Medieval Trees and Modern Ecology. How to Handle Written Sources

Medieval Trees and Modern Ecology:
How to Handle Written Sources
Peter Szab6 (Budapest)
This essay, as the title suggests, will discuss medieval trees from an eco­ logical point of view.1 This might include the botanical and ecological study of living medieval trees (which are still common in Europe, although unevenly distributed).2 However, my main objective will be to outline how the principles of mode ecology affect the handling of medieval written sources, and how these principles give new dimensions to the interpretation of the sources. I shaU not examine these issues in general – in fact, no one in historical ecological studies should. For the most part, I shall discuss the implications of one speci c source type (perambulations) in medieval Hungary.
What, for a start, is mode ecology? There are many answers to this question; moreover, there is not one ecology but rather various ecologies. I cer­ tainly do not want to provide anything like an authoritative de nition.3 On a ba­ sie Ievel, ecology is „looking at nature from different perspectives.“4 For an historically minded researcher the more interesting perspectives are those that conce the interactions between people and nature. It is very important to un­ derstand that in ecology „nature“ is not „scenery“ – things that provide the background for the events.5 In effect, interactions are not the kind of Straight­ forward impacts that usually appear in historical books. Woodland, for example, is not simply cleared or managed. It has its own characteristics and behaviour.
1 The essay is a slightly modified version of my presentation at the Inte ational Medieval Con ess, Leeds, I0 July 2002.
2 There are thousands in England and also in Greece. Mediterranean Europe, in general, is rich in ancient trees. Oliver Rackham, Trees and Woodland in the Britislr Landscape (Lon­ don: Phoenix, 1990; revised 2″d edition); idem and Alfred Thomas Grove, e Nature of Mediterraneall Europe: An Ecological Histo ew Haven: Yale University Press, 2001). At present, it seems that there are fewer medievaltrees in the continental and eastem parts ofEurope.
3 A good starring point with essays on di erent branches of ecology is Stanley I.Dodson et al., Ecolo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). For historiography, see Anna B ­ weil, Ecolo in t e Twentietlr Centu : A Histo (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
4 This is the subtitle ofDodson’s essay in the above volume.
5 Oliver Rackham, Tlre Illustrated Histo oftlre Count side (London: Seven Dials, 2000),
7
15.
What people do in woods is only one of the many factors that comprise the his­ tory of woodland. Moreover, human actions rarely bring the kind of results that are expected from them. They often generate changes in woods that are not fully understood by people, are sinterpreted or left unrecorded, and thus, can only be studied through fieldwork.
Whatever methods ecology uses, it is very much dependent on mass data collection. It requires quantitative data, where each piece of information is com­ patible with all others. In mode ecology, this can be achieved relatively easily: Data is collected by the scientist himlherself rough experiments. In historical ecology, however, this is impossible. We have to use „sources,“ that is, infor­ mation that was created by someone eise for some other purpose. Arguably the biggest challenge in ecological studies about the past is to find datasets that are !arge enough and were made according to the same standards, so that they are compatible. lt is not enough to create a variable and nd references to it: the ref­ erences themselves must be si ilar. For example, heavy rains reported in the daily weather observations of a sixteenth-cen� scholar cannot be compared to heavy rains mentioned in twel h-century gesta.
Sources to study trees of the past may be of two kinds. On the one hand, there are the physical re ants of trees that once existed. Several methods have been developed to handle this material, such as pollen analysis, macro-botanical analysis, charcoal analysis, and dendrochronology.7 These research elds, how­ ever relevant, will not be the focus of the present paper. On the other hand, there are written sources, which, loosely interpreted, comprise written documents and pictorial evidence. It is possible to collect the kind of mass data needed for eco­ logical studies from both source types, although this may not seem quite so ob­ vious in the case of pictures.8 Written sources differ from coun y to country and from period to period, and so does their value for the historical ecologist. To go back to the previous example, the sixteenth- and twel h-century reports on heavy rains must not be compared, however, if the gesta is all that is available from the twel h century, one can still to interpret them.9
6 Rudo1fBrazdi1, „Historica1 c1imatology: definition, data, methods, resu1ts,“ Geografic ca­ sopis, 52 (2000): 99-121.
7 On pollen, see Peter D. Moore, Judith A. Webb, and Margaret E. Collinson, Pollen Analysis (Oxford: 81ackwell, 1991; 2″d edition). For macro-botanical analysis, see Ferenc Gyu1ai, Archaeobotanika [Archaeobotany) {Budapest: J6szöveg Mühely, 2001). Basic readings on dendrochrono1ogy are for ex p1e Marvin A. Stokes and Terah L. Smiley, An Introduc/ion to Tree-ring Dating (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1968); Yvonne Trehard, „Making Wood Speak: An lntroduction to Dendrochronology,“ Forest Abstracts, 43 (1982): 729- 759. A ve instructive book is M. G. L.Baillie, Tree-ring Dating and Archaeolo (Lon­ don: Croon, Helm, 1982).
8 Image Processing in History: Towards Open stems, ed. Ju j Fikfak and Gerhard Jaritz (St. Katharinen: Sc pta Mercaturae Verlag, 1993). For trees, see Car1 Adam H ggström, „Pollards in ,“ BotanicalJou al ofScotland, 46 (1994): 682-687.
9 Andrea Kiss, „Idöjäräsi adatok a XI-X . szazadi Magyarorszä 61“ [Data on weather from Hungary from the e1eventh and twel h centuries), in „‚Ma aroknak eleirol“ Ünnepi ta-
8
In the following, I shall concentrate on a written source type that was once (although not at the s e time) common all over the world om India to the United States.10 A perambulation (from Latin perambulatio, literally „walking around“) was a symbolic as well as a practical equivalent of mode maps.11 Whenever need arose- there was a con oversy, a new settlement was founded etc.- neighbouring people gathered, and in a supposedly Indo-European ritual, they walked around a certain piece of land and noted down its most conspicuous features, and they themselves made some new features. This practice disap­ peared in different periods in different countries. This essay discusses Hungary, where perambulations were carried out as late as the nineteenth century.12 I shall, however, conce myself only with medieval documents.13
As an example, let us examine the perambulation of B ag (Co. Vesz­ prem) from 1284: The rst boundary starts on the southe side of that s e land in a virgultum next to the big wood of the village called Verestow that be­ longs to the monastery of Almad, beside the public road that Ieads from Bilige in Durguche, at the place that is called Echefaya, where there are two bounda­ ries. Thence, proceeding right next to that great wood, in a way that one bound­ ary always exists on a Iarge ee om that wood, whereas another one in the vir­ gultum, by continuous double boundaries it goes straight towards the north. Leaving the surroundings of the aforementioned wood, it goes to a small piece of arable land that exists in the virgultum, where there are two boundaries, one in a shrub that is commonly called gerthan, the other in ea h on its weste side. From here proceeding directly in that virgultum, passing two boundaries it comes to another ancient wood of the aforementioned monastery, in whose southem co er there are two boundaries, one in a !arge oak-tree, the other in a
nulmimyok a hatvan esztendös Makk Ferenc tiszteletere [„Ancient Hungarians“ Studies in honour of the sixty-year-old Ferenc Makle), ed. Ferenc Piti (Szeged: Szegedi Közepkoräsz Mühely, 2000), 249-263.
