Journal articles on the topic 'Cities and towns, medieval – byzantine empire'

In the Byzantine period, urban life in Anatolia underwent a decay in which ancient cities shrank behind reduced circuits of walls or withdrew to the fortified hilltops whence they had descended in the Hellenistic age. Even the greatest city of the empire, Constantinople, saw a drastic diminution of population and resources, abandonment of its ancient public works and services, and consequent transformation from a classical to a medieval city. These changes began with the devastating invasions of Persians and Arabs in the seventh century. Sources reveal little about Anatolia between the early seventh and mid-ninth century, a true dark age, but the evidence of archaeology often makes it possible to visualize conditions at the time.The Byzantines, whose empire long survived these troubles, generally occupied existing sites in Asia Minor where their ruins are superimposed on those of the Romans or earlier cultures. In only a few instances, usually occasioned by the needs of defence or of a militarized administration, were new sites founded. Although the Dark Ages were not a propitious time for urban development, some new towns did come into existence or prominence. Few of them have been studied. Strobilos on the Carian coast, therefore, is of some potential interest as an example of a Byzantine town which first appears in the historical record in the eighth century, and whose remains have been preserved.

The Peloponnese, a province of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries, was divided into three distinct political entities after 1204: the Frankish Principality of Achaia, the Venetian colonies of Modon and Coron, and the Byzantine lands in the southeast. The number and size of cities in the Peloponnese during the 11th and 12th centuries expanded, and the establishment of the new political entities of the 13th century did not hinder the development of its urban centers. New urban centers appeared, and the dynamics of the old urban centers witnessed a major shift. The focus of this paper is on port towns, since the majority of the available data derive from them, and aims to investigate the economic centrality of the port towns in the Peloponnese in the context of their environs, economic activities, and their position in the eastern Mediterranean exchange system. The theoretical framework is based on concepts of network theory, centrality, and economic complexity, as well as on a thorough evaluation of the material and textual evidence. In doing so, the economic profile of each central place is reconstructed, as well as a comparison between them.

This article discusses the historical and geographical characteristics of medieval Bosnia, its area and position presented in the perception of Byzantine and post-Byzantine sources. It is characteristic that all these sources, regardless of whether they originated in the 10th, 12th, or 15th century or in the centuries after the collapse of the Byzantine Empire offered testimony of the territory of Bosnia. The presentations are sometimes a bit distorted and unrealistic, and their names are based on ancient standards. Data provided by the source material speaking of the appearance of Bosnia and medieval towns in its territory, were named differently in Byzantine sources.

Abstract The current essay presents information about medieval stone sculpture in the Romanian Lands. The transfer of foreign cultural influences to the Romanian lands was possible due to the geographic positioning of the states which inspired the Romanian stone carvings. Wallachia, being in the vicinity of the Byzantine Empire, and later the Ottoman Empire, has taken over certain Oriental and Balkan influences. The glorious past of Rome is still present in the Byzantine Empire and the ruler (voivode) and heraldic titles played an especially important role, influencing the dynasties in the Romanian Lands. Western architectural influences penetrated in medieval Moldavia, through the Western Slavs (Silesia, Bohemia and most of all Poland). These Western influences also penetrated to the South of the Carpathian Mountains, in the Transylvanian Saxon regions of the 13th and 14th centuries, in the towns bellow the mountain.

The transformation of cities in the Byzantine and early Islamic Near East was discussed by a number of scholars in the last century. Many of them adopted a traditional approach, claiming that the Islamic conquest caused the total collapse of large classical cities, turning them into small medieval towns. The urban landscape was changed dramatically, with the large colonnaded streets of the classical Polis transformed into the narrow allies of the Islamic Madina.

The Greek Aegean in the Late Roman era (5th-mid-7th centuries AD) offers a degree of uniformity, developing further the novel urban and rural patterns that mark the previous Imperial centuries. Characteristically, small towns with fortifications and lavish Christian monuments are surrounded by commercial villa estates, while populations shrink drastically from the mid-6th century. In the 7th-8th centuries fundamental regional divergences appear. Most of mainland Greece is lost to the Eastern Roman (aka Early Byzantine) Empire based at Constantinople, the largest towns and coastal ports excepted, following waves of Slavic settlement. A second model is found on the Aegean Islands, where reduced populations largely survive Arab raids and alien settlement through settlement displacement and negotiation. A third model is represented by the large island of Crete, free from invasion until Arab conquest in the 9th century, ironically when a revived Eastern Roman (Middle Byzantine) Empire regains control of the mainland and remaining Aegean Islands. This paper will present the evidence from archaeology for these scenarios, varying in time and space.

The sgraffito pottery production flourished in the Byzantine Empire during the late 11th and 12th centuries. During this period, the Bulgarian territories were occupied by the Empire, which facilitated the penetration and wide distribution of Sgraffito Wares. The South Bulgarian lands had always been a buffer zone and a way of transmission for Byzantine culture, goods, and influence. Sgraffito vessels are discovered not only in Bulgarian medieval towns and fortresses but also in small villages, convents, and seasonal settlements. The sgraffito plates found in them find exact parallels in Byzantine centres like Corinth, Athens, Sparta, Pergamon and, of course, the capital of Constantinople. Furthermore, some of the specimens have no analogue, and there is indirect evidence that somewhere in today’s South Bulgaria, there used to be local sgraffito production centres. This work will present and review all of the published materials from the territory of today’s Bulgaria, as well as some unpublished sgraffito pottery from South Bulgaria’s museums.

Many studies of the medieval Black Sea address the importance of Byzantine imperial agency in facilitating economic and political exchange. However, few studies examine the limits of Byzantine statehood regarding trans-Black Sea local dynasts. This study, primarily utilizing sigillography, focuses on the eleventh-twelfth century notable families of Cherson and Trebizond in case studies, particularly the well-known Tzouloi and Gavrades: two cities and families famed for their respective local autonomies. How can seals uncover an otherwise hidden dimension of Byzantine sovereignty, or its contestation, which manifested itself across the Black Sea even before the emergence of the empire of Trebizond after 1204?

