Inicijal. Časopis za srednjovekovne studije
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Initial is a multidisciplinary review of medieval studies intended for publishing contributions from all academic fields pertaining to the area of Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. This includes not only papers discussing new theoretical approaches in medieval studies or interpreting so-called „major issues“, but also those focusing on narrower, more specialized fields of research. However, with regard to the character of the review authors should craft their material to appeal to a wider audience of medievalists, providing the necessary context to readers who may not be so well-versed in the particular subject. Editions and translations of medieval sources may also be submitted for publication, especially if they are an essential component of a wider study.
Initial is open for publication of academic critiques and reviews of all medievalist monographs, periodical publications, and individual articles, as well as editions of medieval sources. Keeping track of academic life through reports on various gatherings, meetings, lectures, and field research is also an important segment of this journal’s profile.
Publisher: The Centre for Advanced Medieval Studies
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ISSN: 2334-8003
Pages
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- Настанак српских родослова и летописа као последица политичких и друштвених промена
- This paper explores the relationship between the emergence of genealogies and chronicles and the specific social and political circumstances in which they originated. In that process, the ideology behind those texts is compared to the ideology of previous times, in search for the particular and specific history of medieval Serbian ideologies. Analysis of the hidden ideologies in these texts lead us to defining perceptual grids, which determine the nature of the writer’s perceptions and the manner in which he transmitted historical events. Understanding perceptual grids helps us to better determine the value of these sources for modern scholars. Research showed that former division of these sources, into genealogies, early chronicles and later chronicles, is not adequate. Therefore a new classification in accordance with the theory of genres and their evolution is proposed. The first group of sources may still be called genealogies, even though they are not just genealogies, but conflations between genres of hagiography and genealogy. The contents, typically hagiographic, are linked by the principle of hereditary succession into a chronological sequence. The older chronicles, are renamed to stemma-chronicles, another mixture of theoretically distinct genres. In stemma-chronicle content is also organized as a series of biographies in chronological sequence, connected by family affiliation. The difference between genealogies and stemma-chronicles is that in the former content is usually religiously oriented while in the later it is a balanced mix of historical accounts of secular and religious significance. It should be added, that in stemma-chronicles timelines are present, which is not the case with genealogies. The third group is named simple chronicles, instead of later chronicles, since it represent the genre in its pure form. Historical events are recorded by their date without connecting protagonists by affiliation. Apart from the theoretical redefinition of the sources, the paper offers a new time frame for their emergence. Bringing together historical circumstances, genre relations and their reciprocal influence and results of analysed contents it is argued that genealogies, stemma-chronicles and chronicles originated at or around the time of the battle of Marica River in 1371. Once again, the search for the past is shown to be guided by present necessities in turbulent and insecure times like those in the last quarter of the 14th century. In the end, the last and maybe the most important conclusion of this paper is the definition of two types of perceptual grids found in examined sources. The first is the political and ideological perceptual grid, which is present in genealogies and stemma-chronicles.
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- Научни живот
- International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, Institute for Medieval Studies, 7-10 July 2014 (A. Krstić - N. Isailović); Međunarodni naučni skup "Vladar, monah i svetitelj Stefan Nemanja" - prepodobni Simeon Mirotočivi i srpska istorija i kultura 1113-1216 (V. Jovović); Druga medievistička radionica u Rijeci - Rijeka 2014 (M. Ivanović).
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- Научни живот
- Diplomatika i istoriografija: projekat edicije povelјa cara Ludviga Pobožnog i njegovi rezultati (Žarko Vujošević) “Between Three Seas: Borders, Migrations, Connections”, Third Biennial Conference of the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN), Zagreb, 12–14 April 2018 (Miloš Ivanović, Neven Isailović)
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- Научни живот
- Diplomatika i istoriografija: projekat edicije povelјa cara Ludviga Pobožnog i njegovi rezultati (Žarko Vujošević) “Between Three Seas: Borders, Migrations, Connections”, Third Biennial Conference of the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN), Zagreb, 12–14 April 2018 (Miloš Ivanović, Neven Isailović)
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- Научни живот
- Politics and Society in Central and South-Eastern Europe (13th–16th Centuries), Timisoara, 29 October 2015, Banat Museum in Timişoara – Museum of Highland Banat in Reşiţa (Невен Исаиловић); Hof und Kanzlei Kaiser Sigismunds als politisches Zentrum und soziales System / The Court and Chancery of Emperor Sigismund as a Political Centre and as a Social System, Brno, 18–21 November 2015 (Милош Ивановић); Unity and Diversity of Medieval (Central) Europe: Social Order and Its Cohesive and Disruptive Forces, Second Biannual Conference of Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN), Olomouc, 31 March – 2 April 2016 (Miloš Ivanović – Neven Isailović); “Publish with us”: Medieval Institute Publications – ARC Medieval Press – Amsterdam University Press.
