Medieval Towns

Grand Duke Géza, his son Vaik (Stephen I) and other Hungarian kings were most often present in the political center of the kingdom – medium regni. The most important royal settlements, the oldest monasteries and the first bishop¬rics were located there. These included localities like for example, Esztergom, Székesfehérvár, Szekszárd, Veszprém, Visegrád, Óbuda, Győr, Pécs, Pannonhalma, Pécsvarád, Bakonybél, Tihany, Somogyvár and many others. Annually, around St. Michael’s Day the king met with his faithful (magnates, bishops, abbots and so on) in Esztergom. This important event was accompanied by various ceremonies, rituals, banquets, court proceedings, agreements with political elites, gifts or dona¬tions. Székesfehérvár was one of the most important sites in the country. Histori¬ans consider it to be the sacral center of the kingdom, whose importance grew sig-nificantly during the reign of Stephen I. All the royal coronations took place there (with the exception of the coronation of Stephen I in Esztergom). Beginning with King Koloman, the kings of Hungary were buried in the local cathedral at the tomb of St. Stephen and his son Emeric. All over the country gatherings were convened annually to Székesfehérvár. It was one of the main centers of power of the coun¬try and the Arpads met with other monarchs or received important guests there. Hungarian kings traveled around the country to other important settlements, such a Óbuda, Veszprém, Csanád, Győr, Pécs, Vác, Eger, Visegrád, Bodrog, Zadar, Trogir, Split or Oradea.

This book is a source edition of the entries from the years 1485-1519 from the oldest book of the municipal council records of Pleszew (a private town in an old Polish province and district of Kalisz), which is stored in the Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu (National Archives of Poznan, Akta m. Pleszew, sig. I 2). It is a continuation of the source publications of T. Jurek (Najdawniejsze zapiski z księgi miejskiej Pleszewa 1428-1444, Poznań 2011) and W. Maisel (Prawo magdeburskie miasta Pleszewa, Studia i Materiały do Dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza 8(1): 1963, pp. 67-82), which included pp. 1-23, 89-97, 268, and 269 of the manuscript of the book. The book also covers the edition of the entries inscribed on pp. 23-88 of the same manuscript dating from 1485-1519, which are accompanied by three chronologically proximate entries from pp. 97 and 98 (from years 1483 and 1493). The edition includes 128 Latin entries which effectively chronicles the activity of the municipal council of Pleszew, the  composition of which was exceptionally completed by the representatives of the municipal tribunal or a margrave, representing the owner of the town. However, three entries derive from the ad hoc convened arbitration courts. The content of the part of the book covering the municipal council records, having been subject to editing, is relatively uniform and covers primarily the issue of dowry and dower, real estate property transfers, contracts of inheritance and succession matters. These entries relate mostly to the townspeople of Pleszew, but also the representatives of the nobility, the clergy and the peasantry who came from the nearby villages to stand before the court of the municipal council.
The publication includes the edition of the original Latin text of entries prepared on the basis of the draft instructions for publishing written historical sources to the mid-sixteenth century by A. Wolff (Projekt instrukcji wydawniczej dla pisanych źródeł historycznych do połowy XVI wieku, Studia Źródłoznawcze 1:1957, pp. 155-181) supplemented with their full translation into Polish. The Latin text is then transliterated, the use of u and v is standardised and noted by their phonetic value. Additionally, the use of capital letters and punctuation is also modernised. The fragments of text scored out in the manuscript base are indicated by the symbols |- -|, deleted entries are marked by the sign |= =|, and finally the words added on the margins or between the lines of the main text are contained in brackets < >. Words that are not fully clear to the editor are marked with a question mark [?], whereas to indicate the error or the
peculiarities of the manuscript text an exclamation point [!] is used.
Publishing is supplemented with indexes: of people and places (arranged by first names), subjects (including the nouns and verbs of the non-form part of the text) and the Polish word. The whole of the work is concluded with a chronological concordance.