During the late first millennium AD, the Bulgarian Empire emerged in the eastern Balkans on the doorstep of the Byzantine Empire. In a bid to reconcile with—and impress—its powerful neighbour, Tsar Simeon I selected the fortified site of Veliki Preslav as a new capital city. Through the ninth and tenth centuries AD, the city was developed into one of the largest cities of the early Middle Ages in Europe. A fortified Inner City of palaces, churches and state buildings was accompanied by a large defended Outer City. The authors present the results of a recent geophysical survey, revealing patterning in the spatial and socio-economic organisation of the urban landscape between the ninth and fourteenth centuries AD.

This research addresses the history of Mistra, which in the Late Byzantine Period was the capital of the Despotate of Morea and the Byzantine stronghold in the Peloponnesos. The historians have interpreted Mistra, which appeared in the thirteenth century, as one of the “new cities/towns,” which shaped with no concern to classical architectural tradition. The feature of historical development of Mistra was determined by its position at a distance from the seacoast combined with the natural landscape factor, as the city appeared at a hillside. This influenced the city-planning regulations, the nature of the private and public urban buildings, and the architectural features. Nevertheless, the city appearance shaped under the influence of the Byzantine capital. A considerable role in the history of Mistra was played by a great degree of autonomy of the despotai of the Morea from Constantinople. Mistra primarily was the administrative centre, where the despotai created their own court and a team of officials following the parallels with the imperial capital. From the second half of the fourteenth century on, Mistra’s status of cultural capital of the empire rivalled that of Constantinople. The climax of sciences and intellectual surge in Mistra, combined with the latter’s growing political importance, made it alterum Byzantium (“Second Constantinople”). Similarly to the capital, Mistra embodied the “imperial idea,” which was realized in the definite court hierarchy, glittering palace, rich urban buildings, and cultural superiority.

Background: The article attempts to study the processes of political consolidation of Slavic tribes in the IV–VIII centuries, to establish the main factors that influenced the formation of the early Slavic states; trace the prehistory of Rus’ and determine the beginnings of the Rus’ empire. Purpose: To identify a set of medieval sources for studying the history of the early Slavic states, to analyze the information of medieval writers about the Slavs and Rus’ people, their early state formations and titles of rulers to help establish the nature and degree of state-building processes. Analysis of written sources shows that the first reports of the early Slavic states appear in the Byzantine chronicles in the VI century during the era of the Great Migration, when large-scale migration in the Balkans formed large Slavic regions and Slavic expansion was a serious threat to the territories of the empire. Arab authors begin to mention the Slavs and Rus’ people later, in the VII–VIII centuries, during the beginning of Arab expansion within Byzantium and the development of international trade between Europe and the Arab East in which the Slavs played a leading role. According to sources the formation of Rus’ in southern Eastern Europe was preceded by the formation of large military-political associations of the Slavs - the unions of the Ants and Dulibs, Greater Croatia. Here as in the Baltic Pomerania and the Danube, they originated in the Slavic areas through which international trade routes passed. International trade contributed to the development of cities, strengthened the process of political consolidation and became an important factor in the formation of the early Slavic states and the formation of the Rus’ empire. Its territorial core was the Middle Dnieper region through which passed the routes connecting the north and south of the continent, as well as the transcontinental trade route between the European West and the Arab East. The establishment of control over water and land international routes was the main reason for the expansion of the Rus’ people which resulted in the formation of the largest European empire in the Middle Ages. Keywords: migrations of the Slavs, early Slavic states, the Ant Union, the Dulib Union, international trade routes, Rus’ people, Rus’ empire.

The Goths and Alans settled in the Mountainous Crimea about the mid-third century. The Eastern Roman Empire pursued the policy of integrating barbarians on the frontier in order to strengthen its northern borders. In the mountainous Crimea, the Goths and Alans assimilated Greek language in result of political and ideological interaction and trading with Cherson and other cities and towns of the Eastern Roman Empire. The earliest in this area Greek inscriptions were dipinti drawn on the light-clay narrow-neck amphorae of D. B. Shelov’s type F, which were produced in Herakleia Pontike. According to the life of St. John of Gothia who led a revolt against Khazar domination in Gothia, the correspondence of Theodore of Stoudios with the archimandrite of Gothia, and official church documents, Greek was the only language of worship in the churches and monasteries of Gothia from the establishment of the Gothic bishopric on. The priests and monks contributed to the spread of Greek language among the Goths and Alans. From the eighth to thirteenth centuries, there appeared numerous epitaphs in church burials and in cemeteries located around these churches starting with a typical Byzantine phrase: Φῶς ζωή (“Light – life”), Κύριε, βοήθει... (“Lord, help...”), Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς νηκᾷ (“Jesus Christ conquers”), Ἐκοιμήθη (“Deceased” or “passed away”), and so on. From the materials examined there are reasons to state that, by the ninth century, the Goths and Alans assimilated Greek language, which from the ninth to thirteenth centuries predominated in Gothia. There are several written sources documenting the preservation of Gothic and Alan languages in the first half of the thirteenth century. In the mid-sixteenth century, the Goths of the mountainous Crimea spoke mostly Greek. According to written sources, the functioning of Crimean Gothic dialect was restricted and started disappearing from the sixteenth century on.

Being one of the most important cities in Macedonia, Berroia automatically entered the horizon of Serbian politics once Stefan Dusan got involved into the Byzantine Civil War during the forties of the fourteenth century. The King's previous invasion of Macedonia, in the thirties, had been aimed directly towards Thessalonica and was a failure. Thus, in the second phase of his politics, in which Macedonia was used as a backing in the striving for the Empire, Thessalonica was temporarily left aside, although not before first Serres and then Berroia had been captured, so as to leave it completely isolated. Initially, it was Serres rather than Berroia that Dusan was focused on, its conquest in September 1345 leading immediately to the proclamation of the Empire. Afterwards ? in the first half of 1346 ? Berroia was also conquered and turned into an important Serbian stronghold, Thessalonica being thus cut off, which enabled the Serbs to await a more favorable time to capture it. At the same time, the conquest of Berroia paved the way for the Serbian invasion of Epirus and Thessalia. Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus was certainly aware of the consequences of such a strategic constellation. Thus, when he finally managed to neutralize the Zelots in Thessalonica, his first move towards the change of the situation was to recuperate Berroia and surrounding towns. This was such a severe blow for the Serbs, that it immediately became clear that even Dusan's imperial power might be endangered if his position in Macedonia further weakened. He reacted promptly and recaptured Berroia and other strongholds he had lost. The conquest of Berroia was lead by the nobleman Radoslav Hlapen, who first acted as a governor on behalf of Dusan, and after the death of the Emperor practically as an independent ruler of that part of Macedonia.