1° From the rich material on different regions, see for example The Laws ofManu, . G. Bühler, in e Sacred Books ofthe East, ed. F. Max Müller, vol. 25 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886); Margaret Hasluck, The Unwritten Law in Albania (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954); Märta Belenyesy, „Le se ent sur Ia terre au moyen äge et ses tra­
11 ditionsposteneures en Hongrie,“ Acta Ethnographica, 4 (1955): 361-363.
Paul D. Harvey, The History ofTopographica/ Maps: Symbols, Pictures and Surveys (Lon­
12 don: ames and Hudson, 1980).
Early mode boundary-walks were studied by the ethno apher Lajos Takäcs i n his
Hatarjele hatarjaras afeudalis kor vegen Magyarorszagon [Boundary signs, perambula­ tions in Hungary at the end of the feudal period) udapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1987). The title is misleading for many: there was never a „feudal period“ in Hungary, yet the tradition is to use the te up until the mid-nineteenth century. The reason for this is that Hungary preserved a social structure seemingly similar to that of the Middle Ages until the reforms of the early 1800s. The ill-chosen title, nonetheless, has no relevance to the scholarly qual­ i of this book.
13 The Middle Ages in Hungary started around the year 1000 (the formation of the Christian kingdom) and ended 1526 (the battle of Mohäcs and the subsequent occupation of the southe parts of the country by the Ottomans).
9
s b. Thence it descends to an arable plot, and passing some boundaries it comes to an angularis boundary, which separates om the territory of the aforementioned Verustow and om the territory of Chepel, where there are two boundaries. Then it s to the east, and by continuous double boundaries it comes to a certain hill, next to which a bit her away there are two bounda­ ries, which separate from the territory of the aforementioned Chepel, and from the territory ofGatal, son ofPeter ofBalag. Thence ng back to the south, it comes directly to the wood of the sons of Peter, where there are three bounda­ ries, om where tuming along that wood it reaches a certain ancient tree that is commonly called magal, where there are three boundaries. From here, going right araund that wood, it enters a certain virgultum, and in that virgultum, be­ side the aforementioned wood, there are three boundaries. Thence tuming somewhat to the west, passing three boundaries, on a certain ancient road it leaves the virgu/tum and enters a meadow to three boundaries, of which one is in a shrub that is called mulchyn. Thence it goes to a certain nemus of plums be­ side the houses of the son of the aforementionedPeter and those of the sons of Gothalum, where there are three boundaries. Thence tuming somewhat towards the west, beside their village it comes to three boundaries, which directly face the church of the sons of the saidPeter andGothalum. From there, again leaving the su oundings of the son ofPeter beside the territory of the sons ofGotha]um somewhat tuming towards the east, it comes to a virgultum, at whose entrance there are three boundaries, of which one is in a small pear. Thence proceeding towards the east it comes to the aforementioned public road, which goes om
Bilege to Durguche, and by that road it retums to the place called Echefaya, where the first boundary started; and by these said borders and boundaries the aforementioned territory is distinct.14
14 Zala varme e törtenete. Okleveluir [A history of Co. Zala Charters], ed., lmre Nagy, Dezsö Veghely, and Gyula Nagy (Budapest: Franklin, 1886-1890), vol. 1, 94-95. 1284. „Prima meta incipit a parte meridionali eiusdem terre in virgulto iuxta ma am silvam ville monasterii de Almad Verustow vocate prope viam publicam per quam de villa Biligc itur in villam Durguche in loco qui Echefaya dicitur, ubi sunt due mete; et inde progrediendo iuxta eandem magnam silvam immediate, ita videlicet, quod una meta semper existit super ma a arbore de predicta silva, alia vero in virgulto cum continuis binis metis vadit directe pa e septem ionalem; transeundo autem vicinitatem predicte silve venit ad modicam terram arabilem in virgulto existentem, ubi sunt due mete, una in dumo vulgariter gerthan dicto, alia in terra iuxta eandem a parle occidentis; inde pro ediendo directe in eodem vir­ gulto inte ositis duabus metis venit ad aliam antiquam si1vam monasterii prenotati in cuius silve angulo me dionali sunt due mete, una in ma a arbore ilicis altera in dumo; inde de­ scendit terram arabilem et dir te eundo interpositis metis venit ad metam angularem que separat a terra predicte ville Verustow et a terra ville Chepel, ubi sunt due mete; adhuc ectitur ad orientem et cum continuis binis metis recte vergendo venit ad quendam collem iuxta quem parum remote sunt due mete que separant a te a predicte ville Chepel et a terra Gatal lii Petri de Balag; abinde reflectitur ad parle meridionalem et recte pergendo ve­ nit prope silvam lii Petri ubi sunt es mete; abinde fleetende prope eandem silvam attingit quandam arborem vulgariter magal dictam, ubi sunt tres mete; hinc circa ipsam silvam ­ mediate eundo intrat in quoddam virgultum et in ipso virgulto iuxta predictam silvam sunt
10
(An angularis boundary is where three or more boundaries meet. Virgultum is wood-pasture with shrubs, gerthan is hombeam and magal is a type of oak in Hungarian, mulchyn is an unidenti able type of shrub, and nemus, in this context, appears to be some sort of a uit-garden.)
Medieval Hungarian perambulations come in various lengths and had varying purposes. The B ag perambulation is of moderate size; laconic ones are merely a few lines long, whereas verbose ones go on for pages and pages. The boundary they describe can be a settlement’s whole boundary, one part of it, a boundary within one settlement, two or more Settlements with a common boundary, two or more settlements with separate boundaries yet described for the particular purpose as having a common boundary, any combination of these, and more. Individual meadows and woods were also perambulated. The rst Hungarian charter that came down to us in its original (from 1055)15 already contains several perambulations. It teils us that the practice existed, but it also reveals that the sophisticated Latin terminology, which is later associated with it, was yet to come into being. Early perambulations are a welcome relief from the often monotonaus later ones.