Uno dei caratteri originali dell’identità geografica e culturale europea si formò, fra XII e XIV secolo, grazie a un imponente processo di creazione e di sviluppo di villaggi, borghi e città nuove, assai diversificato nel tempo e nello spazio. La spontaneità di tale fenomeno fu non di rado incanalata e guidata, nei suoi esiti territoriali e urbanistici, da vere e proprie ondate di ‘fondazioni’ che influirono in modo decisivo sulle caratteristiche dei paesaggi urbani europei.
Evidenze paesaggistiche diverse fecero forse sì che i primi segni di ‘maturazione’ della coscienza di questi aspetti venissero emergendo sin dalla fine dell’Ottocento sia nella storiografia tedesca, attenta al processo di nuove fondazioni nell’est dell’Elba, sia in quella francese, che sin dal 1880 affrontò in modo unitario il complesso tema della fondazione delle bastides, nel sud-est del paese.
In Italia tale coscienza maturò più tardi, negli anni Settanta del secolo scorso, dalla convergenza scientifica e di competenze fra alcuni architetti – quali Giampiero Vigliano – o storici dell’arte, come David Friedman, e una generazione di medievisti nutriti dalle letture delle opere di Marc Bloch e Georges Duby, ansiosa di collaborazioni pluridisciplinari e di mettere a frutto i dati della nascente archeologia medievale.
Nel Cuneese di quegli anni si poterono così estendere, in chiave di storia dell’insediamento e dei paesaggi urbani, le conoscenze storico-politiche conquistate dalla scuola positivistica, rappresentata a fine Ottocento da Lorenzo Bertano, e da quella crociana, espressa verso il 1970 da Piero Camilla.
Fu in questo nuovo clima culturale, attentissimo ai problemi della conoscenza e della valorizzazione del “patrimonio” locale, che, in un orizzonte storiografico europeo e in un contesto locale ormai attento alla storia dei paesaggi rurali e alle dinamiche del popolamento, crebbe e maturò il tema affrontato in questo volume.
Fu però soltanto verso la fine degli anni Ottanta del Novecento che l’attività scientifica della Società per gli studi Storici di Cuneo riuscì a catturare l’attenzione, maggiore che in passato, di alcune amministrazioni civiche che reggevano centri di fondazione di origine medievale. Di questa attività scientifica, che si sviluppava in stretto rapporto con le iniziative di valorizzazione dei comuni, è rimasta ampia traccia nelle pubblicazioni e nei volumi della stessa Società.
È da questa tradizione di convergenze scientifiche e di indagini multidisciplinari, ormai ben radicata nel Cuneese, che prende origine il volume Borghi nuovi. Paesaggi urbani del Piemonte sud-occidentale. Esso, infatti, nato da un progetto scientifico della Società studi-storici sostenuto dalla Fondazione CRT e dalla Presidenza del Consiglio regionale del Piemonte, si è avvalso delle competenze di docenti e ricercatori del Politecnico di Torino e delle Università degli Studi di Torino, Milano e Bergamo, concretizzando un caso di felice collaborazione fra atenei e istituti di ricerca storico-territoriale.
L’auspicio è che gli esiti dell’indagine possano essere di supporto a nuovi approfondimenti in altre regioni dell’Occidente europeo per una conoscenza comparativa più estesa di un processo-chiave nella storia dei paesaggi urbani; la speranza è di contribuire alla valorizzazione comune di uno dei tratti peculiari dell’identità storica dell’Europa, che sarebbe auspicabile politicamente davvero unita, pur nell’incomparabile ricchezza delle sue diversità.

Quedlinburg atmet Geschichte: Bis heute besticht die Silhouette der UNESCO-Welterbestadt durch zahlreiche gut erhaltene Stadttürme. Über 2100 Fachwerkhäuser, mittelalterliche Kirchen, stattliche Adelsbauten und Palais und nicht zuletzt das holperige Kopfsteinpflaster lassen Besucher in vergangene Tage eintauchen. In 1100 Jahren entwickelte sich aus einer Burg König Heinrichs I. ein fast 900 Jahre bestehendes freiweltliches Damenstift mit einer mittelalterlichen Doppelsiedlung aus Alt- und Neustadt. International bekannt wurde sie durch die außergewöhnliche Odyssee des Quedlinburger Domschatzes nach Texas und zurück.

