Manfred Gerwing LATIN CHRISTIANITY AROUND THE YEAR 1000 This study defines the situation of Latin Christianity around the year 1000 as a point in a historic process which contributed greatly to a medieval world that was differentiated, never uniform, but nevertheless characterized by numerous common phenomena. This complex and complicated development proceeded in stages, which may be observed, albeit with a delay of some 100 years in between, in central areas as well as at the periphery; with the outcome, around the beginning of the second millennium, being an eventual stabilization of what we even today, a thousand years since, regard as the big family of European nations. In the first sub-phase, which finally became the first universal phase, new nations had come to the fore: Celts, Germans, and Slavs, influenced by Rome and Byzantium. Only in comprehensive, universal entities, formed as a result of quite lenghty development and consolidated around the year 1000, could the political, historical, religious, intellectual, artistic, cultural, and social life with its habits, custom and morals link up to become Latin Christianity. The common European identity thus developed is vital even today – in a strange mix of contrast and continuity.
Christian Lübke MAGDEBURG AND ITS NEIGHBOURS IN THE LIFETIME OF ST. ADALBERT The great Slav uprising of 983 marked an important change in Magdeburg's relations with its eastern Slav neighbours. Up to this point, there had been a certain continuity from when Magdeburg was first mentioned as a frontier settlement in 805 to the institution of the Magdeburg archbishopric in 968. That Magdeburg looked indeed far out to the east, is best illustrated by the contacts that were established with the Kievan princess Olga. Thus was caused the journey to the Kievan Rus by Adalbert, who would in due course become archbishop of Magdeburg, and this journey, with one staging-post being Libice, was a turning point in the life of St. Adalbert, who at that time received the sacrament of confirmation. In the direct vicinity of Magdeburg, not only armed conflict, but also close, even personal relations between the Ottonian Emperors and Saxon nobility and members of the Slav elites existed before 983. The development of an ecclesiastical organisation and of marches on the border had begun in 948. This was brought to an end, at least as far as the territory east of the Elbe river is concerned, by the uprising of 983, in which the tribal coalition led by the Lutizen played a decisive part. Emperor Otto III and his Polish partners, Mieszko I and Boleslav Chrobry, fought vigoriusly against the Lutizen, who obviously tolerated a parallel, one might say competitive, development of heathen and christian cults. But this common policy, which culminated in the Emperor's pilgrimage to the grave of St. Adalbert at Gniezno (Gnesen), was abruptly terminated by the alliance between Henry II and the Lutizen in 1003.
Jana Nechutová FROM WENCESLAS TO ADALBERT – BETWEEN THE LEGENDS This contribution presents an international public with the results of contemporary Czech research into the earliest examples of latin-language hagiography of Czech saints, above all St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert. The hagiograpies of Wenceslas (and Ludmilla) were (after the important edition by J. Pekar, 1906) most thouroughly researched by Jaroslav Ludvíkovsky, professor of classical philogogy and medieval studies at Brno university. By applying philological methods, Ludvíkovsky succeeded in proving that the legend of the so-called Christian belongs to the last decades of the 10th century. His conclusions and the dating were supported and refined, in 1978, by the historian Dusan Trestík. The most important result of their research into the Wenceslas legend is that both of them established Christian's authenticity. The legends on Adalbert were (after German studies by Mathilde Uhlirz and R. Wenskus, after the Czech J. Vilikovsky and the work edited in Poland by J. Karwasinska) subject of a collection of commented translations by R. Novy (1987) and the fundamental study Pocátky Premyslovcu (The Beginnings of the Premyslid Dynasty) D. Trestík (1997). Hagiographic research has focused both on Adalbert's clerical politics during his tenure as bishop of Prague and on the problems of dating and defining the origin of the text Versus de passione sancti Adalberti.
Ján Steinhübel ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION IN NEUTRA IN THE 9TH TO 11 TH CENTURIES The church that Pribina, the first historic prince of Neutra, had built in 828, was meant for use by his christian wife. Of Wilhelmian descent, she brought the cult of St. Emmeram to Neutra. In 883, the Neutra region was conquered by the moravian prince Mojmír, which brought it into the reach of christian missionaries from Passau. In 880, the second bishopric of the Great Moravian realm was established at Neutra. The dissolution of the Great Moravian national organization after the Slovak territory had been occupied by Magyars brought about the decay of the ecclesiastical organization and, in consequence, a return to paganism. In 972, Hungary was visited by the missionary bishop Bruno, who baptized prince Geysa and his family and about 5000 distinguished Hungarians. With great probability, Slavs from the Neutra region were among their number. The new bishopric at Neutra was established by the Hungarian king Koloman, most likely in 1110.
