Book Project by Florin Curta, University of Florida

Overview

Florin Curta, ed. The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1300. London: Routledge, 2021.

This book is the first of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of the whole of Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. While historians have recognized the importance of integrating the eastern part of the European continent into surveys of the Middle Ages, few have actually paid attention to the region, its specific features, problems of chronology and historiography. This vast region represents more than two-thirds of the European continent, but its history in general—and its medieval history in particular—is poorly known. This book covers the history of the whole region, from the Balkans to the Carpathian Basin, and the Bohemian Forest to the Finnish Bay. It provides an overview of the current state of research and a route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in more than ten different languages. Chapters cover topics as diverse as religion, architecture, art, state formation, migration, law, trade and the experiences of women and children. This book is an essential reference for scholars and students of medieval history, as well as those interested in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Table of Contents:
Florin Curta, Introduction

Christian Raffensperger, Situating medieval Eastern Europe: historiography and discontent

Danijel Džino, Between migration and origo gentis: population movements

Evgenia Komatarova-Balinova, Steppe empires without emperors: Avars, Bulgars and Khazars

Aleksander Paroń, Medieval nomadism

Maddalena Betti, Early conversion to Christianity, Judaism and Islam

Ivo Štefan, Conversion to Christianization: Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Rus’ (9^th to 12^th centuries)

David Kalhous, State formation in the 10^th century

Hajnalka Herold, Strongholds and early medieval states

Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu, The rise of the early medieval aristocracy

Dušan Zupka, Rulers between ideal and reality

Adrien Quéret-Podesta, Royal governments

Marek Hladík, Rural economy

Dariusz Adamczyk, Crafts, coins and trade (900-1300)

Laurențiu Rădvan, Towns and cities

Cameron Sutt, Lords, peasants and slaves

Sébastien Rossignol, Women and children

Boris Stojkovski, Jews, Armenians and Muslims

Dariusz Andrzej Sikorski, Church organization

Paweł Figurski and Grzegorz Pac, Saints and relics

Kirił Marinow and Jan Mikołaj Wolski, Heresy and popular religion

Aleksandar Uzelac, Crusades and Eastern Europe

Gregory Leighton, The Baltic Crusades (1147-1300)

Mirjana Matijević Sokol, Political and practical literacy

Ivan Alexandrov Biliarsky, Law

Timofei V. Guimon and Aleksei S. Shchavelev, History writing

Stefan Rohdewald, Hagiography

Alice Isabella Sullivan, Monumental architecture

Maria Alessia Rossi,Monumental art

Francesco Dall’Aglio, New powers - Serbia, Bulgaria

Roman Hautala, The Mongols in Eastern Europe