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From Medieval Frontiers to Early Modern Borders in Central and South-Eastern Europe

by Florin Nicolae Ardelean (Volume editor) Liviu Cîmpeanu (Volume editor) Gelu Fodor (Volume editor) Livia Magina (Volume editor)
©2022 Edited Collection 330 Pages

Summary

This volume gathers a variety of scientific contributions, from young and experienced researchers alike, on the evolution of frontiers/borders, from the late Middle Ages to the end of the Early Modern Period (eighteenth century). The expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, its diplomatic and military interactions with the Hungarian Kingdom, daily life in medieval borderlands, administrative and military organization of frontiers, transfer of military knowledge and technology, social and demographic impact of border warfare and the militarization of eighteenth century borders are some of the subjects approached by the authors. Their research provides a complex comparative perspective over a region which shares both common and divergent features with the rest of Europe.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the editors
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Content
  • List of Contributors
  • Introduction
  • Entangled Frontiers
  • March 1475: The Italian Reception of Warfare on the Eastern Frontiers of Christendom (Ioan-Aurel Pop and Alexandru Simon)
  • Ratio Oeconomicam – War Economy at the South-Western Frontiers of the Hungarian Kingdom at the End of the Fifteenth Century (Zoltan Iusztin)
  • Living in Fear. Life at the Southern Frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom (in the Fourteenth–Sixteenth Centuries) (Adrian Magina)
  • Ottoman Advancement into the Northern Parts of the Hungarian Kingdom between the Conquest of Buda and the Evolution of the Border Fortress Line, 1543–1549 (Nándor Virovecz)
  • Cross-Border Mobility: War Refugees in Early Modern Transylvania (Livia Magina)
  • An Eighteenth Century Constitutional Struggle: Institutions, Defence and Border Legislative Matters between the Imperial Court and the Transylvanian Diet (Gelu Fodor)
  • Borderland Armies
  • Ad Retinendam Coronam. Military Organization at the Transylvanian Border in the Late Middle Ages: The Transylvanian-Saxon Militias (Liviu Cîmpeanu)
  • Frontiers and Military Organization in Transylvania: The Guardsman (Drabant/Darabont) during the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century (Florin Nicolae Ardelean)
  • Between Soldier and Guard: The Roles of the Town Mercenaries in the Late Sixteenth- Early Seventeenth Century Cluj (Klausenburg/Kolozsvár), Sighișoara (Schässburg/ Segesvár) and Brașov (Kronstadt/ Brassó) (Izsán Csaba)
  • Making the Border and Frontiersmen. Militarisation in Temeswarer Banat, 1764–1775 (Jelena Ilić Mandić)
  • Defending the Eastern Confines of the Habsburg Monarchy: A Forgotten Border Guard Regiment in Eighteenth-Century Transylvania (Csaba Horváth)
  • Fortrtifications, Sieges and Changing Borders
  • The Border Fort and Its Servants. Turnu Roşu in the Sixteenth Century (Julia Derzsi)
  • The Fortress of Eger in the Mid–Sixteenth Century, on the Border between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire: the Siege of 1552 (Gizella Nemeth and Adriano Papo)
  • Raids and Sieges along the Habsburg-Ottoman Frontier in Hungary: The Siege of Hegyesd: 31 March–9 April, 1562 (Zoltán Péter Bagi)
  • Castello Di Varadino Passo Principale Della Transilvania: Giovanni Marco Isolano’s Relation. On the Siege of Oradea (1598) (Ovidiu Cristea)
  • The Conquest of Oradea by the Habsburgs in Italian Sources (1691–1692) (Florina Ciure)
  • Series Index

