Johannes Preiser-Kapeller
Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, born 1977.
CURRENT AND FORMER POSITIONS
Researcher at the Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, since 2007 (full permanent position as Senior Research Associate since 2015; team leader [Arbeitsgruppenleiter] of the research group “Byzantium and beyond“ and of the research area “Complexities and Networks”)
External Lecturer (Privatdozent) at the University of Vienna (Byzantine Studies, Global History)
Researcher at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz, Germany), 2013-2015
EDUCATION
Habilitation (postdoctoral lecture qualification), University of Vienna, venia docendi for Byzantine Studies and Global History, December 2021 (unanimous decision of the commission); Habilitation Thesis “Entangling Byzantium and its neighbours near and far: global, relational, and environmental perspectives on the medieval world”
Dr. Phil. (with distinction), Byzantine Studies, University of Vienna, June 2006
Doctoral Thesis “Studies on the Metropolitans and Bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Palaiologean Era (1258-1453)” [in German]; Supervisors: Prof. Otto Kresten, Prof. Werner Seibt
Mag. Phil. (with distinction), Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies/Ancient History, University of Vienna, February 2002
Magister Thesis “The Administrative History of Byzantine Armenia from the 5th to the 7th century (Genesis of the thema Armeniakon)” [in German]; Supervisor: Prof. Werner Seibt
RESEARCH FOCUS
- Byzantine history in comparison and entanglement within the medieval world
- Social and spatial network analysis and complexity theory
- Environmental and climate history of the medieval Mediterranean and beyond
- Socioeconomic and ecclesiastical history of Byzantium
- Byzantine diplomacy and diplomatics
- Harbours and maritime networks in the medieval Eastern Mediterranean
- Relations between Byzantium and the Caucasus
Supervisors: Werner Seibt (PhD-supervisor, 2002-2006) and Otto Kresten (PhD-supervisor, 2002-2006)
Address: Institut für Mittelalterforschung
Abteilung für Byzanzforschung
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Georg-Coch-Platz 2/4th floor
1010 Vienna, Austria
CURRENT AND FORMER POSITIONS
Researcher at the Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, since 2007 (full permanent position as Senior Research Associate since 2015; team leader [Arbeitsgruppenleiter] of the research group “Byzantium and beyond“ and of the research area “Complexities and Networks”)
External Lecturer (Privatdozent) at the University of Vienna (Byzantine Studies, Global History)
Researcher at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Mainz, Germany), 2013-2015
EDUCATION
Habilitation (postdoctoral lecture qualification), University of Vienna, venia docendi for Byzantine Studies and Global History, December 2021 (unanimous decision of the commission); Habilitation Thesis “Entangling Byzantium and its neighbours near and far: global, relational, and environmental perspectives on the medieval world”
Dr. Phil. (with distinction), Byzantine Studies, University of Vienna, June 2006
Doctoral Thesis “Studies on the Metropolitans and Bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Palaiologean Era (1258-1453)” [in German]; Supervisors: Prof. Otto Kresten, Prof. Werner Seibt
Mag. Phil. (with distinction), Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies/Ancient History, University of Vienna, February 2002
Magister Thesis “The Administrative History of Byzantine Armenia from the 5th to the 7th century (Genesis of the thema Armeniakon)” [in German]; Supervisor: Prof. Werner Seibt
RESEARCH FOCUS
- Byzantine history in comparison and entanglement within the medieval world
- Social and spatial network analysis and complexity theory
- Environmental and climate history of the medieval Mediterranean and beyond
- Socioeconomic and ecclesiastical history of Byzantium
- Byzantine diplomacy and diplomatics
- Harbours and maritime networks in the medieval Eastern Mediterranean
- Relations between Byzantium and the Caucasus
Supervisors: Werner Seibt (PhD-supervisor, 2002-2006) and Otto Kresten (PhD-supervisor, 2002-2006)
Address: Institut für Mittelalterforschung
Abteilung für Byzanzforschung
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Georg-Coch-Platz 2/4th floor
1010 Vienna, Austria
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Videos by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller
Mit dem Ende der letzten Eiszeit und der Entwicklung der Landwirtschaft – und nicht erst mit der globalen Erwärmung der Gegenwart – begann ein dramatischer Wandel im Wechselspiel zwischen Mensch und Klima. Ab der ersten Ernte machten sich Ackerbauern in einer neuen Weise von den Schwankungen der Witterung abhängig. Das enge Zusammenleben von Menschen und ihren Haustieren erlaubte Krankheitserregern, die Schwelle zwischen den Arten zu überwinden. Doch trotz wiederkehrender Katastrophen wuchsen die frühen Agrargemeinschaften. Komplexe Staaten und weitreichende Netzwerke der Mobilität und des Handels entstanden.
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/der-lange-sommer-und-die-kleine-eiszeit/
Das Mittelalter wird oft als ›dunkles‹ Zeitalter dargestellt, geplagt von Hunger, Seuchen und Gewalt. Tatsächlich rahmten zwei verheerende Pestpandemien und Veränderungen des Klimas hin zu einer Kleinen Eiszeit den Zeitraum zwischen 500 und 1500. Dazwischen liegt der sogenannte Lange Sommer der Mittelalterlichen Warmzeit, in der die Wikinger bis Nordamerika vorstießen und die Bevölkerung Westeuropas enorm wuchs. Der Autor spürt auf der Grundlage neuester Daten der Komplexität des Wechselspiels zwischen Klimawandel, Epidemien und der Reaktion menschlicher Gemeinschaften nach.
Books by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller
https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/issue/view/4404
Dieser Band bietet einen Überblick über mehr als 1000 Jahre Geschichte. Das Besondere an dieser Erzählung vom 4. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert ist jedoch, dass sie als ein weiteres Millennium römischer Geschichte über die Geschichte der Antike hinaus dargeboten wird. Sie folgt damit dem Selbstverständnis der Zeitgenossen in Byzanz, die ihr Reich weiterhin als ein die Erdteile übergreifendes, für die Weltordnung unersetzliches Imperium verstanden; damit machten sie sich den römischen Weltherrschaftsanspruch zu eigen und hielten ihn bis 1453 aufrecht.
Die Verwaltungssprache in diesem neuen Römerreich am Bosporus war nicht mehr Latein, sondern Griechisch – aber in den heraufziehenden Jahrhunderten war Latein auch in den traditionellen Herrschaftsräumen der «alten Römer» längst zu einer toten Sprache geworden. Neu in Byzanz war zudem die intensive Verflechtung – nicht selten in Form blutiger Konflikte – mit der islamischen Welt. Doch kaum geringer waren die Gefahren, die aus dem «lateinischen Westen» drohten, verbunden mit den verheerenden Kreuzzügen. Und schließlich steigert Byzanz mit seinen Kontakten nach Ostafrika, in den Indischen Ozean, den Kaukasus, Osteuropa und Zentralasien die Dynamik der Globalisierung historischer Prozesse. Über all das weiß Johannes Preiser-Kapeller gleichermaßen spannend wie informativ zu erzählen.
Open access - the entire book can be downloaded for free via: https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/book/10.14220/9783737013413?fbclid=IwAR1l2K37GzARH1Ts8hTQYaYvAokpjgaf0URlZnvo4gTX1v8KNRzJ6OQLT6c
Open access online: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/910
The conference »Seasides of Byzantium. Harbours and Anchorages of a Mediterranean Empire«, from which the papers collected in the present volume emerged, took place in Athens in 2017 as part of a cooperation between the DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages« and the National Hellenic Research Foundation. It united historians, archaeologists and geoarchaeologists to explore harbours and anchorages as core maritime infrastructure to the Late Roman and Byzantine Empire.
General phenomena such as the organisation of the Byzantine navy and its operations or lighthouses are discussed in this volume as well as new geoarchaeological research methodologies in harbour archaeology. Most contributions in the present volume examine case studies for the most important maritime core region of the Byzantine Empire, the Aegean. This sea connected the remaining provinces of the empire in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor after the loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa to the Arabs in the 7th century A.D. In addition to technical and geographical aspect, the studies in this volume make clear that we need to explore more and more the social embedding of the seasides of Byzantium to understand their dynamics in all their complexity.
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/die-erste-ernte-und-der-grosse-hunger/
and
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/der-lange-sommer-und-die-kleine-eiszeit/
Vol. 1: Die erste Ernte und der große Hunger. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt bis 500 n. Chr.
Book trailer: https://youtu.be/xmOmGL94taQ
Vol. 2: Der Lange Sommer und die Kleine Eiszeit. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt von 500 bis 1500 n. Chr.
Book trailer: https://youtu.be/mg15pkgNxnA
Mit der Debatte um den Klimawandel wächst das Interesse am möglichen Einfluss klimatischer Veränderungen auf Gesellschaften der Vergangenheit. Doch oft werden historische Erkenntnisse missbräuchlich gedeutet-sei es als Beleg, dass das Klima sich ohnehin immer ohne menschliches Zutun ändert, sei es als Katastrophenszenarien. Der Autor spürt auf der Grundlage neuester naturwissenschaftlicher, archäologischer und historischer Daten der Komplexität des Wechselspiels zwischen Klimaveränderungen, Epidemien und der nachfolgenden Reaktion menschlicher Gemeinschaften nach. Dabei wird deutlich, wie sehr der tatsächliche Effekt von klimatischen Krisen und Epidemien auf diese Gesellschaften vom kurz-und langfristigen Handeln der menschlichen Akteure abhing.
Der erste Band beleuchtet in einer Langzeitperspektive die Entwicklungen in Europa, im Nahen Osten und Ostasien von den ersten Großreichen des Altertums in Ägypten und Mesopotamien bis zu den Imperien der Römer und Chinesen und geht auch der Frage des Beitrags von Klima und Seuchen zum "Untergang" dieser Staaten nach.
Der zweite Band beleuchtet in einer Langzeitperspektive das mittelalterliche Jahrtausend zwischen zwei verheerenden Pestpandemien, aber auch die Rolle von Klima und Seuchen bei der Geschichte der Wikinger, der Kreuzzüge und der Mongolen – und schließlich beim Anbruch der europäischen Expansion im 15. Jahrhundert n. Chr.
Studies in Global Migration History, Band: 39/13
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era.
Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
ISBN: 978385476-554-7; published in February 2018
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buch.php?id=777
Booktrailer in German: https://youtu.be/-OHYfqyqEdY
Booktrailer in English: https://files.das-andere-mittelalter.webnode.com/200000216-e18c7e2873/Booktrailer%20Beyond%20Rome%20and%20Charlemagne.mp4
Review copies: https://www.mandelbaum.at/bestellung_rezensionsexemplar.php?menu=presse
From the perspective of Western Europe or the Mediterranean, the late antique centuries have long been regarded as a period of complete fragmentation of the political and economic networks that formerly existed under Roman rule. It is worthwhile, however, to look away from Europe and towards the great empires of the eastern Mediterranean, East Africa, the Middle East, India and Central and East Asia: Here, too, great empires break down in the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, but are replaced by new, often even larger imperial formations.
The aim of the volume is to contrast the dynamics of global entanglements in the political and economic central areas of Afro-Eurasian late antiquity with the »dark centuries« of the Western European periphery for a period before the dawn of »European expansion«. The dissemination of religious ideas and the "reorientation" of networks and spatial ideas are considered more closely. Among other things, the focus is also on imperial ecologies and networks of commerce: goods, techniques, trade routes and urban dynamics.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction: Emperors, Caliphs and Channels
1 World Rulers on recall: Rhythms of imperial formations, 300-800 AD
2 The world as a polo field: the mediation of power and the mobility of elites
3 Holy men, women and countries: the spread of religious ideas and communities
4 Traders, artists, cooks, slaves. Mobility and Diaspora communities alongside the elites
5 The power of the silkworm and the mobility of non-human actors
6 World cities on recall. Climate change, imperial ecology and urban dynamics
7 Conclusion: beyond Rome and Charlemagne
Maps
Sources and literature
Christian GASTGEBER - Ekaterini MITSIOU - Johannes PREISER-KAPELLER - Vratislav ZERVAN (Eds.), The Patriarchate of Constantinople in Context and Comparison. Proceedings of the International Conference Vienna, September 12th - 15th 2012. In Memoriam Konstantinos Pitsakis (1944 - 2012) and Andreas Schminck (1947-2015). Vienna 2017, 405 pp.
This volume about the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate results from a congress, held in Vienna within the framework of research on the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople at the Division of Byzantine Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Chronologically, these papers cover the (Byzantine) period from the 11th century onwards. The majority of the collected studies concern a crucial source: the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This includes more than 800 documents written between 1315 and 1402 by or for the Patriarchate and the “permanent Synod” of Constantinople, and is now held in the Austrian National Library, Cod. hist. gr. 47 and 48. Besides the Register, the evidence for the Patriarchate is confined to a small number of documents, synodical acts, and occasional references in narrative histories. However, the present volume brings two new texts to light. The focus of this volume is on the organization and administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as on new biographical details of individual patriarchs. It also includes contributions devoted to the continuity of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its new tasks in the early post-Byzantine period.
Christian Gastgeber, Das Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Die hauptstädtische Synode von Konstantinopel (Synodos endemusa). Zur Geschichte und Funktion einer zentralen Institution
der (spät)byzantinischen Kirche
Ekaterini Mitsiou, Aspekte der Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des späten Byzanz in den Akten des Patriarchatsregisters
Christof Kraus, Ehe und Verlobung im Patriarchatsregister
Carolina Cupane, Magie und Zauberei im späten Byzanz im Lichte des Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel
Klaus-Peter Todt, Das ökumenische Patriarchat von Konstantinopel und die griechisch-orthodoxen (melkitischen) Patriarchate unter muslimischer Herrschaft
Mihailo Popovic and Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Das Patriarchat von Konstantinopel und die Kirchen Bulgariens und Serbiens
vom 13. bis zum 15. Jh.
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Das Patriarchat von Konstantinopel
und die russischen Kirchen vom 13. bis zum 15. Jh. Ein Überblick zur Kirchenpolitik auf der Grundlage des Patriarchatsregisters
Complexity theory and network analysis provide a analytical framework to describe social configurations (cities, maritime communities, polities) and environmental phenomena (hydrosphere, climate) as complex systems, entangled via mechanisms of feedbacks, adaptation or disruption. In this volume, this approach is applied on various phenomena of maritime history as discussed within the DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP 1630) »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages« (www.spp-haefen.de).
