The Historical Methodology of Anna Komnene: A Case Study of Book XII Chapter 3 of the Alexias

Author(s): Koichi Inoue / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2015

In this paper we examine Anna Komnene’s editorial procedure in Book XII chapter 3 of the Alexias and reappraise her historical methodology. We investigate the two dates at the end of XII.3.1, which are incompatible: the indiction does not correspond to the regnal year. Our investigations come to the following conclusions: Anna composes XII.3 using reliable sources, Alexios I’s official letters and court logbook; both of the dates originate in the trustworthy imperial documents that she consulted; the discrepancy between the two, commonly regarded as a mistake made by Anna, was caused by editorial work on the text after her death. As far as we can tell from XII.3, her method of historical composition is entirely clear and this suggests that the Alexias is a reliable historical source.

Мироточиви гроб светог Симеона у Студеници – нови поглед

Author(s): Danica Popović,Marko Popović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 52/2015

The latest results of the investigation of the royal tombs at the monastery of Studenica, Serbia, have inspired a reconsideration of the place of burial of some members of the Nemanjić family. There is further evidence that the tomb and sarcophagus of the ktetor, Stefan Nemanja, formed part of the original design for the church. Based on their construction and comparative material, it is assumed that the relics of St Symeon, upon their translation to Studenica, were laid in the sarcophagus from which they exuded myrrh. The myrrh-exuding of St Symeon is looked at against the broader background of cult practice in the Byzantine world.

Харизма и ауторитет: скица за хагиографски портрет светог Саве

Author(s): Smilja Marjanović-Dušanić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 52/2015

The paper analyses hagiographical strategies used by the writers of St. Sava’s vitae, the purpose of which was to delineate clearly the principal features of the saint’s portrait. Their main concern was to confirm Sava’s personal charisma and to convey a sense of his saintly authority. The focus of the paper is on the hagiographical techniques of imitation such as comparing the hero to biblical models and telling stories of his miracles that repeat the miracles of Christ himself and the most important saints. The paper devotes particular attention to those sections of the vitae that describe Sava’s wielding institutional authority, and it is precisely here that there are notable similarities between Teodosije’s vita and his hagiographical model, the vita of St. Sava of Jerusalem by Cyril of Skythopolis.

Egységesítés az ítélkezés által (Észrevételek a pápai kiküldött bírók 1189 előtti apuliai tevékenységéhez)

Author(s): Claudia Alraum / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2017

The article deals with questions concerning papal delegated jurisdiction in the Southern Italian region of Apulia, from its first detectable appearance in the 12th century until 1189. Mainly analyzing papal mandates of delegation issued to local prelates, the study focuses on how papal delegations were developed, implemented and used especially in ecclesiastical institutions in the archdioceses of Trani, Bari, Brindisi, and the exempt diocese of Monopoli. Thereby, it discusses the unifying and standardizing capability of papal jurisdiction after and during the 11–12th-century curial reforms. The issuing of papal mandates of delegation began considerably later (and was of lower quantity) in this region than in other parts of the Latin Church, as the first of the 17 mandates issued in the analyzed period dates back to the pontificate of Pope Alexander III. However, thematic analogies of the cases are indicated. Several papal charters were issued during a case tried by judge delegates, and certain specialists for different cases can be identified amongst the Apulian judge delegates. In general, it can be assumed that the Roman curia, as well as the ecclesiastical institutions of Apulia under Norman rule, needed time to develop and test new ways of organizing ecclesiastical jurisdiction and that a certain level of integration must have already been established prior to the new jurisdictional procedures.

Ezüst és hatalomépítés Északkelet-Európában

Author(s): Tamás Péderi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2017

Adamczyk, Dariusz: Silber und Macht. Fernhandel, Tribute und die piastische Herrschaftsbildung in nordosteuropäischer Perspektive [800–1100]. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2014

A legkorábbi híradások õseinkrõl

Author(s): István Fodor / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 12/2017

Egy német és két muszlim. Freisingi Ottó, Abu Hámid és Idriszi a 12. századi Magyarországról

Author(s): Attila Zsoldos / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 12/2017

We have three sources from the 12th century attempting to offer an image of contemporary Hungary. These three works are widely dissimilar: Otto Frisingensis's text is closest to a country description in the modern sense, while Idrisi’s is more like a mediaeval route planner, which also describes the main stations. Otto Frisingensis is most interested in the political regime of the Hungarian Kingdom, while Abu Hamid’s attention is primarily dedicated to the Muslims living in Hungary, and Idrisi’s work contains almost exclusively information relevant for tradespeople visiting Hungary.

