10th Century

This paper is dealing with the exile of the bishop of Utrecht due to the Viking attacks on Utrecht in 857. The bishop first fled to Sint-Odiliënberg where he got a little monastry dedicated to Saint-Peter. In the 880's he moved to Deventer and it was onlu in circa 925 that bishop Balderic moved back to Utrecht. Why did the exile take so long, that's the major issue dealt with in this article.

En 1906, est découverte sur l’île de Groix une tombe viking. C’est aujourd’hui encore le principal témoignage archéologique d’une époque, le Xe siècle, où la Bretagne faillit devenir une deuxième Normandie. Pendant une vingtaine d’années, de 913 à 936, la Bretagne se retrouve sans ses élites politiques et religieuses, dominée par des Scandinaves en passe de la coloniser.

The paper provides an attempt of a comprehensive reconstruction of the absolute chronology of Rurikid’ polity in the first half of the 10th century, its historical geography and territorial organization during this period. Separately, is made an attempt to recreate the model of the social structure of communities of Rus’ in the first half – the middle of the 10th century by simultaneous written sources in a comparison with the data of first Russian chronicles.
The paper substantiates that the Rurikid’s polity was created in the half a century between the conventional 910 and 960 years. Geographically this polity consisted of two of nuclear territories — the «southern» around Kiev and the «northern» around Novgorod, around which had been formed the zones for racketeering by Rus’. Rus’ was quite homogeneous society in which varied hereditary and acquired individual status, but had not yet been established rigid social hierarchy. It was a militant political community with a hereditary position of its leader (ruler). By the middle of the 10th century there was an allocation of the princely family of Rurikids as a conical ruling clan.

The examination of burial customs in the 10th-11th centuries in Transylvania, Crişana and Banat has almost no tradition. Beside the works of Gyula László written during World War II (in which he could only examine the phenomena of the Cluj-Napoca-Zápolya Street cemetery),  no one has dealt with burial customs extensively. The Hungarian scientific literature slowly lost interest in the problem of the Transylvanian conquest, and consequently no one treated burial customs to any great depth. Romanian archaeology has pursued two goals: to prove the Daco-Romanic continuity  and the existence of the Romanian, pre-Hungarian knezates in Transylvania, Banat and Crişana.  Therefore, the presentation and the analysis of burial customs in the 10th-11th centuries in Transylvania, Banat and Crişana have not been the subject of any study to date.  We will analyse these phenomena in a territory referred to by these names: Transylvania, Banat and Crişana. Our purpose is to compare the burial customs of these well individuated regions. The latter two show very similar elements in the 10th-11th centuries, contrasted with Transylvania, which, as we will see, possesses markedly different burial features and elements. We might say that in this period in Transylvania the different burial customs co-existed, which emphasises the polycultural character of this region.

An analysis of the early Přemyslid realm provides an opportunity for recognizing the importance of different factors involved in the formation of stable social structures in the early medieval "regnum". The modern historiographical narrative emphasizes the importance of violence, where the Přemyslid princes and their powerful retinues imposed princely will on elites and freemen in Bohemia and Moravia. However, as this book demonstrates through the comparative analysis, the evidence of assumed powerful cavalry armies in service of the prince (and thus the role of the violence in the processes of the establishment of the early principalities) is problematic and of greater importance seem to be the communication between prince, elites and church.
Furthermore, an analysis of “otherness” in Saxon chronicles and a comparison of different traditions of St. Wenceslas and Great Moravia reveals the importance of the “Identitätsbildung”-process and “ideology” as stabilising factors in the new Přemyslid "regnum".

This article presents the first annotated English translation and edition of the Tibetan text of the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa, chapter 5, whose original Sanskrit is to be considered lost. The Introduction contains a primary analysis of contents and aims of the chapter, together with general observations on the epoch and compositional style of the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa. It is suggested that the text is probably a 10 th century explanatory handbook of Bhāviveka’s Tarkajvālā for beginner students. Chapter 5, in particular, relying strongly upon the “two truths” dialectics, focuses on how students can consistently respond to the main objections opponents used to raise against the Madhyamaka standpoint.