This volume collects selected papers given at the International Workshop “Harbours and maritime Networks as Complex Adaptive Systems” at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz, 17.-18. 10. 2013, within the framework of the Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages”, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/home/). The volume is devoted to the conceptualisation and analysis of maritime history within the framework of complexity theory on various levels: the selection, construction, utilisation, maintenance or abandonment of a harbour site depended on the interactions of a multiplicity of actors (population on-site and in the hinterland; local, regional and central authorities; merchants and sailors, etc.) against the background of an equally complex interplay between society and environment (natural conditions on land and on sea and their dynamics). Within this framework, also the concept of path dependence is of relevance: decisions and efforts made for the selection and construction of a harbour determine the parameters for subsequent contexts of decision making. Ports are integrated into local and regional settlement systems via multiplex connections with their hinterland and co-determine the distribution of demographic and economic potentials within these systems. Local, regional and over-regional sea-routes link ports of various sizes and importance in complex maritime networks, which are equally characterized by the emergence of hierarchies of harbours. On the basis of these sea-routes, also individuals and groups in various localities are connected in social networks, which can be characterised by mercantile, political, religious or cultural interactions, but especially through the mobility of individuals. A systematic survey of these entanglements between individuals, groups and localities contributes to a more adequate analysis of the complexity of these phenomena as do detail studies on the interplay between social and environmental factors for the development of selected ports.
Contributions:
Falko Daim, Foreword
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Harbours and Maritime Networks as Complex Adaptive Systems - Thematic Introduction
Franck Goddio, Damian Robinson and David Fabre, The life-cycle of the harbour of Thonis-Heracleion: the interaction of the environment, politics and trading networks on the maritime space of Egypt’s northwestern Delta
Myrto Veikou, Byzantine ports and harbours within the complex interplay between environment and society. Spatial, socio-economic and cultural considerations based on archaeological evidence from Greece, Cyprus and Asia Minor
Pascal Arnaud, The interplay between actors and decision-makers for the selection, organisation, utilisation and maintenance of ports under the Roman Empire
Flora Karagianni, Networks of Medieval City-Ports in the Black Sea (7th-15th cent.). The Archaeological Testimony
Søren M. Sindbæk, Northern Emporia and Maritime Networks. Modelling past Communication using Archaeological Network Analysis
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, The Maritime Mobility of Individuals and Objects: Networks and Entanglements
https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/The-Regiser-of-the-Patriarachate-of-Constantinople.-An-Essential-Source-for-the-History-and-Church-of-Late-Byzantium
Contents:
Oliver Jens SCHMITT, Matthias Corvinus und Skanderbeg oder die jahrzehntelange Allianz der Häuser Hunyadi und Kastriota im Krieg mit den Osmanen
Alexandru SIMON, La «parentèle ottomane » des Hunyadi
Julia DÜCKER, Von Konfrontation und Kooperation – Matthias Corvinus und die Reichstage der Jahre 1479 bis 1481
Güneş IŞIKEL, Friendship and the principle of good neighbourhood between Bayezid II and Matthias Corvinus
Johannes PREISER-KAPELLER, Sive vincitur Hungaria … Das Osmanische Reich, das Königreich Ungarn und ihre Nachbarn in der Zeit des Matthias Corvinus im Machtvergleich im Urteil griechischer Quellen
Vasile RUS, Giovanni Corvino di Hunyad ed il monastero di Peri
Flavius SOLOMON, Vom Abendland zum Morgenland. Orthodoxe und Katholiken in der Moldau im Mittelalter
Dan Ioan MURESAN, Bessarion et l’Église de rite Byzantin du royaume de Hongrie (1463–1472)
Ioan Aurel POP, Les Roumains de Transylvanie et leurs privilèges accordés à l’époque de Mathias Corvin
Zsuzsanna ÖTVÖS, Some Remarks on a Humanist Vocabularium
Gyula MAYER, Zur Textgeschichte der Elegien des Janus Pannonius
Gábor BOLONYAI, Taddeo Ugoleto’s Marginal Notes on his Brand-new Crastonus Dictionary
András NÉMETH, The Mynas codex and the Bibliotheca Corviniana
Christian GASTGEBER, Griechische Corvinen. Additamenta
Gianluca MASI, Nuovi manoscritti corviniani a Firenze. Ancora su Mattia Corvino e gli archivi Fiorentini
Ekaterini MITSIOU, John Hunyadi and Matthias Corvinus in the Byzantine sources. With an excursus on the “Greek poem on the battle of Varna”
Mihailo POPOVIĆ, Reminiszenzen an König Matthias Corvinus in den Reiseberichten des Salomon Schweigger und Reinhold Lubenau
Ariadni MOUTAFIDOU, John Hunyadi and Matthias Corvinus in Modern Greek historiography
Florian KÜHRER, Die Pforten der Christenheit. Der Fall Konstantinopels und der Kampf gegen die Osmanen in den rumänischen Geschichtslehrbüchern 1942–2006
Index
Mit dem Ende der letzten Eiszeit und der Entwicklung der Landwirtschaft – und nicht erst mit der globalen Erwärmung der Gegenwart – begann ein dramatischer Wandel im Wechselspiel zwischen Mensch und Klima. Ab der ersten Ernte machten sich Ackerbauern in einer neuen Weise von den Schwankungen der Witterung abhängig. Das enge Zusammenleben von Menschen und ihren Haustieren erlaubte Krankheitserregern, die Schwelle zwischen den Arten zu überwinden. Doch trotz wiederkehrender Katastrophen wuchsen die frühen Agrargemeinschaften. Komplexe Staaten und weitreichende Netzwerke der Mobilität und des Handels entstanden.
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/der-lange-sommer-und-die-kleine-eiszeit/
Das Mittelalter wird oft als ›dunkles‹ Zeitalter dargestellt, geplagt von Hunger, Seuchen und Gewalt. Tatsächlich rahmten zwei verheerende Pestpandemien und Veränderungen des Klimas hin zu einer Kleinen Eiszeit den Zeitraum zwischen 500 und 1500. Dazwischen liegt der sogenannte Lange Sommer der Mittelalterlichen Warmzeit, in der die Wikinger bis Nordamerika vorstießen und die Bevölkerung Westeuropas enorm wuchs. Der Autor spürt auf der Grundlage neuester Daten der Komplexität des Wechselspiels zwischen Klimawandel, Epidemien und der Reaktion menschlicher Gemeinschaften nach.
https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/issue/view/4404
Dieser Band bietet einen Überblick über mehr als 1000 Jahre Geschichte. Das Besondere an dieser Erzählung vom 4. bis zum 15. Jahrhundert ist jedoch, dass sie als ein weiteres Millennium römischer Geschichte über die Geschichte der Antike hinaus dargeboten wird. Sie folgt damit dem Selbstverständnis der Zeitgenossen in Byzanz, die ihr Reich weiterhin als ein die Erdteile übergreifendes, für die Weltordnung unersetzliches Imperium verstanden; damit machten sie sich den römischen Weltherrschaftsanspruch zu eigen und hielten ihn bis 1453 aufrecht.
Die Verwaltungssprache in diesem neuen Römerreich am Bosporus war nicht mehr Latein, sondern Griechisch – aber in den heraufziehenden Jahrhunderten war Latein auch in den traditionellen Herrschaftsräumen der «alten Römer» längst zu einer toten Sprache geworden. Neu in Byzanz war zudem die intensive Verflechtung – nicht selten in Form blutiger Konflikte – mit der islamischen Welt. Doch kaum geringer waren die Gefahren, die aus dem «lateinischen Westen» drohten, verbunden mit den verheerenden Kreuzzügen. Und schließlich steigert Byzanz mit seinen Kontakten nach Ostafrika, in den Indischen Ozean, den Kaukasus, Osteuropa und Zentralasien die Dynamik der Globalisierung historischer Prozesse. Über all das weiß Johannes Preiser-Kapeller gleichermaßen spannend wie informativ zu erzählen.
Open access - the entire book can be downloaded for free via: https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/book/10.14220/9783737013413?fbclid=IwAR1l2K37GzARH1Ts8hTQYaYvAokpjgaf0URlZnvo4gTX1v8KNRzJ6OQLT6c
Open access online: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/910
The conference »Seasides of Byzantium. Harbours and Anchorages of a Mediterranean Empire«, from which the papers collected in the present volume emerged, took place in Athens in 2017 as part of a cooperation between the DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages« and the National Hellenic Research Foundation. It united historians, archaeologists and geoarchaeologists to explore harbours and anchorages as core maritime infrastructure to the Late Roman and Byzantine Empire.
General phenomena such as the organisation of the Byzantine navy and its operations or lighthouses are discussed in this volume as well as new geoarchaeological research methodologies in harbour archaeology. Most contributions in the present volume examine case studies for the most important maritime core region of the Byzantine Empire, the Aegean. This sea connected the remaining provinces of the empire in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor after the loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa to the Arabs in the 7th century A.D. In addition to technical and geographical aspect, the studies in this volume make clear that we need to explore more and more the social embedding of the seasides of Byzantium to understand their dynamics in all their complexity.
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/die-erste-ernte-und-der-grosse-hunger/
and
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/der-lange-sommer-und-die-kleine-eiszeit/
Vol. 1: Die erste Ernte und der große Hunger. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt bis 500 n. Chr.
Book trailer: https://youtu.be/xmOmGL94taQ
Vol. 2: Der Lange Sommer und die Kleine Eiszeit. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt von 500 bis 1500 n. Chr.
Book trailer: https://youtu.be/mg15pkgNxnA
Mit der Debatte um den Klimawandel wächst das Interesse am möglichen Einfluss klimatischer Veränderungen auf Gesellschaften der Vergangenheit. Doch oft werden historische Erkenntnisse missbräuchlich gedeutet-sei es als Beleg, dass das Klima sich ohnehin immer ohne menschliches Zutun ändert, sei es als Katastrophenszenarien. Der Autor spürt auf der Grundlage neuester naturwissenschaftlicher, archäologischer und historischer Daten der Komplexität des Wechselspiels zwischen Klimaveränderungen, Epidemien und der nachfolgenden Reaktion menschlicher Gemeinschaften nach. Dabei wird deutlich, wie sehr der tatsächliche Effekt von klimatischen Krisen und Epidemien auf diese Gesellschaften vom kurz-und langfristigen Handeln der menschlichen Akteure abhing.
Der erste Band beleuchtet in einer Langzeitperspektive die Entwicklungen in Europa, im Nahen Osten und Ostasien von den ersten Großreichen des Altertums in Ägypten und Mesopotamien bis zu den Imperien der Römer und Chinesen und geht auch der Frage des Beitrags von Klima und Seuchen zum "Untergang" dieser Staaten nach.
Der zweite Band beleuchtet in einer Langzeitperspektive das mittelalterliche Jahrtausend zwischen zwei verheerenden Pestpandemien, aber auch die Rolle von Klima und Seuchen bei der Geschichte der Wikinger, der Kreuzzüge und der Mongolen – und schließlich beim Anbruch der europäischen Expansion im 15. Jahrhundert n. Chr.
Studies in Global Migration History, Band: 39/13
Edited by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt und Yannis Stouraitis
The transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe was the most important intersection of human mobility in the medieval period. The present volume for the first time systematically covers migration histories of the regions between the Mediterranean and Central Asia and between Eastern Europe and the Indian Ocean in the centuries from Late Antiquity up to the early modern era.
Within this framework, specialists from Byzantine, Islamic, Medieval and African history provide detailed analyses of specific regions and groups of migrants, both elites and non-elites as well as voluntary and involuntary. Thereby, also current debates of migration studies are enriched with a new dimension of deep historical time.
Contributors are: Alexander Beihammer, Lutz Berger, Florin Curta, Charalampos Gasparis, George Hatke, Dirk Hoerder, Johannes Koder, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Lucian Reinfandt, Youval Rotman, Yannis Stouraitis, Panayiotis Theodoropoulos, and Myriam Wissa.
ISBN: 978385476-554-7; published in February 2018
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buch.php?id=777
Booktrailer in German: https://youtu.be/-OHYfqyqEdY
Booktrailer in English: https://files.das-andere-mittelalter.webnode.com/200000216-e18c7e2873/Booktrailer%20Beyond%20Rome%20and%20Charlemagne.mp4
Review copies: https://www.mandelbaum.at/bestellung_rezensionsexemplar.php?menu=presse
From the perspective of Western Europe or the Mediterranean, the late antique centuries have long been regarded as a period of complete fragmentation of the political and economic networks that formerly existed under Roman rule. It is worthwhile, however, to look away from Europe and towards the great empires of the eastern Mediterranean, East Africa, the Middle East, India and Central and East Asia: Here, too, great empires break down in the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, but are replaced by new, often even larger imperial formations.
The aim of the volume is to contrast the dynamics of global entanglements in the political and economic central areas of Afro-Eurasian late antiquity with the »dark centuries« of the Western European periphery for a period before the dawn of »European expansion«. The dissemination of religious ideas and the "reorientation" of networks and spatial ideas are considered more closely. Among other things, the focus is also on imperial ecologies and networks of commerce: goods, techniques, trade routes and urban dynamics.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction: Emperors, Caliphs and Channels
1 World Rulers on recall: Rhythms of imperial formations, 300-800 AD
2 The world as a polo field: the mediation of power and the mobility of elites
3 Holy men, women and countries: the spread of religious ideas and communities
4 Traders, artists, cooks, slaves. Mobility and Diaspora communities alongside the elites
5 The power of the silkworm and the mobility of non-human actors
6 World cities on recall. Climate change, imperial ecology and urban dynamics
7 Conclusion: beyond Rome and Charlemagne
Maps
Sources and literature
Christian GASTGEBER - Ekaterini MITSIOU - Johannes PREISER-KAPELLER - Vratislav ZERVAN (Eds.), The Patriarchate of Constantinople in Context and Comparison. Proceedings of the International Conference Vienna, September 12th - 15th 2012. In Memoriam Konstantinos Pitsakis (1944 - 2012) and Andreas Schminck (1947-2015). Vienna 2017, 405 pp.
This volume about the history of the Ecumenical Patriarchate results from a congress, held in Vienna within the framework of research on the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople at the Division of Byzantine Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Chronologically, these papers cover the (Byzantine) period from the 11th century onwards. The majority of the collected studies concern a crucial source: the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This includes more than 800 documents written between 1315 and 1402 by or for the Patriarchate and the “permanent Synod” of Constantinople, and is now held in the Austrian National Library, Cod. hist. gr. 47 and 48. Besides the Register, the evidence for the Patriarchate is confined to a small number of documents, synodical acts, and occasional references in narrative histories. However, the present volume brings two new texts to light. The focus of this volume is on the organization and administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as well as on new biographical details of individual patriarchs. It also includes contributions devoted to the continuity of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its new tasks in the early post-Byzantine period.
