Über den Status Einiger Urkunden des serbischen Kaisers Stefan Uroš (1355–71): Ein Beitrag zur Kanzleiforschung

Author(s): Žarko Vujošević / Language(s): German Issue: 4/2016

The paper discusses the issue of the diplomatic status of several charters of emperor Stefan Uroš (1355–71) which have either been categorised as copies or their status as originals remains disputed on account of the absence of seals and any traces of sealing, as well as the “year of production” of their watermarks. The documents under study are six charters from the archive of the monastery of Hilandar: for the metropolitan Cyril (1356); on the donation of the abandoned village of Patrikijevo (1360/61, two copies); on a donation by župan Vukoslav (15 October 1360); for čelnik Musa (15 July 1363); on a donation by the Branković brothers (11 March 1365); and on a donation by vojvoda Nikola (1366). The analysis of the documents, whose colour photographs are appended, involves a comparative examination of three documents from the Dubrovnik archives issued in 1357. It is argued that the watermark and seal cannot be taken as firm criteria for establishing originality in this material because: 1) dating by watermarks can only provide rough estimates, and it is therefore hardly possible to speak of their “year of production”; 2) it is not clear whether seals were at all a mandatory instrument of validation of the charters issued by emperor Uroš (as well as of other Serbian authors). Consequently, the Hilandar documents of 1356, 1363, 1365 and 1366, incontestable in their other diplomatic features, should be considered as originals, while the presumption of originality of one of the two copies of the 1360/61 charter and the document of 15 October 1360 can be confirmed only after further examination of their content and the circumstances in which they were created. Finally, it is proposed that the writing medium (paper) and the signature (as a rule in the auctor’s own hand) are more reliable originality criteria for the charters of emperor Uroš. The contribution also argues for a reconsideration of the hypercritical approach to medieval Serbian documents which is based on the presumed existence of an organised royal chancery with well-established and faithfully implemented practices in composing documents, so that diplomatic analysis may be placed in a more realistic historical and legal context.

Старији препис велике повеље цара Душана Дубровнику

Author(s): Nebojša Porčić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2016

The paper offers the first complete edition of the older copy of the long and elaborate charter issued to the city of Dubrovnik by the Serbian emperor Stefan Dušan on September 20, 1349. An analysis of the copy’s orthographic characteristics and handwriting confirms the earlier view that it was written by Give de Parmegano, Dubrovnik’s official Slavic scribe from 1348 to 1363. Following an earlier observation that a dorsal note on the copy was written by the same hand that wrote the original of the 1357 confirmation of Dušan’s charter issued by his son and successor Uroš, a thorough three-way orthographic and syntactic comparison established that Uroš’s confirmation was in fact written from Parmegano’s copy. Since it is known that Dušan kept an original of his 1349 document for himself, this raises questions regarding the archiving of documents in the Serbian imperial chancery. On the other hand, Uroš’s scribe demonstrates great confidence and capability in transforming the text of Parmegano’s copy into a confirmation charter, also supplementing it with a proem and the Serbian variant of the logos formula to give it the appearance of an imperial chrysobull. Finally, evidence provided by traces of sealing and a lengthy dorsal note in Italian indicate that the copy also saw extensive use after 1357, most probably in the 1370s and 1380s, when Dubrovnik sought and received confirmations of the privileges granted by Dušan from the various regional lords who rose to power after the disintegration of the Serbian Empire.

Писмо видинског цара Јована Страцимира брашовским трговцима

Author(s): Dragić M. Živojinović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 4/2016

The article contains the edition, translation, commentary and photographs of a letter addressed by the ruler of the Tsardom of Vidin, John Stratsimir (1356–1396), to the honorable members of the city council of Braşov, guaranteeing to the Braşov merchants freedom of trade and the Tsar’s protection in his country. The document itself is not dated but its inner information, i.e. the mention of distinguished town officials Jacob, Hermann and Peter, who are referred to in various charters of King Louis I of Hungary (1342–1382) issued to Transylvanian communes, combined with known facts about the Hungarian occupation of Vidin, suggest that it was created between 1369 and 1380.

Papa Grigore al XI-lea și revendicarea fiscală a teritoriului teuton al Țării Bârsei la 1373

Author(s): Şerban Turcuş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 56/2017

The study analyses a request of Pope Gregory XI related to the financial revenues of the Papacy payable by the Teutonic Order for its property in Transylvania. Only that the request is from 1373, while the order was banished from Transylvania in 1225. The study answers the question: why is claimed a property confiscated 150 years ago? The answer is that the Holy See has never recognized the confiscation of the Teutonic property, as the documents show over the time and the fiscal needs of Pope Gregory XI in 1373 are for supporting a new crusade. In the context is remembered the great inquiry from 1373 for the census of all properties of the Hospitaller Knights intended to provide financial benefits for the crusade. The study concludes that the Holy See has not legally and patrimonially abandoned the Teutonic property in Transylvania.