Contents
10TH AND 11TH CENTURY BURIAL SITES, STRAY FINDS AND TREASURES IN THE TRANSYLVANIAN BASIN, THE PARTIUM AND THE BANAT
IX.1. The geography of the Transylvanian Basin, the Partium and the Banat
IX.2. List of the 10th–11th century cemeteries, stray fi nds and treasures in the Transylvanian Basin, the Partium
and the Banat
IX.3. A historical review of the research of the cemeteries, stray finds and treasures of the 10th–11th centuries in the regions of the Transylvanian Basin, the Partium and the Banat
IX.4. The evaluation of the archaeological research of the 10th–11th centuries in archaeology IX.4.1. The evaluation of the Hungarian Conquest and its directions in Transylvania in the archaeological publications. The Hungarian Conquest and the concept of Hungarians in the archaeological publications
IX.4.2. Cemeteries: the remains of the Hungarian Conquest, opinions on the burial places in literature
IX.5. Analysis of the burial customs
IX.5.1. On the general characteristics of burial customs
IX.5.2. On the sizes of cemeteries
IX.5.3. The topographical location of the cemeteries
IX.5.4. Graves
IX.5.5. The problem of the continuation of 10th century burial rites into the 11th century
IX.5.6. Conclusions
IX.6. The analysis of the material culture of the 10th–11th century cemeteries, stray finds and treasures. The relative chronological system of the 10th–11th century cemeteries
IX.6.1. Elements of dress and/or of fashion
IX.6.2. Weapons
IX.6.3. Articles of personal use
IX.6.4. Horse equipment
IX.6.5. Pottery
IX.6.6. Coins
IX.7. The material culture of the 10th–11th century and the issues connected to continuity and discontinuity .
IX.8. The chronological system of the cemeteries, stray fi nds and treasures of the 10th–11th centuries. The issues connected to the relationship of the 9th–10th century horizons of the finds
IX.9. On the gender characteristics of inventories of the 10th‒11th century burials in short
IX.9.1. On child burials in short
IX.10. Conclusions
IX.10.1. The occupation of the territory. Populations in the 10th century Transylvania, Partium and Banat
IX.10.2. A social model as it is supposed: the 10th century „Hungarian” social model
IX.10.3. Possible military and political centers in the Transylvanian Basin, the Partium and the Banat.
Landscape, topography and hierarchy: the conquerors and the conquered
IX.10.4. ‘Border zones’ and crossroads
IX.10.5. The 10th–11th century cemetery types
IX.10.6. The quantities of (precious) metal in the cemeteries
IX.10.7. The issue of 10th–11th century graves and the spread of Christianity
IX.10.8. Conclusions

X.1. Rövidítés- és irodalomjegyzék
X.2. List of the fi gures and the plates
X.3. Képek és táblák forrásjegyzéke/Bibliography of the sources of the fi gures and the plates

One of the classic inventory pieces of the burials with horses are the stirrups, which signals the existence of a saddle in the grave, form a significant number of the material culture of the 10th century and
the first quarter of the 11th century. The article aims to examine stirrups in a more complex way covering
all the elements of the body of the stirrup. It means the analysis of both functional and technological
details.
Our analysis is regional, but by this we would like to draw attention to the fact that a more complex
analysis of stirrup finds might cast light to several connections that could not have been noticed by earlier
studies due to their methods.

The article presents the results of research in 2019-2020 of the 10th century settlement on a multi-layered hillfort near the village of Spitsino (4th -5th, 10th centuries). The monument is located at a considerable distance from the main river routes in the region, which excludes its relationship with the Upper Oka section of the Don trade route in the 9th -10th centuries. A significant part of the finds discovered during exploration 2019, are of Northern European origin and date back to the mid. - 2nd half 10th century. There are also a few finds related to steppe antiquities. According to the materials of the excavations, the buildings of two construction periods are identified. The ceramic complex of buildings of the early construction period is represented by fragments of stucco vessels of the Romaine type and redeposited fragments of vessels of the 4th - 5th century. Fragments of early vessels made on a potter's wheel dating from the second half of the 10th century are found in the ceramic complex of the late construction period. Thus, the monument can be attributed to the period of the middle - second half of the 10th century. This period until recently represented a chronological lacuna in the period of Slavic colonization of the region.