Rokonok rivalizálása – Árpád-házi Koppány és István ellentétéről

Author(s): György Szabados / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 02/2018

In 997, a fateful battle came to pass between two kinsmen of the Hungarian ruling dynasty. The later King Stephen I the Saint defeated the powerful warlord of Somogy, called Koppány, who was the son of Szerind the Bald. According to the chronicle, Koppány wanted to marry Stephen’s mother, to kill Stephen himself and to get the supreme power over the Hungarians. In this battle Koppány, was killed, his dead body was quartered and was sent to Esztergom, Veszprém, Gyõr and Erdély. Only few solid aspects can help us to reconstruct their conflict. Koppány was surely the member of the Árpád-dynasty (he was originated from an elder line), otherwise he would have had no right to claim the throne and the marriage with Sarolt, widow of Great Prince Géza (the ancient custom of the levirate came from the steppe). As Géza and his son Stephen descended from the youngest son of Árpád, the battle with Koppány brought the clash of the old and the new order represented by the heathen and the Christian lines of the same ruling house of Hungary.

Жалки лисици, плашливи еленчета?! Българите планинци според избрани гръкоезични извори от средновизантийския период

Author(s): Kirił Marinow / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2017

Historians studying the history of Bulgaria in the early Middle Ages, and especially in the period prior to the country’s formal Christianization (seventh–ninth centuries), have led us to view the Bulgarians as a nomadic people comprising horsemen inhabiting the plain around Pliska, Dobruja and the Danubian Plain. There is, of course, much evidence to support this view – to be derived from both written and archaeological sources. However, some scholars argue that in this early period of the khanate’s history the Bulgarians were also engaged in farming and led a more settled life, and there are no doubts as to their sedentary lifestyle with regard to the tenth and eleventh centuries. However, it should be noted that the issue of how they were presented by the Byzantines goes beyond the problem mentioned above. A variety of sources seems to indicate that they were perceived by their southern neighbours as the mountain people, at least to some extent, and Byzantine historians didn’t have a high opinion of highlanders whom they regarded as the embodiment of barbarity. The analysis of a variety of Byzantine sources from the period between the eighth and twelfth centuries leads to the conclusion that the Byzantines saw a strong relationship between the Bulgarians and the mountains they inhabited. Such a view is hardly surprising – Byzantine authors considered Bulgaria a mysterious and dangerous country and, consequently, perceived its inhabitants as mountain people (Outlines of Roman History by Nicephorus, the Life of St. Evaristus, poems by John Geometres), primitive highlanders involved in pastoralism (History by Leo the Deacon), dangerous warriors excelling at all aspects of mountain warfare (Scriptor incertus de Leone Armenio, works by John Geometres, a treatise De castrametatione, History by Michael Attaleiates), haughty and proud people whose character was shaped by the natural conditions in which they grew up (the oration On the Treaty with the Bulgarians). Different pieces of information derived from a variety of Greek sources enable us to complete the Bulgarians’ picture found in sources of the Middle Byzantine period. Given the fact that the tendency to portray the Bulgarians as highlanders continued in the Late Byzantine period (e.g. in the History by Nicetas Choniates), we have reason to believe that the stereotype of the Bulgar-highlander was widespread and became commonplace among Byzantine authors. Such a picture, although it was in part true, branded the Bulgarians with the stigma of savageness, primitivism and belligerence.

