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.
The author describes a collection of medieval coins found at the Dniester Riverside near Tarasova village (Resina, Moldova). Using medieval written records and maps and the folk toponyms, the author suggests that this settlement can be identified with the medieval town (market town) of Ustia.
More...
The paper introduces scattered materials found at Tarasova village (Resina, Moldova). The collection includes items made of base metals as well as of iron (mainly items of armament and household utensils). The items can be divided into several chronological groups. The earliest are items of late 9th-11th cc. finding direct analogies on sites of Echimauti-Alcedar type in the territory between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers, as well as among the antiquities of South-Eastern, Central and Eastern Europe. Rather more representative is the collection of items dated by 15th-17th cc., the time when an important trade and industrial settlement of Moldavia is thought to have existed here along with its necropolis. A certain chronological gap between the latter and the former group is filled by a number of crosses-enculpions of the Old Russian type, which are dated within 13th-15th cc.
More...
The article publishes a unique complex of kilns dated by the late Middle Ages and meant for saltpeter-making, which is the main component of the black powder. The complex was studied by the authors in 2005-2006 within the western fortified section of the Belskoe settlement dated by the Scythian time (Dnieper’s forest-steppe left side, Vorskla River basin).The materials are considered in the context of available data, first of all, written records, telling about saltpeter-making in Ukraine, where one of the main centers of saltpeter-making was located in Poltava region in 16th-19th centuries.The archaeological evidence published here is a significant contribution to our knowledge of making such a strategic product as saltpeter.
More...
The article is dedicated to the most significant head-dress decorations typical of the population in the Carpathian-Danube Region in 13-17 cc. There are several main traditions in the jewelry art of the time. The Byzantine tradition was still one of the brightest. The Byzantine prototypes served as sources for specific variations of kolts and bead decorations, typical of the jewelry dress in the region. Another tradition surviving till 16 c. was wearing signet-rings, which may be characterized as a common Slavic one. Besides, some decorations are distinguished that find analogues in the Ancient Rus’ (some specific versions of plaques for head-dresses, kolts, bead decorations). As for the diadems, these items reveal Byzantine, West-European and Old Russian parallels. In late 13-14 cc. the head-dresses in the said region acquire decorations of the Golden Horde type (ear-rings shaped as “question mark”, rings with dragon head, ear-rings with teardrop-shaped pendants). Starting with 15 c., items of Turkish fashion were actively borrowed.
More...
“Voronoch” or “Voronach” – one of the suburbs of the Pskov Republic in XIV-XV cc. The town was situated in the South-Eastern part of the Pskov land, near the Pskov-Lithuanian border. The historical records normally mention the town of Voronoch in the context of military activities in XIV-XVII cc.The archaeological study of Voronoch knows a number of attempts – in 1951 (S.A. Tarakanova), 1956 (P.A. Rappoport and N.N. Gurina), 1969 (V.D. Beletskii), 1980-1981, 1998, 2002 and 2003 (S.V. Beletskii). It has been revealed that the City’s Kremlin in XIII-XVI cc. was a settlement near the village Voronich close to the manor of Trigorskoe. The settlement Voronich 1, almost equivalent in size to the existing village, was in XIII-XVI cc. a Great posad (settlement) of the medieval town; the modern set-up of streets in the village corresponds to the description of the Great posed from a scribe’s book of 1585-1587. Settlements Voronich 2-3 in XIV-XVI cc. made up the town’s posed of Cosma and Damian, set on the right bank of the Sorot’ in front of the settlement.The digging and the recovered finds documented presence of the artefacts of XIII-XVI and XVIII-XIX cc. on the town place and settlements, with very scarce materials of XVII c. This corresponds to the desolation of the city’s Kremlin noticed by the chronicles and a sharp decrease in the number of population on posads during the Livonian war (after 1581). The location of the town also yielded a scarcely preserved layer of the late I – early II millennia AD.
More...
