Medieval Church History

After the conquest of pagan Hungarian tribes towards the end of the ninth century, and their gradual occupation of the Carpathian Basin, in the year 1000 a major change has occurred. Stephen I, the first king of Hungary was baptized and crowned, and with his reign, the Christian state was born. The reorganization of settlement and power structures went hand in hand with the Christianisation, and so with it, the building of the local church system. Tracing this, however, is challenging, although the topic of Christianisation and so the conversion still considered as a ‘hot topic’ just as much as in archaeological, as in historical research.
In the present paper, we are approaching this issue also from a topographical point of view. Since this process went on in a relatively short period of time, the phenomenon that otherwise resembles much to the standard process of nucleation shows some specific elements as well. The coterminous use of field cemeteries and churchyards are interesting just as much from a topographical, as from a religious aspect. The role of the central secular power on the development of the local church system, and thus its (topographical) relation to early power centres and possibly to the early settlement system could give some alternatives on the problem on which written sources remain silent - the process of conversion and the development of the local church system, and its relation to the relocation of the cemeteries – their incorporation within the settlements.

The papers gives first an overview on the Hungarian monasteriologiae from the 17th century on, then it analysis the tendences of the development of the medieval Hungarian monastic network based on a collection of data between 996 and 1541, the foundation of the first Benedictine abbey in Hungary till the Ottoman occupation of the kingdom's medieval capital, Buda.

The symposium “The found Christ” took place in Cervignano del Friuli (Udine) on Saturday, December 3, 2005, within the homonymous multi-year project (coord. scient. S. Blason Scarel and P. Casadio) dedicated to the rediscovery of the "Christ of the Countess", a colossal medieval wooden crucifix preserved in the chapel of St. Cross, the gentilitial oratory of the villa Bresciani in Cervignano. The Conference Proceedings are published two years later, enriched by further updates: in the volume the author outlines – for the first time – the history of the residence founded by the noble Bresciani family in Cervignano (the precious 'background' of the ancient sculpture) and he describes the different buildings, the dependencies and the furnishings including his famous 'guest', suggesting again the proposal that he already put forth at the symposium: that it is to be identified with the "Christ of St. Felix", a gigantic wooden crucifix seen in 1570 by the apostolic visitor Bartolomeo of Porcia & Brugnera inside the Basilica of Sts. Felix e Fortunate in Aquileia, at that time still raised although no more flourishing

Sabato 3 dicembre 2005 a Cervignano si svolse il convegno “Il Cristo ritrovato”, nell’ambito dell’omonimo progetto pluriennale (coordinamento scientifico: S. Blason Scarel - P. Casadio) dedicato alla riscoperta del “Cristo della Contessa”, il colossale crocifisso ligneo medievale conservato nella cappella di S. Croce, l’oratorio gentilizio della villa Bresciani a Cervignano. A due anni di distanza vede la luce il volume degli atti – arricchito da ulteriori aggiornamenti – al cui interno l’autore per la prima volta delinea le vicende storiche della dimora cervignanese fatta costruire dalla nobile famiglia Bresciani (il prezioso ‘sfondo’ dell’antica scultura) e ne descrive i diversi fabbricati, le pertinenze e l’arredo compreso il suo celebre ‘ospite’, riproponendo la proposta già avanzata durante il convegno: che esso sia da identificare con il “Cristo di San Felice”, il gigantesco crocifisso in legno visto dal visitatore apostolico Bartolomeo di Porcia e Brugnera nel 1570 all’interno della basilica aquileiese dei Santi Felice e Fortunato, all’epoca non più fiorente ma ancora in alzato

Zwischen Familie und Kirche. Geistliche Fürstensöhne im spätmittelalterlichen Reich, in: Identität und Gemeinschaft. Vier Zugänge zu Eigengeschichten und Selbstbildern institutioneller Ordnungen, ed. Mirko Breitenstein/Julia Burkhardt/Stefan Burkhardt/Jörg Sonntag (Vita regularis. Abhandlungen 67), Berlin 2015, S. 189-209.