Medieval perambulations are own to all who read charters. It was obvi­ ous from the beginning that these documents were among the few types of writ­ ten evidence in medieval Hungary that could be used for quantitative analysis. For trees, perambulations are particularly relevant. In the Hungarian Middle Ages, trees were mentioned in !arger numbers only in these documents. When approaching perambulations, bowever, I found that basic questions have not been asked in connection with them, such as: Approximately how many of them survive? What were the Iandmarks most often used, and what are their relative
proportians in the whole? How many were written in different pe ods and what are the reasons behind the changes, if any? All these aspects are important be­ cause the individual trees and woods must appear in their proper context. If I read about a certain wood next to some arable land, this teils me very little un­ less I am able to locate both the wood and the arable in the mode landscape. However, ifl ow that woods appear twice as o en as arable in the whole per-
tres mete; abinde fleetende paulisper ad occidentem mediantibus tribus metis in quadam veteri via exit in pratum ad tres metas quarum una est in dumo gymulchyn dicto; dehinc vadit ad quoddam nemus pruni prope domos lii Petri prenotati et filiorum Gothalwn, ubi sunt es mete; deinde fl tende parwnper ad occidentem prope villam eorumdem venit ad es metas que ecclesiam liorum Pe i et Gothal predictorum directe rescipiunt; abinde iterum exeundo a vicinitate lii Pe i iuxta terram liorum Gothalwn paulisper declinando ad orientem pervenit ad virgultum in cuius introitu sunt tres mete quarwn una est in parva piro; deinde pergendo versus orientem cadit in viam publicam prenotatam per quam itur de villa Bilege venitur ad villam Durguche, et in eadem via revertitur ad locwn Euchefaya dictum, ubi prima meta inchoavit; et sie premissis te nis atque metis predicta terra est distincta.“ Translation mine.
15 Diplomara Hungariae Antiquissima, ed. György Györ {Budapest: ademiai Kiado, 1992), 145-152.
II
ambulations corpus of a certain area or age, and, say, that the two put together still do not come near pasture, then I can judge the value of that small piece of info ation with more confidence. In other words, there are two directions in the interpretation of perambulations. One is the qualitative, micro-level search, where individual Iandscape features are identified.16 The other is the quantita­ tive, macro-level approach, which has not yet attracted any scholarly attention in Hungary.17 As described above, the latter is the subject matter of historical ecol­ ogy.
How Many Medieval Perambulations Are There?
The easiest way to answer this question would be to Iook through all 200,000 documents that survive in Hungary om before 1526.18 This is not un­ realistic but so time-consuming that it would have undoubtedly exceeded the Iimits of this piece of writing. In consequence, I had to choose a smaller, yet well-defined group of charters. I could have used either the A ou-kori Oklevel-
16 For the identi cation of individual features in Hungarian perambulations, see J6zsef Laszlovszky, „Dedi etiam terram, que adiacet circa aquam, que vocatur Tiza: Adatok 1075-ös garamszentbenede i oklevel helyneveinek lokalizäläsähoz“ [Dedi etiam terram, que adiacet circa aquam, que vocatur Tiza: Data conce g the localization of the place­ names the 1075 charter ofGaramszentbenedek], Zounuk, I (1986): 9-24; Jenö Szücs, „Särospatak kezdetei es a patak.i erdöuralom“ [The begillllings ofSärospatak and the Forest ofPatak], Törtenelmi Szemle, 35 ( 1 993): 1-57, esp. 26-3 1 ; Käroly Takäcs, “ äd-kori csa­ tomarendszerek kutatasa a Räbaközben es a Kärpät-medence egyeb területein“ [Research on ädian age channels in Räbaköz and in other areas ofthe Carpathian Basin], Kora/1, I
(2000): 27-6 1 ; Jenö Major, „Szempontok a faluepitesi ha omänyok kutatäsänak m6dszerehez“ [On the methodology of the research on the traditions of village planning], Telepü/estudomanyi Köz/emenyek, I I (1959): 3-15. This also can be done on a !arge scale, as in Della Hooke, Warwickshire Anglo-Saxon Charter Bounds (Woodbridge: Boydeli Press, 1999). For a more theoretical overview, see eadem, „The use of early medieval charters as sources for the study of settlement and Iandscape evolution,“ in The Transfor­ mation of lhe European Rural Landscape: Methodo/ogica/ Jssues and Agrarian Change 1770-1914, ed. Antoon Yerhoeve and Jelier A.J. Vervloet (Wageningen: DLO Winand
1 Staring Centre, 1992), 39-47.
7 A notable exception is Fl6ris R6mer, „Magyarorszäg földirati es te enyi ällapotär61 a
közepkorban“ [On the geo aphical and a icultural status ofHungary in the Middle Ages], Magyar A demiai Erlesilo (1860): 226-385. R6mer claimed to have counted trees in the Codex Dip/omalicus, where oak would have appeared most frequently. However, bis data collection is very incomplete. Denes B. J ovich published a list of the kind of things which can be gamered from charters. Denes B. Jankovich, „Közepkori okleveleink regeszeti hasznositäsänak kerdesei“ [On the question ofthe archaeological utilization ofour medieval charters], in Közepkori regeszelünk ujabb eredmenyei es idoszerife/adatai [Re­ cent results and current issues in our medieval archaeology], ed. lstvän Fodor and Läszl6 Selmeczi (Budapest: Müvelödesi Miniszterium, 1986), 443-452. No results that I know of
18 followed.
Zsolt Hunyadi, „. . .scripta manent. Archival and Manuscript Resources Hungary,“ An­ nua/ ofMedieva/ Studies at CEU (1997-1998): 231-240.
12
tar, or the Zsigmondkori Oklevelt r,19 which contain all documents issued in certain years, but that would have ignored time dimensions. I could also have taken published family archives, such as those of the Kärolyi or the Zichy fa ­ lies.20 This would have been relatively quick, and would have allowed for sam­ pling different time periods; however, such collections are inevitably regional­ ised, connected to the estates of the given family. Furthermore, and this applies to both options, with edited charters one always has to trust the person who tran­ scribed the documents. Palaeographers, undoubtedly skilled in many aspects of medieval life, are rarely experts in Iandscape terminology, especially in ee types.21 In the end, the choice I had to make was between datasets that were li ted either in time or in space. I decided on the latter option. With an intent to study hitherto unpublished material, the private archives of the chapter of Vesz­ prem (ca. 100 south-west of Budapest, just north of Lake Balaton) seemed a reasonable choice, being mostly concemed with a region of the coun y that has been in the centre of my attention for several years.
