This thesis focuses on the relations between the idea of holy war and the portrayals of holy warriors in medieval narratives composed by those in the service of power-holders.
A Comparative Analysis of the Concepts of Holy War and the Idealized Topos of Holy Warrior In Medieval Anatolian And European Sources
July 13, 2015 By
Renaissance Contacts Between Dubrovnik (Ragusa) and the Kingdom of Hungary
November 23, 2014 By
During the rule of the Angevin dynasty (1308-82) in Hungary, towns and cities increasingly assumed greater political influence. The first treaty between the King of Hungary and Dubrovnik (in those days Ragusa) was signed in 1358, during the reign of Louis (Lajos) the Great.
Medieval Perspectives: Jean de Waurin and His Perception of the Turks in Anatolia in the Late Middle Ages
September 2, 2014 By
This paper discusses the reasons Wavrin wrote his account of the crusade of Varna and Walerin de Wavrin’s expedition into the Balkans, which was later published within his history of Britain and how he perceived and accordingly presented the Turks to the renaissance readers.
Slaves, Money Lenders, and Prisoner Guards: The Jews and the Trade in Slaves and Captives in the Crimean Khanate
August 20, 2014 By
Trade in slaves and captives was one of the most important (if not the most important) sources of income of the Crimean Khanate in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.
The medieval social topography of Szeged
February 8, 2014 By
As the name historical social topography implies it comprehends the ancient location and distribution of particular groups and layers of inhabitants in a settlement.
‘Part of our commonwealth’: a study of the Normans in eleventh-century Byzantine historiography
January 29, 2014 By
‘Part of our commonwealth’: a study of the Normans in eleventh-century Byzantine historiography Alexander Olson (Simon Fraser University) Simon Fraser University: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Master of Arts (2009) Abstract In the eleventh century several Norman mercenaries went to Byzantium where they alternately served or rebelled against the Empire. This thesis examines how […]
A Rural Economy in Transition: Asia Minor from Late Antiquity into the Early Middle Ages
November 25, 2013 By
A Rural Economy in Transition deals with one of the most important periods in the history of Europe and the Middle East – the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages.
Glass Bridges: Cross-Cultural Exchange between Florence and the Ottoman Empire
July 24, 2013 By
During the medieval period, the main aim of the crusades was recovery of the Holy Land. However, this changed in the fifteenth century for various reasons.
A Study on the Effects of Ghazan Khan’s Reformative Measures for the Settlement of the Nomadic Mongols (1295-1304)
July 23, 2013 By
The Ilkhanid’s sovereignty in Iran was part of the great empire under the command of Genghis Khan and his successors. It extended broadly from Korea to Eastern Europe and China to Iran and Syria. Such conquest originated from Mongolia (Middle Asia), which was the original land of these homeless nomadic people. They lived by shepherding, hunting and sometimes looting nearby tribes or civilized centers.
‘Fromm thennes faste he gan avyse/This litel spot of erthe’: GIS and the General Prologue
May 2, 2013 By
This paper was given at the Canada Chaucer Seminar on April 27, 2013.
Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier
April 7, 2013 By
This paper considers historical perspectives on recently discovered archaeological evidence in what was the sixth-century Roman-Persian frontier region.
Conservation at Ani Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Savior
January 20, 2013 By
Ani, a dramatic, windswept archaeological site in eastern Turkey, was once a thriving medieval city on the trade route through Central Asia.
“We Have Met Devils!”: The Almogavars of James I and Peter III of Catalonia-Aragon
December 9, 2012 By
Who were these Almogavars, who were able to defeat these heavily-armed and highly-trained knights? Why were they consistently effective against all who came before them? How were they utilized by James I the Conqueror (1213-1276) and his son Peter III the Great (1276-1285), count-kings of Catalonia-Aragon, to further the interests of their realm? These are the questions that this paper will attempt to answer.
What was the British Perception of the Turk between the Fall of Constantinople and the Siege of Vienna?
October 17, 2012 By
In assessing the British perception of the Turk during the halcyon centuries of the Ottoman Empire, it is hard not to drown in a cacophony of opinions. However, it would be simply too convenient to claim that the sources were too contradictory and fluid; the patterns too faint and far between, to construct a decent argument.
Mandeville’s Intolerance: The Contest for Souls and Sacred Sites in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
October 3, 2012 By
While Chaucer‟s knight has traveled to and fought in Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor, Sir John claims to have visited the entire known world from Constantinople and the Holy Land to the farthest reaches of Asia.
Through the Eyes of a Crusader: An Intensive Study Into the Personal Involvement of Two Men in the Fourth Crusade
September 21, 2012 By
What was going through the minds ofthese men who were fighting for the cross when they attacked a Christian city, which was one oftheir allies?
The Life and Miracles of Thekla: A Literary Study
September 16, 2012 By
What is this story and why is Egeria reading it at the shrine in Seleukeia?
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.
George Gemistos Plethon on God: Heterodoxy in Defense of Orthodoxy
September 3, 2012 By
The Emperor, John VIII Palaeologos, knew they were going to face some of the finest minds in the Roman Church on their own soil; he therefore wanted the best minds available in support of the Byzantine cause to accompany him. Consequently, the Emperor appointed George Gemistos as part of the delegation.
The Symbolical Career of Georgios Gemistos Plethon
September 2, 2012 By
Thus Gemistos was the first who in an authoritative way attacked the hegemony of Aristotle in western thought.
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.”
Praising A City: Nicaea, Trebizond, and Thessalonike
August 26, 2012 By
Praising A City: Nicaea, Trebizond, and Thessalonike Aslıhan Akışık Journal of Turkish Studies, Vol.36 (2012) Abstract The late Byzantine period(1204-1461) was distinguished by the existence of multiple,competing, and interconnected centers, superseding the imperial and Constantinopolitan model of the middle period. Civic identity, defined largely in opposition to the “other”,which refers to the Latins in the […]
The Italo-Cretan Religious Painting and The Byzantine-Palaeologan Legacy
August 19, 2012 By
The paper aims to introduce the last significant school of painting, which was nurtured by the Byzantine sources, the so-called Italo-Cretan school, whose presence and influence lasted for more than 300 years. Its works are perceived not just as mere objects of veneration but have also high artistic and marketing value.
The Question of Trabzon’s Efrenciyan Population: 1486-1583
July 29, 2012 By
The following article examines the ‘fate’ of the Efrenciyan or foreign residents of the city of Trabzon following the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1461.
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.
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