Christian Gastgeber, Das Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Die hauptstädtische Synode von Konstantinopel (Synodos endemusa). Zur Geschichte und Funktion einer zentralen Institution
der (spät)byzantinischen Kirche
Ekaterini Mitsiou, Aspekte der Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte des späten Byzanz in den Akten des Patriarchatsregisters
Christof Kraus, Ehe und Verlobung im Patriarchatsregister
Carolina Cupane, Magie und Zauberei im späten Byzanz im Lichte des Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel
Klaus-Peter Todt, Das ökumenische Patriarchat von Konstantinopel und die griechisch-orthodoxen (melkitischen) Patriarchate unter muslimischer Herrschaft
Mihailo Popovic and Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Das Patriarchat von Konstantinopel und die Kirchen Bulgariens und Serbiens
vom 13. bis zum 15. Jh.
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Das Patriarchat von Konstantinopel
und die russischen Kirchen vom 13. bis zum 15. Jh. Ein Überblick zur Kirchenpolitik auf der Grundlage des Patriarchatsregisters
Complexity theory and network analysis provide a analytical framework to describe social configurations (cities, maritime communities, polities) and environmental phenomena (hydrosphere, climate) as complex systems, entangled via mechanisms of feedbacks, adaptation or disruption. In this volume, this approach is applied on various phenomena of maritime history as discussed within the DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP 1630) »Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages« (www.spp-haefen.de).
This volume collects selected papers given at the International Workshop “Harbours and maritime Networks as Complex Adaptive Systems” at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz, 17.-18. 10. 2013, within the framework of the Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages”, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/home/). The volume is devoted to the conceptualisation and analysis of maritime history within the framework of complexity theory on various levels: the selection, construction, utilisation, maintenance or abandonment of a harbour site depended on the interactions of a multiplicity of actors (population on-site and in the hinterland; local, regional and central authorities; merchants and sailors, etc.) against the background of an equally complex interplay between society and environment (natural conditions on land and on sea and their dynamics). Within this framework, also the concept of path dependence is of relevance: decisions and efforts made for the selection and construction of a harbour determine the parameters for subsequent contexts of decision making. Ports are integrated into local and regional settlement systems via multiplex connections with their hinterland and co-determine the distribution of demographic and economic potentials within these systems. Local, regional and over-regional sea-routes link ports of various sizes and importance in complex maritime networks, which are equally characterized by the emergence of hierarchies of harbours. On the basis of these sea-routes, also individuals and groups in various localities are connected in social networks, which can be characterised by mercantile, political, religious or cultural interactions, but especially through the mobility of individuals. A systematic survey of these entanglements between individuals, groups and localities contributes to a more adequate analysis of the complexity of these phenomena as do detail studies on the interplay between social and environmental factors for the development of selected ports.
Contributions:
Falko Daim, Foreword
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Harbours and Maritime Networks as Complex Adaptive Systems - Thematic Introduction
Franck Goddio, Damian Robinson and David Fabre, The life-cycle of the harbour of Thonis-Heracleion: the interaction of the environment, politics and trading networks on the maritime space of Egypt’s northwestern Delta
Myrto Veikou, Byzantine ports and harbours within the complex interplay between environment and society. Spatial, socio-economic and cultural considerations based on archaeological evidence from Greece, Cyprus and Asia Minor
Pascal Arnaud, The interplay between actors and decision-makers for the selection, organisation, utilisation and maintenance of ports under the Roman Empire
Flora Karagianni, Networks of Medieval City-Ports in the Black Sea (7th-15th cent.). The Archaeological Testimony
Søren M. Sindbæk, Northern Emporia and Maritime Networks. Modelling past Communication using Archaeological Network Analysis
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, The Maritime Mobility of Individuals and Objects: Networks and Entanglements
https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/The-Regiser-of-the-Patriarachate-of-Constantinople.-An-Essential-Source-for-the-History-and-Church-of-Late-Byzantium
Contents:
Oliver Jens SCHMITT, Matthias Corvinus und Skanderbeg oder die jahrzehntelange Allianz der Häuser Hunyadi und Kastriota im Krieg mit den Osmanen
Alexandru SIMON, La «parentèle ottomane » des Hunyadi
Julia DÜCKER, Von Konfrontation und Kooperation – Matthias Corvinus und die Reichstage der Jahre 1479 bis 1481
Güneş IŞIKEL, Friendship and the principle of good neighbourhood between Bayezid II and Matthias Corvinus
Johannes PREISER-KAPELLER, Sive vincitur Hungaria … Das Osmanische Reich, das Königreich Ungarn und ihre Nachbarn in der Zeit des Matthias Corvinus im Machtvergleich im Urteil griechischer Quellen
Vasile RUS, Giovanni Corvino di Hunyad ed il monastero di Peri
Flavius SOLOMON, Vom Abendland zum Morgenland. Orthodoxe und Katholiken in der Moldau im Mittelalter
Dan Ioan MURESAN, Bessarion et l’Église de rite Byzantin du royaume de Hongrie (1463–1472)
Ioan Aurel POP, Les Roumains de Transylvanie et leurs privilèges accordés à l’époque de Mathias Corvin
Zsuzsanna ÖTVÖS, Some Remarks on a Humanist Vocabularium
Gyula MAYER, Zur Textgeschichte der Elegien des Janus Pannonius
Gábor BOLONYAI, Taddeo Ugoleto’s Marginal Notes on his Brand-new Crastonus Dictionary
András NÉMETH, The Mynas codex and the Bibliotheca Corviniana
Christian GASTGEBER, Griechische Corvinen. Additamenta
Gianluca MASI, Nuovi manoscritti corviniani a Firenze. Ancora su Mattia Corvino e gli archivi Fiorentini
Ekaterini MITSIOU, John Hunyadi and Matthias Corvinus in the Byzantine sources. With an excursus on the “Greek poem on the battle of Varna”
Mihailo POPOVIĆ, Reminiszenzen an König Matthias Corvinus in den Reiseberichten des Salomon Schweigger und Reinhold Lubenau
Ariadni MOUTAFIDOU, John Hunyadi and Matthias Corvinus in Modern Greek historiography
Florian KÜHRER, Die Pforten der Christenheit. Der Fall Konstantinopels und der Kampf gegen die Osmanen in den rumänischen Geschichtslehrbüchern 1942–2006
Index
See also: https://books.google.at/books?id=JtoidTRKFuUC&pg=PR35&lpg=PR35&dq=Preiser-Kapeller+regesten&source=bl&ots=HkTMjMm1q1&sig=Rq8SIYYzqraORDCyGNk4JHBfcIM&hl=de&sa=X&ei=tnb0Us-iHIHdswb62IC4Bg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Preiser-Kapeller%20regesten&f=false
Eirini AFENTOULIDOU-LEITGEB (Wien), Die Prosopopoiia in der Dioptra: Didaktisches Mittel oder literarische Charaktere?
Despoina ARIANTZI (Wien), Der Taufpate und seine Funktion in früh- und mittelbyzantinischer Zeit auf Grund der hagiographischen Quellen
Eftichia ARVANITI (Wien), Orthodoxe und Katholiken in einer Kirche. Das Zusammenleben der Dogmen und die Doppelkirchen auf den griechischen Inseln (13.–18. Jh.)
Alkiviadis GINALIS (Wien), Die byzantinische Seefahrt in den nördlichen Sporaden – Eine regionale Fallstudie auf archäologischer Basis
Johannes GROSSMANN (Wien), Die Legende von Pachomios dem Rekruten
Laura ISNENGHI (Wien), Konstantinos Stilbes und die Fehler der Lateiner. Gedanken zum Bild der westeuropäischen Christen in Byzanz
Christof R. KRAUS (Jena), Patriarchale Konfliktführungs- und Konfliktvermeidungsstrategien. Einige Beispiele aus dem Patriarchatsregister von Konstantinopel
Bettina LIENHARD (Berlin), Marianos Argyros reist nach Afrika – Über die Vermittlungsversuche eines kaiserlichen Würdenträgers im byzantinisch-fATimidischen Konflikt im 10. Jh.
Susanne METAXAS (Athen – Wien), Paolo Orsis Beitrag zur Kenntnis der byzantinischen Alltagskultur
Ekaterini MITSIOU (Wien), Historisch-Geographisches aus dem Patriarchatsregister. Angaben zu den konstantinopolitanischen Klöstern
Doretta PAPADOPOULOU (Athen), Michael Psellos und Theodoros II. Laskaris, ein Treffen an den Quellen griechischer Philosophie
Mihailo POPOVIĆ (Wien), Neue Überlegungen zu der alten Metropolitankirche Sveti Nikola in Melnik als Ergänzung zur Forschung des Vladimir Petković
Johannes PREISER-KAPELLER (Wien), Kaysr, tun und ‛asabīyya. Der armenische Adel und das Byzantinische Reich im späten 6. Jh. in der Darstellung des Sebēos zugeschriebenen Geschichtswerks
Andreas RHOBY (Wien), Zur Rezeption eines byzantinischen Epigramms im Athos-Kloster Vatopaidi
Martin SCHALLER (Wien), „σημειωτέον γράμμα - σημειωτέον ἔγγραφον“. Beobachtungen zu einer byzantinischen Gerichtsurkunde
Ioannis STOURAITIS (Wien), Der Mord als Mittel zur Machtergreifung anhand von Quellenbeispielen aus der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit
Nina-Maria WANEK (Wien), „[…] und in mir wurlt etwas wie ein Streichquartett“: Die Korrespondenz Egon Wellesz’ als Zeugnis der Entstehung seiner Werke
Nerina WEISZ (Oslo), Grenzüberschreitung und Abgrenzung auf Zypern bis 2004
Konstantinos J. ZOGRAFOPULOS (Wien), Bemerkungen zu den byzantinischen Bleisiegeln aus Karthago
https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/bernhard-hachleitner-christian-mertens/die-hitze-in-diesen-tagen-wird-nachgerade-unertraeglich/
The concept of "moral meteorology" has been first introduced into the study of Late Imperial China. With several examples, this introduction demonstrates its applicability to earlier periods of East Asian history and beyond across the ancient and medieval word before briefly referring to the contents of the special issue devoted to this topic.
In this introduction, we present the reader with the rationale behind the current volume and its structure. We also introduce the reader to the field of environmental history, within both the European and US traditions. Finally, we also describe those environmental history projects currently working on the medieval Eastern Mediterranean.
In memory of Ronnie Ellenblum (1952–2021)
The following chapter examines the palaeoclimatic background and the regional manifestations of the so-called “Medieval Climate Anomaly” in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on the Byzantine Empire, but also including neighbouring polities. It explores the interplay between climatic factors and the socio-economic dynamics between the 10th and 12th centuries, concentrating on the late 10th and 11th centuries (also overlapping with the “Oort Solar Minimum”). In particular, it contrasts scenarios of an “economic boom” and of a “collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean” created in recent scholarship for this period and evaluates these notions based on a close reading (and citation) of historiographical and other written sources. Thereby, both the potentials and the problems of a combination of “archives of society” and “archives of nature” become evident.
This chapter describes the interplay between socio-political complexity and the establishment of hydraulic infrastructure for the region around Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia from the early first millennium AD to the 20th century, with a focus on the medieval centuries and the Kingdom of Vaspurakan of the Armenian Arcruni dynasty between the 9th and 11th centuries AD. The dynamics of power and irrigation systems in this core region of historical Armenia are thus embedded in a wider chronological framework which allows for the identification of continuities and interruptions in the political and agricultural utilization of an ecology characterized by a delicate balance of precipitation, evaporation, and temperature. Furthermore, the findings from Vaspurakan are compared with information from other regions of medieval Armenia and neighbouring (Sasanian) Azerbaijan. Finally, the written and archaeological evidence is contrasted with palaeoclimatological reconstructions based on sediment cores from Lake Van.
Around the turn of the first Millennium AD, both in Christian polities such as the Byzantine Empire as well as in regions with Buddhist communities such as in Heian Japan, expectations of an end of times emerged. Although based on different religious and independent chronological interpretations, they gained attraction at the same time due to the parallel observation and interpretation of the same astronomical phenomena (such as sightings of Halley´s comet in 989 AD) or of simultaneous climate anomalies, which can partly be connected with the Oort Solar Minimum of the 11th century. This paper explores and compares the interplay between natural phenomena, religious and political unrest, apocalyptic interpretations and individual decision-making for Byzantium and Japan on the basis of historical and natural scientific evidence.
Die Definition der Antike unterliegt wie jede Periodisierung ständigen Debatten. Üblicherweise scheidet man die Antike von der „Ur- und Frühgeschichte“ mit der Entstehung komplexer urbaner Gesellschaften und schriftlicher Aufzeichnungen in Mesopotamien und Ägypten um 3000 v. Chr. Bodenkundlich wäre der dramatischere Einschnitt aber der Beginn der Landwirtschaft, der im Nahen Osten und im Mittelmeerraum je nach Region zwischen 9600 und 5600 v. Chr. datiert (Gronenborn, Horejs 2023).
Im folgenden Kapitel liegt der Fokus aber auf der traditionell als „klassisch“ bezeichneten griechisch-römischen Antike, die von den Anfängen der altgriechischen Literatur mit den Epen Homers um 800 v. Chr. bis zum Zerfall des weströmischen Reichs im 5. Jh. n. Chr. reicht. Diese Periodisierung ist aber auch forschungspragmatisch. Aus dieser Zeit ist uns ein erster umfangreicherer Bestand an agrarischen Fachschriften in griechischer und lateinischer Sprache erhalten, in dem sich ausführlichere Überlegungen zum Boden, dessen Beschreibung und Bearbeitung finden (Rex 2001; Winiwarter 2006a; Winiwarter 2006b, 2014). Diese Texte wurden auch in spätere Jahrhunderte des Mittelalters tradiert (siehe Myrdal 2020; Kozłowska-Szyc 2023) und dienten als Anknüpfungspunkte für die moderne Bodenwissenschaft in Europa (Winiwarter 2006b).
