Baltramiejus Vilentas, Šteindamo Šv. Mikalojaus bažnyčia, Karaliaučius, 1553–1587

Author(s): Ona Aleknavičienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 17/2015

Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Angaben zur Amtszeit und Wirkungsstätte des evangelisch-lutherischen Pfarrers Bartholomäus Willent (lit. Baltramiejus Vilentas, ~1525−1587) einer Präzisierung unterzogen. In der Literatur zur preußischen Kultur- und Literaturgeschichte differieren die Angaben zum Amtsantritt von Willent; genannt werden die Jahre: 1550, 1551, 1554. Uneinheitlich ist auch die Angabe zu Willents Wirkungsstätte. In der litauischen Literatur wird in diesem Zusammenhang in der Regel die Kirche St. Nikolaus auf dem Steindamm genannt, in 16th cenanderssprachigen Schriften die Kirche St. Elisabeth auf dem Sackheim.

Ruiny zamków i grodzisk z obszaru Warmii biskupiej na mapie Kaspara Hennenbergera z 1576 r.

Author(s): Robert Klimek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2015

In 1576, in Königsberg the first detailed map of the Duchy of Prussia by Kaspar Hennenberger (1529–1600) was published – Prussiae, das ist das Landes zu Preussen welche herrliste Theil ist Sarmathiae Europeae eigentliche und warhaff tige Beschreibung. It played a prominent role in the history of cartography of that area and as long as until the middle of the 18th century it provided the basis of the maps of Prussia published in the west of Europe. Hennenberger made his map mainly basing on his own measurements and materials collected in the years 1569–1576, during a 7-year-long journey around the country. On the basis of the measurements, the map’s scale is 1:368 000. Numerous editions and modifications indicate the value of the map and a need for it. It was as early as in 1595 that it had the second edition supplemented with a broad historical description. Th e subsequent editions appeared in 1627, 1629, 1638, 1639, 1655 and 1679. The picture of the settlement network is characterized by the greatest variety of presentations. An important iconographic symbol in Hennernberger’s maps, which is however frequently neglected in the literature of the subject, are the marks in the shape of mounds with a cross, in the map key described as – Ein Berg da vor alters ein Schloss drauf gewesen – which means a hill where a castle (a hillfort) was situated. In the map Prussiae, das ist das Landes zu Preussen Hennenberger placed 55 symbols signifying this type of structures. He placed most of them, namely 6, in the area of Śniardwy lake and 5 in the vicinity of Insterburg. In the territory of the Bishopric of Warmia Hennenberger provided symbols for four constructions: Sądyty (Sanditten) near Olsztyn, Bogdany (Sonnenberg) near Frombork, Grzęda- Pleśno – (Sturmhofel) near lake Sajno (Zain See) and the ruins of a castle in the area of the town of Biskupiec (Bischburg). Th e present paper also discussed the defensive constructions in Pilec (Pitlzen), which was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Warmia till 1374. Th e analysis of the placement of symbols in Hennenberger’s maps in the area of the Warmia dominium points out that they are confirmed either in the area, e.g. hillforts in Bogdany and in the Citry Forest of Olsztyn, or in written sources such as the castle in Biskupiec and a watchtower in Pilec. The defensive constructions near lake Sajno have not survived till now. However, field verifications, especially those from the first half of the 19th c. point out that they existed. Th e matter of the localization of the castle in Biskupiec still remains open. So far, it has not been noticed in the literature of the subject that Hennenberger marked the ruins of that defensive construction in the north-eastern part of the town, on the left bank of the river Dymer. Nearly 50 more symbols from Hennenberger’s map remain to be analyzed. It seems that after a thorough research of the sources and in the field we will find out that some of them hide many a forgotten historical mystery.

William Cecil a jemu přisuzované politické role v britských pramenech raného novověku

Author(s): Miroslav Beneš / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 2/2018

William Cecil, 1st baron of Burghley was the closest advisor of English queen Elizabeth I. from house of Tudor. However, this is not only role of William Cecil at the Elizabethan court and it is not the only role, which we can identify with analysis of British early modern age primary sources. How did the British early modern age primary sources depict first Baron of Burghley and saved his legacy for the next generation? The answer for this question is the purpose of this research.