Среднодунавски славяни в българските земи през Ранното средновековие

Author(s): Kamen Stanev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2016

The problem about the settlement of Slavs in the Middle Danube region in the lands, which during the early Middle Ages became part of the Bulgarian state has not been subject of a particular study. It is due mainly to the scarce information by the written sources. Besides the information is quite limited, it allows assuming that the Slavs’ settling in the Balkan Peninsula lasted long after their mass population at the beginning of 7th c., while at the same time there was also a dislocation of already settled groups. A significant part of the Slavs came from the Middle Danube region and subsequently they became part of the Bulgarian state and joined the Bulgarians, which were formed as an ethnicity group in a contemporary sense at that period. This is evidenced by some archaeological data, as well as a number of toponyms that have exact parallels in the nowadays lands of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. These data indicate a presence of Slavs with Middle Danube region’s origin, without being able to say exactly when, and under what circumstances this resettlement happened. There is information by the written sources about three migrations at the 9th – the beginning of the 10th centuries which migrations were caused by various reasons, had a different character as a number and a composition of the migrant groups and finally they had different meanings for the Bulgarian history. The first migration happened in 835, when a small group of aristocrats headed by Pribina, the Prince of Nitra and his son Kotzel found a temporary protection as refugees. It was a typical political emigration, which according to the available written data had no impact on the Bulgarian history. The second migration is well known. It was caused by the struggle for supremacy between the Methodius’ students and the German clergymen in Moravia after Methodius death in 885. In this struggle the German clergy were supported by the Great Moravia Prince and as a result of that the older students were expelled, and the young were sold in slavery. According to the written sources, those sold into slavery were about 200 people and can hardly be any doubt that most of them had originated from the Great Moravian Slavs. They were brought to Venice, where a Roman bought them and sent them to Constantinople, and there they were allowed to go wherever they wish and a large number of them came to Bulgaria, where at the same time came the expelled older students from whom we know Clement, Naum and Angelarius. Thus the carefully educated by Methodius Slavic spiritual elite of Great Moravia, they finally settled in Bulgaria and together with Clement and Angelarius (Byzantine Slavs) formed the first generation of writers using Slavic language here. It is very probable that the Bulgarian writer Konstantin of Preslav had also a Moravian origin, which is known to have been a student of Methodius, i.e. he joined Methodius after the death of Constantine-Cyril (869). This means that he became a student when Methodius acted by himself in the Principalities of Lower Pannonia and Great Moravia (870–885) and there is no data for Slavic from Byzantium and Bulgaria to join him as students. This migration, although small in general, had a great importance for the Bulgarian history. As a result of it the Slavic language was established as the language of the Bulgarian church and administration, which in turn accelerated the imposition of the Slavic language as common of the forming during this period Bulgarian nationality. The third migration had occurred at the end of 9th – the beginning of 10th century and it was a consequence of the Great Moravia’s defeat by the Hungarians. Information about it is to be found in two independent from each other sources – a Bulgarian and a Byzantine. Unfortunately, the sources did not say how the participants were and where they settled. The significance of this migration is shown by its mentioning in two sources different in origin. Given the traditional Bulgarian policy during this period to settle non-Bulgarian groups close to the borders, can be assumed that some of the Great Moravia refugees were settled in southern Macedonia, which territories were conquered shortly before this event.

Византийската имперска идея и претенциите на цар Симеон според словото „За мира с българите"

Author(s): Kirił Marinow / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 25/2016

The rhetoric work „On the Treaty with the Bulgarians”, delivered most probably during the celebrations following the Byzantine-Bulgarian peace treaty of 927, is an interesting and important source to learn about the imperial views of the East Roman Empire elites. It is firstly due to the fact that the author characterized the ideological attitude of the relations between the Byzantines and the Bulgarians since the baptism of the latter in mid-9th century. Secondly, he laid out his ideas in the context of the just finished armed conflict and the underlying imperial pretenses of Symeon I, the Bulgarian ruler, who ruled between 893–927. Thirdly, unlike in the traditional imperial Byzantine ideology, referring back to the Roman traditions, the author put particular emphasis on the religious basis of the Orthodox faith, common to Byzantines and Bulgarians. According to the author the most important task of the Byzantine Empire was to establish peace and to care for its persistence. The peace granted to the world by God means the peace which is in fact Christ himself. The peace which would provide a harmonious development and prosperity not only to the subjects of the Constantinopolitan ruler but also to all people of the world. The imperial power was a guarantee of a peaceful coexistence of all Christian people and of God’s blessings upon them. It was possible, provided that all of them would accept the earthly hierarchy of secular rulers, established by God and reflecting the heavenly one of angels and spirits; the hierarchy on the top of which there stood the Byzantine autokratoros, whose objective was to lead all people to the Almighty. The ruler had to be a Byzantine/Roman in the political not ethnic sense. No other ruler, even from the so-called Byzantine Commonwealth of Nations had the right to rule the Romans and to influence the life in whole inhabited world. No other was worthy to bear the title of basileus, particularly when he demanded it in an armed way rather than by his peace-making activities (like Peter I) – but even in that case the title was of ethnic nature only (the Byzantines understood it as emperor of the Bulgarians) and it had to be sanctioned by the Roman emperor. Our author, although emphasizing the religious unity of the Byzantines and Bulgarians, upheld the uniqueness and exclusivity of the imperial power.

