https://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/issue/feedHistorical Studies on Central Europe2024-07-24T10:55:42+00:00Judit KLEMENT and Balázs NAGYhsce@btk.elte.huOpen Journal Systems<p><em>Historical Studies on Central Europe</em> (HSCE) is a double-blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University. HSCE is a new historical periodical which considers the yearbook <em>Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestinensis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae Sectio Historica</em> as its first series. Between 1957 and 1993, this earlier series was published by the same university in French, English, German, and Russian (issues are available at the following link: <a href="https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/handle/10831/44176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/handle/10831/44176</a>), with prominent historians on its editorial board. Whilst the <em>Sectio Historica</em> was attached to the Institute of History, it was decided that HSCE should be launched by the Doctoral School of History. According to its multidisciplinary character, HSCE is dedicated for contributions from various fields of historical scholarship in a broad, interdisciplinary spirit, including ethnology and archaeology.</p> <p>In accordance with its name, the journal focuses on the history of Central Europe: a region of crossroads and meeting points, where throughout the centuries diverse ethnic groups, confessions, traditions, and political entities have interacted in a very special way. As the definition of the region varies by age and discipline—it may mean the Habsburg Empire, the territory ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea, or from German-speaking areas to the Balkans—, HSCE offers a forum for reflective interpretations of this region. Besides studies that specifically address the region’s history, the editors welcome papers that bear methodological and/or theoretical relevance to the study of historical processes.</p> <p>According to the editorial board’s concept, each issue consists of three to five thematic blocks, with two to four studies in each. The HSCE is also open to publish individual papers. The editors are committed to establish a review column with shorter and featured book reviews, as well as review articles critically approaching recent scholarly publications. Furthermore, we aim to publish regular reports on current research projects for disseminating information about ongoing projects in Central Europe.</p> <p>HSCE intends to build an interdisciplinary platform for enhancing the dialog and disseminating new findings on Central Europe, a region, whose research results have limited circulation in international scholarship due to language barriers, and in addition, research is heavily influenced by national narratives. This aim is supported by the fact that HSCE is an open-access journal published twice a year and is available in both printed and online formats.</p>https://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8469Content2024-07-24T10:41:03+00:002024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 https://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8141Modelling Christianisation: A Geospatial Analysis of the Archaeological Data on the Rural Church Network of Hungary in the 11th–12th Centuries. By Mária Vargha.2024-04-01T18:54:36+00:00Bernát Ráczraczbernat@gmail.com2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Bernát Ráczhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8143Christianization in Early Medieval Transylvania. The Oldest Church in Transylvania and its Interpretation. Edited by Daniela Marcu Istrate, Dan Ioan Mureşan, and Gabriel Tiberiu Rustoiu.2024-04-03T05:26:17+00:00András Ribiribiandris@gmail.comPéter Galambosigalambosi.peter@abtk.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 András Ribi, Péter Galambosihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8116Der Thurzo-Kodex – eine einzigartige Quelle zum europäischen Bergrecht und Münzwesen um 1500. Edited by Miroslav Lacko and Erika Mayerová.2024-03-26T12:43:15+00:00István Draskóczydraskoczy.istvan@btk.elte.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 István Draskóczyhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8228Stadt im Wandel / Towns in Change. Der Donau-Karpatenraum im langen 18. Jahrhundert / The Danube-Carpathian Area in the Long 18th Century. Edited by Mathias Beer, Harald Heppner, and Ulrike Tischler-Hofer. 2024-05-07T08:30:54+00:00Mária Lengyellengyel.maria@btk.elte.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Mária Lengyelhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8229Prosperität und Repräsentation. Facetten des Aufschwunges im Donau-Karpatenraum (1718–1914). Edited by Harald Heppner.2024-05-07T08:34:25+00:00Gábor Ambrózyambrozy.gabor.gyorgy@kre.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Gábor Ambrózyhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8196The Life and Death of States. Central Europe and the Trans-formation of Modern Sovereignty. By Natasha Wheatley. 2024-04-25T14:44:47+00:00Imre Tarafástarafas.imre@btk.elte.