Patru invitații la prima liturghie a episcopului Franciscus Várdai

Author(s): Mihai Kovács / Language(s): Romanian Issue: LVIII/Sup/2019

The main purpose of this paper is to reconstitute the circumstances of the first mass celebrated by Franciscus Várdai, bishop of Transylvania between 1513 and 1524, and a few details regarding the environment in which the invitations for this event were written. It seems that Várdai celebrated his first liturgy so late because he considered the possibility of following a political career as a layman. However, the event was a very important one for the entire region, being attended by many dignitaries of Transylvania. Archives of Sibiu and Brașov keep four invitations sent by the bishop to the religious and secular leaders of the Saxon community. The letters adressed to the clergy differ from those sent to lay authorities and refer to an indulgence granted by the pope to those who attend the first episcopal liturgy. The invitations were written by two scribes, each one specialized on one version of the text, under the supervision of an episcopal secretary.

Povestea lui Cristoferus: un aurar brașovean de la începutul secolului al XVI-lea

Author(s): Lidia Gross / Language(s): Romanian Issue: LVIII/Sup/2019

The present study reconstructs the professional path of Cristoferus, a master goldsmith from the city of Braşov, who followed a conventional route for a craftsman of his time (late-15th to early-16 th centuries), but by reprehensible acts, has deviated from the ethical model based on the values of Christian morality, becoming „a case”. The reconstruction of the specific „case” is based on a few documents / letters that the goldsmith' guilds from Bács and Szeged send to the goldsmiths' guild in Brașov, pieces that are of particular relevance in terms of content but also of the practice of writting within craftsmen communities. Accused of stealing and inciting to steal, Cristoferus hardly managed to reintegrate into the craft and urban community he was a part of.

Késő középkori kincslelet Mohács-Sárhátról

Author(s): Balázs Nagy,Márton Gyöngyössy,Olivér Gábor / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2019

A late medieval hoard of sixty-one denarii and a silver looped button came to light at Mohács-Sárhát in Spring 2016. The hoard is made up of nova moneta issues minted between 1521 and 1525. Thus, on the testimony of the latest issue, the burial of the hoard and the fact that it was not recovered can be associated with the withdrawal of the Turkish forces in 1526.

XVI. YÜZYILIN İKİNCİ YARISINDA RUMELİ KADILIKLARI

Author(s): Levent Kuru / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2019

Subprovinces (kaza) as juridical and administrative departments in the Ottoman State were divided into two main groups named mevleviyet and kasaba kadiships according to their population, place and the type of income of their kadis. Important districts (sanjak) and subprovinces in Anatolia, the Balkans and Arabian geography like Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Uskudar, Eyub, Galata, Thessaloniki, Aleppo, Bagdad, and especially Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul, the former capitals of the Ottoman State were defined as mevleviyet kadiships. Personnel affairs like assignment, promotion, dismissal of kadis who were assigned to these groups of subprovinces were carried out by the Seyhulislam as from the second half of the XVIth century. Subprovinces besides from mevleviyet kadiships were referred to as kasaba kadiships. Personnel affairs of kadis assigned to these subprovinces were conducted by the kadiasker (military judge) departments headed by the Anatolian and Rumelia kadiaskers. This study deals with the kasaba kadiships at the Balkan Peninsula, western coasts of the Black Sea and the islands in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean which were under the authority of the Rumelia kadiaskership within the Ottoman subprovince organisation. The status of Rumelia kadiships in these regions shall be enlightened based on information in a journal at Suleymaniye Library, Esad Efendi, no. 3384. Besides, changes in time of the abovementioned subprovinces will be examined by comparing information of the said manuscript with the data of three works on the ranges of Rumelia kadiships made in different times. In this frame this study seeks to enlighten the development processes of subprovinces which are considered the most important department of the provincial organisation of the Ottoman State.

Reading and Annotating Galen between 1515–1531: on some Latin Galen Editions in the Library of the Carmelites in Cracow

Author(s): Magdalena Koźluk / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2019

Copies of early-printed books have been of interest to to-day’s collectors and researchers not only for their material aspects (names of publishers and places of printing, fonts and composition, number of known copies etc.), but also because they bear signs of their often erratic history following their publication. The path followed by a particular copy of an early-printed book is reflected in its general state as an object (for instance the state of its binding), but also in its internal aspect. On the pages of a copy of an early-printed book, annotations, drawings doodles or graphics testify to the intimate relationship that its owners entertained with it. To better understand how owners dealt with copies of the books they possessed, this paper examines the annotations found in copies of some books that belong to the Carmelite convent in Cracow. We hope to bring to the attention of scholars, copies of works of Galen housed in this library, and primarily to set a perspective on how books were read by cultured individuals of in the 16th century period. To do so, we analyse copies of the 1507 Venice edition of the Articella and a copy of Latin edition of Galien (Iuntae, Venice, 1531). We attempt to identify the intellectual perspectives from which cultured readers approached such texts in the 16th century.

