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Artykuł omawia ikonograficzną i teologiczną tradycję sceny zaślubin z miniatur w Dekretałach Grzegorza IX, na przykładzie egzempalarzy zachowanych w Gnieźnie i Krakowie.//The article discusses the iconographic and theological tradition of the wedding scene of the miniatures in Decretals of Gregory IX using the example of copies preserved in Gniezno and Krakow.
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Livonia, encompassing the area of today’s Latvia and Estonia, was one of the last regions of Northern Europe to be incorporated into the Christian/ Latin civilization. Its direct neighborhood with Ruthenian duchies, which observed the Eastern Christian rite, did not contribute to the earlier conversion. It was only after late 12th century missions, organized independently of each other by the Danish Church in the form of a venture by Cistercian friar Fulco, consecrated as the Estonian bishop ca 1171–1180, as well as a grassroots – at least in its initial phase – initiative of Augustine friar Meinhard of the Segeberg monastery in Holstein (ca 1184–1196), first bishop of Üxküll, and Cistercian friar Theodoric, active in the vicinity of Treiden (ca 1186–1202), the first abbot of Dünamünde monastery (1205–1211) and finally bishop of Estonia (1211–1219) and their successors – Cistercian friar Berthold (1197–1198), the second bishop of Üxküll and most importantly Albert, canon of the Bremen Chapter, founder of Riga and its first bishop (1199–1229) culminated with the conquest and subsequent christianisation of Livonia. They can undoubtedly be called apostles of the Barbarian Europe, although in the case of Fulco it not clearly confirmed whether his quest took place in reality. In the case of others we may speak of an initially peace mission, as attempted conversions were undertaken by setting an example to follow and doing favours to local population, in exchange for which the beneficiaries were obliged to undergo baptism. When such tactics failed to deliver significant effects, armed crusades were organized, as a result of which the entire Livonia was formally converted to Christianity by the end of the 13th century
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The author deals with Abraham Rufus, one of the biggest landowners in the area of present southwestern Slovakia. He observes his fast career promotion, military merit and loyal services to the Hungarian king Andrew III. during his fights against both domestic and foreign enemies of the Hungarian kingdom in the end of 13th century. He also observes the relationship of Abraham Rufus to Matthew Czak. In his services Rufus presents himself as a loyal familiar. The author searches the property domain of Abraham Rufus, tries to reconstruct his relatives, mentions the ranks he achieved during the reign of Andrew III. The atention is focused on the relationship between the king Charles Robert and Abraham Rufus. In the conclusion of his study the author observes the division of Abraham Rufus´s property among his four sons as well as the way they dealt with the property they were left.
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Founded by the first Basarab princes, the “Saint Nicholas” Princely Church of Curtea de Argeș is a valuable part of Wallachia’s history due to its exceptional documentary and artistic value. The church is of a Byzantine art influence with its elegant and sober appearance, the cross-in-square plan, as well as its iconography and stylish frescos. This paper is focusing on the scene painted on the walls of the narthex, scene that represents the Consecration of Saint Nicholas as a bishop. The frescos of several monuments of Byzantine art found in the Balkans or Greece are, in part, similar with the scene from Curtea de Argeș; however, their compositions might differ from case to case. The innovative character of the Curtea de Argeș’ fresco consists of presenting the personages attending the consecration of the saint. While, according to the Herminy, this consecration should be attended by three bishops, at Curtea de Argeș the three characters present at the consecration of the saint are two psaltai and a cantor. We suggest that the portraits of the two psaltai are executed after real life personages, i.e. the first Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, Iachint of Vicina (1359-1372) and the Metropolitan Antim, which was consecrated in 1370. They are singing hymns of glory to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of the Princely Church of Curtea de Argeș. Thus, he painting of the narthex can be dated around 1370-1372, with the consecration scene holding an outstanding documentary value.
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The paper deals with the genealogy of the original medieval noble family from Hubice in the Žitny ostrov region, the Gombais. The research was based mainly on two sources: the charter of palatine Nicolas Zsamboki from 11 November 1347 and the judge royal Jacob Szepesi issued on 7 December 1377, which provide the most important data about the topic. The first known member of the family was comes Kumpurd mentioned in 1279. The research uncovered another three generations of his successors. The last living member died without an heir between 1372 and 1374. Shortly after that, a certain Jacob Literate and Michael Chuchaak acquired the properties of the family. The paper also tries to reveal their identities and families although it is not its primary goal.
