1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300
The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1300 is the first of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of the whole of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.
While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology and historiography. This vast region represents more than two-thirds of the European continent, but its history in general—and its medieval history in particular—is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade and the experiences of women and children.
This book is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.
Introduction
Florin Curta
1. Situating medieval Eastern Europe: historiography and discontent
Christian Raffensperger
2. Between migration and origo gentis: population movements
Danijel Džino
3. Steppe empires without emperors: Avars, Bulgars and Khazars
Evgenia Komatarova-Balinova
4. Medieval nomadism
Aleksander Paroń
5. Early conversion to Christianity, Judaism and Islam
Maddalena Betti
6. Conversion to Christianization: Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Rus’ (9th to 12th centuries)
Ivo Štefan
7. State formation in the 10th century
David Kalhous
8. Strongholds and early medieval states
Hajnalka Herold
9. The rise of the early medieval aristocracy
Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu
10. Rulers between ideal and reality
Dušan Zupka
11. Royal governments
Adrien Quéret-Podesta
12. Rural economy
Marek Hladík
13. Crafts, coins and trade (900-1300)
Dariusz Adamczyk
14. Towns and cities
Laurențiu Rădvan
15. Lords, peasants and slaves
Cameron Sutt
16. Women and children
Sébastien Rossignol
17. Jews, Armenians and Muslims
Boris Stojkovski
18. Church organization
Dariusz Andrzej Sikorski
19. Saints and relics
Paweł Figurski and Grzegorz Pac
20. Heresy and popular religion
Kirił Marinow and Jan Mikołaj Wolski
21. Crusades and Eastern Europe
Aleksandar Uzelac
22. The Baltic Crusades (1147-1300)
Gregory Leighton
23. Political and practical literacy
Mirjana Matijević Sokol
24. Law
Ivan Alexandrov Biliarsky
25. History writing
Timofei V. Guimon and Aleksei S. Shchavelev
26. Hagiography
Stefan Rohdewald
27. Monumental architecture
Alice Isabella Sullivan
28. Monumental art
Maria Alessia Rossi
29 New powers - Serbia, Bulgaria
Francesco Dall’Aglio
30. The Mongols in Eastern Europe
Roman Hautala
Biography
Florin Curta is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida, USA. His books include Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250 (2006); The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube, ca. 500–700 (2011), which received the Herbert Baxter Adams Award of the American Historical Association; The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, c. 500 to 1050: The Early Middle Ages (2011); Slavs in the Making: History, Linguistics and Archaeology in Eastern Europe (c. 500 to c. 700) (2021); and The Long Sixth Century in Eastern Europe (2021).