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Imre Tarafáshttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8224Rechtsgeschichte und Volksbräuche (Ausgewählte Studien). By Ernő Tárkány Szücs. Edited by Janka Teodóra Nagy and Szabina Bognár.2024-05-07T07:34:33+00:00Judit Beke-Martosjudit.beke-martos@rub.deStephan Koloßalaw@kolossa.info2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Judit Beke-Martos, Stephan Koloßahttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8230The Past 80 years of Hungarian Minority2024-05-07T08:38:39+00:00Renáta Paládipaladi.renata92@gmail.com2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Renáta Paládihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8225The Rise of Comparative History. Edited by Balázs Trencsényi, Constantin Iordachi, and Péter Apor.2024-05-07T07:38:05+00:00Nóra Szigethynoraa.szigethy@gmail.com2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Nóra Szigethyhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8223Hungary’s Cold War: International Relations from the End of World War II to the Fall of the Soviet Union. By Csaba Békés.2024-05-07T07:25:05+00:00Gusztáv Kecskés D.kecskes.gusztav@abtk.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Gusztáv Kecskés D.https://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7430Epic Songs in Árpádian Age Hungary2024-02-26T07:11:01+00:00Balázs Sudársudar.balazs@abtk.hu<p class="p1">While there is no direct evidence of epic singers in the Hungarian Conquest period, their presence and activity can nevertheless be posited on the strength of indirect evidence. Epic songs in Hungarian are known from the later fifteenth century, while the chronicles mention certain epic songs from the late twelfth century. Some of these epic songs celebrated the Conquest period and its events, and it seems unlikely that these songs were inspired by written sources and were, in this sense, secondary. The Hungarian expression <em>énekmondás</em> [song-speaking] is expressly archaic and has its parallels in Turkic languages. Cobza, the name of the musical instrument used by epic singers as accompaniment (Hung. <em>koboz</em>) is likewise rooted in the Turkic world and is a legacy of the pre-Conquest period, similarly to the designation of the performers as fiddlers.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Balázs Sudárhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7346An Alternative Proposal Explaining the Origin of the Word and Social Group ‘Székely’2024-02-12T08:33:28+00:00Tamás Keszikeszitamas@gmail.com<p class="p1">The word ‘Székely’ or ‘Szekler’ was formed from the Hungarian verb <em>szökik</em> (jump, move fast, escape, run away) using the suffix ‘-l/ly’ creating deverbal nouns. The original meaning of the word is fast-moving (person), fugitive, or runaway. The formation of the social group began in the eleventh century. The process was brought about the establishment of the landlord system and frequent wars which led to the escapes and ‘wanderings’ of slaves and free people coerced into bondage. The refugees mainly settled in the sparsely populated border region, where the institutional vacuum offered them favourable conditions to avoid the control of the feudal state. Here, the groups of different ethnic origins acquired a unified identity. We can understand the process of the formation of the community by using the conceptual frameworks of ‘unintended <span class="s1">consequences, self-organization, spontaneous order, and exaptation.’ The spontaneous process may </span>have been replaced by the conscious organizational efforts of the Hungarian kings only around 1100. This was followed by the first mention of the Székelys in the Battle of Olšava in 1116.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Tamás Keszihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8403Absence and Presence2024-06-10T06:53:46+00:00Martin Bauchmartin.bauch@me.comAndrás Vadasvadas.andras@btk.elte.hu2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Martin Bauch, András Vadashttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7981The Black Death in the Kingdom of Hungary2024-05-03T13:50:07+00:00András Vadasvadinka86@gmail.com<p class="p1">Western scholarship has studied the mid-fourteenth-century cataclysm of the Black Death for centuries. In contrast, due to the limited number of contemporary narrative sources, in East Central Europe, until recently historians discussed it only marginally. In the past decades, not independent of the emergence of new methods, such as archaeogenetics and palynology, and novel approaches to studying the Black Death such as climate and environmental history, scholars have increasingly turned to the analysis of the multiple waves of the second plague pandemic in this region. Recent studies have drawn attention to the apparent lack of data on the Black Death in the region while pointing to the potential role of the later waves, such as the <em>pestis secunda</em> and <em>tercia, </em>as well as later medieval and early modern recurrences of the epidemic in the historical demography of Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary. The paper provides an overview of the written evidence of the Black Death in Hungary and publishes <em>in extenso</em> some of the most important documentary evidence of the episodes of the epidemic in the Kingdom of Hungary. It argues that, unlike in the case of Bohemia and Poland, the first wave of the plague can be relatively well pursued by a critical analysis of the written evidence.