Den Spuren dieser Entwicklung folgt die Kleine Stadtgeschichte – mit neuen geschichtlichen und archäologischen Erkenntnissen, Anekdoten, Literaturzitaten und Abbildungen.

Using the city of Exeter’s clash between civic and ecclesiastical authorities in the 1440s as a case study, the article examines the growth of urban liberties as a slow process of maturation.  Provincial cities of the fifteenth century gradually grew into the freedoms and privileges granted in earlier centuries while remaining close to the royal government.  As civic authorities sought the right to extend their privileges over a broader territory and to benefit in an economically troubled age, they learned that those same privileges pledged them to carry out the duties and responsibilities contingent on executing the king’s government in the shires.

The paper presents the problems of the topography of Zawichost in the early Middle Ages. The author discusses archaeological sources associated with the Zawichost-Podgórze settlement complex with the stronghold dated to the period between the 8th and 10th centuries. The paper also contains the analysis of the development of the settlement on Zawichost Hill on the site of the modern-day town in connection with the changes of the road network and the Vistula River crossings. Furthermore, the author discusses the problem of the location of the Zawichost stronghold, presenting in his paper results of archaeological excavations and architectural investigations of monumental buildings from the settlement area and their place in the topographic structure

Excavation at this site revealed two early, possibly Saxon, features considered to represent small structures or buildings. Later features indicated that the digging and working of clunch, a hard variety of chalk, had been carried out at this site. Dating evidence suggests that this activity continued throughout much of the medieval period and indicates that this is one of the earliest identified incidences of the digging and working of clunch in Isleham. Isleham became known for its clunch industry in the early modern period.

The article explores the role played by the figure of parish priest in the urban society of late-Medieval Prussia. The discussed problem has been presented from three angles: I. prosopography of the town parish priest, understood as the social expectations regarding his origin, education, and career; II. cultural model of the parish priest and his social roles; III. interactions between the parish priest and the townspeople. Matters discussed in detail include, among others, patronage over town parishes, scope of ministry-related and administrative duties of the parish priest, moral and personality traits making up the model of the good priest, authority of the parish priest over the town church and its clergy, disputes with the town council, as well as the relationship between the parish priest and the townspeople. In the course of analysing these problems, the figure of the town parish priest has been portrayed
within various social and cultural contexts. The analysis has demonstrated the complexity and breadth of this function and allowed to address the key role played by the parish priest in the functioning of the parish.

This paper looks at the various views of historical geographers, archaeologists and historians concerning the nature of settlement in early Ireland. It examines the way that the idea of 'tribalism' has shaped views of the past. How far was there nucleation, villages, towns etc.

The development of medieval Oslo has traditionally believed to be one from the South with the King's Palace towards the North. Archaeological excavations in the Northern part of the town shows that a Viking age farm here might have played an important role.

This article presents the results of archaeological excavations undertaken on the eastern side of the Drury Hill in advance of construction of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre in 1969 and 1970-71. The work was undertaken as a 'rescue' excavation by the now defunct Nottingham City Museums Field Archaeology Section (part of Nottingham City Council) under the direction of Charles S. B. Young. The excavations revealed evidence of occupation dating to the second half of the 9th century or earlier, before the construction of a substantial ditch and associated rampart for the pre-Conquest borough in the second half of the 9th century and its subsequent re-cutting in the first half of the 10th century. Evidence was revealed of the gradual infilling of the ditch in the 11th century, followed by the construction of substantial medieval buildings between the 11th and 13th centuries and later medieval and post-medieval occupation and industrial activity.

