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.

Download

Gdańsk Affairs at the Council of Constance (1414–1418)

Author(s): Přemysl Bar / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

The Council of Constance (1414–1418), sometimes referred to as the first European congress, is often regarded in historiography as one of the most important events in the Late Middle Ages. In recent years, and thanks to the forthcoming anniversary, research has not only focused on the ‘great’ religious matters (ending the papal schism and addressing the Wycliffe-Hussite heresy and the reform of the Church) and secular affairs (Sigismund of Luxemburg’s European policies and the imperial diet, i.e. Hoftag), but it also looks at more marginal issues.2 Thanks to the Council and the arrival of delegations from various corners of the Christian West (as well as a few from the East), Constance became an outstanding meeting place for political negotiations and for establishing commercial and cultural contacts. The different ways in which the Council is perceived is not something confined to contemporary research and is already apparent in the primary sources. The affairs of the townspeople of the Hanseatic city of Gdańsk, occupied by the Teutonic Order, also left their mark on the Council of Constance. One Gdańsk townsman was even an official member of the Order’s delegation at the Council, although this was not the first delegation of October 1414, but the one held at the start of 1417. However, no more is known about the activities of the Gdańsk councillor, Johann Baysan, in Constance. The representatives of the Prussian knights and the townsmen in the Order’s delegation evidently only performed representative roles. Their participation was to provide the impression that the delegation represented the Prussian population as well as the Order (in terms of spiritual bodies).4 There were two events that caused tension and conflict in the Hanseatic town which were of greater significance for the Gdańsk townspeople than the participation of their councillor in the Order’s delegation. These mainly concerned the consequences of the Gdańsk townspeople’s uprising against the rule of the Teutonic Knights on 18 June 1416 and the unresolved legal status of the Gdańsk Bridgettine Convent.

More...

Download

The ennoblement of Gdańsk patricians in the second half of the fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century

Author(s): Ewa Bojaruniec-Król / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

The Thirteen Years’ War of 1454–1466, fought between Poland and the Teutonic Order, resulted in Pomerelia and Gdańsk becoming part of the Kingdom of Poland. In recognition of Gdańsk’s contribution to the war effort against the Teutonic Order, the King of Poland, Kazimierz Jagiellończyk (Casimir IV Jagiellon), awarded the city four privileges. Issued in the period between 1454 and 1457, the documents granting these rights formed the keystone of Gdańsk’s exceptional political and economic status, not only in Royal Prussia, but also within the Kingdom of Poland. It was at that time that Gdańsk gained significant autonomy in administrative, judicial, and financial matters as well as in determining foreign (maritime) policy.

More...

Download

Putting Ancient History in a Medieval Text: the Second Part of Honoré Bonet’s Chivalric Manual L’arbre des batailles

Author(s): Bogdan Burliga / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

As the title of the renowned book by the French churchman Honoré Bonet (Bouvet) suggests, the work belongs to a group of military handbooks of knighthood which was popular in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.3 However, the Reverend Bonet gives neither any detailed instructions nor overview of battlefield tactics, as they are traditionally understood in terms of arrangements of infantry troops or dispositions of cavalry; the author is equally uninterested in giving technical details of what war strategy should look like.4 For a long time all these military issues were the traditional subject matter of many manuals written in antiquity (especially in the Hellenistic epoch and the times of the Roman Empire) and later, and also in the medieval Eastern Roman Empire.

More...

Download

The social and economic status of women reflected in the medieval Dutch legend of Beatrijs

Author(s): Małgorzata Dowlaszewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