Arrival of the Ottomans to the Balkans has witnessed major changes in the development of cities in the area. They have played particularly important role in the construction of new as well as in the changes of existing late antique and medieval towns and their adaptation to Islamic civilization which they brought. The uniqueness of these cities is that they were denselypopulated with predominantly Muslim population; they had monumental Islamic buildings and a large bazaar where a variety of crafts were developed. Ottoman cadastral records (defteri) show that over 200 cities were in the Balkans in the second halfof the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Example of Sarajevo reveals a concept planned established city – residence, which Gazi Isa Bey started to build on the shores of Miljacka by his endowments and numerous other officials, wealthy merchants, artisans and other citizens of Sarajevo continued, including the particularly important role of Gazi Husrev Bey. His complexof buildings still witnesses the planned construction, which was aimed to transform this city not only to administrative but also economic, educational and cultural centre of Bosnia. When we talk about cities in the Balkans in the Ottoman period, it is necessary to speak about the role of waqfin the creation and development of urban settlements. Raising the waqf facilities for various purposes, began with the urban formation of the citysettlements, and further development of waqf buildingsserved as the basis of that development. Waqf were established by province governors, military commanders and other officials of the Ottoman Empire, as well as wealthy merchants and artisans. Balkan cities population was in the rise in the fifteenthcentury, and during the sixteenth century it was doubled. Most of the city’s population were Muslims. They were not, as is often thought, mostly officers and soldiers of the Ottoman Empire or foreigners, but the majority of the urban population were localpeople, artisans and merchants, and various officers. Sarajevo has been developed within one civilization, along with other cities in the Balkans. The most intensive development of Sarajevo during the Ottoman period was in the sixteenth century, so it became the largest and most important city in Bosnia and one of the major cities in the Balkans. All characteristicsof an Islamic Ottoman town, both in urban development, division into two zones of housing and economic (mahala – bazaar), as well as the development of trade and their guilds and development of trade, were expressed. It was the administrative, economic, cultural and educational center of the Bosnian Sanjak, later eyalet.

In the south-western area of Taurica, there are more than 230 stationary rock-cut wine-presses. From the moment when F. Dubois de Montpereux discovered them in the early 1830s, they became the subject of particular research. These production facilities for the primary processing of grapes testify to the agricultural specialization of the local population in the early Middle Ages. In the 1970s, the Soviet scholarship developed the “Khazar” interpretation of the origins and dating of the said wine-making complexes (from the eighth and ninth or ninth and tenth centuries). The evidence base for this attribution is presented by E. V. Veimarn’s publications. Hypothetically, the flourishing of local winemaking was associated with the conquest of the Crimean Peninsula by the Khazars, in result of which safe trade routes towards the Khazar khanate developed to make the latter the main outlet for the Crimean wine, which was exported in locally produced Black Sea amphorae. In the future, the said interpretation gained support from V. N. Danilenko, A. I. Aibabin, A. G. Gertsen, and other researchers. The modern historiography, such as the articles of A. G. Gertsen, V. E. Naumenko, and other scholars, hypothesized a narrower dating of the Crimean wineries from the second half of the ninth to the first half of the tenth century (“Byzantine” version). The publication of the materials from the backfill of winery no. 10 at Mangup and carved-in-bedrock pits in the vicinity of the Eski-Kermen wine-presses, which were covered during the construction of new quarter I, clearly defined the chronology when typologically closed wine-presses ceased to exist as the second half of the tenth century. The researchers have explained the beginning of their construction as the purposeful policy of the Byzantine empire for the development of this region following the establishment of the theme of Klimata in 841. This is indicated by the similarity of the Crimean rock-cut wine-presses and similar complexes discovered in Byzantine Anatolia. Local viticulture and winemaking corresponded to common Byzantine traditions. There is no direct connection between the dates when the production of the Black Sea amphorae started in the Crimea and the functioning of the rock-cut wineries. Presumably, the manufacture of grooved amphorae (A. L. Iakobson’s variant 2 or class 36 of the Chersonese classification of 1995) was related to the production of wine in the South-Western Taurica. From the finds of the said amphorae both on the sites of the Saltovo-Maiaki culture and on the territory of the coastal Byzantine cities and towns there are reasons to reconstruct a more extensive trading network in Crimean wine than it was considered before.

Despite political and military upheaval in Byzantium in the 13th century, the most important of which were the conquest of Constantinople and the central territories of the empire by the Latins in 1204, and then the restoration of the state and the return of the capital by Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261, the manufacture of marketable glazed tableware on its historical territory had not stopped. Moreover, delivery of this ceramic into the territory of the Crimea also continued. This was largely due to the new owners of the maritime market — Italian merchants, first Venetians, and then Genoese, who were active participants of the political and military conflicts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Byzantium. At the same time, the composition of the imported ceramic was not stable. Finds from well-dated archaeological deposits known from the excavations of archaeological sites in the Crimea, as well as the surrounding area, provide the information as for the volume of the Byzantine import and changes in the imported pottery assemblage during the 13th century. First of all, these are the cultural remains with the layers of fire and destruction on the territory of the medieval towns in southern and south-western Crimea with the coins of 1250—1260s; shipwreck near the Novy Svet village south-west to Sudak, which wrecked not earlier than 1260—1270s; two pits in the harbor part of Soldaia / Sudak with coins of the 1266 and 1270s, which, according to stratigraphy, were filled after the mentioned catastrophe; sites in south-eastern Crimea with coins of the last quarter of the 13th — early 14th century, so on. Correlation of data from these contexts leads to the following conclusions. 1. Quantity of Byzantine ceramics imported into Crimea during the 13th century was quite significant. It accounts for up to 70 % and more of the ceramics assemblages. 2. The range of glazed ware remained approximately the same from the beginning until the middle — third quarter of the 13th century. The MBP (mainly «Incised Sgraffito Ware», less often «Champlevй» and others); GWW with monochrome green glaze as well as green and brown painted variants; «Zeuxippus Ware» (class IА&II) prevailed. 3. Since the last third of the 13th century less elegant and cheaper vessels («Sgraffito with Concentric Circles», jugs with stripes of white engobe) from different workshops, which in large quantities arise on the Byzantine and surrounding lands, start to come to the Crimea and Northern Black Sea Region. Their activities were stimulated by the intensification of maritime trade and the growing demand for cheap glazed pottery. 4. Cessation of some groups of import, especially MBP from Chalcis, may be due to the ousting of the Venetians from the Crimean market and their temporary difficulties with novation in the Black Sea after 1261. At the same time, the sales crisis could lead to the decline of some large pottery centers and to the emergence of new focused on more promising trading intermediaries, which the Genoese became.

