Journal articles on the topic 'Romanesque ages'

This article aims to analyze the architectural transition from romanesque to gothic through the passage from the abbey to the cathedral. To proceed with the analysis, the thought of Nicholas of Cusa is taken into consideration in relation to the notion of number and geometry. It is important to clarify that the following work corresponds to an interdisciplinary study, for which it takes up the architecture of the romanesque and gothic in correspondence with the philosophical position of cusanus. This research is not a study of historical coincidence, but an analogical (comparative) study between the convergences of the artistic productions of the Middle Ages and the thought of the cardinal of Bresanona. For correlation purposes, the idea of the finite is analogous with the romanesque abbey and the concept of infinity with the gothic cathedral

This article aims to analyze the architectural transition from romanesque to gothic through the passage from the abbey to the cathedral. To proceed with the analysis, the thought of Nicholas of Cusa is taken into consideration in relation to the notion of number and geometry. It is important to clarify that the following work corresponds to an interdisciplinary study, for which it takes up the architecture of the romanesque and gothic in correspondence with the philosophical position of cusanus. This research is not a study of historical coincidence, but an analogical (comparative) study between the convergences of the artistic productions of the Middle Ages and the thought of the cardinal of Bresanona. For correlation purposes, the idea of the finite is analogous with the romanesque abbey and the concept of infinity with the gothic cathedral

The book Pridraga in the hinterland of Zadar was written by the art historian and university professor from the Department of Art History of the University of Zadar Ivan Josipović. The research enterprise published in this book is the result of a lengthy study of early Christian and pre-Romanesque reliefs found at the archaeological sites in Pridraga near Zadar. Comprehensive and detailed presentation of all early Christian and pre-Romanesque reliefs found in the Pridraga region until the year 2018 reflects importance of this book as a unique and systematic research project. Since Josipović earned his doctoral degree with the theme of pre-Romanesque reliefs,1 research work and analysis of reliefs from Pridraga were a part of his knowledge of the early medieval Croatian art. Pridraga in the hinterland of Zadar is a contribution not only to the art history but also to the history of the Early Middle Ages.

Issue of Actual Chronology of a Romanesque Chapel at the Wlen Castle (Lower Silesia, Poland) in the Light of Mortar Radiocarbon DatingThe presented work discusses results of radiocarbon dating of lime mortars sampled from walls of a Romanesque chapel at the Wleń castle. Considering a homogeneous structure of the mortars, an attempt to determine the chronology was made. Radiocarbon dating was carried out both on carbonate binders and laboratory-selected charcoals from the mortars. According to obtained data, charcoal ages are older than the age of the binders. Assuming the 12thcentury chronology of the chapel's erection to be correct, it was found that the applied method did not provide the result which is consistent with archaeological estimations.

AbstractIn this poster we present a study of the orientation of the church of San Adrián de Sasabé in Borau, Huesca (Spain) in a practical way. This church is a characteristic Romanesque construction, predominant in the High Middle Ages, mainly in southwestern Europe.The apse of Romanesque churches are oriented towards the east. But, in some churches, the apse has three windows and these are oriented in the direction of the sunrises on the days of the solstices and equinoxes. But sunrises and sunsets depend on the latitude of the place.The church of San Adrián de Sasabé, the object of our study, has three windows in the apse, which allows us to carry out the necessary calculations to determine its orientation with precision outside the church.

Prague's main feature is that, out of many cultural treasures, it preserved its architectural culture and put it to practical use to present day. Particularly Prague has embraced a wealth of architectural styles from many ages. From the Romanesque, the Gothic culture of Czech's pinnacle age, Baroque, Neo Classicism, the Art Nouveau style buildings that concentrated in Prague at the end of 19th century and finally to modern structures. As we have studied, Prague is a textbook of historical styles: a Romanesque rotunda, a Gothic cathedral, a constellation of Baroque churches and palaces, a Renaissance summer palace, whole districts with histoicizing ‘neo-styles: neo-Gothic, neo-Renaissance, neo-Baroque, neo-Classic,’ Art Nouveau cafes, unfunctional pebble-stone streets and as yet undigested, isolated postmodern structure such as ‘Dancing Building-Gunger and Fred Building’ by Frank O. Gehry and Vlado Milinic

the church of lápafő can be found on the western border of tolna county. it was first mentioned in a medieval document in 1430. the building was excavated in the calvinist cemetery of present-day lápafő in 2012. in the first, romanesque period a church with a semicircular apse was built from stones, bricks and rammed clay layers. in the late middle Ages an annex was added to the church. the full length of the building was about 18,8 meters.

One of the most fascinating questions in all cultural-historical investigations might be how to evaluate a certain period from our modern perspectives. In the past, we have often heard of the ‘dark ages’ as a term for the early, but even for the high Middle Ages, a notion which has been so thoroughly debunked by now that we do not need to go into any further details here. Yet, already the Renaissance thinkers and poets were most eager to put down the previous period and used the epithet of ‘Gothic’ for the older art and architecture, and denigrated medieval literature at large, while we today accept the term as fitting and even ‘positive’ certainly adequate for that entire post-Romanesque art.

The article sums up the reflections on the relics of medieval plaster and layers of paint on the walls, columns and pillars of the Norbertine nuns convent in Strzelno completed around the 2nd-3rd quarter of the 13th century. The relics of the polychromies observed by numerous enthusiasts of the Romanesque Strzelno and discovered during archaeological excavations were topped with the results of conservation-restoration works which uncovered the first figural polychromies in the chancel’s apse. Following verification of the dating of the colours of the church’s interior, an indication was made that in the 13th century, the colour red prevailed; in the 15th-16th centuries, the figural scenes of the apse sported many colours while the remaining part of the sacrum was brightened up with three-colour, geometric patterns. To complete the range of colours, floor tiles were added. Examples have been provided of specialist painting analyses. The entire arrangement has been compared with selected colourful medieval structures. References have been made to the symbolism of the colours used in the Middle Ages and thecontemporary, erroneous perception of Romanesque architecture as rustic, devoid of plaster and colours.

Although a relatively young subject, the historiography of Irish architecture has had a remarkably significant impact on the manner in which particular styles have been interpreted and valued. Since the genesis of the topic in the mid-eighteenth century, specific styles of architecture have been inextricably connected with the political history of the country, and each has been associated with the political and religious affiliations of its patrons. From the mid-nineteenth century, the focus on identifying an Irish ‘national’ architecture became particularly strong, with Early Christian and Romanesque architecture firmly believed to imbue ‘the spirit of native genius’, while Gothic, viewed as the introduction of the Anglo-Norman invader, was seen as marking the end of ‘Irish’ art. Inevitably, with such a strong motivation behind them, early texts were keen to find structures that were untouched by the hand of the colonizer as exemplars of the ‘national architecture’. Scholars, including the pioneering George Petrie (1790–1866) in works such as his 1845 study of the round towers of Ireland, believed that through historical research he and others were the first to understand the ‘true value’ of these buildings and that any former interest in them had been purely in their destruction, rather than in their restoration or reconstruction. It was believed that such examples of early medieval architecture and sculpture as had survived had done so despite, rather than because of, the efforts of former ages, and, although often in ruins, the remains could be interpreted purely in terms of the date of their original, medieval, creation.Informed by such studies, from the mid-nineteenth century a movement grew to preserve and consolidate a number of threatened Romanesque buildings with the guiding philosophy of preserving the monuments as close to their original ‘pre-colonial’ form as possible. Consolidation of the ruins of the Nuns’ Church at Clonmacnoise (Co. Offaly) is traditionally amongst the earliest and most celebrated of these endeavours, undertaken by the Kilkenny and Southeast Ireland Archaeological Society in the 1860s, setting a precedent for both the type of monument and method of preservation that was to become the focus of activity from the 1870s, and thus for the first State initiatives in architectural conservation.

Archaeological excavations performed for many years in Łekno, central Poland, have exposed relicts of wooden fortified settlements, and in its enclosure also basements of stone buildings, consisting of Romanesque rotunda and a Cistercian monastery, including an oratory, church, and abbot's house. Earlier archaeological, structural, and stratigraphical studies have shown that these buildings were constructed in a sequence and represented several phases of development.In this paper, we present results of radiocarbon dating of stone buildings of the rotunda and the monastery. For 14C dating, we used tiny pieces of charcoal retrieved from calcareous and gypsum mortar binding stone elements from the buildings. These pieces were incorporated in mortar during the firing process, where the fuel used for firing was wood. Most of the obtained 14C dates formed clear groups, confirming that individual buildings were constructed in separate periods. Calibrated 14C dates of these phases agree well with the constraints provided by historical sources, and enable us to set their ages with accuracy better than previously available. In particular, we have learned that the oldest rotunda was built at the boundary of the 10/11th centuries, and the church and the abbot's house, before AD 1250. However, some samples gave much too old 14C ages, clearly reflecting the use of old wood for firing. These problems were revealed only for samples from the rotunda and for the gypsum stone ornamental details.

As this is a valedictory rather than an inaugural lecture, it seemed legitimate to be a little self-indulgent in the choice of theme. Every medievalist at some time or other has to take an interest in the role of the pointed arch in the transformation of medieval architecture from Romanesque to Gothic and in the ways that the pointed arch form was subsequently manipulated through the later Middle Ages. It is only a short step, but one that has been taken less often than you might expect, to pursue that interest back into the early use of the pointed arch in Islamic architecture: to ask how it came to replace the semicircular arch of classical architecture and why it was used.

In the XIX century, the importance of scientific illustration increases. Images of the Middle Ages appear in works on the history of art and material culture, reference books, periodicals, and guidebooks. The characteristic features of scientific illustration are the desire to observe the real proportions and composition of monuments of architecture and fine art, diligence, understanding the patterns of style and reflecting them in graphic reproductions. The publications combine detailed images of architectural monuments and schematically interpreted details of facades and interiors. In the work of Seroux d’Agencourt, separate tables reproduce the exteriors and plans of famous buildings of the Early Middle Ages, Romanesque and Gothic. The dictionary of E. E. Viollet le Duc includes a number of images of works of art; the graphic interpretation of structures and objects of visual arts is clear and concise. The magazines «Le Magasin pittoresque» and «Musée des familles» are widely attracted to landscape views, including architectural structures of the Middle Ages. In «Bulletin monumental» scientific graphics relate to texts and are focused on reliable and detailed interpretation of monuments. At the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, graphic images began to be replaced by photographs, and the genre gradually lost its significance. Over the course of a century, scientific graphics have evolved from a landscape «pictorial» interpretation of the form to a scientifically reliable statement of the appearance of medieval architecture and works of art.

This article presents the essays and poems of Aleksandra Olędzka-Frybesowa, who was a renowned translator from French and also English. In her essays, Olędzka-Frybesowa specialises in the Romanesque and Gothic architecture and sculpture of Western Europe as well as European painting from Medieval Ages onwards. She is also familiar with the art of South-East Europe. Her essays cover literary criticism devoted especially to poetry, with a particular interest in French and mystical poetry, as well as haiku, which was also her own artistic activity. The author of this article analyses Olędzka-Frybesowa’s ten volumes of poems, which follow a thematic pattern, especially the theme of wind (air). The analysis provides various insights into a variety of functions of this particular theme, from reality-based meanings to mystical and ethical features. This variety of funtions of the wind theme is supported by a particular melody of the poem and its abundant use of metaphors.

In the Middle Ages, the presence of animals, both real and fantastic, on written and sculptural holders, has the generic purpose of transmitting values considered of necessary knowledge or compliance. This article will examine the fundamental uses in which they materialize, taking the society of medieval Galicia as a general framework of study and paying attention both to the sources in which they appear –stone and parchment– as well as to the issues they convey. To do this, we will define two spheres and we will read them from different perspectives: the written one, for an individual receiver with some training in literacy, an image intended to suggest certain content to a specific and interested person that unravels the text; and the sculptural one, more designed for a collective audience that nevertheless assumes the concepts in a particular way, in the exemplary functionality of a biblia pauperum more appropriate to the new Romanesque portico and with a more intimate and allegorical projection of the private.

