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A review of Robert K. Zawadzki’s book on Laurentius Corvinus (Wawrzyniec Korwin, Lorenz Rabe, 1470–1527). The book consists of a detailed study of this important humanist’s life and work and of an edition of his major writings, accompanied by their Polish translation. Though not free of errors, Zawadzki’s work will be the fundament of future research on Corvinus.
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The article analyzes the interesting relic discovered in the village of Brzezie near Opatów, that is a half of the lead impression of a papal bull. Such artifacts are usually kept in archives; in Poland only about 10 papal bulls have been found with the use of archeological methods, always near churches, and Brzezie is the only place where a bull was found despite the fact that there has never been a church there. Sigillographic analysis has allowed identifying the bull as Antipope John XXIII’s one. He was deposed during the Council of Constance in 1415, but he issued a number of documents concerning Polish lands and the Church of Poland including the Sandomierz and Opatów Church institutions and clergy that are discussed in the article. The authors (a sillographer, an archaeologist, and a mediaevalist) also point to the conditions under which the bull might find itself in Brzezie. In the article profiles are presented of three clergymen who had close relations with that place, or with the Lipńskis’ estate that does not exist today, on the area of which the bull was found. The clergymen were: the Dean of the Opatów Chapter Rafał of Brzezie (his name occurs in the years 1412-1438), the Canon of many Chapters, the royal secretary and diplomat Aleksander Brzeski (died 1650) and the Rector of the Virgin Mary Church in Opatów Karol Targowski (died 1942).
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This study deals with fourteenth and fifteenth century (1360–1470) literary compositions which originated in the Czech Lands and deal with the education and instruction of children of royal and noble birth. The works of Emperor Charles IV, Tomáš Štítný ze Štítného (Thomas of Stitny), Pavel Žídek (Paulus Paulirinus de Praga), and Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini are compared and placed in context of the time when they were written. Emphasis is placed on features these works share regarding their contents, form, and genre.
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This article deals with instructions for preachers authored by the Viennese Dominican Leonard Huntpichler. In 1467, Huntpichler sent to the chaplain of Reinprecht von Walsee a letter where he formulated instructions regarding the preaching of a crusade against heretics in Bohemia. The contribution includes an edition of the historical document, clarifies the historical circumstances in which it was written, and presents some ideas about the form which preaching guided by these instructions may have taken.
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Kiratsa-Maria, daughter of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexandăr (1331–1371) and a consort of the Byzantine prince, heir apparent Andronik IV became a Byzantine empress and was later imprisoned in the dungeons of Constantinople. At the end of her life she was a nun. Her life is depicted by the Spanish author Ruy González de Clavijo in his itinerary Embajada a Tamorlán from the 15th с.
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The paper examines the 15th century South Slavonic manuscript N 1/108 from the State Scientific Library in Odessa. The codex is a convolute consisting of different manuscripts. The last of them contains a collection of proverbial sayings unexamined so far. The author shows that the collection is actually a short excerpt from the Byzantine gnomologium “Melissa”. The textological analysis leads to the assumption that this manuscript preserves a South Slavonic translation of the Greek “Melissa”. In all likelihood the translation was made on Mount Athos.
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In the article 56 short documents of a register with entries of the Venetian State Archives – Archivio di State di Venezia – Duca di Candia, busta 11. Actorum (1368–1415) are published, translated in Bulgarian and analyzed. The documents report the legalisation of the status of slaves of Bulgarian origin brought to the Island of Crete. In their majority these slaves were from places in Macedonia, Moesia and other regions of the Balkan Peninsula. Observations are made on the way they were enslaved, on their place of origin, anthroponymy and religious allegiance. The value of the newly discovered register as an important source for Bulgarian history during the second half of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century is emphasised.
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Sts Apostles Peter and Paul’ is a 15th century Turnovo cathedral church where on the Deisis composition is written a text on the scroll of St. John the Baptist, which in itself is quite remarkable in terms of mural epigraphy, enlivened by an Old-Bulgarian apocrypha called “Bartholomew Seeking Answers from the Holy Mother about the End of the World”. The text however, reveals a period of great artistic variety when reflecting the anticipation of the Last Judgement. One out of many autographs belonging to icon-painter Nicholas is placed within the Prayer Composition (on the maphorion of the Holy Mother, just above the tassels),thus adding much more meaning to the apocryphal text. The decisions of the Florentine Union (1439) has probably influenced the master to make his own interpretations of the mysterious words said by the Holy Mother in Greek, in order to express his attitude towards the apostates from the Orthodox religion. The contents of the apocryphal text are connected by separate themes treating the iconographie programme.