The chapter of Veszprem had two relatively rich archives, both of which survive. One of them is the archival mate al connected to the activity of the chapter as loca credibilia.22 This, however, seemed too speci c, concentrating only on one type of legal activity. The places covered were also more scattered than in the case of the private archives. Lastly, the surviving charters number only 214. The private archives ( Veszpremi Kaptalani Maganleveltar, henceforth Vkpmlt,)23 then, are simply a collection of the ch ers of the chapter as an in-
19 Anjou-kori oklevelt r [Charte of the age of the Angevins], ed. Gyula Krist6, several vol­ umes, not numbered continuously (Budapest and Szeged: n. p., 1990-); Zsigmondkori Ok­ levelt r [Charters of the age of Sigis und], ed. ElemerMälyusz and Ivän Borsa, 7 vols. (Budapest: Akademiai 6, 1951-2001), esp. volumes 4-7.
2° Codex diplomaticus comitum K rolyi de Na -K roly, . Kälmän Geresi, 5 vols. (Buda­ pest: n. p., 1882-1897); Cod diplomaticus domus senioris comilum Zichy de Zieh et Vasonkeö, ed. hnre Nagy, Ivän Nagy, DezsöVeghely, E ö Kammerer, and Päl Lukcsis, 12
21 vols. (Budapest: n. p., 1871-1931 ).
I do not, of course, claim that my readings are perfect, still mistakes herein will at least be
my mistakes.
Loca credibilia were peculiar to the HungarianMiddle Ages. From approximately the be­
ginning of the thirteenth century, they acted as public notaries.Many people and institu­ tions also kept their charters in the chapter houses. For a quick introduction on how they nctioned, see hnre Szentpetery, Ma ar o eve/tan [Hungarian diplomatics] (Budapest:
Magyar Törtenelmi Tärsulat, 1930), 121-138. Loca credibilia were also the primary source of common knowledge, oral legal tradition; E FUgedi, „Verba volant…Oral Culture and Literacy among theMedieval Hungarian Nobility,“ in Kings, Bsi hops, Nobles and Burghers in Medieval Hungary (London:Vario Reprint, 1986),VI, 1-25. We still use the proverb „Nem käptalan a fejem“ (i. e. „My head is not a chapter“), if we cannot reme her some­ thing.
23 OL Df (Hungarian National Archives, Diplomatie Photo Collection) 200 353, 200 610- 200 899, 200 902 – 20I 203, 201 205 – 20 I 634, 230 049- 230 077, 273 681, 283 184- 283 247. The old reference is U 402. The original charters are kept Veszprem. For a descrip­ tion of the archives, see Päl Lukcsics, „A veszpremi szekeskäptalan Jeveltära“ [The ar­ chives of the chapter ofVeszprem], Levelt ri Közlemenyek, 8, no. 3-4 (1930): 151-181. A
13
stitution. The chapter had Iands, villages, different sources of income, just like any other private or public „noble“ body. The nearly 1100 charters discussing these Iands formed a corpus that was of manageable size yet a sample !arge enough to serve as a basis for general conclusions.
The Vkp t contains 1096 charters connected to the settlements pos­ sessed in one way or another by the chapter, though 199 discuss matters like tithes, ius g/adii, or the inventory of the library, and one may even nd the re­ cords of incomes om the holdings of the chapter om around 1500.24 The ma­
jority of the material was catalogued on the basis of the Settlements to which they pertained. The nurober of these Settlements is 112. I found altogether 63 documents containing perambulations.25 One is an obvious early-modem for­ gery. A perambulation, as we have seen, was a strict legal procedure, thus in theory I should have counted every section that starts „Primo incepissent…“ („Firstly, they started…“, the formulaic opening of the description) as a separate boundary-walk. Nonetheless, there was only one document in which perambu­ lations would have referred to very different places. Some had more than one bounds,26 but these were carried out in one day in several places in one settle­ ment, therefore I counted them as one. This was also practical for other calcula­ tions with the nurober of charters.
What are the drawbacks of this corpus? In other words, how far does it represent the surviving medieval material a whole? Every corpus, for a start, must be biased. Representative sampling would require so much effort that it would be easier to work with all 200,000 documents. The Vkp lt most probably has more perambulations than, for example, family archives, simply because the chapter had more land than most fa ilies. Then it is partial towards hilly coun­ yside and woodland as opposed to flat land and pasture. The majority of the settlements mentioned are either in Co. Veszprem or in Co. Zala, with some in Co. Somogy, all of which were rather more wooded than most of the kingdom ( g. J2‘).
short English version is to be found in Peter Baläzs, ed., Guide to the Archives ofHungary
(Budapest: Archival Board of the Ministry of Culture, 1976), 1 96-1 97.
24 Df201 634. The source is published: A veszpremi ptalan szamadas nyve 1495-1534: kroni 1526-1558:javadalmasok javadalmak1550, 1556[Accountbookofthechap­ ter of Veszprem 1495- 1534: chronicle 1526- 1558: prebendaries and prebends 1550, 1556], ed. Laszl6 Kredics, Lajos Madarä , and Laszl6 Solymosi (Veszprem: Veszprem
Megyei Leveltär, 1997).
25 For a Iist, see Appendix.
26 Df200 902, 200 956, 200 980, 201 061. The rst one is the exception, it has two separate 2 bounds, which I count separately.
7 Reproduced er Veszpremi ptalan szamadaskönyve, appendix. 14

ZALA
S0M0GV

• mill
Q woodland • mcadow
,__,,—
,
________,,-,_
+
•
•
o
,
-,,
.
centre of tithc-district estale centre settlemcnt
twin scnlcments
descncd scnlemcnt
FEJER
boundary of county boundary of diocesc
Figure 1: Holdings ofthe chapter ofVeszprem around 1500. 15
Finally, we have to take into account that the dis ibution of perambula­ tions in time is large1y influenced by the history of the chapter of Veszprem it­ se1f.28 They happened when the chapter was given some land or had some trou­ ble with an existing settlement. I believe that the low nurober of perambulations in the fi eenth century is partly due to this phenomenon. All in all, the data and calculations presented in the following are intended to be the rst solid ground in the sea of existing material, but it will take much more time and work to have a who1e island on which one can set foot without the risk of sinking.