←10 | 11→

List of Contributors

Florin Nicolae Ardelean

Academic Cultural Heritage Department,

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

florin.ardelean@ubbcluj.ro

Zoltán Péter Bagi

Municipal Archive of Győr,

Győr, Hungary

zoliszeged@gmail.com

Liviu Cîmpeanu

Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Romanian Academy,

Sibiu, Romania

Academic Cultural Heritage Department,

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

liviucimpeanu@yahoo.com

Florina Ciure

Țării Crișurilor Museum,←11 | 12→

Oradea, Romania

florinaciure@gmail.com

Ovidiu Cristea

„Nicolae Iorga” Institute of History,

Romanian Academy,

Bucharest, Romania

cristeao@gmail.com

Izsán Csaba

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

izsan_csaba@yahoo.com

Julia Derzsi

Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities,

Romanian Academy,

Sibiu, Romania

jderzsi@yahoo.com

Gelu Fodor

Academic Cultural Heritage Department,

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

fodorgelu2015@gmail.com

Csaba Horváth←12 | 13→

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

horvathcs93@gmail.com

Zoltan Iusztin

National Museum of Banat,

Timișoara, Romania

iusztin.z@gmail.com

Adrian Magina

Titu Maiorescu Institute for Banatian Studies,

Romanian Academy,

Timişoara, Romania

Museum of the Highland Banat,

Reșița, Romania

adimagina@gmail.com

Livia Magina

Museum of the Highland Banat,

Reșița, Romania

Academic Cultural Heritage Department,

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

maginalivia@gmail.com

Jelena Ilić Mandić←13 | 14→

Institute of History,

Belgrade, Serbia

j.ilic@yahoo.com

Gizella Nemeth

Centro Studi Adria-Danubia,

Duino Aurisina, Trieste, Italy

adriadanubia@gmail.com

Adriano Papo

Centro Studi Adria-Danubia,

Duino Aurisina, Trieste, Italy

adriadanubia@gmail.com

Ioan-Aurel Pop

Romanian Academy, Bucharest

Babeș-Bolyai University,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

ioanleruapop@gmail.com

Alexandru Simon

Romanian Academy,

Centre for Transylvanian Studies,

Cluj-Napoca, Romania

alexandrusimon2003@gmail.com

Nándor Virovecz←14 | 15→

Eötvös Loránd University,

Budapest, Hungary

virovecz@gmail.com

←16 | 17→

Introduction

This volume gathers a variety of essays and studies on the topic of territorial boundaries (frontiers/borders) in Central and South-East Europe, from the late middle ages (fifteenth century) until the end of the early modern period (eighteenth century). The initiative of collecting a series of scientific contributions on this broad subject was conceived as a fundamental activity within a research project entitled: From Medieval Frontiers to Early Modern Borders. The Military Organization of the Western Parts of the Transylvanian Principality in the XVI-XVII centuries (PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0457). Analysing the particular case of the Western frontier of Transylvania in a broader, regional context, was the main reason behind this initiative. A comparative perspective is fundamental for a better assessment of social, economic and military dynamic of borderlands.

The research of frontiers/borders has a long tradition in historiography. Understanding political, social and cultural boundaries, in the past of humanity, have been constant preoccupations in modern historical writing. Undoubtedly, the essay of Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of Frontier in American History,1 had a fundamental role in establishing a new theoretical paradigm which inspired both similar approaches2 and constructive criticism. Many scholars have made efforts to establish “clear borders” between the terms and concepts used when describing territorial delimitations in historical writing. Although unanimity is far from being achieved, there is a tendency to use the term frontier for the premodern world, while the term border has a clear connection with modern times and the development of modern cartography. Borders are usually ←17 | 18→characterized as static, precise and restrictive, while frontiers are often defined as contact zones, permeable and fluid.3

Recent research on the topic of late medieval and early modern boundaries has been focused on identifying and defining a process of transition from vague and entangled medieval frontiers to static and well-defined modern borders. This is also one of the major objectives of this collective volume of studies. Most scholars have emphasized the complex nature of this transition process and its long duration. Furthermore, the linearization of borders is viewed an even longer phenomenon, one which transcends the chronological limits of the early modern period.4

The study of boundaries (frontiers/borders) is relevant for understanding how people built their sense of identity and how political control was exercised.5 Late medieval and early modern political boundaries indicated the physical limits of state authority in terms of jurisdiction and tax collection.6 This is the reason why many scientific inquiries on the nature of political boundaries were influenced by two fundamental questions: Who exercised authority in the borderlands of medieval and early modern states? What was the relation between central authority and local elites on the matter of frontier management?