Gleichzeitig ging mit dieser Periode eine Intensivierung der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzung in vielen Regionen des Mittelmeerraums einher; im östlichen Mediterraneum spricht man etwa von der „Beyşehir Occupation Phase“ (BOP), benannt nach einem archäologischen Fundort im Südwesten der Türkei (Eastwood, Roberts, Lamb 1998; Butzer 2005; Walsh 2014, 141-142). Sie zeichnet sich im Pollenbefund mit dem verstärkten Auftreten der „klassischen“ mediterranen Dreiheit von Olive, Weizen und Wein ab, aber auch durch Fruchtbäume wie die Walnuss. Je nach Region setzte die BOP zwischen 800 v. Chr. und dem 1. Jh. v. Chr. ein und endete wieder je unterschiedlich zwischen dem 4. und 8. Jh. n. Chr. (in manchen Gebieten besteht auch eine Kontinuität bis ins Mittelalter, siehe Izdebski 2013). Solche Formen der Landnutzung verbreiteten sich mit der Gründung von griechischen Kolonien ab dem 8. Jh. v. Chr. vom Schwarzen Meer bis nach Sizilien und Süditalien. In Italien übernahmen wiederum Etrusker und später Römer einige Praktiken der griechischen Landwirtschaft (Walthall 2019; Andrews 2019). Auf Grundlage dieser schriftlichen, archäologischen und geoarchäologischen Befunde beschränkt sich das Kapitel auf den Mittelmeerraum und vor allem die Gebiete der heutigen Staaten Griechenland, Türkei und Italien, aber mit einigen Ausflügen in andere Provinzen des Römischen Reichs, das um 100 n. Chr. von Britannien bis Ägypten und von Spanien bis an die Grenzen des heutigen Irak reichte. Zeitgleiche, nicht weniger interessante Fachliteraturen zu Fragen der Bodenbearbeitung und -klassifizierung wie jene der Chinesen (Gong u. a. 2003) werden nicht berücksichtig, auch aufgrund der Sprachkenntnisse des Autors.
Im Folgenden wird zuerst der Bestand an schriftlichen Quellen gesichtet; dann werden deren Angaben zur Charakterisierung und Bearbeitung von Böden mit der Praxis kontrastiert, soweit sie sich aus Untersuchungen zur vorindustriellen Landwirtschaft im Mittelmeerraum und archäologischen und insbesondere neueren geoarchäologischen Befunden zur antiken Landwirtschaft rekonstruieren lässt (Rapp, Hill 2006; Codova 2019). Besonderes Augenmerk wird dem immer noch verbreiteten Narrativ einer in der Antike beginnenden und allgemeinen Degradierung der Böden und Landschaft des Mittelmeerraums aufgrund vermeintlicher Über- oder Fehlnutzung gewidmet, das sich aufgrund der neueren Erkenntnisse aber nicht mehr aufrecht erhalten lässt.
Nicht zuletzt unter dem Eindruck des aktuellen Angriffskriegs des Putinregimes gegen die Ukraine wird die Ursache der "Andersartigkeit" Russland auch in neuesten Überblickswerken und Kommentaren in der traditionellen "Isolation" des Landes von Westeuropa gesucht. Demgegenüber beleuchtet der vorliegende Beitrag in einer globalhistorischen Langzeitperspektive die weit über Europa nach West-, Zentral- , Süd- und Ostasien hinausweisenden Fernverbindungen des Wolgaraums von der Antike bis in die frühe Neuzeit, die letztlich auch ökonomisch-strategische Anknüpfungspunkte für die Expansion des Moskauer Staates ab dem Spätmittelalter boten. Damit eröffnet sich eine Geschichte nicht der Isolation, sondern der weitreichenden Vernetzung, die immer wieder die Aufmerksamkeit von Reisenden aus Europa hervorrief.
The blinding of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI in Constantinople in August 797 and his overthrow by his mother Eirene, who then ruled as the first female »emperor« of the Eastern Roman Empire until 802, was used as legitimation for the coronation of the Frankish king Charlemagne as emperor of the Romans on 25 December 800, by contemporaries in Western Europe. Some observers in the West may have even interpreted the downfall of the Eastern Roman emperor and his replacement by a woman as sign of an impending collapse of the Roman Empire and the entire world order, as already expected (based on chiliastic calculations). We equally find indications of apocalyptic expectations in Constantinople, where Constantineʹs blinding was linked with a spectacular celestial manifestation of divine disapproval – a darkening of the sun for 17 days. In this paper, this obfuscation of the sun is compared with the description of other atmospheric and climatic phenomena in the 8th and 9th centuries, as well as before and after this period. In addition, natural scientific data is used to disprove earlier hypotheses on the physical background to this event and to present a more probable scenario (i.e., the impacts of one or more volcanic eruptions) for the darkening of 797 and other phenomena, which provided a peculiar »atmospheric« framework for the interpretation of the events between the downfall of Constantine VI and the coronation of Charlemagne by contemporaries.
The Caucasus region can be seen as an area 'in the shadows of empires' par excellence. From the first century BCE, the lands of the South Caucasus were located at the peripheries of two, at times even three competing empires, and also found themselves at the centre of confrontations between them: between the Romans and Persians (first century BCE to seventh century CE), the Byzantines and Arabs (seventh to tenth century), Ottomans and Persians (sixteenth to eighteenth century) and finally also the Russians (since the eighteenth century).
Die von Staats wegen verfügte Einschränkung der Nutzung von Wäldern hat eine lange Geschichte vor der Einführung des Begriffs "Nachhaltigkeit" in diesem Kontext. Der Beitrag spürt diesen Ansätzen bis in die römische und chinesische Antike nach und verknüpft sie mit generellen Überlegungen zur Staatsbildung und-legimitierung durch organisatorische und infrastrukturelle Antworten auf klimatische Extreme und andere krisenhafte Herausforderungen. In der Langzeitperspektive werden die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen solcher vermeintlich nachhaltiger "Katastrophenkulturen", insbesondere durch die Anhäufung neuer, meist ungeplanter Risiken, beleuchtet.
https://www.denkmal-buch-geschichte.de/Grenzueberschreitungen-Reiternomaden-in-Mitteleuropa
The paper synthesises and develops further several attempts to model aspects of the complexity of the infrastructure and administrative organisation of the Roman Empire between the 4th and 8th century CE based on evidence from historiography, historical geography, sigillography and archaeology. It provides a short introduction into concepts and analytical tools of network theory. Furthermore, the paper combines this approach with a visualisation of the spatial range of Roman power and maps based on mobility and perceptions of contemporaries. Thereby, the already successful integration of the 'relational turn' to Byzantine studies shall be demonstrated.
In his 2011 book “The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire,” the political
scientist Edward Luttwak claimed that Byzantium “relied less on military strength and more on persuasion” and “even when the Byzantines fought (…) they were less inclined to destroy their enemies than to contain them, for they were aware that today’s enemies could be tomorrow’s allies.” As the present paper demonstrates, these assumptions cannot be generalised for all periods of Byzantine history; on the contrary, Byzantine emperors were prepared to aim for the destruction of their enemies and the total conquest of other polities if geopolitical conditions allowed them to do so. More often, however, Byzantium (or, more accurately, the Roman Empire as whose unbroken continuation the only by early modern scholarship so called ‘Byzantines’ considered themselves) had to come to terms with powerful or even overpowering neighbours, frequently more than one at the same
time. Diplomacy, peace making and peacekeeping were therefore essential instruments for the empire’s very survival. Accordingly, imperial pretensions and ideological framings were flexible and could be adapted to the needs and constraints of the empire’s geopolitical situation, as especially the groundbreaking studies of Yannis Stouraitis have demonstrated in recent years.
on the medieval world (eingereicht als kumulative Habilitationsschrift an der
Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Wien). Vienna 2021, pp. 1-34.
The identity and self-identification of the inhabitants of the medieval Roman Empire of the East, but also its labelling in past and modern historiography, have become quite contested topics in recent years. These discussions mix not least with traditional national and religious discourses and more recent “postcolonial” debates.
Based on my own attempt to write a monograph on the history of “Byzantium” and considering other recent publications, the talk connects these issues with a wider view on the horizons of Roman/“Byzantine” imperial ideology. In particular, it focuses on perspectives on the Roman Empire of the East from “outside” of the dominant discourse of Greek-speaking elites in Constantinople, especially from its eastern neighbours near and afar.
These include voices from Armenian historiography, often written from the position of “victims” of Romans' politics. Furthermore, the talk explores the integration of “Rum” among the empires of Afro-Eurasia in Persian and Arab texts and its reception in Central Asia and China. It becomes evident that the answer to the question “Romans, Greeks or Byzantines?” was far from clear for the empire´s contemporaries. Hence, it could be discussed in a more relaxed way also in present scholarship.
Armenians were among the most important ethno-religious groups both present within and migrating from beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire before and after the establishment of the Arab Caliphate in the 7th century CE. Their significance especially within the Byzantine elite and the modes and limits of their integration into Byzantine society have been discussed frequently also in very recent scholarship with different interpretations.
This paper takes a look at the Byzantine perceptions of the various modes and motivations of mobility of individuals and groups identified as “Armenian” as well as of the networks via which Armenians found their way into the empire. As becomes evident, such descriptions in historiography, but also hagiography or even in legal texts cannot just be read as factual reports, but also reflect certain stereotypes and narrative traditions on the “unsteadiness” of the “Armenians” since antiquity. In the following short draft paper, due to reasons of space and time, I will focus primarily on (secular) legal texts while considering other types of sources in the expanded version of the text for publication.
Wer ist schuld am schlechten Wetter? Diese aus der heutigen Sicht des anthropogenen Klimawandels gar nicht unsinnige Frage wurde bereits in der chinesischen Tradition seit dem Altertum zum Ausgangspunkt von Überlegungen im Zusammenhang zwischen dem Wohlverhalten von Regierenden oder Regierten und dem Witterungsgeschehen. Die Forschung hat sie unter dem Begriff der „Moralischen Meteorologie“ zusammengefasst. Ähnliche Deutungen nicht nur des Wetters, sondern auch anderer Himmels- und Naturphänomene hatten in vielen mittelalterlichen Gesellschaften während Krisenzeiten Konjunktur. Der Vortrag unterzieht Beispiele aus der Zeit zwischen 700 und 1100 einem transkulturellen Vergleich und verknüpft sie mit naturwissenschaftlichen Befunden zum physischen Hintergrund dieser Erscheinungen.
Por Zoom (Inscripción obligatoria): https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlcumgpjovE9Ma4-1u9frlOa_ipUg2Z95L
En directo por YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/r2YD6hAkhkA?feature=share
Aftermath", University of Bonn, Department of Sinology, 11 to 13 May 2023: https://www.uni-bonn.de/de/forschung-lehre/forschung-und-lehre-medien/forschungsprofil-medien/tras/tra-5/krise_flyer_2023_final.pdf
Ort: Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik der Universität Wien
Postgasse 9, 2. Stock, Hörsaal (barrierefreier Zugang Schönlaterngasse 12 - Lift)
Zeit: Mittwoch, 31. Mai 2023, 18.30 Uhr
Vor 25 Jahren wurde im Mai 1998 die Österreichisch-Armenische Studiengesellschaft durch Erzbischof Mesrob Krikorian und Professor Werner Seibt begründet. Aus diesem Anlass beleuchtet der Vortrag die frühesten Belege für Beziehungen zwischen dem heutigen Österreich und Armenien im Mittelalter. Nach ersten Hinweisen auf die Präsenz von Armeniern in Mitteleuropa, die teils in den Bereich der Legende fallen, bildeten vor allem die Kreuzzüge den Rahmen für Begegnungen zwischen Vertretern der österreichischen Babenbergerdynastie und Armeniern aus dem Königreich Kilikien. Auf dieser Grundlage kam es im 13. Jahrhundert auch zur ersten schriftlichen Erwähnung des Namens „Österreich“ in einem armenischen Geschichtswerk. Ausgehend davon werden weitere Episoden der armenisch-österreichischen Beziehungen bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters betrachtet, die schließlich auch in die dauerhafte Präsenz von Armeniern in Österreich mündeten.
Video of Talk: https://youtu.be/ehp4omWguNU
Seit dem 12. Jahrhundert waren jüdische Gemeinden ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Geschichte Wiens, erlebten aber immer wieder Verfolgung oder gar Vernichtung. Ihr Alltag wurde jedoch ebenso von den Einflüssen der Umwelt und des Klimas - wie Donauüberschwemmungen, Feuersbrünsten oder Seuchen - geprägt. Bei einem Rundgang vom mittelalterlichen Wien bis zum neuzeitlichen Zentrum jüdischer Siedlung in der Leopoldstadt gehen wir diesen Geschehnissen nach.
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 5 October 2022
Der Auszug aus dem Land am Nil unter der Führung von Moses wird in der Tora als zentrales Ereignis der jüdischen Geschichte beschrieben. Allerdings entstanden bereits im Altertum erneut bedeutende jüdische Gemeinden in Ägypten, die auch unter arabischer Herrschaft fortbestanden und mit dem Archiv der Kairoer Geniza einen der wichtigsten Dokumentenschätze des Mittelalters hinterlassen haben. Auf dieser Grundlage behandelt der Vortrag die lange Geschichte der Juden am Nil - bis in die Gegenwart.
Bereits der geistige Vater des modernen Staates Israel, Theodor Herzl, verfasste im Jahr 1902 mit "Altneuland" einen utopischen Roman. Im 20. Jahrhundert trugen bedeutende jüdische Autoren zur Entstehung der Science Fiction bei. Darüber hinaus wurden Israel und das Judentum auch selbst zum Gegenstand utopischer und fantastischer Entwürfe. Der Vortrag stellt wesentliche Aspekte dieser Literatur vor.
Mit der zweifachen Zerstörung des antiken jüdischen Tempels zu Jerusalem durch die Babylonier bzw. Römer verlor sich auch die Spur der darin aufbewahrten Schätze, darunter die Bundeslade. Seit dem Mittelalter entstanden dazu verschiedene Legenden, die bis in die Gegenwart ihre Fortsetzung in Erzählungen über die Tempelritter und Freimaurer bis hin zum "Da Vinci Code" fanden. Diesen Spekulationen werden im Vortrag historische und archäologische Funde gegenübergestellt.
Zwischen 1160 und 1173 unternahm der aus Tudela im heutigen Spanien stammende Benjamin bar Jonas ausgedehnte Reisen, die ihn nicht nur rund um das Mittelmeer, sondern bis nach Persien und in den Indischen Ozean führten. Überall beschrieb er das Leben der jüdischen Gemeinden und mutmaßte sogar über den Verbleib der verlorenen Stämme Israels. Im Vortrag wird auf der Grundlage von Benjamins Bericht ein Panorama der hochmittelalterlichen jüdischen Diaspora zwischen Atlantik und Zentralasien entworfen.