This article analyses the correspondence of Boniface and his associates, arguing that Boniface deliberately but subtly communicates a Pauline apostolic identity in his letters by expressing his personal and professional successes, struggles, and feelings through a pervasive language of biblical allusions drawn primarily from the Pauline Epistles. The effectiveness of this hermeneutic becomes apparent when we see the complicity of Boniface’s fellow-correspondents and their ability and willingness to respond to his Pauline allusions in kind. They express their support of Boniface’s missionary and reform projects through their participation in these discursive practices; their ability to recognize, interpret and engage with this biblical language supplies the meaning to his words and, in doing so, systematically constitutes Boniface as an apostolic figure.

"A obra que o leitor tem entre mãos pretende ser uma recolha completa de todos os trabalhos escritos de Armindo de Sousa, publicados além dos seus livros ou capítulos de livros. Porque este historiador já partiu de entre nós há cerca de quinze anos, porque os seus trabalhos estão dispersos e são, quase todos, de difícil acesso, porque uma obra reunida ganha em unidade, em coerência e em inteligibilidade. Mas, acima de tudo, porque Armindo de Sousa foi um historiador de excepção; e se, em qualquer país, seria obrigatória a disponibilização da sua obra a um público alargado, do limitado e algo pobre panorama historiográfico português é quase um crime de lesa-inteligência que as páginas que ele nos deixou andem perdidas." (Luís Miguel Duarte)

This essay explores the spread and development of the cults of Scandinavian saints in the historical region of Livonia (corresponding approximately to present-day Estonia and Latvia). The discussion focuses on the veneration and visual representations of St Olaf, St Knud (Canute), St Birgitta of Vadstena, St Henry of Finland, and others. The probable conflation of the cult of two different Knuds will be pointed out. Attention will be given to the main centres and promoters of these cults, such as St Canute’s guild, St Olaf’s guild and St Olaf’s church in Tallinn and St Olaf’s guild in Riga. The article points out how some of these saints became identity markers for particular social and ethnic groups or for the representatives of certain occupations. The visual representation of these saints is investigated, as well as the question of how they shaped the local urban environment.

this paper would give a comprehensive analysis about the rule of orthodoxy based on the Spiritual Exercise of St Ignatius. Although written in bahasa Indonesia, this paper is arranged from  most well-known English primary sources about the theology of the spiritual exercises

Eine große Zahl herausragender Denkmäler der mittelalterlichen Baukunst befindet sich auf dem Gebiet des heutigen Polen. Zwischen Oder und Weichsel liegen sowohl Kernlandschaften Polens als auch Territorien, die vormals dem deutschen Kulturraum angehörten. Es zeigen sich im gesamten Raum vielfältige und einander durchdringende Phänomene der deutsch-polnischen Kulturbeziehungen. Kunsthistoriker aus Deutschland und Polen haben in einem gemeinsamen Projekt, angesiedelt am kunsthistorischen Institut der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Prof. Matthias Müller), erstmals in deutscher Sprache eine umfassende Gesamtdarstellung der mittelalterlichen Architektur in den historischen Landschaften von Großpolen, Kleinpolen, Masowien, Schlesien, Hinterpommern/Neumark sowie des Deutschordenslands Preußen verfasst. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit liegen nun, unter der Herausgeberschaft von Prof. Dethard von Winterfeld (Mainz) und Prof. Christofer Herrmann (Danzig), in einer zweibändigen und reich bebilderten Publikation vor. Das Buch richtet sich an ein deutschsprachiges Publikum, dem heute die großartigen Denkmäler östlich der Oder – in denen sich deutsche und polnische Geschichte widerspiegelt – kaum mehr bekannt sind. Für die Wissenschaft wird zugleich eine breite Materialgrundlage für weiterführende Studien geschaffen.