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The Mongol invasion, which happened in the second half of 13th century, caused that a lot of Turk-Mongol clans came to the Anatolian. The Mongol put into Mongol and Turk tribes that constituted in their military, to their east area of Anatolian. Because the East Anatolian had appropriate futures for those tribes who had summer posture ana winter quarters way of life. There was much community of Uigur and Karluk and Turcoman among these clans which came with Curmagun Noyan who firstly followed Djelal Ed-Din Khwarazmshah. So, Khwarazm military majority of which composed of Kangly and Qıpcaq Turks had independently spread to the Anatolian after Yassıçemen defeat. It has been understood that some of the Khwarazms who were taken to service of Seljukid and Eyyubi were settled to Van and Its near, from the names of place. In addition, it’s told that plenty of Oghuz tribes who came to Azerbaijan with victories of Seljukid surged into the East of Anatolian and especially the Van Lake Basin. The basic arrival of majority of the population to the area, happened in the result of hülegü’s West voyage. There were a lot of Mongol tribes particularly Avirata, Sulduz, Djalair, Tatar and Sunıt. These Mongol clans used the Alatagh in the north of Van lake as summer pasture.
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On the basis of relevant legal history sources, in this paper, the author analyses the attempt to reform the judiciary in the medieval Slavic world. In the 14th century, three important legal codes were enacted in Serbia, Bohemia, and Poland: Dušan’s Code, Maiestas Carolina and Statutes of Casimir the Great, respectively. The proclamation of these three codes was the result of strengthening the powers of their rulers: Emperor Dušan, the Bohemian king Charles IV, and the Polish king Casimir. Almost at the same time, these rulers passed very similar legal provisions on the reorganisation of courts.The main idea was to introduce special state judges, with the aim of suppressing and limiting the feudal and other forms of judiciary in their respective states.The reform of courts, the judiciary and court proceedings was part of the prevalent attempts to centralise state authority in the three Slavic states. This process is a phenomenon of substanital relevance in the history of Slavic law, particularly given the fact that it involved the most powerful rulers of these medieval states, who were one another’s contemporaries.
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The study explores the history of general congregations held in Slavonia in the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In the period investigated here, the congregations were at first held in a random manner and were not part of the routine judicial procedure. From the 1320s, the ban convoked the congregation with increasing frequency, generally for the whole of Slavonia, and its agenda now extended to issues concerning the entire province (such as paying the tithe). From the 1360s the bans summoned the assembly upon royal mandate and held it for the population of a determined area.
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Due to the investigations of Elemér Mályusz, the close connection between chancellery literacy and history writing in medieval Hungary is a well-established fact in Hungarian medieval studies. With an emphasis on the reigns of Charles I and Louis I (1301–1382), the present paper surveys those results of the research that concern the relationship between the charters and the narrative sources. By way of some examples, the author demonstrates the extent to which diplomatic practice (i.e. the writing of charters) influenced contemporary chronicle literature, then presents the narrative parts of the letters of privilege which emanated from the chancelleries of the Angevin rulers. These – sometimes quite long – noble histories, embedded in a legal context, can indeed be regarded as pieces of historical construction.
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The beginning of the 13th century witnessed a rapid growth of historical records in England. The financial accounts of King John I and the Bishopric of Winchester preserved the memory of a diplomatic mission launched by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1212–1213. In this paper I make an attempt to identify the king’s diplomats and the target of the undertaking, which had gone unnoticed in Hungarian historiography until now. Although it had reasonably been suggested that the focus of the talks was the preparations of the impending Fifth Crusade, other contemporary sources make it more likely that the envoys delivered a wedding proposal.
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The events of the Mongol invasion of Hungary and the battle by the Sajó River have been reconstructed on the basis of written sources. New excavations enabled a fresh analysis of this period in the light of the archaeological evidence. The study reviews and evaluates the latest data on the destruction of the country, the transformation of the settlement structure, the castle-building activity, the legacy of the Cumans and Iasians. The results of the excavations can also support the localization of the site of the Battle of the Sajó River and help critically interpret the written sources on the Mongol invasion.
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The study discusses the Mongol invasion based on the findings from two sites in the Kiskunság region. The mass graves containing the corpses of the mass murder of two communities uncovered at Kiskunmajsa and on the settlement around the Árpádian Age monastery near Bugac are set against the information contained in contemporaneous written sources in order to examine the latters’ reliability.
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The journey and stay of the Hungarian queen Elizabeth Łokietek, mother of King Lajos the Great and widow of King Charles Robert, to the Kingdoms of Naples and Rome from June 1343 until May 1344, is a well-researched topic in historiography. On that journey the queen was accompanied, as a Hungarian chronicler noted, by her court, numerous ladies-in-waiting, girls of noble origin, Hungarian barons, knights and servants. Yet, of all the women accompanying the queen, only the identity of one of her court ladies is known, that of aristocrat Maria Follia. Her presence in the (closest) surrounding of the queen is testified by two diplomatic sources, one of Hungarian and another of Naples provenance. Maria was the widow of a recently deceased Hungarian palatine William Drugeth (who died in September 1342). The author in this paper investigates the causes and complex circumstances under which Maria Follia participated in the Italian journey of her mistress. The issue is all the more interesting since it is known that, after the death of palatine William, the Drugeth family, until then the most powerful Hungarian baron family, lost their wealth, fortune and positions in the royal court. One of the possible answers to this question is a conclusion that the palatine’s widow, independent of her husband’s family, stayed in good relations with Queen Elizabeth and kept her positions in the royal court.
