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 present publication contents the reports of William Gifford Palgrave, the British Consul-General in Bulgaria after the liberation of the country from the Ottoman yoke in 1878, to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Foreign Secretary (1878–1880), three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the leader of the Conservative Party. The reports are preserved in the National archives in London. An experienced diplomat, Palgrave was the first among the European delegates to come to the new capital Sofia. The task of the European diplomats was to observe the creation of the Bulgarian administration, to examine closely the Provisional Russian Administration and to contribute to the interests of their governments. An important aspect of Palgrave’s mission in the Principality was his presence and observation of the meetings of the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo in 1879, which was convened in order to adopt the Organic law (constitution) of the new state. Palgrave excels as a diplomat and often turned out to play an active role in the reconciliation of the hostile groups and continuation of the debates. He was able to become deeply acquainted with the Bulgarian national character, which helped him in his diplomatic activities in the country. Palgrave followed the instructions of his government, sticked to the decisions of the Congress of Berlin and opposed the Russian policy in the Balkans and at the same time tried to attract the Bulgarians on the British side and to recognize the interests of the minorities.
More...
The review of published materials of modern Bulgarian history on the pages of the Journal “Epohi”shows that they reveal in an objective and documentary complemented way different problems from the political, economic and spiritual life of the Bulgarian society. It can reasonably be argued that Epohi succeeded in establishing itself among the scientific community as a historical journal open to presenting different scientific points of view and exhibiting argued topics of debatable in historiography subjects by professional historians from Bulgaria and abroad.
More...
This publication presents information on the relations between Russia, the Orthodox East and Bulgarian lands in the 15th and 17th centuries. During the period under study, Russia was the only independent Orthodox state that gradually grew into an empire and naturally claimed the Byzantine heritage. The Russian rulers manifested themselves as major contributors to the Eastern churches within the Ottoman Empire. In this context, a number of high-ranking representatives of the Orthodox East have appealed for alms (assistance) to the Russian authorities. Some of these priestswere also acting as political agents and informants of the Moscow authorities.
More...
For the past 30 years Fredric Jameson’s name has been so inextricably tied to the fate of postmodernism that his recent work on modernity and modernism has been interpreted by some critics as a “retreat” from the cutting edge of contemporary cultural theory to politically regressive and imperialistic notions of modernity. For some of us, however, Jameson’s recent work marks a welcome return to what he always did best, writing about modernism. The “Preface” to A Singular Modernity (2002), however, seems to exhibit a marked weariness on Jameson’s part to returning once again to all those old undesirable issues that it had been “one of the great achievements of postmodernity” to have discredited (1). It is not just the renewed interest in notions of modernity in popular political and academic discourse that concerns Jameson but, I want to argue, a much older “dispute in the politics and philosophy of history.” What remains at stake for Jameson in these “undesirable” issues of modernity and modernism is the fate of socialism’s emancipatory project in light of the seemingly irresistible triumph of global capital.
More...
In January 1863, an uprising started in all parts of the former Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania that had been annexed by Russia. The uprising was of particular interest to Irish nationalists, who made a number of parallels with the Irish situation and used Polish examples in their political discourse. Two Irish politicians visited Poland at that time: William Smith O’Brien, a former leader of Young Ireland, and the young Tory M.P. for King’s County, John Pope-Hennessy. This article discusses their visits and compares and contrasts their personalities and political views. It examines relevant aspects of the historical context by using both Polish archival sources and coverage by Irish nationalist papers.
More...