The twelfth century was a period of significant development and change in the religious and secular world of Western Europe. One area of transition occurred in depictions of Christ’s crucifixion. In both writing and art, the triumphant living Christ of the early Middle ages, was transformed into the dying, suffering, and yet majestic savior of the twelfth century.  This essay examines images and written sources from the fourth to the twelfth centuries, and seeks to determine how the twelfth century renaissance and reformation—based on the discovery of the individual— influenced this evolution.

Carved cadaver monuments are a specific form of Transi art produced during the late Medieval, and thus Roman Catholic, era in much of Northern Europe. These recumbent Memento Mori tombs are regularly described in terms of rotting cadavers or putrefying corpses however, it was not necessarily an aspect of their initial creation that the English carved cadavers were displayed in putrefaction. As can be seen here, the carved body is not rotting, but rather resembles an emaciated person very recently deceased, laid naked inside an open burial shroud or winding cloth. The now anonymous cadaver from Feniton in Devon is in remarkably good condition; a damaged nose is not unusual given he has survived the iconoclasms of the Reformation, and the Civil War, as well as the heavy-handed Victorian restructuring of churches. Like all the English monuments in this style, he was a specific individual, a named member of the social elite, and we can be sure of this because these monuments were hugely expensive; the equivalent cost today would be in the region of a top of the range luxury sportscar! Like all of these monuments, he protects his modesty with a carefully positioned hand, and he has his mouth and eyes open (some have their eyes half open or slited open, but none appear to have closed eyes and therefore are not imaged sleeping); in many ways he looks like a fresh corpse. Keying marks for gesso are evident on the shroud cloth; these texture marks fixed a very thin plaster layer to cover the stone, and the gesso plaster was then painted, although very little evidence of this remains of this. The paint was fixed onto the gesso with organic substances like egg white, and as this decomposed, the paint would have fallen off; few extant examples retain much evidence of polychroming but a conserved example, that of John Baret, a wealthy merchant from Bury St. Edmunds, found evidence of flesh coloured tones on the body, with red and green veining. Baret commissioned his sculpture whilst he was alive; it is mentioned in his will of 1463, and he was not alone in this – several wealthy individuals commissioned during their lifetime, a life sized effigy of them naked and emaciated, lying in their open burial shroud. But why? Why would someone of social status with civic or indeed clerical, standing, as another such individual was Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, chose to have their wasted self, exposed to public gaze? I argue that a potent mix of vernacular theology, and Roman Catholic belief in purgatory, help us answer this question.

Chapter 4 of Eiríks saga rauða has long drawn the attention of scholars due to its detailed description of a seiðr, a rare occurrence in Íslendinga sǫgur as well as in sagas of other genres. The protagonist of the scene, a Greenlandic seiðkona named Þorbjǫrg, is depicted as a social functionary who creates a relationship with the supernatural world and acquires a deeper knowledge and foreknowledge concerning the surrounding area, for the benefit of the local community. The performance takes place during a great famine at the beginning of the eleventh century, and the semi-public ritual had the purpose of predicting when the dearth would come to an end. It consisted – among other things-of a ritual meal: a porridge of kid's milk and of the cooked hearts of all the living creatures that inhabited the area. The present paper aims at casting light on this specific aspect of Þorbjǫrg's seiðr, and at contextualizing it within a wider literary and historical landscape. The intention is to integrate traditional interpretations with observations on the importance of sympathetic magic in ancient and medieval Europe, and particularly in medieval Scandinavia.

