This article analysis the role of theological tractate Elucidarius (1501) in the politics of bishop of Vilnius Albert Tabor (1492–1507) towards his opponents. Author of the treatise was bishop's friend Jan of Oświęcim. The article argues that Elucidarius was used as a political tool. The content of Elucidarius was linked to the political goals of bishop Tabor. The theology was used as an ideological weapon against the Orthodox confession. The article looks on how the tractate can be interpreted using the sociological concept Politics of Fear. The strong emotion of fear empowered the political message of the tractate. Sacranus and Tabor tried to use fearmongering to influence the decision-making of Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Jagiellon. Orthodox Ruthenians were dehumanised and labelled as a source of political instability.
The article examines the influence of Dominican friars, who migrated to Armenia in the 14th– 15th centuries, on the university system of late medieval Armenia. It explores how these migrating intellectuals (Bartholomew of Bologna, Peter of Aragon, John of Swineford, etc.) established missions and engaged in literary activity that introduced scholastic ideas to Armenian educational circles. The paper analyzes the complex interactions between the Dominicans and Armenian scholars, ranging from cooperation to conflict. It details the extensive translation of Latin works into Armenian and how these texts were incorporated into Armenian university curricula. The study demonstrates how this intellectual exchange led to reforms in the Armenian higher education system, elevating institutions like Gladzor and Tatev universities to levels comparable with European counterparts in terms of curriculum, teaching methodology, and academic degrees. Overall, the article highlights the significant impact of this targeted migration of Dominican intellectuals on late medieval Armenian scholarship and education. Such closer examination of these intercultural interactions challenges simplistic narratives of West-East relations and highlights the need to view the history of the missionary movement through a more nuanced and inclusive lens.
Based on medieval written sources and modern historiography, this article examines the forms of relationships between pagan Balts (often future converts) and Christianization agents from neighboring Christian lands. Several major groups of Christianization agents can be distinguished – missionaries, merchants, craftsmen, soldiers, and their companions who came to the lands of the Balts. All these groups employed slightly different strategies in their relationships with the pagan Balts. The relationships between Christians and infidels could be formal (official) or informal (unofficial). However, we can say there was no strict boundary between formal and informal relationships. Depending on the context, both types of relationships could coexist, and there was always the possibility of transitioning from informal to formal relationships and vice versa. The article proposes an analytical framework for understanding how these formal and informal contacts interacted, overlapped, and shifted during Christian-pagan encounters. The study shows that the nature and outcomes of Christianization depended on how foreigners interacted with local pagan communities, as well as the success or failure of the Christianization of the Balts, depended on the foreigners' interactions with the pagans.
Faith in the afterlife, or eternal life after death, is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, which was the dominant ideology of medieval and early modern Europe. Centuries-old Christian traditions, shaped by emotional experiences aimed at the salvation of the souls of the dead, have established a clear system of spiritual interconnection among living relatives. Ecclesiastical doctrines such as Purgatory in the Latin rite and the the Torments Before the Last Judgment in the Greek rite have fostered a constant need for prayer among Christian communities for the salvation of deceased relatives' souls. One prominent aspect of such spiritual practice is the fear (or empathy) and responsibility felt for the state of the sinful souls of one's relatives/ancestors. Among the most informative sources revealing the existential and theological essence of Orthodox Christian care for the souls of the dead are the Commemoration books or Synodikons (Saturday books). Therefore, drawing from the commemoration book of the Uhornyky Monastery of 1683, we will examine the role of the fear factor within the context of prayer for the salvation of the souls of the local monastic community.
