Memory, State, and Past Remembering in East Central and Northern Europe: Interdisciplinary Studies in Medieval Culture, Volume I

Analysing the mechanisms that lead to the formation of early state forms, this book defines the role of gifts, religious belief systems, prestige, and reciprocity within segmentary and chiefdom societies in eastern Europe. Volume I explores the functioning of early medieval cultural phenomena, memory and power. The development in East Central and Northern Europe has long fascinated scholars interested in the cultural implications of the renewed Empire’s influence on these regions. The text provides various scholarly perspectives, with each contribution reflecting a distinct methodological approach, contributing to a multifaceted discourse on how these cultural phenomena were shaped, contested, and remembered in the medieval context. This book provides an interdisciplinary study of medieval material culture and memory across medieval Poland, Hungary, Scandinavia, Bohemia and Rus and is an ideal resource for students.

Table of Contents:
1. Henri Pirenne and the Early Medieval Clash of Civilizations Romain André 2. Funerary Symbols and Social Status in Early Medieval Bohemia (8th-10th Century) Nadá Profantová 3. A Hold unto His Majesty. A Sovereign Ritual in 10th–Century Prague Castle Petr Charvát 4. Manco? What in the Early Piast State Should Exist but we Can’t Find it (And why?) Leszek Paweł Słupecki 5. The Lost Art of the Piast State: A Preliminary Study of the Animal Style in Early Medieval Poland Leszek Gardeła 6. The Institutional Memory and Institutional Oblivion in Early Medieval Poland (Xth-Xith Century) Dariusz Andrzej Sikorski 7. Did Information Exchange Create Piast State? Early Piast’s Rulers and the Empire (c. 960-1034) Przemysław Wiszewski 8. Boleslaus The Brave in the Narration Of The Anonymus Cronicae Et Gesta Ducum Sive Principum Polonorum Franciszek Dąbrowski 9. Preliminaries on Liturgy in Early and High Medieval Poland: Manuscript Evidence, Scholarship Overview, and Postulates for Future Research Paweł Figurski 10. From East to West: The Foundation of the Hungarian Medieval State and the Shift in Hungarian Warfare Ideologies in the Early Middle Ages Mihály Boda 11. Early Medieval Hungary – Between the East and the West Tadeusz Kopyś 12. Beyond The Grave: The Burial Sites of The Arpadian Rulers in Relation to their Foundations of Episcopal Sees Katalin Szende 13. Money and Power in Medieval Norway. Haraldr Sigurþarson’s Return from Byzantium in Scandinavian Historiography Maciej Lubik 14. Jarls Of Hlaþir – Condemned Rulers Of Early Medieval Norway Jakub Morawiec 15. Ways Of Remembering in Medieval Scandinavia– Preliminary Study Maria Szmyt, Marcelina Lipska, Maciej Mazur 16. Russian Medieval Historiographic Sources About Polovttsian (Kuman) Elites (11th-13th Century) Dariusz Dąbrowski

About the Author :
Piotr Pranke is an assistant professor who deals with the history of medieval Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe, and is a member of the Faculty of Historical Sciences at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. His scientifc interests include the history of trade in the Viking era and the history of the Ottonian Empire and its infuence on the shaping of the areas of East Central and Northern Europe. Łukasz Różycki is Professor of History at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland. His main research interests include the study of Roman and Byzantine theory of warfare, with a particular focus on military treatises. Marcin Lisiecki is Professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń; works at the Faculty of Humanities of the Nicolaus Copernicus University; his scientific interests focus, among others, on around popular culture, animated film and research on myths.