The paper deals with the sources of the Primary Chronicle and Novgorodian First Chronicle in their accounts of Rus’ history «beginning» («поча ся прозывати Руская земля», «начало Рускои земли»). Special attention pays to the discrapancy in the dates 6360/852 or 6362/854 years and these entries content variety.

👁‍ Staromaďarské srdcovité šperky z Bánova
● Boncové (1960)
● včasný stredovek (10. storočie)
● kultúra starých Maďarov


Vo východnej časti katastra obce Bánov sa nachádzajú nízko položené lúky, ktoré ešte v polovici 20. storočia zasahovala inundácia rieky Žitavy a blízkeho potoka Tormáš. V tejto polohe známej medzi obyvateľmi ako „Boncové lúky“ vyčnievala nad okolitý terén pozdĺžna sprašová vyvýšenina, popri ktorej svahu sa tiahla plytká priehlbina. Miesto zaujalo pozornosť archeológov natoľko, že na ňom v roku 1960 uskutočnil zisťovací výskum K. Sedlák (Archeologický ústav SAV v Nitre), ktorý zdokumentoval stopy osídlenia z neolitu, hroby zo staršej doby bronzovej, i časť nekropoly s 18 inhumačnými hrobmi z obdobia 10. storočia.

Cenné poznatky k móde a odievaniu príslušníkov staromaďarských kmeňov sídliacich na južnom Slovensku prinieslo odkrytie jedného z tzv. výklenkových hrobov (6/60), kde bola pochovaná žena vo vystretej polohe na chrbte. Jej nohy boli v kolenách čiastočne pokrčené do strany, najskôr kvôli nedostatku miesta vo vykopanom výklenku hrobovej jamy. V rámci inventára hrobu vyniká súprava 18 dvojdielnych visiacich bronzových kovaní s fixovanou štvorcovou hornou časťou, ku ktorej je zospodu pomocou uška voľne pripevnený prelamovaný srdcovitý závesok. Im podobné exempláre sú známe z iných pohrebísk v Karpatskej kotline, kde sa vyskytli vo formách pripomínajúcich list, slzu či soviu hlavu. Povrch niektorých záveskov nesie stopy jemného postriebrenia, čo poukazuje na vyšší spoločenský status zomrelej. Vzhľadom na ich veľkosť, množstvo a najmä intaktný nálezový kontext je zrejmé, že išlo o kovové aplikácie, ktoré spredu skrášľovali lem typického vrchného odevu nomádskych spoločenstiev – kaftanu, a to v súvislom rade od pása až k hrudníku. Golier ženskej košieľky tvorila garnitúra 35 okrúhlych bronzových lisovaných nášiviek, ku ktorým bolo pripevnených 15 kusov bronzových listovitých príveskov. Tieto šperky mohli byť umiestnené na koženom či textilnom pásiku, ktorý sa zvykol prišiť na golier do výstrihu takým spôsobom, aby boli ozdoby viditeľné aj po oblečení kaftanu.

Charakteristické artefakty kultúry starých Maďarov sa v novozámockom regióne našli napríklad aj pri výskumoch pohrebísk z 10. a 11. storočia v katastroch obcí Nesvady, Dvory nad Žitavou a tiež v Zemnom, osade Gúg.

Časť inventára hrobu je vystavená v archeologickej expozícii Múzea Jána Thaina v Nových Zámkoch.