This article examines a fragment from the 1152 entry of the Kyivan Chronicle that mentions the "king's road" between Volodymyr and Peremyshl, explaining it as the route the Hungarian king took to Volodymyr thirty years earlier. This phrase has sparked debate in historiography. The study analyzes the mention of the "king's road" both text-critically, to assess the fragment's status within the heterogeneous chronicle text, and historically, to explore its possible meanings. The analysis demonstrates that linking the "king's road" to the Hungarian king's campaign resulted from a later editor's interpolations into the original text. It appears that there are also other fragments in the chronicle which could belong to the same late editor who had access to some Hungarian and Polish historiographic tradition (directly or indirectly). In search of a more accurate interpretation, particular attention is given to the equivalence between the Ruthenian phrase "королева дорога" ("king's road") and the Latin medieval term "via regia", which denoted a public road under the special legal protection of high authorities. This raises the question of whether this equivalence is coincidental or if the Western term was calqued into the Kyivan Chronicle. The discussion of the "king's road" not only clarifies aspects of the chronicle's editorial history but also offers new insights into the early relations between Rus and 'Latin' Europe.
Since the late eighteenth century, historiography has traditionally framed the 1605 murder of Itzhak Michelewicz as a quintessential manifestation of anti-Semitism within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This interpretation, rooted in the hagiographic work of Ignacy Stebelski, has long dominated scholarly discourse. This study argues, however, that viewing the event solely through the lens of ethnic or religious enmity results in a reductive conclusion. By resituating the Sołtan–Michelewicz conflict within the volatile socio-political and religious landscape of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this article offers a more nuanced re-reading. Drawing on Slonim court records and Zhyrovichy property agreements, the author demonstrates that the Sołtan trial was not merely a personal dispute, but a mechanical symptom of the structural theological shifts and institutional reconfigurations triggered by the Union of Brest.
This article discusses the phenomenon of German colonization in the 14th and 15th centuries on the Polish-Ruthenian border. Based on location charters, land registers, documents, and traditions, several German settlement islands have been identified around the towns of Wielopole Skrzyńskie, Łańcut, Biecz, and Sanok. In recent years, a large research project at the University of Warsaw has drawn attention to these islands, as until recently, the descendants of these German settlers were called "deaf Germans". The study determined the origins of the German settlers and concluded that there were several waves of migration. The first was during the reign of King Casimir the Great around 1340, and the second during the reign of Duke Władysław Opolczyk in the 1370s. The probable destinations of migration include Thuringia, Saxony, and Silesia, with some indications of German settler descent from Spiš (Zips).
The article analyses the portrayal and role of Muslims in the context of the crusading movement in the works of Otto of Freising (ca. 1112–1158), mainly in his Historia de duabus civitatibus, and in the Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris penned by an anonymous participant in the crusade of Frederick Barbarossa, so-called Ansbert. The paper shows that their image of Muslims was not only based on previous tradition and in line with their authorial intentions, but was also influenced by their participation in the crusading movement. While Otto of Freising may have been moved by the Second Crusade to a more faithful image of Islam, so-called Ansbert's depiction of Muslims served as one element of his apologia of the Third Crusade.
The study offers a sketch of the portrait of this Russian tsar as depicted in contemporary sources. For this purpose, selected excerpts from the writings of envoys, soldiers, and merchants from England, France, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Holy Roman Empire have been used; these individuals were eyewitnesses to various stages of Boris Godunov's political career as well as his private life. Russian sources from the first half of the seventeenth century have also been employed. The interpretation of the source material is complemented by insights from historiographical literature, primarily of Russian and Polish provenance.
The article examines the representations of fear in chronicles of the Teutonic Order describing warfare against the Lithuanians from the thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century. Drawing on a close narrative analysis of selected passages from the chronicles of Peter of Dusburg, Nicolaus von Jeroschin, and Wigand of Marburg, as well as related historiographical texts, the article investigates how fear is constructed and attributed within crusading narratives. It identifies four recurring patterns: fear attributed to Lithuanians in order to emphasise Christian superiority; fear experienced by Teutonic knights in moments of military danger; fear arising from perceptions of Lithuanian strength, numerical superiority, unpredictability, and cruelty; and fear associated with uncertainty surrounding the success of the Order's sacred mission. Rather than treating these emotions as direct reflections of historical reality, the article argues that the chronicles deploy fear as a rhetorical and ideological device through which warfare and religious identity are interpreted. Representations of fear thus serve multiple narrative functions: they explain military setbacks, reinforce the moral authority of the Order, and transform suffering into evidence of spiritual merit. In doing so, the chronicles integrate emotional experience into the broader ideological framework of crusading narrative.
Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118) ranks among the most pivotal emperors in Byzantine history; nevertheless, various facets of his reign remain insufficiently examined. This study aims to investigate one such aspect — his effectiveness as a military commander — given that much of his success in reestablishing the fortunes of the Byzantine Empire can be attributed to his extensive military experience. To this particular end, the paper will provide a concise overview of the principal military engagements in which Alexios personally participated over the course of his life and career. Increased emphasis will be placed on critical Byzantine defeats under command of this emperor, notably the battles of Dyrrachion (1081) and Dristra (1087), in order to assess the extent of Alexios I Komnenos' responsibility. Through a detailed analysis of these engagements, the study seeks to determine whether these setbacks were primarily the result of his own strategic misjudgments or whether broader contextual factors played a more decisive role.
This article traces the architectural evolution of the high Russian iconostasis from its Byzantine origins to its canonical form in the 15th century. Challenging earlier views that treat its development as static, the study identifies six key stages, emphasizing the rapid transformation of altar screens in Novgorod, Pskov, and Moscow. The author argues that the high iconostasis emerged from the convergence of three traditions: the enlargement of icons (a Russian innovation), the multiplication of icon tiers (from Constantinople), and the closure of altar screens with solid walls (influenced by Latin West via the Balkans).
This analytical article, based on sources and primary literature, discusses the traditions that led to the establishment of the field of Eastern and Southeastern European history at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University in Brno and in non-university research environments. It focuses on the scientific, organisational, pedagogical and professional activities of Professor Josef Macůrek (1901–1992), the creator of a unique concept of the history of Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the founder of a scientific school that developed it at university and non-university institutions even after Macůrek was forced to leave the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences for political reasons at the beginning of normalisation, and then Masaryk University.
This paper analyzes some aspects of reception of Latin Christendom in Kyivan Rus' according to the East Slavic narrative sources written from the mid-eleventh to the mid-twelfth century, i.e., at the time of rising doctrinal and cultural differences between Constantinople and Rome (including the "Great Schism"). Special consideration is given to the travel diary on the Holy Land titled Life and Pilgrimage of Daniel, Hegumen of the Land of Rus’ serving as an example of encountering confessional differences. Daniel’s thematization of his confessional "other" in the Holy Land is complemented by examples of a similar ambiguity in the case of Rus’ as a whole. On a declarative level, the polemical writings of the Kyivan metropolitan bishops testify about a refutation of the "Latin heresies". On the other hand, decisions of the East Slavic princes confirm the willingness to cooperate with the neighboring Latin polities (Sweden, Poland, Hungary, etc.) in forming dynastic marriages and military alliances.
This study investigates the diplomatic missions from the Bohemian lands to the court of Grand Duke Švitrigaila of Lithuania during the late medieval period. It examines the evolution of international diplomacy in the Bohemian lands during the "Hussite century" and the complex interactions among various factions within the Hussite movement, the Catholic Church, and European rulers' courts. The study highlights the political motivations behind these missions, which often transcended religious affiliations, and the shifting alliances that emerged. By analysing primary sources, such as reports dispatched by ambassadors, the study illuminates the intricate diplomatic manoeuvres and the roles of both prominent and lesser-known figures in these historical events.
The goal of this article is to objectively assess the conduct of Czech soldiers during the First World War. In the past, this issue was, for various ideological reasons, greatly oversimplified. German national propaganda portrayed Czech soldiers fighting in the uniforms of the Austro-Hungarian Army in the years 1914-1918 as a very unreliable element, owing to their Slavic sentiments. However, after 1918 the Czechoslovak Republic also adopted a very critical position toward these soldiers, as it ascribed the main credit for the founding of the independent state to the so-called legionnaires; i.e., to soldiers who fought on the side of the Allied states. In this article the author reflects upon the Czech historiographic production on the First World War from the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries and attempts to present a balanced (non-national) perspective on the subject.