The recycling and reuse of wastes, especially Construction Waste (CW), is a fundamental way for sustainability. The act of reusing is not a modern practice; as early as in Ancient Rome and even more during the Middle Ages, materials were already being taken from existing buildings in order to reuse them in different ways. Starting from these general considerations and taking inspiration from specific construction techniques found in some Roman and Romanesque masonries made by unbroken tiles and tile fragments, two novel sustainable masonry constructive techniques are proposed here. They are composed of modern U-shaped tiles and their fragments so as to use CW. Monotonic and cyclic compression tests were performed so as to determine their main mechanical characteristics, such as compressive strength, Young’s modulus, and failure mode, and a first attempt at establishing their possible use in the construction sector is sought. A comparison with the literature values from other constructive techniques with similar values was also performed. It results that both the wall typologies showed satisfactory mechanical properties (i.e., compressive strengths are in the range of 1.28 ÷ 2.27 MPa), provided that their use is restricted for constructions of moderate dimensions.

Uhrusk is a small town located in eastern Poland, in the Lublin region, along the border river, the Bug. The temple is situated on the outskirts of the village, on a low hill, where there was a castle founded by Prince Daniel Halicki in the Middle Ages. The Orthodox church existed here before 1220, and for the first decades of its functioning it had the status of a council. Today, the existing church building was erected in 1849 as a Greek Catholic temple founded by the owner of local estate, Laura Kirsztejnowa. In 1915, the church was abandoned when the Orthodox residents of Uhrusk became refugees. In the years 1920-1927, it was renovated, due to significant losses suffered during the First World War and the Polish-Bolshevik war. The building was open again from 1920 to 1947, after which it was closed following the deportation of Orthodox Ukrainians as part of the “Wisła” Operation. At the end of the 1950s, the Orthodox church was restored for liturgical use as a branch of the parish in Włodawa. The style of the building is defined as classicist-Byzantine with neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic elements. In 2017, on the initiative of the Dialog Foundation in Lublin, a general renovation of the temple building and its surroundings began. Studies conducted with the use of specialized diagnostic equipment in the form of a Picus 3 sonic tomograph were important for the dendrological inventory. Within the boundaries of the property, 11 trees are growing, at different ages and in a healthy state. On the basis of the material collected, possible directions for the restoration of the Orthodox church’s surroundings were presented.

The aim of this article is to bring to the attention of readers a series of significant examples of texts printed prior to 1700 and illustrated with images of medieval architecture in continental Europe. British illustrations of buildings and ruins from the Middle Ages have received relevant attention from modern scholarly writers, but studies of analogous continental examples are lacking. Illustrations of medieval architecture have been little considered in most studies of the Early Modern period, as compared with those of their sixteenth-to eighteenth-century counterparts. In addition, the few studies that do exist of the interest in medieval buildings and illustration of them, prior to the ‘age of mechanical reproduction’, have generally been restricted to monographs on individual antiquarians or else have focused on Enlightenment, Romantic and Positivist criticism, and have tended to concentrate on medieval revivalism. Furthermore, with the exception of a few studies on the perception of the Romanesque, the most frequently investigated category has been the Gothic. Hence, despite the existence of some crucial works, the perspectives adopted in research into Early Modern attitudes to medieval architecture have inevitably been limited. We still lack any comprehensive overview of the architecture of the Middle Ages as a whole (that is, including the Late Antique / Early Christian era), or any studies showing genuine interest in the late Renaissance and Baroque roots of subsequent antiquarian medievalism. This article, therefore, attempts to begin to fill such a lacuna by studying the architectural aspect of those pre-Enlightenment illustrations of medieval antiquities that appeared in continental Europe, and by considering scholars’ awareness of the entire medieval millennium.

Rare double-cover bindings in the collections of the National Museum Library Unlike contemporary embossed bindings, Gothic double-cover bindings are mostly undecorated, as priority was given to the binding’s useful function. Covered codexes were stored in a horizontal position and the wide overlaps on the front edge of the back panel were inserted between the front panel and the book block; after the fastening of the clasps, the parchment block was perfectly protected by this “packaging“ against the adverse effects of the surrounding environment. The originally Romanesque type of binding was used for larger format codexes and appeared practically throughout the Middle Ages, until the 16th century. In domestic literature, double-cover binding is wrongly included in the “shape and binding curiosities“ category; abroad, the terminology for describing and determining structural types of bindings with a secondary cover is not clear. During conservation research in the National Museum Library, a total of 45 Gothic double­-cover bindings was found in various states of preservation, from which we can determine a wide range of structural types and several methods of execution. A set of ten double-cover bindings published by Dr. Hamanová was expanded to include bindings from Augustinian monasteries

Abstract The historiography on the Italian Communes has investigated the motives behind the new city governments. Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur and Chris Wickham have stressed different rationales in the actions of the communal elites. However, we should avoid underestimating the cultural power of a model still very much present in the Middle Ages: imperial Rome. In the crisis linked to the struggle for investiture, city elites were inspired by the Roman institutional model, albeit following different ‚models‘ (classical, Byzantine, Carolingian and Saxon). The communal world interpreted this legacy with the contribution of the Roman Church. In this context, the use of spolia as an instrument of legitimization, stressed by Arnold Esch, should be re-evaluated. The interpretation in a Roman key of institutions, laws, political and artistic languages presupposed a sound cultural education on the part of the people of the commune, based on the classical tradition and, politically, on Roman law and institutions. These concepts were visually expressed in the new artistic style – later called the ‚Romanesque‘ due to the obvious desire to reinterpret classical models. Finally, the equestrian group of Oldrado da Tresseno (1233) on the facade of the Palazzo della Ragione in Milan, the only known example of this type of municipal political representation in the first half of the 13th century, allows us to assess the power of the Roman model in legitimising municipal policies.

The struggle of the forces of Good and Evil is one of the leading themes of European art of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque. Personifications of positive and negative qualities of a person are depicted in book miniatures, monumental paintings, mosaics and sculpture from the time of the Carolingians up to the XIX century. The victory of Virtues over Vices described in the «Psychomachy» by Aurelius Prudentius Clement functioned as subjects of the art of the book of the Carolingian and Ottonian eras, sculpture of the facades of Romanesque and Gothic churches, in memorial plastic and allegorical painting of the Renaissance and Baroque. Medieval art generates several variants of the interpretation of the plot – the battle of Virtues in the form of warrior maidens with bestial monsters – Sins, allegorical embodiment of the forces of good and evil in the form of animals, genre interpretation of the theme in the form of «everyday» scenes. The Renaissance tradition refers to the personifications of good and evil forces in monumental paintings (Giotto) and memorial plastics, often as a symbolic designation, subjects of Holy Scripture are used. In the XVII century, allegories of Virtues appear in scenes of triumphs and glorification of rulers, in the festive decoration of processions (P. P. Rubens), in monumental paintings (Pietro da Cortona), in decorative and applied art.

AbstractThe appellation ‘Belgian black “marbles”’ usually designates dark fine-grained limestones present in the Paleozoic substrate of south Belgium. They have been extracted mostly in Frasnian (Upper Devonian) and Viséan (Lower Carboniferous) strata, in various different localities (Namur, Dinant, Theux, Basècles, Mazy-Golzinne among others). Nearly devoid of fossils and veins, they take a mirror-like polished finish, with a pure black colour. These limestones were already known during Antiquity but were only intensively exploited from the Middle Ages. Many different uses were made of these stones, for architecture, decoration or sculpture, in religious or civil contexts, following all the successive styles, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, baroque and so on. All these products, architectural, decorative and sculptural, were probably manufactured close to the quarries and were first exported to neighbouring countries (France and the Netherlands), then to all of Europe (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Baltic states, etc.) and, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, worldwide. They were always considered as high value-added objects, which allowed them to travel great distances from their origin. Thousands of references document the widespread use of these exceptional natural stones. They were employed, among other famous applications, as the black background of the Pietre dure marquetry of Florence. Some other lesser uses were either for musical instruments or lithographic stones. Today only one underground quarry exploits the black ‘marble’, at Golzinne (close to Namur). This prestigious material, with its dark aura, is suitable for recognition as a Global Heritage Stone Resource.

The paper is a monograph of the churches founded by the Doliwita Rozdrażewski family, which make a significant percent of the total number of churches built in the region of Wielkopolska at the turn of the 17thcentury. Those churches, constructed under the supervision of Hieronim, Archbishop of Włocławek, and the Poznań Chamberlain Jan, have not been analyzed by scholars, and some of them have not been even mentioned in scholarly publications. The analysis presented in the paper allows one to consider the churches founded by the Rozdrażewski family in the context of the architecture of the region, Poland, and the neighboring countries. The features of the period, as well as a religious controversy among the family members, made it possible to approach a number of problems connected to contemporary artistic changes, such as the so-called “gothic style around 1600,” relations between Protestant and Roman Catholic architecture, and claims about the purposeful “archaism” of the architecture of the period, emulating the Romanesque or the Gothic style. Responding to the research postulates formulated by other scholars, the author proposed a new term, “early modern Gothic,” coined to replace other, ambiguous terms referring to the architecture of those times. Moreover, he proposed an innovative way of interpreting Gothic architecture of the early modern period, based on following its transformations from the end of the Middle Ages till the turn of the 17thcentury, which results in a claim that Gothic architecture continued until then.

Wooden cloisters at Danish monasteriesVarious studies have shown that most of the cloisters known at Danish monasteries were constructed in the Late Middle Ages. There are several reasons for this. One is that these brick-built cloisters replaced earlier structures of wooden or half-timbered construction. None of the latter cloister types have survived in Denmark, so they have either to be discovered by archaeological excavation or through indications evident on standing monastery buildings.Archaeological excavations have demonstrated the existence of wooden cloisters associated with the monasteries at Ring, Øm, Dalum and Sæby. Postholes were found in the first three instances, while at Sæby there was burnt daub from half-timbering. The latter monastery was founded quite late in the Middle Ages, at a time that saw extensive construction of brick-built cloisters, so perhaps the remains found here derive from a temporary construction phase.At monasteries such as Tvilum, Horsens Franciscan Friary, Vestervig, Ribe Franciscan Friary, Antvorskov, Asmild and Roskilde Our Lady, the archaeological traces suggest the presence of cloisters of wooden or half-timbered construction. These traces are, however, of either an indirect character or are uncertain due to the early dare of the excavations and absent or inadequate reports on the findings.At Skovkloster (Herlufsholm), Børg­lum, Vitskøl and Ribe Dominican Friary, conclusions have been drawn based on standing buildings. For example, in relation to the Romanesque eastern wings, where earlier cloisters, built in lighter materials and preceding a late medieval brick-built structure, could be expected.Wooden cloisters are also a rare occur­rence in other countries, even though it is quite certain that they have existed there to a major extent. As in Denmark, these have almost all become stone-built over time or have disappeared due to age and decay. The three non-Danish examples mentioned in the article have different constructional forms. They can therefore not contribute to elucidating the precise construction of the Danish cloisters. Presumably they were of approximately the same type of construction here in Denmark as that evident the late medieval half-timbered buildings, and furnished with magnificent carved work as on Apostelgården in Næstved.Hans Krongaard KristensenAfdeling for ArkæologiInstitut for Kultur og SamfundAarhus Universitet

