The study beforehand applies a logical scheme of analysis over a possible presence of the Justinianic plague in the province of Scythia Minor.
Visual material evidence of Viking presence in the Balkans
August 6, 2015 By
The Swedish Vikings, who are known as ‘Varangians’ mostly in Byzantine sources, were present in the Balkans. They first carried out their military and trading campaigns from Scandinavia to the territories of European Russia, Ukraine and reached the Balkans.
Lasting Falls and Wishful Recoveries: Crusading in the Black Sea Region after the Fall of Constantinople
April 21, 2015 By
This paper examines the Black Sea question in the second half of the 15th century, with special emphasis on crusading and religious questions.
Banditry and the Clash of Powers in 14th-Century Thrace: Momcilo and his Fragmented Memory
September 7, 2014 By
In the 14th century, a time of civil wars, religious and dynastic strifes, epidemics, natural disasters and miserable living conditions for the wider strata in the cities and the countryside that increased migratory movements, banditry, an indigenous phenomenon in the Balkan mountainous regions, intermingled with the intensified political struggles.
Hungary’s Conversion to Christianity: The Establishment of Hungarian Statehood and its Consequences to the Thirteenth Century
September 1, 2014 By
The Carpathian Basin occupies a peculiar place in history. It was the ground where Roman-Germanic world met that of the Slavs and mounted nomad peoples, where no group had achieved sustained unity before the state of Hungary was founded.
Late Antique and Early Byzantine fortifications in Bosnia and Herzegovina
April 15, 2013 By
Geographically, the province of Dalmatia can be divided into two zones: the coastal and the mountainous regions.
The Image of Early Medieval Barbaroi in Contemporary Written Sources and Modern Scholarship: the Balkan Perspective
April 3, 2013 By
This article gives a review on the accounts of the contemporary authors held as authorities on the history of the barbarian tribes, which combined with the survey of the material evidence, retrieved with archaeological excavations.
Multi-confessionalism in Medieval and Ottoman Bosnia-Herzegovina
March 25, 2013 By
By the fifth century CE, however, the Western Empire was unraveling, and Bosnia, the easternmost outpost of Latin jurisdiction, was being engulfed by throngs of barbarian Slavs.
Barbarians to the Balkans
March 17, 2013 By
In the High Middle Ages, in a now clearly articulated opposition between the West and the East, Europe and the Balkans began to emerge and be fixed as distinct and hostile entities. In Crusading chronicles, the Balkan lands lay on the way from Europe to the Holy Land. In the late twelfth and in the thirteenth centuries, the conventional separation line between the civilized and barbarian world, identical with the river Danube, began to break down and the barbarians came to be located in the Balkans.
Why There May Have Been Contacts between Slovenes and Jews before 1000 A.D.
March 16, 2013 By
The first documented evidence of a Jewish presence in Slovenia dates from the 13th century, when Yiddish- and Italian-speaking Jews migrated south from Austria to Maribor and Celje, and east from Italy into Ljubljana. This is a good three centuries after the first mention of Jews in the Austrian lands.
In search of a missing link: The Bogomils and Zoroastrianism
January 13, 2013 By
Both Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism are dualist relig- ions. Implicit in the beliefs held true by these religions is the notion of co-equal and co-eternal principles. Implicit in this notion is the belief that both good and evil exist and are acted upon from the very beginning.
Poisons and Poisoning in the Republic of Dubrovnik
December 5, 2012 By
Dubrovnik authorities occasionally resorted to poisoning as a means of resolving state affairs.
Conversion and Empire: Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (ca. 300-900)
December 3, 2012 By
For a broader modern audience today, if taken somewhat journalistically, Pusicius’ story is an example that cuts along cultural and religious lines that presumably originate in ancient, political divisions and confirm a “clash of civilizations” thesis.
