Female incompetence, misogyny and xenophobia or a faulty marital policy on the part of the late Byzantine emperors?

Author(s): Petra Melichar / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2016

The reports of the late Byzantine historians off er a rather contrasting image of the empresses of native and foreign origin suggesting that while the former were ready, in extreme circumstances, to sacrifi ce the position of their off spring and eff ectively support the emperors in order to contribute to the welfare of the state, the latter were less likely to show similar loyalty. Besides the personality and character of each empress, this ‘defi ciency’ was apparently rooted in the disadvantages inherent in her foreign origin, which, in some cases, negatively impacted her decisions in private, political, and religious aff airs. Considering these challenges, the author questions the marital policy of Palaiologan rulers, which consistently weakened the position of the empress and repeatedly had negative consequences for both the emperor and the Byzantine state.

Rukopis listáře Jana z Jenštejna

Author(s): Zdeňka Hledíková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 44/2014

The article deals with the external analysis of a part of the manuscript dating from the 15th century which contains a collection of letters of the archbishop Jan of Jenštejn; it was copied at the end of the 14th century and published 1877 by J. Loserth under the title Jenštejn´s Epistolary. The text focuses on the adjustment of the quires and character and order of the letters copied, as well as on the text corrections made by another scribe. It concludes that the manuscript originated under the direct supervision of the archbishop who transmitted the papers of individual letters to the scribe step by step for copying them and then he polished their stylistic form and corrected them. The conserved manuscript came into being in the year 1398 in Herštejn and as a whole it represents the concept of Jenštejn´s new autobiographic work analogous to Petraca´s Familiares. The epistolary has never been transcribed into definitive form for the public.

K vyšebrodskému rukopisu Zlaté legendy

Author(s): Václav Bok / Language(s): Czech Issue: 44/2014

This article focuses on a manuscript of the collection of legends called Legenda aurea coming from the monastery in Vyšší Brod. The manuscript dating from the second half of the 14th century was not finished; the record was interrupted in the middle of the legend of St. Vitus. As the contents of the codex is written at the beginning of the codex, the scribe intended evidently to copy the so-called normal corpus of the Legenda aurea, without other legends.

Staročeský traktátek o křivé přísaze

Author(s): Milada Homolková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 44/2014

This article deals with a short Old Czech treatise on perjury which is written in a manuscript dating from the first half of the 15th century (Prague Castle Archive, Metropolitan Chapter Library by St. Vitus, Number H 10, fol. 270v). It is the unique coherent Czech text contained in this codex which according to its writing originated between the years 1416 – 1450. The analysis shows that it is a translation of a chapter of the second part of the Decretum Gratiani (causa XXII, questio V, capitulum V) not found elsewhere. The Old Czech text is compared with the Latin wording and with a passage of identic contents in the Czech work by M. Jan Hus called Výklad delší na desatero přikázanie. The executed analysis shows that some details in the Staročeský slovník and in the critical edition of the work by Hus need to be revised.

Kristýna Solomon, Tristan-Romane: Zur spätmittelalterlichen Rezeption von Gottfrieds Tristan in den böhmischen Ländern, Kümmerle Verlag, Göppingen 2016 (= Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik 782)

Author(s): Matouš Turek / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

Václav Žůrek, Karel IV. Portrét středověkého vládce, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, Praha 2018 (= Česká historie 36)

Author(s): František Šmahel / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

Ondřej Schmidt, Jan z Moravy. Zapomenutý Lucemburk na aquilejském stolci, Vyšehrad, Praha 2016 (= Velké postavy českých dějin 23)

Author(s): Lenka Bobková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

Les poèmes-scholies de Nicétas Chôniatès: les masques de l’auteur

Author(s): Stanislas Kuttner-Hom / Language(s): French Issue: 1-2/2020

The literary aspects of poems found in the margins of a manuscript of Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheca and attributed to the Byzantine historian and high-ranking official Niketas Choniates have so far not received any scholarly attention. Composed as reflections about power, justice and human nature during the events of the first capture of Constantinople by the armies of the Fourth Crusade in 1203, they intertwine elegy, satire, politics and history in a strikingly personal way which could be identified as ‘iambic poetry’. But who is the ‘I’ who speaks in these poems? Is it a personal poetry or does the speaker wear a mask?