The phenomenon of early Christian triconchal churches on the Adriatic has already been noted in the scholarly literature. A separate study ‘Le basiliche cruciformi nell’area adriatica’ was published by S. Piussi in 1978, followed by N. Cambi with the 1984 publication ‘Triconchal churches on the Eastern Adriatic’. However, both scholars include triconchal churches in the typological group of ‘cruciform basilicas’ or treat them together with the churches which have three apses with spaces between them placed along the nave. However, because of their specific morphology consisting of the closely placed conchs and a large number of such examples in the Adriatic area, it seems justified to treat them as a separate typological group. These churches had originally been funerary chapels, but many of them subsequently grew into congregational spaces with complex liturgical functions. In addition, among the triconchal churches it is possible to discuss separately the type of a small triconchal cella without a nave, but sometimes provided with a narthex, as form which is different from similar chapels with a long entrance arm in front of the sanctuary. Based on this difference, it is possible to establish a different terminology which classifies cella trichora as the simple trefoil type, and triconchal churches as the more complex type. The latter is relatively numerous in the territory of late antique Dalmatia. The title of this paper stems from those buildings. However, they originate in cellae trichorae. Thus, in the introductory section I am discussing examples of these cellae in the Adriatic and the connection between their appearance and funerary traditions in the Mediterranean in general. The beginnings of Christian funerary architecture in Dalmatia are found in the grouping of round cellae in the cemeteries of ancient Salona, as known from N. Duval’s works, and in the presence of conchs next to the memorial chapel at Muline which was studied by M. Suić. I deem that the early Christian triconchal churches were created through the crystallisation of the forms present in the groups of funerary cellae in such complexes; cella trichora being the simplest form and triconchal church a more complex one. However, both are generically tied to the Roman tradition in pagan and early Christian funerary architecture. On the other hand, early Christian trefoil structures in the majority of examples stand next to the rustic villa which in itself speaks in favour of a private funerary function. Thus, it is important to assume that cellae trichorae and triconchal churches in the beginning represent early Christian memorial chapels, independent of the subsequent development of the complexes which enveloped them.Thus, the memorial chapel at Muline on the island of Ugljan is part of a larger funerary complex. It is still the most thoroughly researched group of early Christian buildings erected next to a Roman rustic villa in Dalmatia. Apart from a similar example at Brijuni, the Muline complex is crucial for the consideration and interpretation of the origins and development of Christianity in late antique rural areas on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic. It reflects the developed Christianity in the urban setting of Zadar. The owner of the villa was obviously a rich citizen who had a memorial chapel erected on his estate for a deceased person about whom we know nothing. The chapel nave is square. Two deep semicircular apses are found at the back; in the southern one was a sarcophagus. The second sarcophagus was buried under the pavement in the nave. Next to the façade was a protyron, a vestibule with a porch resting on two columns. A courtyard was subsequently added in front of the façade and provided with additional cellae around it. According to Suić’s analysis, it seems that the first layer of the memorial chapel was built in the fourth century. At that time it lacked a crystallized form of somewhat later triconchal churches on the Adriatic. Two original conchs at the back stand slightly apart. The third cella next to the back was subsequently added to the north wall. It has a rectangular ground plan similar to those around the courtyard. All this speaks in favour of a gradual multiplication of cellae around the original memorial, a process similar to that at the cemeteries in Salona. In this paper, I am discussing the phenomenon of early Christian and early medieval triconchal churches on the Adriatic. In doing so, I am only considering those which have three conchs along the sanctuary wall. Based on their form, function and date, I classify them into five groups.The first group one consists of relatively early, small cellae trichorae. They had originally been funerary chapels on private estates. The remains of these memorial chapels have been preserved in various locations along the Adriatic coast: from those at Concordia Sagittaria near Aquileia, Betika near Pula, to those at Gata near Salona and Doljani near Duklja. Older examples have been dated to the late fourth or to the first half of the fifth century, which seems to be the date of the formation of this type of Christian memorial.In the second group are somewhat more complex triconchal churches which, unlike the cellae, have a long nave in front of the sanctuary. They are found in the territory of the Roman Dalmatia and therefore referred to by the author as Dalmatian. Unlike the cellae trichorae, which in their original form do not have a long entrance arm preceding the sanctuary conchs like a nave, triconchal churches are characterised by this very element in the front part of the chapel. In this respect they are spatially more developed than the basic, cella trichora type, and thus probably represent a somewhat later variants of trefoil memorial chapels. It seems that the triconchal churches at Dalmatia were mostly built by the late fifth century or in the early sixth century.The third group consists of those churches from the second group which were transformed from the initial funerary chapels into complex triconchal basilicas. Similar to other types of original memorial chapels which were subsequently transformed into congregational churches in Dalmatia, these too were remodelled in mid-sixth century. Thus, by being enveloped by a ring of subsequently added rooms, some triconchal churches were transformed from the original memorial chapels into public congregational churches furnished with liturgical annexes, among which were baptisteries. Baptisteries in particular witness about the nature of the remodelled triconchal churches and newly created complexes, with a trefoil structure at the core. They indicate an increase in conversion of the population which probably caused the building of such structures. Of course, a similar development was shared by other types of originally private chapels in the time when churches were being built after the model of complex basilicas. However, in Dalmatia, there are no examples of such buildings before the age of Justinian i.e. before the second third of the sixth century. It is likely that the mentioned conversion occurred in this period. With it, many older churches, including triconchal churches, became cores of new complexes. Based on the examples of such a development, it is possible to speak convincingly of pre-Justinianic origins of the initial form of Dalmatian triconchal churches.The fourth group is formed by pre-Romanesque triconchal churches. Their morphology differs from early Christian triconchal churches, and they are represented by two subgroups of interesting early medieval churches in Dalmatia. In the first one are numerous centrally-planned buildings while in the second are two longitudinal structures. Both subgroups are characterised by a sanctuary with three semicircular apses. In the centrally-planned buildings they are placed radially and their axes originate at the centre of the rotunda. Thus, they were not arranged in a cruciform way towards the sanctuary as it had regularly been the case in early Christian cellae trichorae or triconchal churches, where the axes of the lateral apses are perpendicular to the axis of the central apse. However, the three conchs grouped at the sanctuary are a crucial spatial feature in the buildings of the first subgroup so, in principle, they can be referred to as triconchal structures. In this group are the church of Holy Trinity at Zadar and a number of Dalmatian hexaconchal churches, as well as the rotunda at Ošlje. In the second subgroup are the longitudinal churches of Holy Saviour at Vrh Rika near Cetina and the church at Lopuška glavica, both near Knin. These two churches have a long nave in front of the sanctuary, and three conchs along the sanctuary wall, as was the case with early Christian triconchal churches. However, the axes of the lateral conchs are not perpendicular to the axis of the main apse but are placed radially. The nave in the church is significantly wider than the diameter of the main apse. The original layout of the church of St Donatus at Zadar, as a free-standing rotunda, was probably created in the in the eighth century. All other pre-Romanesque triconchal churches in Dalmatia have been convincingly dated to the period between the mid-ninth century to the early decades of the tenth century.Finally, the fifth group consist of the Romanesque trefoil churches. These are small, cruciform cellae which have a short entrance arm at the front and three conchs grouped around the core at the back. The front usually rectangular and the conchs are semicircular. They are vaulted with semi-domed vaults. Above the core is a round drum with a dome. Two of those cellae are almost completely preserved and of particular interest due to the intersecting vault ribs below their domes. Stylistic characteristics of these buildings indicate the early Romanesque architectural features of the twelfth century. All other medieval triconchal churches in this group probably also belong to the wider Romanesque period.Finally, regardless of all similar spatial forms in antique and late antique secular buildings, it should be pointed out that the cellae trichorae and triconchal churches originated as Christian memorial chapels, inspired by the gglomerations of the earliest funerary a chapel installed in early Christian cemeteries. The triconchal shape of these chapels originated in these agglomerations and remained related to the funerary and memorial character. It can be concluded that the triconchal churches in Dalmatia were formed with relation to that character and that they persisted from the early Christian time to the mature middle ages. Perhaps it might be naive and mistaken to interpret the morphology of later buildings as being directly influenced by the earlier. Pre-Romanesque rotundas display a variety of triconchal forms which were not known in early Christian architecture of Dalmatia (except the hexaconchal interior of Zadar Baptistery). Nonetheless, polyconchal spaces of early medieval memorial buildings were furnished with a triconchal sanctuary of the same shape as those in early Christian triconchal buildings, and witness about the funerary function in the pre-Romanesque period. The Romanesque trefoil churches, however, recreated the original type, not as direct replicas of early Christian triconchal forms, but through their function, while their shape grew out of the reformation spirit of the great church reform in the Romanesque period. Thus, Dalmatian triconchal churches illustrate a continuous need for private memorial chapels which does not necessarily have to be triconchal but this particular shape has been discussed here because of its peculiarity. Already in the early Christian period, some trefoil structures outgrew their function of a family chapel to become churches for a larger community. That is why they were accompanied by additional liturgical functions and annexes necessary for monastic or parish churches. By this, they were transformed into complex basilicas with additional spaces while the original triconchal structure, situated at the centre, became the church, quadratum populi, sometimes surrounded by a series of interconnected rooms which served as an ambulatory. This might point to the possibility that in some cases the old funerary function of the original memorial chapel could have continued together with the new liturgical rites in the newly formed complex basilica as a congregational church. These changes did not take place in the medieval memorial structures although some hexaconchal churches and the octaconchal church at Ošlje were provided with new annexes soon after the initial building phase, and that added to the rotunda of St Donatus at Zadar included a gallery.

Senj’s heritage in general is historically and artistically extremely poorly researched and interpreted in the wider context of the heritage of the Eastern Adriatic coast. This is especially true of the monuments of the Middle Ages, hidden under completely different later architectural layers in the Early Modern Age of the militarised town. The examples analysed here are hypothetically interpreted in a new way, with suggestions for the dating and stylistic connections from the region of Kvarner, as well as from the wider Adriatic area. Along with the emphasis on the historical circumstances and the analysis of graphic and written sources, a proposal is presented for the dating and stylistic connection of the destroyed mediaeval tower (in the old Croatian Chakavian dialect - turan) in front of the façade of Senj’s cathedral. The possible closest twin and model to the Senj tower is probably located in Krk - insufficient data about the appearance of the Senj tower requires some speculation. All the circumstances that support such an interpretation, in the stylistic and chronological connection of the former Romanesque bell tower of the Krk cathedral from the end of the 12th century and the bell tower in front of Senj’s cathedral are explained exhaustively. It is assumed that, like the Krk bell tower, this one in Senj also had a communal status, so this may have been the reason for the construction of one more bell tower behind the rear of the cathedral, connected to the whole of the bishop of Senj’s historical residence. After this, two chronologically and epigraphically-palaeographically close inscriptions are compared with two churches from the first half of the 14th century, one which according to A. Glavičić was located on the site of the sacristy of Senj’s cathedral and the other which was located on the site of the sacristy of the Krk cathedral. The epigraphicallypalaeographically very close inscriptions, Senj’s "Imie od Raduča" and Krk’s which mentions the donors "Leonard" and "Bogdan", as well as the master craftsman "Mikel", are dated just four years apart. Finally, there is a comparative discussion about the process of urbanisation, architecture and the possible original name of Senj’s Mala Placa, the probable centre of the secular communal life of Senj in the late Middle Ages and the second focal point of the then already bicentrically organised town. Also discussed are the implications arising from the existence of such an urban focal point located next to the quay and completely separated from the most important public space in front of the cathedral. A proposal is presented for the dating of the town Loggia (the socalled "Kampuzija") to the 14th century. The term is interpreted as the name of the Loggia (Loža), but also as the name of the whole area regulated early as a square, in the sense of "campo" - like Krk’s Kamplin. The explicit Venetian method of the shaping of the brick-built Loggia, fitted with characteristic ground floor columns and Gothic monophores on the first floor part of the façade, stands out. One’s attention is drawn to its basement storage area which may have been a storeroom for salt. In this way, an early Venetian contribution (14th century) to the urbanisation of this part of the town located in the immediate vicinity of the quay stands out. For the Daničić house fitted with a luxurious late Gothic triforium, it is assumed that in the late Middle Ages it could have been a town hall and that it could, in fact, have been the town hall whose beauty was praised by J. W.Valvasor. A hypothesis is made about its original dimensions. With a little research luck, this could be confirmed by the conservation-restoration research of the inner face of the house’s masonry, especially the floors at the level of the skilfully carved Late Gothic triforium. The triforium is attributed to the work of Andrija Aleši from the 1550s.

The paper explores the dismounted knight as the personification of Pride in the context of Southern French art and hagiography of the 11th–12th centuries. This motif is based on the Psychomachia, the Late Antique allegorical poem by a 4th-century Christian poet Prudentius that visualizes a series of combats between Virtues and Vice. The key point in the sequence is the battle between Humility and mounted Pride culminating in the fall of the latter into the pit. The metaphor of Pride brought low literally visualized as the fall of a proud she-warrior from her steed resonates in the literature of the 11th–12th century. In the society where the image of an armed horseman is strongly associated with a member of the secular elite, the classical motif acquires a new social dimension. The Southern French hagiography of the 11th – early 12th century adapts it to the stories of punishment and derision of violent knights. Since the late 11th century allegorical figures of Virtues and Vices pass from the manuscript pages of illuminated treatises to the sculpted and painted decor of Romanesque churches. The Prudentius’ armed and armored she-warriors grow progressively abstract in this novel visual space. Following this development, Pride is the only vice to show little change in the way it is visualized. Within the iconographic programs of some church spaces mostly oriented towards constructing a social model using hagiographical topoi, Pride comes to be the only vice to keep her military attributes. Still personified as the dismounted cavalier, Pride becomes part of the universal eschatological perspective of the Last Judgment within the carved portal of the basilica of Sainte-Foy de Conques. The image has a local parallel in the episode of a knight’s fatal fall in the 11th century Book of Miracles of Saint Foy, with recent events remodeled on the episode of Prudentius’ learned poem. Thus, the image of a dismounted knight comes to stay in the visual allegory of the Middle Ages as an articulation of the aristocratic vice, one of the military elite. Starting as a mere episode in the allegorical combat of Virtues and Vices, the motif of Pride’s fall is shown to crystallize into a self-sufficient iconographic formula and literary topos.