In the Lion’s Den: Orthodox Christians under Ottoman Rule, 1400-1550
September 9, 2012 By
A glance at the Orthodox Christian church under the Ottoman Empire from the early fifteenth to mid sixteenth century gives a revealing glimpse at some of the changing relationships of conquered Christians to the state.
A Spectacle of Great Beauty: The Changing Faces of Hagia Sophia
August 28, 2012 By
For Constantine, Justinian, Sultan Mehmed II, and Atatürk, Hagia Sophia served as a model for the changing political and religious ideals of a nation. To use the useful phrase coined by Linda Young, Hagia Sophia is a building that is “in between heritage.”
Hellenism and the Shaping of the Byzantine Empire
August 27, 2012 By
While the role of Byzantine Hellenism on the art, literature, and society of the Empire has been the subject of tremendous study, the question of its origins has, nonetheless, rarely been raised, and the strongly Hellenic Byzantine identity seems, to a large extent, to have been taken for granted historiographically.
Late medieval Tombstones (stecci) in the area of Zabljak (Montenegro)
July 16, 2012 By
Although stećci have been investigated for more than a century and thousands of them have been found many questions still arise. Many monuments have been only been registered as existing, with no excavation; most of them have not been excavated archaeologically.
Borderlands, Cross-Cultural Exchange and Revenge in the Medieval and Early Modern Balkans: Roots of Present Regional Conflicts or Merely a Historical Case-Study?
June 20, 2012 By
Acts of revenge could be carried out across generations, forcing the relatives of a slain individual to escape humiliation and shame by embarking on a never-ending journey of vengeance and retaliation.
Types of physical exercise in Medieval Serbia (XII-XIV century)
June 17, 2012 By
It is often said of a nation that it is as rich as its history. All the efforts and desire to get to the roots of our past lead us inevitably to the Middle Ages and connect us to the spirit of the rule of the House of Nemanjić. A profound influence this dynasty exerted on the history of the people of Serbia points out their greatness and significance. Serbian army from the period of the Nemanjić reign was famed for its bravery, agility, endurance, persistence, wisdom and skillfulness varying by the type of warfare. Brave voivode and warriors were the apple of Serbia’s eye, which in turn caused heroism to become a lifestyle.
Transylvania in Hungarian History: An Introduction
June 3, 2012 By
From their Balkan homeland the Vlachs began their migrations north in the thirteenth century, migrations that were accelerated no doubt by the beginning of Ottoman Turkish expansion into the Balkans.
Braşov (Kronstadt) in the Defence against the Turks (1438–1479)
June 3, 2012 By
Confrontation with Ottoman expansion began for Braşov at the end of the 14th century with the treaty with Mircea the Elder in the year 1395 which was part of King Sigismund of Luxembourg’s anti-Ottoman policy and was signed in Braşov.
The Medieval Town in Bulgaria, thirteenth to fourteenth century
May 31, 2012 By
In my study, the town in late medieval Bulgaria is conceptualized as an explanandum, not as an explanans, as part of the social and economic environment rather than some distinctive entity.
The Harsh Life on the 15th Century Croatia-Ottoman Empire Military Border: Analyzing and Identifying the Reasons for the Massacre in Cepin
April 4, 2012 By
Turkish intrusions into what is today the continental part of Croatia began in 1391 and continued throughout the 15th, and the beginning of the 16th century when a large part of continental Croatia was incorporated into the Turkish Empire.
Stradioti: Balkan Mercenaries in Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Italy
March 11, 2012 By
This paper will investigate the origins of the stradioti, their ethnic and regional composition, their role in the armies of the 15th and 16th centuries, and their participation in the founding of Greek Orthodox Communities in the Italy and elsewhere.
Going native, becoming German: Isotopes and identities in late Roman and early medieval England
March 8, 2012 By
In these accounts, the individual and the group were biologically constituted
in the sense that all the ‘people’ were descended from a common ancestor. Identity and belonging were carried and delivered in the blood; individuals were born into the people.
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