Theophanes the Greek was one of the well-known artists of exceptional personality who lived in the second half of the 14th century. His talent stood out on account of the expressionist manner in which he portrayed his art creations and their impact on the school of Russian religious painting. His artistic talent, “swift brush” painting manner and life adventure can be compared with those of Doménikos Theotokópoulos (El Greco), another famous Greek painter, who brought the Cretan dramatic and expressionistic style to the West, influencing the Spanish Renaissance two hundred years after Theophanes. The artistic heritage of Theophanes stands between the short vibrant period of the Palaeologan Renaissance when the Byzantine Empire went through a terminal crisis, and the European Proto-Italian Renaissance. The artist seized the opportunity to unleash his creative work in the ancient Russian cities, unfolding his talent in the creation of large mural paintings. Characterized by his contemporaries as “Theophanes the Greek, icon painter and philosopher”, he enjoyed a high reputation in medieval Russian society. Present article questions Theophanes’ belonging to the hesychast movement and the attribution of the Muscovite icons and manuscripts to the painter. Considering the impact of Theophanes on Russian visual art, D. Talbot Rice stated: “It was thanks to the teaching of Greek immigrants like Theophanes that a sound foundation was established Russian painting, and it was on this basis that local styles were founded.” And it was in the Russian principalities that Theophanes developed his very distinctive style, enjoying carte blanche from the princes and boyars (aristocracy) to apply his creativity in various domains.

Large-scale studies of medieval non-fortified points of Southern Rus conducted mainly during the last quarter of XX century within the framework of the targeted program developed by O. P. Motsya, demonstrated quite convincingly the high level of development of Old Russian settlement structures and fully parity relations in the mentioned period between the cities and their outskirts. Somewhat later, when the respective excavations were being deployed, similar conclusions were drawn by experts studying the settlements of Northern Rus. One of the components of this parity is the things in the cultural layers of the settlements which had been previously considered as the elements of urban culture, and some even as representing the feudal lifestyles. Glass bracelets were also attributed to the components of the wealthy town costume: despite the considerable excavations there were found in rural cemeteries and, because of lack of wide scale excavations on settlement structures, were not found on the latter. The data obtained from the mentioned researches of the end of XX — beginning of XXI centuries led to a decisive rejection of this approach and thinking of the «urban» nature of these garnishes in our time publications, if at all mentioned, either due to inertia or as a tribute to the historiographic tradition. Substantially, that before the XII century there were pieces of work of Byzantine craftsmen in Rus affordable mainly to the representatives of the wealthy society group. With the proliferation of mass handi-works of glass-makers in Kiev and other towns of Rus this category of garnishes found its consumer and in locations rather remote from where they were made. At the same time, at some points, the number of the said findings per area unit exceeds even the figures from capitals and it is not always possible to find an explanation for this phenomenon. Khodosivka-Roslavske settlement in the southern suburbs of the capital is one of the archeological sites where the number of fragments of these garnishes is much higher than other items. The settlement was opened by the Northern Expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2007 and is studied annually within the framework of the relevant scientific planning topics. From the first season of excavations, the location has attracted the attention with a rather high level of material culture of its population (precious garnishes, expensive tableware, weapons, items of military equipment, etc.). For five years of work on the site 1041 m2 area was opened, which collected 566 fragments of glass bracelets, although the number of other traditional glass garnishes, i.e. beads, reaches only 8. It is noticeable that the named categories of things by characteristics correspond to the pieces of work traced at other points in Kyivan Rus. At the same time, the features of the bracelets from the settlement are quite substantially different from those of the Kyiv pieces of works, although certain aspects of the high level of development of this point were explained by the inclusion in the structure of the capital metropolis. As a result, neither the chronology of the point, the prosperity of which attributes to the peak of the bracelets making by Old Rus and, first of all, Kyiv craftsmen (though for quite a long time continues after the end of glass making in Rus as a result of the Batyi invasion), nor the neighborhood to the capital, nor significant amount of glazed tableware (the manufacturing technology of which is close to the processes associated with glass making, but the evidence of local development of this industry in the settlement is lacking) does provide an exhaustive explanation of the causes of the said phenomenon. Accordingly, at this stage of research, the traced feature of the point remains one of its specific features, but it testifies for the need of further research of both the Khodosian settlement and the medieval settlements in general, since the excavations of the said category of sites have potential of revealing so far unknown pages of the national Medieval studies.

Machiel Kiel’s attitude towards the culture of the Second Bulgarian Empire was extremely negative. In this regard, he blatantly manipulated and falsified the results of historical and archaeological studies. In his opinion, the Bulgarian cities of the 13th–14th centuries were small and unsightly, the churches were rough and impersonal, and the palaces of the kings were poky and ugly. Kiel told outright lies about the conquest of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Turks in the late 14th century. A careful examination of the available data shows quite a different picture. According to demographic studies of world-renowned academicians, such as P. Bairoch, J. Batou and P. Chèvre, medieval Bulgarian cities ranked among the best developed cities on the Old Continent. Moreover, according to the latest study, the capital of Tarnovgrad was on par with Rouen, the second largest city in France, and the southern capital of Toulouse, and had almost as many inhabitants as Cologne, the capital in the Holy Roman Empire. In Tarnovgrad, a total of 64 Christian churches have been uncovered so far, almost all of which were icon-painted and had marble and ceramic artistic decoration. In comparison, in the early 15th century, there were 53 churches and 19 monasteries in Thessaloniki, the second largest city of the Byzantine Empire.

During the first three centuries after the founding of the Eastern Empire, the islands of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea knew a period of relative calm and prosperity, acting as supply stations for vessels following the sea routes to and from Constantinople. Most of them had flourishing maritime market towns that functioned as processing and exporting centres. From the 7th century onwards, however, it can be observed that many of these ancient coastal cities either shrank dramatically in size or were gradually abandoned and the so-called kastra, i.e. fortified settlements built on top of remote hilltops, took their place. Little is known about this transitional period (7th-9th century AD) in the Aegean world as there are barely any written sources and most of the ancient cities and the Byzantine kastra in the Cyclades remain undocumented. Consequently, the beginning of the transition process and the exact causes behind it remain unclear. Pirate raids and the Arab threat after the 640s are the reasons traditionally put forward by Greek and foreign scholars, however, recent studies suggest that the Arab fleets are unlikely to have been a serious threat to the islands before the occupation of Crete by the Andalus Muslims in AD 827.