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Preconditions for the emergence of Lithuanian-Crimean relations formed back to the beginning of the reign of Khan Tokhtamysh. They were due to the fact the Grand Duchy of Lithuania included the Russian lands, which were also depending on the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde. Later, this led to the fact that while the Golden Horde was collapsing, the grand Dukes of Lithuania played an active role in the formation of the Crimean Khanate. In this study highlights the attempt to form an independent state in the Crimea in 1420-1424 years.
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In a manuscript from the end of the fifteenth century in the University of Wrocław Library, which derives from the Augustinian Monastery (canonici regulares) in Żagań (under the Provost in Zielona Góra), a collection of sermons has survived, a collection of homilies for the entire liturgical year, entitled Sermones varii de tempore et de sanctis, transcribed by Jan z Paczkowa Wettziger (died after 1497). Wettzinger, a canon regularis from Kłodzko (he later lived in Żagań, Wrocław, and Zielona Góra), was not, despite appearances, the author of the collection, but he edited it on the basis of a collection of sermons of the Bernardine Patrick during his stay in Zielona Góra. Between pages 49r and 50v of the manuscript, there is the second (in sequence) sermon Sermo II: Dominica V post Epiphaniam. It is devoted to the phenomenon of heresy, which the preacher compares allegorically to the biblical tares. Wettzinger concentrates, above all, on an anti‑Hussite polemic. He transforms a critical interpretation of heresy into a chronicle‑style piece, incorporating into the sermon a calendar of the history of Czech Hussitism in the form of a long chronicler’s note.
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Wawrzyniec z Březové is distinguished among observers and chroniclers of Hussitism, and his chronicles are the best source of information relating to the first phase of the Hussite revolution. Wawrzyniec writes of the years 1414–1421, but his main focus is on the years 1419–1421. He starts with the inauguration of giving communion in two kinds, which was a result of the work of Jakoubek ze Stříbra in 1414. The world of this penetrating observer and thinking man is not black and white. The inevitable companion of revolution – fear – is clear in the pages of Wawrzyniec’s account. Indeed, it accompanies all the phases of these tempestuous events.
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The author of the commentary does not engage in a polemic with Krzysztof Kwiatkowski’s article “Niewola księcia pomorsko‑szczecińskiego Kazimierza [V] po bitwie grunwaldzkiej (1410/1411) – obserwacje historycznokulturalne” (Studia z Dziejów Średniowiecza 2017, vol. 21, pp. 111–126). However, he draws attention to Kwiatkowski’s erroneous interpretations, in which, without offering any new arguments, he asserts “facts” that do not emerge from the cited sources. The author suggests that we are dealing here with historical fantasy that has no place in serious history. Kwiatkowski also commits errors in citing sources and does not take account of the most important study of pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Summing up, the author of the commentary claims that the subject of Prince Świętobor I’s pilgrimage demands historical knowledge of material predating Kwiatkowski’s article.
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The article examines attempts to date the list of Central Polish officials (the Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyń, and Kujawy areas), given on fol. 211v–212 of the Crown Register (Metryka Koronna – MK) 14 kept in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw. Sobiesław Szybkowski dated the Kuyawa lists roughly to the years 1480–1484, and the Dobrzyń lists to 1485, with corrections made in them in the years 1491–1494. Janusz Bieniak, on the other hand, dated the original level of the Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyń and Kujawy lists to the spring or early summer of 1484, earlier additions to the Dobrzyń lists to the years 1485–1489, and later amendments to all lists to the period after 1491. A closer analysis of the external features of the original lists of officials from the areas of Sieradz, Łęczyca, Dobrzyńska, and Kujawy from fol. 2011v–212 MK 14, suggests somewhat different possibilities than before regarding the approximate dating of this important source. It seems that seven hands contributed to its final shape. The first level of the text came from hand no. 1, who planned the list concerning the areas of Sieradz, Łęczyca, Brzeg voivodship (fol. 211v MK 14), and Inowrocław voivodship (beginning of fol. 212 MK 14). It was probably written at the end of 1482 or at the beginning of 1483 (by late spring). The first additions to this list were made by hand no. 2, who also started the Dobrzyń list in free space at the bottom of the first column at fol. 211v. This probably happened in 1485. The next hands, nos 3–7, supplemented and modified the Central Poland lists up to the last years of the reign of Kazimierz Jagiellończyk. Interventions (in the form of deletions) took place during the reign of Jan Olbracht. The annex to the article is a full critical edition of the list of officials of Central Poland from Crown Register (Metryka Koronna) 14.