The position of women is certainly one of the important issues of recent decades, and not only in academic research. Facing concrete forms of vulnerability all over the world (which may include lower social status, the lack of choices women have, or the distinction between genders in schools, at work, and in the public sphere) and the current escalating presence of violence against women in the media and the temptation of formulating simple remedies to these problems, contemporary research in the humanities has to become sensitive to current developments and must dare to undertake the task of shaping the culture. We have to become aware that culture products such as literature, music, or art must not only reflect reality but also influence or (re)structure social statuses. This article focuses on one medieval Dutch text, Beatrijs, and the way the central figure of the woman is portrayed in it. It presents the link between the different social positions of the protagonist Beatrijs, the norms she has to follow, and the possibilities she has to choose from at particular turning points of her life. Beatrijs clearly belongs to the canon of medieval Dutch literature, and many aspects of it have been discussed already. After the first edition was published by Jonckbloet in 1841,1 the text did not receive much attention, and it was not until the new revival of the story at the beginning of the twentieth century when its diverse features were studied. With the publication by Deschamps,2 interest in the material characteristics of the manuscript itself piqued and detailed textual study with close-reading analysis and a diplomatic edition with Latin sources presented by Duinhoven3 has raised new questions about the interpretation of the text. The most recent research was presented in a publication that is the summation of the international project Beatrijs internationaal, which focused on the circulation of the text within and outside of the Netherlands in the past and present.4 Beatrijs is also one of the most widely circulated medieval Dutch texts with translations, adaptations, and intersemiotic interpretations all over the world. It has served as the source material for opera, films, modern literature for young readers, and theatre. This is why it is important to see Beatrijs not only as a story of one girl but more as a reflection of the social relations in the middle ages and a tool to influence them. This article shall not discuss how women were generally regarded in the Middle Ages but rather present the image set by literature and more precisely by one particular Dutch text and the way social attitudes are shown in it.

More...

Download

Bishop Conrad III of Kamień Pomorski: a common clergyman and a politician in the Duchy of Pomerania in 1233–1241

Author(s): Mariola Freza-Olczyk / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

This essay presents the figure of Conrad Salzwedel, the bishop of Kamień Pomorski (1233–1241). The first objective is to describe briefly his origins and career history. After illustrating this general information relating to his personal life and his activity as a clergyman, the second part of this paper focuses on major documents and donations. The aim here is to portray Conrad III as a generous founder. Another essential point is to study his diplomatic relations with the Griffins, a dynasty from the Duchy of Pomerania. One of the points of this article is to outline the many conflicts Conrad Salzwedel had with other bishops. This is a complex problem which requires more consideration than is presented herein. The last part of this text examines the chief purposes of the agreement of 1240 between the bishop of Kamień Pomorski and the Pomeranian duke Barnim I.

More...

Download

Export of artworks from the territory of the State of the Teutonic Order between the mid-fourteenth and mid-fifteenth centuries. Some aspects of the trade, art market, and artistic contacts between Prussia and the North

Author(s): Weronika Grochowska / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

While the borders of the State of the Teutonic Order are clearly outlined, the artistic activity in this area is not that simple to define. The connections and trade routes among the many regions along the Baltic Sea coast during the Middle Ages are well known. The issue of the art market in Prussia under the rule of the Teutonic Knights leaves researchers with more questions than unequivocal answers because of the lack of written sources. Historical connections between Prussia and the North and similar stylistic features of artworks on that territories show that many artworks from the north Baltic Sea coast should be included in research on Prussian art. It is fully justified to expand the research borders to often overlooked exports from Prussia, which can be found in both Sweden and Finland.

More...

Download

Musical Motifs in Hans Memling’s Last Judgment (The National Museum in Gdańsk, c.1471)

Author(s): Wojciech Odoj / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

Hans Memling’s (c.1435–1494) Last Judgment is a classic example of the use of the motif from St John’s Gospel and the Apocalypse in painting. The impressive triptych, with its 150 figures, is one of the most fascinating paintings of the fifteenth century that contains a richness of symbolic and theological elements. Its stormy and eventful history,the controversy surrounding its attribution, and the debate over the reason it was commissioned make it a great attraction for scholars and art lovers alike. The work also seems to be very interesting for musicologists, as the painting provides much information about instruments as objects with symbolic meaning, their function in practical performance, and the way in which they were played. Musical representation in painting, sculpture, and many other branches of the visual arts is of supreme documentary value to musical history. Therefore, it is understandable that the Last Judgment by Memling should draw the attention of musicologists.

More...