• štvorcové kovanie: 4,1 x 3,5 cm
• srdcovitý prelamovaný prívesok: 3,8 x 3 cm •

Literatúra / Irodalom: 
Točík, A. 1968 – Altmagyarische Gräberfelder in der Südwestslowakei. Bratislava 1968, 135 s.
Sudár, B. - Petkes, Zs. 2014 – A honfoglalók viselete. Magyar őstörténet I. Budapest 2014, 187 s.
Révesz, L. 2014 – A magyar honfoglalás kora : a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum állandó kiállítása. Budapest 2014, 120 s.
Kovács, L. 2015 – A Takta-köz 10.–11. századi sír- és szórványleletei, valamint a tiszalúc-sarkadi 11. századi temető. Szeged-Budapest 2015, 359 s.
Holeščák, M. 2016 – Pred šípmi Maďarov ochraňuj nás, Pane! : publikované online - 24.2.2016 - dostupné na HistoryWeb.sk

An early medieval burial site from 10th century provided anthropological material from the skeletal remains of nineteen adults with anthropological determination of sex in order to study the composition of their diet by means of the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bones. This serie contains 65,5% of all adults buried on the site. The isotope values point towards terrestrial diet with a relatively high proportion of millet. Although grave goods show differences in wealth, the low variability of the isotopic values suggests a homogenous diet of the whole population group. Isotopic values acquired from location situated in a close distance to Prague Castle were compared with those from burial sites within the castle complex and with those in its hinterland. The comparison points towards asocioeconomic gradient in the diet in comparison with the Prague Castle population, but in contrast to other series from the hinterlands of Přemyslid centres, Střešovice-Triangl shows above-average quality.

The first Great Princeps Álmos organized the monarchic state in the north region of the Black Sea c. 850. His political formation contained the population of a territorial unit governed by a souvereign power (with permanent institutions, centralization of supreme authority the ruling system had ideological basis, specialization of governmental roles with an official hierarchy), and as it had been established in the cultural community of the Eurasian steppe without using the post-Roman political tradition, it must be regarded as steppe-empire or steppe-state.
Álmos and his son Árpád conquered the Carpathian Basin, thus the Hungarian Great Principality represented the type of the Eurasian steppe empires in Central Europe from c. 862 until 1000. Then this early Hungarian state had been re-organized as a Christian Kingdom by Saint Stephen I, who was the 5th descendant of Álmos. Saint Stephen I as the last Great Prince (997–1000) and first King (1000–1038) of Hungary, joined the post-Roman Christian political system and cultural commonwealth of the Latin Europe.
The year of 1000 is only a symbolical date to separate two eras in the Hungarian past. But if we consider the political phenomena (the two types of the early Hungarian statehood and the way of transformation) in their complexity, there can be found important characteristic features which are in contradiction with each other. On the one hand the territory of the state and the dynastical legitimacy of the supreme power – and the dynasty itself – remained the same, the population remained the same, too (or at least its changes caused by immigrant groups were independent from the political/governmental changes). On the other hand, the royal legitimacy was completed by a new component: the Christian king could rule only “by the favour of God”, new dignities and institutions had been initiated and the elder ones could not survive. The new Hungarian state was established with the opposite forces of the continuity and innovations, as well.

"Beowulf" was written down In the years in which Anglo-Saxon culture was still present in Europe, and Pagan beliefs and customs were still part of everyday life. However, society was converting to Christianity at the time, and this was shown in the poem's plot, and in the many aspects of the story that clash with Paganism.

The subject of this article is the analysis of the characteristics, chronology, and distribution of sabretache plates, which were regarded as genuine Hungarian products from the beginning of the 10th century for about 150 years. Being one of the most iconic artefacts of the “funerary horizon” of the Hungarian Conquest Period in the Carpathian Basin, sabretaches and in particularly their decoration has been in constant attention of – especially Hungarian – archaeologists. Sabretache plates share similar characteristics within the vast areas of the Eastern Europe and the Carpathian Basin. Even so, rectangular openwork in the central part of the sabretache plate have been identified only in the Eastern Europe steppe region, with one single exception in the Carpathian Basin. The analysed items cannot be dated earlier than 920/930 in these areas, respectively the latest item not later than the last decades of the 10th century. Numerous fundamental questions have to be posed about the cause and character of the macro-regional distribution of sabretache plates across the Carpathian Basin, Scandinavia, the steppe region, and the Ural region. Analysing the associated inventories in funerary contexts from Scandinavia, Volga and the Cama region, steppe region, and the Carpathian Basin, a further cultural and economic link emerges between the respective macro-regions; i. e. the 10th century Arab dirhams. These items can be associated with long distance commerce.
In every single case, finding places of sabretache plates are located in the vicinity of the great Eurasian commercial roads, which highlights further the “international” character of these clothing accessories. This situation can only be explained through the presence of Arabic political and economic factor, and its relations with Khazar, Pecheneg and Viking networks of power, representing the existence of a complex system of communication channels.