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Historiography is increasingly focusing its attention on the diplomatic history of the period of Matthias Corvinus. There have been numerous analyses of his relations with the Papal Court, the Bohemian orders and the Holy Roman Emperor. Matthias’ conflict with the Jagiellons is on its own a separate chapter. We find relatively few original documents amongst the sources that relate to the subject, therefore, if we have the opportunity to examine some of these with regard to a certain topic, we must take advantage of it. Several charters relating to Matthias’ peace treaty with the Jagiellons in 1474 in Ófalu/Spišská Stará have survived in their original form, so in addition to the diplomatic process of the peace treaty, we can also inspect the seals of the negotiating parties on the original charters. In the present paper, after a brief historical introduction and describing the re- search background, I will make a detailed examination of three charters that were is- sued by the Hungarian side. The documents show who from the Hungarian and Polish sides took part in the negotiations, and the surviving seals of the six Hungarian par- ticipants. The paper describes in a nutshell the careers of the negotiating parties, and gives a description of the surviving seals, accompanied by pictures. Because of its short form, the paper cannot attempt to provide a synthesis of diplomatic history, neverthe- less, it aims to publish the biography of the “peacemakers”, and to present a specific source type.
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Towards the end of 1408, the Hungarian King Sigismund issued a charter in which he expresses his gratitude to his military commanders Nikola Gorazdy and Ladislav Szilagy for the successes they achieved in the war against the Turks and Bosnians in Bosnia. Among other things, Sigismund mentions the siege and capture of the fortress Branić in Usora. This is the only known mention of this fort in the historical sources, and its location remains on the margins of historiographical discussion. Several historians made an attempt to locate the fortress, but only on basis of contextualization, without any field research, so it was assumed that this fortress was located at several different places in northern Bosnia, from Trebava to Motajica. Of these potential locations, the most likely seemed to be one located in the depths of Vučijak, south of the Velika Brusnica village, on the ridge above the Kamenica stream. During a field trip to the location in March this year, it was determined that there probably was a smaller fort that was located here, probably from the XIII to XV century. Namely, at the mentioned location, more precisely, at the ridge called Gradina, on an elevation on which remains of moat systems can be seen, mobile material was found (arrowheads, horseshoes, tools and forged nails), which can be dated back to the period of medieval Bosnia through analogy, and as such confirm some sort of fortress at this location, most likely Branić. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness to the existence of an abundance of archaeological material in the mentioned location, in order to encourage professional research and thus collect concrete data.
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I. Mátyás és az igazságszolgáltatás. Az Országos Bírósági Hivatal tudományos konferenciája. Szerk.: Peres Zsuzsanna –Révész T. Mihály. Országos Bírósági Hivatal, Budapest, 2019. 167 oldal
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Extraordinary taxation levied in the first half of King Matthias’s reign was mostly justified by military necessities and generally put to the financing of military campaigns. The amount and administration of the tax, then generally collected under the name of contributio, varied from year to year and from levy to levy. On top of the countrywide taxes, however, there also existed regional levies, with one or more counties offering taxes for particular military ventures. Moreover, the scholarly literature also reckons with a extraordinary military tax, called taxa exercitualis, that would have been levied in redemption of the so-called militia portalis. A detailed examination of extraordinary taxation, and of the connections between taxation and military service, has clearly proved that there was no separate tax for the redemption of military service, distinct from the contributio, and nor is this distinction supported by the terminology. Rather, as had been the case before, it was the personal military service of the nobility that could be redemeed through the paying of the contributio. Accordingly, this tax could not be collected from the tenants of the nobility who served in person.
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The study deals with the royal books from the reign of king Matthias Hunyadi (1458–1490), a key element of medieval Hungarian government literacy. Upon petition from the grantee, the charters of royal donation were entered into these volumes kept at Buda. Simultaneously, the fact of the registration was indicated on the donation charter itself, marking the page of the royal book on which the text of the grant was copied. Consequently, it is possible to virtually reconstruct the royal books as thay may have existed under King Matthias. Moreover, one can thus gain a more accurate view (and numbers) of the survival rate of the charters once registered, which is a novelty in the case of the written legacy of medieval Hungarian Kingdom.
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Shirogorov, Vladimir: War on the Eve of Nations. Conflicts and Militaries in Eastern Europe, 1450–1500. New York– Lanham–Boulder–London, Lexington Books 2021. 509 p. (Slavic Studies. History.)
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