This article deals with a pair of old ethnographic maps made by a Bulgarian officer (bearing the rank of Captain at the time) named Anastas Benderev (1859–1946). The maps were first published as folding attachments in Benderev’s book Military Geography and Statistics of Macedonia and Its Adjacent Territories on the Balkan Peninsula (Voennaia geografiia i statistika Makedonii i sosednikh s neiu oblastei Balkanskago poluostrova), which itself was published in Russian in Saint Petersburg in 1890. The stated purpose of the maps was to elucidate certain passages from the book, particularly those pertaining to the population’s ethnic composition. One of the maps (Etnograficheskaya karta Balkanskogo poluostrova) depicts the ethnicities across the entire Balkan Peninsula, while the other (Etnograficheskaya karta Makedonii) focuses on those within the confines of the historical and geographical territory of Macedonia. Due to a confluence of events, the maps in question are barely known and hardly ever used nowadays, even though they represent valuable relics from the era. This article aims to reintroduce them into the scientific discourse as historical documents of note.
More...
The article focuses on a short period of Petko Slaveykov’s political and literary biography. The circumstances surrounding his forcible exile in the summer of 1881 have been traced on the basis of letters, literary works, and original archival documents. Observations on the psychological state of an unjustly removed politician from high state positions show his personal maturity and ability to survive in difficult sit¬uations. Some of the ideas defended by Petko Slaveykov in the summer of 1881 have been considered from a historical perspective. It has been shown that his judgment of people and events was generally adequate, and that his prediction of a future collapse of the authoritarian princely regime was reasonable. Although temporary removed from political life, Petko Slaveykov maintained his contacts with friends and like-minded people. He was well informed about the course of events in the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The published letter to Prince Alexander I shows his civil courage and faith in liberal ideas. The role of the family in the difficult times of trial and exile is described through letters from his son Ivan. Some of the literary works created by Petko Slaveykov in the summer of 1881 in the ‘prison’ of his own house in the town of Tryavna are also mentioned. The full texts of two unpublished documents are attached – manuscripts by Petko Slaveykov from September 1881.
More...
In 1879, when Alexander von Battenberg became ruler of Bulgaria as a compromise decision of the European powers in their search for balance, he faced a difficult situation. It took him a lot of strength to handle the different crises. When the long-term break with Russia occurred, he tried to achieve the cooperation of Germany. He had friends in Berlin, but he also had even more powerful enemies. The analysis of sources that have not yet been evaluated on the topic shows that Alexander I waited with hope for the change of the throne in Berlin. This is because the political plans of the Crown Prince’s family were also connected with Bulgaria and his career. A high-level political game began, which put Alexander at the centre of the politics of the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck for years, as well as of European relations. This power struggle, marked by intrigues and threats, was to end in the defeat of Alexander and his allies. The Bulgarian ruler was forced to abdicate, not so much because of his own mistakes, but as a result of the conflicts among the Great Powers and their efforts to maintain balance. The whole situation had negative consequences for Bismarck’s political course as well.
More...
The article provides a brief overview of E. T. A. Hoffmann's reception in Bulgaria – translation, literary, theatrical, film reception. Special attention is paid to its presence/absence in different periods of Bulgarian culture. The aim is to briefly present the Bulgarian contribution to the “Hoffmann” theme, in the context of the 2022 commemorations of the 200th anniversary of his death. A special focus is placed on the Bulgarian participation in the E.T.A. Hoffmann's Year in Germany.
More...
The religious aspect of a conflict like the Prusso‑Austrian War of 1866 may at first sight seem marginal and not very interesting. With pronounced exceptions, the subject has never been the subject of research by many authors who have otherwise literally broken the conflict down into micro‑parts and described in minute detail most conceivable phenomena of a military‑historical nature. Although the conflict could certainly not be classified as a religious or confessional war, the transparent dichotomy between the Catholicism of the Austrian Empire and the Protestantism of the Prussian Kingdom has inspired – especially in the German‑speaking world – many analyses. These are, however, exclusively structuralist texts, and the analysis mentioned in them tends to be rather quantitative. In our contribution, we would like to focus on an otherwise completely overlooked phenomenon, namely: the personal experience of (dis)belief, the reflection of confessional differences and the (dis)observance of ritual against the backdrop of a dynamic period of wartime conflict. As a source base we will use contemporary memories, memoirs, or chronicle records of ordinary people, soldiers, but also church leaders.
More...