Aleksander Gieysztor (†) THE RULE OF THE HOUSE OF PIAST IN GNIEZNO In the final decade of the 10th century, after the Bohemians had been ousted (under the walls of the Wroclaw cathedral, recently a pre-roman church has been discovered which belongs to the 10th century and is seen as a proof of Silesia's christianization by the Czechs) the Piast lordship in Gniezno (Gnesen) enjoyed favourable circumstances which lasted into the second third of the 11th century. Around the year 1000, the terms Polonia and Polani came into use (for the earlier period, the territory under Piast rule is covered by names such as Lestkovices, Gnesen state, Sclavonia), and at about the same time, after Slavnikid example, a coin showing Boleslaw and the legend Princeps Poloniae was minted. During the first third of the 11th century, Boleslaw attempted to establish a minor empire in this part of Europe, in a similar way to that which was tried in the northwestern part a little later by Knut the Great, King of Denmark, Norway and England: together with Silesia, Little Poland made up the greatly expanded nucleus of a larger territory which comprised, among other parts, Pomerania. Boleslaw extended his rule also on Prague, Lusatia and Meissen, Moravia and Kiev. Most of these territories did only belong to his lordship for a brief period, however. Bishop Adalbert, missionary ordered there by Emperor Otto III, was welcomed by Boleslaw Chrobry in 997, and escorted to the Pruzzen tribe. His martyrdom earned him a great deal of respect at the Polish court and the first initiative to give the patronage of churches to Adalbert obviously came from the Duke of Poland. The Emperor's pilgrimage to Adalbert's grave at Gnesen in the year 1000 and the establishment there of an archbishopric comprising the bishoprics of Kraków (Krakau), Wroclaw (Breslau), Kolobrzeg (Kolberg), and Poznan (Posen) were the principal milestones for the ecclesiastical organization in Poland.
László Veszprémy HUNGARIAN HISTORIANS' VIEWS ON ST. ADALBERT The problem of St. Adalbert's Hungarian activities relates to hagiographic research in the first place. Above all because reliable contemporary information on his stay in Hungary is very scarce. This lack of information is what forced Hungarian chroniclers in the second half of the 11th century to introduce a person, namely St. Adalbert, who supposedly converted and baptized the first king of Hungary. To give the patronage of the first archbishop's see in Hungary to St. Adalbert was a conscious decision taken first and foremost by the imperial court. That Adalbert had some influence on Otto's special political and clerico-political relations with the new christian states of Hungary and Poland is highly probable. Even if one can only guess at what this role entailed, its importance is greatly underestimated by modern historiography in Hungary. It is not unlikely that Adalbert's real historical role ought to be seen rather in this kind of influence, not in the traditional legendary motifs of his confirmation and of matchmaking. Otto III, in any case, recognized this role, and this is why he founded the independent organization of the church, the archbishoprics in both states, on the relics and the memory of the saint who, following his martyrdom an the cult that was a result of it, became the most important figure of Hungarian christianity, which he remains even today.
Heidrun Dolezel ST. ADALBERT IN GERMAN, POLISH AND CZECH SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS Whereas St. Adalbert is completely ignored in contemporary German history classes, the autors of prewar textbooks treated the saint in the framework of their ideologically founded criticism of medieval Eastern politics. Contemporary Polish textbooks focus on Adalbert's importance for the development of the Polish monarchy in the middle ages. Where the saint does receive the most extensive and respectful treatment, however, is in Czech textbooks. For several generations, Adalbert's image as an highly educated, ascetic monk was determined by Josef Pekar, who failed, on the other hand, to elaborate upon his importance for ecclesiastical politics in Poland. Modern Czech textbook authors look upon Adalbert as a prominent member of the central European intellectual elite of his time, but also as an active supporter of the medieval church reform movement.
Sarah Scholl and Tobias Weger THE WIDER THE CHOICE, THE GREATER THE TROUBLE? THE LATEST INFORMATION BOOKLETS ABOUT THE CZECH REPUBLIC In this article, ten information booklets are reviewed. The booklets, offering Czech area studies in a nutshell, have been published by governmental institutions specializing in political education (the Federal Centre of Political education and its subdivisions in diverse German federal states), the – non-governmental – Society for Tourism and Development Research, youth organisations or institutions working with young people under the umbrella of the Christian churches, or in the series "Wochenschau". First and foremost, the reviewers checked the booklets for their suitability for classroom work or for use by young people in general. Most booklets present a historic account. Whereas the products of the Federal Centre, in particular, retain a national conception of history, others, some having well-known authors, reflect recent research and show an attempt at a more differentiated presentation. Only a few deal, apart from brief overviews of economic and political structures, with contemporary everyday life or with inter-cultural problems with respect to German-Czech relations. A comprehensive booklet which would meet all requirements is thus still something very much needed.
Steffen Höhne WAYS ACROSS THE GERMANO-BOHEMIAN DIVIDE:THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ANNUAL "BRÜCKEN" This article examines the 10 volumes so far published of "brücken", the almanach of Czech and Slovak German studies edited by Michael Berger and Kurt Krolop. The anniversary provides the opportunity to introduce the reader, at least in a cursory way, to the wealth of studies published in "brücken" and to pay a tribute to the periodical and its importance for the subject of German studies. Meanwhile, "brücken" has become a preeminent periodical of the field, in which contributions belonging to related areas have found their audience as well. Both from a purely scientific and from a more political point of view, "brücken" also reflects the many changes that Czech and Slovak German studies have had to endure.
Rubrik: Discussion
HISTORIANS' DIFFERING VIEWS ON CZECH DEMOCRACY The discussion between Eva Broklová, Prague-based historian and acting head of the T.G. Masaryk Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Ferdinand Seibt, chairman of the Collegium Carolinum and member of the editorial body of this journal, Peter Heumos, and Eva Hahn about continuities and discontinuities in the Czech democratic tradition, which this journal carried in the previous issue, has met with a big response from among the readers. The present article by Josef Harna (Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences), editor of the most detailed volume so far on Czech and Slovak historiography during the First Republic (Reflexe dejin první Ceskoslovenské republiky v ceske a slovenské historiografii, Praha 1998), offers a résumé of the current stage of the debate among historians from the Czech Republic. It is a great pleasure for the editors to be able to continue the discussion with Josef Harna's informative article, which might furnish some missing links and help focus attention on the more general historiographic problems which were touched upon in the debate.
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