The medieval Kingdom of Hungary has an interesting dynamic of central vs. local authority in the borderlands. According to Nora Berend, the Hungarian ←18 | 19→kings exerted more political control over the borders than the hinterland of their realm, for as long as they sustained an active policy of expansion.7 The Mongol Invasion of 1241 determined a transfer of responsibility regarding the frontier of the kingdom, from central authority to local structures. In the particular case of Transylvania, the frontier along the Carpathians was consolidated through military colonisations and by building a network of fortifications.8

In the Eastern half of Europe, in many cases, frontiers were vast and sparsely populated areas. From this point of view they can be defined as “frontiers of settlement”, in analogy with the “North American model” of Frederick Jackson Turner.9 Colonisation in the borderlands was always encouraged by central authorities and was perceived as an efficient way of exploiting local resources and consolidating military defence.10

The importance of local elites in managing the frontier has also been emphasized in the case of the Ottoman Empire. The European frontier in particular had a special status within the imperial administrative system. The rule of these regions was entrusted to “marcher lords” (uc begleri) descendants of prominent state-founding dynasties such as Evrenosoğlu, Mihaloğlu, Turahanğlu, Ishakoğlu, and Malkoçoğlu, who enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Their authority was hereditary and they commanded large military retinues. Architectural patronage was another important feature of their authority.11 The metaphor “ottoman wild ←19 | 20→west” used by Nikolay Antov to describe the Balkan frontier of the Ottoman Empire highlights a complex social and military situation. One of the most interesting issues raised by Antov in his recent monograph is the settlement of Muslim communities in Deliorman („Wild Forest”) and Gerlovo areas. This colonization policy is fundamental in understanding the perception of central authority on the matter of frontier defence and management.12

Late medieval and early modern political boundaries in Central and South-East Europe were strongly influenced by Ottoman expansion and the subsequent confrontation with the other major political actors in the region. The topic has been treated at both macro- and micro-historical levels, from various perspectives. Although a thorough overview of this historiographical issue is beyond the scope of our short introductive study, we would like to underline, in a selective manner, some of the most relevant recent contributions on this subject. From the Ottoman perspective, Gábor Ágoston provides a survey of the wars waged by the sultans in Europe. Rethinking Paul Wittek’s theory on the Holy War (Gâza) as a primary method of conquest, the author analyses the complicated mechanism of warfare, involving political, social, economic and technical factors (such as the wide use of gunpowder) that determined the (almost) constant shifting of the Ottoman frontiers towards Central Europe, between the fourteenth and the early eighteenth century.13 In a mirror perspective, Tamás Pálosfalvi reveals how the medieval kingdom of Hungary struggled against the constant onslaught of the Ottoman Empire, from the battle of Nicopolis (1396) to the battle of Mohács (1526). One of his most interesting conclusions is that the almost constant state of “frontier warfare” eroded the human and material resources of the Realm of Saint Stephen, and determined the final outcome of the Ottoman-Hungarian confrontation.14 This perspective is completed by the work of Géza Pálffy on the Hungarian Kingdom between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, from 1526 to 1711. After a complicated dynastic struggle with the Szapolyai Dynasty and the loss of the central parts of the realm to the Sublime Porte (1541), the Habsburgs strengthened their positions in Hungary by establishing a military frontier, delimited by fortresses with permanent garrisons, provided by the hinterland and divided in several military provinces ←20 | 21→or captaincies.15 This early “military border” was constantly put to the test by the troops of the Crescent, as demonstrated by the example of the Ottoman siege of Szigetvár, in 1566. The proceedings of the conference that commemorated this important event in 2016, have been gathered into a volume edited by Pál Fodor, in which researchers from the United States, England, France, Spain, Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Turkey evoked not only the historical event, but also the main political actors who struggled for supremacy on the Christian-Ottoman border in Central Europe, in the mid-sixteenth century.16 Another successful attempt to overcome the one-sided perspective on the Habsburg-Ottoman frontier in Hungary was made by David Geza and Pál Fodor with a volume of essays published in 2000. Motivated by the need to make “a more realistic assessment of the significance of the Habsburg-Hungarian-Ottoman frontier” this volume offers a comprehensive perspective on this vast borderland, stretching across Central and South East Europe. The frontier is described and defined as an area of contacts and disputes, a permeable space where two different civilizations interacted for a very long time. The studies emphasize the importance of border military organization and the defense systems on both sides of the frontier, and, of course, the variety of interactions between Christians and Muslims. The issues like Hungarian defense before the battle of Mohács or the „military revolution” created new research paths reconsidering the military frontier perspective.17 Focusing on the more particular issue of ransom slavery, David Geza and Pál Fodor have edited another collective volume which sheds light on this dominant aspect of frontier life.18 The monograph of Klára Hegyi on the military organization of the Ottoman frontier in Hungary represents another fundamental contribution to the overall understanding of political boundaries in Central and South East Europe. From a methodological point of view, the analysis of both Ottoman and Christian sources, offers an integrative approach to this complex subject.19←21 | 22→