Download

Adducimus gemmam et florem: Bona Sforza’s bridal journey (1518) in the light of rituals and ceremonies

Author(s): Patrik Pastrnak / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

The wedding of Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548) and his second wife Bona Sforza (1494–1557) in 1517–1518 is one of the best-known and most closely examined Renaissance weddings in Polish historiography. The marital union joining together a member of Jagiellonian dynasty with an Italian princess is the subject of many literary sources that see it in terms of a so-called Golden Era. Such sources, along with other narrative, administrative, and diplomatic sources, have enabled historians very thoroughly to document its diplomatic background, the nuptial ceremonies, as well as Bona Sforza’s bridal journey from her homeland in southern Italy to Poland. Yet, there has been no study so far concentrating on an analysis of symbolic values and meaning—expressed by ritual acts—during Bona’s journey, since all studies have considered it as a merely geographic transfer, and not in terms of a bridal journey. The bridal journey, as a scholarly construct, is a relatively new concept in historical writing. The point of this concept is to demonstrate several other functions of the journey besides the mere geographical transfer of a noble bride. Karl-Heinz Spieß distinguishes various functions of a bridal journey: to manifest the power and prestige of the families of the bride and the groom (a representative function), to enable monarchs to communicate with each other (a diplomatic function), and to provide a ‘Staatschauspiel,’ a state drama by which order and rule are visualized (a festive function). Christiane Coester considers the bridal journey a social act with a hidden symbolic value.3 These considerations point to the fact that a bridal journey was not a mere geographical journey, but had deep-rooted implications that may be designated in one word: ritual.

More...

Download

The murder of Warcisław I in documents and historiography from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries

Author(s): Monika Rusakiewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

Duke Warcisław I of the Griffin dynasty ruled Pomerania at the time of the Christianising mission of Otto of Bamberg, initiated by Bolesław Krzywousty (Bolesław Wrymouth), conducted in 1124–25 and 1128. The three biographies of Otto of Bamberg constitute the richest source of information about Warcisław. In later sources, there are very few references to this Pomeranian duke; however, one event mentioned in some documents, over a span of several centuries, is the murder of Warcisław. The question of the death of Warcisław is an important issue for many reasons. Primarily, an analysis of mentions of this event shows the modification of the image of Warcisław’s death in the historical sources. This is the result of borrowings from earlier texts and the different historical context of the creation of later sources. The main subject of this article is the sources from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, but the later views of scholars concerning Warcisław’s death are also discussed, which demonstrates that a discussion on this problem is taking place in historical writing to this day.

More...

Download

Czech involvement in King Henry V of Germany’s expedition against Poland in September 1109 from the perspective of Polish historiography

Author(s): Błażej Śliwiński / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

In August and September 1109, a war was fought between Henry V, King of Germany, and Prince Bolesław Krzywousty (Boleslaus Wrymouth) of Poland. Henry’s expedition against Poland was a response to the Polish ruler’s actions of the previous year, when his attack on Bohemia sparked the fiasco of the German expedition to Hungary. It was then that King Henry V had vowed to exact his revenge on Bolesław Krzywousty.1 Henry was encouraged to retaliate by the Czech duke Svatopluk,2 not only as a means of gaining revenge for earlier events, but also because Svatopluk’s rival for the throne, Bořivoj, ousted in 1107, had found sanctuary in Poland. Before the war, the German king had sent an envoy demanding that Bolesław Krzywousty reinstate his older brother Zbigniew, who had been removed from power and exiled from Poland. He also demanded that Bolesław pay a tribute of 300 silver grzywnas (marks) or supply 300 knights for an expedition (to Italy, where Henry V intended to assume the crown of the Holy Roman Empire).

More...

