Alice Isabella Sullivan - Böcker

This volume aims to broaden and nuance knowledge about the history, art, culture, and heritage of Eastern Europe relative to Byzantium. From the thirteenth century to the decades after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the regions of the Danube River stood at the intersection of different traditions, and the river itself has served as a marker of connection and division, as well as a site of cultural contact and negotiation.The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Visual Culture in the Danube Regions, 1300–1600 brings to light the interconnectedness of this broad geographical area too often either studied in parts or neglected altogether, emphasizing its shared history and heritage of the regions of modern Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia. The aim is to challenge established perceptions of what constitutes ideological and historical facets of the past, as well as Byzantine and post-Byzantine cultural and artistic production in a region of the world that has yet to establish a firm footing on the map of art history.The 24 chapters offer a fresh and original approach to the history, literature, and art history of the Danube regions, thus being accessible to students thematically, chronologically, or by case study; each part can be read independently or explored as part of a whole.

This volume aims to broaden and nuance knowledge about the history, art, culture, and heritage of Eastern Europe relative to Byzantium. From the thirteenth century to the decades after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the regions of the Danube River stood at the intersection of different traditions, and the river itself has served as a marker of connection and division, as well as a site of cultural contact and negotiation.The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Visual Culture in the Danube Regions, 1300–1600 brings to light the interconnectedness of this broad geographical area too often either studied in parts or neglected altogether, emphasizing its shared history and heritage of the regions of modern Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia. The aim is to challenge established perceptions of what constitutes ideological and historical facets of the past, as well as Byzantine and post-Byzantine cultural and artistic production in a region of the world that has yet to establish a firm footing on the map of art history.The 24 chapters offer a fresh and original approach to the history, literature, and art history of the Danube regions, thus being accessible to students thematically, chronologically, or by case study; each part can be read independently or explored as part of a whole.

Within the shifting political landscapes of Eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages, the principality of Moldavia (extending over today's northeastern third of Romania and the Republic of Moldova) emerged as an eastern Christian frontier—indeed, a bastion, a “gate of Christianity”—in the face of the advancing Ottoman armies and Tatar forces. Moldavia’s leaders—among them Peter I Mușat, Alexander I, and Stephen III—established political, military, and economic contacts in efforts to strengthen and protect their domain, and, by extension, the rest of Europe. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moldavia under Stephen III also refashioned Byzantine traditions in a new context, thereby preserving and transforming the legacies of the former Byzantine Empire to the north of the Danube River. This book argues for Moldavia’s central role in the political, military, economic, and cultural spheres of Eastern Europe from the second half of the fourteenth century to the turn of the sixteenth century.

This volume builds upon the new worldwide interest in the global Middle Ages. It investigates the prismatic heritage and eclectic artistic production of Eastern Europe between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, while challenging the temporal and geographical parameters of the study of medieval, Byzantine, post-Byzantine, and early-modern art. Contact and interchange between primarily the Latin, Greek, and Slavic cultural spheres resulted in local assimilations of select elements that reshaped the artistic landscapes of regions of the Balkan Peninsula, the Carpathian Mountains, and further north. The specificities of each region, and, in modern times, politics and nationalistic approaches, have reinforced the tendency to treat them separately, preventing scholars from questioning whether the visual output could be considered as an expression of a shared history. The comparative and interdisciplinary framework of this volume provides a holistic view of the visual culture of these regions by addressing issues of transmission and appropriation, as well as notions of cross-cultural contact, while putting on the global map of art history the eclectic artistic production of Eastern Europe.

Winner of the 2023 Early Slavic Studies Book Prize from the Early Slavic Studies Association (ESSA) (Best book)Medieval Moldavia – which was located within present-day northeastern Romania and the Republic of Moldova – developed a bold and eclectic visual culture beginning in the 15th century. Within this networked Carpathian Mountain region, art and architecture reflect the creativity and diversity of the cultural landscapes of Eastern Europe.Moldavian objects and monuments – ranging from fortified monasteries and churches enveloped in fresco cycles to silk embroideries, delicately carved woodwork and metalwork, as well as manuscripts gifted to Mount Athos and other Christian centers – negotiate the complex issues of patronage and community in the region. The works attest to processes of cultural contact and translation, revealing how Western medieval, Byzantine, and Slavic traditions were mediated in Moldavian contexts in the post-Byzantine period.Winner of the 2023 Early Slavic Studies Book Prize, awarded by the Early Slavic Studies Association (ESSA) for the best book published between Sept 1, 2021 and August 31, 2023 in the field of Early Slavic Studies (pre-1800). The awarding committee praised the volume as ‘the first English monograph to provide a comprehensive overview of Moldavia's artistic and architectural landscape during the 15th and 16th centuries, locating the region as a significant facet in the global map of art history.’Official ESSA announcement.

How have the concepts of “lateness” and “modernity” inflected the study of medieval and early modern architecture? This volume seeks to (re)situate monuments from the 14th—16th centuries that are indebted to medieval building practices and designs within the more established narratives of art and architectural history. Drawing on case studies from Cyprus to the Dominican Republic, the book explores historiographical, methodological, and theoretical concerns related to the study of medieval architecture, bringing to the fore the meanings and functions of the Gothic in specific contexts of use and display. The development of local styles relative to competing traditions, and instances of coexistence and hybridization, are considered in relation to workshop practices and design theory, the role of ornament, the circulation of people and knowledge, spatial experiences, as well as notions of old and new. Contributors are: Jakub Adamski, Flaminia Bardati, Costanza Beltrami, Robert Bork, Jana Gajdošová, Maile S. Hutterer, Jacqueline Jung, Alice Klima, Abby McGehee, Paul Niell, Michalis Olympios, Zachary Stewart, Alice Isabella Sullivan, Kyle G. Sweeney, and Marek Walczak.