Abstract Recent scholarship on North African cities has done much to dispel earlier assumptions about late antique collapse and demonstrate significant continuity into the Byzantine and medieval periods. Yet urban changes did not affect North Africa evenly. Far less is known about the differing regional trajectories that shaped urban transformation and the extent to which pre-Roman and Roman micro-regions continued to share meaningful characteristics in subsequent periods. This article provides a preliminary exploration of regional change from the fourth to the eleventh century focused on a zone in the Central Medjerda Valley (Tunisia) containing the well-known sites of Bulla Regia and Chimtou. We place these towns in their wider historical and geographical setting and interrogate urban change by looking at investment in public buildings and spaces, religious buildings and housing, and ceramic networks. The process of comparison identifies new commonalities (and differences) between the sites of this stretch of the Medjerda River and provides a framework for understanding the many transformations of North African cities over the long late antiquity.

Little evidence has survived of the long-distance communication networks established by the Byzantines and Venetians in the medieval period. We know only of a chain of beacons established by Leo the Mathematician in the ninth century, an inscription found in the Peloponnese and a Venetian network in the central Aegean. This article reappraises the existing evidence and introduces new data following a study recently undertaken by the author of the topography of Negroponte (modern Euboea) and the medieval towers of Greece. Making extensive use of early cartographic sources, toponymic studies, and satellite imagery and telemetry, it identifies 142 tower and beacon sites on the island alone, and demonstrates, utilising archaeological evidence, how complex messages could be sent between towers. The research also uncovers a new term – the pyrgari, which appears to apply to a circular beacon tower. Combining this new evidence and the topographic study, the article then delineates, using GIS mapping, four Middle Byzantine and Venetian long-distance communication networks. The paper concludes by proposing a theoretical framework for the tower based on its role in communication and defence. Such work potentially helps us to understand in a more nuanced way the administrative and military organisation of the Byzantine themata and the Venetian Empire. The methodology also has potential for application in other regions: in essence it looks at the landscape not as a collection of nodes – bishoprics, cities and fortresses – but as a network of connections.

Climate stands for one of the important factors of tourism valorisation in a certain area. For the purpose of this paper Köppen climatic classification has been used. In a given area distinguished types of climate include: temperate climate C, continental climate D and alpine climate E. Considering the fact that climate can indirectly impact the geologic structure of certain areas on the Earth's surface by means of insolation and precipitation, building materials for architecture can be various. For example, as main or dominant building material in areas with warm climate types a stone is the most commonly used material, but wood and timber are commonly used in areas with cooler climate types. This research is based on selected urban areas for the each belonging climate type. By using Köppen climatic classification for the GIS mapping of climate subtypes, which are based on long-term climate data, selected urban areas have been chosen. Cities that belong to Csa climate subtype are: Mostar, Split and Dubrovnik, cities under Csb climate subtype include: Livno, Konjic and Rijeka, cities that belong to Cfa subtype include: Bijeljina, Osijek and Vukovar, cities under Cfb subtype include: Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Zagreb, towns that belong to Cfc climate include: Delnice and Slunj, and towns under Dfb climate subtype are: Kupres and Nevesinje. Areas with Dfc and ET climate subtypes include rural settlements and unpopulated wild areas. Research focuses on architecture from the six most significant historical periods: Antique, Byzantine, Medieval, Venetian, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian. Based on all the characteristics described before, the conclusion implicates that climate factors have significant impact on the architectural styles, and generally on the urban environment which is the tourism valorisation object.

It is a shared notion in historical literature that, across the centuries, the Mediterranean has supported a myriad of commercial and cultural fluxes among lands juxtaposed by open warfare or low intensity conflicts. The geography of the Mediterranean basin is formed by lines of towns that in certain cases might share more similarities with the ones sitting on the opposite shore rather than with their own hinterlands. The collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century entails a vast process of abandonment of the cities described by Aldo Rossi as a movement of the seats of territorial power to the hilltops. (Rossi 1980) Focusing on the renovated urban rise that starts as early as the ninth century to flourish in the Late Middle Ages, David Abulafia has described this territorial regime as one of inhabited edges opposed by conflicts but connected by fluxes bearing on mercantile feverishness. The lands of Islam on the southern and western shores span from Cordoba, Valencia, Tunis, Palermo, Mazara, Alexandria, to Cairo. The Christendom extends over the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas from Barcelona, Montpellier, Marseille, Genoa, Pisa, Naples, to Amalfi. The Byzantine dominion extends over the Adriatic and Aegean areas from Venice, Corfu, Thessalonica, Athens, Constantinople, Antioch, to Cyprus. The permanently contended strongholds of the Crusaders’ states like Tyre, Sidon, Acre, Jaffa, and Jerusalem, conform the Levant.