Vormsi is a small island that belonged to the Oesel-Wiek bishopric during the Middle Ages. There is a church on the island that is dedicated to St Olaf, the Norwegian king who was undoubtedly the most popular saint among the Scandinavians. A short article written by Villem Raam in the anthology Eesti Arhitektuur (Estonian Architecture, 1996) is the only one worth mentioning that has appeared to date on the architectural history of the Vormsi church.The Vormsi church is comprised of a sanctuary and nave. Only the sanctuary was completed during the Middle Ages, and the stone nave was not completed until 1632. During the restoration of the church between 1989 and 1990, fragments were found of the foundation of the wooden church that predated the stone one. It is possible that the wooden church was utilised throughout the Middle Ages as a congregation room.Currently, it is believed that the Vormsi sanctuary was built during the 15th century. This dating is based on the pyramid-shaped vault consoles – a similar shape also appears in the chapel of the gate tower in the Padise Cistercian monastery. Actually, the Padise consoles have been reused. Their original location is unknown and their completion is impossible to date even within the time frame of a century.The most significant is the eastern wall of the Vormsi sanctuary, where a spacious niche with pointed arch is located. This Cistercian composition was also used in the Haapsalu Cathedral and apparently that was the model for the Vormsi church. The Haapsalu Cathedral is a surprisingly simple single-nave church with three bays. The church has richly decorated capitals on its wall pillars, on which both Romanesque and Early Gothic motifs have been used. At least some of the capitals have been hewn by a master who previously worked on the construction of the capital hall in the Riga Cathedral. The northern section of the Haapsalu Cathedral was apparently built in the 1260s. In the vicinity of Riga there is a church with a floor plan that is an exact counterpart to the one in Haapsalu – the Holme / Martinsala Church that dates back to about the 13th century. Considering both the floor plan and the sculptured decorations, it is believable that the designers and builders of the Haapsalu Cathedral came from the Riga environs.Pärnu is also on the Riga-Haapsalu route. Actually, two towns existed there during the Middle Ages. For a short time, Old-Pärnu on the right bank of the river had been the centre of the Oesel-Wiek bishopric before Haapsalu. However, the left bank of the river was controlled by the Livonian Order. There is very little information about the Old-Pärnu Cathedral that was completed around 1251 and destroyed by the Lithuanians in 1263. However, one thing is known – it also had a single-nave with three bays. There is no information about the design of the eastern wall of the cathedral. However, the sanctuary of St Nicholas’ Church in New-Pärnu had an eastern niche similar to the one in Haapsalu. It is not impossible that the motif was borrowed from the cathedral across the river or its ruins. Attention should also be paid to the fact that the design of the northern and southern walls in the sanctuary of Pärnu’s St Nicholas’ Church are similar to the Vormsi church. Therefore, there is no doubt that these two sanctuaries are architecturally and genetically related. Apparently the Vormsi sanctuary was built immediately or soon after the completion of the Haapsalu Cathedral – not later than 1270. It is not impossible that the vaults were constructed sometime later.The vault painting in the Vormsi sanctuary is probably inspired by the “paradise vaults” in Gotland. The Vormsi painting is strikingly primitive. In Estonia, this primitive style can also be seen in the churches in Ridala and Pöide.There is a squint (hagioscope) on the southern wall of the Vormsi church sanctuary, and an unusual sacrament niche with a light shaft in the eastern wall. This does not date back to the time when the sanctuary was built, but was added later. There have been at least eight such sacrament niches in Estonia, most of which were built in the 15th century.

Zusammenfassung: Seit langem nehmen in Norwegen und Schweden Ortschaften und Höfe mit dem Namen Huseby o. ä. zentrale Punkte in der Frühgeschichtsforschung ein. Sie werden dort als seit jeher bedeutende Orte interpretiert, die in der späten Wikingerzeit oder am Übergang zum Mittelalter zu königlichen Höfen aufstiegen und in diesem Zuge mit der standardisierten Bezeichnung *húsabýr versehen wurden. Die dadurch ersetzten ursprünglichen Ortsnamen sind nur selten überliefert. Die Huseby-Orte Alt-Dänemarks fanden in der Forschung hingegen nur wenig Beachtung. Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse der in den letzten Jahren durchgeführten Kontextanalysen und archäologischen Prospektionen erlauben es nun, das einst in dänischem Reichsgebiet gelegene Husby in Angeln in eine Reihe mit den bedeutenden Huseby-Orten Schwedens und Norwegens zu stellen. Archäologische Funde, allen voran die Entdeckung eines Siedlungslatzes mit zahlreichen Metallobjekten, die verkehrsgeografische Lage, Flurnamen in der Umgebung und eine romanische Kirche mit wahrscheinlich hölzernem Vorgängerbau zeichnen für Husby das Bild eines in der jüngeren Germanischen Eisenzeit, in der Wikingerzeit und im Mittelalter (über-)regional bedeutenden Ortes. Résumé: En Norvège et en Suède les localités ou habitats portant le nom d’H useby ont depuis longtemps occupé une place de choix en recherche protohistorique. Là, on les a toujours considérés comme des localités importantes, et ces endroits s’élevèrent au rang de cours royales au courant de l’époque viking tardive ou au début du Moyen Age ; de ce fait ils ont acquis la dénomination standard de*húsabýr. Les toponymes d’origine que ces nouvelles dénominations ont remplacés ne survivent que fort rarement. Cependant très peu d’enquêtes ont porté sur les toponymes Huseby que l’on rencontre dans l’ancien Danemark. Les résultats préliminaires d’études contextuelles et de prospections de terrain effectués au cours des dernières années nous permettent de ranger le site d’Husby en Anglie (Angeln), qui faisait anciennement partie du royaume danois, dans la série des sites importants portant le nom d’Huseby en Suède et en Norvège. Les données archéologiques, en particulier la découverte d’un habitat contenant de nombreux objets en métal, sa situation géographique, les noms des parcelles aux alentours et la présence d’une église romane avec probablement un précurseur en bois indiquent qu’Husby jouait un rôle (supra)régional significatif pendant l’âge du Fer germanique tardif, l’époque viking et le Moyen Age. Abstract: Settlements or farmsteads bearing the name Huseby or similar have occupied a central position in protohistoric research in Norway and Sweden for a long time. There they have always been interpreted as significant places, which rose to being royal courts in the Late Viking period or at the beginning of the Middle Ages and in the process were given the standard denomination of *húsabýr. The original place-names that these new denominations replaced rarely survive. Research has however paid little attention to the Huseby place-names of ancient Denmark. Preliminary results from contextual studies and archaeological surveys conducted over the last few years allow us to now align the site of Husby in Anglia, which once lay in the Danish realm, with the important Huseby sites of Sweden and Norway. Archaeological finds, especially the discovery of a settlement containing numerous metal objects, its geographical location, field names in its surroundings, and a Romanesque church with a probable timber precursor indicate that Husby was a significant (supra-) regional place in the later Germanic Iron Age, the Viking period and the Middle Ages.

The article analyzes the ethnocultural problems in the scientific works of L. Zalizniak, published by them in 1991-2018. The methodological basis of the study was the principles of historicism and historical retrospective. Also, the researchers applied comparative-analytical, systemic-structural, objective-subjective, biographical, concrete-generalization, chronological, concrete-historical, retrospective and other methods of research. The researcher was interested in the problem of the origin of the Ukrainian people with the arrival to the Institute of Ukrainian Studies in 1992. The fruitful cooperation with the Institute of Ukrainian Studies of the Kyiv University named after Taras Shevchenko and other scientific institutions helped the scientist to form his own vision of the Ukrainian ethnogenetic process. For a quarter century of work on the topic in the conditions of the Ukrainian state, L. Zaliznyak creatively substantiated and developed the early-medieval conception of the origin of the Ukrainian people founded by M. Hrushevsky. During this long time, L. Zalizniak's ethno-cultural studios have become a solid, stable and reliable ground for the modern concept of ethnogenesis of Ukrainians. The scholar highlights the following basic provisions of this ethnogenetic theory: 1) The peoples are ethnocultural organisms that pass through the life cycle from birth through childhood, maturity, old age to ethnic disintegration and assimilation by other ethnic groups; 2) The age of ethnos determines the ethno-cultural continuity of its development, which is established with the help of a complex of sources and methods of various paleo-historical disciplines (archeology, historical sources, linguistics, ethnography, anthropology, etc.); 3) The birth of large ethnic groups in the middle of Europe occurred in the early Middle Ages; 4) The tribal stage of the development of European ethnic groups began at the dawn of the Middle Ages and ended in the IX-X centuries the emergence of their first states - English, French, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, Polish, Russian; 5) The state-owned people of the empire may generate daughters in the provinces of the empire controlled by them. They arose as a result of the synthesis of local traditions with the culture and language of the imperial people-conqueror, and began their own historical existence from the moment of separation from the empire. They arose as a result of the synthesis of local traditions with the culture and language of the imperial people-conqueror, and began their own historical existence from the moment of separation from the empire. So the Romans gave rise to the Romanesque group of peoples, and the ancient Ukrainian (Russian) princely Kievan group of Eastern Slavs (Belarusians, Pskov-Novgorod, Russians). According to L. Zalizniak, in Eastern Europe there really existed a cradle of three fraternal peoples. Newborn Belarussians, Pskov-Novgorodians and Russians sat there, and their father, a pro-Ukrainian from Prince Kiev, sheds it. L. Zaliznyak substantiates the coherence of the early medieval conception of the origin of Ukrainians with the universal scheme of ethnogenesis of the great European ethnic groups and the scheme of the ethnogenesis of the eastern Slavs M. Hrushevsky. If M. Hrushevsky considered the antitates to be direct ancestors of the Ukrainian people, then L. Zaliznyak is convinced that they were the most slobins. According to L. Zaliznyak, Ukrainian ethnogenetic periodization has the following form: ethnogenesis of Ukrainians begins at the end of the fifth century; further - slobins and partially anti (V-VІІ st.); annalistic tribes of Volynians, Derevlyans, Polyan, White Croats, Ulychi, Tiverts (VIII-IX); Ruthenian people (proukrainians) (X-XIV centuries); Rusyns-Ukrainians of the Cossack Age (XV-XVIII centuries); Ukrainians since the emergence of a modern nation (nineteenth and twentieth centuries). Actively criticizing the modern exotic concepts of prehistoric origin of Ukrainians, the scientist emphasizes: 1) Ukrainian people are born only when their basic ethno-cultural complex is formed, which includes language, culture, temperament, character, anthropological type, self-consciousness and specific forms of management; 2) the main defining feature of the age of the Ukrainian ethnos is the continuity of its ethno-cultural development, that is, the presence of a holistic complex of ethno-cultural elements for a sufficiently long time. Consequently, the ethno-cultural studios of L. Zaliznyak in post-Soviet Ukraine, deprived of totalitarian ideology, acquired the finality and systematic comprehension, due to this, they became a solid and reliable ground for the construction of scientifically sound models of Ukrainian ethnogenesis.