Porecla în Transilvania și comitatele învecinate pe parcursul primei jumătăți a secolului al XIV-lea

Author(s): Victor V. Vizauer / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 56/2017

The nickname is a denominative element present in most human societies, which represents an important source for understanding the community or the cultural environment that promoted this component of the anthroponymic system. The present study aims to analyse the medieval nicknames from Transylvania and the neighbouring counties (Maramureş, Sătmar, Bihor, Arad, Zarand, Cenad, Timiş and Caraş) from the first half of the 14th century, identified in medieval documents published by Romanian and Hungarian researchers. In order to achieve this, I have started from presenting the directions and the difficulties stamming from this type of research. Subsequently, the typology presented in the article comprises nicknames used in the above mentioned period, while the analysis focuses on the resulting main categories of the denominative system. Instead of definite conclusions, which will be drawn at the end of an ongoing research endeavour regarding medieval nicknames from Transylvania and the neighbouring counties (12th – 14th centuries), I have noted some observations that have already emerged at this stage of research.

Pamětní zápisy (akty) v českých zemích od konce 10. do konce 13. Století

Author(s): Marie Bláhová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2012

PAPAL CHAPLAIN AND SUBDEACON EGIDIUS. JUDGE DELEGATE AND LEGATE IN HUNGARY AT THE SAME TIME?

Author(s): Gábor Barabás / Language(s): English Issue: 28/2017

The present paper gives a short summary about the course of life of Egidius, a papal chaplain and subdeacon, who spent ca. three years in the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary in the late 1220’s as a judge delegate. The investigation focuses not on the litigations handled by the papal chaplain, but on one particular task of his, the establishment of the bishopric of Syrmia (Srem) and in connection with that on one main question: what kind of authority Egidius received from Pope Gregory IX for the planned measure. While analysing certain historical situations it is of great importance to establish whether a papal envoy was entrusted as a legate with full power or if he had to fulfil his obligation as a nuncio, with limited authorization. In the Hungarian historiography Egidius is handled traditionally as a legate, but his entire mission in Hungary seems to be of a more complex nature, therefore the question itself requires a new analysis.

Lacrimabilis arbor Petrarca, Nápolyi Endre és a Római epikus költészet

Author(s): L. Zoltán Simon / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2014

So far, no separate study has been published on Petrarch’s eclogue entitled Argus, although it is probably the earliest piece of his Bucolicum carmen. Concerning the ancient models of the eclogue, researchers have almost exclusively dealt with the influence of Virgil’s pastoral poetry, and have barely analyzed the conspicuously high number of epic allusions, the influence of Ovid, Statius and Claudianus. However, this one sidedness may easily result in less well-founded interpretations. The present study attempts to interpret the structure of the poem and its complex symbolism in view of the extensive exploration of the allusions.

Adalék két latin szó (accessio, abscessio) hazai középkori előfordulásához

Author(s): Ilona Nagy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2014

Despre titlul lui Mircea cel Bătrân, domn al Ţării Româneşti

Author(s): Ştefan Andreescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: XXXV/2017

Two late notes, from the second half of the seventeenth century, record a rather unusual intitulatio, allegedly assumed by Mircea the Elder, lord of Wallachia (1386-1418). According to the first, Mircea has not only been lord of Wallachia, but he also ruled over “all the countries and cities up to the borders of Edirne”. The second note mentions, briefly, that Mircea “ruled up to the borders of Edirne”. This article reinterprets these two seventeenth century notes in the light of an original document issued by Mircea’s chancery. In an undated letter sent to the Polish king, Władysław Jagiełło, Mircea the Elder asserts in his title that he ruled over “many Turkish cities”. The present article suggests that Mircea assumed this title in the early 1390’s, after he undertook a military expedition across the Balkans Mountains and destroyed the Ottoman basis of akincı from Karinovası (Karnobat).

O versiune italiană a bătăliei de la Nicopol

Author(s): Andrei Pippidi / Language(s): Romanian Issue: XXXV/2017

The chronicle written at Lucca by Giovanni Sercambi (1348-1424) covers the span of several decades, from 1368 to the early 15th century. Sercambi was mostly concerned with the internal events of his own city, but he also paid attention to what happen

MYSTICAL LOVE AS THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT. ESCHATOLOGY IN JALĀL AL-DĪN RŪMĪ’S DĪVĀN-I KABĪR

Author(s): Ferenc Csirkés / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2011

The paper analyses eschatological motifs in a few poems from Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī’s Dīvān. In them the poet integrates two seemingly disparate, perhaps antagonistic themes: the historicity of the Last Judgement, the end of all times, and the fundamental ahistoricity of the mystical experience. Rūmī handles the motif of the Resurrection and the Last Judgement as a poetic topos or as an allegory of the mystical experience, focusing on the tension and interaction between these two thematic elements.

