Download PDF | Jiří Macháček, Martin Wihoda (eds.) - The Fall of Great Moravia _ Who Was Buried in Grave H153 at Pohansko Near Břeclav_ Brill (2019).
274 Pages
Preface
It has been some time since the modern science of medieval studies acknowledged that historical sources cannot be restricted merely to written evidence, such as documents and letters, legends and chronicles, and came to realise that it is necessary to take into consideration the evidence of material sources; that the study of the Early Middle Ages cannot manage without collaboration with the archaeologists and/or anthropologists whose research plays an increasingly important and occasionally even decisive role in our knowledge of history.
Many of these sources — fragments of pottery and animal or human remains — are pieces from finds made en masse. Immovable heritage is frequently comprised of standard remains of farms and houses. Archaeological materials provide insight into different aspects of everyday life. However, they are silent, static and unfortunately anonymous. In the imagined picture of history, which today is the outcome of multi-disciplinary collaboration, they mainly provide a foundation for the reconstruction of the social and natural environment in which historical events took place and where the agents of the related stories lived.
From time to time archaeologists succeed in making a discovery that may add detail to the “great history” and introduce new characters onto the historical stage. Such a find can captivate both the experts and the general public and provoke broad-based discussion, as did the discovery of an early medieval rotunda in the North-East Suburb of the Great Moravian stronghold at Pohansko near Breclav, which was excavated between 2007 and 2012. The results of the excavation of the rotunda and the adjacent cemetery have already been published in detail in several partial studies and monographs. The East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450 series now makes it possible for the broad international scientific community to become acquainted with the upto-date results of the research.
The importance of the discovery goes far beyond a mere find of an unknown church, the newest addition to the group of earliest Christian sanctuaries in the Czech lands, but rather consists in the uncovering of several graves in its interior. Of particular importance was the excavation of a grave located in a prestigious position along the main axis of the church. Interred in a grave constructed from stone were the remains of an older man, relatively tall for his era.
The prominent position of the grave indicates that the remains were that of a man whose way of life was exceptional compared to a standard sample of the population. The evidence suggests that the man was likely a prominent figure n society, potentially even the founder of the church. On the pages of the present collection this discovery is thoroughly described and even more importantly set into a wider historical context. It was a rather tumultuous period around the turn of the gth and the 10th century when Great Moravia collapsed.
The new orders that arose from the ruins of Great Moravia would play a crucial role in forming the shape of East Central Europe today. In this publication the curious reader will find contributions by leading experts who, inspired by the discovery of the rotunda at Pohansko, explore and deliberate on the events and the social processes that resulted in the rise and fall of Great Moravia.
In the introductory chapter The Great Moravian Rotunda at Pohansko and an osteobiographical profile of its Founder Jiti Machacéek and Vladimir Sladek relate the rather unusual history of the discovery and exhaustively characterise the context of the find. Along the way they explain which methods are used by modern archaeology and the kind of data those methods yield.
This is the background against which the search for the identity of the man buried in the rotunda must be understood, particularly the answers to questions regarding his social position. Based on the bodily remains the authors reconstruct the life of the man whose name is unknown, but who was clearly an extraordinary person in all respects. Modern anthropology, palaeopathology, taphonomy and chemistry provide surprisingly detailed information not just about his appearance, age and physical activity, but also about his illnesses, wounds and diet. The authors also ruminate on the possible causes of the death of the man from the rotunda and the meaning in his burial.
In the gth century Mojmirid Moravia became a loose constituent of the Carolingian world, which in East Central Europe was represented by the Bavarian Eastern March, extending within the territory of today’s Austrian Danube valley. Thanks to its position “on the edge” Pohansko was a natural link between the Bavarians from the Eastern March and the Moravians.
The man buried in the rotunda was most likely an active agent in the events taking place in the area south and south-west of Pohansko. Description and complex analysis of the Bavarian Eastern March is provided in the chapter The Austrian Danube Region around the Year goo by the renowned Austrian medievalist Roman Zehetmayer. His account offers a deeper insight into the relationships between the lords of the Moravian strongholds and the imperial counts, bishops and Carolingian prefects. These relationships were not always hostile, as older historiography has argued, but were varied, covering anything from blood vendettas and merciless wars to firm alliances secured by blood relationships.
In the 10th century both Mojmirid Moravia and the Eastern March failed to withstand the interventions of the nomadic Magyars from the Carpathian Basin. Their impact on the events around the year 900 is assessed in his text by Pavel Koufil. The self-explanatory title (The Hungarians and their Contribution to the Collapse and Fall of Great Moravia — Allies, Neighbours and Enemies) literally invites us to contemplate the circumstances which brought the Magyars to the central Danube Basin, and queries to what extent the presence of the nomads was destructive. It shows that part of the Moravian elites could be on good terms with the new lords and even engage in military co-operation with them.
But what happened to the Mojmirids at the beginning of the 10th century? Who were the people who may have sworn an oath of loyalty to the Frankish Empire, but at the same time were feared adversaries and at other times close allies of the Carolingian rulers?
These and other issues are addressed in the contribution by Martin Wihoda, who simultaneously draws attention to the impression the fall of the ducal dynasty left in contemporary memory (The Second Life of the Mojmirid Dukes). His deliberations are based on the traditional books of the Salzburg archbishopric (previously rather unappreciated by Czech historians) which provide evidence of surprisingly extensive relationships between the Frankish-Bavarian nobility and the Mojmirids. At the end of his text he justifiably asks whether the rotunda at Pohansko could have belonged to the original family inheritance of the Mojmirid clan, whose members could have attempted to make a return still at the beginning of the 10th century.