Muslims claim that Muhammad was born in Mecca and the earliest parts of the Qur’an were revealed to him there. Indeed, without Mecca the whole story of Muhammad would have to be re-evaluated and the very foundations of Islam would have to be questioned. However, recent archaeological and historical research calls into question whether Mecca even existed in the traditional time of Muhammad (570-632 AD). There are no archaeological artifacts from Mecca until the 8th century AD, the first direct mention of Mecca in external literature occurs in 741 AD, and the first time Mecca is listed on a map of the Middle East was 900 AD.  Indeed, if Mecca did not exist in the early 7th century, then who was Muhammad and from where did he come? 
This paper will consider the Muslim evidence for the existence of Mecca in light of the research of a number of recent scholars who have suggested that Mecca was probably neither a center of trade nor a religious center or pilgrimage site in the 7th century. One issue for consideration is that the geographical descriptions of the city of the prophet in the Qur’an do not match up with the barren landscape of Mecca. Furthermore, the qiblas, or the direction of prayer in the mosques, did not point to Mecca until 727 AD. The evidence also may indicate that Muhammad probably did not have anything to do with Mecca, especially since it may not have even existed at that time. Finally, a mounting body of evidence suggests that the Nabataean kingdom of Petra in Northeast Arabia might have actually been the center of the origin of Islam, and Muhammad a much different religious leader than the one traditionally portrayed by Islam.

The article explores testaments as a source helpful in researching social relationships in
the Middle Ages, in particular in tracing relationships between clergymen and lay persons on
the basis of their inclusion in last wills.
The author notes methodological problems connected with using this category of sources,
resulting from their scarcity and their laconic reference to the relationships in question. Therefore,
following the postulate of the Czech researcher Martin Nodl, he looks at the available
testaments from the perspective of microhistory, carefully investigating the context of each
document.
The issue of relationships is discussed on three planes. The first one concerns clergymen
in burghers’ last wills, i.e. parish priests who were present during the writing of last wills,
members of brotherhoods who witnessed them, those who were bequeathed legacies, and confessors.
Clergymen were also mentioned in last wills as the testator’s relatives, which was very
important in connection with inheritance, especially of fixed property. The second plane concerns
burghers mentioned in clergymen’s testaments. In the case of higher-rank clergymen from towns,
those were usually relatives. Other persons connected with the testator were also frequently
mentioned, especially servants who were left some legacies. The third plane concerns relationships
between clergymen, as priests were often included in the last wills of other priests.
It can be concluded that the this type of documents can only serve as a starting point in
investigating the topic in question. Relationships between those social groups should be researched
on the basis of other kinds of written sources as well, taking into consideration wide
biographical, social and cultural contexts.

""Archaeologist, Teacher, Friend. Nicolai Telnov’s Anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

MONOGRAPH INSIDE THE JOURNAL
N. V. Zhilina (Moscow, Russia). Stamped Jewel Attire Reconstructed Based on Old Rus Hoards of 10th — 13th Centuries (from the ornamental stamping to the emblem of the princely power). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
V. Ivanišević (Belgrad, Serbia), M. Kazanski (Paris, France). Justinian’s Heruli in Northern
Illyricum and Their Archaeological Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
N. D. Russev (Kishinev, Moldova). North-Eastern Possessions of the First Bulgarian Kingdom in 7th—10th cc.: History and Burial Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
A. V. Kurbatov (St.-Petersburg, Russia). Raw materials for leather crafts, technical means
for leather processing and assortment of leathers in Mediaeval Rus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

JEWELLER’S CRAFT
A. G. Shpilev (Kursk, Russia). Adornments of Romny Time from Kursk Oblast
(second half of 8th — late 10th cc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Y. V. Stepanova (Tver’, Russia). Temple Rings from Ancient Russian Rural Archaeological Sites in the Upper Volga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
S. S. Ryabtseva (St.-Petersburg, Russia — Kishinev, Moldova), N. P. Telnov (Kishinev, Moldova). A Hoard from Alcedar and Centers of Jewellery Industry in Eastern Europe in late 9th — early 11th Centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
А. Boldureanu (Kishinev, Moldova). The Byzantine and Islamic Coins from Alcedar Hoard . . . 301

ARCHAEOLOGY OF REPRESENTATIONS
Y. V. Mysko, S. V. Pyvovarov (Chernivtsi, Ukraine). Finds of Knives with Curls on the Handles in the Region of the Upper Prut and the Middle Dniester . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 309
I. Berdzenishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia). Early Christians in Abkhazia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
References Transliterated from Cyrillic into Latin Alphabet 329
Requirements to contributions to Stratum plus. 345