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 András Vadashttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8092Late Medieval Plague Waves in in Eastern Germany and Bohemia2024-05-02T07:58:14+00:00Martin Bauchmartin.bauch@leibniz-gwzo.deChristian Oertelchristian.oertel@leibniz-gwzo.de<p class="p1">This paper aims to enhance our knowledge about late-medieval epidemic outbreaks in specific parts of Eastern Central Europe. The first part on modern-day Eastern Germany discusses narrative evidence and its use in the current research on plague history, before bringing in municipal records on testaments and conveyances from Görlitz and Stralsund for the reconstruction of seasonality and mortality rates, as well as funeral inscriptions and pictorial evidence from Erfurt as indirect indicators of plague waves. After a brief discussion of the scarce narrative sources, the second part of the paper concerning Bohemia works with the evidence of the <em>Libri Confirmationum</em>, a source originating from the chancellery of the archbishops of Prague. Every new appointment to a benefice was supposed to be approved by one of the vicars general of the archbishop, and this confirmation usually gives the reason for the vacancy. Expanding on Eduard Maur’s research, death statistics and their frequency are analyzed statistically. The paper provides insight into new evidence for the reconstruction of plague waves, mortality rates and seasonality, and thereby highlights the characteristics of the plague in Eastern Central Europe.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Martin Bauch, Christian Oertelhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8051Contemporary Perceptions of the Spread of the Plague in Central and Eastern Europe Following the Battle of Belgrade (1456)2024-03-15T08:50:23+00:00Igor Stamenovićigor.stamenovic@filfak.ni.ac.rs<p class="p1">The study examines contemporary perceptions of the emergence and spread of the plague in Central and Eastern Europe following the Battle of Belgrade in 1456. On one hand, the Battle of Belgrade represents a significant Christian victory in the conflicts with the Ottomans during the fifteenth century. Consequently, it was utilized in crusade-related propaganda discourse and perceived as a divine blessing for the anti-Ottoman crusade. On the other hand, some prominent figures such as John Hunyadi, John of Capistrano, and Serbian Despot George Branković died shortly after the event due to the outbreak of the plague during the battle. The research aims to explore how contemporary historical sources handled this duality between the sense of triumph and the plague outbreak. It provides an overview of the areas affected by the plague due to the movement of armies and the political and economic connections between different parts of East and Central Europe. The study investigates whether and to what extent reports of the plague from the region link the Battle of Belgrade to the outbreak of the disease. Additionally, it analyses fifteenth-century sources related to the battle itself. This segment of the research examines representations of the plague outbreak, particularly the infection and death of the aforementioned Christian leaders. The research focuses on how the discourse on the plague is interpreted in relation to narratives of heroism, martyrdom, and sainthood, addressing aspects of adaptation, marginalization, and the complete omission of mentions of the plague in these interpretations.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Igor Stamenovićhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8212Re-Evaluating the Eleventh Century through Linked Events and Entities2024-05-02T05:25:41+00:00Tara Andrewstara.andrews@univie.ac.atMárton Rózsamarton.rozsa@univie.ac.atKatalin Prajdakatalin.prajda@univie.ac.atLewis Readlewis.read@univie.ac.atAleksandar Anđelovićaleksandar.andjelovic@univie.ac.at<p class="p1">This report presents the aims and ongoing progress of the ERC-funded project “Re-Evaluating the Eleventh Century through Linked Events and Entities” (Grant #101002357). We introduce the rationale for the project and the innovative solution for recording historical data that we have developed, known as the STAR model. We then give details of the four case studies undertaken in the project, which will shed new light on the movement of people, the understanding of place and space, and the production of texts within and among Christian societies of the eleventh century. Through the work of this project, we hope to be able to represent, examine, and illustrate the multiplicity of perspectives and interpretations that arise in the history of a century that was so pivotal to the development of the modern Near East and Europe.