Gold und Edelsteine sollen Salomons Flotten aus dem fernen Ofir herbeigebracht haben; ägyptische Texte schildern ähnliches für das Land Punt. Solche Berichte beflügelten die Fantasie von Entdeckern und Schatzjägern, die diese Länder auf allen Erdteilen von Indien über Ostafrika bis nach Amerika suchten. Diesen Spekulationen werden im Vortrag historische und archäologische Erkenntnisse über die Seefahrten der Ägypter, Phönizier und andere Völker des Alten Orients gegenübergestellt.
Presentation for the Ringvorlesung 070037 VO Kulturgeschichte des Euro-Atlantischen Raumes (Andreas Komlosy, Andreas Obenaus): https://ufind.univie.ac.at/de/course.html?lv=070037&semester=2021S
https://www.vhs.at/de/k/288558152
Die Covid-19-Pandemie wurde zum Anlass der Verbreitung alter und neuer Verschwörungserzählungen. Viele dieser Motive lassen sich über Jahrhunderte bis auf Verdächtigungen zurückführen, die gegen jüdische Gemeinschaften schon seit der Antike in Zeiten von Seuchen, Not oder religiöser Erregung wie während der Kreuzzüge erhoben wurden. Der Vortrag verknüpft neue Erkenntnisse der Klima- und Seuchengeschichte mit diesen verhängnisvollen Spekulationen, vor allem jenseits der bekannteren Ereignisse rund um die Pest des Spätmittelalters.
Himmelsphänomene beunruhigten immer wieder die mittelalterliche Welt und wurden als unheilverkündend oder glückverheißend gedeutet. Mehr und mehr naturwissenschaftliche Daten erhellen nun ihren physikalischen Hintergrund auf der Erde oder im Weltall.
Im Jahr 2020 hätte der Autor Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), der als ein Begründer der Science Fiction-Literatur gilt, seinen 100. Geburtstag gefeiert. Viele seiner fantastischen Visionen, wie der Einsatz von Robotern oder die Analyse gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen mit Hilfe von „Big Data“, sind mittlerweile Wirklichkeit geworden. Der Vortrag widmet sich Asimovs Werk vor dem Hintergrund dieser Entwicklungen.
Development Commission of the
International Association of Byzantine Studies
(Association Internationale des Études Byzantines – AIEB)
In compliance with the regulations for the management and functioning of commissions of the International Association of Byzantine Studies (AIEB https://aiebnet.gr/documents/Regulations%20for%20the%20management%20and%20functioning%20of%20Commissions%20of%20the%20AIEB.pdf), the Development Commission of the AIEB calls for applications for membership.
The purpose of the Development Commission is to enhance the AIEB's international visibility, to facilitate communication among Byzantinists, and to support younger scholars by formulating innovative strategies, actions, and proposals for consideration by the International Bureau and the President of the AIEB.
Current activities of the Development Commission include:
• the AIEB Newsletter (https://aiebnet.gr/newsletter-main/)
• the “List of Editions and Translations in Progress" (https://aiebnet.gr/list-of-editions-and-translations/) and "Currently and Recently Completed PhD Projects" (https://aiebnet.gr/current-and-recently-completed-phd-projects/)
• the organization of an "Opportunities Forum" for young scholars at the International Byzantine Congresses
Prospective members of the Development Commission are willing to either contribute to these current activities and/or propose other projects contributing to the aims of the commission, especially regarding future initiatives to increase the visibility of the AIEB and its activities online and on various social media platforms.
We encourage applications from younger scholars (at the level of young PostDocs or PhD-students) and aim for a diversity of gender, nationalities and affiliations.
If you are interested in joining the Development Commission, please send the following documents to [email protected] until 31 January 2024 (together in one PDF-file):
• a letter of motivation (up to 2 pages)
• a short CV (up to 2 pages), including information on relevant skills (IT, languages, organizational skills, etc.)
• a list of publications (up to 1 page)
According to the AIEB guidelines, applications will be reviewed, and the selection of a new member will be made by the current members of the Development Commission until 29 February 2024.
For further information and questions, please contact [email protected].
In order to foster the research questions and methodological approaches of the project also after the end of the funding period and to continue discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), we plan to organize two sessions under the label “Moving Byzantium” at the International Medieval Congress 2024 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (1-4 July 2024, https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2024/). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2024 is “Crisis”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for fifteen-minute papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
It is not yet clear whether we will be able to cover the Full Four Day Registration for the IMC (standard rate or student rate) for scholars selected for presentation in the sessions of “Moving Byzantium”, we certainly hope so. In any case, participants are expected to secure their own funding for their expenses for travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests (300 words max.), by 8 September 2023 to Dr. Ekaterini Mitsiou: [email protected]. Papers will be selected by 18 September 2023 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 25 September 2023.
A Workshop at the Austrian Academy of Sciences supported by the Austrian Archaeological Institute, the NWO-Project “Picking Up the Pieces (PUP)” (SGW 2020-2 SGW) and the FWF-Project “Entangled Charters of Anatolia (ENCHANT)” (P 36403-G), convened by Arianna Sacco.
Vienna, 20 May 2023
For online participation, please register via [email protected].
“Moving Byzantium: Mobility, Microstructures and Personal Agency” had a successful five-year run at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 2015 to 2021 (https://rapp.univie.ac.at/), while it was funded through the Wittgenstein-Prize, the highest scholarly award of Austria, which was bestowed on Prof. Claudia
Rapp in 2015. It demonstrated the crucial importance of these issues for our understanding of the Middle Ages, especially from the vantage point of Byzantium.
In order to foster the research questions and methodological approaches of the project also after the end of the funding period and to continue discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), we plan to organize two sessions under the label “Moving Byzantium” at the International
Medieval Congress 2022 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (4-7 July 2022, https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2022/). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2022 is “Borders”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for fifteen-minute papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
It is not yet clear whether we will be able to cover the Full Four Day Registration for the IMC (standard rate or student rate) for scholars selected for presentation in the sessions of “Moving Byzantium”, we certainly hope so. In any case, participants are expected to secure their own funding for their expenses for travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests (300 words max.), by 3 September 2021 to Dr. Ekaterini Mitsiou, Project Coordinator: [email protected]. Papers will be selected by 13 September 2021 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 21 September 2021.
会場：大阪市立大学杉本キャンパス文学研究科棟122
ワークショップ「世界史における東地中海」
（Workshop: The Eastern Mediterranean in the World History）
報告者1：エカテリーニ・ミツィウ（ゲッティンゲン科学アカデミー/オーストリア科学アカデミー）
「亡命するビザンツ宮廷：いわゆるニカイア帝国における帝国的空間、1204-1261年」
（Byzantine courts in exile: imperial spaces in the so-called Empire of Nicaea, 1204-1261 CE）
報告者2：ヨハネス・プライザー＝カペラー（オーストリア科学アカデミー）
「宮廷を給養する：初期中世アフロ・ユーラシア世界における都市メタボリズムと大規模帝国センターの比較」
（Feeding palaces: urban metabolisms and large-scale imperial centres across early medieval Afro-Eurasia in comparison）
報告者3：片倉綾那（大阪市立大学）
「12世紀ビザンツ宮廷における皇女の政治的役割」
（The Political Role of Komnenian Princesses at the Byzantine Court in the Twelfth Century）
司会：北村昌史（大阪市立大学）・草生久嗣（大阪市立大学）
言語：英語
主催：大阪市立大学大学院文学研究科プロジェクト「東地中海世界の歴史的展開を、古代から現代に至るまで通時的に再検討する」
共催：科研費基盤（A）「前近代海域ヨーロッパ史の構築：河川・島嶼・海域ネットワークと政治権力の生成と展開」（研究課題19H00546）
お問い合わせは草生宛へ（kusabu @lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp）
Seiyoshikennkyuukai Symposium,
Sunday 17 November 2019, 10:00-17:00
3F Conference Room, Tachikawa Memorial Hall, Ikebukuro Campus, Rikkyo University
Introduction by Hideyuki Arimitsu (Tohoku University)
1. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Austrian Academy of Sciences): Imperial formations in crisis: Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire in a global context of the 11th century
2. Minoru Ozawa (Rikkyo University): Making of a Maritime "Empire" in the Networking Scandinavian World: Trading Centres, Ships, and the Danish Jelling Dynasty
3. Takashi Furumatsu (Kyoto University): Empire and Multilateral System of Eastern Eurasia in the 11th Century
Discussant 1: Royota Takada (Komazawa University)
Discussant 2: Yasuhiro Yokkaichi (Rikkyo University)
Powered by The Society for the Study of Occidental History, Rikkyo University, and JSPS Kakenhi (19H00546)
https://www.visavis-conference.at/
Dear colleagues,
we’re pleased to invite you to the VIS A VIS Conference, the First Vienna Student Archaeology Conference for students and young scholars at the University of Vienna’s institute for Classical Archaeology.
For the purpose of reaching as many students as possible we kindly ask you to forward this invitation through all channels of comunication available for you.
On March 13th and 14th 2020, we’re going to exchange thoughts about the moving antiquite with one another. The hot topic oft he conference reads as follows: On (un)known paths. Movement and exchange in antiquity. Applications through our homepage, www.visavis-conference.at, will be accepted from now on until December 20th 2019. The homepage also contains all other necessary information about the conference itself. We’re exicted to welcome you in Vienna next March.
Best regards,
your VIS A VIS Team
(sessions and papers in chronological order; see also https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc2019/programme/)
You also find the call here:
https://rapp.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_rapp/Events_2019/Call_for_Papers_IMC_Leeds_2019_MoByz_Final.pdf
“Moving Byzantium: Mobility, Microstructures and Personal Agency” is a five-year project which began at the University of Vienna in 2016 (https://rapp.univie.ac.at/), funded through the Wittgenstein-Prize, the highest scholarly award of Austria, which was bestowed on Prof. Claudia Rapp in 2015.
In order to present the research questions and methodological approaches of the project and to continue discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), “Moving Byzantium” will organise a second series of sessions at the International Medieval Congress 2018 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (2-5 July 2018, https://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2018_call.html). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2018 is “Memory”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for twenty-minute papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
For scholars selected for presentation in the sessions of “Moving Byzantium”, the Standard Full Four Day Registration for the IMC (currently £227.00 /ca. € 257) will be covered by our project, while we expect participants to secure their own funding for their expenses for travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests, by 8 September 2017 to Ms. Paraskevi Sykopetritou, Project Coordinator: [email protected]. Papers will be selected by 15 September 2017 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 22 September 2017.
Time: Wednesday, 24th of August, 11:00
Venue: FPh: Room 33 (Faculty of Philology, 3 Studentski trg.)
Conveners: Marie Hélène Blanchet, Dan Ion Mureşan
New Approaches and New Methods
Chairs: Christian Gastgeber, Ekaterini Mitsiou
Time: Friday, 26th of August, 18:30
Venue: AC: Main Hall (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 35 Knez Mihailova St.)
• Stratis Papaioannou, Towards a New History of Byzantine Litterature
• Christian Gastgeber, Historical Sociolinguistics and Byzantine Studies. Reading Byzantine Texts in the Light of New Methods
• Ekaterini Mitsiou, Queer Byzantium? New Approaches to Gender and Identity in Byzantine Studies
• Andrew Walker White, The Performing Arts of Byzantium: The State of the Field
• Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, A World of Ice and Fire. Byzantium, Global History and Environmental Studies (see also: https://www.academia.edu/25734330/A_World_of_Ice_and_Fire._Byzantium_Global_History_and_Environmental_Studies)
• Guentcho Banev, The Use of the Internet for Research and Educational Purposes in Byzantine Studies
• Yury Vin, Expert System “Byzantine Law and Acts”
at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds 2017
“Moving Byzantium: Mobility, Microstructures and Personal Agency” is a five-year project which began at the University of Vienna in 2016 (https://rapp.univie.ac.at/), funded through the Wittgenstein-Prize, the highest scholarly award of Austria, which was bestowed on Prof. Claudia Rapp in 2015.
In order to present the research questions and methodological approaches of the project and to initiate discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), “Moving Byzantium” will organise a series of sessions at the International Medieval Congress 2017 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (3-6 July 2017, https://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/imc/imc2017_call.html). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2017 is “Otherness”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
For scholars selected for presentation in the sessions of “Moving Byzantium”, the Standard Full Four Day Registration for the IMC (currently £ 225.50/ca. € 270) will be covered by our project, while we expect participants to secure their own funding for their expenses for travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests, by 9 September 2016 to Ms. Paraskevi Sykopetritou, Project Coordinator: [email protected].
Papers will be selected by 16 September 2016 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 20 September 2016.
Cf. also https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/home/
Venue: Institute for Medieval Research (IMAFO), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14 (Seminar rooms, ground floor), 1040 Vienna
Organiser: Project “Mapping MEDieval CONflicts. A digital approach towards political dynamics in the pre-modern period”, funded within the go!digital-Programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW); Interdisciplinary Working Group “Digital Middle Ages” (OEAW – University of Vienna)
Programme
14:00-14:15: Address of welcome and short presentation of the project “Mapping MEDieval CONflicts“
14:15-14:45: PD Dr. Robert-Gramsch (Historisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena), ´O fortuna, velut luna´ – Wechselfälle mittelalterlicher Politik im Lichte netzwerkanalytischer Forschung
14:45-15:15: Discussion
15:15-15:45: Prof. Dr. Stefan Thurner (Section for Science of Complex Systems, Medical University Vienna), Quantification of humans in virtual worlds
15:45-16:15: Discussion
16:15-16:45: Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Institute for Medieval Research/Division of Byzantine Research, OEAW), Vater oder Zerstörer aller Dinge. Überlegungen zur Dynamik und Funktion des Konflikts in (vormodernen) Gesellschaften.
16:45-17:15: Discussion
Background: Mapping MEDieval CONflicts tests the explanatory power of concepts of network analysis for phenomena of political conflict in medieval societies. MEDCON uses the relational structuring provided by modern software not simply as instrument for the organisation of data, but as heuristic tool for the reconstruction and analysis of the relational character of social phenomena of the past which is at the same time also of high relevance for modern-day discussions on the (in)stability of political frameworks.. The team at the Institute for Medieval Research includes specialists for the medieval Western Europe, Byzantium, Archaeology, Historical Geography and Geo-informatics; PI is Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller.