Cremer, Annette C. / Martin Mulsow (Hrsg.), Objekte als Quellen der historischen Kulturwissenschaften. Stand und Perspektiven der Forschung (Ding, Materialität, Geschichte, 2), Köln / Weimar / Wien 2017, Böhlau, 352 S. / Abb., € 50,00. (Alexander Georg Durben, Münster) Pfister, Ulrich (Hrsg.), Kulturen des Entscheidens. Narrative – Praktiken – Ressourcen (Kulturen des Entscheidens, 1), Göttingen 2019, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 409 S. / Abb., € 70,00. (Wolfgang Reinhard, Freiburg i. Br.) Krischer, André (Hrsg.), Verräter. Geschichte eines Deutungsmusters, Wien / Köln / Weimar 2019, Böhlau, 353 S. / Abb., € 39,00. (Wolfgang Reinhard, Freiburg i. Br.) Baumbach, Hendrik / Horst Carl (Hrsg.), Landfrieden – epochenübergreifend. Neue Perspektiven der Landfriedensforschung auf Verfassung, Recht, Konflikt (Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, Beiheft 54), Berlin 2018, Duncker & Humblot, 280 S., € 69,90. (Fabian Schulze, Ulm / Augsburg) Ertl, Thomas (Hrsg.), Erzwungene Exile. Umsiedlung und Vertreibung in der Vormoderne (500 – 1850), Frankfurt a. M. / New York 2017, Campus, 272 S., € 39,95. (Alexander Schunka, Berlin) Earenfight, Theresa (Hrsg.), Royal and Elite Households in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. More than Just a Castle (Explorations in Medieval Culture, 6), Leiden / Boston 2018, Brill, IX u. 416 S., € 150,00. (Jeroen Duindam, Leiden) Hiltmann, Torsten / Laurent Hablot (Hrsg.), Heraldic Artists and Painters in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times (Heraldic Studies, 1), Ostfildern 2018, Thorbecke, 236 S. / Abb., € 45,00. (Luc Duerloo, Antwerpen) Kießling, Rolf / Frank Konersmann / Werner Troßbach, Grundzüge der Agrargeschichte, Bd. 1: Vom Spätmittelalter bis zum Dreißigjährigen Krieg (1350 – 1650), Köln / Weimar / Wien 2016, Böhlau, 329 S. / Abb., € 30,00. (Maximilian Schuh, Heidelberg) Kiening, Christian, Fülle und Mangel. Medialität im Mittelalter, Zürich 2016, Chronos, 468 S. / Abb., € 26,00. (Petra Schulte, Trier) Lachaud, Frédérique / Michael Penman (Hrsg.), Absentee Authority across Medieval Europe, Woodbridge 2017, The Boydell Press, XI u. 264 S. / Abb., £ 60,00. (Melanie Panse-Buchwalter, Essen) Antonín, Robert, The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450 – 1450, 44), Leiden / Boston 2017, Brill, XIII u. 400 S. / Abb., € 145,00. (Julia Burkhardt, Heidelberg) Musson, Anthony / Nigel Ramsay (Hrsg.), Courts of Chivalry and Admiralty in Late Medieval Europe, Woodbridge 2018, The Boydell Press, XIV u. 250 S. / Abb., £ 60,00. (Jörg Peltzer, Heidelberg) Paravicini, Werner, Ehrenvolle Abwesenheit. Studien zum adligen Reisen im späteren Mittelalter. Gesammelte Aufsätze, hrsg. v. Jan Hirschbiegel / Harm von Seggern, Ostfildern 2017, Thorbecke, XI u. 757 S. / Abb., € 94,00. (Christina Antenhofer, Salzburg) Kolditz, Sebastian / Markus Koller (Hrsg.), The Byzantine-Ottoman Transition in Venetian Chronicles / La transizione bizantino-ottomana nelle cronache veneziane (Venetiana, 19), Rom 2018, Viella, 324 S. / graph. Darst., € 32,00. (Mihailo Popović, Wien) Documents on the Papal Plenary Indulgences 1300 – 1517 Preached in the „Regnum Teutonicum“, hrsg. v. Stuart Jenks (Later Medieval Europe, 16), Leiden / Boston 2018, Brill, XX u. 811 S., € 175,00. (Axel Ehlers, Hannover) Kumhera, Glenn, The Benefits of Peace. Private Peacemaking in Late Medieval Italy (The Medieval Mediterranean, 109), Berlin / Boston 2017, Brill, VIII u. 314 S., € 119,00. (Tobias Daniels, München) Campopiano, Michele / Helen Fulton (Hrsg.), Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations in the Later Middle Ages, Woodbridge 2018, York Medieval Press, XI u. 212 S. / Abb., £ 60,00. (Jörg Rogge, Mainz) Hole, Jennifer, Economic Ethics in Late Medieval England, 1300 – 1500 (Archival Insights into the Evolution of Economics), Cham 2016, Palgrave Macmillan, XII u. 300 S., € 123,04. (Petra Schulte, Trier) Klingner, Jens / Benjamin Müsegades (Hrsg.), (Un)‌Gleiche Kurfürsten? Die Pfalzgrafen bei Rhein und die Herzöge von Sachsen im späten Mittelalter (1356 – 1547) (Heidelberger Veröffentlichungen zur Landesgeschichte und Landeskunde, 19), Heidelberg 2017, Universitätsverlag Winter, 280 S. / Abb., € 45,00. (Jörg Schwarz, München) Mütze, Dirk M., Das Augustiner-Chorherrenstift St. Afra in Meißen (1205 – 1539) (Schriften zur sächsischen Geschichte und Volkskunde, 54), Leipzig 2016, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 434 S. / Abb., € 49,00. (Stefan Tebruck, Gießen) Langeloh, Jacob, Erzählte Argumente. Exempla und historische Argumentation in politischen Traktaten c. 1265 – 1325 (Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 123), Leiden / Boston 2017, Brill, X u. 414 S., € 128,00. (Frank Godthardt, Hamburg) The Dedicated Spiritual Life of Upper Rhine Noble Women. A Study and Translation of a Fourteenth-Century Spiritual Biography of Gertrude Rickeldey of Ortenberg and Heilke of Staufenberg, hrsg., komm. u. übers. v. Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker in Zusammenarbeit mit Gertrud J. Lewis / Tilman Lewis / Michael Hopf / Freimut Löser (Sanctimoniales, 2), Turnhout 2017, Brepols, VIII u. 269 S., € 80,00. (Jörg Voigt, Rom) Roeck, Bernd, Der Morgen der Welt. Geschichte der Renaissance (Historische Bibliothek der Gerda Henkel Stiftung), München 2017, Beck, 1304 S. / Abb., € 44,00. (Reinhard Stauber, Klagenfurt) Eming, Jutta / Michael Dallapiazza (Hrsg.), Marsilio Ficino in Deutschland und Italien. Renaissance-Magie zwischen Wissenschaft und Literatur (Episteme in Bewegung, 7), Wiesbaden 2017, Harrassowitz, VIII u. 291 S. / Abb., € 56,00. (Michaela Boenke, München) Furstenberg-Levi, Shulamit, The Accademia Pontaniana. A Model of a Humanist Network (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, 258), Leiden / London 2016, Brill, VIII u. 223 S., € 116,00. (Tobias Daniels, München) Andermann, Ulrich, Humanismus im Nordwesten. Köln – Niederrhein – Westfalen, Münster 2018, Aschendorff, 361 S., € 56,00. (Jan-Hendryk de Boer, Essen) Adams, Jonathan / Cordelia Heß (Hrsg.), Revealing the Secrets of the Jews. Johannes Pfefferkorn and Christian Writings about Jewish Life and Literature in Early Modern Europe, Berlin / Boston 2017, de Gruyter, XV u. 325 S. / Abb., € 79,95. (Gudrun Emberger, Berlin) Buchet, Christian / Gérard Le Bouëdec (Hrsg.), The Sea in History / La mer dans l’histoire, [Bd. 3:] The Early Modern World / La période moderne, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge / Rochester 2017, The Boydell Press, XXVI u. 1072 S., £ 125,00. (Jann M. Witt, Laboe) Broomhall, Susan (Hrsg.), Early Modern Emotions. An Introduction (Early Modern Themes), London / New York 2017, Routledge, XXXVIII u. 386 S. / Abb., £ 36,99. (Hannes Ziegler, London) Faini, Marco / Alessia Meneghin (Hrsg.), Domestic Devotions in the Early Modern World (Intersections, 59.2), Leiden / Boston 2019, Brill, XXII u. 356 S. / Abb., € 154,00. (Volker Leppin, Tübingen) Richardson, Catherine / Tara Hamling / David Gaimster (Hrsg.), The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (The Routledge History Handbook), London / New York 2017, Routledge, XIX u. 485 S. / Abb. £ 105,00. (Kim Siebenhüner, Jena) Ilmakunnas, Johanna / Jon Stobart (Hrsg.), A Taste for Luxury in Early Modern Europe. Display, Acquisition and Boundaries, London [u. a.] 2017, Bloomsbury Academic, XV u. 318 S. / Abb., £ 85,00. (Kim Siebenhüner, Jena) Czeguhn, Ignacio / José Antonio López Nevot / Antonio Sánchez Aranda (Hrsg.), Control of Supreme Courts in Early Modern Europe (Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte, 181), Berlin 2018, Duncker & Humblot, 323 S. / Abb., € 89,90. (Peter Oestmann, Münster) Heuser, Beatrice (Hrsg.), Small Wars and Insurgencies in Theory and Practice, 1500 – 1850, London / New York 2016, Routledge, XII u. 219 S., £ 29,95. (Horst Carl, Gießen) Koopmans, Joop W., Early Modern Media and the News in Europe. Perspectives from the Dutch Angle (Library of the Written Word, 70; The Handpress World, 54), Leiden / Boston 2018, Brill, XVII u. 361 S. / Abb., € 140,00. (Johannes Arndt, Münster) Miller, John, Early Modern Britain. 1450 – 1750 (Cambridge History of Britain, 3), Cambridge 2017, Cambridge University Press, XVIII u. 462 S. / Abb., £ 22,99. (Michael Schaich, London) Blickle, Renate, Politische Streitkultur in Altbayern. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Grundrechte in der frühen Neuzeit, hrsg. v. Claudia Ulbrich / Michaela Hohkamp / Andrea Griesebner (Quellen und Forschungen zur Agrargeschichte, 58), Berlin / Boston 2017, de Gruyter, XII u. 226 S., € 69,95. (Thomas Wallnig, Wien) Näther, Birgit, Die Normativität des Praktischen. Strukturen und Prozesse vormoderner Verwaltungsarbeit. Das Beispiel der landesherrlichen Visitation in Bayern (Verhandeln, Verfahren, Entscheiden, 4), Münster 2017, Aschendorff, 215 S. / Abb., € 41,00. (Franziska Neumann, Rostock) Sherer, Idan, Warriors for a Living. The Experience of the Spanish Infantry during the Italian Wars, 1494 – 1559 (History of Warfare, 114), Leiden / Boston 2017, Brill, VIII u. 289 S. / Abb., € 120,00. (Heinrich Lang, Leipzig) Abela, Joan, Hospitaller Malta and the Mediterranean Economy in the Sixteenth Century, Woodbridge 2018, The Boydell Press, XXVI u. 263 S. / Abb., £ 75,00. (Magnus Ressel, Frankfurt a. M.) Bünz, Enno / Werner Greiling / Uwe Schirmer (Hrsg.), Thüringische Klöster und Stifte in vor- und frühreformatorischer Zeit (Quellen und Forschungen zu Thüringen im Zeitalter der Reformation, 6), Köln / Weimar / Wien 2017, Böhlau, 461 S., € 60,00. (Ingrid Würth, Halle a. d. S.) Witt, Christian V., Martin Luthers Reformation der Ehe. Sein theologisches Eheverständnis vor dessen augustinisch-mittelalterlichem Hintergrund (Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation, 95), Tübingen 2017, Mohr Siebeck, XIV u. 346 S., € 99,00. (Iris Fleßenkämper, Münster) Freitag, Werner / Wilfried Reininghaus (Hrsg.), Beiträge zur Geschichte der Reformation in Westfalen, Bd. 1: „Langes“ 15. Jahrhundert, Übergänge und Zäsuren. Beiträge der Tagung am 30. und 31. Oktober 2015 in Lippstadt (Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Westfalen. Neue Folge, 35), Münster 2017, Aschendorff, 352 S. / Abb., € 39,00. (Andreas Rutz, Düsseldorf) Hartmann, Thomas F., Die Reichstage unter Karl V. Verfahren und Verfahrensentwicklung 1521 – 1555 (Schriftenreihe der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 100), Göttingen / Bristol 2017, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 370 S., € 70,00. (Reinhard Seyboth, Regensburg) Der Reichstag zu Regensburg 1541, 4 Teilbde., bearb. v. Albrecht P. Luttenberger (Deutsche Reichstagsakten. Jüngere Reihe, 11), Berlin / Boston 2018, de Gruyter Oldenbourg, 3777 S., € 598,00. (Eva Ortlieb, Graz) Putten, Jasper van, Networked Nation. Mapping German Cities in Sebastian Münster’s „Cosmographia“ (Maps, Spaces, Cultures, 1), Leiden / Boston 2018, Brill, XXIII u. 353 S. / Abb., € 135,00. (Felicitas Schmieder, Hagen) Müller, Winfried / Martina