This text deals with circumstances of the finding as well as with the art and iconographic characteristics of an interesting relief accidentally dug out in 1947, north-east from Visoko, in Central Bosnia. Field examination that followed afterwards determined that the relief once was a part of itinerary and interior decoration of a smaller building. Supposedly, this was a medieval tomb construction based on the fact that in a nearby environment there were several other unornamented tombstones as well as after the Cyrillic inscription which was probably carved on the relief afterwards. The afore mentioned inscription was, more frequently than the relief itself, an object of interest for researchers because it mentions two historical personalities, Nespina kaznac the Great and his kaznac sister Bjeloka. Naïve nature of the carving is a highly stressed feature of the relief (210 cm long, 106 cm high and 7-10 cm thick) which is especially noticeable on the displayed human form. Its body, apart from the protectivebelt wrapped around right arm and sharp tipped shoes, has no other clothing items displayed. The body is placed in a semi-profile while the head is shown en face. Its hands are of uneven length with its fists displayed on external sides so one gets an impression of a hunter with two left hands. This form of naïve display of human figure is the characteristic of theearly medieval period. Similarly, on a miniature from 9th century showing the transport of relics, a front porter in the scene has an awkward display of ”two right hands” of uneven length. Generally, this primitive stone-carving method of the relief from Visoko can also be recognized on the relief displaying Palm Sunday from Venice, on the marble panel from San Saba church in Rome and on the relief from Žrnovnica in Dalmatia. All of these examples we used to compare with, originate from 8th century.Due to its looks and contents of the carved motif including hunting scene, the relief from Malo Čajno was frequently identified with similar motifs on stećci. However, it is different from stećci, not only in its details but also in its complete artistic creation. The human form and the animals, displayed next to it, are carved with numerous details that do not exist on similardisplays on stećci. Hairy animals have their big grinned teeth stressed, dogs have leather collars and the hunter has a head with a precise display of hair and beard, facial details and a hairy neck. The entire composition is not as rigid as it is the case on stećci but rather very dynamic. The hunter is standing aside with his spear high up in the air, expecting an attackfrom the boar surrounded by three dogs. The wild beast already overpowered and threw under its feet one of the dogs, the another dog is charging energetically,while the third one is running away looking back to prevent being grabbed by the boar from the back. There is also some perspective in the whole performance because the running dog, carved in the secondplain above the hunter’s hands, is a bit smaller than the others. J. Kovačević is the only one who discussed art, iconographyand chronology of this relief. According to his opinion, this relief is created under the influence of the early Romanesque art of the western Europe, particularly following the monuments from eastern Adriatic coast where stylistically very similar reliefs,in the way they display the human form, can be found. This implicitly suggests the dating of this relief into 11th century. He also stated that the medieval panel from Malo Čajno is a chronological link between Late Antique displays and those that will numerously show up afterwards on late medieval stećci. Through the interpretation of iconographic content of the relief,he assumed that this is a very frequent ancient mythological and narrative motif whose interpretatio christiana lies in the early Christian and afterwards in the early Romanesque art. Symbolically, the hunter killing a boar is actually killing the devil or evil spirit which, according to gospels of Luke and Matthew, Christ forced into a body of a pig, staying there untilits disappearance through submerging in water. After J. Kovačević there were no more texts addressing this relief with more attention. In the past literature, it was the most frequently mentioned topic in the papers dealing with the art of the Bosnian Medieval tombstones and stećci. Afterwards, M. Wenzel mentioned it first and later it was used several timesby Š. Bešlagić who found the standpoint for his opinion in the hunting scene and the shape of the spear that hunter holds in his hands. According to my opinion the stone panel with hunting scene relief from the vicinity of Visoko, dueto its complexity in art form and the specific carving processing, cannot be linked to a single similar ornament on medieval and Late Medieval Bosnian tombstones. Those who tried to make a connection warn us that among numerous hunting displays onstećci, deer hunting scenes are prevalent, while boar hunting scenes are displayed eleven times. In that process dual analogies are stated because in all those reliefs from the Late Medieval period, the animals were carved in a schematic way which makes a boar recognizable only with a lot of imagination. However, on a stećak from Donja Zgošća near Kakanj, which israther impressive by its dimensions and ornaments,one hunting scene can be interpreted precisely like that, making it, in my opinion, a single such display made on stećci. The second indicator that was used to equalize the scene from the relief nearby Visoko with displays on stećci is a large spear that the hunter is holding in his hands. It is presumably a hunting spear that was in use during 14th and 15th century in Bosnia. Several similar spears were displayed on tombstones as well, but those items were significantly different from the one carved on our relief. It truly resembles the Early Medieval, Frankish spear with wings that was used inthe second half of the 8th and throughout the 9th century. Several pieces of weapons like that were found in Dalmatian outback, in Hercegovina and in southwestern Bosnia. Its shape and function are clearly indicated by tiny images in Carolingian church book sand reliefs from Europe of the period. Of special importance for our issue is an analogy to the relief from Žrnovnica nearby Split showing a horseman attacking a bear with almost identical spear. Until recently this monument was considered as an early Romanesque stone-carving, but thanks to further detailed art andiconographic analysis it was shown that it belongs to pre-Romanesque period; most likely second half of the 8th century. The displayed heads of the animals, the head of the boar especially, being very robust with semi-open jaws with long sharp teeth, could be used for chronological dating of the relief from Malo Čajno. Thanks to such outlook, in comparison to their bodies, they mostly resemble the augmented animal heads carved on the specimen of the early medieval stone furniture found in churches in cities in Dalmatia, Istria and northern Italy. The very motif of boar hunting, as previously noted, is taken from the repertoire of the ancient art. The sarcophagus with mythological theme of Meleager hunting a Calydonian boar from Solin (today in Archeological museum in Split) is one of the best displays of such a motif from prestigious Attic workshops. Several items from the Late Antiquity exemplify the use of this motif also in the early Christian period as previously mentioned by J. Kovačević.A relief with a narrative display of boar hunting from the portico of a cathedral in Civita Castellana is a very good early medieval analogy to the scene on the relief from vicinity of Visoko. On the monument from Lazio, the hunt is taking place in the forest and horsemen and infantry are participating. The boar surrounded by dogs is being attacked by one horseman with a spear with a small wings, the other one with a spear in his hand and a horn in his mouth is pursuingit, while two more infantry men, equipped in a similar fashion, are also taking part in the hunt. Those infantrymen are very similar to the hunter from Visokoincluding the presence of the naïve carving. Their legs are presented in profile, while torso and the heads areen face. Apart from that, they are carved in a similar fashion to the hunter from the relief in Bosnia withtheir thick triangular beards and long hair which in broad highlights is combed towards scalp. Display of perspective in superposition is also an interesting artanalogy which is present on both of the monuments. The relief from Cività Castellana is considered to beLangobardian legacy and is usually dated back to 8th century.The relief with the added Nespina kaznac’s inscription is specific for its carving method which is dominated by the use of serrated tools. Their use is not common in the Medieval Period and especially not on tombstones from the Late Medieval period including stećci, where there are no traces of it as well, as far as I know. On the other hand, such final processing of the stone surface is common in Roman period so we can assume that its use on our monument should be understood as antique and late antique tradition. Such carving technique was also applied to some other monuments in the area of today’s Bosnia. It involves bear head protomes which used to be arrangedin a sequence ornamenting the outer wall of apse of a palace within curtis in Breza, but also ram’s or moufflon’s head probably as a part of a capital from the same site. Clear marks of the serrated chisel and hammer indicate that these monuments should assumedlybe placed into approximately the same period. The building in Breza is differently dated and functionally explained. In my opinion it is not an old Christian church but a palace within early medieval land property. Almost all fragments that used to decorate the interior and exterior of the building in Breza are not the characteristic of the Christian iconography.This is especially reflected in the displays of animals like bear, moufflon or ram which would be more acceptable for more secular buildings like a palace or hunting lodge as a part of nobility residence of the Early Middle Ages. Earlier in the text we have tried to show that according to its artistic qualities and carving procedures the relief from Malo Čajno is verysimilar to the sculptures from Breza. Therefore, if we add its contents (narrative boar hunting scene) to those indicators, an assumption that it used to be a part of the same ambience does not seem too daring. Such an opinion is more justified if we know that those two localities are only few kilometers apart. Hence, I consider the relief with boar hunting scene from MaloČajno to be carved in the Early Middle Ages, roughly in the second half of the 8th century. I assume that it was once a part of ambience decoration in the interior of the palace or hunting lodge in Breza. Afterwards, in the following centuries of the Medieval Period, it was taken from there to the new position in Malo Čajno. At that moment it also got its new, funeral functionwhich is shown through successively carved Cyrillic inscription originating from 12th or 13th century. Such re-use of some early medieval monument was not uncommon because in medieval Bosnia, similar thing happened to the famous Kulin ban’s panelwhich was found nearby, in Biskupići.

The Harre vig boathousesNew investigationsMedieval and prehistoric boathouses are especially known from Norway, where more than 800 structures from the 1st-16th century have been recorded. They normally appear in the terrain as U-shaped structures, built from stones and/or turf, and with the open end oriented towards a nearby coastline. The medieval constructions tend to be rectangular in plan, while older boathouses have curved sidewalls. Studies of the large boathouses (15-40111 internal length) has demonstrated that throughout time they can be connected to places of administrative importance, in the Middle Ages in terms of the leidang system. Especially in western Norway, there are several examples of historically known leidang-centres – skipreider – that manifests themselves also physically in terms of a Romanesque stone church and a large, medieval boathouse. This reflects the content of medieval Norwegian law, demanding that the leidang ship should be kept in a boathouse, a naust, and that the sail should be kept in a church.Much fewer archaeological boathouses are known from other Scandinavian areas, and in Denmark, only two examples have so far been attested. They both are situated at Harre Vig in northwestern Jutland, on the south side of the Lime Fiord (fig. 1).Harre Vig forms the inner, well-protected part of an inlet cutting into the district Salling on the south coast of the western Lime Fiord. The entrance to Harre Vig is narrow and the two structures were found close to it, on the foreshore beneath a moraine headland facing incoming ships from the Lime Fiord.Thorkild Ramskou from the Danish National Museum undertook the first archaeological investigation of the Harrevig boathouses in 1958. Limiting his excavation to a few trenches in the best preserved, northernmost of the two east-west oriented structures, he failed to produce any kind of dating evidence.The only artefact found was an iron nail of a type usually used in shipbuilding. His conclusions were, that the structures, of which the northern one measured 27.5 m in length and 10.5111 in width (internal dimensions 24x6m) more had the character of sheds with a temporary roofing than actual boat houses (fig. 2). Ramskou proposed that the structures should be seen in relation to gatherings of Danish fleets in the western Lime Fiord in preparations for expeditions to the west. Therefore, he dated the structures to the time before the closing of the western entrance to the fiord, more precisely to the Viking Age or the Early Middle Ages.In spired by the results of Norweg ian boathouse research, and as the result of the Centre’s involvement in a PhD project about Iron Age and Medieval boathouses in Northern Europe by Oliver Grimm, the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the Danish National Museum in 2000 undertook a renewed investigation of the structures at Harre Vig. The aims were to find material suitable for an archaeological or scientific dating of the structures, as well as to throw more light over their construction.The work was planned and carried out with due respect to the unique character of the two protected monuments, and actual excavations were kept to a minimum (fig. 3). The construction of the walls was studied through a main trench across the structure, continuing in to a slightly elevated area to the north and a cut through the end wall. A cut th rough the seaward end together with one perpendicular to the coast to the north of the structure aimed at confinning that no end wall was hiding in a beach ridge clearly visible in the 3D- model of the site, and thought to be of later date than the structures (fig. 4). Finally, a trench was opened in the interior of the structure, to in vestigate if the presence of any interior wall constructions or roof supports could be demonstrated. Apart from mechanical removal of the turf, all trenches were dug with hand and in planum in order to obtain as much information as possible from the restricted areasexcavated.The trenches through the walls brought about new in formation about their construction, as it was demonstrated that they were partly buildt from material dug up from a trench immediately on theout side of the walls, partly from turf being cut from the close surroundings (fig. 5). The sections established allow for a reconstruction of the walls as between 1.1-1.5 m wide and 1-1.5 m high, probably of trapezoid shape. The cut through the seaward end confirms that there has been no wall construction here, and thus the internal width appears to be 5.6-6.2111 and the opening towards the sea 3.5 m wide. It was not possible to document the presence of any internal constructions, which indicates that a permanent roof may not have been present. Nor were any cultural layer found. The conclusion of Ramskou, that the structures were not boathouses proper, but constituted another type of shelters, probably only in short time use, was thus supported. Shelters without roofs, hróf, are known from Iceland in recent time, where they serve to protect the boats from the wind, rather than from rain and snow.The artefact finds were few. During a metal detector survey, four nail fragments were found, but their contexts were inconclusive. During the excavation six further fragments appeared, mostly from the filling in the northern wall, indicating them to be older than or contemporary to the construction of the wall. One of the fragments was the rove from a rivet, apparently broken up (fig. 6). The size compares to that of a big boat or a small ship, but could also be from a lightly built longship. Its design indicates it to be older than c. 1100. Furthermore five small, magnetic cinders were found, indicating iron working at the site (fig. 7). The possibility exists, however, that they are later intrusions. In the end wall, in a layer, which must have been formed during its construction, remains of a campfire were found. Together with it turned up also 25 small potsherds of what might have been the same globular vessel of local, early 11th century produces. Radiocarbon analyses of three samples of charcoal – one oak, two pine – from the camp fire gave very uniform dating values pointing to the period AD 1020-1040, but with some possibility for a dating in the first half of the 12th century (fig. 8). The dating evidence thus quite uniformly points to a dating around the middle of the l1th century.The dating and the new information on the height of the walls and the possible width of the opening allows us to judge, what kind of ship the shed may have housed. 11th century warships appear to be more slender than their predecessors are and than cargo carriers. The beam of the warships built at the time of the shelter was only 9-14% of their length. This corresponds well to the proportions of the shelter, the opening measuring 15% of the internal length of 24 m. Thus, we may assume that the shed has been able to house a longship of 24 m length, corresponding to 18-20 pairs of oars, or a crew of 40-50 people. The southern structure being similar in proportions to the northern and apparently contemporary, it may have housed a ship of similar size. In what context has it been necessary to keep ships for a highly mobile, amphibious force of up to 100 soldiers at Harre Vig?The nearby village Harre has not only given name to the inlet and other natural landmarks in the vicinity – it has also given name to the local administrative district, herred, although it is situation in the southern end of the district. The herred division can with certainty be related to the leidang from 1140 onwards, but this relationship may be older. Harre herred is known in written sources from 1230 on, Harre village from 1386. The Romanesque church of the village, situated with a wide view over the inlet, indicates the village to be of higher age than its first appearance in historical documents. Slightly unusual is that Harre parish also had another Romanesque church, now only preserved as a ruin (fig. 9). This church was placed close to Harre church, but even closer to the inlet.There are thus some great similarities between the situation known from the Norwegian skipreider with stone churches and large boathouses and that at Harrevig. It is puzzling, however, that the boat sheds at Harrevig are situated at some distance – 1.5 km – from the village (fig. 10).The location is, however, situated as far towards the openin g of the inlet as the landscape allows land transport, and the reason may have been simply to secure rapid deployment of the ships when need arose.That the choice was, after all not a wise one may be indicated by the apparent short time of use for the sheds.Jan Bill & Oliver GrimmNationalmuseets Marinarkæologiske Forskningscenter