The earthwork of Borsod on the castle hill lies on the bank of river Bódva in the town of Edelény 30 km North of Miskolc, North-East Hungary. Excavations were going on here from 1987 to 1999. Archaeological research has proved that ramparts strengthened by a wooden structure, serving as walls of the fortress, were built at the end of the 10th, or at the beginning of the 11th century, at the time of the foundation of the Hungarian State. The fortress functioned as the county town of the newly formed Borsod County of the new state. There was a Hungarian village in the 10th century on the castle hill before the building of the earthwork. This settlement burnt down and eleven houses destroyed by the fire were found. Under the ruins a great variety of archaeological finds came to light among which pottery has an overriding importance. More than 100 complete pots, intact or deformed, were found. Up to now only pots coming from graves could give information on contemporary Hungarian pottery technology. It is now the first time that there is possibility for analysis of ceramics of a closed collection from that period. Besides typological and chronological classifications of the pottery assemblage archaeometrical examinations are also being carried out in order to gain information on pottery making technology and possibly on trade relations. We hope that our results will help to complete our present knowledge on pottery technology of the Hungarians of the 10 th century.
53 samples chosen from the pottery assemblage through macroscopic examinations were examined by petrographic (polarising) microscope and X-ray powder diffraction (XPD). The aim of the petrographic study was to classify ceramics on the basis of fabric and, where possible, to identify the origin of temper. Tempering material dominantly consists of quartz (monocrystalline quartz, policrystalline quartz, quartz with undulatory extinction) and feldspar (K-feldspar, plagioclase), and low grade metamorphic lithofragments. In addition to this, mica (muscovite), sedimentary (radiolarite, argillaceous rock fragments) and magmatic (extrusive rocks, felsitic quartz, fissure filling chalcedony) lithofragments were found in small quantities. Tourmaline, epidote, amphibole, pyroxene, biotite and opaque minerals appear as accessories. There are few ceramics that contain carbonate or carbonatized temper or that have got a black clay matrix related probably to a clay rich in organic matter. Most ceramics have got hiatal fabric with few exceptions of serial fabric. XPD was applied in order to identify clay matrix and new mineral phases produced by secondary refiring (conflagration). Clay matrix consists of mica (~10Å) type mineral(s). Analysis of temper proved the microscopical observations (quartz and feldspar).
To sum up, it can be stated that temper of ceramics is mostly polimict (metamorphic, magmatic and sedimentary), and a little part of it is monomict (granitoid magmatic). Such a varied composition of rock fragments suggests that the area of provenance was the gathering ground of river Bódva that have got a complex geology. It can be detected that some samples were exposed to a conflagration.

