Ancient History

Diese interkulturell-vergleichend angelegte Quellenanthologie präsentiert lateinische, griechische, altenglische und anglo-französische Quellen aus der Zeit vom 5. bis ins 15. Jahrhundert mit Übersetzungen ins Deutsche oder Englische. Ihr Thema sind die sogenannten Säkularisationen im Mittelalter. Das wechselseitige Verhältnis von mittelalterlichen Stiftungen und Herrschern wird unter einem gemeinsamen Aspekt befragt: Auf welche Weise gefährdeten staatliche Akteure in Byzanz und im westlichen Europa den Bestand von Stiftungs- und Kirchengut im Mittelalter? Für den lateineuropäischen Bereich werden die großen Eingriffe ins Kirchengut unter Karl Martell, Wilhelm II. Rufus, Johann Ohneland, Edward I., die Enteignung des Templerordens wie auch theoretische Texte zum Beispiel von Wilhelm von Ockham präsentiert. Für Byzanz stehen die Eingriffe von Herakleios und Nikephoros II. Phokas, die Entstehung der sogenannten charistike und der freien und selbstverwalteten Stiftungen sowie Rechtstraktate etwa von Nikolaus Kabasilas im Vordergrund. Viele Quellen, insbesondere aus der byzantinischen Geschichte, haben die beiden Herausgeber des Bandes aus sehr schwer zugänglichen Vorlagen und Archiven zusammengetragen und erstmals ins Deutsche übersetzt. Jede Quelle wird kommentiert und über Querverweise zu anderen Quellen in Beziehung gesetzt. Die thematische Einleitung eröffent den Leserinnen und Lesern darüber hinaus die Möglichkeit, eigene Fragen und Perspektiven zu entwickeln.

Das Wort ›christianitas‹ fand als Chiffre für die mittelalterliche Idee der Christenheit Einzug in die Geschichtserzählungen zu Christentum, Papst- und Kaisertum, Kreuzzügen und Europa. Tatsächlich stand ›christianitas‹ aber in der Spätantike und in der Karolingerzeit für verschiedene Ideenkonzepte. Tim Geelhaar entkoppelt Begriff und Idee und lotet Gebrauchssituationen, Umsemantisierungen und Politisierungen des Wortes aus. Die historische Semantik von ›christianitas‹, zeigt er anschaulich, macht die Pluralität eines christlichen, lateinischen Europas selbst sichtbar.

The word ‘christianitas’ found its way into historical accounts of Christianity, papacy and imperial rule, crusades and Europe as a cipher for the medieval idea of Christianity. In fact, however, in late antiquity and in the Carolingian period, ‘christianitas’ stood for various notional concepts. Tim Geelhaar uncouples the term and the idea and explores the usages, resemanticizations and politicizations of the word. The historical semantic of ‘christianitas’, as he clearly illustrates, makes the plurality of a Christian, Latin Europe visible.

Available via http://www.v-r.de/de/title-0-0/christianitas_eine_wortgeschichte_von_der_spaetantike_bis_zum_mittelalter-1035960/

The Hanserezesse reveals that the so called Wendish cities designated themselves for a very long time civitates maritimae. Why did they so, why do we find the self-designation as Wendish cities only after 1400? To answer these questions the article examines the diplomatic communication of these cities preserved in the Hanserezesse and divers collections of charters like the Lübecker Urkundenbuch. The result of the historical semantical analysis clearly shows that the naming as civitates maritimae was directed against the  Danish kings who spoke of them as wendish cities first to demonstrate their dependency from the Danish empire. Only after their final defeat the Wendish cities accepted to be called like this since the designation civitates maritimae had become to flurry in the meanwhile.

The Vlach-Bulgarian revolt of 1185/86 marks the focal point of Isaac's II reign. The rebellion was sparked by the emperor's tax policy rather than by his treatment of the Asen brothers, although the latter proved pivotal in escalating a small-scale tax revolt into a full blown aristocratic usurpation. Isaac II didn't respond immediately to the uprising because of his Cyprus campaign (1186). His subsequent attempt at crushing the rebellion appeared successful at first, but the rebels joined forces with their most powerful ally, the Cumans, who repelled the Byzantine onslaughts during the winter months.
Several points are made in the article. Firstly, Michael Choniates' panegyric speech, which relays the first campaign undertaken by Isaac II, was written in 1186, rather than 1187, as has been assumed until now. The same is true for the speech addressed to the emperor by Ioannes Syropoulos, which was dated in the 1190s before. Secondly, the relationship between the Asen brothers determined the date and target of the tsarist coronation and the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Thirdly, with the help of rhetorical sources, Isaac's II third campaign in 1190 is exposed as the most ambitious campaign since Manuel's I death. Fourthly, it can be deduced that the battle at the Morava against the Serbs happened most likely in 1191. Finally, Isaac's Balkan policy was sound and failed mainly because of the internal struggles within the empire, which evolved out of the Komnenian system and not due to him personally.

Due to a long period of neglect regarding Roman and Byzantine archaeological research in Paphlagonia, the late antique period of that region is only slowly coming to light. It is not feasible to apply settlement and development patterns developed for sites in southern and western Asia Minor to the southern Black Sea region since the conditions, historical development and degree of urbanisation were all very different. We still lack a concise theoretical approach to the structural changes within the Paphlagonian cities that led to their abandonment at this time. Locally divergent reasons such as natural disaster, disease or climate change cannot explain this phenomenon, and we need to identify the structural reasons for the desurbanisation that occurred not only in Paphlagonia but across the entirety of Asia Minor. Interior Paphlagonia provides us with several abandoned cities and may offer much of value for this debate. The Persian onslaughts were certainly not the reason for this change, as the process was already under way. Nevertheless, the effects of this conflict are still unknown, and numismatic assemblages may illuminate the provincial situation during the seventh century.