De la diversa cibaria la hrana Raiului. Ospeţe voievodale şi coduri alimentare în Ungrovlahia secolului al XVI-lea

Author(s): Claudia Tița / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 8-9/2006

Studiul recuperează pentru secolul al XVI-lea românesc documente ignorate până în prezent de preocupările de gastronomie istorică de la noi, domeniu în care cercetătorii discută despre conduita culinară a elitelor Ţării Româneşti începând doar cu epoca brâncovenească, epocă din care datează manuscrisul unei cărţi de bucate, publicat recent de Ioana Constantinescu. Structura traficului comercial între Ungrovlahia şi oraşele Braşov, Sibiu, Cluj a fost frecvent ignorată, deşi ea dovedeşte cu prisosinţă preponderenţa produselor orientale (res turcales), unele dintre ele (mirodeniile) reprezentând moneda forte a tranzacţiilor comerciale ale vremii. Consumul excesiv de carne nu putea fi controlat, cu toată respectarea strictă a celor patru mari perioade de post creştin de peste an, iar bolile unui astfel de regim pantagruelic n-au întârziat să facă victime chiar în rândul elitei suverane. Există documente de limbă, şi ele pe nedrept ignorate, care denotă o puternică influenţă a stării precare a alimentaţiei asupra onomasticii, aşa cum există şi o atentă distribuţie a îndatoririlor administrative în cadrul aparatului domnesc, reflectată şi aceasta fidel în nomenclatorul ierarhic. Un catastif de cheltuieli făcute la curtea voievodului Mihnea cel Rău (1508- 1509) este în mod eronat atribuit lui Miloş, fiul acestuia, ostatic la Constantinopol pe durata domniei părintelui său, ceea ce studiul demonstrează cu minuţiozitate. Documentul face o bună radiografie a cămării domneşti pe parcursul unui an de zile, interval în care alimente diverse şi ustensile indispensabile bucătăriei de oriunde şi de oricând vin să repopuleze imaginarul unei lumi prea puţin cunoscute astăzi. În ceea ce priveşte lectura parenezei “Învăţăturile lui Neagoe Basarab către fiul său Theodosie” din perspectiva tratatelor de tip artes coquinariae, ea a rămas din păcate până acum o lectură laică, cercetătorii rezumându-se la analize care ignoră miza cărţii, una eminamente soteriologică. Semnificaţiile creştine ale manierei, ca şi recomandarea cumpătării în orice situaţie, fac din mesele lui Neagoe Basarab un veritabil “festin en paroles”, accentuând dimensiunea spirituală a “pâinii cea de toate zilele”. Se poate afirma însă, cu argumente solide, că ospeţele secolului XVI, cel puţin în Ungrovlahia, nu se transformaseră încă în mijloc de guvernare, cum ne va demonstra gastronomia politică pentru secolele imediat următoare.

Curtea Imperială în Epoca Sultanului Suleyman Magnificul între grandoare și austeritate

Author(s): Călin Felezeu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 24-25/2014

The time of Suleyman the Magnificent represented an era of great development and flourishing of Ottoman power. The impact of a TV series dedicated to sultan Suleyman and his court evidenced a difficult to imagine interest for a topic that seemed antiquated and uninteresting. But, on the contrary, the success of the series evidences the fact that the topic of Ottoman court deserves rehabilitation at the hand of the historian as well, precisely for evidencing its role as model that the Ottoman court, the imperial serail played or could have played in the manner of organization and structuring of power inside our princely courts, in a long period, when our countries gravitated towards Istanbul. The study evidences the topography of the Ottoman court, of the imperial serail, but also the mechanisms of power and its modes of representation. In equal measure the part played by the harem is succinctly presented, the role of the women in the life around the Ottoman court, the part played by the black eunuchs as well as the manner of the recruitment, education and function of the imperial serail staff.