Dušan Třeštík has recently presented a new solution to the problems connected to
the beginning of the Prague bishopric. He pointed out that contradictory reports
do not have to exclude one another and are instead proof of a pragmatic historical
source. However, it is not possible to agree with Třeštík´s reconstruction of the
exact events.
The first incongruence is that Duke Henry II. could not lobby Emperor
Otto II in favor of Boleslav II after mid-974 when he fell into disfavor with the
emperor. If he had lobbied earlier, however, as the rather reliable Otloh says, it
would mean that opposition came from someone else: Regensburg Bishop Wolfgang,
who was supported by Passau Bishop Pilgrim. This corresponds with the
"chronology" contained in his Vita. Trdtik claims that Emperor Otto 1 agreed with
Boleslav's plan. But in this case, the emperor could have forced Wolfgang to agree
to the election capitulation as he had earlier in Magdeburg. If Wolfgang did not
agree, then the emperor could not have either. Therefore, some other convincing
narrative has to be attempted.
The initiative for the creation of a new diocese really did originate in Prague,
probably during the reign of Boleslav 1. While Pope John XIII agreed, the Czech
initiative crashed into the resistance of Regensburg bishops Michael and Wolfgang,
who were supported by Passau Bishop Pilgrim and even the intervention of
Bavarian Duke Henry II at the court of Emperor Otto 1 and later at the court of his
eponymous son were of no use. At the beginning of June, Henry II began his revolt
and Boleslav II and his brother-in-law Mesek joined him. Boleslav probably wanted
to support their efforts to create a new bishopric. This would be proved by the fact that while Henry surrendered in September 97 4, Boleslav continued fighting
another year during which he may have sacked the Passau bishop's lands. Only at
the beginning of 976 was the first Prague bishop Thietmar named with the blessing
of the emperor and Wolfgang, as Otloh described.
What, therefore, is the role of Pope Benedict and emperor Otto I as mentioned
in the charter DH IV. 390 and by Cosmas? This must be based on the fact
that St. Adalbert was involved in the entire affair and that this was a mysterious
union of the Prague and Moravian bishoprics. Then it was not Otto I, but his son
and the pope was Benedict VII. These three personalities could have met one
another in Italy.
Whether Boleslav I and his sons only wanted to found a new bishopric in
Prague is explained by Pilgrim's Forgery. In this document, a Moravian bishopric
subordinate to Passau appears. This would mean, however, that Pilgrim principally
had nothing against Boleslav's plans because he considered Moravia his domain
and Bohemia was not subordinate to him. If the premise that Pilgrim was against
the founding of a bishopric in Prague is true, this would mean that the Boleslav and
his sons wanted something larger, such as renewing the archbishopric in the traditions of Great Moravia and Methodius.

How does a renaissance come to an end? While the causes of the Carolingian renaissance (8th–9th century) and its cultural accomplishments are well documented, the cultural transformations that followed around 900, when Europe is hit by Viking and Magyar invasions, when the Carolingian empire collapses, and a feudal society is born, are still somewhat of a riddle. This collective work tackles the matter with a new methodology, presenting an abundance of manuscripts from the realms of the law, literature, history and even music. It describes a vibrant intellectual life embattled with a tormented social and political context, but surprisingly durable and dynamic.

10th century graves at Ferenc Szabo's farm (Nagyszenas). Remarks on war injuries in the Hungarian Conquest period
In the vicinity of Nagyszenas the first items were found  in August 1948 (or 1949) on a hilltop belonging to the east-west hillrange called Vaskapu. The owner of the farm, Ferenc Szabo, found in his courtyard some four meters southeast of the granary, a horse-burial dating from the 10th century. Based on the available data, the local museum (Szanto Kovacs Janos Museum, Oroshaza) conducted an excavation from 17 September to 8 October 2004, during which three graves were explored. Grave No.1 is of particular interest because the deceased man was severely injured on the head. The stirrup found in this grave suggest a date in the second half of the 10th century.   
During the excavation, three skeletons were found: two adults’ and one infant’s. In the first grave, a 45-55 year-old man’s skeleton was placed (with skull and postcranial bones). On the skull, multiple cuts were observed in three regions: on the frontal bone, on the mandible, and on the right external auditory meatus. The cuts were probably caused by axe. There is no trace of healing.
The present paper reviews the gravegoods, which are similar to those found at Nagyszenas, and discusses the contemporary burials of the surrounding region. The finds at nearby Vaskapu are especially relevant, since at this site the early graves had been cleared before new ones were dug during the 11th century, a date which is suggested by the coins of king Salamon (1063-1074) associated with the new burials. The skeletons lying in the earlier graves still had muscles and sinews on them when they were thrown out of their original position into a nearby trench. Even though the phenomena observed at the two sites near Nagyszenas are not exactly identical and are not necessarily connected to each other, they both indicate some kind of violence, which seems to be unique in the region. The event underlying the anthropological evidence found in Grave No.1 might have been of purely local nature without any wider political significance. We can arrive at a more accurate interpretation of the find only after the full publication and anthropological re-examination of other finds in the region.