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- Научни живот
- International Conference "The Fairest Meadows in the World: Crusades and Crusaders in the Balkans" - Veliko Trnovo 2013. (Dž. Dautović); Sekcije i referati posvećeni srednjem veku sa Četvrtog kongresa hrvatskih povijesničara, Zagreb 2012. (N. Isailović); L'Ogre Historien: Omaž Žaku Le Gofu (1924-2014) (A. Z. Savić).
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- Научни живот
- 5th Congress of Croatian Historians: Crises, conflicts and solidarity in a historical perspective, Croatian National Committee of Historical Sciences (Zagreb), Society for Croatian Historiography (Zagreb), Department of History of the University in Zadar, Zadar 5–8 October 2016 (Tomislav Galović); The Third Triennale of the International Conference “Towns and Cities of the Croatian Middle Ages: The City and the Newcomers”, Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb 25–26 October 2016 (Neven Isailović); Politics and Society in Central and South-Eastern Europe (13th–16th Centuries), Timişoara, 26 October 2017, Muzeul Naţional al Banatului, Timişoara (Miloš Ivanović).
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- Нови подаци о војводи Милошу Белмужевићу и његовој породици
- Voivode Miloš Belmužević was a significant figure in 15th century Serbian history. He was born to a noble family, whose members performed admi-nistrative duties in Zeta and northern Serbia during the reign of despot Đurađ Branković (1427–1456). He is usualy considered as identical to voivode Miloš, the despot’s last commander in Zeta prior to the Ottoman conquest (1452–1456). This identification is questionable, because the mother of Miloš Belmužević was still alive in 1503. Shortly before the downfall of the Serbian medieval state, Belmužević supported the pro-Ottoman faction of Michael Angelović. Due to this fact, he fell into disgrace at the court and was deprived of his property in 1458. After the fall of Smederevo (1459) he entered into Ottoman military service and became the sipahi. Despite some wavering (in 1464 he sought refuge in Dubrovnik), he was still in Ottoman service in 1476/7, when he held Jagodina in the Morava valley as a timar. He moved to Hungary most probably during the great Hungarian offensives against the Ottomans in northern Serbia in 1480 and 1481, when tens of thousands of Serbs were taken across the Sava and the Danube and settled in southern Hungary. After moving to Hungary, Belmužević fought the Ottomans along the border, but also on other battlefields, as the commander of a large detachment of light cavalry – hussars. He was wounded serving king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) in Silesia, but the time and circumstances under which that happened are unknown. He distinguished himself during the wars of king Wladislas II Jagello (1490–1516) against Maximilian Habsburg and Jan Albrecht in western and northern Hungary (1490–1491). For his loyal service and military merits, Belmužević was rewarded by king Matthias in several occasions, starting from 1483, with estates in Temes, Csanád and Bács counties. It is after one of these estates that he was given the noble apellation „de Saswar“. In 1496, king Wladislas II confirmed to Miloš Belmužević and his sons Vuk and Marko the earlier donations of Matthias Corvinus. Vuk was presumably named after his grandfather, the de-spot’s nobleman Vuk Belmužević. However, voivode lost both of his sons in the next few years: Marko died under unknown circumstances before 1498, while Vuk was killed in battle against the Ottomans. This occurred on Easter, most probably in 1499 or 1500, during an Ottoman incursion into the territory of southern Hungary. In this conflict voivode Miloš was also wounded. Later, in order to avenge his son, he ravaged the surroundings of Smederevo. Left without a male heir, Belmužević got permission from king Wladislas II to leave his estate to his mother Olivera (until now, it was mistakenly believed that this was the name of his wife), his wife Veronica and his underage daughter Milica.