Retu ing to the original question, I would like to esti te, however fee­ bly, approximately how many perambulations may exist in Hungarian medieval sources. In the Vkp t, there are 62 perambulations for 1096 charters, which is 5.75 %. Today, we ow of the existence of approximate1y 200,000 documents up to 1526. I shall use this number, and not the 318,000 charters whose texts
have been preserved in the 200,000 documents, since the 1096 charters that make up the Vkpmlt also contain transcriptions or mentions of far more charters. The 5.75 % of 200,000 is not less than 11,500, which is an astonishingly high number. One possible means to check how far this might be true is by examin­ ing the nu ber of settlements in relation to the surviving perambulations. Here we are concemed with 112 Settlements, at least as judged by those who set up the reference system of the Vkpmlt. Although naturally we cannot say that one perambulation always equals one and only one settlement, and even less that every perambulation represented the full boundary for one settlement – very of­ ten the perambulation is on the common boundary of two settlements: how can that be inserted into such calculations? – let us still utilise the rough-and-ready percentage of 56.25 % of the settlements of the Vkpmlt that have a perambula­ tion. The total nurober of Settlements own om written sources in the medie­ val Kin�dom of Hungary (be they deserted or extant) is estimated to be around 20,000. 9 56.25 % of this nu ber comes to 1 1,250, which will certainly not prove, but at least s engthen con dence in the nurober of perambulations cal­ culated above.30
28 J6zsefLukcsics, A veszpremi ptalan a I. szazadban [The chapter ofVeszprem in the sixteenth century) (Veszprem: Egyhä egyei ny., 1908).
29 Istvän Szab6, A fa/urendszer kia/akulasa a arorszagon [The formation ofthe system of villages in Hungary) (Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1966), 70. This number, although ac­ cepted and referred to, is more than prob1ematic. Unti1 about 1300, there were far more Set­ tlements (of whatever character) than what written sources suggest. A1though nucleation om the thirteenth century resulted in settlements that would be called „villages“ today, and written sources mention probab1y the majority of these, counting a/1 remains ofmedie­ val settlements in the CarpathianBasin cou1d easi1y Iead to a number twice or three times more than twenty thousand.
30 There is a statistica1 analysis ofthe archives conn ted to the estate ofSzenyer (Co. So­ mogy.) Here, out ofthe 340 cha ers, 32 were perambulations, which is 9.4 %, almost twice as much as in the Ykpm1t. IvänBorsa, „A szenyeri urada1om Mohäcs elötti iratanyagänak vizsgälata“ [An ana1ysis ofthe pre-Mohäcs documents ofthe estate ofSzenyer], in Malyusz
16
Century
Number of peram-
bulations
131″
14
14
37
15
9
1 “
2
Fi re 2: Number ofperambulations in the Vkpmlt corpus.
The per bulations of the pmlt are unevenly dis ibuted in time. Most of the material comes om the fourteenth century, which is not surprising as op­ posed to the thirteenth, but it may be so in relation to the fifteenth.
It is clear, nonetheless, that the great age of perambulations in Hungary was in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. In these two hundred years, the whole system of land ownership and estate structure was ansfonned. In the thirteenth century, huge royal Iands fell into private hands. the fourteenth century, the previously scattered possessions of Iandholders were concentrated into compact estates. All these involved perambulations on a !arge scale. The boundaries of individual units of land did not necessarily change, but they needed to be de ned in writing for each new owner or new syste . In contrast, the fteenth century was a time of relative tranquillity.
Bounda Signs
Counting boundary signs was not as easy as it initially promised to be.
The rst proble was the recurrent features in the same per bulation, for ex­ a ple, when the o cials passed by a road, and then retumed to what appears to be the sa e road.31 This was sorted out by a fortunate custom of Hungarian me­ dieval latinity: when a feature reappeared in a charter, it was na ed by the help of an adjective, such as prefatus, predictus, or prescriptus.32 The second prob­ le is connected to linguistics, and to our inadequate owledge of the medieval countryside. Does, for example, via magna denote something characteristically different om via, or is ma a a simple adjective as we would use it today? What is the relation of these two to via publica, or via erbosa?33 Is there a dif-
Elemer emtekkönyv [ Studies hooour ofEiemer Mälyusz], ed. Eva H. Baläzs, Erik Fügedi,
and Fereoc Maksay (Budapest: Akademiai ad6, 1984), 59-76.
31 Oliver Rackham, when faciog the same problem, used a Straightforward method: every
feature, even those most probably mentioned before, was counted separately. Oliver Rack­
ham,TheHisto oftheCount side(London:Dent, 1986;PhoenixPress,2000), I0.
32 the few other cases features were counted separately.
33 One perambulatioo suggests that via erbosa might be a footpath. A pannonha/mi Szent­
Benedek-rendtörtenete [ A history ofthe Pannonhalma order ofSt Beoedict], vol. 2, A Pan­ nonha/mi Foap ts g törtenete: M sodik korszak [ A history of the archabbey of Pannen­ halma: The secend period], ed. Sörös Pon äcz {Budapest: Stephaneum, 1903), 307-308. Tenyö (Co. Veszprem) 1258: „capitenea meta autem incipit in quadam via herbosa seu pe­ destri semita“
17
ference between aqua and rivulus?34 My final choices of what to count as a separate entity are laid out in the Appendix. Trees were separated in the most detailed possible way, for example a pirus, pirus silvestris, pirus et meta terrea, and pirus silvestris et meta terrea are four entries in the table.
The total nurober of Iandmarks in the 62 perambulations is 1901, which gives the average charter 3 1 boundary si s. Altogether 1 34 t es of signs were counted, however, this nu ber is easily modi ed by merging different types of roads or trees. If we start exa ining this Iist at the bottom, we encounter many things that were mentionedjust once, among them such curiosities as the nest of a hawk, a foxhole, or a vintage road (via vindemialis). Moving up the Iist, many types of tree were mentioned twice or three times (chestnut, cherry, crab-apple). Ite mentioned more than ten times are three types of ee: walnut, pear, and oak accompanied by meadows, certain pes of roads, or mills. The top ten are most intriguing. Woodland, with 35 occurrences, is just outside this Iimit, whereas both arable and vineyards are within it. Hills and valleys were men­ tioned altogether 1 15 times in the charters. The oak- ee surrounded by an earthen boundary (ilex meta terrea circumfusa) occupies the f place with 60 occurrences. The first three places testi to a striking feature ofboth the peram­ bulations and medieval Hungary. Via is in the third position (129 mentions while all types ofroads added up come to no less than 208), preceded by earthen boundary (meta terrea – 348), and boundary (meta – 466). These two are most probably the same since there are many allusions to the simple meta being actu­ ally made of earth. The two together were mentioned 8 1 4 times – 1 3 times on average – comprising almost forty-three percent of all boundary signs! This overwhel ng predo nance signi es at least three things. Firstly, that om the thirteenth century, when earthen boundaries Started appearing in !arge numbers, the descriptions in perambulations concen ated less on natural features and more on one man-made aspects: little hillocks accumulated during the process itself. More and more of the actual countryside, thus, is hidden from the eyes of the mode researchers. Some late perambulations are nothing more than lists of earthen boundary signs. Secondly, that Hungary in the Middle Ages was a land­ scape where almost every settlement was surrounded by these earthen bounda­ ries, which, as the logic ofperambulations would prescribe, were within sight of one another. Sparse data provide some info ation about the size and shape of these hillocks. We ow that sometimes they were quite big (an early-modem charter speaks of one that was 1 4 – 1 6 steps around), but more often about as high as a man.35 One Vkp t perambulation relates that a certain hillock ght not be a boundary, because it was ,,not round but elongated,“36 which gives us an ap­ proximate idea of the shape. Thirdly, that a perambulation consisted of some
34 Fieldwork revealed that in an eleventh-century perambulation around the Tisza river, jlu­ vium and aqua had had different meanings. Laszlovszky, „‚Dedi etiam t ,“ 9-23.
