Младшите членове във владетелските домове на сърби и хървати през IX век

Author(s): Yanko Hristov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1-2/2016

Researches on the past of Early Medieval Balkans have challenged scholars for many decades. The results of those efforts are visible and acknowledged. To a certain extent peculiarities are caused by the historical database. Narratives which described the ninth-century Western Balkans are not so plentiful. However the well-known treatise De administrando imperio written by emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913/945–959) reveals important features. They concern emergence of principalities among the Serbs and Croats. Undoubtedly, depicted forms of early medieval political life are relatively primitive. One of the main reasons for such a qualification is the encroachment upon the rulers facilitated by an absence of certain lineal inheritance.

Сведения за българите в Житието на свети Фантино Млади от X в

Author(s): Vassil Gjuzelev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2012

The article analyzes three pieces of information from the above-mentioned Life, which refer to the history of the Bulgarians in the second half of the 10th с 1. The prophecy St. Fantinus made in 965 on the capturing of the city of Larissa in Thessaly by the 'enemies' - Bulgarians. 2. His prophecy made in Thessalonica (between 965-967) about a divine prevention of the Bulgarian attack against the city and its vicinities. 3. The story of a miracle with a Thessalonica servant, which happened after the Saint's death (probably in 986). The data from the Life provide new information about the Bulgarian-Byzantine relations during the reign of Peter (927-969) and Samuil (986-1014). The data's introduction into science adds new facts to the history of Bulgaria of the 10th с.

Consideraţii referitoare la practica falsificărilor de acte în Transilvania (sec. XIII-XVII)

Author(s): Susana Andea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 54/2015

Forgery of charters was strictly related to the phenomenon of writing and to the increasing value of the written document in the society. Medieval forgeries were usually fabricated within various institutions of the church, the normal environment that made use of literacy in the middle ages. In Transylvania, as well as all over Europe, not authentic acts had as purpose obtaining, enlarging and preserving unlawful rights and benefits. Researches regarding the internal structure of those documents issued mainly in the earlier medieval period demonstrate that a higher concentration of falsified acts is to be found in the 13th Century (11% of the entire surviving documents). Afterwards, this percentage paradoxically decreases to 4% or even to 1% for the following centuries. Regarding the later stage of development of the literacy in Transylvania, the Principality (16th-17th Centuries), it has to be stressed upon an obvious lack of appropriate research. A certain development of literacy in Transylvania in the latter period was followed by a wider use of various forms of counterfeit legal texts, which reached even the lower levels of society, a phenomenon that can be described as a “vulgarization” of the fabrication of official documents.

The Relationship Between Land and Power in Terterid Bulgaria: a Comparative Study of the Appanages of Eltimir and Smilets

Author(s): Jake Ransohoff / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2011

Modern scholarship has tended to frame the reign of George I Terter (1280-1292) as the apogee of Bulgaria's "time of troubles". To support this interpretation, advocates of the "Terterid decline" paradigm point to more robust Nogai Tatar raiding across the Danube during this period, as well as to the emergence of new semi-autonomous elite estates in regions previously under the direct authority of Tarnovo. Characterizations of the "Terterid decline" rest in part on the assertion that land tenure served as the primary foundation of political power in late-thirteenth century Bulgaria, as they interpret the number of newly-minted appanages emerging in George Terter's reign as indicative of increased political dissolution. However, the actual relationship between land and power during this period remains largely unclear. Most assessments of George I Terter are content to take the growing number of appanages in his reign as quantitative indices of the weakness of the central government, without any more detailed examination of how those appanages differed from one another in the circumstances of their emergence, and in their relations with Tarnovo. In light of such continued ambiguity, the present study attempts to better understand these relationships by comparing two of the largest appanages to emerge in Terterid Bulgaria: that of the despotes Smilets based around the fortress of Kopsis; and that of George Terter's brother, the despotes Eltimir, based around the fortress of Kran. Such close comparison reveals key differences in the origins of each appanage, and their dispositions vis­ a-vis the Bulgarian crown. These differences, and their implications for our understanding of the so-called "Terterid dissolution", constitute the main focus of the following pages.

A kolozsvári Szent Erzsébet-ispotály levéltárának középkori oklevelei

Author(s): András W. Kovács / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: III/2016

The present study publishes the excerpts of the sixteen medieval (pre-1542) documents preserved in the archive of Saint Elizabeth’s almshouse in Cluj (Kolozsvár) (1366–1539). Some of these documents already appeared in print but later a few of them were considered lost. The charters presented in our study can be found in the Cluj Branch Archive of the Roman-Catholic Archbishopric of Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár) and concern mainly the donations made to the almshouse, among which a mill in Cluj and several parts of the nearby settlement Mera/Méra (County Cluj), which came into the possession of the almshouse in 1366 and 1525, respectively.

