Power in Numbers. State Formation and Christianization on the Eastern Edge of Europe

Mária Vargha, Ivo Stefan (eds). Pages: 308 p.Illustrations:47 b/w, 30 col., 8 tables b/w., 1 tables col., 9 maps b/w, 28 maps color. Language(s):English. Publication Year:2024. Brepols. ISBN: 978-2-503-60861-7. Paperback --- Summary Around the turn of the first millennium, the political and religious landscape of Central Europe began to change dramatically. As the decentralized pagan societies along its borders became Christian, the polity that later became the Holy Roman Empire began to expand significantly according to the principles of the Imperium Christianum — an idea that first originated with Charlemagne, but that was consciously revived by Emperor Otto I and his predecessors as a way of extending power and authority into the Empire’s newly converted eastern fringes. This acculturation was effective, and societies began to actively adopt the new ideology and social order on their own initiative. Drawing on material first presented at conferences held in the Department of Archaeology at Charles University, Prague, this volume draws together researchers working on different yet connected events along the Empire’s eastern frontier, and the often-overlooked part of society who nevertheless participated in these events, in particular commoners and the rural population. The papers gathered here cover affairs of the early state and church, networks of archaeological and historical heritage, and archaeological, historical, and digital investigations, to offer a blend of both synthetic archaeological and historical overviews and more focused geographical and thematic case studies that explore the role of Christianization in the centralization processes that occurred at the edge of the Ottonian-Salian world. The result is a forward-looking volume that seeks to explore new approaches to historical narratives, in particular by emphasizing the importance of archaeological material in examining early state formation and religious change. Moreover, it is the first synthetic study to directly compare the north-east and south-east peripheries of the later Holy Roman Empire, making it possible to shed new light on these lands at the periphery of Western Christendom. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Introduction Mária Vargha and Ivo Stefan 1. Christianisation of East-Central Europe as a Social Process Ivo Stefan 2. The Establishment of an Ecclesiastical Organisation in the Post–Carolingian Periphery. Czech Lands. Networks – Structures – Sources David Kalhous and Josef Srámek 3. The Relationship of Early Medieval Burial Grounds and Churchyards in the Process of Christianisation of Bohemia Martin Cechura 4. Burial Practice in Transition – Sepulchral Evidence of Christianisation in the Early Piast State Przemysław Urbanczyk 5. On the Threshold of Christianity. The Church in Kuyavia from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries Marcin Danielewski 6. Fair Relations. Marketplaces and the Formation of Cathedral Cities in East Central Europe Katalin Szende 7. Pectorals and Amulets. Data on the Spiritual life of the Hungarian Rural Population in the Period of Christianisation Tibor Akos Racz and Agnes Furedi 8. Wiślica as an Example of a Christian Town in the State of the First Piasts Nina Glinska 9. Between the Local Power Centre and the Ecclesiastical Network. Living in castrum Orod in the High Middle Ages Florin Marginean 10. Chronological Remarks on Early Medieval Jewellery and Evidence for Pilgrimage. The Case Study of the Zupna Cerkev Cemetery in Kranj (Slovenia) Jernej Rihter 11. From Blessing (Hand) Cross to Hanging Cross. An Early Árpádian Cross from Tiszakeszi-Szódadomb Péter Langó and Andras Patay-Horváth 12. Turning in Their Graves. Prone Burials in the Early Medieval Northern Balkans Petar Parvanov 13. ‘Oh, Come Little Children’. Burial Customs on the Eleventh-Century Burial Ground of Oberleiserberg (Austria) Nina Richards 14. The Formation of the Regnum Marianum. Exploring the Church Network of Early Árpádian Hungary and t.…