KoustrupA medieval thorp in Western JutlandIn the mid-1980s, a farmer ploughed up stones and clay on some fields adjoining an old road in an area known as Koustrup in the parish of Velling near Ringkøbing (fig. 1). Following this, amateur archaeologists investigated the area and located five medieval farm sites. Four farm sites were on the southern side and one was on the northern side of an east-west running road, which may go back to the Middle Ages. Some of the farm sites were visible on aerial photos (fig. 2).The farms were built on a moor in the early Middle Ages, and the settlement was probably inhabited until the 14th century. Ringkøbing Museum investigated the westernmost farm site in 1992 without recovering definite house remains. The second farm site from the East was excavated in the summers of 1994 to 1996.This paper presents the results of these in vestigations.The area to be excavated was divided into two large areas, I and II. A dwelling house and its surroundings were excavated in area I (fig. 3), and the remains of farm buildings and other structures in area II.The dwelling house first appeared as an oblong clay area: the clay floor (fig. 4). Along the edges of this floor, some large stones appeared. They were arranged in a row, and although some were missing, it was clearly the remains of a sill. In the middle of the northern row of sill stones there was a bay-like projection (fig. 5). There were only a few post holes in the house, and although some were following the axis of the house, the house did not seem to have had central roof-carrying posts. More likely, the walls were carrying the roof. Some postholes aligned across the house towards each end may indicate partition walls that divided the house into a large middle room and two smaller gable rooms. The gables were difficult to distinguish, but two oval pits containing stones may be the remains of the western gable (fig. 6), whereas a very deep posthole towards the south-east marked one corner of the eastern gable. The oldest fireplace in the house was a pit, which may have had a wooden superstructure, perhaps a spark-catcher (fig. 7). Along the inside of the northern wall east of the projection were the remains of an oven, which had had a mud-built vault. This oven belongs to the latest phase of the house. There were also traces of a couple of fireplaces on the clay floor. Postholes outside the house indicate a couple of light wooden buildings close to the dwelling house. Traces of another oven were found at the middle of the southern house wall. In the eastern end of the house was a 3-m long stone-lined pit (fig. 8), which is interpreted as a low cellar. Two stone-paved areas were excavated at the east end of the house. They may be connected with entrances in the eastern gable.The majority of the finds from the dwelling house are potsherds of the local brown/grey, coarsely tempered ware also known from the oldest layers of Ringkøbing (fig. 9). The numerous rimsherds with flanged rims indicate that the clay vessels are mainly of the gloular type (fig. 10). The rimsherds could be divided into three main groups: A, with a curved flanged rim (fig. 11); B, with a rim bent outward in an almost right angle (fig. 12); and C, with a pronounced bend between the neck and the rim and a wide rim meant to support a lid (fig. 13). Apart from sherds from globular vessels, there were sherds of unglazed jugs, dishes, and bowls (fig. 14). Only a few sherds from glazed jugs were found, one with a twisted handle (fig. 15). Other artifacts from the dwelling house were whetstones made from Norwegian micaschist (fig. 16) and some rusty iron objects, mainly nails and spikes.The dwelling house remains in area I are well preserved, although marked by cultivation in modern times. The house had a width of 5.5 meters and a length of 18 meters. Charcoal from the cooking pit and from a waste layer outside the projection were C14-dated. The result shows that the house was in use in the decades around 1250. Together with the artifacts, this point s at the 13th century as the function period.The knowledge of medieval country houses in Western Jutland is sparse, as it is limited to just a few finds. The dwelling house of an excavated medieval farm by Fjand also had a row of sill stones, but in this case, the sill was supporting massive turf walls, and the roof was supported by central roof-carrying posts. Turf walls in combination with central roof-bearing posts were common in areas with sparse timber. However, in Koustrup there was enough timber available for building, and the walls were probably half-timbered and fixed in a sill beam resting on the sill stones. The small projection in the north wall is unusual in the Danish material.Area II was situated south east of area I. It was laid out in order to locate the farm buildings of the medieval farm. Aerial photos showed faint house silhouettes in th is place. However, very little was preserved (fig. 17).The northern part of the area was characterized by a large peat layer, which had been filled into a 60- cm deep hole dug into the hill from the east – perhaps a store for house building, or for bedding in the stables. Later, a small peat-wall building with an oven (C, fig. 1 8) was erected on top of the layer. The surface had traces of two more fireplaces: A, by the western edge of the area, and B, some four meters from the western edge. In and around these structures were several medieval potsherds (fig. 19).South of the large peat blotch were the traces from a building running north-south. Unfortunately, only traces of the western wall were found, but enough of this was left for three building phases to be established. The older phase was represented by a row of postholes, which could be followed for 15 meters. The southernmost 9.5 meters consisted of six pairs of double posts. When the building was altered, these walls were replaced by peat walls resting in foundation trenches. When these walls were later replaced, new foundation trenches were dug into the old ones. However, this time stones were placed in the ditches before the peatwalls were erected on top (fig. 24). In the middle of the long wall was an interval without stones, perhaps indicating a door.Area II did not provide as much pottery as area I. Some sherds from globular vessels with the rim forms A, B, and C were collected, but just a single glazed sherd. A quern stone of garnet micaschist originates from Norway (fig. 21). Several rusty iron items were found in the area, mainly nails.The most interesting single find was a small Romanesque bronze cross (fig. 22). It was found using a metal detector and measures 3.6 x 2.8 cm. The weight is 7 g. The cross is from c. 1200 and has an ornamentation of engraved lines with traces of gilt. A missing cross arm may indicate that the cross was broken off a casket or other item.Although there were no instantly recognizable house sites, we have established medieval activity in area II. Whether the structural remains are from the farm’s stables and barns, or the remains of an older croft settlement is unknown.Aerial photos and investigation of the two areas showed trenches and ditches that may have been part of the demarcation of the medieval croft (fig. 24). A ditch running along the northern side of the dwelling house in area I may indicate the northern end of the croft. In area II, the structural remains were cut by two succeeding north-south running ditches, the assumed eastern end of the croft. Southernmost in area II was a large peat-filled ditch running east-west, which may indicate the southern perimeter (fig. 23).The early Middle Ages were times of prosperity for North-western Europe, and so the populations grew. New land was put under the plough, and many left their villages in order to found new settlements, the so-called thorps. In Denmark, around 4000 localities with the name ending ”- torp ” or the derivatives ” -tarp ”, or ”-trup ” are known. Around half of these belong to existing settlements, such as Koustrup. This name was supposedly created from the personal name of ”Kok” and ”torp”. The village was first mentioned as ”Coxtrup” in a written source from the mid-15th century.After the good times of the many thorp foundations, Denmark suffered a drastic recession in the first half of the 14th century. Civil wars and crop failure was followed by the plague, and many thorps and farms were deserted. Perhaps the Koustrup settlement was given up at that time. At least the area was uninhabited then, but new investigation has shown that Koustrup was revived in the late Middle Ages some two hundred meters to the south of the 13th century settlement. Some of the farms in this ”new” Koustrup were mentioned in late medieval sources,and three of the farms still exist (fig. 25).The excavations in Koustrup have increased our knowledge of the country settlement in Western Jutland in the late Middle Ages. Many questions have been answered, and new ones have been asked. It is a fascinating thought that the inhabitants of the first Koustrup may have witnessed both the erection of the Veiling Church and so me hundred years later the sprouting up of the market town of Ringkøbing.Helle HenningsenRingkøbing MuseumTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