Цар Петър и характерът на неговия култ

Author(s): Bistra Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2009

Relying on the main sources describing the reign of Tsar Petar (927-969), viz. information from Byzantine historians and contemporaries as well as from the Bulgarian apocryphal chronicle, the article reviews the conditions for the emergence of his cult. The main traits of the presentation of Tsar Petar as a saint are outlined and his rank in the hierarchy of sainthood is determined. The author discusses examples that highlight his qualities as a wise ruler and a protector of the Christian faith and praise his personality. This positive picture is projected on his kingdom and enhances the prestige of the Bulgarian ruler at the Byzantine imperial court. Special attention is paid to liturgical texts as the most important source for the cult of a saint. The typological analysis of the cult of Tsar Petar is followed by a critical assessment of the various opinions expressed in the scholarly literature with regard to the time and the place where the Service for Tsar Petar originated as well as the process of canonisation. Various strands in the characterisation of Tsar Petar in his cult are analysed, and possible contaminations with another cult are discussed. Of particular interest are arguments in favour of the hypothesis that the Service for Tsar Petar is the basic source for his cult and that the cult is monastic. The opposite thesis, according to which the cult is rather imperial and political (since it relies on the unity of holiness, power, and people as well as on the main traits of the political doctrine of Bulgaria under Tsar Petar), is presented as well. The analysis allows for the conclusion that the cult represents different tendencies, none of them being dominant. It is therefore impossible to describe the cult as belonging to one of the traditional types (monastic, hieratic, cult for a hermit, a desert saint, a teacher, a ruler).

Színe-virága. Francia–magyar kapcsolatok a középkorból

Author(s): Laura Fábián / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2015

Györkös Attila – Kiss Gergely (szerk.): Francia–magyar kapcsolatok a középkorban. Debreceni Egyetemi Kiadó, Debrecen, 2013. 352 oldal

Добавки към тълкуването на шуменските надписи и рисунки-графити

Author(s): Nikolaj Ovčarov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 4/1997

This article is devoted to four interesting inscriptions and graffito drawings discovered during the excavations of the Shoumen Fortress. The drawing, which probably refers to the 9th–10th c., represents a female figure surrounded by human and animal images. The first of the inscriptions is cut together with a schematic drawing on the broken bottom of a ceramic vessel. This is a prayer of a sort in which the artist Yoan notes that he wrote on the day of Sts Constantine and Hellene. In the second inscription, which seems to be of an apotropaic character, a certain Vlad, godfather of Teto, forbids people to eat from his щебръ (a deep vessel for keeping liquid food). These two inscriptions reflect certain interesting details from the popular dialects of the 12th–13th с. (the same sounding of ь and ѧ: denasalization of the “jer“ vowels; inconsistent use of the prothetic j). At variance with them, the third inscription, is of an official character. It is in a very poor state of preservation, but it is understood that it concerns the building of the кѹла (the inner citadel) of the big Shoumen fortress during the late 12th and early 13th с. There are quite numerous pieces of historical information about it, and the archaeological excavations have shown also its well-preserved ruins.

Към въпроса за култа на Архангел Михаил в средновековна България

Author(s): Dimo Cheshmedziev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/1996

In the article is interpreted the passage in the Bertinian Annals written by Hincmar of Reims in which is mentioned the appearance of seven clergymen before the Bulgarian Prince after his coming out from the city gates. The view is backed by arguments that in this case the scene is filled with liturgical meaning and what the author had in mind was the group of the seven archangels. The information about the development of the cult of archangels in Bulgaria is examined, the Byzantine texts about the victory of Prince Boris over the adherents of paganism in revolt are analysed and the view is expressed that in the Bertinian Annals was reflected the legend based on the Apocalypse.

NIŠ I VIZANTIJA – Trinaesti međunarodni naučni skup Niš

Author(s): Vasilj Jovović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2015

NIŠ I VIZANTIJA – Trinaesti međunarodni naučni skup Niš, 3-5. jun 2014., Zbornik radova XIII, Niš 2015, 550 str.

Marijan Premović, ŽUPA BUDIMLJA U SREDNJEM VIJEKU

Author(s): Radenko Šćekić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2015

Marijan Premović, ŽUPA BUDIMLJA U SREDNJEM VIJEKU, Državni arhiv Crne Gore, Cetinje, 2012.

Building a Capital City in the Balkans

Author(s): Grigor Boykov / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2016

Cities in the world of Islam have long attracted scholarly attention because their emergence and development were the subject of debate beginning from the earliest works of the “French Orientalist school”, published in the first decades of the twentieth century. Historians used a variety of methods to study urban centers in the territories that were once controlled by Muslim rulers. Some studies emphasized the irregularity of planning and structure in the urban fabric of the “classical” Islamic cities, and attributed it to a gradual, but progressive degradation of an earlier grid plan inherited from the Antiquity. Others examined the geographic, social, and economic factors in Islamic cities’ development and underlined the unique identity of each urban center, which was naturally also influenced by varying historical circumstances.

