Robert Antonín is a professor of medieval history at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), where he has also been the dean since 2018. His long-term research interests focus on the issues of political, social, economic and cultural development of Central Europe during High Middle Ages and on the topics related to the limits of interpretation of (not only) medieval historiography. He is the author of several monographs, including The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia (2017); numerous research articles on medieval history and the main editor of the collective monograph The Fourth Lateran Council and the Czech Lands in 13th and 14th Centuries (2020).Jiří Macháček is a professor at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. He specialises in medieval archaeology, archaeological methods and computer applications in archaeology. His work has been published in international journals such as the Journal of Archaeological Science, the Journal of World Prehistory, Medieval Archaeology, and the Praehistorische Zeitschrift, as well as by publishing houses including Brill, Leiden-Boston; Habelt, Bonn; and BAR Publishing, Oxford. He studied archaeology at universities in Brno, Bamberg and Vienna. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Bamberg and a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Frankfurt am Main and Göttingen.

• IntroductionChapter 1From Kinship to Nobility: The Emergence of the Elite in Early Medieval CroatiaAnte Alajberg Chapter 2Governance and Social Structures in the Early Medieval Eastern Alpine RegionStefan Eichert and Nina RichardsChapter 3Transforming the Might of the Mighty in Northeast Bavaria in the Early and High Middle AgesJan HasilChapter 4The Formation of a New Type of Medieval Elite on the Eastern Frontier of the Frankish Empire: The Great Moravian Case from an Archaeological Perspective.Jiří MacháčekChapter 5Great Moravian Nobility? From confusion of concepts to the search for continuity of early medieval elitesRobert AntonínChapter 6From clan bosses to medieval nobility. Bohemia of the eighth–twelfth centuries and archaeological challengesIvo ŠtefanChapter 7The Elites of tenth to twelfth-century Bohemia (The perspective of a historian)David KalhousChapter 8The development of elites in Polish lands between the eighth and eleventh centuriesAleksandra PankiewiczChapter 9Dynamics of diversification. Medieval elites on the territory of the first Polish state (Second half of the tenth–fifteenth century)Przemysław WiszewskiChapter 10The Elites of the Northwestern Slavs in the Early Middle AgesFelix BiermannChapter 11The development of medieval elites in the territory of RomaniaCosmin Popa-GorjanuChapter 12Emerging elite in the early Lithuanian state: from debates about origin to the search for sources of powerNerijus BabinskasChapter 13Continuity or Significant Shift? The Evolution of Ruling Elites in the Early Grand Duchy of LithuaniaYanina RyierConclusions: The emergence of the medieval nobility in East Central Europe and the sources of their power: cultural, symbolic, economic and social capital

Robert Antonín is a professor of medieval history at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts, the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), where he has also been the dean since 2018. His long-term research interests focus on the issues of political, social, economic and cultural development of Central Europe during High Middle Ages and on the topics related to the limits of interpretation of (not only) medieval historiography. He is the author of several monographs, including The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia (2017); numerous research articles on medieval history and the main editor of the collective monograph The Fourth Lateran Council and the Czech Lands in 13th and 14th Centuries (2020).Jiří Macháček is a professor at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. He specialises in medieval archaeology, archaeological methods and computer applications in archaeology. His work has been published in international journals such as the Journal of Archaeological Science, the Journal of World Prehistory, Medieval Archaeology, and the Praehistorische Zeitschrift, as well as by publishing houses including Brill, Leiden-Boston; Habelt, Bonn; and BAR Publishing, Oxford. He studied archaeology at universities in Brno, Bamberg and Vienna. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Bamberg and a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Frankfurt am Main and Göttingen.

• IntroductionChapter 1From Kinship to Nobility: The Emergence of the Elite in Early Medieval CroatiaAnte Alajberg Chapter 2Governance and Social Structures in the Early Medieval Eastern Alpine RegionStefan Eichert and Nina RichardsChapter 3Transforming the Might of the Mighty in Northeast Bavaria in the Early and High Middle AgesJan HasilChapter 4The Formation of a New Type of Medieval Elite on the Eastern Frontier of the Frankish Empire: The Great Moravian Case from an Archaeological Perspective.Jiří MacháčekChapter 5Great Moravian Nobility? From confusion of concepts to the search for continuity of early medieval elitesRobert AntonínChapter 6From clan bosses to medieval nobility. Bohemia of the eighth–twelfth centuries and archaeological challengesIvo ŠtefanChapter 7The Elites of tenth to twelfth-century Bohemia (The perspective of a historian)David KalhousChapter 8The development of elites in Polish lands between the eighth and eleventh centuriesAleksandra PankiewiczChapter 9Dynamics of diversification. Medieval elites on the territory of the first Polish state (Second half of the tenth–fifteenth century)Przemysław WiszewskiChapter 10The Elites of the Northwestern Slavs in the Early Middle AgesFelix BiermannChapter 11The development of medieval elites in the territory of RomaniaCosmin Popa-GorjanuChapter 12Emerging elite in the early Lithuanian state: from debates about origin to the search for sources of powerNerijus BabinskasChapter 13Continuity or Significant Shift? The Evolution of Ruling Elites in the Early Grand Duchy of LithuaniaYanina RyierConclusions: The emergence of the medieval nobility in East Central Europe and the sources of their power: cultural, symbolic, economic and social capital