essential features of the worldviews (and, partly, of the civil position) of the part of the Orthodox Church that did not compromise on the question of the Union. His attitude to Roman Catholicism, after the events of the Union of Brest, was extremely negative. There is some biographical information about the monk’s life, especially before his departure to Mount Athos. During his youth, he lived in South-Western Rus’, where the worldview movements gave rise to a minor cultural revival in polemical literature. In this literature, a significant place is occupied by the work of Reverend Ivan.
More...
In 1658 the Transylvanian Prince, Akos Barcsay, conceded to the Ottoman Empire important Western regions of his realm, including the Banat of Caransebeș-Lugoj and the fortress of Ineu. The inhabitants of Caransebeș saw this political change as a turning point in their lives and in the history of the local community. Before the Ottoman conquest, the town of Caransebeș was ruled by a small Romanian aristocracy, attached to a set of values inspired by Reformation or Catholic propaganda. After the conquest, most noble families took refuge in the neighbouring areas, especially in the Hațeg - Hunedoara region. For most of them the new Ottoman regime was a disaster that brought to an abrupt end a Golden Age. As they felt themselves abandoned, they imagined their past as a glorious age of welfare and prosperity. For more than thirty years the documents issued by the refugees are an impressive testimony of the emotional impact triggered by the experience of losing their “motherland”. Thus,one could understand why, once the province came under the Habsburgs’ rule in1688, the local community obliterated any memory connected to the Ottoman domination. However, a second Ottoman conquest in 1699 forced a brutal separation with the past, as the local nobility began to search for a new identity within the Habsburg controlled territories of Hungary and Transylvania.
More...
Léonard Revilliod, born in Geneva in 1786 and temporarily living in Odessa (since 1809) where he had set up, together with an associate, an agricultural and animal husbandry company, travelled during the summer of 1811 in Iasi and Bessarabia. His main purpose was to purchase sheep for the business he had just started. His trip to Iasi has been recorded in a yet unpublished travel log, which can be found at Archives d’État de Genève. This relatively long visit (which started on July 14th and ended on October 25th) indirectly highlights the nature of this Romanian province capital which was, at the time, under Russian occupation. Revilliod’s notes during the short time he has been staying in Iasi (July 16th – August 8th 1811) are extremely compact, while the details regarding the surroundings in which he stayed almost three weeks are quite reduced. Nevertheless, even from Revilliod’s scarce depictions,we can still draw some impressions on how the city looked like, the local habits, certain events and especially the personal profile of some people who accompanied the Genevese during his trip, with whom he interfered or even barely met…The depiction of the people and places is not out of the ordinary and it can be added up to the other travelers’ and visitors’ notes concerning the Romanian Principalities, as they share the same conclusions: the beginning of a modernization process (to be more precise, an Europeanisation one) of a social elite and, generally speaking, of a society caught between two ages and also two regions – East and West – with all the consequences derived from this situation.
More...
This short article is an unpublished contribution proposed by Şerban Papacostea to a large-scale collective work, planned in the early 1980’s by the Institute for South-Eastern European Studies. The project, entitled The Place of Romanians in the Universal History, aimed to make use of one of Iorga’s suggestions, hence its title. Şerban Papacostea accepted to collaborate and to submit an article, which was discovered by Andrei Pippidi, one of the editors of the abandoned project, in his personal archive. Professor Pippidi kindly accepted to write a brief notice and to explain the scholarly and political context of the original project. Şerban Papacostea declined the initial invitation to write about the Romanians’ connections with Poland-Lithuania, but chose instead a topic that interested him the most: the national foundations of the two medieval states, of Wallachia and Moldavia. This brief study, rather a draft than a concluded version, brings to light a long-forgotten scholarly project. Additionally, it helps the understanding of Şerban Papacostea’s historical thought by making known an intermediary sketch of his ideas on the national roots of medieval Wallachia and Moldavia.
More...
The Bulgarian nation is one of those which emerged and settled at the earliest, among a number of others inhabiting Europe. It established itself as a nation towards the late 9th and the early 10th cc. with its typical features: common language, specific material and spiritual culture and clearly expressed self-awareness which found its outlet in the ethnonym Bulgarians.
More...
On 29 May 1996 a General Assembly of the MacedonianScientific Institute (MSI) was held which was attendedby 39 out of 70 members. The Assembly elected its GoverningBody composed of: Prof. S. Radev - Chairman, Res. Assoc.A. Grebenarov and Sen. Assist. V. Kitanov - Secretaries, andMariana Vitanova - Mutine-Writer.
More...
The paper discusses in detail "the affairs" which,apart from the enormous damage and losses suffered by therevolutionary deed, taught the revolutionaries to be morecautious and on the alert. The fact should be kept in mindthat most of these "affairs" were organized by the Serb andGreek propagandas which literally betrayed the active peoplefighting for the Bulgarian cultural and national liberation tothe Turkish authorities.
More...