MILICA JAKŠIĆ’S CHARTER FOR HILANDAR MONASTERY (1506)

Author(s): Taisiya Leber / Language(s): English Issue: 7/2019

This act was issued on the 26th May 1506 by Milica and her sons voevoda Stefan and voevoda Mark Jakšić for the Hilandar monastery on the Mount Athos. The donors promise to donate every year a sum of 130 duсats to the Hilandar Monastery during their lifetime to be considered as founders and renovators (ктитори и обновители) of this great imperial (царски) monastery. In return for their yearly donation, they expect to participate in the life of the monastery and to be commemorated together with their deceased relatives – Stefan and Dmitar Jakšić. Their names have to be written down in the commemorative book of the monastery. The other prescriptions contain a detailed list of commemorative services that the donors and their deceased relatives expect from the monks for their donation.

Madrid as Vienna, Besieged and Saved

Author(s): Cristina Bravo Lozano / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

This paper focuses on the festive practices in the Spanish court and the diplomatic problems of etiquette and personal position in the planta of the procession that emerged in relation to both the Count of Mansfeld, imperial ambassador, and the Cardinal-Nuncio Savo Mellini. It also examines the opposition of the royal authorities to any kind of “innovation,” in the ceremony, the different interpretations of the image of Carlos II, and the political discourse of this public cavalcade to the Royal Convent of Our Lady of Atocha. The ceremonies were used to celebrate and elevate the position of this king, who had not taken part in the victorious siege of Vienna. An analysis of the celebratory representations allows one to establish an interpretative framework in which to consider the political functions of the rituals surrounding concerning the triumph of the allied Christian armies over the Turks. The symbolic language of the festivities, which included visual images, the meaning-laden choreography of the events, and the composition of works of imaginative literature, was intended to emphasize the majesty of the Spanish monarch, his devotion to the Christian faith, and the tremendous debt of thanks he was, implicitly, due.

Un tezaur monetar din secolele XVI-XVII descoperit la Măgura (Jud. Bacău)

Author(s): Alexandru Artimon / Language(s): Romanian Issue: IV/1971

Articolul prezintă un tezaur monetar din secolele XVI-XVII descoperit la Măgura (Jud. Bacău).

Border by the River – But Where is the River? Hydrological Changes and Borders in Medieval Hungary

Author(s): András Vadas / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

Medieval estate borders were mostly formed by natural borders, such as hills, ditches, forests, meadows, etc. Of course, in many cases trees were marked in some form, or small mounds were built to clarify the running of estate borders. Almost none of these would seem at a first sight as firm as a border along rivers and streams. However, a closer look at law codes, customary law collections, and legal disputes that arose in connection with estate borders makes clear that, as borders of estates, bodies of water could be a basis for conflict. In this essay, I discuss sources from the medieval Kingdom of Hungary from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries that concern the problem of the change of land ownership as a consequence of changes in riverbeds. In the late medieval compilation of the customary law of Hungary by Stephen Werbőczy, the Tripartitum, a surprisingly long section is dedicated to this problem. He clearly suggests that landownership does not change if a piece of land is attached to another person’s land by changes in the course of a river. Historians have drawn attention to this section of the Tripartitum and have suggested that this is one of the few parts in which Werbőczy does not apply Hungarian customary law, but rather uses Roman law. In my paper, which is based on a collection of similar lawsuits, I aim to demonstrate that there are a number of examples of cases in which Roman law prevailed before Werbőczy’s work, and, thus, the land in question was left in the hands of the previous owners as well as decisions according to which the shifting riverbed went with a change in ownership.

The Work Ethic in Humanist Biographies: The Case of Willem Canter

Author(s): Gábor Almási / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

This article is a case study of the work ethic as represented in biographies of humanists. It draws first and foremost on Melchior Adam’s anthology of biographies of learned “German” men of 1615–1620. The analysis of some of the longer biographies reveals that Adam was more dependent on his sources than previous research supposed. Moreover, the stress on the education and diligence of the individuals in several of the biographies follows not from Adam’s interests, but rather from the logic of humanist biographies, a primary function of which was to legitimate social rise, redefine social values according to meritocratic principles, and promote the Renaissance ideology of virtue. The vita of William Canter, which I analyze in considerable detail, illustrates how early modern biographies tended to construct the self on the basis of ancient and more recent clichés and to present ideal types. The work ethic represented by Canter’s scholarly persona reveals that hard work in the Renaissance was intrinsically linked to disciplined time-management.