The beginnings of coinage in the blue horde

Author(s): István Vásáry / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2009

Since the publication of Hammer-Purgstall’s path-breaking monograph (1840) on the history of the Golden Horde much has been written on this westernmost Tatar state, but some basic problems have remained unsolved ever since. One of the most obscure periods in the history of the Golden Horde is the twenty years’ anarchy (called bulqaq in Turkic) after Berdibek Khan’s death in 1359/60 (AH 761), lasting until 1380, the date of the establishment of Tokhtamish’s rule. With Berdibek’s death Batu’s line extinguished, and a cruel fight began among the Jochid families for the throne. Originally the western part of the Golden Horde (alias Right Wing or White Horde) was held by Batu’s house seated in Saray, and their jurisdiction nominally extended also to the eastern part of the Golden Horde (alias Left Wing or Blue Horde) where Batu’s elder brother Orda and his own successors sat on the khanal throne in Sığnaq. Practically they enjoyed total independence in matters of inner affairs, but had no coinage of their own. For long it was thought that the first eastern khan to mint coin in 770 AH (1369/70 AD) was Urus Khan, ancestor and predecessor of Girey and Jānibek, founders of the Kazak khanates in 875 AH (1470/1 AD).

Tari̇hçi̇ Şükrullâh Çelebi̇ (1380?–1460)

Author(s): Halil İnalcık / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1-2/2008

The historian Şükrullâh Çelebi (1380?–1460), coming from the family of ulemas , belongs to the less known figures of Ottoman historiography. Our knowledge concerning his life is very limited: in the period of 1402–1413 he must have been in the service of the şehzâdes reigning in Bursa, then he became one of the musâhibs of Murad II, finally he died in Mehmed II’s time as a person of great reverence. It was Sultan Mehmed II for whom he compiled his world history, the Behcetü’t-Tevârîh in the Persian language, in 1456–1458. One of the sources of this work was obviously identical with that formerly utilised by Ahmedî, then by Neşrî. Şükrullâh’s Chronicle yielded source material for several later chronicles. His translation into Turkish of the Risâle min Edvâr , a Persian work of musicology, testifies to the presence of the classifying tendencies of Sultan Murad II’s reign, which tried to bring the Ottoman culture in harmony with the classical Iranian culture.

WITCH OR DEMON? FAIRIES, VAMPIRES, AND NIGHTMARES IN EARLY MODERN SPAIN

Author(s): Fabián Alejandro Campagne / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2008

Any scholar devoted to the study of the witch figure in Early Modern Spain will soon realize that the Iberian bruja is a peculiar character in European folklore. The Spanish bruja was a malevolent agent specialized, almost exclusively, in the murder of newborn babies. Her infanticide compulsion was associated with vampirism. She possessed the extraordinary capacity to enter rooms through the smallest chinks in doors or walls. She had amazing metamorphic powers. When she attacked the sleeping adults, she threw herself upon them, crushing them with her weight. On occasions, she was considered the victim of a tragic destiny from which it was impossible to escape. Some specific behavior, such as drinking the wine kept in cellars or washing clothes at the side of rivers, was also attributed to her. In these traits, the specialist in Mediterranean folklore and comparative mythology immediately discovers the basic characteristics of a series of clearly identified mythical figures: the child-killing demon, the vampiric revenant, the fairy society and the Nightmare, specific avatars of the archaic mythology of the Double and the nocturnal spirits of the mahr-type. We can postulate, then, that the Spanish bruja, before embodying in Spain the figure of the satanic worshipper at the sabbat, gave name to a Pyrenean variant of the pan- European nocturnal demon. The evidence provided by diverse peninsular testimonies about the original meaning of the terms bruxa and xorguina, between the decades of 1280 and 1480, cover in an almost perfect way the spectrum of activities attributed to those fiends of the night. The historical evidence reinforces, then, the elements provided by the morphological analysis and by comparative mythology.