35 Takäcs, Hatarjaras, 80.
36 „quend tumositatem terre non rotund sed longuin pro meta minime apt “ 1392.
Df201 106. Translation mine.
18
earth moving – although the regular repairing (renovare, as it is usually referred to) of these hillocks may not have been such a great task – and thus, must have involved a number ofpeople.37
Trees in Perambulations
Trees appear in these perambulations in !arge numbers, mostly as individ­ ual, non-woodland plants. They were very o en combined with the well- own earthen boundary (meta terrea circumdata or circumfusa). We find altogether 305 trees, recorded in 75 forms. Out of these, 14 were only de ned as „tree“ or „shrub.“ Twenty-three different types were recorded, om the obvious oak and walnut, through hombeam and lime, to juniper and service. In this sense, the Iist is de nitely representative. There are not many types oftrees mentioned in me­ dieval documents that were not included here.
How much botanical precision should be expected from perambulations?
Identi cation to the genus Ievel is usually unproblematic, and if recognition of the species is also possible, it is because the genus sometimes automatically de­ notes species as well, as with beech (Fagus silvatica), for example. In some other cases, different names for the same species had to be sorted out. I would also like to refer to the scholarly opinion which supposes that names of trees in perambulations should not be interpreted straightforwardly. us, it is more ad­ visable to speak about „a beech, so-called in the sources“ rather than an actual beech.38 In my view, this is an overly critical approach. We cannot expect the medieval perambulators to think in Linnean te – that would be anachronistic – but I do not see any reasons why we should question their ability to tell a hombeam om a lime. In particular instances one becomes suspicious (as with the single pinus in the Vkp t corpus), but those are simply inevitable mistakes that will occur in any human a air. Too much scepticism would hinder our work.
The document usually tells us what type of tree we are concemed with.
Some complications might arise, of course, especially when Linnean te ol­ ogy does not t earlier practices. the 1284 Bamag perambulation, for exam­ ple, we read about „a certain ancient tree that is commonly called magal.“ To­ day, Hungarian ma al is the evergreen holly (Il aquifolium); however, that tree is not native to Hungary, obviously due to our harsh winters. It took some
37 Compare, for example, Verena Winiwarter, „Landscape Elements in the Late Medieval Vii­ lage: Can Information on Land-Use Be Derived from Normative Sources?“ Medium Aevum Quotidianum, 41 (1999): 22-42, where on page 41 the author wrote that „to calculate the
amount of Iabor needed for a iculture in the Middle Ages one has to include the mainte­ nance work needed for infras ucture and the work needed for erection and subsequent dis­ mantling of temporary features such as fences.“
38 Tamas G aeus and J6zsef Papp, „Regi magyar (gy6gy)növenynevek, 1 5 . – 1 7 . szäzad“ [Old Hungarian names of (medicinal) plants, eenth-seventeenth centuries], Orvostörte­ neti Közlemenyek (1977), Supplementum 9-10: 31-49.
19
research to nd out that ma al in the Middle Ages meant an oak.39 To make matters more complicated, in medieval documents should also be under­ stood as referring to oak. A er the articles of Camillo Reuter, the mysterious Hungarian haraszt is also translated as oak,40 however, despite the author’s ef­ forts, there is not one source that would demonstrate this explanation.41 Such problems are not unique to the Hungarian Situation. In Northem Italy, for exam­ ple, early medieval docu ents did not use the word quercus at all. Instead, ro­ vere refe ed to oaks, however, not to the tree that is now called rovere (Quercus petraea,) but most probably to Quercus robur, whose mode name (ja ia) is again missing from the sources.42 Nonetheless, most cases are clear, and on a basic Ievel perambulations are reliable sources for the identification of oaks, Iimes, hombeams, etc. How we interpret this information is more problematic. Trees in perambulations do not necessarily represent the trees of the given re­ gion in general, since most boundary-trees were not woodland ees. On the other hand, trees in woods could easily serve as boundary signs, providing some ex a feature – an earthen boundary, a cross, a picture – was added to them.
Frequency ofDi erent Trees
e oftree O Wild ar Willow Walnut
Beech
Sorb
Elm
Hombeam Crab-a le „tree“ Lime Poplar Juniper Chestnut
Figure 3: List of ees mentioned in the mlt co us.
A glance at the Iist reinforces the impression that most trees mentioned
were ee-standing. lt would otherwise be impossible to account for the position
39 Camillo Reuter, “Tölgy es haraszt“ [O and haraszt], Ma ar Nyelv 6 1 ( 1 965): 80-89.
40 lbid., and idem, „Adatok a regi magyar fa- es erdönevek ismeretehez“ [Data conceming the ancient Hungarian names oftrees and woods), erdögazdalkod s törtenete Ma aror­ szagon. anulmanyok) [The history of forestry in Hunga (Essays)], ed. Szabolcsne
Kolossväry (Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1975), 80-87.
41 Haraszt occurs o en, yet never together with its Latin equivalent, whatever that may have
been.
42 Massimo Montanari, L ‚alimentazione contadina nell ‚alto Medioeva aples: Liguori Edi­ tore, 1 979), 36-37.
Occurrences I of tree Occurrences
131 I „shrub“ 4
50 ash 3
1 9 pl u m 2
1 6 c h e ‚ 2
9 hazel 2
9
mölcseny 2
8
hawthom 2
7
troncus 2
7
“ t tree“ I
6
maple 1
6
alder I
4
service I
4
pine I
4
n1busculum 1
20
of wild-pear and walnut. The latter is not native to Hungary and does not grow in woods. The question, then, is how to interpret oak.
Oak is the most nationalist ee in Europe. Every country is proud of its connections to oak, and perceives its best features as being somehow embedded in this tree. Pride is, however, not associated with al1 oaks, but only with the pe­ dunculate oak (Quercus robur). Hungarians are no different: medievalists are proud that King Bela III once held court under an oak,43 and – although there is nothing whatsoever to prove this – are convinced that ancient Hungarians vener­ ated certain oaks.44 The above Iist also clearly signifies the attention people paid to oak. The tree was recorded as many times as the rest of the top ten put to­ gether. Is this because, as is often argued, „our woods mainly comprised this tree?'“‚5 The answer must be no, for we have seen that perambulations tended to record non-woodland trees. In contrast to the mode landscape, there must have been a !arge number offree-standing oaks scattered around the medieval coun­ tryside, which were particularly apt for boundary signs, because they lived long, had characteristic shapes, and were in general venerable trees.