The article is devoted to the last period of the life of Patriarch Nikon (†1681), the conditions of his imprisonment and the adoption of the "schima". The circumstances that led to his decision to become a "schimik" are considered, beginning with the events of 1650, when he was still Metropolitan of Novgorod. Particular attention is paid to his reception of the "great schima" in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery in the last months of his life, and to the ceremony of his burial. From the author's observations, it should be emphasized that Nikon remains the only patriarch of the Russian Church to have accepted the "schima", but this aspect of his biography has not received due attention in historiography.
Béla Rostislavich was the son of Prince of Galicia Rostislav Mikhailovich and Princess Anna, the daughter of Hungarian King Béla IV. Through his parents, he inherited the title of ruler of Mačva and (northern) Bosnia, territories located on the southern Hungarian–Balkan border. Owing to his influential mother, Anna, at the royal court and his sister Kunigunda, who became Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Přemysl Otakar II, he played a significant political role in Hungary and Hungarian–Bohemian relations from the mid–1260s until his tragic death in November 1272. Only one contemporary source, the author of the Continuatio Lambacensis chronicle, explicitly states that following the death of Hungarian King Stephen V, Béla attempted to usurp the throne (from the underage Ladislaus IV) and was consequently tragically killed by the Hungarians. In this study we examine various historiographical interpretations of whether Béla was indeed a candidate for the Hungarian throne backed by his relative, the Czech King Přemysl Otakar II, or if he fell victim to rumors, conspiracies and political struggles at the Hungarian royal court. This discussion raises another key question, which the paper explores: was the Prince of Mačva one of the few representatives of the Russian ruling dynasty who secretly emerged as a pretender to the Crown of Saint Stephen? From the perspective of identity, Béla was indeed a "Rurik" by descent, but his life circumstances positioned him primarily as a prominent member of the Hungarian royal family. This latter fact ultimately cost him his life.
This study is focused on the fear of foreigners in the oldest East Slavic chronicles and hagiography. Among texts written in different settings, at different times, and in different genres, there are deep differences in how they viewed contact with foreigners. In general, however, the existence and actions of foreign ethnic groups were not inherently important to the authors of the earliest East Slavic literature. They were only considered worthy of recording if they were directly related to the history of Rus'. The image of fearsome foreigners thus served primarily as a counterpoint to the construction of the collective identity of the inhabitants of medieval Rus'.
Pavel V. Annenkov (1812 or 1813 to 1887) is now a forgotten personality, known only to specialists, but in his time, he was a remarkable figure in Russian literature and social life. He was the author of the first biography of Pushkin and the editor of the first collected five-volume edition of his works; he was also the author of the still-quoted memoirs and biographical essays on many key figures of Russian culture; last but not least, together with A. V. Druzhinin and V. P. Botkin, he was one of the representatives of the so-called aesthetic literary criticism, which opposed the literary criticism of the radicals (democrats). After his death, he was quickly forgotten. This article summarises the existing literature on Annenkov. No monograph has been written on him, and his works remained poorly available in 19th-century editions for many years. It has gradually changed since the 1980s. In the second half of the 20th century, scholarly interest in Annenkov grew, but historians studied him almost exclusively in the context of Russian liberalism. They have concentrated on his works from the 1840s and 1850s. In contrast, his works from the 1860s to the 1880s remained neglected, although Annenkov's literary memoirs are among the most important sources on Russian intellectual life in the 1840s and 1850s. The most critical studies on Annenkov are the articles by B. Yegorov (1965 and 1968), a book on early Russian liberalism by B. Offord (1985) and a biographical survey by N. G. Zhekulin (2005).