Theodore Pediasimos’s “Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints”

Author(s): Justin Willson / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2020

The present study provides an edition and translation of a text on the interpretation of haloes by the fourteenth-century scholar Theodore Pediasimos. Entitled “Theorems on the Nimbi of the Saints,” Theodore’s text was appended to the widely read Corpus of Pseudo-Dionysios the Areopagite who famously employed a metaphor comparing God to a circle. Theodore, who was a friend of the Hesychast theologian Gregory Palamas, abandoned the monastery early in life to teach literature and philosophy in Serres, Greece. Providing a glimpse into theoretical ideas debated by the Hesychasts and their opponents during the Palamite ‘Controversy,’ the “Theorems” are couched in a meditative style. Over the course of eight aphorisms, Theodore argues for the polyvalent symbolism of nimbi, which in his view embody an eclectic variety of meanings. Noticeably absent is any discussion of God’s light, then being fiercely debated by the Hesychasts. Of far more interest to Theodore is the geometry and philosophical content of circles, as well as paradoxes of experience and dialectical reasoning. Presenting a normalized edition of the Greek text with a commentary, this essay situates Theodore’s little-studied “Theorems” within the Byzantine tradition of writing about the icon and alongside contemporary artistic developments

Vláda Václava II. v kronice Liber certarum historiarum Jana z Viktringu

Author(s): Gabriela Škorníková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2021

This paper is focused on the history of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries in the chronicle composed by the abbot John of Viktring. This narrative source of foreign provenance is an interesting comparative material to the Zbraslav Chronicle, though in this study, it will also be presented as a work of its own distinctive character, which its author created for reasons that were different from those of many of his contemporaries.

Hornolužické církevní instituce ve světle ustanovení krále Jana.

Author(s): Stanislav Ulman / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2021

The issue of the ecclesiastical history of the secondary lands of the Bohemian Crown continues to offer a number of topics for possible research. One of them is the relationship of King John of Luxembourg to the ecclesiastical institutions in Upper Lusatia, which he gradually brought into his immediate possession. He was thus able to fully develop his donating activities there. The aim of this paper is, based on sources of a diplomatic nature, to analyse and interpret the monarch’s policy towards the various ecclesiastical institutions in the region.

(Arci)biskup a jeho faráři

Author(s): David Trojan / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2022

This study focuses on the relations between the (arch)bishop of Prague and his parishes on his feudal estates, the utilization of these parishes for economically securing other fields of church administration (chiefly archdeacons and canons), and their role in the temporal administration of the bishop’s properties. Based on the sources from the archbishop’s office (2nd half of the 14th century), it considers the relations between the archbishop, the parishes under his patronage, and their pastors.

Konflikt arcibiskupa Arnošta z Pardubic se svatojiřským klášterem v Praze

Author(s): Karel Pacovský / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2022

The paper examines a several-year discord of Arnošt of Pardubice, the first archbishop of Prague, with the Benedictine nuns of St. George’s abbey at Prague Castle led by their Abbess Agnes. The conflict, which culminated in an interdict imposed on the abbey, could only be reconciled after the intervention of Emperor Charles IV in 1355. The author gathers all available information on these events and evaluates their consequences for the convent.

George Pachymeres on King Milutin’s Brides and the Role of Queen Helen

Author(s): Vlada Stanković / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The importance of diplomatic marriages for position and politics of Serbian King Milutin found its significant place in the vast historical work of the learned Byzantine scholar George Pachymeres. Of particular significance is Pachymeres’ information of the role and the influence of Milutin’s mother, Queen Helen, which demonstrates her unique position within the Serbian ruling family, and his superb understanding of the relations within the Serbian royal family.

Diplomacy and Arms, Opportunities and Obstacles in Episcopal Territorial Control in the Duchy of Krakow, 1279–1320

Author(s): Sebastian Bartos / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2022

