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Transylvania has some of the most valuable monuments of medieval architecture in Europe. The oldest church was built in the 10th century, but most others came into being only after 1200. Later changes have considerably modified the appearance of still-standing buildings. Written sources are lacking for answers to questions about the identity of the builders and patrons. Countering the idea that only standing structures can reflect the history of medieval churches in Transylvania, this book uses archaeological sources in order to answer some of those questions and to bring to light the hidden past of many monuments.
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The Baltic Crusades in the thirteenth century led to the creation of the medieval Livonia. But what happened after the conquest? The contributors to this volume analyse the cultural, societal, economic and technological changes in the Baltic Sea region c. 1200–1350. The chapters focus on innovations and long-term developments which were important in integrating the area into medieval European society more broadly, while also questioning the traditional divide of the Livonian post-crusade society into native victims and foreign victors. The process of multilateral negotiations and adaptions created a synthesis which was not necessarily an outcome of the wars but also a manifestation of universal innovation processes in northern Europe.
Contributors are Arvi Haak, Tõnno Jonuks, Kristjan Kaljusaar, Ivar Leimus, Christian Lübke, Madis Maasing, Mihkel Mäesalu, Anti Selart, Vija Stikāne, and Andres Tvauri.
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A sense of loss is a driving force in most nationalist movements: territorial loss, the loss of traditions, language, national virtues or of a Golden Age. But which emotions charged the construction of loss and how did they change over time? To what objects and bodies did emotions stick? How was the production of loss gendered? Which figures of loss predated nationalist ideology and enabled loss within nationalist discourse? 13 scholars from different backgrounds answer these questions by exploring nationalist discourses during the long nineteenth century in the Baltic Sea region through political writings, lectures, novels, letters, paintings, and diaries.

Contributors are: Eve Annuk, Jenny Bergenmar, Anna Bohlin, Jens Grandell, Heidi Grönstrand, Maciej Janowski, Jules Kielmann, Tiina Kinnunen, Kristina Malmio, Peter Nørgaard Larsen, Martin Olin, Jens Eike Schnall, and Bjarne Thorup Thomsen.
In The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe, Aleksander Paroń offers a reflection on the history of the Pechenegs, a nomadic people which came to control the Black Sea steppe by the end of the ninth century. Nomadic peoples have often been presented in European historiography as aggressors and destroyers whose appearance led to only chaotic decline and economic stagnation. Making use of historical and archaeological sources along with abundant comparative material, Aleksander Paroń offers here a multifaceted and cogent image of the nomads’ relations with neighboring political and cultural communities in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
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In Craftsmen and Jewelers in the Middle and Lower Danube Region (6th to 7th Centuries) Daniela Tănase examines the practice of metalworking with the aim of comparing the archaeological evidence of different peoples in the Middle and Lower Danube in the Early Middle Ages, with a particular focus on blacksmithing, goldsmithing and burial customs. Evidence suggests that the distinction between these specialties was quite fluid, so blacksmiths could craft jewelery, while jewelers were able to create tools and weapons. The study also reveals how the production process and the main techniques employed by craftsmen for the ornamentation of dress and accessories were subject to multiple influences, from Byzantium, the eastern steppe, and the Merovingian kingdoms.
An Archaeological Model for Medieval Settlement Patterns on the Middle Course of the Morava River (7th to Mid-13th Centuries)
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In Mikulčice and Its Hinterland, Marek Hladík presents an archaeological model of social and economic relations in Great Moravia, which is built on an analysis of the settlement structure near one of the most significant centres of Great Moravia, the Mikulčice-Valy agglomeration. The book offers the first systematic and conceptual view of Mikulčice’s relations with its economic hinterland. The author uses multidisciplinary research to interpret and understand the importance of the natural environment for the landscape settlement strategy, and to understand the relations between the fortified centre and its rural surroundings. Important methodological tools used by the author to answer the examined questions include non-destructive archaeological research, statistical modelling, and spatial analyses in the GIS environment.
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Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize

This book provides a comprehensive synthesis of scholarship on Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. The goal is to offer an overview of the current state of research and a basic route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than 10 different languages. The literature published in English on the medieval history of Eastern Europe—books, chapters, and articles—represents a little more than 11 percent of the historiography. The companion is therefore meant to provide an orientation into the existing literature that may not be available because of linguistic barriers and, in addition, an introductory bibliography in English.

Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize, awarded annually by the De Re Militari society for the best book on medieval military history. The awarding committee commented that the book ‘has an enormous range, and yet is exceptionally scholarly with a fine grasp of detail. Its title points to a general history of eastern Europe, but it is dominated by military episodes which make it of the highest value to anybody writing about war and warmaking in this very neglected area of Europe.’

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Who Was Buried in Grave H153 at Pohansko near Břeclav?
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The excavated foundations of a ninth-century sacral building in the northeastern suburb of Pohansko, an important centre of Great Moravia, and especially the find of the nobleman’s grave H 153, has focused scholarly attention onto the nature of the Mojmirid state and the reasons behind its sudden disintegration. In this volume, a group of archaeologists, historians and a natural scientist aim to incorporate this remarkable discovery into the wider frameworks of Moravian power, society, and culture, and thereby arrive at some surprising conclusions.

Contributors: are Stefan Eichert, David Kalhous, Pavel Kouřil, Jiří Macháček, Vladimír Sládek, Ivo Štefan, Martin Wihoda, Roman Zehetmayer.
New Approaches to the Art of Kazimir Malevich
Celebrating Suprematism throws vital new light on Kazimir Malevich’s abstract style and the philosophical, scientific, aesthetic, and ideological context within which it emerged and developed. The essays in the collection, which have been produced by established specialists as well as new scholars in the field, tackle a wide range of issues and establish a profound and nuanced appreciation of Suprematism’s place in twentieth-century visual and intellectual culture. Complementing detailed analyses of The Black Square (1915), Malevich’s theories and statements, various developments at Unovis, Suprematism’s relationship to ether physics, and the impact that Malevich’s style had on the design of textiles, porcelain and architecture, there are also discussions of Suprematism’s relationship to Russian Constructivism and avant-garde groups in Poland and Hungary.
Medieval Archaeology in the Soviet Republic of Moldova: Between State Propaganda and Scholarly Endeavor
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In The Slavic Dossier, Iurie Stamati’s objective is to understand the reasons for the emergence of two different discourses on the place of the Slavs on the territory of Moldova and their role in the genesis of Moldovans and their culture during the medieval period in the Soviet archaeology. His analysis goes beyond the utilitarian perception of Soviet archeology. To achieve this, Stamati not only questions the political contexts in which these discourses emerged, but also looks at the history of the Moldovan archaeological field, personal profiles of archaeologists, their theoretical and ideological attachment, relationships and interactions with each other inside and outside the archaeological field.