Skjern Castle – an archaeological investigation of a castle through the Middle Ages and RenaissanceIn the very middle of the river Nørreå’s extensive meadowlands, 15 km west of Randers, lies the striking castle mound of Gammel Skjern. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance period this site was the centre of a manorial complex which at times was one of the largest in Denmark and some of the country’s most influential noble families resided here. Its location, where the highway between Viborg and Randers crosses the river today, was one of the few good crossing points over Nørreå (fig. 1). A major transport junction such as this was of strategic interest; here it was possible to both display and exert power.Concentrated around this ford location we find two rune stones, the parish church, the significant fortification of Gammel Skjern itself and its successor, the manor Skjern Hovedgård. In addition, there was also settlement here during Viking times and the Middle Ages, as well as a mill. Skjern parish extends along both sides of Nørreå. This is unusual as watercourses often form boundaries, and it must be presumed to reflect the family’s strong position of power in the area during the Late Viking period and Early Middle Ages. The area’s cultural topography shows that very extensive changes took place in settlement structure during the course of Viking times and the Middle Ages.Skjern Church is a small Romanesque ashlar building from around AD 1200. Today, it stands alone, but metal detector finds and aerial reconnaissance show that there was a settlement here from the 8th to the 14th century (fig. 2). This settlement can presumably be linked to the high-ranking farming family which, in the Late Viking Age, permitted itself to be commemorated on two rune stones. These stones stand today by the church: a monumental and well-preserved stone bearing a mask (fig. 3) and a slightly smaller fragment on which only a few words can be deciphered. The large mask stone was found in 1843 at the castle mound and the fragment in the church’s foundation wall at the end of the 1830s. They probably originally stood by the ford. Here people passed by, here the stones were seen, the family remembered and the power demonstrated and consolidated.In connection with the turbulent times of the 14th century, the magnate farm moved for defensive reasons away from the church and out to a stronghold in the bog (fig. 4). In the 1840s, a large amount of earth was dug away from the fortification and on this occasion the east wing of the castle and a little of both the north and south wings were exposed. From Kruuse’s survey, carried out in 1843, we know that a four-winged structure stood on the platform (figs. 5-6). In the summers of 2001-4 and 2006, the Department of Medieval and Renaissance Archaeology at the University of Aarhus carried out a small archaeological investigation of the structure. As a significant proportion of the fortification is scheduled, the excavations took place by special permission and on the condition that fixed constructions were not removed. In parallel with this, a detailed contour survey was carried out of the area (fig. 7), as well as a geophysical/magnetometer survey of parts of the site and a number of dendrochronological dates were obtained from bridges and bank constructions (fig. 8). As the excavation only constituted a minor intervention, the extent of the finds and the building components located is very limited and these give only a small insight into the life and the activities which have taken place at the castle (figs. 22-29).On the basis of the archaeological investigations it is possible to sketch the development of the stronghold from a single platform to a striking defensive complex with several banks and ditches (fig. 30). The front and middle bank, and also the main platform, were. Many of the posts are still visible in the wet meadow, and the closely-spaced stakes show that the bridge piers were replaced as many as six or seven times. Samples were taken for dendrochronological dating from the posts in two bridge piers, one pier from each bridge. The earliest dendrochronological date is AD 1335 and the latest is after AD 1492. The fact that the earliest bridge phase is not represented in both of the bridge piers investigated, and that the castle’s 16-17th century phase is not represented at all, shows that the bays were moved somewhat through time. Accordingly, the dates do not, thereby, cover the total life of the castle.The stronghold was constructed in the meadows in AD 1335, or perhaps even earlier. Consequently, it is finally possible to link Lord High Steward Peder Vendelbo’s previously unknown ‘Karmark Castle’, as it is referred to in AD 1340, and the Skjern Castle, which are mentioned in the Lord High Steward’s estate in 1347 as being one and the same structure. The excavation provided a tiny glimpse of the surface of the oldest castle, almost 2 m below the courtyard of the Renaissance castle, the present-day surface of the main platform. The platform was in its first phase only about 1 m high. The magnetometer survey of the main platform revealed weak and deeper-lying deflections, presumably from an earlier structure of approximately the same extent as the familiar structure from the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The earliest castle appears merely to have consisted of this platform, linked to dry land and the farm buildings by a 60 m long wooden bridge and a 175 m long turf-built causeway in continuation of this.In 1392/93, Kristian Vendelbo extended the structure with a lateral bank to the east of the main bank. He was probably also responsible for a corresponding (undated) bank to the west as well as a bank to the north of here, the middle bank. He was loyal to Queen Margrethe at a time when the magnates of Jutland were against her, and he needed a strong castle. In the construction of the left lateral bank, use was made of a natural sand bank in the terrain. Only very few traces of activity were preserved here. The eastern lateral bank was constructed of turf. The inner side of the bank was partially reinforced with hammered-in posts which have been dated dendrochronologically to AD 1392 and AD 1392/93 (fig. 12). On the middle bank, which functioned as a paddock, foundations and floor layers relating to four buildings were recorded. One of the buildings could be identified as a gateway; another was probably a tower (figs. 9-11). Due to the limited extent of the excavation, it has not been possible to relate these buildings to Kruuse’s plan. This was also the case with the results of the magnetometer survey. The bank was built of turf and slightly raised in height using demolition material from brick-built buildings. A reinforcement of the edge comprising large field boulders was supplemented with a row of robust posts. Dendrochronological dating of these to AD 1461/62 shows that the middle bank was either established or reinforced at this time.In AD 1465/66, Lord High Steward Erik Ottesen Rosenkrantz carried out a further extensive reinforcement of the castle, this time with a cover bank to the east and west of the front bank in continuation of the causeway. Structures in the terrain suggest that a building stood in the eastern part of the front bank. To the west, the cover bank had a robust post construction, presumably a palisade. A corresponding construction is not seen at the eastern cover bank. Whether this is due to the posts having been removed, or whether the bank facing out towards the open bog was not as heavily fortified, is unknown. The eastern cover bank was built on to the eastern lateral bank, and the increased width provided sufficient space for a building (fig. 13). Dendrochronological dating of the constructional timbers to after AD 1465 shows that this could have been built immediately following the extension. Faint traces in the terrain to the south of the main bank indicate yet another cover bank.During this phase at the latest, the height of the main platform was raised to around 3 m above the surrounding terrain. The complex had four wings and two stair turrets towards the north around an enclosed castle courtyard. Towards the west, remains of standing walls can still be seen. It is not inconceivable that at least the core of the building complex can be attributed to Erik Ottesen. On the latter’s death, the value of the buildings was assessed at 7000 marks, a considerable sum. The archaeological investigations have only touched upon the east wing which was the part most exposed by the earth removal in the 19th century (fig. 14). A comparison between Kruuse’s elevation plan of the east wall and its present state reveals the degree of the destruction (figs. 15-16). The best preserved wall was that in towards the castle courtyard, with 12 courses. The building was built with a cellar covered by a flat barrel vault (fig. 17). The west wall had subsided very heavily, and this definitely contributed to or was the main reason that the cellar vault and possibly also parts of the wing at some time or other collapsed. The cellar was subsequently filled up with building materials. Pieces of the painted window panes and a terracotta base from a facade ornament from the final quarter of the 16th century show that the building may have been beautifully fitted out according to the latest fashion of the times (figs. 18-20). On top of the filled-in cellar, new light foundations were laid as the basis for joists for a floor or internal partition walls on the ground floor. After 1561, when Christoffer Nielsen died, the manor estate underwent a drastic process of division, and there appear not to have been obvious investors for new prestige building works. It is therefore interesting that several alterations could have been carried out during this period. The excavation also touched upon parts of foundations belonging to the castle’s NE stair turret (fig. 21). The tower proved to be secondary to the east wing, and its tile floor was laid on top of the existing cobbled pavement of the castle courtyard.During the second half of the 16th century, a hurried division of the manor began, and by the 17th century only three large farmsteads remained.Jan KockMette Svart KristiansenAfdeling for Middelalder- og Renæssancearkæologi Aarhus Universitet