Review of: Tadeusz Wojciech Lange, Przeoraty – baliwaty – komandorie. Zakon św. Jana Jerozolimskiego i jego placówki na terenie Polski, Wydawnictwo Inforteditions, Szlakiem krucjat, XIII, Zabrze-Tarnowskie Góry 2021, ss. 257.
More...
The paper focuses on the elements of civilization manifested in the Romanian Principalities during the Phanariot regime. The most visible aspects, such as the clothing, the arrangement of the living space, the gastronomy, the leisure forms, but also the least obvious ones, and by these we mean the mental reflexes, circumscribe the Oriental model. The Eastern origin values that govern the existence of the native nobility lead to an authentic lifestyle that we can define by a tendency towards excess, delight, sensuality, materialism, vanity, relaxation of morals. Each of the aforementioned features derives as a natural conclusion from the analysis performed.
More...
Petre Gârboviceanu (1862-1934), an important personality for Romanian cultural and political life, was a pedagogue, teacher and director of the Normal Primary School for Boys in Bucharest from 1889 until the end of his life, politician, author, translator, preface writer and text editor. He was also active as a teacher in theological education, often dealing with certain religious issues in his speeches. At the beginning of 1929 he was honored at the Central Seminar in Bucharest for 41 years of activity, on this occasion the work Tribute to Petre Gârboviceanu (Bucharest, 1929) was published (Pl. II/1, 3). In his personal library, of approximately 10,000 volumes, P. Gârboviceanu collected books from his youth and donated manuscripts and valuable works to The Romanian Academy Library from an early age. In 1932, he inaugurated the Normal School library building in Bucharest, which was called the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library, its core being his donation of over 5,000 volumes, as well as complete collections of Romanian periodicals. In a study published in 2004, signed by P. Grigoriu, it was stated that the inventory of the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library reached over 20,000 volumes, but the collections were later dispersed to other institutions.In 1949, the Pedagogical School in Bucharest, the successor of the Normal School, donated the entire collections of the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library to the Romanian Academy. In the archive of the Romanian Academy Library two documents were recently discovered, which shows that the delivery of the books was completed on November 21, 1949. At the same time, an inventory register of the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library, of 113 pages, was also published in 2020, in which are noted 9,190 book titles, followed by 310 magazine titles of the former library. All of them are part of the Romanian Academy Library's heritage.Through the present study, we bring to attention several dozen modern Romanian books and old periodicals from the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library, which are kept in the special collections of the Eco-Museum Research Institute “Gavrilă Simion” Tulcea. These copies, printed in the 19th century, come from the Library of the Romanian Academy through a transfer from 1979-1980. The publications are identified by three interrelated elements: the oval stamp «The “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library. Founded 1932», applied to the title pages; label «B. “P.G.”» with the quota and inventory numbers of the books, applied on the inside of the cover or on the spine; Book covers with gold stamping on the spine, “Bibl. P.G.” or “B.G.” (Pl. I/1-4).Regarding the books, 37 volumes of modern Romanian books were identified in the collections of Tulcea, which were part of the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library. All bear the stamp of the library founded in 1932, the label «Bibl. “P.G.”», also the stamp of the Library of the Romanian Academy. There are situations in which the quota on the label «Bibl. “P. G.”» was cancelled, and the share of the book from the collections of the Romanian Academy Library was moved below. Among the various titles we mention: Vasile Alecsandri, The fountain of Blanduzia, Bucharest, 1884; Theodor Codrescu, Collection of various documents that can serve the history of the Romanian, vol. XXIV, Iasy, 1895; The history of the Romans, translator I. Fătu, vol. I, Galați, 1853 (Pl. III/1-3).A few volumes of periodicals are also kept in Tulcea, which bear the stamp or label of the “Petre Gârboviceanu” Library. These titles can be found in the inventory register kept at the Library of the Romanian Academy, to which we referred previously. There are newspapers, broadsheets or magazines from the 19th century, such as The Romanian Bee. Political and literary newspaper and The week. Village sheet (Pl. IV/3-4). The books and magazines from the library that bore his name, “Petre Gârboviceanu”, regardless of which collections are kept today, define both a great teacher, publicist and a politician who loves the country and the Romanian values.