W Europie XIII w. rozwój biskupstwa krakowskiego odbywał się zgodnie z ogólną tendencją do tworzenia autonomicznych obszarów immunitetowych z prerogatywami władztwa terytorialnego. Jednak po okresie dłuższej dynastycznej stabilizacji zakończonej wraz ze śmiercią Bolesława Wstydliwego w 1279 r. biskupi krakowscy musieli się wykazać różnorodnością taktyki w celu utrzymania, a nawet rozszerzenia immunitetów prawnych w posiadłościach ziemskich. W przeciwieństwie jednak do wielu biskupstw w sąsiedniej Rzeszy Niemieckiej lub Czechach, a nawet w samej Polsce, pomimo z pozoru korzystnych warunków wynikłych z osłabienia centralnej władzy świeckiej, prałaci krakowscy nie stworzyli suwerennej władzy książęcej. Piastowie i czescy Przemyślidzi wykazali znaczącą efektywność w zapobieganiu stratom terytorialnym na rzecz Kościoła. Artykuł ten omawia strategie biskupów w rozszerzaniu władzy kościelnej i w wykorzystaniu pojawiających się możliwości wzmacniania jej terytorialnej kontroli w okręgach diecezjalnych. Różnorodność wysiłków, między innymi dyplomatyczne zabiegi biskupów, wykorzystanie prawa patronatu i prawa kanonicznego, ekonomiczne przedsięwzięcia kolonizacyjne, a nawet militarna aktywność okazały się ostatecznie niewystarczające. Zarówno Paweł z Przemankowa w otwartym konflikcie z księciem Leszkiem Czarnym, biskup Prokop w początkowo poprawnych relacjach z Wacławem czeskim, jak i Jan Muskata z pewnym potencjałem wojskowym i w bliskiej współpracy z czeską monarchią, nie byli w stanie osiągnąć znaczącej dominacji terytorialnej. Biskupstwo krakowskie na przełomie XIII i XIV w. ilustruje fundamentalny wpływ lokalnych uwarunkowań politycznych, przypadków i indywidualnych decyzji na rozwój kościelnego władztwa terytorialnego, a którego ostateczny wynik nie mógł być przesądzony w Polsce przed odnowieniem monarchii w 1320 r.

Praga czy Kraków? Rozterki Jadwigi Andegaweńskiej związane z kształceniem litewskich teologów

Author(s): Tomasz Graff / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2022

The author analyzes the sources and accounts of historiography relating to the two‑track actions of Queen Jadwiga Andegaweńska that aimed to open a faculty of theology in Kraków and to reactivate the college founded by Casimir the Great and, at the same time, to found a College for Lithuanians in Prague at the local university. An analysis of the circumstances attendant on the establishment of the Prague foundation in cooperation with the Czech King Vaclav IV suggests that this decision, although noble, was damaging for the idea of a renewal of the university in Kraków. However, Jadwiga’s abandonment of further financing of the Lithuanian College and then the Queen’s death contributed to the implementation of the idea by King Władysław Jagiełło in 1400. The Queen Jadwiga College in Prague was not, however, in practice, in accordance with her intentions, designated for Lithuanians but mainly served Czechs; nonetheless, from Długosz’s time to today, the myth is current of its supposedly considerable influence on the education and Christianization of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Recz nad Iną czy Raciąż koło Tucholi, czyli jeszcze raz o miejscu uwięzienia księcia wschodniopomorskiego Mściwoja II (1269 r.)

Author(s): Edward Rymar / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2022

