Department of History

EUH-5934:     EAST CENTRAL EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Professor: Dr. Florin Curta

Office: 202 Flint Hall

Office hours: W 2:00-4:00 or by appointment

Phone: 273-3367

E-mail: fcurta@ufl.edu

East Central Europe--the part of the continent located to the east of the river Elbe--was gradually incorporated into Christendom and the Latin civilization in a process that began in the tenth century and reached its climax with the integration, settlement process, and social transformations of the thirteenth century. Only a small part of this region had belonged to the Roman Empire, namely western Hungary and the adjacent area. Despite the absence of the administrative structures of the Roman provinces--cities, public infrastructure, territorial and ecclesiastical organization, and much more--the integration of the rest of East Central Europe with the world west of the river Elbe was remarkably rapid. Tremendous changes appeared in a matter of decades, fast enough that the actors involved in the transormations were able to perceive the impact they had. As a consequence, the historical layers which shaped these societies and their environments were both local ("native") and new, resulting from the movement of peoples eastward across the Elbe. The formative historical roots of this region thus lie not in distant antiquity, but in the central centuries of the medieval era. This course will focus upon the history of this dramatic transformation, more specifically, upon the key elements of its implementation and effects taking place between ca. 1000 and ca. 1300. Through reading and discussion of such concepts as chiefdom, conversion, renovatio terrae, royal saints, and feudalism, we will hopefully come to some understanding of the experience of East Central Europe in the Middle Ages.

As this is a graduate level course, I assume that everyone enrolled has a basic familiarity with the resources available in the library and is willing to use foreign language sources when appropriate. I also assume that everyone knows the mechanics of researching and writing a scholarly paper. By this, I mean the proper use and acknowledgment of sources as well as the fundamentals of compositions, (English) grammar, and spelling.

The format of this course will be reading- and discussion-oriented. In lieu of written examinations, I will require a brief (3-5 page) essay on the readings each week, due in class on the day that they are to be discussed. You are also to complete a substantial research paper on a relevant topic, and present it in class at the end of the semester. Within the first month of the course, you must consult with me on the selection of topic and bibliography for your research paper. After we finish with the core set of required readings, I will expect you to locate and read sources on your own, then come to class prepared to discuss them. I have found this to be the most effective way to learn about a topic which is best examined through case studies.

All essays are worth 40 percent of your overall grade (3 percent for each one of them). The research paper is worth 40  percent of your overall grade. The presentation of your paper in the final colloquium is worth another 10 percent, and your class participation covers the remaining 10 percent.

In writing papers, be certain to give proper credit whenever you use words, phrases, ideas, arguments, and conclusions drawn from someone else’s work.  Failure to give credit by quoting and/or footnoting is plagiarism and is unacceptable. Please review the section on academic honesty below.

• Eric Fügedi. The Elefánthy. The Hungarian Nobleman and His Kindred. Budapest: Central European University Press, 1998 (on two-hour reserve in Library West, also available as e-book).
• Mikołaj Gładysz. The Forgotten Crusaders. Poland the Crusader Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 2012 .
• Piotr Górecki. A Local Society in Transition. The Henryków Book and Related Documents. Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2007.
• David Kalhous. Anatomy of a Duchy. The Political and Ecclesiastical Structures of Early Přemyslid Bohemia. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2012.
• Gábor Klaniczay. Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses. Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002 (on two-hour reserve in Library West).

                               You must conform to UF’s academic honesty policy regarding plagiarism and other forms of cheating. The university specifically prohibits 
                                        cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation, bribery, conspiracy, and fabrication. For more information about the definition of these terms and other                                                 aspects of the Honesty Guidelines, see http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/process/student-conduct-honor-code/

                                        If found to have cheated, plagiarized, or otherwise violated the Honor Code in any assignment for this course you will be prosecuted to the full                                                         extent of the university honor policy, including judicial action and the sanctions listed in 6C1-4.047 of the Student Conduct Code. For serious  violations, you will fail the course.

                                        Please do not hesitate to ask for accommodation for a documented disability. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register                                                 with the Dean of Students Office (http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drc). The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student, who must  then provide this documentation to me when requesting accommodation. Please ask if you would like any assistance in this process.

August 21: Introduction: East Central Europe in (and) the Middle Ages: definition and periodization.

• Florin Curta, "Introduction." In East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Edited by Florin Curta (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005), pp. 1-38 (on two-hour reserve in Library West; also available as e-book and on electronic reserve).
• Henryk Samsonowicz, "From 'barbarian Europe' to 'younger Europe.' East Central Europe in the circle of European civilisation (10th-15th centuries)." In East Central Europe in European History. Themes and Debates. Edited by Jerzy Kłoczowski and Hubert Łaszkiewicz (Lublin: Wydawnictwo Instytuta Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 2009), pp. 87-96 (available on electronic reserve).
• Benedek Láng, "The Renaissance of the Middle Ages in Hungary." Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 15 (2009), 247-255 .
• Martin Homza, "The making of Medieval Studies in Slovakia." Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 15 (2009), 313-323.
• Antonín Kalous, "Medieval research in the Czech Republic." Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 15 (2009), 213-219.
• Ryszard Grzesik, "The study of the Middle Ages in Poland." Annual of Medieval Studies at the CEU 15 (2009), 265-277.
• Note that the "dossier" on Medieval Studies in East Central and Eastern Europe, in which the last four items have been published, is available on electronic reserve.