PL: Młode Miasto Gdańsk (1380-1455) i jego patrymonium, Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, 2018, ss. 422.
ISBN 978-83-7865-752-1

Tematem rozprawy jest Młode Miasto Gdańsk i jego patrymonium. Ramy chronologiczne odpowiadają okresowi funkcjonowania tego organizmu miejskiego, od wystawienia przywileju lokacyjnego w 1380 r. po jego rozbiórkę w 1455 r. Młode Miasto zostało założone na północny zachód od Starego Miasta, jako czwarty człon wchodzący w skład późnośredniowiecznej aglomeracji Gdańska – obok Głównego i Starego Miasta oraz rybackiej osady Osiek. Krótki okres egzystencji ośrodka spowodował, że badaniami objęto nie tylko samą strefę osadniczą, ale także jego terytorium ziemskie (patrymonium) oraz relacje między nimi.

Założenia badawcze i szeroka kwerenda archiwalna pozwoliły ustalić nowe fakty dotyczące rozwoju przestrzennego średniowiecznego zespołu osadniczego Gdańska (określenie położenia strefy osadniczej miasta i granic jego patrymonium), członków władz miejskich Młodego Miasta (uzupełnienie dotychczasowych informacji o składach rady i ławy Młodego Miasta), jego organizacji kościelnej (w tym statusu parafialnego kościoła św. Bartłomieja przed 1456 r.), powiązań rodzinnych i gospodarczych między patrycjatem Głównego, Starego i Młodego Miasta, podstaw prawnych i ekonomicznych życia jego mieszkańców, przyczyn powstania oraz zagłady miasta, a także roli, jaką Młode Miasto i jego mieszkańcy odgrywali w polityce zakonu krzyżackiego (m.in. kwestia kompletnej apatii politycznej Młodego Miasta w okresie istnienia Związku Pruskiego oraz próby pojednawcze podejmowane przez wielkiego mistrza Ludwiga von Erlichshausena po wybuchu wojny trzynastoletniej).

Abstrakt Der Beitrag befasst sich mit der Geschichte der Marktgemeinde und des Herrschaftsguts Stonařov (Stannern) von den Anfängen bis 1530. Die Marktgemeinde erhielt ihren Namen nach dem Znaimer Kammerherrn Stonař, der in der ersten Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts lebte. Er stammte wahrscheinlich aus der Adelsfamilie Ranožír, ähnlich wie Albrecht von Stannern, der erstens im Jahr 1347 erwähnt wurde. Die nachfolgenden Besitzer der Marktgemeinde und des Herrschaftsgutes waren Ješek Schössel aus Brtnice (Pirnitz) und danach die Herren von Ho-dice, durch deren Heiratspolitik das Herrschaftsgut an die Familie Roubík von Hlavatec über-ging. Der Beitrag liefert auch zusammenfassende Informationen über die Kirche in Stannern, den Wirtschaftscharakter des Standortes im Mittelalter sowie die hiesigen Herrensitze.

New generations of "digital readers" prefer other texts (different forms, other publication channels...), which affects also the urban historiography.  a) institutional base for urban research in CE and CEE, b) Historiography of Historical Town Atlases c) Digital humanities as chalenge for the "old historiography" - different steps and ways into the digital future (retro-digitisation -> new databases -> comprehensive memory portals).

The article discusses some of the basic problems in the history of Trapezitsa fortress as part of the medieval capital of Tyrnovgrad. Comparison of the two fortified cores of Tyrnovgrad-Tsarevets and Trapezitsa, led to some conclusions. Despite the obscurity around the early history of Tsarevets fortress during the 12 th c., it is obvious that the two citadels of the capital were closely related during the initial period of building of the cityscape. The discussed process took place during the 1200's-1230's. In the development of the town during the second half of 13 th-first half of 14 th c. there were some differences in growth between Tsarevets and Trapezitsa, basically in building activities and the administrative role they played. From the middle of the 14 th c. the two citadels demonstrate equality in building initiatives, and Trapezitsa shows itself as a full scale core of the town with densely packed houses, street communications and parish churches. The latest archaeological excavations refuted older hypotheses with Renaissance roots that Tra-pezitsa fortress was covered with boyar's mansions with churches and vast courts. With the end of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom began the end for Trapezitsa, as well. Unlike Tsarevets, this city core ceased to be a subject of the town after the end of the 14 th c.