The recently discovered rotunda at Pohansko is one of the earliest Christian sanctuaries in the Slavic territories which prompted the inclusion of a study by David Kalhous in this collection which aims to recount the forms and methods employed in the process of the Christianisation of a marginal section of Early Medieval Europe and the role played in this process by local elites (Graves, Churches, Culture and Texts). On a general level his assessment touches on the concept of “proprietary churches” and the complicated relationship of the magnates and nobility to the church and ecclesiastical structures. His work also questions the nature of material support for evangelising activities and the link between a church and the social representation of its builders.
Exemplary founders and owners of early medieval churches are discussed in Austrian archaeologist Stefan Eichert’s contribution entitled “Founder tombs” in early medieval Carantania — A Survey. He concentrates on Carinthia in the eastern Alps, a territory that was in many aspects similar to that of Great Moravia. During the gth century the original Slavic principality transformed itself into a Carolingian county. Local Slavic elites adopted a new political identity and with it a new religion. Currently, no direct evidence is available, nor has a founder grave (Stiftergrab) been discovered in situ from the Carinthian territory. Still, there are several coherent cases that suggest that tombs of the social elite are situated in the interior of the church. Privileged graves of the elite are also found in the pre-Christian context, for example as secondary burials in prehistoric burial mounds.
With the collapse of Mojmirid Moravia at the turn of the gth and the 1oth century, the centre of power moved elsewhere. Ivo Stefan explores the rise of Premyslid Bohemia in his contribution, Great Moravia, the Beginnings of Premyslid Bohemia and the Problem of Cultural Change. Stefan is dedicated to discussing contacts between the Bohemian leaders and the Mojmirids as well as the imprint that they left on the Premyslid duchy in the later periods.
He juxtaposes the similarities and differences between the two regions and ponders the question of perpetual return; whether some specialised groups (craftsmen, priests and retinue members) could have moved from devastated Moravia to Bohemia in the 10th century. We cannot rule out that it might have been Bohemia that was the end destination of the descendants of the man buried in the rotunda at Pohansko and who inspired us to compile this collection.
The Conclusion of the book, written by Jiti Machacek, attempts to answer the question of who the extraordinary man was and why he found his last rest in the most prestigious location on the main axis inside the second church in Pohansko near Bieclav. According to the author, he was very likely an important administrator or governor in Pohansko, perhaps a member of the retinue of one of the Mojmirid dukes. Machaéek suggests that the man attempt to found a dynasty with its own dominium in a symbolic centre situated on a small church. The fate of his family during the collapse of Great Moravia, and in the following periods, is not clearly stated but some alternative answers are at least suggested.
We hope that the reader will find the investigation into the fate of our protagonist enticing and that it will provide him or her with food for thought about how society operated at the threshold of the 10th century, as well as insight into how despite all the twists and turns of and power games in the heart of Europe, the modern world emerged.
The book has been published as one of the outcomes of Czech Grant Agency project No. P405/12/0111 (Between Great and Premyslid Moravia. The Archaeology of the Collapse and Revitalisation of Early Medieval Society). At the same time the texts by the individual authors were supported from additional sources which are always listed as appropriate. We would like to thank the Brill publishing house and the editors, Mrs. Marcella Mulder, Mrs. Kim Fiona Plas and Mrs. Elisa Perotti, for making this publication possible and for their support. We would also like to thank Professor Florin Curta, the spiritus agens behind the East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450 series, who is making the results of Central European historical research available to the international scientific community through his editorial activities. We would like to acknowledge Mr. Milos Barton and Mrs. Barbara Juch for the translation of these difficult texts.
Notes on Contributors
Stefan Eichert is researcher at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on archaeology and history of the Early Middle Ages in East Central Europe, experimental archaeology and digital humanities. He is currently working on a book about the development of the early medieval border region between Austria and the Czech Republic.
David Kalhous is senior research fellow in the Institute for Medieval Studies of Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and in the Institute of Auxiliary Historical Sciences at Masaryk University, Brno. His research focuses on different aspects of medieval history (hagiography and historiography, beginnings of the monarchies, Christianisation and ecclesiastical structures, regional history).
Pavel Kouril is Associate Professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Brno). His research is focused on fortifications, burial grounds and material culture (weaponry and equestrian equipment) in the 8th to 12th centuries Central Europe (particularly Great Moravia).
Jifi Machacek is Professor of Medieval Archaeology and the Head of the Department of Archaeology and Museology at Masaryk University, Brno. He has published on medieval archaeology and computer applications on archaeolog.
Vladimir Sladek is Associate Professor at Charles University in Prague. He obtained Ph.D. at the University of Bordeaux (2000). His research is focused on human evolution, postcranial variation in Holocene humans, paleodemographic assessments, and human taphonomy.
Ivo Stefan is Assistant Professor at Charles University in Prague. He is a scholar of medieval archaeology and the history of Central Europe.
Martin Wihoda is Professor of Medieval History at Masaryk University, Brno. His research is focused on eastern Europe in the early and high Middle Ages.
Roman Zehetmayer is director of the Provincial Archive of Lower Austria. A scholar of medieval constitutional history and of medieval Austria, he also teaches as an associate professor at the University of Vienna.
Link
Press Here
0 التعليقات :
إرسال تعليق