• Kalhous, Anatomy
• Ivo Štefan, "Great Moravia, statehood and archaeology. The 'decline and fall' of one early medieval polity." In Frühgeschichtliche Zentralorte in Mitteleuropa. Internationale    Konferenz und Kolleg der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung zum 50. Jahrestag des Beginns archäologischer Ausgrabungen in Pohansko bei Břeclav, 5.-9.10.2009, Břeclav, Tschechische Republik. Edited by Jiří Macháček and Šimon Ungerman (Bonn, Rudolf Habelt, 2011), pp. 333-354 (available on electronic reserve).

                Read:

• Gábor Klaniczay, "The birth of a new Europe about 1000 CE: conversion, transfer of institutional models, new dynamics." In Eurasian Transformations. Tenth to Thirteenth Centuries. Crystallizations, Divergences, Renaissances. Edited by Johann P. Arnason and BjörnWittrock (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004), pp. 99-129 (available on electronic reserve).
• Rasa J. Mažeika, "When crusader and pagan agree: conversion as a point of honour in the baptism of King Mindaugas of Lithuania (c. 1240-63)." In Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier, 1150-1500. edited by Alan V. Murray (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001), pp. 197-214 (available on electronic reserve; the book is also on two-hour reserve in Library West).
• László Veszprémy, "Conversion in chronicles: the Hungarian case." In Christianizing Peoples and Converting Individuals. Edited by Guyda Armstrong and Ian Wood (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 133-145 (available on electronic reserve; the book is also on two-hour reserve in Library West).
• János M. Bak, "Signs of conversion in Central European laws." In Christianizing Peoples and Converting Individuals. Edited by Guyda Armstrong and Ian Wood (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 115-123 (available on electronic reserve; the book is also on two-hour reserve in Library West).
• Marika Mägi, "From paganism to Christianity. Political changes and their reflection in the burial customs of 12th-13th century Saaremaa." In Der Ostseeraum und Kontinentaleuropa, 1100-1600. Einflußnahme, Rezeption, Wandel. Edited by Detlef Kattinger, Jens E. Olesen and Horst Wernicke (Schwerin: Thomas Helms Verlag, 2004), pp. 27-34 (available in electronic reserve).
• Tiina Kala, "Rural society and religious innovation: acceptance and rejection of Catholicism among the native inhabitants of medieval Livonia." In The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier. Edited by Alan V. Murray, Anne Huijbers and Elizabeth Wawrzyniak (Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 169-190 (available in electronic reserve).

September 11: Native saints

                Read:

• Klaniczay. Holy Rulers
• Marie Bláhová, "The function of the saints in early Bohemian historical writing." In The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300). Edited by Lars Boje Mortensen (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006), pp. 83-119 (available in electronic reserve).

            Read:

• Roman Michałowski, "The nine-week Lent in Boleslaus the Brave's Poland. A study of the first Piasts' religious policy." Acta Poloniae Historica 89 (2004), no. 1, 5-50 (available in electronic reserve)
• Henry Mayr-Harting, "Was the identity of the Prague church in the tenth century imposed from without or developed from within?" In Die Suche nach den Ursprüngen. Von de Bedeutung des frühen Mittelalters. Edited by Walter Pohl (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004), pp. 271-278 (available in electronic reserve).
• Csilla Aradi, "Some aspects of parish organization in medieval Hungary." In Die Kirche im mittelalterlichen Siedlungsraum. Archäologische Aspekte zu Standort, Architektur und Kirchenorganisation. Edited by Sabine Felgenhauer-Schmiedt, Peter Csendes and Alexandrine Eibner (Vienna: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Mittelalterarchäologie, 2005), pp. 195-204 (available in electronic reserve).
• Radosław Kotecki, "The idea of 'defensio ecclesiae' and its resonance in earlier medieval Poland (X/XIth-XIIIth century)." Roczniki Historii Kościoła 4 (2012), 51-84 (available in electronic reserve).
• Aleksandra Witkowska, "The thirteenth-century Miracula St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow," in Procès de canonisation au Moyen Age. Aspects juridiques et religieux. Edited by Gábor Klaniczay (Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 2004), pp. 249-263 (available in electronic reserve).
• Tomáš Velímský, "Reflection of pilgrimages in the material culture of the Czech Middle Ages." In Wallfahrten in der europäischen Kultur. Tagungsband Příbram, 26.-29. Mai 2004. Edited by Daniel Doležal and Hartmut Kühne ( Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 253-270 (available in electronic reserve).

• Górecki, Local Society
• Maria Starnawska, "Crusade orders on Polish lands during the Middle Ages. Adaptation to a peripheral environment." Quaestiones Medii Aevi 2 (1997), 121-142 (available in electronic reserve).

            Read:

• Fügedi. The Elefánthy
• Piotr Górecki, "Words, concepts, and phenomena: knighthood, lordship and the early Polish nobility (c. 1050 - 1150)." In Nobles and Nobility in Medieval Europe. Concepts, Origins, Transformations. Edited by Anne J. Duggan (Woodbridge/Rochester: Boydell Press, 2000), pp. 115-155 (on two-hour reserve in Library West; also available as e-book)

                Read:

• Gładysz, Forgotten Crusders
• Pavel Soukup, "Pilgrimage element in crusades with Czech participation in the twelfth century." In Wallfahrten in der europäischen Kultur. Tagungsband Příbram, 26.-29. Mai 2004. Edited by Daniel Doležal and Hartmut Kühne (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006), pp. 53-64 (available in electronic reserve).

  Topics for research project, with preliminary bibliography due.

October 16: Locate and read two articles (or one in a foreign language) on political and/or religious contacts between medieval East Central Europe., Western Europe, Byzantium, and/or Rus'.

October 23: Locate and read two articles (or one in a foreign language) on feudalism, serfdom, and/or slavery in medieval East Central Europe.