Schattkowski / Dirk Syndram (Hrsg.), Kurfürst August von Sachsen. Ein nachreformatorischer „Friedensfürst“ zwischen Territorium und Reich. Beiträge zur wissenschaftlichen Tagung vom 9. bis 11. Juli 2015 in Torgau und Dresden, Dresden 2017, Sandstein, 240 S. / Abb., € 28,00. (Vinzenz Czech, Potsdam) Haas, Alexandra, Hexen und Herrschaftspolitik. Die Reichsgrafen von Oettingen und ihr Umgang mit den Hexenprozessen im Vergleich (Hexenforschung, 17), Bielefeld 2018, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 319 S. / Abb., € 29,00. (Rainer Walz, Bochum) Flurschütz da Cruz, Andreas, Hexenbrenner, Seelenretter. Fürstbischof Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn (1573 – 1617) und die Hexenverfolgungen im Hochstift Würzburg (Hexenforschung, 16), Bielefeld 2017, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 252 S. / Abb., € 24,00. (Rainer Walz, Bochum) Sidler, Daniel, Heiligkeit aushandeln. Katholische Reform und lokale Glaubenspraxis in der Eidgenossenschaft (1560 – 1790) (Campus Historische Studien, 75), Frankfurt a. M. / New York 2017, Campus, 593 S. / Abb., € 58,00. (Heinrich Richard Schmidt, Bern) Moring, Beatrice / Richard Wall, Widows in European Economy and Society, 1600 – 1920, Woodbridge / Rochester 2017, The Boydell Press, XIII u. 327 S. / Abb., £ 75,00. (Margareth Lanzinger, Wien) Katsiardi-Hering, Olga / Maria A. Stassinopoulou (Hrsg.), Across the Danube. Southeastern Europeans and Their Travelling Identities (17th–19th C.) (Studies in Global Social History, 27; Studies in Global Migration History, 9), Leiden / Boston 2017, Brill, VIII u. 330 S. / Abb., € 110,00. (Olivia Spiridon, Tübingen) „wobei mich der liebe Gott wunderlich beschutzet“. Die Schreibkalender des Clamor Eberhard von dem Bussche zu Hünnefeld (1611 – 1666). Edition mit Kommentar, hrsg. v. Lene Freifrau von dem Bussche-Hünnefeld / Stephanie Haberer, [Bramsche] 2017, Rasch, 216 S. / Abb., € 34,50. (Helga Meise, Reims) Rohrschneider, Michael / Anuschka Tischer (Hrsg.), Dynamik durch Gewalt? Der Dreißigjährige Krieg (1618 – 1648) als Faktor der Wandlungsprozesse des 17. Jahrhunderts (Schriftenreihe zur Neueren Geschichte, 38; Neue Folge, 1), Münster 2018, Aschendorff, VII u. 342 S. / Abb., € 48,00. (Claire Gantet, Fribourg) Schloms, Antje, Institutionelle Waisenfürsorge im Alten Reich 1648 – 1806. Statistische Analyse und Fallbeispiele (Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, 129), Stuttgart 2017, Steiner, 395 S., € 62,00. (Iris Ritzmann, Zürich) Mühling, Christian, Die europäische Debatte über den Religionskrieg (1679 – 1714). Konfessionelle Memoria und internationale Politik im Zeitalter Ludwigs XIV. (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für europäische Geschichte Mainz, 250), Göttingen 2018, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 587 S., € 85,00. (Cornel Zwierlein, Bamberg) Dietz, Bettina, Das System der Natur. Die kollaborative Wissenskultur der Botanik im 18. Jahrhundert, Köln / Weimar / Wien 2017, Böhlau, 216 S., € 35,00. (Flemming Schock, Leipzig) Friedrich, Markus / Alexander Schunka (Hrsg.), Reporting Christian Missions in the Eighteenth Century. Communication, Culture of Knowledge and Regular Publication in a Cross-Confessional Perspective (Jabloniana, 8), Wiesbaden 2017, Harrassowitz, 196 S., € 52,00. (Nadine Amsler, Frankfurt a. M.) Berkovich, Ilya, Motivation in War. The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe, Cambridge / New York 2017, Cambridge University Press, XII u. 280 S. / graph. Darst., £ 22,99. (Marian Füssel, Göttingen) Stöckl, Alexandra, Der Principalkommissar. Formen und Bedeutung sozio-politischer Repräsentation im Hause Thurn und Taxis (Thurn und Taxis Studien. Neue Folge, 10), Regensburg 2018, Pustet, VII u. 280 S., € 34,95. (Dorothée Goetze, Bonn) Wunder, Dieter, Der Adel im Hessen des 18. Jahrhunderts – Herrenstand und Fürstendienst. Grundlagen einer Sozialgeschichte des Adels in Hessen (Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen, 84), Marburg 2016, Historische Kommission für Hessen, XIV u. 844 S. / Abb., € 39,00. (Alexander Kästner, Dresden) Mährle, Wolfgang (Hrsg.), Aufgeklärte Herrschaft im Konflikt. Herzog Carl Eugen von Württemberg 1728 – 1793. Tagung des Arbeitskreises für Landes- und Ortsgeschichte im Verband der württembergischen Geschichts- und Altertumsvereine am 4. und 5. Dezember 2014 im Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (Geschichte Württembergs, 1), Stuttgart 2017, Kohlhammer, 354 S. / Abb., € 25,00. (Dietmar Schiersner, Weingarten) Bennett, Rachel E., Capital Punishment and the Criminal Corpse in Scotland, 1740 – 1834 (Palgrave Historical Studies in the Criminal Corpse and its Afterlife), Cham 2018, Palgrave Macmillan, XV u. 237 S., € 29,96. (Benjamin Seebröker, Dresden) York, Neil L., The American Revolution, 1760 – 1790. New Nation as New Empire, New York / London 2016, Routledge, XIII u. 151 S. / Karten, Hardcover, £ 125,00. (Volker Depkat, Regensburg) Richter, Roland, Amerikanische Revolution und niederländische Finanzanleihen 1776 – 1782. Die Rolle John Adams’ und der Amsterdamer Finanzhäuser bei der diplomatischen Anerkennung der USA (Niederlande-Studien, 57), Münster / New York 2016, Waxmann, 185 S. / Abb., € 29,90. (Volker Depkat, Regensburg) Steiner, Philip, Die Landstände in Steiermark, Kärnten und Krain und die josephinischen Reformen. Bedrohungskommunikation angesichts konkurrierender Ordnungsvorstellungen (1789 – 1792), Münster 2017, Aschendorff, 608 S. / Abb., € 59,00 (Simon Karstens, Trier)