Tenth-century Burgundy - may it be the duchy ruled by the Western Frankish Kingdom, or the independent kingdom - is one of the territories belonging to the Carolingian successor states with the most limited number of written sources. If we take this fact into consideration, it is quite surprising that many traces of the Hungarian incursions have been preserved. It was the Hungarian-tradition of the Burgundian monastery of Tournus which inspired Szabolcs Vajay' concept of the alleged alliance between the Carolingians and the Magyar tribes. The theory found no reception in French history writing, where the image of the Hungarian incursions is shaped by the sometimes ill-founded criticism towards written sources. The paper examines the military campaigns to Burgundy, presents the questions of historiography and comments on some of the debated problems of chronology. I point out that the Hungarians could not have been in Burgundy as early as 911 (as recent historiography often states). The annals only claim that this year the Magyar raiders crossed the Rhine, and, staying close to the river, plundered the the vicinity of Mayenfeldgau and Ahrgau in Lotharingia, the area of the Neuwider Basin. The widely accepted date of the first incursion to Burgundy (913) does not seem to be certain either: on the basis of a more thorough analysis of the annals it is more probable that the Hungarians appeared in Burgundy the first time in 917.

This paper proposes the edition and commentary of several rolls of the dead from the 9-10th c., hitherto unpublished. They contribute to a better understanding of this literary genre in the Early Middle Ages. The two first rolls were copied in ms. BNF latin 13351 and come from the abbeys of Saint-Denis and Prüm. Their preamble is their most interesting feature, since only a handful of early medieval rolls, most of them having been copied in formularies, have preserved their preamble. The Saint-Denis roll is stylistically similar to the few other known preambles, all of them copied in ms. BNF, latin 11379. The Prüm roll, on the contrary, is a very original piece. It gives new evidence of the connections between Prüm and West Francia through the End of the Carolingian period. Moreover, it is written in a mannered and convoluted latin, which draws its inspiration from the works of Aldhelm of Malmesbury. Rolls such as this one were obviously part of the cultural competition between monasteries. On another hand, ms. BNF, latin 1597a, has preserved several answers to mortuary rolls, that were copied in it as a formulary. All of these answers come from where they were copied : Rheims, mostly the abbey of Saint-Remy, and date back to the first half of the 10th century. These texts make reference to the young archbishop Hugo, son of Herbert II of Vermandois, and to the frater hospitalis Giso, attested by other sources. These references make it possible to date these pieces in the 920s, shortly after Herbert’s seizure of power in Rheims, thus confirming B. Bischoff’s palaeographical datation.

10th century Hungarian incursions reached the western ends of the dissolving Carolingian Europe, thus the the territory of Burgundy too. There are only a handful of quite taciturn contemporary sources about these military campaigns, while the incursions appear sometimes much more pronounced in the local remembrance during the later centuries of the Middle Ages. In the past decades French historians - in the case of Burgundy Hervé Mouillebouche - tend to deny the credibility of these traditions. By arguing with Mouillebouche I claim that Flodoard's account from 935 about the Magyar incursion into Burgundy refers not only to the Kingdom of Burgundy, but also to the Duchy of Burgundy, which was part of the Western Frankish Kingdom. Relying on Flodoard's account, I refute Szabolcs Vajay's theory, which claims that the Hungarians ravaged the Duchy of Burgundy during their grand campaign in 937 as allies of the Carolingians. Finally, by comparing the somewhat later local written traditions with  contemporary accounts, I claim that these traditions bear witness to the Hungarians actually ravaging many religious institutions of the area. By projecting the late traditions on map, I conclude that the the dwellers of the Saone-valley doubtlessly suffered the appearance of the Hungarians.