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- Образы животного мира в письмах навпактского митрополита Иоанна Апокавка к эпирскому правителю Феодору I Дуке (1215–1230)
- The article is devoted to the images of animal world, which were used in Byzantine society during the political controversy of the years 1215–1230. The essence of dissension was the claim of Theodore I, ruler of the Principality of Epirus, on emperor’s title. His endeavour was supported by the Epirote clergy, but disputed by representatives of the Nicean Empire. Animal images that were used in the debate are to be found in the epistles of John Apokaukos, metropolitan of Naupaktos, to Theodore I. Some of the most utilized images (e.g. eagle, lion, sparrow, mule) were applied to underline the greatness of Epirote ruler, the weakness and/or submission (sparrow and mule), as well as the impiety (lion) of his principal antagonists – the crusaders. The same can be stated for the symbolics used in the epistles of other representatives of the Epirote clergy: Demetrios Chomatianos, the Archbishop of Achrida, and George Bardanes, the Metropolitan of Kerkyra. At the same time, the metaphor of lion was used in the epistle of Demetrios Chomatianos as a positive symbol of emperor, which was caused by the multifaceted meaning of this notion. In the epistle of George Bardanes to the Ecumenical Patriarch Germanos II (1223–1240) the image of chameleon was used in order to indicate inferiority of the Nicean emperor, John III Doukas Vatatzes (1222–1254) compared to the lionlike greatness of Theodore I. Animal imagery was also actively used in the Nicean Empire, but there, some other kinds of animals (wolf, snake, magpie) were indicated as Emperor’s antagonists. All these examples testify to the fact that images of animals preserved its significance and even obtained new meaning during the political controversy of the first half of XIII century.
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- Писмо видинског цара Јована Страцимира брашовским трговцима
- The article contains the edition, translation, commentary and photographs of a letter addressed by the ruler of the Tsardom of Vidin, John Stratsimir (1356–1396), to the honorable members of the city council of Braşov, guaranteeing to the Braşov merchants freedom of trade and the Tsar’s protection in his country. The document itself is not dated but its inner information, i.e. the mention of distinguished town officials Jacob, Hermann and Peter, who are referred to in various charters of King Louis I of Hungary (1342–1382) issued to Transylvanian communes, combined with known facts about the Hungarian occupation of Vidin, suggest that it was created between 1369 and 1380.
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- Повеља бана Дамјана Хорвата Дубровчанима о слободи трговине
- This paper offers a critical edition (including text, translation and reproduction) of the charter of Croatian-Dalmatian-Slavonian ban Damjan Horvat of Litva, issued to the merchants of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in 1473. The charter was written in Slavic vernacular and cyrillic alphabet, being one of roughly twenty preserved medieval Cyrillic diplomatic documents of Croatian origin. It was probably issued on the initiative of the Ragusans, due to the deteriorating situation on the most frequent routes of Ragusan trade (i.e. to Serbia and Bosnia) and also to the strenghtening of connections between the Croatian- Dalmatian ban (representative of Hungarian king Mátyás Corvin) and Dubrovnik on the grounds of protection against the Ottoman pressure. The charter has typical elements of a trading privilege of lesser format and its structure bears resemblance with many contemporary Croatian and some Bosnian documents of the same type.
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- Повеља угарског краља Жигмунда Рестоју Милохни (18. јануар 1436. године)
- The charter of King Sigismund for Restoje Milohna, issued on 18 January 1436, is one of the few surviving documents issued to members of the Bosnian nobility by the Hungarian kings. Information it provides contributes to a better understanding of the policy of Hungarian rulers towards Bosnia in the first three decades of the fifteenth century. At the same time, it reveals some unknown details about Restoje Milohna, emissary, chancellor and protovestiarius of Bosnian kings, his family and possessions. In the period from 1435 to 1436, the Bosnian King Tvrtko II, threatened by the Turks, rebellious nobles and rival claimant to the Bosnian throne Radivoje, fled to Hungary with a number of loyal nobles and court officials, including Restoje Milohna. In mid-January 1436, the Hungarian King issued a donation charter to Restoje Milohna for his loyalty to the Hungarian and Bosnian king, and participation in the conflict against the Turks and rebels. Restoje’s allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and his support had certainly influenced the king’s decision. King Sigismund’s charter confirms Restoje’s right to Sberchyky fort, which was located somewhere in the territory of the Bosnian Kingdom. The text of the charter does not enable us to determine when and how Restoje Milohna came into possession of the fort but the form of expression suggests that it was not an inherited possession. In the same charter, the Hungarian King confirmed the rights that Restoje, his brother Medoje and cousin Nikola had over villages of Sobrystye, Buczmyryno, Saderdye and Sagoryczani in the district of Livno.