The collective memory on the twentieth century totalitarianisms is still a topic that divides Europe, both the elites and society taking part in this controversy whose consequences are reflected in the long-term projections on the democratic model. The ascent of political radicalism in recent years has given rise to positions taken by traditional parties (both left and right), which call on the historical memory to condemn these trends. The adoption by the European Parliament of the „Resolution on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe”, at 80 years since the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, provides us the opportunity for a study on the different perceptions by the Member States of the European Union, on the recent historical past. The main research question is the following: is the European approach to the history of the 20th century objective or equitable, or - on the contrary - is the result of a forced, unilateral condemnation of the past, without taking into account the details and subtleties that can bring a real release from the burden of this past? This article attempts to answer these questions by analysing the most visible and important aspects of the collective historical memory, expressed at European level.
More...
Historical image studies have been used successfully in analysing, for instance, representations of «otherness». Despite of its certain restrictions, the approach can also be used in studying phenomena that are more complex. In this article, two recent case studies, both concerning Russian historiography and the formation of national narratives, are shortly discussed in order to ponder upon the applicability of the method in examining collective perceptions of the past. The first case is about the formation of the historiographical image of the borderland monastery of Valaam. The second one examines the development of the collective ideas concerning the battle of Kulikovo (1380). It can be said that in the image formation of Valaam, the emphasis is on spatiality, religion and contested frontier, whilst in the case of Kulikovo imagery, the ideas of temporality, national significance and active, unified resistance prevail. What is common for both case studies, however, is that the formation of the imagery has been intertwined with contemporary political issues of each given time. The process has had a full support of the power structures. Also, there is strong undercurrent of National Romanticist thinking connected to both of the cases. Both of the imageries have been formed anachronistically, in hindsight. Especially in the case of Kulikovo this phenomenon has a central role: the idea of the medieval battle as a crucial turning point is a prime example of explaining history in the light of contemporary knowledge and the prevailing ideological undercurrents. In both cases it is possible to analyze and trace the formation of separate images of certain scenes, turns and figures, and on the other hand, examine them as a whole imagery.
More...
Ethnic variety is a sign of a community’s difference and cultural richness. Turkey hosts many different ethnic communities, who have made significant contributions to its cultural richness. Laz community is an important oen of such communities. This study has been carried out in order to shed light upon the cuisine, language and culture of this community. The main aim here is to record and maintain the cultural elements about this community, which is about to be forgotten. The sources of the study is comprised of eight persons, of Laz origin, living in Trabzon, Rize and Artvin provinces. Special attention is paid in order to do the study with people, who are not degeneretad, still maintaining their culture and ethnic characteristics. Therefore, we attempted to find people who still speak the Laz language, and celebrate the special days of the culture. In the collection of data, semi-formal interview technique was used. During the interview, questions about their language, local cuisine and culture were asked. Some questions were generated depending on the answers they gave. The data collected from the interview were recorded. Asa result of the study, it was understood that they still have a wide variety of foods, which they keep on making at home, and various cultural paractices. It is also discovered that their cuisine practices have influenced the general cuisine of Black Sea region to a large extent. Yet, the number of studies carried out about this community is very small, which has limited the wscope of this study.
More...
The great Hungarian erudite, Albert Szenci Molnár (1574–1634) kept his own correspondence and official documents in a volume. The tome was inherited by his son, from whom it became the possession of the English erudite Isaac Basire (1606–1676), and afterwards it was found in the archive of Cathedral chapter of Alba Iulia. During the middle of the 19th century it was in the property of Zsigmond Szathmári Pap (professor at the Reformed College in Cluj), later his widow sold it to count József Kemény. Kemény had disassembled the volume into sheets, organized the letters chronologically, rebound it and bestowed it to the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Although there were 65 autograph letters written by important personalities of the Reformation from the 16th century, like Jean Calvin (1509–1564), Théodore de Beze (1519–1605), Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562), Girolamo Zanchi (1516–1590), Theodor Bibliander (1505–1564), Johann Jakob Grynäus (1540–1617), Johannes Oporinus (1507–1568), Pierre Viret (1511–1571), Jean Crespin (1520–1572) etc., these are missing from the new volume. The conclusion of our research is that these autograph letters originated from the collection of Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575), and Szenci received them from Bullinger’s grandson.
More...
From all Transylvanian theologians accused of spreading Arminianist, Pelagianist or universalist theology in the Transylvanian church history the most prominent was András Huszti, a famous former law professor in Cluj. Research have dealt with many aspects of his life, but there are unsolved questions left regarding his heterodoxy. The personality of the former lawyer is more interesting than his contemporary colleagues’, namely József Makfalvi’s and Sámuel Nádudvari’s. His field of interest was vast, from linguistics to law, from theological to archival history. Research has confirmed that András Huszti was a universalist theologian, whose ideas were criticized by the synod of Deva. From international perspective, however, he belonged to the enlightened and rationalistic current of orthodoxy; therefore, he considered it natural to deal with the doctrine of predestination from a new perspective, the doctrine that was the basis of the reformed orthodoxy.
More...