A szülejmáni béke. A magyarországi oszmán adóösszeírások és a magyar– oszmán békekötések összefüggései

Author(s): Éva Sz. Simon / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2018

Starting from the second half of the 15th century, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were separated by the natural border of the rivers Sava and lower Danube, fortified with border castles. With the capture of Belgrade, Zemun, and Sabac, the army of Suleiman I punched through this functional, formally established defense line, which led to the creation of the 150-year-long Ottoman rule in Hungary. During the more than 150 years following the Hungarian-Ottoman peace treaty of 1519, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire came to a peace agreement fourteen times. However, while the treaties of 1503 and 1519 specifically established the border settlements on the Sava-lower Danube line, as did the double committee sent out after the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the treaties between these never specified border castles or specific border marks. In the 16th century, on the western border of the Ottoman Empire the Ottomans used a unique, one might say genius method not used in other parts of the Empire to legitimize their rule in a region even before conquering it by force. They did not only utilize their army, but their diplomacy and administration as well, to subjugate these regions. The author of this study examines the correlations between the Ottoman-Hungarian peace treaties and the sanjak censuses appraising the taxability of the population, as well as their roles in the border negotiations. Furthermore, the study puts the findings of previous studies regarding the making of sanjak censuses in a broader context and provides a new foundation for these findings.

A „nyitott határ” – egy hadtörténelmi paradoxon hatása. Néhány gondolat a Magyar Királyság 16–17. századi oszmánellenes védelmi rendszerének sajátosságairól

Author(s): István Czigány / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2018

Thoughts about the characteristics of the Kingdom of Hungary’s defense system against the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. After the advance of the Ottoman Empire halted at the middle of the Kingdom of Hungary in the late 16th century, the Habsburg Empire, bearers of the Hungarian crown at the time, and the Ottoman Empire both built their own defense systems. The two empires created thousand kilometers long, similarly structured castle systems. The opposing defense lines were balanced in terms of power. Both sides had a force of approximately 20,000 soldiers. The upkeep of this kind of military force was a significant burden on both empires, and they could only secure their system of strongholds, but couldn’t close the border down. The Treaty of Adrianopole (1568) didn’t draw a clear border, it only aimed to determine the affiliation of the border settlements and the part of the populace that paid taxes to both sides. While the Ottomans ruled over the Christian border area, the Kingdom of Hungary partially reorganized state presence in Ottoman Hungary (royal, palatine, and county rights, and the way noble’s lands were managed) with the help of the military of the border castles and landowners. A peculiar, “open” border area was created, the size of which depended on how large an area the Hungarian and Ottoman border castles collected taxes from. This system of shared rulership (condominium) and the resulting tax structure became the main reason behind the skirmishes, raids, and the constant state of border war. The Treaty of Zsitvatorok (1608) regulated taxation by the Hungarian and Ottoman parties in the border area, sometimes even allowing the presence of the other side’s armed forces within their dominion. This became the norm not only in the border area at this time, but in entire Ottoman Hungary apart from the Temesköz and Szerémség regions. During the early 17th century, due to the Bocskai uprising (1604–1606), and the Western engagements of the Habsburgs, the role of the Hungarian political and military elite, and the armies of the Hungarian aristocracy grew stronger in the governance, financing and military structure of the kingdom’s border areas. Despite the deficiencies of the border castle system, the balance of military power remained intact on the Ottoman border. An important aspect of this was the Hungarian taxation in Ottoman Hungary, and the presence of the soldiers of the border castles.

Az Oszmán Birodalom, a Magyar Királyság és a Habsburg Monarchia kapcsolattörténete a békekötések tükrében (vázlat és adatbázis)

Author(s): Sándor Papp / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2018

Logofătul Luca Stroici

Author(s): Adrian Vătămanu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: VIII/1976

Articolul prezintă date referitoare la logofătul Luca Stroici.

Giorgio Biandrata (1516–1588). Egy orvos a politika és a teológia között a korai újkori Kelet-Közép-Európában

Author(s): Mihály Balázs / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1-2/2020

The Italian physician Giorgio Biandrata (1516–1588) was an important politician and religious reformer in 16th century Transylvania. Historians, especially the Unitarians, perceive him as a person who determined the outcome of the trial of Francis David (1520–1579). Although Biandrata was a key figure in east-central European Antitrinitarianism, there are important details in his life that have been overlooked by historians. He entered Transylvania as a well-known physician, being the protégé of queen Izabella (1519–1559). His early years as a physician are not researched. In Geneva he was drawn to Reformed Protestantism, then in Poland to Antitrinitarianism. In Transylvania he became the adept of liberal Antitrinitarianism.