Rulership in Medieval East Central Europe

Grischa Vercamer, Ph.D. (2008, Freie Universität Berlin), habilitation (2016), is Professor at the Technical University of Chemnitz. He has published monographs, articles, and collective volumes on the High and Late Middle Ages, including Perception of Good and Bad Power/Rulers in England, Poland and the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century in the Historiography (Harrassowitz, 2020). Dušan Zupka, Ph.D. (2009, Comenius University in Bratislava) is Assistant Professor at that same University. He has published monographs and articles on power, rulership, and communication in medieval East Central Europe, including Ritual and Symbolic Communication in Medieval Hungary under the Árpád Dynasty, 1000–1301 (Brill, 2016).

“[A könyv] segítségével még mélyrehatóbban tárul fel előttünk a kelet-középeurópai régió középkori története, sőt a térség államainak egyedi vonásairól, az itt regnáló dinasztiák uralkodásának különböző szegmenseiről is részletesebb képet kaphatunk.”“[This book] helps us gain deeper insight into the medieval history of the Central and Eastern European region, as well as a more detailed picture of the unique features of this region’s states and the different aspects of the dynasties that ruled there.” – Ignácz Ágoston, University of Pécs, in: Aetas 39/2 (2024), p. 216.“Overall, this book will be of great use to scholars and graduate students seeking to engage their respective fields of expertise with potential avenues of comparative research. The efforts of the authors and editors deserve the highest praise with respect to their willingness to open this rich field of research in medieval studies to a wider audience.” – Gregory Leighton, Nicolaus Copernicus University, in: Austrian History Yearbook 55 (2024), p. 456.“Insgesamt präsentieren die beiden Hg. ein sehr vielschichtiges Panorama, welches die Bedeutung des (ost-)mitteleuropäischen Raums für die Diskussion dieser zentralen Forschungsfragen eindrucksvoll herausstellt und damit Impulse für eine gesamteuropäische Diskussion bereit­stellt.” – Jürgen Heyde, in: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 79/1 (2023), pp. 357-358.“The papers collected in the volume offer a breadth of insights into the diverse aspects of rulership in East-Central Europe [...] It is my hope that this excellent contribution will further facilitate discussion about medieval rulership in East-Central Europe both in the region itself and in anglophone academic discourse.” – Michal Machalski, Central European University, in: Historical Studies on Central Europe 2/2 (2022), p. 348.

• AcknowledgmentsList of Figures and MapsNotes on ContributorsPART 1: Introduction1 Rulership in Medieval East Central EuropeDušan Zupka2 Rulership and Power in Western Medieval Europe (A Theoretical and Conceptual Introduction)Grischa VercamerPART 2: Legitimacy and Rulership – Beginning and Development of the First Dynasties in the Early and High Middle Ages3 After Avars: The Beginning of the Ruling Power on the Eastern Fringe of Carolingian EmpireMartin Wihoda4 The Rulership of the Árpádian Dynasty in the 10th–13th CenturiesMárta Font5 The Piast RulershipZbigniew DalewskiPART 3: Ritual and Politics: Established Rulership in the High and Late Middle Ages6 Political, Religious and Social Framework of Religious Warfare and Its Influences on Rulership in Medieval East Central EuropeDušan Zupka7 The Ritual Practice of Power in Bohemia during the 14th CenturyRobert Antonín8 Language of Power and Communication in the Piast Dynasty: Toward a Reappraisal of Polish Political Culture of the 12th–13th CenturyMarcin R. Pauk9 Assemblies in the Holy Roman Empire and the East Central European Kingdoms: A Comparative Essay on Political Participation and RepresentationJulia BurkhardtPART 4: Structures of Power in the Late Middle Ages10 The Irruption of the Sacred into the History of Hungarian Kings in the Mirror of the Angevin “Illuminated Chronicle” (around 1358)Vinni Lucherini11 The Last Piasts: Legitimating Royal Rule in Fourteenth Century PolandPaul W. Knoll12 Royal Power and Military Administration in Angevin HungaryAttila Bárány13 Governance System in Poland during the 15th CenturyBożena CzwojdrakPART 5: Influences on Rulership in East Central Europe from Outside14 Byzantium and East Central Europe: A Brief Outline of Political and Cultural RelationsPanos Sophoulis15 The Kingdom of Rus’: Towards a New Theoretical Model of Rulership in Medieval EuropeChristian Raffensperger16 The “Mongol Experience” of East Central Europe in Image and Political Reality during the Later Middle AgesFelicitas Schmieder17 Holy Roman Empire and East Central Europe (High Middle Ages): Politics and InfluencesGrischa Vercamer18 The Holy Roman Empire and East Central Europe (Late Middle Ages): Politics and InfluencesStephan Flemmig19 Authority without Power? Papal Rulership over East Central Europe in the Late Middle AgesMonika Saczyńska-VercamerGeneral BibliographyIndex