"Abstract:
The Swedish project The Medieval town -  subtitled The consequences of the early urbanization process for modern city planning - started in 1976. Cultural layers in towns had at that time almost no legal support in the The law of Ancient monuments (Forminneslagen) as they now have in The Law of Cultural Heritage (Kulturminneslagen 1988). It was therefore, before the new law, a large antiquarian problem and irreplaceable cultural heritage was disappearing without any archaeological excavations had been made. The Medieval town project was headed by the Swedish National Heritage Board, with funding from eg. the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. All archaeological excavations in 77 Swedish medieval towns (including the originally Danish towns in Scania, Halland and Blekinge) were surveyed and registered and for each town a report was published. The town of Ystad in Scania in southern Sweden was surveyed by the author for three months 1980-1981. Two reports, Ystad I and Ystad II – an archaeological study of the hinterland before the town, were published in 1983.

This publication - Ystad revisited - is an evaluation of the archaeological situation in Ystad - thirty years after the Medieval town project. The publication  contains four perspectives: an antiquarian, an archaeological, a scientific and finally a contemporary perspective. The evaluation shows that, in comparison with many other medieval towns in Sweden, rather few archaeological excavations have been made in Ystad during the last thirty years. The most recent relatively large archaeological excavations were made as far back as 1984 and 1986. The background to this situation and the implications for the research on the medieval town Ystad are discussed. Some archaeological issues are highlighted. For instance the clay-lined pits which are connected with the extensive seasonal herring fishing in the 12th century, before the town was founded. Another interesting, and unexpected, finding is a very large and wide 14th century moat laid out in the western part of the medieval town. GISmaps showing all archaeological excavations in Ystad are included in the report. The contemporary perspective discusses whether the earlier romantic image of Ystad as a ”well preserved town with half-timbered houses and medieval charm” has changed during these thirty years. And finally - how has the success of the Wallander crime novels and all (c. 50) films shot in Ystad and vicinity affected this image?




Ystad Revisited
av Sten Tesch

”Projektet Medeltidsstaden” – med undertiteln ”Den tidiga urbaniseringens konsekvenser för modern stadsplanering” startade 1976. När projektet inleddes hade kul-turlager i städer inte något lagligt skydd i Fornminneslagen. Det kom först i och med Kulturminneslagen 1988 (sedan 1/1 2014 Kulturmiljölagen). Det var därför ett stort antikvariskt problem att medeltida kulturlager togs bort utan föregående arkeologisk undersökning. Projektet Medeltidsstaden bidrog i hög grad till att förändra den situationen. Projektet, som drevs av Riksantikvarieämbetet och Statens historiska museer, med finansiering från Riksbankens Jubileumsfond och Humanistiska Samhälls-vetenskapliga forskningsrådet (HSFR), pågick under åren 1976-1984.

I Sverige finns 77 städer med medeltida ursprung. Det arkeologiska materialet i dessa städer inventerades och utvärderades i en rapport - en för varje stad. I projektet ingick även de tidigare danska medeltida städerna i Skåne, Halland och Blekinge. Ystad inventerades av författaren till föreliggande skrift under tre månader 1980-81. Till skillnad från övriga städer gjordes två rapporter för Ystad, en om själva staden (Ystad I) och en omlandsstudie om Ystadbygden före Ystad (Ystad II). Båda rapporterna utkom 1983.

Skriften Ystad Revisited är en utvärdering av det arkeologiska materialet i Ystad – trettio år efter projektet Medeltidsstaden. Utvärderingen visar att det i Ystad under denna period gjorts förhållandevis få arkeologiska undersökningar, jämfört med många andra medeltida städer i Sverige. Anmärkningsvärt är att det inte genomförts någon mer omfattande utgrävning sedan 1986. I skriften diskuteras orsakerna till detta och vad det inneburit för forskningen om medeltidsstaden Ystad.
Alla arkeologiska undersökningar i Ystad redovisas på tre GIS-kartor och i en bilaga.