With experts from within and beyond historical disciplines, also new theoretical approaches to these phenomena shall be discussed:
• PD Dr. Robert-Gramsch teaches at the Historisches Institut of the Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena and inter alia focuses in his research on the application of methods of network analysis on medieval history. In 2013, he published his monograph „Das Reich als Netzwerk der Fürsten. Politische Strukturen unter dem Doppelkönigtum Friedrichs II. und Heinrichs (VII.) 1225-1235“ (https://uni-jena.academia.edu/RobertGramsch)
• Prof. Dr. Stefan Thurner is founder and director of the Section for Science of Complex Systems at the Medical University Vienna and external professor at the Santa Fe Institute (USA). In his research and numerous publications he focuses inter alia on the application of models of mathematics, physics and complexity theory on social and economic phenomena. (https://www.complex-systems.meduniwien.ac.at/people/sthurner/)
Websites: https://oeaw.academia.edu/MappingMedievalConflict and https://www.imafonet.at/dma/
Contact: [email protected]
The imperial centres of Rome and Constantinople have been discussed frequently within the SPP-1630 as “outliers” with regard to the scale and complexity of their maritime infrastructure. This paper aims at interpreting these otherwise exceptional places in comparison with other imperial “megacities” within and beyond the Mediterranean across medieval Afro-Eurasia, which were equally dependent on an elaborate (maritime or riverine) supply network and major harbour structures. For this purpose, concepts from environmental history such as “imperial ecology” and “urban metabolism” will be adapted in order to provide a comparative analytical framework.
https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/news/54-workshop-fluesse-flussschiffahrtflusshaefen-befunde-aus-antike-und-mittelalter
Open access: https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/330
Seasides of Byzantium: harbours and anchorages of a Mediterranean Empire
Date: 29 May -1 June 2017
Venue: National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vassileos Constantinou Ave., 11635 Athens, Greece
The study of maritime installations and networks in the Roman and Byzantine Mediterranean has found increased interest in the last years as becomes manifest in various projects and publications. The major DFG-funded Special Research Programme (SPP-1630) “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages” with its interdisciplinary approach constitutes one core element of this development (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/home/). Within the framework of the SPP-1630 and its project “Harbours and landing places on the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine Empire (4th to 12th centuries)” (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/projects/byzantine-harbours-on-the-balkan-coasts/), the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) in Mainz (https://web.rgzm.de/) and the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF/IHR) in Athens (https://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/ihr/index-en_IHR.html) have established a cooperation for joint research on harbours in Byzantine Greece and the creation of a common data base.
Against this background, the conference “Seasides of Byzantium” intends to set these activities within the wider context of research on the Byzantine Empire as phenomenon of maritime history. Scholars present new material and new approaches based on historical or archaeological evidence which illuminate the scale, shapes and functions of Byzantine harbours and anchorages in their temporal and spatial dynamics across the Mediterranean. Furthermore, also the connections of these places across the sea and to their hinterlands are taken into consideration. The conference schedule includes one day of arrival and opening, two days of presentation and discussion and one day of excursion to relevant archaeological sites near Athens. For invited participants, costs for travel and accommodation are covered by the organisers. Besides, a wider audience is welcome to listen to the presentations.
Free download (open access) via https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeum/catalog/book/330.
Friday, 6th March, All Souls College Oxford, 2-6.30 p.m.
Simon Keay: Archaeological Challenges.
Pascal Arnaud: Historical and epigraphic challenges.
Nicolas Carayon: Ports and Networks: Narbonne.
Carlos Cabrera: The ancient port of Seville.
Maxine Anastasi: Ports, islands and networks: Experimenting with network analysis and the small-scale in the central Mediterranean.
J. Preiser-Kapeller: Mapping maritime networks: challenges, potentials, pitfalls and comparisons within the framework of the SPP-1630 “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages”.
Concluding comments: Nicholas Purcell, Andrew Wilson
This presentation was prepared within the framework of the DFG-SPP 1630 "Harbours from the Roman imperial period to the Middle Ages" for the project "Harbours and landing places on the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine Empire (4th to 12th centuries)" (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/projects/byzantine-harbours-on-the-balkan-coasts/)
RGZM, June 12th-13th
Cf. https://www.spp-haefen.de/de/das-schwerpunktprogramm-1630/veranstaltungen/workshop-theory-and-models-ii/
The collection of data and its integration into a Geographical Information System was executed as part of the project „Harbours and landing places on the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine Empire (4th to 12th centuries)”, which is part of the Special Research Focus “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages” (SPP-1630), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
The aim of the project is to document all ports and landing places at the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine Empire from Dalmatia via the Aegean Sea and the western Black Sea to the mouth of the Danube, with regard to their importance, their material structures and their functionality for both the maritime transport network and the communication with the hinterland. For this purpose, a wide range of sources and scientific literature will be critically analysed; also the broader context of economic and social developments will be taken into account.
This project is based on a cooperation of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz (https://web.rgzm.de/) with the Division for Byzantine Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/), the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies of the University of Vienna (https://www.byzneo.univie.ac.at/) and (as of late) with the Institute for Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens (cf. https://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/ibr/programmes/histgeo-en.html)
For more information: https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/projects/byzantine-harbours-on-the-balkan-coasts/
in: Antike Welt 2014/02
Aufgrund seiner geographischen Lage war das byzantinische Reich stets
eng mit der See verbunden. Über Jahrhunderte beherrschten seine
Flotten das Mittelmeer und gewährleisteten die Kommunikation und
den Warenaustausch zwischen Konstantinopel und den Provinzen.
Bisher wurde jedoch kaum die Frage gestellt, wie die hierfür notwendigen
maritimen Infrastrukturen im Detail funktionierten. Wo lagen die
wichtigsten Häfen und wie sahen sie aus? Wie waren sie mit dem Hinterland
verbunden und warum wurden sie bisweilen aufgegeben? Forscher
aus Mainz und Wien wollen diese Fragen nun für eine der Kernregionen
des Reiches, die Balkanhalbinsel, beantworten.
See also: https://www.zabern.de/sixcms/detail.php?template=zeitschrift_detail_neu&id=24444
The text contains several maps as well as chapters „On the Western Sea, that is the Syrian Sea, its harbours, islands and anchorages” and “On the depiction of inlets, i.e., bays, in particular the bays of Byzantium”, which include most important information on ports, anchorages and landmarks in the entire Mediterranean and especially also in the maritime sphere of Byzantium in this period.
I extracted the data on the Byzantine regions from the edition and commentary by Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith, cf.
Emilie Savage-Smith and Yossef Rapoport (eds.), The Book of Curiosities: A critical edition. World-Wide-Web publication. (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/bookofcuriosities) (March 2007).
An Eleventh-Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe: The "Book of Curiosities, edited with an annotated Translation by Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith. Leiden 2013.
In addition, I added the site of the 11th century ship wreck found in Serçe Limanı (SW-Turkey), which seems to be an artefact of the maritime trade between the Fatimid sphere in Egypt and Syria and Byzantium as also documented in the “Book of Curiosities” (cf. Serçe Limanı. An Eleventh-Century Shipwreck. Vol. 1, The Ship and Its Anchorage, Crew, and Passengers, by George F. Bass, Sheila Matthews, J. Richard Steffy, and Frederick H. van Doorninck, Jr. Texas A&M University Press, 2004)
I integrated the spatial data into a digital map and used it also to create a “nearest neighbour”-network model of maritime connectivity in early 11th century Byzantium, which I will develop further into a comprehensive model of trade and traffic routes of the empire at this period. (On trade networks in this period cf. also most recently: Jessica L. Goldberg, Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean. The Geniza Merchants and their Business World. Cambridge 2012)
This research under progress was made possible with support of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit-Foundation during a stay at the Institute for Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens. It is also part of the project “Harbours and landing places on the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine Empire (4th to 12th centuries)” within the SPP-1630 funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (https://www.spp-haefen.de/en/home/).
Contact: [email protected]
"Workshop “Theory”, SPP 1630
„Häfen von der Römischen Kaiserzeit bis zum Mittelalter“:
HARBOURS AND MARITIME NETWORKS AS COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS
Locality: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM), Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie, Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2, 55116 Mainz
Date: October 17th-18th 2013
Organisers: Dir. Univ. Prof. Dr. Falko Daim, Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (both RGZM)
Project site: https://www.spp-haefen.de/
Programme: https://www.academia.edu/4473733/HARBOURS_AND_MARITIME_NETWORKS_AS_COMPLEX_ADAPTIVE_SYSTEMS
https://www.academia.edu/4473733/HARBOURS_AND_MARITIME_NETWORKS_AS_COMPLEX_ADAPTIVE_SYSTEMS
English version of an entry to the EurAsia-Blog for the FWF Cluster of Excellence “EurAsian Transformation” on the website of the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard”: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000224066/der-roemische-kaiser-von-afghanistan
Im Gastblog schreibt Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Byzantinist, Umwelt- und Globalhistoriker an der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, über die Ausdehnung des Römischen Reiches bis nach Asien und die Kaiser von Kabulistan bis Konstantinopel.
https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/dark-skies-over-charlemagne/
Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts konkurrierten verschiedene Fürsten um das Erbe der Babenberger. Dabei versuchte auch ein Anwärter aus dem Westen der heutigen Ukraine mitzumischen
Video of the Keynote Lecture by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Austrian Academy of Sciences) for the International Medieval Congress in Leeds 2021
The study of the climate of the past has become an essential instrument of climatology for contextualising the scale, pace, and potential impact of modern-day climate change within the longer history of planetary and social dynamics. This, however, equally entraps historical climatology in current debates on 'global warming', with climate change deniers pointing to a 'Medieval Warm Period' as evidence that modern-day temperature trends are only 'normal' fluctuations. Furthermore, the still common use of the term 'Medieval Climate Optimum' in popular as well as scholarly publications suggests a simplistic linear or even deterministic interplay between environmental parameters and historical developments, with medieval global warming enabling the Vikings to settle Greenland or the Crusaders to conquer Jerusalem.
This paper employs a critical dialogue between historical and archaeological evidence and scientific (proxy) data in order to illustrate the temporal oscillations and spatial variances of the now so-called 'Medieval Climate Anomaly' (MCA). Comparing case studies across Afro-Eurasia in order to 'provincialise Europe' within the MCA, it highlights the diversity of political, socio-economic, and intellectual responses to constant environmental challenges, which this alleged 'optimal' period between the 10th and the 13th centuries comprised. Finally, it poses the question if graphic periodisations such as 'Roman Climate Optimum', 'Medieval Warm Period', or 'Little Ice Age' are at all helpful for a more nuanced analysis of climate-human entanglements, which balances the relevance of long-term trends and short-term variances. Through such a debate, the study of medieval history could become more helpful for present considerations on climate change and more resistant against deliberate misinterpretation.
https://youtu.be/oKmfcrs0mR4
Der ÖAW-Forscher Johannes Preiser-Kapeller erzählt davon, wie Menschen und ihre Tiere schon im Mittelalter die Umwelt verändert haben. Etwa, indem sie Tiere an Orte brachten, an denen sie ursprünglich gar nicht vorgekommen sind - wie etwa Kaninchen in Mitteleuropa.
Ein Auszug aus: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Der Lange Sommer und die Kleine Eiszeit. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt von 500 bis 1500 n. Chr. Wien: Mandelbaum Verlag, März 2021. 440 Seiten, ISBN: 978385476-889-0
https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/kein-kaiserwetter-fur-karl-den-grosen/
Trailer for the book: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Der Lange Sommer und die Kleine Eiszeit. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt von 500 bis 1500 n. Chr. Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag, March 2021, 400 pages, 25.00 €, ISBN: 978385476-889-0: https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/der-lange-sommer-und-die-kleine-eiszeit/
The Middle Ages are often portrayed as a “dark” age, plagued by hunger, epidemics and violence. In fact, two devastating plague pandemics and changes in the climate towards a Little Ice Age framed the period between 500 and 1500. In between is the so-called Long Summer of the Medieval Warm Period, in which the Vikings advanced to North America and the population of Western Europe grew enormously. Using the latest data, the author explores the complexity of the interplay between climate change, epidemics and the response of human communities. He makes it clear how much the actual effect of climatic changes and epidemics on these societies depended on the short- and long-term actions of human actors and that even favorable climatic conditions did not always go hand in hand with blooming times. The volume sheds light on the medieval millennium between Europe, the Middle East and China, from the age of Justinian to the Crusades to the conquest of the Mongols and the dawn of European expansion.
Trailer for the book: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Die erste Ernte und der große Hunger. Klima, Pandemien und der Wandel der Alten Welt bis 500 n. Chr. Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag, March 2021, 375 pages, ISBN: 978385476-961-3: https://www.mandelbaum.at/buecher/johannes-preiser-kapeller/die-erste-ernte-und-der-grosse-hunger/
With the end of the last ice age and the development of agriculture-and not just with the global warming of the present-a dramatic change began in the interplay between humans and the climate. From the first harvest onwards, farmers made themselves dependent on fluctuations in the weather in a new way. The close coexistence of humans and their domesticated animals allowed pathogens to cross the barriers between species. But despite recurring disasters, the early agricultural communities grew. Complex states and extensive networks of mobility and trade emerged. This made these societies all the more vulnerable to extreme climatic events and pandemics. In a long-term perspective, the author illuminates these developments in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, from the first great empires of ancient times in Egypt and Mesopotamia to the empires of the Romans and Chinese, and also examines the question of the contribution of climate and epidemics to the 'collapse' of these civilisations.
Nicht nur in der Gegenwart greifen manche Menschen auf Verschwörungstheorien zurück, um dem scheinbar Unerklärlichen eine Bedeutung abzuringen. In der Menschheitsgeschichte lässt sich über Jahrtausende beobachten, wie große und verheerende Krankheitsausbrüche, die man sich vor der Etablierung der Infektionsbiologie im 19. Jahrhundert, nicht erklären konnte, dazu führten, dass mittels Verschwörungstheorien Schuldige für das Übel gesucht wurden. Dämonen und Geister wurden verdächtigt, Seuchen zu verursachen, ebenso wie Migrant/innen, Menschen jüdischen Glaubens-und manchmal sogar der eigene Herrscher. Mittelalterforscher Johannes Preiser-Kapeller von der ÖAW spannt einen Bogen über 3000 Jahre Seuchengeschichte und erklärt, was es mit dem Symbol des Sündenbocks und dem antisemitischen Stereotyp der Brunnenvergifter auf sich hat.
https://youtu.be/UyiqxcuG5WU
#Byzanzforschung, #IMAFO, #ÖAW
This one hour video talk provides an overview of the connections between the Byzantine Empire and early medieval Scandinavia. It discusses the linkages by trade and cultural exchange, which eventually led to the emergence and later Christianization of the states of the Rus in Eastern Europe as well as the creation of the Varangian guard at the Byzantine courts in the 10th century. The fate of the Varangian guard is documented up to the mid-14th century.