The eleventh-century historiography of the monastery of Reichenau preserved some exclusive information on the early decades of the tenth-century, linking early Swabian annalistic traditions to the late medieval German universal chronicles. Hermann von Reichenau states that in 902 the Hungarian intruders were defeated by the Moravians. Although there is an entry for the year 902 in the Monza manuscript of the Annales Alamannici about a Hungarian victory in Moravia, this entry probably should be for year 905 rather than for year 902. Thus, we can accept Reichenau’s account. In the course of the centuries, some passages of the Reichenau historiography – which originally might have referred to the Hungarian attacks – have been interpreted within the context of the Hun invasions. In this form, they have become essential parts of the identity of the Buchau and Basel monasteries. The dramatic story of the brothers, whose endeavour to abduct their sister from the monastery of Buchau resulted in their death in a skirmish, found its way to Hermann’s Chronicon through annalistic and possibly oral sources as well. The violent death of the brothers was soon attributed to the Hungarians, not irrespective of the fact that it also happened in 902. The narrative was later connected by late medieval authors to the Huns and Charlemagne, who were more significant for the medieval cultural memory. Relying on an entry in the Annales Sancti Albani Moguntini, Hungarian scholars used to date the Hungarian destruction of Basel to 21 January, 917. However, it is without doubt that the month and the day of the attack were misunderstood by the redactor of the Annales, which is ultimately based on Hermann’s Chronicle. Since no tenth-century account informs us about the catastrophe, and the story is also absent from the medieval historiography of Basel, Hermann’s report on the devastation of the episcopal see remains questionable. The narrative of the destruction is not supported by the archaeological survey of the former cathedral church, the Münster of Basel either. The death of Bishop Rudolf, who according to his epitaph was killed by the pagans, cannot be definitively blamed on the Hungarians.

Budapesten rendezett nemzetközi Szentkorona tanácskozásra. Kovács Éva, A magyar koronázási jelvényegyüttes kutatásának hat éve című cikkében (Művészettörténeti Értesítő 6. 1986) a következőt írja: "Kivételes hely illeti meg a konferencia anyagából David Buckton referátumát. Ő a tanácskozás előtt megtekinthette a koronát, hogy feldolgozhassa sajátosan a középkori zománc technikai szempontú vizsgálatára irányuló rendszerében… Referátumában igen minuciózus megfigyelésekről számolt be a korona felsőzománclapjait illetően." A referátum megjelent az Insignia Regni Hungariae I című kiadványban. A címe: Vorläufige Ergebnisse einer optischen Untersuchung des Emails der Krone. Feltűnő, hogy a korona kutatók nagyrésze (főleg a történészek, akik szinte kizárólag) csak a korona alsó részével foglalkoztak és foglalkoznak napjainkban is. Ezzel szemben Buckton hozzáértése pont abban nyilvánult meg, hogy ő csak a keresztpánt zománcképeivel foglalkozott. Meglepő módon a magyar Szent Korona zománcképeinek technikai megoldásairól soha nem jelent meg igényesebb magyar nyelvű összefoglaló. Ez alól David Buckton kivétel, akinek az írását, itt magyarul a saját magyarázatommal összekötve közlöm.

Roman historians developed a tradition of placing ethno graphic information into their works. The “Other” was an everyday reality of the Roman state. With its expansion more nations came into its orbit and thus to the attention of its writers. Arabs were among many others whom the Romans confronted. The position of the Arabs changed rapidly since the emergence of Islam in the 7th century. From a peripheral nation they became the major superpower in the East. The Roman/Byzantine perception did change due to various factors, such as the emergence of new religion as well as military expansion of the newly founded Arab state. It was in this period when ethnographic tradition under went a major transformation. Ethnography was in decline with snippets of information throughout literary works instead of vast descriptions of the “Other” as known in antiquity. Merging the snippets, however, a more coher ent image may occur. The aim of this paper is to look on the ethnographic information about Arabs in three literary works of the 10th century Byzantium – the Taktika, De administran do imperio and History of Leo the Deacon. Arabs will be analysed under the scope of elements that affected Byzantine perception on them – religion, military, and ethnic stereotypes. With the analysis I intend not only to gain a more coherent picture about the ethnographic perception of the Arabs in Byzantium, but also the differ ence of the perception among its various social classes.