Consideraţii asupra relaţiilor vlaho-bulgaro-bizantine între 1197 şi 1204

Author(s): Vasile Mărculeţ / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2015

In 1197 Ionitsa (Kaloyan) Asen came to the throne of the Second Bulgarian (or the Vlach-Bulgarian) Tsardom. Having ascended to the throne, he inherited strained relations with the Byzantine Empire. During the first two years of reign the new tsar did not engage in military actions against Byzantium. In this period of time he consolidated his internal positions, strengthened the relations with the Cumans and had made alliances with two other Vlach rulers, Dobromir Chrysos from Macedonia and Ivanko from Thrace, who rebelled against Byzantium. Around 1199 Ionitsa Asen resumed the war with the Empire, opposing her possessions in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle Danube and northern Macedonia. During these campaigns the Vlach-Bulgarian sovereign attached to his possessions lands lying between Vidin and Belgrade. Along with the resumption of hostilities against Byzantium in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula, the allies of the ruler of Tarnovo – the Vlachs and the Cumans from Northern Danube attacked the Byzantine possessions in Thrace. Between 1199 and 1200/1201 they attacked this region for several times. In the spring of 1201 Ionitsa Asen started his own military campaign against Byzantine possessions in Thrace, during which he conquered the strongholds of Konstanteia and Varna. In March-April 1201 he signed a peace treaty with the Emperor Alexios III Angelos. Under this treaty, both sides defined the boundaries of their possessions. The treaty did not normalize relations between Tarnovo and Constantinople and they continued to be strained. Both sides violated it on various occasions.

Проучвания върху Брашовската грамота на цар Иван Срацимир

Author(s): Stoyan Maslev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/1991

The Hephthalites: iconographical materials

Author(s): Aydogdy Kurbanov / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The article focuses on iconographic materials that may be relevant to the Hephthalites who lived on the territory of Central Asia and neighboring countries in the 4th-6th centuries AD. In the 5th-6th centuries the Hephthalites created a great empire. It should be noted that these materials are very scarce, even the dating is approximate and often inaccurate. However, the author tried to interpret data available from various sources related to the Hephthalites, despite the fact that some major questions still remain open to debate and will likely remain so.

Дипломатическая переписка царя Симеона с императором Романом Лакапином

Author(s): Emil Alexandrov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/1990

Jacques Le Goff: Az értelmiség a középkorban, Osiris Kiadó, Budapest 2000, 5-245.

Author(s): Attila Daly / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2016

Parallele in den sozial-okonomischen Verhaltnissen der mittelalterlichen balkanischen Staaten

Author(s): Dimitar Angelov / Language(s): German Issue: 3/1989

Средновековният град Вичина на дунавския остров Пъкуюл луй Соаре. По следите на една хипотеза

Author(s): Stamen Mihaylov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/1989

Campania împăratului Ioan Tzimiskes în Bulgaria din anul 971. Un model de soluţionare a conflictelor pentru actualele superputeri

Author(s): Alexandru Madgearu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 5-6/2016

The campaign led by John Tzimiskes in Bulgaria against Svyatoslav in 971 could be considered an example of conflict resolution and peace-building, according to the terminology of the present military science (the concepts are usually applied to modern international and civil wars). The complexity of that conflict involving, besides the Byzantine and Rus’ armies, the Bulgarians who were fighting in coalition with both parts, required a step by step conflict resolution, a particular way to treat with the enemy. For instance, Tzimiskes gave amnesty to those Bulgarians who fought on the side of the Rus’, before the end of the siege of Dorostolon. He wished to be seen as a liberator of Bulgaria (the capital Preslav conquered by the Rus’ in 968 was occupied by the Byzantine army during the 971 campaign). Later on, the emperor permitted the retreat of the enemy from Dorostolon, but ensuring a future alliance with the Pechenegs to prevent other invasions. For a present-day superpower like it was the Byzantine Empire in the 10th century, the evolution of this conflict provides some lessons of peace-building, such as the temporary recognition of the legitimate ruler of the invaded state (Boris II was freed by the Byzantine army), and the amnesty for those internal forces who fought on the side of the enemy. The victory of 971 was followed by an administrative organization that split in several parts the territory of Bulgaria, but this kind of conflict resolution proved to be not successful to annihilate the revival of that state after five years, by a rebellion in a peripheral area. This is another lesson for the present powers who are settling fundamentally different administration in a defeated country.