Imperial State Formation in Inner Asia: The Early Turkic Empires (6th to 9th Centuries)

Author(s): Michael R. Drompp / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2005

One of the most prevalent theories of imperial state formation in Inner Asia argues that steppe empires rose and fell in conjunction with powerful Chinese empires because of important economic and military relationships between the two. The present article examines the application of this theory to the early Turkic states of Inner Asia (6th to 9th centuries) and concludes that this theory is not appropriate for the Turkic cases. The early Turkic states did not rise and fall together with strong Chinese dynasties; therefore, other factors must be considered in understanding their histories.

La région de la Moyenne Struma aux XIе–XIIе siècles

Author(s): Zdravko Plyakov / Language(s): French Issue: 3/1986

Леонт Архиепископ Болгарский – автор начала Х-го века

Author(s): Bozhidar Peychev / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/1980

A politikus Snorri Sturluson

Author(s): Viktória Gyönki / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2018

With its settlement around 870 medieval Iceland started out as a free state with its own government. Nonetheless, it kept up a significant connection with Norway because of trade and common cultural heritage. At the same time, the political influence of the Norwegian Kings was growing as centuries passed and the wish to be recognized and be part of the Norwegian court was shared by many of the social elite in Iceland. One of them was Snorri Sturluson. This essay discusses the relations between the two countries and the growing influence of the Norwegian Kings in Iceland. As a learned skald and a member of a rich family, Snorri gained more and more power in Iceland. He travelled to Norway and became a member of the King’s court. Snorri is best known as an author of a great number of medieval texts, but his career will be examined as a politician in this essay, addressing the following questions: What was his political goal? Was he an opportunist, a rebel, or a faithful retainer?

A magyarok útja a Kárpát-medencébe

Author(s): Pál Péter Tóth / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2-3/2018

The work entitled Gesta Hungarorum by Anonymus was written 300-350 years after the Hungarians had settled in the Carpathian Basin. In this work the author describes the wanderings of the migrating Hungarians and the peoples and tribes, who joined them from the ancient quarters to the place of the final settlement. In the paper the author seeks to “follow” the road of the Hungarians’ ancestors alongside Anonymous, step by step, based on the text of the Gesta from the perspective of migration history. During this imaginary “journey”, he attempts to identify the motivations, aims and reasons that triggered this population movement and the conditions, which determined this migration. In line with this goal, he does not deal with other important – but for this work, “secondary” – events in the Gesta that were connected only indirectly with the migration processes in the past.

Zofia A. Brzozowska, Mirosław J. Leszka, Maria Lekapene, Empress of the Bulgarians. Neither a Saint nor a Malefactress, translated by M. Majer, A. Mękarski, M. Zytka

Author(s): Anna Kotłowska / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2018

Leonora Neville, Heroes and Romans in Twelfth-Century Byzantium. The Material for History of Nikephoros Bryennios

Author(s): Zdzisław Pentek / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2018

A 11. századi magyar–német háborúk

Author(s): László Veszprémy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 03/2019

Following the famous Bratislava battle of 907, the country was invaded by alien troops in 1030, and the patriotic wars of 11th century Hungarian military history started with the successes against Conrad II and continued with the defeats of the year 1040. The Hungarians battled the Germans again in 1051 and 1052. These military actions involved significant forces, as also demonstrated by the fact that the sufferings of the war were frequently mentioned in later years by the Germans as well. The German Kaiserchronik turns the German defeat into a victory, while the legend of Saint Stephen immortalizes its memory with the description of a divine intervention. The Hungarian chronicle offers descriptions of the events of 1051-52, embellished with several mythical elements.

Egy okleveles adatbázis új ruhában

Author(s): Tibor Szőcs / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3-4/2019

Györffy Györgyné: Az Árpád-kori kiadott magánoklevelek jegyzéke. Kutatási segédeszköz Sajtó alá rendezte: Dreska Gábor, Solymosi László, Szovák Kornél. Typotex, Budapest, 2019. 287 oldal, 4900 Ft