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Tara Andrews, Márton Rózsa, Katalin Prajda, Lewis Read, Aleksandar Anđelovićhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8145On the Legal and Governmental History of the Principality of Transylvania2024-04-04T10:59:52+00:00Teréz Obornioborni.terez@abtk.hu<p class="p1"><span class="s1">History writing has already processed the political history of the Principality of Transylvania, clarifying many of its details. Nevertheless, the way state administration functioned, including the judiciary, is still very much a mystery, although understanding the framework of everyday life is vital in investigating past ages. </span></p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Teréz Obornihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7985The Union of the Estates in the Principality of Transylvania 2024-02-08T11:18:26+00:00Teréz Obornioborni.terez@abtk.hu<p class="p1">The paper briefly describes the basis of the constitution of the Principality of Transylvania, the union of Estates. Among the antecedents, it reviews the late medieval alliances of the Estates that were made by the nations <em>(nationes)</em> living in Transylvania, highlighting that the three ‘political nations’ were not nations or ethnicities in the modern sense, but rather were separated by their privileges and legal status. Based on Latin and Hungarian sources, the author reveals the covenants as renewed in the Articles of Law and emphasized that the concept of Union was broadened in the seventeenth century so that it no longer served only to support the unity of the state but also guaranteed the maintenance of the privileges of the Estates. The most precise interpretation of the Union was set out in the <em>Approbatae Constitutiones</em>, a collection of laws compiled in 1653.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Teréz Obornihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/8021Judicial Organization and the Sources of Decision-Making in Sixteenth-Century Transylvania2024-03-07T09:23:42+00:00Zsolt Bogdándizsbogdandi@yahoo.com<p class="p1">The paper describes the organization of the independent Transylvanian central court of law, the so-called Royal/Voivodal/Princely Table <em>(Tabula)</em> and its court of appeal, the court of personal presence <em>(personalis presentia)</em>, in the light of the modest secondary literature, dietary decisions, and archival sources. Manuscript and published sources of law referred to in the course of litigation in the Transylvanian Royal/Voivodal/Princely Table <em>(Tabula, Curia)</em> in the second half of the sixteenth century are also presented. Based on the analysed archival sources—mainly the various <em>allegationes</em> lawyers made—it may be concluded that different sources provided the grounds that were frequently given for the court decisions. The analysis of available sources shows that, besides the <em>Tripartitum</em>, which was mostly referred to, during the litigations lawyers generally used the laws of the Hungarian Kingdom, and that the <em>Decreta</em> of the Transylvanian diets and the Table judged some cases according to their own custom.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Zsolt Bogdándihttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7984Report on the Government of Transylvania, 16042024-02-14T07:37:12+00:00Petra Mátyás-Rauschmatyas-rausch.petra@abtk.hu<p class="p1">In the summer of 1604, the Transylvanian Council of Government, which had been formed shortly before, submitted a longer report to King Rudolf I of Hungary. They reported on the administration and financial situation of the newly pacified province of Transylvania. The most pressing issue, however, was the pay and maintenance of the mercenary corps stationed in Transylvania. Accordingly, the bulk of the report is devoted to discussing problems relating to the army. The report gives us an idea of how a Council of Government <em>(Regiment)</em> that had already been ‘tried and tested’ in the Austrian hereditary provinces functioned in Transylvania, and introduces the challenges members of the Council had to face.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Petra Mátyás-Rauschhttps://ojs.elte.hu/hsce/article/view/7986The Early Modern Székely Society from a Legal Historical Perspective2024-02-02T08:08:43+00:00Balázs Viktor Ráczracz.balazs.viktor@abtk.hu<p class="p1">The paper discusses the changes in Székely society during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The topic is presented from a legal historical perspective because the scholarly literature has either paid no substantial attention to the legal framework of the early modern era or failed to utilize the sources relevant for Székely society. By re-examining already known sources and analyzing new ones, i.e., judicial proceedings, testimonies, contract and personal letters, it appears that the main turning points of the history of Székely society have been misinterpreted in some aspects, and a series of new questions have emerged that are yet to be answered.</p>2024-07-24T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2024 Balázs Viktor Rácz