Download

The episode of the murder of Hungarian King Ladislas IV’s officer in the Chronicle of Spišska Sobota and its significance

Author(s): Adrien Quéret-Podesta / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

Written around 1460, the Chronicle of Spišska Sobota is a rather short narrative in Ostmitteldeutsch which relates in a somewhat abbreviated form the history of the Kingdom of Hungary from the end of the tenth century, with a special emphasis on the past of the German- speaking communities of the Spiš (in Hungarian Szépes) region where it was created. Among information concerning local history, the chronicler relates briefly the murder of an officer of the Hungarian King Ladislas IV (1272–1290): Czu dises koniges geczeiten, Anno d(omi)ni MCLXXVIII adyr eyn Jor dirfuer, Ist eyn her gewest ym Czips des koniges diner, der hatte den Czipsern gros widerdris und smocheit gethon, dorume dirschlugen sy yn und das ist geschen in Donnerstmargt, went In dem Jor Christi pey MCCCCXXVIII, do man den pron vuer der kirchen offente dervon langen Joren verdeckt was, do fandt man in dem selben pron vil menschen peyn und panczer und in dy keller fand man auch peyn, dorume musten dy Czipser disem konig Lasla gros gelt geben. The crime is also mentioned in the historical works of Joachim Leibitzer (1566–1623) and Israel Leibitzer (1602–1646), but the brief Latin note dedicated to this event (‘MCCLXXXVIII Incolae Quintofori hominem Regium interfecerunt, pro cujus morte notabilem summam pecuniarum dare compulsi sunt’2) is clearly an abbreviated version of the excerpt of the Chronicle of Spišska Sobota. This chronicle is thus the only source of information available concerning this thirteenth-century crime. In order to better understand the representation and the significance of the episode of the murder of Hungarian King Ladislas IV’s officer in the Chronicle of Spišska Sobota, this essay is divided into three parts. The first part presents the report of the murder in the chronicle, whereas the second part focuses on the motive for the crime. Finally, the last part focusses on the chronicler’s localization of the crime.

More...

Download

Ciche bohaterki walki o niepodległość Senegalu

Author(s): Edyta Sacharewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 5/2018

In Senegal, the French colonization deepended the difference between a man and a woman which had to face many forms of discrimnation. In consequence she has been completely eliminated from public life. After independence, her situation has not changed a lot. She had to continue fighting for better rights. The author of this article presents the activity of the Senegalese woman, during the French colonization and after independence, which was aimed for improvement of her situation in the country. She wanted also to call attention to the problems that she had to overcome everday.

More...

Download

Portret Bibianny Moraczewskiej – literatki nieznanej

Author(s): Beata Walęciuk-Dejneka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 5/2018

The article is an attempt at a literary perspective on the Bibianna Moraczewska’s creation, a political and social activist who also tried her strength in the field of art. Her works are patriotic and religious with a love theme, they belong to a group of popular texts addressed to all those interested in women's issues and the fate of the motherland. The uncomplicated compositional patterns of these works did not require in-depth interpretive measures, revealing hidden meanings. The author knew the truth and wanted to pass it on to the reader. She showed national heroes and strong, independent and resourceful women.

More...

Download

The position of women in social life in the light of the National Party's political though

Author(s): Aneta Dawidowicz / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2018

In the interwar period, National Democracy (ND) journalists presented their own views regarding the postulates of the emerging feminist movement of that time. Women's position in social life was perceived in terms of the Catholic Church’s teaching. ND journalists followed the existing stereotypes regarding femininity and masculinity patterns. They advocated the traditional role of women in the social domain. According to ND journalists, the rejection of this traditional model could have had a destructive impact on the entire national community. Therefore, women striving to get away from the traditional image, willing to devote themselves to a professional career at the cost of their family life, were perceived in a particularly negative way. In the public discourse on femininity, National Democracy took the conservative standpoint, which is also shared by representatives of modern national and nationalistic thought in Poland.

More...

Download

Liga Kobiet w województwie białostockim – stan badań i postulaty badawcze

Author(s): Agnieszka Drozdowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 5/2018

The Women's League was the most mass women's organization in People's Poland. Despite the changes that took place in the activities of the organization, it always implemented the guidelines of the communist authorities. An organization associating up to two million women has not been sufficiently developed yet. A lot of attention in future scientific research should be devoted to the activities of the Women's League in the field, ie at the voivodship, poviat or city levels. The following article presents the state of research on the Women's League of the Bialystok region in the light of other voivodships as well as the directions and research postulates of future scientific inquiries.

More...

