Download PDF | Miloš Zečević_ Piotr Pranke_ Michał Romanek - Medieval Trade in Central Europe, Scandinavia, and the Balkans (10th-12th centuries)
275 Pages
Introduction
The literature on the organization of trade in the 10th-12th centuries is a considerable body of work constituting a separate category of research in the field of interdisciplinary medieval studies. It refers to a number of theoretical concepts that define a way of perceiving phenomena observed in the source materials. It also determines the choice of a specific conceptual terminology.! The questions raised by researchers concern not only the ways in which the mechanisms of economic and symbolic impact are perceived, but also the attribution of certain categories with specific meanings.”
The basis for these investigations is to define the relations between the nature of human activity in the past and the ways of interpreting the observed phenomena (homo oeconomicus vs. homo symbolicus).3 The theoretical considerations thus refer to a number of basic concepts, such as markets, trade, barter, and money. In terms of interpretation, it is also a kind of “programme declaration” of researchers dealing with the topic of trade in the High Middle Ages, defined on two radically different planes: the first emphasizes the magical and symbolic dimensions of the observed phenomena, while the second reduces them to the impact of market mechanisms.* One such consideration is the broad current of theoretical inquiries related to the phenomenon of medieval silver hoards.
In the case of these studies, specific attention is drawn both to the functioning of networks of far-reaching commercial connections, and to the importance of socio-cultural changes observed in the source materials. There is also an interest in the scale and subject of trade.° In terms of synthesis, investigations in this domain rely on the results of research in the fields of economic history, archaeology, and cultural anthropology. In terms of methodology, it also incorporates the fields of diplomacy, numismatics, toponymy, and historical geography.
Furthermore, research in this area utilizes certain theoretical frameworks. The importance of concepts related to the functioning of the world system, central places, and centers defined as gateway cities has been repeatedly pointed out in the research.” In discussing the understanding of economic transformations in the past in combination with the associated group of economic phenomena, elements of controversies between substantivists and formalists are also considered.
Within contemporary medieval studies, this dispute refers not only to defining the relationships between symbolical-religious activities and the manifestations of economic rationality of past communities, but also to two fundamentally different methods of interpreting the source materials.® Further debate also revolves around the specific definition of bullion money, wealth, and trade in the Early and High Middle Ages. Trade is perceived both through the prism of market mechanisms and through the relations between the circulation of gifts and phenomena such as power, reciprocity, and prestige. It also refers to the processes related to the formation of trade fair centers in the areas participating in the exchange.!°
The areas participating in exchange were perceived theoretically in this study, referring to how central places within ancient world systems related to one another. References to the concepts of gateway cities and break in transportation theory also remain important." The attention of researchers was also drawn to the functioning of interregional contacts, perceived through the analysis of elite networks.!” Researchers also referred to a broad stream of inquiries concerning how medieval systems of power organisation originated in Central and Eastern Europe and Northern Europe.'8
Considerable attention has also been paid to the inflow of oriental coins to these areas and to the presence of bullion finds.“ The importance of phenomena connected with the functioning of trade conducted from the 7th to the uth centuries between large areas of Europe and the Muslim world is also emphasized.!5 The genesis of this phenomenon was primarily found in the increase in the demand of the Samanid Empire (819-1005) for categories of goods such as slaves, animal fur, honey, wax, elements of armament, and dyes, observed on the basis of the analysis of the source material.!6 Decorative fabrics, salt, metals, and objects made of bronze, tin, iron, and glass were also traded.!” Among the works related to the above-mentioned issues, studies conducted by scientists such as Stanistaw Tabaczynski, Stanistaw Suchodolski, Wtadystaw Duczko, James Graham-Campbell, Gert Hatz, Simon Franklin, Jonathan Shepard, and Heiko Steuer are particularly important.!
The results of researchers such as Mateusz Bogucki and Marit Gaimster are also noteworthy.!9 The present study also highlights the importance of the centers of political and economic import of the Ottonian Empire and the Eastern Empire,?° as perceived primarily through the prism of their influence on the social and cultural transformations in the 10th—-12th centuries.”!
Their definition as generative centers also determined the scope of the conducted investigations on the basis of the relations observed between the areas of barbaricum (seen as semiperipheral and peripheral centers) and the empires that performed a central function. Utilizing the hypotheses of Henri Pirenne and Michael McCormick, the present study considers the genesis of these phenomena.?? Pirenne and McCormick were looking for the sources of the European economy in the transformations initiated at the turn of the 8th and oth centuries. It is worth emphasizing that the economic processes they indicate may also be typical for the relations among Byzantium, Rus’, and the Balkan Peninsula.”%
These processes can be understood as a result of the aspirations of various individuals within high medieval power networks (at the level of family ties and elite connections) to subdue their subordinate territories to the impact of interregional trade routes. In the peripheral areas, power networks were “commercial-military consortia” interested in deriving direct benefits from trade and the use of coercive apparatus and military surveillance (in its institutionalised form).
At the same time, access to traded goods remained a source of social status and prestige. It was also a guarantee of the system of redistribution of goods, thus reinforcing the relative durability of power structures dependent on their circulation. In the Christian world, they were also seen through the lens of commemorative practices and relations between the circles of fundatores and debitores.
This study is an attempt to compare theoretical concepts present in the relevant literature and related interpretations (ranging from communication theory to the systems of influence of central places) with source analysis carried out from a comparative perspective. The chronological framework is the 1oth-12th centuries. Sometimes, however, the nature of the analyses carried out and the resource of the source material goes beyond the chronology, indicating phenomena characterizing long term processes (longue durée). The selection of areas subject to comparative analysis was related to the indication of similarities in the scope of observed transformations in the areas under the influence of the Ottonian Empire and the Eastern Empire.
They were perceived through the prism of the theories of the functioning of the world system and the parallel influence of the center, taking into account the variability of the observed phenomena.
Attention was drawn not only to the theoretical discourse present in the literature, but also to a group of issues related to ways of defining the concept of trade and the subject of merchants’ activity in the Early and High Middle Ages. The present work also draws attention to Scandinavian economic penetration and signals the importance of issues related to production and dependent population categories. In order to illustrate the dynamics of the transformations taking place, a separate catalogue has been added as a source study. As authors, we would like to thank all those who supported us.
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