To check how representative the Vkpmlt list may be for the country as a whole, I counted the trees in the fifty- ve perambulations carried out in the years 1417 – 1420.46 The results show a patte rather similar to what we have seen above.
e of tree Occurrences e of tree Occurrences O 59 sorb 3
Poplar 3 “ uit tree“ I
Figure 4: List oftrees mentioned in perambulations from 1 4 1 7 – 1420.
Oak, wild-pear, and wi11ow again occupy the rst three places. Walnut fa11s somewhat behind, however, it should be noted that all eight occurrences of
43 I/I Bela ma ar kiraly em/ekezete [In memoriam Bela m , King of Hungary), e d . Gyula Forster (Budapest: n. p., 1 900), 344.
44 Päl Csöre, A magyar erdogazd lkodas törtenete: Közepkor [A history of Hungarian for­ estry: The Middle Ages] (Budapest: Akademiai Kiad6, 1980), 24.
45 R6mer, „Magyarorszag ldirati es termenyällapota,“ 305. Translation mine.
46 These are easily accessible in volumes 6 and 7 ofthe Zsigmondkori Okleveltar. Reference nwnbers are: vol. 6, no. 18, 371, 440, 451, 465, 563, 629, 665, 687, 751, 903, 940, 945, 973, 1068, 1204, 1288, 1396, 1405, 1583, 1741, 1915, 1947, 2113, 2220, 2563, 2679; vol. 7, no. 6, 158, 169, 329,372, 440, 444, 655, 669, 833,837, 843, 860, 930, 1261 , 1305, 1377,
1592, 1694, 1762, 1765, 1802, 1871, 1885, 2257, 2276, 2333, 2387.
wild-pear
25
che
2
Willow
13
beech
2
Haraszt
8
hombeam
2
„tree“
7
alder
2
Walnut
6
map1e
2
E
5
e1der
I
Lime
5
service
I
Crab-apple
4
cbes ut
I
Tron s
3
pine
1
Ash
3
„shrub“
1
21
haraszt were found in one single document. Also remarkable is the fact that with a similar number ofperambulations (62 and 55), the Vkpmlt documents contain almost twice as many ees as the boundary-walks of 1417-1420 (305 and 160, respectively). ls this because fifteenth-century per bu1ations were mostly con­ ce ed with „earthen boundaries,“ and fewer trees appeared in them than in ear­ lier documents, or because the rst Iist concentrates on a smaller area with many ees, whereas the second one on the (less ll of ees) coun y as a who1e?
Conclusions
In this essay, I tried to demonstrate how medieval perambulations can be studied keeping the principles of ecology in mind. These documents are par­ ticularly use l in historical ecological research, because they contain quantita­ tive data. In fact, as far as trees in medieval Hungary are conce ed, per bula­ tions are the only written documents available for such purposes. By analysing a well-de ned sample, I argued that around 1 0,000 perambulations survived from the Hungarian Middle Ages. e frequency of different trees displays a remark­ able patte in pera bulations. Oak dominates both lists I compiled, while the three other species often mentioned are walnut, pear, and willow. There is, ap­ parently, something about pera bulations that we do not quite understand, something that is responsible for this pattem. Tree lists extracted from these sources must not be inte reted as indicators of woodland composition. They might re ect the equency of various species among free-standing trees, how­ ever, it is equally likely that we do not see a „real“ landscape, rather a „per ­ bulation“ landscape. Does this mean that perambulations are useless for the study of medieval trees? The answer is no, but we have to approach them differ­ ently. We must keep thepatte in mind. It is variations in this patte that are important. For example, mentions of many oaks in a perambulation corpus do not mean much. The absence of oaks, however, is very informative. Notes of a few alders are nothing special. If, however, mentions of alders occur more fre­ quently than willows, we have to ask ourselves what the reasons could be.
There is, of course, more to perambulations than trees. I have only briefly touched upon other boundary signs, but there is no reason to doubt that patte s similar to that found with ees would emerge in their study, as weiL Also, fur­ ther research needs to ex ne more datasets, both to check whether my calcu­ lations about the number of medieval perambulations are correct and to see how universal the patte of tree mentions is. There may weil be various regional o r chronological patte s. The ultimate, and not unrealistic, aim is to process all medieval perambulations.
22
Appendix
Perambulations in the t corpus
Dfnum­ Date ber
Df num­ Date ber
283 210
1203
200 956
1361
201 312
1215
200 962
1363
200 630
1231
200 963
1364
200 902
1233
200 968
1364
200 902
1233
200 980
1367
200 903
1233
200 993
1368
200 631
1235
201 009
1368
201 086
1256
201 027
1379
200 661
1263
201 036
1379
200 660
1266
201 029
1380
200 684
1275
201 030
1381
201 106
1284
201 040
1383
200 726
1292
283 220
1383
200 757
1299
201 061
1386
200 761
1302
201 079
1389
200 8 1 5
1323
201 091
1392
201 137
1326
201 109
1394
200 833
1329
201 118
1395
200 849
1335
201 123
1397
201 202
1338
201 125
1399
200 859
1338
201 229
1423
200 865
1339
201 255
1430
200 869
1 340
201 256
1431
200 870
1340
201 268
1435
200 891
200 896
1343
1343
201 275
201 343
1436
1454
200 9 1 5
1352
201 405
1466
200 926
1354
201 409
1466
200 928
1354
283 239
1489
200 979
1355
201 566
1507
201 573 1508
Df= Diplomatie Photo Collection ofthe Hung ian National chives.