More...
Before the effective methods of treatment and prevention of plague infections and all other infectious diseases were known, attempts were made to treat them with natural means. The effective in the treatment of blight, among others were considered the following plants: angelica (Angelica archangelica), valerian (Valeriana officinalis), pimpinella, (Pimpinella sp.) common tormentil plant (Potentilla erecta), and also onion and garlic. Knowledge about medicinal plants was gathered in herbaria. The largest Polish Renaissance herbarium was the Zielnik by Szymon Syreniusz, published in Krakow in 1613. This work describes over 800 plants, only some of them were used against the plague.The aim of the work is to investigate which medicinal plants were indicated by Syreniusz as effective means in combating the pestilential air, what properties were assigned to them and how they were be used.
More...
The article represents a catalog of Orthodox brotherhood school lectures. Among the lecturers from brotherhood schools was a big group consisting of of Greek sages. The most famost among them was egzarh Kirill Lukaris, Dionisios Rallu – Kizikos metropolitan, Nicephor Parashes Kantakuzen – the envoy of the Constantinopole patriarch, Emmanuel Achileos – religious polemist, the monk Teofanis, Eustachy Nathanael who came from Crete and Emmanuel Moschopulos and Paisius Ligardis – orthodox metropolitan of Gaza.
More...
Slavery is an institution that has existed on earth for thousands of years. The slavery system, which deprives people of their rights and freedoms, has a deep-rooted history dating back to the Ancient Period. In the institution of slavery that emerged in the Medieval Period in Russia, while the slave class was composed of people from different races who were captured in wars, this situation changed with the country's transition to an economy based on agriculture, and it is seen that the peasant people started to be enslaved. In the XI. century, during the time of the Kievan Rus, there were no unfree peasants, but in order to increase the number of soldiers to be used in the wars to expand the borders of the country and, of course, the material power of the army, peasants were needed and taxes began to be collected from the them. Peasants were settled in the new places won in the wars, and these peasants were given land to operate by the state and encouraged to engage in agriculture. The state received taxes in return for the lands given to the peasants. The increase in taxes collected over the years has led to the development of new tax conditions and discrimination among the peasants according to their income. Towards the XIV. century, all peasants were bound to the state and subjected to tax liability, and the first step was taken towards slavery. In the XVI. century, the peasants were officially enslaved by being tied to the land and the state, with the law codes. With this feature, the slavery system in Russia differs from the slavery systems in other world countries. While people of other races were used as slaves in other world countries, Russian states enslaved their own people, their own peasants and ran their entire economy through them. The institution of slavery in Russia has been the country's main economic resource for centuries. As a result of the enlightenment and humanism movements that emerged in Western Europe and had an impact all over the world, the slavery system in Russia was abolished with the effort and influence of the country's leading intelligentsia only in the time of Alexander II.
More...
The slavery system was one of the ways in which human labor was arranged throughout history. The slave had to be suitable for the work he/she would be performing, strong, and able to provide the labor and energy the system needed. Slaves who possessed the necessary qualities were regarded in the economic and social system as disabled or ill, in accordance with law. The main objective of this article is to categorize qualities of disabled slaves subject to sale cancelation cases in 17th century Crimean Khanate according to ethnicity, gender, health and aesthetics, and to analyse the commercial and legal problems caused by these disables. The main database of the article is the Crimean qadi registers and the fatwas issued by Ottoman Sheikh al-Islams.
More...
The article presents selected sources concerning the dates of occurrence and the number of victims of the epidemics in Gdańsk in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Among the sources are the data published by the municipal authorities of that time and early modern chronicles. They are juxtaposed with modern historical research. On this basis, the periods when Gdańsk was afflicted by plagues are determined with a high degree of probability and erroneous information that has been hitherto used the literature on the subject is indicated.
More...