See also: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/the-microbiology-of-early-globalization/
English version: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/black-death-or-just-the-flu/
German version: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000112349249/weihnachten-im-schatten-der-kreuzzuege
Vor 1400 Jahren leitete im Jahr 618 der Aufstieg der Tang-Dynastie eine besondere Epoche der chinesischen Geschichte ein
"Seit alter Zeit hat jedermann die Chinesen geehrt und die Barbaren verachtet; nur ich alleine liebe sie als Einheit"; so fasste Kaiser Taizong (reg. 626-649) das Ideal seiner über das Reich der Mitte hinaus alle Nachbarvölker umfassenden Herrschaft zusammen. Tatsächlich stieg China unter der Tang-Dynastie von 618 bis 907 zu einer frühmittelalterlichen Supermacht auf, die Truppen entlang der Seidenstraße bis an die Grenzen Irans sandte und Handelsschiffe aus dem ganzen Indischen Ozean bis hin nach Ostafrika anlockte. Die Erinnerung daran ist gerade im modernen China lebendig.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01350-6
For the interview see https://soundcloud.com/makro-mikro/die-vergessene-geschichte-der-byzanz?in=makro-mikro/sets/die-aktuelle-ausgabe
The Byzantine Empire is one of the longest-lived states in history. At various times between the 4th and 15th centuries CE, it ruled over areas in southern and southeastern Europe, western Asia and North Africa - and thus also linked developments on all three continents. The new “Companion to the Environmental History of Byzantium”, edited by Adam Izdebski (professor at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena) and Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (medieval and environmental historian at the OEAW), was published in the series “Brill 's Companion to the Byzantine World" and is the first book to systematically examine the question of how this empire was able to survive and adapt to enormous climatic changes, devastating pandemics and other natural disasters over more than 1,000 years.
In the book, not only the capital Constantinople, for a long time the largest metropolis in medieval Europe, and its supply networks are examined, but also the interaction between people and the environment in the various provinces and islands of the Byzantine Empire, from the Aegean to the Caucasus and from Anatolia to Egypt. The interplay between climate change and migration as well as the adaptation of immigrants to unfamiliar environmental conditions, for example in the context of the Crusades, are also surveyed. To do this, the 23 international experts who contributed to the volume analysed not only historical sources, but also archaeological and scientific data such as ice cores, tree rings, speleothems, plant pollen, DNA traces and human and animal remains. On this basis, a completely new picture of the climatic and environmental history of the transition zone between Africa, Asia and Europe from ancient to modern times emerges.
Data: Sonja Dünnebeil, ÖAW/IMAFO
Visualisations: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, ÖAW/IMAFO
2017
See also:
https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/the-fight-of-maximilian-i-for-burgundy/
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller and Ekaterini Mitsiou have created a map to visualise some aspects of the spatial organisation of the Late Byzantine Church, esp. for the 14th century.
By selecting four different layers, you can see:
• Places of estates of the Patriarchate of Constantinople as indicated in a privilege charter of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1271
• Places of so-called patriarchika dikaia (entitlements of the Patriarchate on income, properties and/or juridical rights) as indicated in the documents of the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople between 1315 and 1402
• Bishoprics contributing to the Patriarchate according to a charter of 1324 (cf. PRK I 88, 39–73)
• Bishoprics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople temporarily administrated by the same Metropolitan or Archbishop due to acts of “Epidosis” as indicated in the documents of the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople between 1315 and 1402
Data collection and visualisation by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller and Ekaterini Mitsiou as part of the project “Edition of the Register of the Patriarchate of Constantinople” (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/prk.htm). Also most of the data comes from this central collection of documents for the Late Byzantine Church. For further studies on this material cf. also the bibliography on the website indicated above. Contact: [email protected]; [email protected]; Websites: https://oeaw.academia.edu/EkateriniMitsiou; https://oeaw.academia.edu/JohannesPreiserKapeller.
a interactive map of 336 localities connected through the mobility of 2402 members of the Byzantine elite in the years 1282 to 1402
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zFF_0-ggg3xI.kzPtUQfs7H8s&usp=sharing
Johannes Preiser-Kapeller has created a database of more than 2400 individuals and 330 places (on the basis of the Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, augmented with additional data) and a network model of these places connected due to the mobility of people in the years 1282 to 1402 CE. You can now explore this network online if you follow the link above. One can also only look at the distribution of places by unselecting the network layer. More sophisticated interactive visualisations of the data are under construction, but this site provides a first impression of the density and amount of connections of Late Byzantium.
More information on the underlying database you can find here: https://www.academia.edu/8247283/A_new_view_on_a_century_of_Byzantine_history_The_Vienna_Network_Model_of_the_Byzantine_Elite_1282-1402
The database is part of the project "Mapping Medieval Conflicts" (https://oeaw.academia.edu/MappingMedievalConflict)
More on this project and the underlying methodology you can also learn here: https://www.academia.edu/19333312/Calculating_the_Middle_Ages_The_project_Complexities_and_networks_in_the_Medieval_Mediterranean_and_Near_East_COMMED_
I constructed a network of concepts and actors for the genre of imperial panegyrics in Byzantium between 1204 and 1328, relying on data from the excellent study by Dimiter Angelov (D. Angelov, Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium (1204-1330). Cambridge 2007, esp. 86–90). Angelov systematically surveyed authors and addressees (the emperors, of course) of imperial panegyrics for this period as well as the figures from the biblical as well as classical tradition (such as King David or Alexander the Great) with which authors compared emperors in their texts. I combined this data into a three-mode-network of Emperors (red), authors (blue) and comparative figures (green). This network is also object of further analysis in: J. Preiser-Kapeller, From quantitative to qualitative and back again. The interplay between structure and culture and the analysis of networks in pre-modern societies, in: E. Mitsiou - M. Popović – J. Preiser-Kapeller (eds.), Multiplying Middle Ages. New methods and approaches for the study of the multiplicity of the Middle Ages in a global perspective (3rd-16th CE). Akten der Konferenz in Wien im November 2012. Vienna 2014 (forthcoming).
I transformed the 3-mode-network of authors, emperors and figures in a 1-mode-network of figures, in which two figures are connected if they were used by the same author for the same emperor; as several figures were used by several authors for the same emperors, some linkages are stronger than others. As becomes obvious if we inspect the graph of this network with nodes scaled according to their number of ties (degree), there is a densely connected core of nodes with a relatively high number of connections and various less densely interconnected clusters at the periphery of this web of comparative figures. (Blue: figures of biblical origin, red: figures of classic origin).
On the basis of the 1-mode-network of comparative figures used in the imperial panegyrics of Byzantium between 1204 and 1328, I created a network of geographical places which are related to the respective figures (e. g. Moses – Sinai, Julius Caesar – Rome). Two localities are linked in this spatial network if figures connected to them are linked in the above-presented 1-mode-network. Thus, a dense and complex geographical matrix of imperial panegyrics in Late Byzantium becomes visible.
I then constructed a model for the network between this sites by connecting every site with all neighbouring ones within a radius of 50 km.
For the emerging network, I weighted the strength of connections between sites indirectly proportional to the geographical distance between them (strength of ties = 1/number of km).
For this network model, I determined the centrality measure of betweenness (quantifying the ratio of shortest connections between nodes a node is part of and indicating the significance of a node as « intermediary » between otherwise not directly connected nodes or groups of nodes)
Furthermore, I applied the Newman grouping algorithm in order to detect clusters of nodes more densely connected among each other than with the rest of the network.
The network visualised here thus constitutes a first approach towards the modelling of connectivity within the natural and built environment of an early medieval polity in historical Armenia and is part of a larger ongoing study on the emergence and development of the Kingdom of Vaspurakan within the matrix of politics, economy, geography and ecology.
For an overview of similar applications see also:
Barthélemy, M., Spatial Networks. Physics Reports 499 (2011) 1-101.
Conolly, J./Lake, M., Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology). Cambridge: Cambridge 2006.
Gorenflo, L. J./Bell, Th. L., Network Analysis and the Study of past regional Organization, in: Trombold, Charles D. (ed.), Ancient road networks and settlement hierarchies in the New World. Cambridge 1991, 80-98.
Rodrigue, J.-P., with Comtois, Cl./Slack, B., The Geography of Transport Systems. 3rd ed., London – New York 2013.
This study, which is work in progress, was made possible on the basis of a fellowship of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation for research at the Institute for Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens.
On this basis, I created a “3mode-network” of sites, locally produced types and imported types of ceramics. These “affiliation networks” I then transformed into two 1mode-network of sites, where sites are connected to each other if at least one type of ceramics can be found in both; such links between sites have different strength depending of the number of co-occurring ceramic types (from 0 to 9 for the local ceramics-network, from 0 to 14 for the imported ceramics-network).
Such affiliation networks recently have been used quite frequently in studies of archaeological network analysis in order to model systems of distributions of artefacts in a specific region; one has to keep in mind that links in such models do not reflect direct connections of exchange or interaction between sites (although of course they could overlap with these), but ties of similarity of artefact assemblages of different strength which reflect different degrees of integration of sites within distribution systems for specific types of artefacts. Still, the may provide some impression of the complexity as well as of different spatial orientations of these distribution systems (for an overview cf. BRUGHMANS, T. (2013), Thinking Through Networks: A Review of Formal Network Methods in Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 20, pp. 623–662, and SINDBÆK, S.M. (2013), Broken Links and Black Boxes: Material Affiliations and Contextual Network Synthesis in the Viking World, in: C. KNAPPETT (ed.), Network Analysis in Archaeology: New Approaches to Regional Interaction. Oxford 2013, pp. 71–94, for a comparable case study and a critical evaluation of the potential and pitfalls of this approach).
This study, which is work in progress, was made possible on the basis of a fellowship of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation for research at the Institute for Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens.
The following network visualisations and calculations are based on the scheme for the systems of routes at land and sea in the Byzantine period as depicted in the above mentioned volumes, regardless of the relative significance of the respective routes in various periods of Late Antiquity and Byzantine history. At the same time, it neither takes into account the actual distance (and travel costs) between localities nor the connections via sea routes; therefore, the model is only a first rough approximation towards a more accurate model of the Byzantine transport system in its dynamics through centuries (cf. also Graßhoff – Mittenhuber, 2009, for a much more sophisticated model for Lycia). Interesting for this study is especially the modification of centrality measures if sea routes are added to the network of land routes.
Three centrality measures have been calculated; nodes in the graphs are scaled according to their relative centralities in this regard (centrality measures are of course only valid within the extract of the total route network of Asia Minor integrated into the network):
Closeness; closeness centrality measures the length of all pathes between a node an all other nodes. The more central a node is the lower its total distance to all other nodes. Closeness can also be used as a measure of how fast it would take to spread resources or information from a node to all other nodes.
Betweenness; betweenness centrality measures the extent to which a node lies on paths between other nodes and indicates the relative significance of a node as “intermediary” within a network due to its position on many (or few) possible shortest routes between other nodes.
Eigenvector; eigenvector centrality is a measure of "indirect" centrality and indicates, if a node is connected to more or less central other nodes within the network.
For a similar study cf. L. Isaksen, The application of network analysis to ancient transport geography: a case study of Roman Baetica. Digital Medievalist, 4 (2008) (https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/204515/)
For more information, contact: [email protected]
All network graphs were created by the author with the help of the software package ORA*.
The underlying database integrates all information on ties of kinship, marriage, friendship and support, allegiance, diplomacy and conflict between these individuals to be found in the Proposographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (PLP, ed. Erich Trapp et al., CD-Rom Version Vienna 2001, cf. https://hw.oeaw.ac.at/3003-1) as well as additional information from other sources.
The model in total so far includes 2490 individuals and 336 localities (places of residence and travel or activities of commerce and pilgrimage, etc.)
The network model has been created by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller and will be analysed in detail in his upcoming monograph Byzantium´s Connected Empire, 1282-1402. A Global History (forthcoming with Palgrave Macmillan in 2015/2016). In addition, the model will also be used for the newly established project Mapping MEDieval CONflicts: a digital approach towards political dynamics in the pre-modern period, funded within the framework of the go!digital-programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (cf. https://oeaw.academia.edu/MappingMedievalConflict)
For further information contact: [email protected]
(all graphs and visualisations were calculated and created by the author; network graphs and analyses were created with the help of the software tools Pajek* and ORA*)
Reiternomaden in Europa. Hunnen, Awaren, Ungarn. Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) vom 16. Dezember 2022 bis 25. Juni 2023. Halle 2022, https://www.lesejury.de/autor/buecher/reiternomaden-in-europa-hunnen-awaren-ungarn/9783948618452
Mehr Infos: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/die-mongolen-ein-vulkan-und-konig-ottokar/
The data comes from the excellent monograph of Angeliki Panagopoulou, Οι διπλωματικοί γάμοι στο Βυζάντιο (6ος-12ος αιώνας), 2006. The maps were created by myself.
#Byzanzforschung/#IMAFO #ÖAW
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IBKIxNK33SeCqaQ1q63UPwIzT2w3Sk7n&usp=sharing
Online-Karte mit Orten und Weblinks für das Buch "Jenseits von Rom und Karl dem Großen. Aspekte der globalen Verflechtung in der langen Spätantike, 300 - 800 n. Chr." (Wien 2018) von Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (https://www.mandelbaum.at/buch.php?id=777)
Buch-Trailer: https://files.das-andere-mittelalter.webnode.com/200000214-91fcd92f6a/Buchtrailer%20Jenseits%20von%20Rom%20und%20Karl%20dem%20Gro%C3%9Fen.mp4
Introduction
Armenian mobility in the early Middle Ages has found some attention in the scholarly community. This is especially true for the migration of individuals and groups towards the Byzantine Empire. A considerable amount of this research has focused on the carriers and histories of individual aristocrats or noble families of Armenian origin; the obviously significant share of these in the Byzantine elite has even led to formulations such as Byzantium being a “Greco-Armenian Empire”. While, as expected, evidence for the elite stratum is relatively dense, larger scale migration of members of the lower aristocracy (“azat”, within the ranking system of Armenian nobility, see below) or non-aristocrats (“anazat”) can also be traced with regard to the overall movement of groups within the entire Byzantine sphere. In contrast to the nobility, however, the life stories and strategies of individuals of these backgrounds very rarely can be reconstructed on the basis of our evidence. In all cases, the actual significance of an “Armenian” identity for individuals and groups identified as “Armenian” by contemporary sources or modern day scholarship (on the basis of onomastic material, for instance ) respectively the changeability of elements of identity (language, religious affiliation, naming practices) has found less attention in comparison with efforts to trace the “Armenian element” in Byzantium. Similar observations can be made with regard to scholarship on Armenian mobility into the spheres of the “Eastern” empire of Sasanian Persia and later the Arab Caliphate respectively the Islamic states; especially the change of the religious affiliation and the emergence of “Muslim Armenians” has caused some debate with regard to their qualification as “real” Armenians. For the Byzantine case, the magisterial article by Nina Garsoïan on “Problems of Armenian integration into the Byzantine Empire” (1998) has not only summed up earlier research, but has also highlighted the complexities and dynamics of identity and of spatial as well as “cultural” mobility. Regarding the Islamic World the most recently published three volumes by Seta B. Dadoyan, who already had written an important study on Armenians in the Fatimid Empire, equally have produced new insights into similar phenomena.