200 955 1361
23
Bound sings in the mlt co us
Sign
meta
meta te ea
via
vallis
i1ex et mt
viama a
mons
ilex
fluvius
monticulus
molendinus
pirus et mt
rivulus aqua
pirus silvestris et mt nemus virgultum pratum pirus
tölgy et mt berc fene meta lapidea via publica via erbosa
rubetum
nux et mt
puteus
salix
salix et mt
sessio
quercus et mt
semita
ulmus et mt
Occurrences
vinea
terra arabi1is
Iapis
si1va
466
348
129
62
60
53
49
39
31
29
26
23
17
16
16
15
14
14
13
12
12
11
II
11
10
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
8
7
Prunus 2
Cerasus et mt 2
Avelle dumus 2
Platea 2
Collis 2
D us 2
Populus et mt 2
Cser etmt 2
Iuniperis dumus 2
Sorbellus et mt 2
Castanea 2
Castanea et mt 2
Palus 2
via vindemialis
Silva regis 1
Molendini clausura 1
nemus pro canapis 1
rupes I
beti dumus I
ca ini dumus I
ilex et m1apidea I
ilicis oncus I
ilicis utex I
querci dumus et mt 1
nucis stips 1
salicis dumus 1
arbor fructifer 1
pomus silvestris I
pomi silvestris du- I mus et mt
omus I
pirus et Iapis 1
piri silvestris du- 1 mus etmt
dumus tölgy et mt I
pomerium
foxhole
cas um
vi arum dumus
terra rma et spi-
nosa
1
1
1
I
I
1
24
Sign
55
49
35
fons 6 parlag 1
arbor
carpinus et t
insula
nux
spinetu
6
6
5
5
5
nidus accipitris I porta seu apertu I
arbustorum
axinus 1 axini du us et 1
t
gyü ölcseny du- 1 us
fagus
5
ölcseny du- 1 uset t
fossa
5
maple 1
campus
5
curia I
quercus
4
frutex I
pirus silvestris
4
ripa I
fagus et t
4
populus I
sorbellus
4
populi tex I
via aminosa
3
alnus et t I
alveus
3
cserdu us I
pornus
3
bark6ca et t 1
ortus
3
iuniper I
fovea
3
iuniperis du us et I t
berkenye et t
3
ul i rubus 1
tilia
3
cimiteriu I
tilia et t
3
agyal et mt 1
agyal
3
arundinetum 1
pons
3
do us I
lacus
2
troncus I
stagnu
2
troncus et t 1
dumus spinarum
2
pinus et mt I
ilicis dumus
2
rubusculu I
ilicis troncus et t
2
cini silvestris rubus I spinarum
po us et t
2
cini d us et mt I
t = meta terrea.
25
MEDIUM AEVUM QUOTIDIANUM
46
MS 2002
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON GERHARD JARITZ
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DERKULTURABTEILUNG DES AMTES DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
niederösterreich kultur
Titelgraphik Stephan J. Tramer
Herausgeber: Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellscha zur Erforschung der materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters (ht ://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/magQ, Kör­ nermarkt 13, A- 3500 Krems, Österreich. Für den Inhalt verantwortlich zeich­ nen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrückliche Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdruck, auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. -Druck: Gra sches Zentrum der Tech­ nischen Universität Wien, Wiedner Haupts aße 8-10, 1040 Wien.

Inhalt
Vorwort . . . . . . . . . ………………………………………….. ………………………………………….. 5 Peter Szab6, Medieval Trees and Modem Ecology:
How to Handle Written Sources …………………. ………………………………. . . . . 7 Kresimir Ku .c, The Carving ofthe Solar Eclipse
onaMedievalCroatianTombstone……………………………………… 26
Alexandr B. Tschemiak, Der Fuchsschwanz.
Einige Bemerkungen zum Schulgedicht
Videant qui nutriunt natos delicate ………………………………………………… 34 Gerhard J , Fear and Fascination:
Late Medieval German Perceptions ofthe Turks Revisited ……. . . . . …….. 40 Rezensionen ……………………………………………………………… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 48
Anschriften der Autoren und Rezensenten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …………………………………… 62
Vorwort
Das vorliegende Heft von Medium Aevum Quotidianum widmet sich sehr unter­ schiedlichen Zugängen zu einer Geschichte des Alltags und der materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters, welche neuerlich den interdisziplinären Charakter des Forschungsfeldes deutlich machen sollen. Peter Szab6 (Budapest) ver itt einen umweltgeschichtlichen Ansatz Analyse von ungarischen perambulationes und der in ihnen auftretenden Verwendung und Beschreibung von Landschafts­ elementen. Kresimir Kuzic (Zagreb) beschäftigt sich mit as onomischen Erklä­ rungsmodellen von Gesti onstellationen auf einem kroatischen Grabstein.
Alexandr B. Tsche iak (Sankt Petersburg) bietet in einer Iiteratur- und sprach­ historischen Analyse den Deutungsversuch des spätmittelalterlichen ,,Fuchs­ schwanzes“. In einem Beitrag zum Türkenbild des Spätmittelalters in der schriftlichen Überlieferung werden unterschiedliche Konnotationsmuster in den Beurteilungen festgestellt. Alle vier Beiträge konzentrieren sich direkt oder indi­ rekt stark auf verschiedene Varianten von Kontextualisierung, deren Berück­ sichtigung sich in der mode en alltagsgeschichtlichen Forschung des Mittelal­ ters und der ühen Neuzeit als unerlässlich erweist.
Die nächsten beiden Hefte unserer Reihe werden im Frühling bzw. Früh­ sommer 2003 als Sonderbände herausgegeben werden. Sonderband XIIIlXIV wird eine neue Auswahlbibliographie zu Alltag und materieller Kultur des Mit­ telalters bieten. Seit Erscheinen der letzten derartigen Publikation in Medium
Aevum Quotidianum-Newsletter 7/8 (1986) sind doch viele neue wissenschaftli­ che Veröffentlichungen aus unserem Interessensbereich erschienen, und eine Neuherausgabe ist damit notwendig geworden. Sonderband XV wird Untersu­ chungen beinhalten, die unter der Leitung bzw. Herausgeberschaft von Aaron J. Gurjewitsch von der russischen Forschung in Bezug auf die Analyse von Bild­ quellen die Kultur-, Alltags- und Mentalitätsgeschichte des Mittelalters vor­ gelegt wurden. -Darüber hinaus befinden sich weitere Hefte in Planung, welche wieder alltagshistorische Beiträge beinhalten sollen, die bei den Inte ationalen Mittelalter-Kongressen in Kalamazoo und Leeds im Jahre 2003 vorgetragen
werden.
Für die Jahre 2004/2005 sind zwei weitere Themenhefte geplant, welche sich interdisziplinär, überregional und komparativ mit den Proble eisen von ,,Mittelalterlicher Alltag und das Phänomen der Verkehrten Welt“ bzw. mit ,,Mittelalterlichen Bewertungsstrategien von materieller Kultur“ auseinanderset­ zen sollen. Alle Mitglieder und Freunde von Medium Aevum Quotidianum sind
5
sehr herzlich eingeladen, diesen Bänden aktiv mitzuarbeiten und uns bei diesbezüglichem Interesse so bald wie möglich darauf bezogene Themenvor­ schläge übermitteln.
Gerhard Jaritz Herausgeber (gerhard.jaritz@oeaw.ac.at)
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