Содержание

AD GLORIAM 

Р. А. Рабинович (Кишинев, Молдова), С. С. Рябцева (Санкт-Петербург, Россия — Кишинев, Молдова)
Археолог. Учитель. Друг. К юбилею Николая Петровича Тельнова 15

МОНОГРАФИЯ В ЖУРНАЛЕ 

Н. В. Жилина (Москва, Россия)
Тисненый убор по древнерусским кладам X—XIII вв. (от орнаментального рифления до эмблемы княжеской власти) 23

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ И ПУБЛИКАЦИИ 

В. Иванишевич (Белград, Сербия), М. Казанский (Париж, Франция)
Герулы Юстиниана в Северном Иллирикуме и их археологические следы 147
Н. Д. Руссев (Кишинёв, Молдова)
Северо-восточные владения Дунайской Болгарии VII—X вв.: история и погребальные памятники 159
А. В. Курбатов (Санкт-Петербург, Россия)
Кожевенное сырье, техническое обеспечение его выделки и сортамент кож средневековой Руси 169

ЮВЕЛИРНОЕ ДЕЛО 

А. Г. Шпилев (Курск, Россия)
Украшения роменского времени из Курской области (вторая половина VIII — конец X вв.) 221
Ю. В. Степанова (Тверь, Россия)
Височные кольца из древнерусских сельских памятников Верхневолжья 275
С. С. Рябцева (Санкт-Петербург, Россия — Кишинёв, Молдова), Н. П. Тельнов (Кишинёв, Молдова)
Алчедарский клад и центры ювелирного производства Восточной Европы конца IX — начала XI вв. 285
А. Болдуряну (Кишинёв, Молдова)
Византийские и исламские монеты из Алчедарского клада 301

АРХЕОЛОГИЯ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЙ 

Ю. В. Мысько, С. В. Пивоваров (Черновцы, Украина)
Находки ножей с волютообразными навершиями в Верхнем Попрутье и Среднем Поднестровье 309
И. Бердзенишвили (Тбилиси, Грузия)
Раннее христианство в Абхазии 317

ДОПОЛНИТЕЛЬНАЯ ИНФОРМАЦИЯ 

Список сокращений325
References Transliterated from Cyrillic into Latin Alphabet327
Требования к материалам, предоставляемым в редакцию журнала «Stratum plus»
Требования 341

Nel corso dell’assistenza archeologica ai lavori per la realizzazione della rete di teleriscaldamento a servizio della città di Biella, in via Battistero è stata individuata una struttura muraria semicircolare presenta profilo interno circolare ed esterno poligonale ed è identificabile con l’absidiola meridionale della chiesa di S. Stefano, demolita, come è noto, nel 1872 per costruire l’attuale casa parrocchiale. Gli scavi hanno messo in luce sepolture precedenti e posteriore alla fondazione della chieda si S. Stefano.

The medieval period is marked by a dramatic rivalry between the Pentarchy, and their attempts at territorial and conversional dominion; this is especially so with, notably, the Roman Catholic Church and the ... within. Both Churches were extremely formidable powers and wished to extend their influence to all corners of the globe. In order to achieve this goal, it is clear, conversion was key. This power strug...individuals that played a fundamental role in the strengthening and control of these two opposing Churches: the first being Clovis I, King of the Franks, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 496 A.D., and the other is Boris I of Bulgaria, who converted to Byzantium Christianity in 864 A.D....of many pagans residing under their rule, thus strengthening the influence and authority of their respective churches.

The graphical representation of a social and cultural asymmetry: gender in matrimonial dispensations, between the Middle Ages and the early modern period /

La représentation graphique d’une asymétrie sociale et culturelle : du genre dans les dispenses matrimoniales, entre Moyen Âge et époque moderne