After the death of Duke Świętopełk (1266), before civil war broke out between his sons Mściwoj II in Świecie and Warcisław II in Gdańsk–Słupsk, which ended with the banishment of the younger of the two by Mściwoj with Brandenburg help (1269–1271), Mściwoj was imprisoned in a castle called Redzk by some of his powerful subjects(“barons”), at the inspiration or even with the participation of Warcisław. However, later, a more powerful group of knights (milites) freed him and concluded a “covenant” with him (entering into his service?), which led to the expulsion of Warcisław II from Gdańsk. This is recorded in narrative sources from Oliwa and Poznań.A place called Redzk, with a castle, cannot be found in Gdańsk Pomerania. However, without exception, scholars have identified Redzk with castellan Raciąż, a village near Tuchola in the southern part of Gdańsk Pomerania and, thus, within Mściwoj’s domains. In sources from1178 to 1300, this spot appears as: Recinsz, Ratzens, Racins, and Racensze. All these are very different from Redzk. Here it is also worth recalling that the castle in Raciąż was destroyed in 1256 by knights from Great Poland, and, according to documents and archaeological sources, it was not rebuilt before 1270. These and other considerations prompt the author to transfer the site of Mściwoj’s brief incarceration far westward to Recz nad Iną, to a place with a castle that around that time (1268, 1269?) had been taken from the Knights of St John by Barnim I and his knights from Stargard. These knight included five Wedel brothers, who from this time on remained in the service of Mściowoj and took part in the margraves’ expansion into Gdańsk Pomerania (1271–1273). The location of the Duke’s incarceration is further suggested by the homage he made the margraves of Brandenburg in the nearby Choszczno (then Arnswalde) on 1 April 1269.Those who stubbornly identify Redzk with the at that time non‑existent castle in Raciąż have not asked themselves why Mściwoj decided on such a politically far‑reaching step, that is, to pay feudal tribute to the House of Ascania/Anhalt and made to that end the long journey with his immediate entourage some 200 kilometers westward from his duchy. Logic suggests linking this step with his liberation from imprisonment in Recz. The chroniclers evidently were thinking of that group of German knights who in occupied Recz chose the pro‑Brandenburg option, when in 1269 the margraves intervened in the continuing conflict between Barnim I, his knights, and the Cistercians of Kołbacz, on one hand, and the Korytów and Stargard Knights of St John, on the other.They drove off the Cistercians and their lay brothers from their centre in “Sowno” (in Sivin by Lake Sowno), which should, of course, be identified as Arnswalde itself (Choszczno), where on 1 April their very important encounter with Mściwoj II took place. Arnswalde had hitherto lain in the duchy of Barnim I of Szczecin. Because a result of the turmoil was Ludwik von Wedel and his brothers’ transferring their services to the margraves (which is apparent in the sources at the latest after 1272), while earlier the had been actively involved in grabbing the possession of the Knights of St John, taking over, among other possessions, Recz and their castle, the author points out the possibility of Mściwoj’s liberation at the hands of those very knights, so that after the quick taking of Recz by the margraves, the secular duke could travel to Choszczno on 1 April 1269, a place in which the outrage perpetrated by Barnim I and his subordinates on the Korytów Knights of St John was still deeply felt.Further conclusive evidence that knights from West Pomerania were involved in Mściwoj’s imprisonment, and at least in his liberation, is offered by an undated letter of Mściwoj II – dated by scholars to the years 1269–1271, although usually to the beginning of 1271 – in which on the advice of “his true knight, Pan Ludwik,” he seeks the help of the margraves of the senior line, offering in exchange the town and the fortress of Gdańsk and Gdańsk lands! The bringer of the letter and intermediary between Mściwoj and the margraves was his trusted translator dominus Henryk, probably Ludwik’s brother. The Ludwik mentioned in the letter has been identified with Ludwik von Wedel, who was involved in seizing the possessions of the Knights of St John. Indeed, the family embarked on a rapid career. Already in the years 1271–1272, Ludwik I and his brothers took part in the expedition of the Margrave Konrad against Gdańsk and Gdańsk Pomerania; later Ludwik remained in the Margrave’s entourage, and on 17 August 1272, he was present, along with his brother Henryk, among the knights of the Margrave in distant Lübeck in connection with preparations for a further incursion into the Gdańsk lands. It is evident that earlier Ludwik participated in freeing Mściwoj in Recz and that is why he could remain for some time in his entourage, playing a key role in his choosing the Brandenburg option. His description in the letter as miles and dominus clearly indicates an outstanding figure and precludes looking for someone unknown from the Duke’s German entourage. At the same time, an approximate date for Mściwoj’s imprisonment has been adopted (after 9 October 1268, when he was in Gdańsk at the purging of his brother), and, indeed, for his liberation by German knights, which has been set after the period immediately following 1 April 1269 (when the Duke paid homage to the margraves, perhaps under duress).

Kilka uwag w sprawie roli politycznej hrabiny szweryńskiej Audacji‑Małgorzaty

Author(s): Marek Smoliński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2022