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Testamentary substitutions are the subject of this article. The issue has not been fairly highlighted in the field of Byzantine studies. Definitions of this legal institute are frequent in the Byzantine legal sources, and are based on the Roman legal tradition; yet, they are sporadic, particularly in the younger codes. Researching on them could lead to better under standing of different legal stipulations, the ones found in the official and private legal codes. From there, definitions of various testametary substitutions were translated and adopted in medieval Serbian sources – “Zakon gradski“, translation of Byzantine legal code Prochiron Nomos within the Nomocanon of Saint Sava, and the Old Serbian translation of Syntagma of Matthew Blastares.
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This article examines the case of the protokynegos Ioannes Batatzes, who is mentioned by the rather unique designation of the “katholikos apographeus” in a judicial decision of the governor of Thessalonike, Ioannes Doukas Apokaukos (1344). By carefully studying the preserved documentary material and the narrative sources, we reach the conclusion that Batatzes was a fiscal official who served for at least five or even ten years and whose district of authority included the entire Byzantine empire. We also try to investigate the administrative relationship between the katholikos apographeus and the contemporary apographeis, oper ating in large or small districts. Finally, we note that such an extended assignment could be regarded as a personal distinction given exceptionally to Batatzes. However, it is more likely that it was related to a project set on by Andronikos III Palaiologos in an attempt to improve the management of public resources and to reduce fiscal disorder. In any case, this new ad ministrative practice did not obtain a permanent and institutional quality, as the aggravated political and military conditions no longer favoured general–scale fiscal activities.
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Despite the overall opinion that John V Palaiologos was not a co-ruler while his fa ther, Andronikos III, was alive, this article tends to show that the successor of Andronikos the Younger was bestowed the title of βασιλεύς shortly after his birth. This would, in fact, be a rather logical act of Andronikos III, who, due to his fragile health, sought to secure the throne for his minor offspring. In addition, it seems that it was a practice of the Palaiologan emperors to proclaim their eldest sons as co-rulers, at a very early age, because of a strong need to ensure the legitimacy to the new ruling family, as well as to prevent the passing of the throne into the hands of the members of the side branch of the family.
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The present paper deals with the issue of defining functional tools able to help modern historians understand the genesis and evolution of historiography in 14th-century Anatolia. It emphasises the indistinct lines between hagiographies and sagas and between leader-centred and popular texts, while making a strong case for the key role played by the necessity of creating entertainment. Having become bestsellers exponentially raised the chances of these creations to survive across centuries. Most of the texts we use today as historical sources were designed to entertain their consumers. Moralising or ideologically manipulating them came only in the second or third place.
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The Book of Chivalry written by Geoffroi de Charny, who was considered the quintessential knight of his age, gives a valuable insight into chivalric culture of knighthood. Unlike many medieval writers on chivalry, de Charny actively participated in tournaments and fought with distinction in numerous engagements during the Hundred Years War, including the battle of Poitiers (1356) where he was killed defending the Oriflamme. His Book, primarily intended as a manual for the members of the royal Order of the Star, was implicated in the broader reform programme of King John the Good. De Charny describes the knightly way of life and its requisite virtues as opposed to numerous shortcomings of real life men-at-arms, the chief knightly quality being the „prowess”. Knight is also a men of honour, worth and notable piety who undergoes perilous journeys constantly seeking the opportunity to fight and undertakes incessant hardships in order to bring glory to his name and to secure salvation.
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The process of disintegration of Serbian Empire in the late 14th century and the emergence of new lords from the nobility ranks brought upon assembling different alliances among them as a political necessity. For some this was an instrument for emphasizing their statesman like pretensions, while the others saw the opportunity for survival in connecting with more powerful nobleman. These alliances were made through various means and under different pretenses. Their significance was predominantly political, but also military during the restless times in which they were made. Prince Lazar and his activities represent an excellent example of the significance of alliancing, both political and military. From his emergence as a courtly nobleman in the early 1360’s to the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Prince Lazar made a number of coalitions some of which resulted in military actions. These coalitions were often made as a necessity in one particular moment in time, with the aim of uniting against a common enemy, as it was the case with Lazar’s alliance with Bosnian ban Tvrtko and Hungarian king Louis I, but could also have longstanding consequences. In the case of above mentioned alliance, Lazar’s acceptance of vassal status towards Hungarian kingdom, significantly influenced not only his politics, but also the position of his heirs after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Other coalitions were rooted deeper in familiar relationships Lazar made. He could always count on the support of his nephews, Musić brothers, who ware latter his vassals and it’s also assumed that his firs son in law, lord Vuk Branković, contributed in a number occasions to Lazar’s military campaigns, although we only have confirmation that he participated in the events of 1386 and 1389.
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