Download

Z działalności Cukunftu. Lipiec 1941 – marzec 1942

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2018

This critical review concerns the report of the Jugnt-Bund Tsukunft youth organization for the period from July 1941 to March 1942, prepared in Yiddish during World War II. It describes the underground activities of the Tsukunft Central Committee and Skif within the framework of “fives” and “sevens” in the Warsaw, including subsistence aid (e.g., providing meals to kinds threatened with malnutrition), the publishing of underground papers, education and cultural activities, as well as the participation of Tsukunft in the operation of “Żytos”.

More...

Download

W poszukiwaniu etymologii terminu "kenesa": przyczynek do dyskusji

Author(s): Veronika Klimova,Piotr Muchowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 04/2018

The origin of the term kenesa (kenasa in the Crimean variant), used by Karaites in Eastern Europe in the meaning of “synagogue”, is unclear. In the early discussion, it was accepted that the word derives from Aramaic and, indirectly, from Arabic. The authors of this article, inspired by Mikhail Kizilov’s recent statement in his book “The Sons of Scripture” of 2015 (pages 96-100), discuss the information known thus far and propose a thesis on the possible etymology of the term that exists for two parallel forms of kenesa and kenasa, and assume that it arose as a result of the conscious adaptation of the Aramaic term to the Hebrew language.

More...

5.90 €

Preview

Paris et l’élite voyageuse : la fabrique d’un rayonnement international. 1855−1937

Author(s): Joanne Vajda / Language(s): French Issue: 25/2018

By analysing the effect of the travelling elite and the foreign colonies on certain districts of Paris, we will show that the patterns of movement that they initiated, had an effect on the construction of an image of the city, and also influenced the development of its urban space and the social manners of its fashionable upper classes. We will focus particularly on the contribution of the Romanian travelling elite to the construction of the relationship between the Romanian colony and the Parisian society. The evolution of the perception of the foreigners from the upper classes and the underlying logic of their arrival and settling in Paris between 1855 and 1937 will be assessed.In the present context a more open, forward-looking view of the urban history, which underlines the international and especially European contribution to his evolution, is a way to arouse an interest for “the other”. Furthermore, this angle of view offers an opening to writing a history of the European movement in the modern era.

More...

4.50 €

Preview

Ordinul Bunilor Templieri și prezența acestora în Sighișoara la începutul secolului XX

Author(s): Nicolae Teșculă / Language(s): Romany Issue: 25/2018

The Order of the Good Templars appeared in the United States of America, in 1850, as a fraternal organisation for temperance and abstinence, following the organizational pattern of the Freemasonry, the members of the order being united in lodges. The order granted equal access to men and women of all races. The Order will spread from the United States into Europe. It will also appear in Transylvania, in the Protestant Evangelical milieu of Sibiu, Brașov, Sighișoara, Bistrița, Orăștie, Sebeș, Mediaș etc. In Sighișoara, the Order of the Good Templars will be present starting with 1908, activating in two lodges. Among the well-known members of the Order in Sighișoara, we could name Josef Bacon, physician, founder of the local museum, and Julius Oberth, physician, the father of the renowned scientist Hermann Oberth.

More...

Download

Pisma iz Soluna

Author(s): Branislav Nušić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 3-4/2014

Od jutros krenuo sam svečanim vozom u Solun. Ovaj voz je organizovao mladoturski komitet i ja sam bio cpećan da sâm Džafer-beg rezerviše za mene jedno mesto. Na vozu je bilo oko 1200 duša Turaka, Srba, Bugara, Grka. Evreja i Arnauta. I na svakoj stanici kroz koju smo prolazili, pelo se sve više i više. To je bilo čudo od voza kakvo ja još nisam vidio. Ostavite što su vagoni bili puni i prepuni ali je masa sveta sedela i gore na krovovima od vagona, pržeći se na suncu od 9 pre podne do 6 ipo predveče. Kad god bi naišao kakav tunel, svi ti neobični putnici koji su zauzeli mesta na krovu, polegali bi odmah i ležeći tako potrbuške, drali bi se i dalje: „Živila Sloboda!“ te bi to jeknulo kroz tunel kao kakvi podzemni glasovi. [...]

More...