Bortz, a Cuman Chief in the 13th Century

Author(s): Szilvia Kovács / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2005

The Cumans, also known as Kipchaks and Polovcians, flourished during the 11th-13th centuries in the territory of the East European steppe. At the beginning of the 13th century the Hungarian Kingdom turned its attention to the Cumans. As a consequence, in 1227 Bortz, the fourth chieftain of the Cumans, sent his son, along with a retinue, to Esztergom, the seat of the Hungarian Archbishop, to embrace Christianity. The Dominican missionaries baptised Bortz and his people. This act was motivated by political considerations on both the Cuman and Hungarian sides. The aim of this paper is threefold. First, it analyses Bortz's name and his position occupied among the Cuman leaders. Secondly, the complicated problem of the habitat of the Cuman group led by Bortz is investigated. Finally, the motives for his conversion to Christianity are discussed.

Le commerce des fourrures entre l'Europe orientale et le Moyen-Orient à l'époque médiévale (IXe-XIIIe siècle) : pour une perspective historique

Author(s): Jean-Charles Ducène / Language(s): French Issue: 2/2005

L'Eurasie a constitué de tous temps le milieu naturel des animaux à fourrures. Or, si l'Antiquité ne nous donne que peu d'informations sur le sujet, les auteurs musulmans arabes médiévaux (IXe-XIIe siècle) sont beaucoup plus prolixes. Ils nous permettent dès lors d'appréhender les relations commerciales privilégiées entre la civilisation musulmane sédentaire et les populations semi-nomades de l'Eurasie. Il apparaît que les voies commerciales durant cette période restent pratiquement les mêmes alors que les acteurs changent. Ainsi, quand la suprématie khazare décline dans le deuxième moitié du Xe siècle, elle se voit remplacée par la main mise des Bulgares de la Volga. Précisons que les Khazars ont surtout joué un rôle d'intermédiaires plus que d'acteurs dans la chasse et la production des peaux. Après l'an mil, on constate par l'archéologie un ralentissement dans les échanges alors que les sources littéraires manquent pour la période, mais la situation telle qu'elle apparaît chez les auteurs du XIIe siècle nous laisse à penser que les réseaux n'ont fait que s'étendre avec l'apparition de nouveaux intervenants : les principautés russes (Kiev, Novgorod). Le passage des Mongols ralentira ce développement mais n'y mettra pas fin.

Zbytek zarejestrowany. O florenckich spisach kosztownych ubiorów i ozdób z lat 1343–1345

Author(s): Anna Pomierny-Wąsińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 78/2017

The article discusses registers of luxury gods issued in Florence in 1343–1345. Special care is given to characterise – for the Polish readers – the uniqueness of this source and its importance for social research (i.a. prosopography) and for broadly understood studies on material culture in late medieval towns and cities. Next, the use of this source for research into sumptuary laws in an Italian city is presented, together with an analysis of the articles published with the edition, which are the most recent studies in this area for Florence and will surely enter the canon of standard Italian works in the study of history of material culture of the late medieval Italian city.

Mieszczanie, rycerze, burgrabiowie. Kariera śląskiej rodziny von Reussendorf w czasach przedhusyckich

Author(s): Tomasz Zawadzki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83/2017

The Reussendorfs were a burgher family from Lwówek (Löwenberg), appearing in sources from the end of the 13th century, whose history forms a good example of social advance of Sielsian middle class in medieval times. They rose in importance thanks to their service at the courts of Bolko I the Strict and Henry of Jawor (Jauer), and in the 14th century belonged to the most influential and the richest families in the Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor (Schweidnitz-Jauer).As a consequence of purchasing land estates as fiefs and the duty of military horse service connected to it, the Reussendorfs entered the ranks of knighthood, accepting the basic attributes of that class – the knight’s belt and coat-of-arms. Their high position is confirmed by numerous offices held by them, various castle fiefs possessed, as well as excellent marital colligations with the most powerful knightly families of the period. The peak of the Reussendorfs’ career occurred in the second half of the 14th century. Their importance diminished from the end of that century because of the extinction of one branch of the family and a large number of descendants (which caused fragmentation of the estate) in the other branch. Members of the family, earlier connected mainly to the region of Lwówek, became active also in the nearby regions of Lusatia and in Bolesławiec (Bunzlau).

Cuman Warriors in the Fight of Byzantium with the Latins

Author(s): István Vásáry / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2004

From 1091 onwards the nomadic confederacy of the Cumans had played an eminent historical role in the Balkans. The present paper investigates the Cuman participation in the fight of Byzantium with the Latins, during and after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and comes to the conclusion that the Cumans' historical role in the restoration of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185-1186 and in the following events of the upcoming two decades is undeniable. The Cumans had no strategic aims, their primary and short-time goal being robbery and pillage. Though their employment in campaigns and battles as mercenaries was of prime importance for both the Vlakho-Bulgarians and the Byzantines and the Latins, they did not present a real long-term menace to the statehood of either of the waring factions