On this basis, also an attempt to adapt recent approaches from migration history on the early medieval mobility of Armenians is possible. Within the field, the “Armenian diaspora” of course has found attention, but this is especially true for its development since the early modern period ; one has to mention here also the recent monograph by Sebouh Aslanian on the global trading diaspora of the Armenian of New Julfa in Persia in the 17th century. Yet, as we will demonstrate in this paper, concepts developed by historians of migrations in the last decades can be also be implemented effectively for earlier periods. Useful are of course also categories of a more traditional typology of migration such as duration, distance or scale (in terms of numbers of individuals) of mobility. But in order to illustrate the actual complexity of mobilities and identity construction as outlined by Garsoïan or Dadoyan, a “systems approach” towards migration phenomena seems promising. Therefore, we survey material on the interplay between socio-economic, political and spatial structures both in the “society of departure” and in the “receiving societies” , which very much defined the scope of action, and the actual agency of individuals and groups. Equally, we will try to identify networks established and/or used by individuals to effect mobility as well as integration within the social framework in the places of destination; yet, also these networks could also work as constraining factors. The character of evidence from our period of course does not allow for a systematic quantitative survey on a large sample, but enables us to accumulate “micro-histories” of individuals and smaller groups across the centuries, which may provide inferences on general trends and mechanisms. In the following, we will – mostly on the basis of Armenian, Greek and Latin sources – focus on Armenian migration towards the Byzantine Empire, but will also include episodes of mobility towards the imperial spheres in the east (Sasanian Persia, the Caliphate) within the life stories of some of the better documented individuals.
Das Turkvolk der Chasaren gründete im 7. Jh. nördlich des Kaukasus am Kaspischen Meer ein eigenes Reich. Ab dem 8./9. Jahrhundert wurde das Judentum zur Religion der Eliten im Reich, in dem auch Christen und Muslime lebten. Die Chasaren werden rückblickend manchmal der 13. Stamm des Hauses Israel genannt. Ein Blick auf das mittelalterliche
Dialoggeschehen im Reich der Chasaren.
If we combine this data into a network model, we can visualise how the ship connects the places of origin of its crew with the localities on its route from Venice to the East (fig. 1)
Michael of Rhodes´ data also allows us to visualise the relative significance of localities on the basis of the respective number of oarsmen coming from each of them (fig. 2). The largest numbers came from Venetian possessions and other sites in Dalmatia and Albania as well as from further inland of the Western Balkans, but also from the Italian hinterland of Venice, Hungary and Germany, as well as from the Eastern and Western Mediterranean (for this phenomenon cf. also Doumerc, Bernard (2007), Cosmopolitanism on Board Venetian Ships (Fourteenth-Fifteenth Centuries). Medieval Encounters 13, pp. 78-95).
We can visualise this assemblage of individuals from all over the Mediterranean in Venice for the purpose of this journey also on a map (nodes again scaled according to the number of oarsmen originating from there) (fig. 3).
Finally, this social network of the ship of 1414 is of course a mobile one (fig. 4), so that this assemblage of people and their places of origin connects to all ports on its route from Venice to Jaffa (fig. 5), establishing a complex web of individual entanglements across the entire Mediterranean; the ship thus emerges as a “heterotopia”, a real place in which various societies and cultural backgrounds of the time were “simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted” (for the adaption of this concept of Michel Foucault cf. Van de Noort, Robert (2011), North Sea Archaeologies: a Maritime Biography, 10,000 BC to AD 1500. Oxford, pp. 33-34).
All graphs were created by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller with the help of the software ORA*; for further questions please contact [email protected] (do not use any material without the consent of the author!).
The content of the poster is based on the following publication: Preiser-Kapeller, J. (2024).Restless skies at the turn of the first Millennium AD. Climate fluctuations, astronomic phenomena and socio-political turbulences in 10th and 11th century Byzantium and Japan in comparative perspective. De Medio Aevo,avance en línea, 1-27. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/dmae.92793
Abstract: Around the turn of the first Millennium AD, both in Christian polities such as the Byzantine Empires as well as in regions with Buddhist communities such as in Heian Japan, expectations of an end of times emerged. Although based on different religious and independent chronological interpretations, they gained attraction at the same time due to the parallel observation and interpretation of the same astronomical phenomena (such as sightings of Halley's comet in 989 AD) or of simultaneaous climate anomalies, which can partly be connected with the Oort Solar Minimum of the 11th century. This paper explores and compares the interplay between natural phenomena, religious and political unrest, apocalyptic interpretations and individual decision-making for Byzantium and Japan on the basis of historical and natural scientific evidence.
A. Kazhdan and S. Ronchey, Lʼaristocrazia bizantina dal principio dellʼXI alla fine del XII secolo. Palermo 1999 (for Byzantine elite families)
W. Brandes, Finanzverwaltung in Krisenzeiten. Untersuchungen zur byzantinischen Administration im 6.-9. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt a. Main 2002 (https://rep.adw-goe.de/handle/11858/00-001S-0000-0007-5E9C-7, for the kommerkiarioi)
Calculations, graphs and maps: J. Preiser-Kapeller, ÖAW, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxcHiVTM7HU&feature=youtu.be
See also: https://eurasianmss.lib.uiowa.edu/lectures/, for the abstract
Created on the basis of the tables in: A. Plontke-Lüning, Frühchristliche Architektur in Kaukasien: Die Entwicklung des christlichen Sakralbaus in Lazika, Iberien, Armenien, Albanien und den Grenzregionen vom 4. bis zum 7. Jh. Wien 2007,
by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, ÖAW, 2016.
The interactive maps for these four time periods can be inspected on: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zFF_0-ggg3xI.kRE0ByDPZFkA&usp=sharing
The network graphs for the four period can be inspected on: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/the-diplomatic-network-of-the-ancient-greeks/
The interactive maps for these four time periods can be inspected on: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zFF_0-ggg3xI.kRE0ByDPZFkA&usp=sharing
The network graphs for the four period can be inspected on: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/news/the-diplomatic-network-of-the-ancient-greeks/
This dataset was significantly enlarged and modified by me in order to map the most important maritime and terrestrial routes across the Eastern Mediterranean in the period 1300-1500 AD, with a focus on the Balkans and Asia Minor, the core regions of the Byzantine as well as of the Ottoman Empire.
This dataset was then turned into a topological network model, in which localities serve a nodes and the routes between them as links.
In order to integrate “real space” into the model, the strength of links between nodes was weighted according to their geographical distance (the larger the distance the bigger the cost of interaction and the weaker the connection - for terrestrial routes, a cost factor of five has been applied in comparison with maritime routes).
On this basis, several measurements of network centrality have been calculated in order to quantify the relative significance of sites and routes within the model for the Eastern Mediterranean. In addition, two analyses for diffusion and expansion related to historical developments (the spread of the Black Death from the Crimea and the expansion of the Ottoman state from Northwestern Asia Minor) have been executed.
This study, which is work in progress, was made possible on the basis of a fellowship of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation for research at the Institute for Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens.
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/imafo/veranstaltungen/detail/entangled-charters-of-eurasia
In order to foster the research questions and methodological approaches of the project also after the end of the funding period and to continue discussion and cooperation with the scientific community of medieval and Byzantine studies (and beyond), we plan to organize two sessions under the label “Moving Byzantium” at the International Medieval Congress 2025 at the University of Leeds, the largest scholarly gathering of its kind in Europe (7-10 July 2025, https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2025/). The special (but not exclusive) thematic strand for the IMC 2025 is “Worlds of Learning”.
We invite scholars at all career stages to submit proposals for fifteen-minute papers connected with the main topics of “Moving Byzantium”, with a particular focus on aspects of geographical, social and cultural mobility within and beyond the Byzantine Empire. We are particularly interested in research based on new material, novel interpretations and innovative methods which also locates Byzantium and its neighbours in a wider comparative framework.
Selected speakers are expected to secure their own funding for their expenses for participation, travel and accommodation.
Please send paper proposals (300 words max.), in English, accompanied by a short CV including affiliation, career stage and research interests (300 words max.), by 5 September 2024 to Dr. Ekaterini Mitsiou: [email protected]. Papers will be selected by 9 September 2024 and successful candidates must confirm their participation by 15 September 2024.
See also: https://www.dasanderemittelalter.net/conference-entangled-worlds/
in historical and archaeological research
International Conference, April 13th-15th 2016 (Vienna)
Venue: Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, 1040 Vienna
Organisers: Institute for Medieval Research (IMAFO), Austrian Academy of Sciences (project MEDCON) - Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI)
Outline: While the term “network” has been used abundantly in historical and archaeological research in the last years, the actual number of studies taking into account the methodology of network analysis is increasing, but still limited. The reluctance of scholars to adapt tools of network analysis can be also connected with the conceptual and terminological divide between humanities and formal sciences. At the same time, the user-friendliness of software tools may tempt others to use them as “black boxes” in order to produce a variety of figures without being aware of the underlying concepts.
Against this background, the project “Mapping medieval conflicts: a digital approach towards political dynamics in the pre-modern period (MEDCON)” at IMAFO, funded within the go!digital-programme of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, aims at an evaluation of concepts of social and spatial network analysis for studying phenomena of political conflict in medieval societies. For this purpose, a generalizable work flow from data input on the basis of medieval sources to the creation, visualisation and analysis of social and spatial network models and their web-based publication and presentation is created.
Even more, a cooperation was established with the Austrian Archaeological Institute (OeAI) within the framework of the DARIAH-network of the European Union with a focus on “Spatial and social network analysis”. The aim is to foster the development of and reflection on tools of network analysis for the study of complex phenomena of the past in exchange with scholars both from the humanities and from the sciences.
For this purpose, the conference “Entangled Worlds. Network analysis and complexity theory in historical and archaeological research” will assemble specialists from various disciplines of historical and archaeological studies as well as mathematics, physics and computer sciences in order to discuss in particular the following four overlapping topics:
• Entangling data: the organisation of relational data on the basis of historical and archaeological evidence (ontologies, software, workflows, standards)
• Entangling texts and people: the modelling and analysis of networks on the basis of textual evidence and narratives (prosopography, diplomatics, epistolography, historiography)
• Entangling sites and artefacts: the modelling and analysis of networks on the basis of archaeological evidence (objects, places, mobilities and exchange)
• Entangling dynamics: the modelling of complex past societies and networks (spatial and temporal dynamics, scales and mechanisms of networks, mathematical modelling)
The conference will be accompanied by a presentation of approaches and tools to the wider public. Proceedings will be published in a collective (peer reviewed) volume. For invited participants, expenses for travel and accommodation will be covered. Speakers will be contacted and invited directly by the organisers.
For further information: [email protected] and [email protected]
Websites: https://oeaw.academia.edu/MappingMedievalConflict and https://www.oeai.at/
Published in: Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 69 (2020), pp. 338-342.
Holy Wars of King Wladislas. The Ottoman-Christian Conflict from
1438–1444, Leiden: Brill, 2012, in: Zeitschrift für Historische
Forschung (ZHF), 43 (2016), 1, pp. 129-131, DOI:
10.15463/rec.3216429
by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, published in Byzantina Symmeikta 26 (2016): https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/bz/article/view/10337
Sponsored by the ERC Project CONNEC 'Connected Clerics: Building a Universal Church in the Late Antique West' and Royal Holloway, University of London. Organised by Victoria Leonard, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London and David Natal Villazala.
"Moral Meteorologies. The interpretation of celestial phenomena and climate anomalies in the global Middle Ages"
Guest Editor: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Institute for Medieval Research/Dept. for Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
See also: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE
Celestial phenomena have fuelled the fantasy of human observers since most ancient times. Similar attention was paid to the vicissitudes of weather which were decisive for the crop yield and the very survival of agrarian communities. In various cultures, all types of celestial and atmospheric phenomena (in ancient Greek, “meteora”) were interpreted not only as physical occurrences, but as portents, whose characteristics, frequency and impact were linked to divine interventions, the legitimation of rulers, the moral qualities of elites and other social strata, and the fate of a polity at large.
The monographic topic of this issues of the peer reviewed, indexed and open access online journal De Medio Aevo (https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/about) invites studies on all cultures of the global Middle Ages in Afro-Eurasia, the Americas and Oceania. Of special interest are papers comparing various interpretative frameworks of “moral meteorologies” across regions, religions, languages and cultures and/or integrating historical and archaeological evidence with findings from historical astronomy, palaeoclimatology and the natural sciences.
If you are interested to contribute to this special issue, please send an abstract of up to 500 words to [email protected] until 15 February 2023.
Full papers for proposals accepted for the issue have to be submitted until the deadline of 30 November 2023 and will then undergo peer review. Articles may be written in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish. The articles have a maximum length of 25 pages, equivalent to about 75,000 characters, including spaces, abstract, footnotes, and references (sources and bibliography). Further guidelines for submissions can be found here: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/about/submissions#authorGuidelines.
The period 600-900 CE witnessed important historical developments, such as the establishment of a Southeast Asian thalassocracy by the Shailendra dynasty and the expansion of the Frankish polity under Charlemagne on the far ends of Eurasia and the consolidation of the Abbasid and Tang empires in between. A Companion to the Global Early Middle Ages integrates these contemporaneous processes and presents new insights into a neglected phase of world history
Lecture by Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (ÖAW) on 14/05/2021, 03:00 pm, (Rome) through Zoom.us.
The video of the lecture is now online:
https://youtu.be/5oHxn1sypFs
in Athens in 2017, in the context of which the contributions
in this volume were created. In addition, it offers an overview
of the maritime history and the dynamics of port architecture,
especially on the coasts of the Aegean Sea, between the 4th
and 12th centuries. The interplay between local conditions
and over-regional political and economic changes is explored.