The history of the organs in the Cistercian Abbey in Kraków-Mogiła has not been studied so far. The article elaborates this topic based on the results of an archival query. Most of the sources are preserved in the Cistercian Archive in Mogiła. Examining them, the author discusses the history of instruments in the monastic church and in the former St Bartholomew church. On the basis of the sources, it was stated that at least in the 18th century the monastery church was equipped with two pipe organs. This fact has not been pointed out so far by researchers. The following article is supplemented by archival photographs.
More...
The Archive of St Joseph’s Convent in Kraków contains a collection of musical manuscripts, which have not been studied before. Among books of liturgical use, such as graduals and antiphonaries, there are also small cantionales, full of canto fratto repertoire. The majority of these sources originate from the Convent of Bernardine Nuns in Kraków; however, there are also at least two manuscripts from the Convent in Wilno. The aim of this paper is to present canto fratto repertoire of Benedicamus Domino found in the 18th and 19th century liturgical manuscripts from the Convent of Bernardine Nuns in Kraków. The author indicates sources of studied melodies based on the wide range of liturgical manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries—especially from convents of Bernardine Nuns in Poland, as well as from the Convent of Benedictine Friars in Staniątki—and compares it to the dispersal of canto fratto settings of ordinarium missae. Finally, the paper presents complete index of Benedicamus Domino melodies in the annex.
More...
This article explores the newly discovered account books of the Lviv Uniate Musical Chapel of the Bishop Leon Szeptycki. The main stay of this musical chapel was the architectural complex of the Cathedral of St George in Lviv. Today, two account books are stored in the department of old books and manuscripts of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv in the archives of the Lviv bishops; they cover the years 1760–1779. In the first two parts of the article, the author investigates the issues of the founding of the musical chapel and its place of activity. In the third part, there is a list of musicians who were members of this chapel over the years. In addition to the names and surnames, their positions, years of employment, musical instruments which they played and details of their biography are indicated. In the next part, there is a list of pupils of the chapel. It appears that the total number of pupils ranged from 2 to 14. Adult musicians and pupils played various instruments: harpsichord (“klawicymbaly”), clavichord (“klawikort”), organ, violin, alto, viola da gamba (“kwartviola”), cello (“basetla”), oboe, bassoon, trumpet and horn; there were singers as well. In the fifth part, the author specifies in what way the Lviv Uniate musical chapel was financed. In the next part, both the church and the secular musical repertoire of the musical chapel are described. In this section, also information from the Warsaw periodicals are used. In the seventh part, the collaboration of the Uniate music chapel with other chapels and monastic orders, Jesuits, Dominicans and Conventual Franciscans is explored. In the last part, the author examines the information about the human settlements that are found on the pages of the account books.
More...
Taking the Bulgarian throne in critical years for the country, Prince Ferdinand I was forced to ensure not only his personal survival, but also to quickly prove his great diplomatic and psychological skills in order to win the battle for the hearts of the largest and most influential stratum – the officer corps. In less than a decade, he was able to displace the talented dictator Stambolov and make dependent on his judgment the bulk of senior army command without directly interfering with army work and training. With this success, Prince Ferdinand proved his talents as a psychologist, ruler and tactician.
More...
The author focuses her attention on two major problems related to the charity sector in Bulgaria: its ambiguous public perception and the role of the state and its institutions in building its public image. Unlike education, which the society invariably recognized as a value, and all its development initiatives were considered laudable, a number of other causes did not enjoy such success. Some were slowly gaining popularity, others were perceived with outright distrust or even rejection. The reasons are mainly related to the then level of maturity of the civil sector, to the modernization of society as a whole. State and local governments in major cities worked to promote philanthropic events. Thus, the understanding of charity as a laudable and trustworthy activity, which educated citizens in public solidarity, mutual assistance and empathy, began to prevail in society.
More...
Most people are very surprised by the claim that we live in the most peaceful period in history. Are we not flooded with media reports and images of conflicts around the world today, some of them very active and bloody, and others seemingly waiting to happen? Have the United States and its allies not been involved in a series of messy wars over the past few decades? Scholars, for their part, ask themselves, if there has indeed been a decline in belligerency, when exactly did it begin: with the end of the Cold War, in 1945, or perhaps earlier? And what exactly caused it?
More...