Appearing in historical sources under two names, Audacja and Małgorzata, the wife of the Count of Schwerin Henryk I (died 1228) has long aroused the interest of historians. Researchers have investigated her Pomeranian origins. They have attempted to give the history of her family: husbands, sons, and several daughters. They have frequently discussed the matter of her rights to Sławno lands, which her daughter Ermengarde brought to her husband Świętopełk, Duke of Gdańsk. In the scholarly literature from the nineteenth century, there are reflections on the large role that the countess played in the history of Połabia at the end of the 1220s and the start of the 1230s, a history determined by Schwerin‑Danish relations. The very marriage of Audacja‑Małgorzata with Henryk is also a subject of interest here. Although the political circumstances of the countess’s marriage with Henryk I occasion doubts in the literature, there is no doubt her public actions were dominated by the conflict with Denmark. The Countess took an active part in this, not just as the wife of Henryk I, who was himself instrumental in shaking the position of Denmark in the area round the Baltic. Thanks to her, the peace treaties also discussed conditions for the return of territory (or payment of appropriate compensation) taken from her mother by Waldemar II. This point emerged during the discussions with the emissaries of the Empire with Count Henryk I and his allies concerning the liberation of Waldemar II and his son Waldemar III in 1223 and 1224. In the agreement between Denmark and Schwerin in 1225, the Countess, together with her husband and children, was mentioned as a party. She was also mentioned in the fief agreement concluded in 1227 between the Duke of Saxony Albrecht I and Count Henryk I.After 1228, Audacja‑Małgorzata played a special role on her husband’s death. Then the Countess had to conclude an agreement both with Denmark and the Duke of Brunswick, who was supporting her. Her position at that time is clearly reflected in a letter by Pope Gregory IX, calling on the Countess to free prisoners (the sons of Waldemar II and the Duke of Brunswick‑Lüneburg Otto the Child). Audacja‑Małgorzata’s guiding purpose was probably to make it possible for Gunzelin III, her still (in 1228) underage son, to take power in Schwerin. The basic aim of the conflict with Denmark was achieved, that is to remove Mikołaj, Waldemar II’s grandson, from the line of succession in Schwerin. By agreeing to end the conflict, the Schwerin side gave up the entirety of the ransom that Waldemar II was initially meant to pay and settled for half of it. The betrothal and subsequent marriage of Gunzelin III with Małgorzata of Mecklenburg can be seen as an attempt to build local alliances and as showing a willingness to live at peace with her neighbours.Thus, it appears that the Countess was reasonably successful in securing her son’s future and once he took power in guaranteeing him peace with all his neighbours. From that moment, the Countess gradually began to withdraw from public life and concentrated on devotional activities. This was what she was known for in the period before her death, which probably took place in 1270.

Pojęcia notoryjności i famy w protokole procesu polsko-krzyżackiego z lat 1320–1321

Author(s): Patryk Maćkowiak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2022

In the years 1320–1321 a canonical trial took place between the Polish king La- dislaus ‘Elbow-high’ and the representatives of the Teutonic Order authorities over the possession of Pomeranian lands, seized by the Teutonic Knights in the years 1308–1309. The research that has been carried out on the legal documents from the trial so far has inadequately accounted for their legal layer. The purpose of this article is to partially fill these gaps by addressing the issue of how legal concepts functioned in the context of witness testimony. When comparing the proceedings of 1320–1321 with the trial between Poland and the Teutonic Order of 1339, which was similar in many aspects, attention was drawn to the difference in the understanding of the concept of fama in both cases. Next, the paper discusses the issue of the testifiers elaborating on the answers to the question of the existence of notorium and publica vox et fama re- garding the events presented in intenciones. The analysis of selected legal and juridical texts, which functioned at that time both in the educational process and in the court practice, and then comparing them with some testimonies, showed that at least some witness statements were adapted to the concepts and phrases typical of the legal lan- guage of the era. This influences the need to revise the older historiography, as it has hitherto been emphasized that the language of testimony reflects the individual style of the original statement. The article concludes that the studies of the minutes from the testimony, in addition to taking the usual critical steps, should include an analysis of the language with regard to the presence of concepts and phrases characteristic of legal language.

W sprawie proponowanych nowych ustaleń na temat kościoła pofranciszkańskiego w Toruniu

Author(s): Zbigniew Nawrocki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2022

The text constitutes a commentary on the text by Monika Jakubek-Raczkowska and Juliusz Raczkowski, published in Zapiski Historyczne, with regard to the dating of the final expansion of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toruń to the present form, which extended the church to include the earlier southern wing of the monastery. Based on various evidence (including information that King Casimir the Great is reported to have listened to the organ allegedly located in the northern matroneum of the completed church in 1343), the above-mentioned authors put forward the hypothesis that the expansion may have been carried out in the first half of the 14th century, that the church had already had its present-day three-nave structure, and that the two analysed fragments of paintings, which are located in the niches of the northern wall of the matroneum, are part of a once large composition related to its medieval function within the church. The author of this commentary upholds the findings of his own research published in print in 1966, that the final expansion of the church took place in a later period, while the paintings of the present- day matroneum, analysed by Monika Jakubek-Raczkowska and Juliusz Raczkowski, did not ornament the matroneum, but a room or rooms upstairs in the monastery’s south wing.