A more eastern perspective is provided by the work of Ovidiu Cristea and Liviu Pilat on the Romanian Principalities, as border(land)s of Christendom in the context of the Late Crusade. Located on the eastern flank of Christian (i.e. Catholic) Europe, both Moldavia and Wallachia had to seek the political and military support of the neighbouring realms of Hungary, Poland, and even Venice, who had economic interests in the Black Sea, in order to face the ever growing Ottoman threat.20 Later on, the same authors approached the issue of frontiers in the north-western Black Sea region, in a volume entitled From Pax Mongolica to Pax Ottomanica. Several researchers from Poland and Romania revealed the role of these borderland regions, especially of Moldavia and Wallachia, in politics, warfare and trade, between the thirteenth and the late sixteenth centuries.21

The problem of boundaries in history is strongly connected to the idea of cultural and technological transfer. Frontiers and borders were never able (or meant) to stop the circulation of people, goods and knowledge. On the contrary, medieval and early modern frontiers are often characterized as areas of contact and exchange between states, communities and civilizations. Form the conceptual perspective of “entangled history” (histoire croisée) borderlands can be seen as privileged areas of interconnectedness and trans-cultural exchange.22 This methodological approach has inspired the first section of our volume, entitled: Entangled Frontiers. The first article, written by Ioan Aurel Pop and Alexandru Simon, analyses two diplomatic reports sent on 6 March 1476 by Giorgio Passelis and Carlo Visconti from Bologna to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan, describing the victory of Prince Stephen the Great of Moldavia over the Ottoman host at Vaslui, in early January. These sources reveal an extensive network of political and strategic interests which transcended the frontiers of Central and Eastern European states. Faced with the increasing Ottoman threat, European monarchs and statesmen adjusted their perception of political boundaries.←22 | 23→

The economic impact of warfare on the southern frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom during the last decades of the fifteenth century represents the subject of the article by Zoltan Iusztin. Focusing on the particular case of Ferenc Haraszti, ban of Bosnia, the author underlines the difficult task entrusted to the high ranking officials of the Hungarian borderlands. Despite receiving financial (yet, insufficient) support from the royal treasury, Haraszti asked King Wladislas II to dismiss him from the office, after only one year of service, because he lacked the means to defend his fortresses against the relentless attacks of the Turks. This case study reveals the critical situation of the Hungarian frontier, slowly collapsing under Ottoman pressure in spite of the efforts made by both royal authority and local elites.

The following article, signed by Adrian Magina, offers a vivid depiction of daily life in a frontier area constantly threatened by the devastating effects of war during the fifteenth century and the first half of the sixteenth century. The author of this paper focuses on a section of the southern frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom, delimited by the rivers Danube, Mureş and Tisza, later known as “the Banat”. Both official and narrative sources reveal that raids were far more damaging than large scale campaigns and, as a consequence, many settlements were abandoned and entire areas were depopulated. To counterbalance these effects, Hungarian kings encouraged the settlement of newcomers, especially Serbs who decided to flee from the territories occupied by the Turks. Thus, the author argues that in some cases late medieval frontiers were areas dominated by violent contacts with a strong economic and demographic impact.

Details

Pages
330
Year
2022
ISBN (PDF)
9783631880128
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631880135
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631880142
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631880111
DOI
10.3726/b19870
Language
English
Publication date
2022 (June)
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2022. 330 pp., 15 fig. b/w, 1 tables.

Biographical notes

Florin Nicolae Ardelean (Volume editor) Liviu Cîmpeanu (Volume editor) Gelu Fodor (Volume editor) Livia Magina (Volume editor)

Florin Nicolae Ardelean is a researcher at Babes‚-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. His research interests include late medieval and early modern history, military history, social history, and the history of higher education. Liviu Cîmpeanu is a researcher at the Romanian Academy – Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities Sibiu. His research interests include political and military history in the late medieval and early modern times, administrative history, juridical history, history of the Transylvanian Saxons, German and Latin paleography, and source editions. Romulus Gelu Fodor is a researcher at Babes‚-Bolyai University and a history teacher at George Cos‚buc National College from Cluj Napoca. His research interests include early modern and modern history, legal history, medieval institutions, early modern Transylvanian institutions, and social history. Livia Magina is a researcher at Museum of Highland Banat, Resita. Her research interests include late medieval and early modern history of Transylvania and Banat, social and administrative history, and history of writing.

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Title: From Medieval Frontiers to Early Modern Borders in Central and South-Eastern Europe
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332 pages