The paper aims to prove the impact of the totalitarian regime on individuals, society and interpersonal relationships, reflected in personal letters, as well as the consequences of this impact. The research object includes the epistolary legacy of the 19th-century Georgian poet and public figure, the General of the Russian Army, Grigol Orbeliani, and that of the 20th-century Georgian historian, founder and Rector of Tbilisi State University, Ivane Javakhishvili. They both were members of the Georgian society, on extremely different sides, owing to their beliefs and worldviews: the former was an active participant in the creation of the totalitarian regime and represented the foothold of Russian authority in fulfilling the forcible policy in the Caucasus, and the latter was a victim of the totalitarian regime; by keeping the national values, worldviews, and personal freedom, he opposed authority. As a result, he became an object of persecution and insult. The comparative analysis of the two different epochs has once again revealed that Bolshevism was a logical extension of Tsarist Russia’s imperial policy: in both epochs, the Russian sovereignty used similar methods to implement and maintain a totalitarian regime: obtaining the public confidence, dividing the society, encouraging people to denounce and doom each other in order to create successful careers and so on. By bringing the examples from modern life, the work shows that, despite the fact that communism has fallen, its influence on society is still evident.
More...
The Young Turks coup during the hot political summer of 1908 shattered the Ottoman Empire. Constitutional-parliamentary rule was introduced and the early era of the ‘hurriyet’ (freedom) was actively promoted. Understandably, the Bulgarian population was enthusiastic about the change, cherishing hopes and expectations for positive reforms in all spheres of life. Without unnecessary euphoria, but with a clear awareness that it should take advantage of the new situation, the Bulgarian Exarchate took active steps to protect its rights and privileges that had been violated by the old authorities. The basis on which the Exarchate relied was the constitution itself. The steps it took were in several directions: 1. Establishment of the collective governing bodies in Constantinople – the Synod and the Exarchate Council. This was the first success of the Bulgarian Exarchate after the Young Turks coup. Without explicit interrogation and permission from the Sublime Porte, under the legal protection of the constitution, after 30 years of effort, the Exarchate regained its legal right. Henceforth followed the difficult path of defending what had been won. 2. Reorganization of the church administrative division of the exarchate department in the vilayets – establishment of new bishoprics (though without berats recognising the appointments of the new metropolitans) and vicarates (former ecclesiastical communities) to enhance the influence and authority of the Bulgarian Church in the vilayets. 3. Reformation of the school inspectorate, which was under the rule of the Exarchate; support of doctors and jurists to raise the level of the Bulgarian population in cultural and political terms, etc.
More...
Residing within the confines of the multi-cultural and multi-lingual Ottoman Empire Bulgarians spoke and wrote in different languages, depending on the type of communication and the audience. This paper presents several examples of Bulgarian enlighteners from the 19th century who used a language other than their own native Bulgarian. Shutosh was a comic newspaper, published in Istanbul in the 1870s. It was the Bulgarian version of a periodical owned by the Greek Teodor Kasap. Almost all publications in the newspaper were either anonymous, or signed with pen names. Large parts of them were translations, but neither the names of the authors, nor the translators were mentioned. One such translation was in fact an adaptation of Voltaire’s Zadig ou la Destinée. This article traces the history of that newspaper and presents some of its publications that have to do with literature.The observations lead to the conclusion that there was considerable multilingualism among Bulgarians in the mid-19th century. There were some multilingual periodicals, and there were texts published in languages other than Bulgarian and Greek. After the establishing of the new Bulgarian state (not so much in Eastern Rumelia), the trend changed and the Bulgarian language gained its high status and almost monopoly position, as well as the status of a lieu de mémoirе.
More...
The aim of the article is to present life expectancy calculations for magnates, the elite of the nobility (but not an exact equivalent of European aristocracy) from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th–18th centuries (life tables for women and men). The paper also contains a comparison with the results previously obtained for Western European aristocracy. The author tried to verify if there were differences in life expectancy between men and women from two parts of the Commonwealth: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Because only a small amount of data was collected, 95% confidence intervals were calculated from the sample. The calculations were based on genealogical data collected for 8 families from the Kingdom of Poland and 9 Lithuanian families.
More...