I rapporten uppmärksammas särskilt två företeelser, dels de s.k. lerbottnarna dels upptäckten av en tidigare helt okänd vallgrav nästan mitt i staden.

Lerbottnarna hänger samman med det säsongsmässiga fiske som föregick staden, när sillen gick till på 1100-talet och stod så tät att man kunde fånga den med bara händerna, som en senare 1200-talskälla uttrycker det. Lerbottnar är trågliknande lerklädda gropar i sanden. De kan vara från en till flera meter stora. Lerbottnarnas funktion har diskuterats livligt i mer än trettio år och någon konsensus i denna fråga har ännu inte uppnåtts. I skriften aktualiseras en nygammal tolkning.

Vid en arkeologisk undersökning i kv. Pernilla 1984 - endast ett hundratal meter väster om Mariakyrkan - gjordes en mycket oväntad upptäckt då en vallgrav som var 15 meter bred och 1,5 meter djup framkom. Vallgraven inramade en 20x50 meter stor rektangulär holme. Även om graven var betydligt bredare och djupare än de vallgravar som omger de flesta borgar i Skåne - inklusive borgen i kv. Vallgraven i Ystad – kan det diskuteras om det rör sig om ett planerat borgbygge. Därtill är holmen troligtvis för smal. Kanske har man i stället planerat för någon form av förindustriell verksamhet baserad på vattenkvarnar i denna del av staden. När graven grävdes i mitten av 1300-talet låg här ett blomstrande stadskvarter, som då måste ha avhysts. Trots denna omfattande stadsplaneförändring och det stora arbetsföretag som igångsatts dröjde det inte lång tid innan graven lades igen. Det krävdes åtskilliga lass med sand för att åstadkomma detta. Uppskattningsvis bör det ha rört sig om ca 5000 kubikmeter motsvarande ca 500 lastbilslass. Allt är mycket gåtfullt. Troligtvis har dessa beslut, både att gräva graven och att sedan lägga igen den, fattats på en nivå som låg över den ”kommunala”.

Skriften avslutas med ett samtidsperspektiv där den tidigare romantiska bilden av Ystad - som ”Den välbevarade korsvirkesstaden med medeltida charm” - diskuteras. Har denna bild förändrats under de senaste trettio åren och har Wallanderturismen och de runt femtio filmer som spelats in i Ystad med omnejd påverkat denna bild är frågor som ställs.

Skriften Ystad Revisited – med undertiteln Nya arkeologiska perspektiv på ett gam-malt sjörövare- och lurendrejarenäste, trettio år efter Projektet Medeltidsstaden – är i A4-format och inlagan omfattar 98 sidor. Skriften är utgiven (2014) av Sten Tesch ARKISTORIA.

Sten Tesch har tidigare arbetat som arkeolog på Riksantikvarieämbetet (1967-85) och som chef för Sigtuna Museum (1985-2010). Disputerade 1993 på en avhandling i arkeologi om Stora Köpingebygden (öster om Ystad) och dess bebyggelsehistoria under förhistorisk tid. Var även delprojektledare i Ystadprojektet - kulturlandskapet under 6000 år vid Lunds universitet (1982-90).

Ekonomiskt stöd har erhållits från Anders Althins Stiftelse och Kungl. Patriotiska Sällskapet.

Ystad Revisted kan beställas från:
Sten Tesch
Skyttegatan 47
19332 SIGTUNA
sten.tesch@gmail.com
0733502229

Priset är 100 kronor exklusive porto och emballage.

Programm des Mittelalterkolloquiums an der Universität Jena im Sommersemester 2021. Aufgrund der aktuellen Pandemielage wird die Veranstaltung (zumindest vorerst) online über Zoom stattfinden. Bei Interesse können Sie den Zoom-Link über das Sekretariat des Mittelalterlehrstuhls erfahren.