TamdrupRoyal residence and memorial church in a new light Tamdrup has been shrouded in a degree of mystery in recent times. The solitary church located on a moraine hill west of Horsens is visible from afar and has attracted attention for centuries. On the face of it, it resembles an ordinary parish church, but on closer examination it is found to be unusually large, and on entering one discovers that hidden beneath one roof is a three-aisled construction, which originally was a Romanesque basilica. Why was such a large church built in this particular place? What were the prevailing circumstances in the Early Middle Ages when the foundation stone was laid? The mystery of Tamdrup has been addressed and discussed before. In the 1980s and 1990s, archaeological excavations were carried out which revealed traces of a magnate’s farm or a royal residence from the Late Viking Age or Early Middle Ages located on the field to the west of the church (fig. 4), and in 1991, the book Tamdrup – Kirke og gård was published. Now, by way of metal-detector finds, new information has been added. These new finds provide several answers, but also give rise to several new questions and problems. In recent years, a considerable number of metal finds recovered by metal detector at Tamdrup have been submitted to Horsens Museum. Since 2012, 207 artefacts have been recorded, primarily coins, brooches, weights and fittings from such as harness, dating from the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. Further to these, a coin hoard dating from the time of Svein Estridson was excavated in 2013. The museum has processed the submitted finds, which have been recorded and passed on for treasure trove evaluation. As resources were not available for a more detailed assessment of the artefacts, in 2014 the museum formulated a research project that received funding from the Danish Agency for Culture, enabling the finds to be examined in greater depth. The aim of the research project was to study the metal-detector finds and the excavation findings, partly through an analysis of the total finds assemblage, partly by digitalisation of the earlier excavation plans so these could be compared with each other and with the new excavation data. This was intended to lead on to a new analysis, new interpretations and a new, overall evaluation of Tamdrup’s function, role and significance in the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages.Old excavations – new interpretationsIn 1983, on the eastern part of the field, a trial excavation trench was laid out running north-south (d). This resulted in two trenches (a, b) and a further three trial trenches being opened up in 1984 (fig. 6). In the northern trench, a longhouse, a fence and a pit-house were discovered (fig. 8). The interpretation of the longhouse (fig. 4) still stands, in so far as we are dealing with a longhouse with curved walls. The western end of the house appears unequivocal, but there could be some doubt about its eastern end. An alternative interpretation is a 17.5 m long building (fig. 8), from which the easternmost set of roof-bearing posts are excluded. Instead, another posthole is included as the northernmost post in the gable to the east. This gives a house with regularly curved walls, though with the eastern gable (4.3 m) narrower than the western (5.3 m). North of the trench (a) containing the longhouse, a trial trench (c) was also laid out, revealing a number of features. Similarly, there were also several features in the northern part of the middle trial trench (e). A pit in trial trench c was found to contain both a fragment of a bit branch and a bronze key. There was neither time nor resources to permit the excavation of these areas in 1984, but it seems very likely that there are traces of one or more houses here (fig. 9). Here we have a potential site for a possible main dwelling house or hall. In August 1990, on the basis of an evaluation, an excavation trench (h) was opened up to the west of the 1984 excavation (fig. 7). Here, traces were found of two buildings, which lay parallel to each other, oriented east-west. These were interpreted as small auxiliary buildings associated with the same magnate’s farm as the longhouse found in the 1984 excavation. The northern building was 4 m wide and the southern building was 5.5 m. Both buildings were considered to be c. 7 m long and with an open eastern gable. The southern building had one set of internal roof-bearing posts. The excavation of the two buildings in 1990 represented the art of the possible, as no great resources were available. Aerial photos from the time show that the trial trench from the evaluation was back-filled when the excavation was completed. Today, we have a comprehensive understanding of the trial trenches and excavation trenches thanks to the digitalised plans. Here, it becomes apparent that some postholes recorded during the evaluation belong to the southernmost of the two buildings, but these were unfortunately not relocated during the actual excavation. As these postholes, accordingly, did not form part of the interpretation, it was assumed that the building was 7 m in length (fig. 10). When these postholes from the evaluation are included, a ground plan emerges that can be interpreted as the remains of a Trelleborg house (fig. 11). The original 7 m long building constitutes the western end of this characteristic house, while the remainder of the south wall was found in the trial trench. Part of the north wall is apparently missing, but the rest of the building appears so convincing that the missing postholes must be attributed to poor conditions for preservation and observation. The northeastern part of the house has not been uncovered, which means that it is not possible to say with certainty whether the house was 19 or 25 m in length, minus its buttress posts. On the basis of the excavations undertaken in 1984 and 1990, it was assumed that the site represented a magnate’s farm from the Late Viking Age. It was presumed that the excavated buildings stood furthest to the north on the toft and that the farm’s main dwelling – in the best-case scenario the royal residence – should be sought in the area to the south between the excavated buildings. Six north-south-oriented trial trenches were therefore laid out in this area (figs. 6, 7 and 13 – trial trenches o, p, q, r, s and t). The results were, according to the excavation report, disappointing: No trace was found of Harold Bluetooth’s hall. It was concluded that there were no structures and features that could be linked together to give a larger entity such as the presumed magnate’s farm. After digitalisation of the excavation plans from 1991, we now have an overview of the trial trenches to a degree that was not possible previously (fig. 13). It is clear that there is a remarkable concentration of structures in the central and northern parts of the two middle trial trenches (q, r) and in part also in the second (p) and fourth (s) trial trenches from the west, as well as in the northern parts of the two easternmost trial trenches (s, t). An actual archaeological excavation would definitely be recommended here if a corresponding intensity of structures were to be encountered in an evaluation today (anno 2016). Now that all the plans have been digitalised, it is obvious to look at the trial trenches from 1990 and 1991 together. Although some account has to be taken of uncertainties in the digitalisation, this nevertheless confirms the picture of a high density of structures, especially in the middle of the 1991 trial trenches. The collective interpretation from the 1990 and 1991 investigations is that there are strong indications of settlement in the area of the middle 1991 trial trenches. It is also definitely a possibility that these represent the remains of a longhouse, which could constitute the main dwelling house. It can therefore be concluded that it is apparently possible to confirm the interpretation of the site as a potential royal residence, even though this is still subject to some uncertainty in the absence of new excavations. The archaeologists were disappointed following the evaluation undertaken in 1991, but the overview which modern technology is able to provide means that the interpretation is now rather more encouraging. There are strong indications of the presence of a royal residence. FindsThe perception of the area by Tamdrup church gained a completely new dimension when the first metal finds recovered by metal detector arrived at Horsens Museum in the autumn of 2011. With time, as the finds were submitted, considerations of the significance and function of the locality in the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages were subjected to revision. The interpretation as a magnate’s farm was, of course, common knowledge, but at Horsens Museum there was an awareness that this interpretation was in some doubt following the results of the 1991 investigations. The many new finds removed any trace of this doubt while, at the same time, giving cause to attribute yet further functions to the site. Was it also a trading place or a central place in conjunction with the farm? And was it active earlier than previously assumed? The 207 metal finds comprise 52 coins (whole, hack and fragments), 34 fittings (harness, belt fittings etc.), 28 brooches (enamelled disc brooches, Urnes fibulas and bird brooches), 21 weights, 15 pieces of silver (bars, hack and casting dead heads), 12 figures (pendants, small horses), nine distaff whorls, eight bronze keys, four lead amulets, three bronze bars, two fragments of folding scales and a number of other artefacts, the most spectacular of which included a gold ring and a bronze seal ring. In dating terms, most of the finds can be assigned to the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. The largest artefact group consists of the coins, of which 52 have been found – either whole or as fragments. To these can be added the coin hoard, which was excavated in 2013 (fig. 12) and which primarily consists of coins minted under Svein Estridson. The other, non-hoard coins comprise: 13 Svein Estridson (figs. 15, 16), five Otto-Adelheid, five Arabic dirhams, three Sancta Colonia, one Canute the Great, one Edward the Confessor, one Theodorich II, one Heinrich II, one Rand pfennig, one Roman denarius (with drilled hole) and nine unidentified silver coins, of which some appear however to be German and others Danish/Anglo-Saxon. Most of the single coins date from the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The next-largest category of finds from Tamdrup are the fittings, which comprise 34 items. This category does, however, cover a broad diversity of finds, of which the dominant types are belt/strap fittings of various kinds and fittings associated with horse harness (figs. 17-24). In total, ten fittings have been found by metal detector that are thought to belong to harness. In addition to these is a single example from the excavation in 1984. The majority of these fittings are interpreted as parts of curb bits, headgear and stirrups. One particularly expressive figure was found at Tamdrup: a strap fitting from a stirrup, formed in a very characteristic way and depicting the face of a Viking (fig. 20). The fitting has been fixed on the stirrup strap at the point where the sides meet. Individual stirrup strap fittings are known by the hundred from England and are considered stylistically to be Anglo-Scandinavian. The fitting from Tamdrup is dated to the 11th century and is an example of a Williams’ Class B, Type 4, East Anglian type face mount. A special category of artefacts is represented by the brooches/fibulas, and enamel brooches are most conspicuous among the finds from Tamdrup. Of the total of 28 examples, 11 are enamel brooches. The most unusual is a large enamel disc brooch of a type that probably has not been found in Denmark previously (fig. 24). Its size alone (5.1 cm in diameter) is unusual. The centre of the brooch is raised relative to the rim and furnished with a pattern of apparently detached figures. On the rim are some alternating sail-shaped triangles on a base line which forms four crown-like motifs and defines a cruciform shape. Between the crowns are suggestions of small pits that probably were filled with enamel. Parallels to this type are found in central Europe, and the one that approaches closest stylistically is a brooch from Komjatice in western Slovakia, found in a grave (fig. 25). This brooch has a more or less identical crown motif, and even though the other elements are not quite the same, the similarity is striking. It is dated to the second half of the 10th century and the first half of the 11th century. The other enamel brooches are well-known types of small Carolingian and Ottonian brooches. There are four circular enamel cross-motif brooches (fig. 26a), two stellate disc brooches with central casing (fig. 26b), one stepped brooch with a cruciform motif, one cruciform fibula with five square casings and two disc-shaped brooches. In addition to the enamel brooches there are ten examples that can definitely be identified as animal brooches. Nine of these are of bronze, while one is of silver. The motifs are birds or dragons in Nordic animal styles from the Late Viking Age, Urnes and Ringerike styles, and simpler, more naturalistic forms of bird fibulas from the Late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages. Accordingly, the date for all the animal brooches is the 11th and 12th centuries. A total of 21 weights of various shapes and forms have been found at Tamdrup: spherical, bipolar spherical, disc-shaped, conical, square and facetted in various ways. Rather more than half are of lead, with the remainder being of bronze, including a couple of examples with an iron core and a mantle of bronze (so-called ørtug weights), where the iron has exploded out through the bronze mantle. One of the bipolar spheres (fig. 28) has ornamentation in the form of small pits on its base. Weights are primarily associated with trade, where it was important to be able to weigh an agreed amount of silver. Weights were, however, also used in the metal workshops, where it was crucial to be able to weigh a particular amount of metal for a specific cast in order to achieve the correct proportions between the different metals in an alloy. Eight bronze keys have been found, all dated broadly to the Viking Age (fig. 29). Most are fragmentarily preserved pieces of relatively small keys of a very simple type that must be seen as being for caskets or small chests. Keys became relatively widespread during the course of the Viking Age. Many were of iron and a good number of bronze. Nevertheless, the number of keys found at Tamdrup is impressive. A further group of artefacts that will be briefly mentioned are the distaff whorls. This is an artefact group which appears in many places and which was exceptionally common in the Viking Age. In archaeological excavations, examples are often found in fired clay, while metal distaff whorls – most commonly of lead – are found in particular by metal detector. Nine distaff whorls have been found at Tamdrup, all of lead. The finest and absolutely most prestigious artefact is a gold ring, which was found c. 60 m southwest of house 1. The ring consists of a 2 mm wide, very thin gold band, while the fittings comprise a central casing surrounded by originally eight small circular casings. In the middle sits a red stone, presumably a garnet, mounted in five rings. In a circle around the stone are the original eight small, circular mounts, of which six are preserved. The mounts, from which the stones are missing, alternate with three small gold spheres. The edges of the mounts have fine cable ornamentation. The dating is rather uncertain and is therefore not ascribed great diagnostic value. In the treasure trove description, the ring is dated to the Late Middle Ages/Renaissance, but it could presumably also date from the Early Middle Ages as it has features reminiscent of the magnificent brooch found at Østergård, which is dated to 1050. Two other spectacular artefacts were found in the form of some small four-legged animals, probably horses, cast in bronze. These figures are known from the Slav area and have presumably had a pre-Christian, symbolic function. Common to both of them are an elongated body, long neck and very short legs. Finally, mention should be made of four lead amulets. These are of a type where, on a long strip of lead, a text has been written in runes or Latin characters. Typically, these are Christian invocations intended to protect the wearer. The lead amulets are folded together and therefore do not take up much space. They are dated to the Middle Ages (1100-1400) and will therefore not be dealt with in further detail here. What the artefacts tell usWhat do the artefacts tell us? They help to provide a dating frame for the site, they tell us something about what has taken place there, they give an indication of which social classes/strata were represented, and, finally, they give us an insight into which foreign contacts could have existed, which influences people were under and which networks they were part of. Most of the artefacts date from the period 900-1000, and this is also the dating frame for the site as a whole. There is a slight tendency for the 10th century finds to be more evenly distributed across the site than those from the 11th century, which tend to be concentrated in the eastern part. A number of the finds are associated with tangible activities, for example the weights and, especially, the distaff whorls. Others also had practical functions but are, at the same time, associated with the upper echelons of society. Of the material from Tamdrup, the latter include the harness fittings and the keys, while the many brooches/fibulas and pendants also belong to artefact groups to which people from the higher strata of society had access. Some of the harness fittings and brooches suggest links with England. The stirrup-strap fitting and the cruciform strap fitting in Anglo-Scandinavian style have clear parallels in the English archaeological record. The coins, on the other hand, point towards Germany. There are a number of German coins from the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century, but the occurrence of Otto-Adelheid pennies and other German coins is not necessarily an indication of a direct German connection. From the second half of the 11th century, Svein Estridson coins dominate, but they are primarily Danish. Other artefacts that indicate contacts with western Europe are the enamelled brooches in Carolingian-Ottonian style. A number of objects suggest some degree of trade. Here again, it is the coins and the hack silver, and also the relatively large number of lead weights, that must be considered as relatively reliable indicators of trade, at least when their number is taken into consideration. In the light of the metal-detector finds it can, in conclusion, be stated that this was a locality inhabited by people of middle to high status. Many objects are foreign or show foreign inspiration and suggest therefore that Tamdrup was part of an international network. The artefacts support the interpretation of Tamdrup as a magnate’s farm and a royal residence. ConclusionTamdrup was located high up in the landscape, withdrawn from the coast, but nevertheless with quick and easy access to Horsens Fjord. Tamdrup could be approached from the fjord via Nørrestrand and the river Hansted Å on a northern route, or by the river Bygholm Å on a southern route (fig. 33). A withdrawn loca­tion was not atypical in the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages. At that time there were also sites directly on the coast and at the heads of fjords, where early urbanisation materialised through the establishment of the first market towns, while the king’s residences had apparently to be located in places rather less accessible by boat and ship. As withdrawn but central, regional hubs and markers between land and sea. One must imagine that Tamdrup had a high status in the 10th and 11th centuries, when the king had a residence and a wooden church there. A place of great importance, culminating in the construction of a Romanesque basilica to commemorate the Christianisation of Denmark. Tamdrup appears to have lost its significance for the monarchy shortly after the stone church was completed, which could fit with King Niels, as the last of Svein Estridson’s sons, being killed in 1134, and another branch of the royal family taking over power. At the same time as Tamdrup lost its importance, Horsens flourished as a town and became of such great importance for the Crown that both Svein Grathe and Valdemar the Great had coins minted there. Tamdrup must have been a central element of the local topography in the Viking Age, when Horsens functioned as a landing place, perhaps with seasonal trading. In the long term, Horsens came out strongest, but it must be assumed that Tamdrup had the highest status between AD 900 and 1100.Lars PaghHorsens Museum

St Michael’s church in Ston is an important monument of medieval architectural heritage within a wider area of Dubrovnik and the only positively attested monument of the so-called southern Dalmatian single-nave dome type in the area of historical Zahumlje. The church stands on the top of the Gradac hill or St Michael’s Mount (107 m.a.s.l.), at the location of an earlier fortification. Based on an analysis of St Michael’s architecture, as well as its stone furnishing, the author has argued that the church is pre-Romaneseque in origin. It has also been suggested that the belfry (the structure to the west) was built together with the church, since the concept of the ground plan (the width-length ratio, the slightly protruding apse), its small dimensions, as well as its vertical stratigraphy (the belfry and the dome) indicate that it was constructed as a ruler’s chapel. It is most probable that the church was dedicated to Archangel Michael from the very beginning, as the cult of the heavenly host-leader as the patron saint of rulers and their military campaigns was widespread among the upper classes in the early Middle Ages. The time of construction should most probably be connected with the first historically attested and significant ruler of Ston – Duke Mihajlo Višević (before 910 – after 928), who raised Ston to an administrative and ecclesiastical centre of this Sclavinia. An analysis of the younger layer of sculpture in St Michael’s (the monumental window frames and a fragment with human face), as well as its murals, has suggested that the ruler’s chapel was furnished more richly around the mid-11th century. Considering the historical sources on Ston in this period, it has been suggested that its renovation took place at the initiative of Stefan Vojislav (before 1018 – 1043/1050), founder of the Vojislavljević dynasty. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Vojislav, having defeated Byzantium and its allies (among them the distinguished Duke Ljutovit of Zahumlje) conquered the seat of Zahumlje’s rulers. It may be presumed that he spent some time there as well, since the Byzantine writer Kekaumenos mentions that Vojislav was a toparch in Ston and that he captured the strategos of Dubrovnik. Thus, the conquest of Ston, as well as the glorious victory over both Byzantium and Ljutovit leading the allied army, imposes itself as the probable reason why Stefan Vojislav renovated the church in Ston, namely in order to celebrate his military triumph in the chapel of the defeated ruler of Zahumlje. The reconstruction most probably took place between 1042/43 and 1050, after Vojislav’s victory and before his death.

Gevninge – the gateway to LejreGevninge is one of many Danish villages characterised by having extensive modern housing estates built around a medieval core. The oldest part of the village, with a late Romanesque church, lies on the west side of a small river, Lejre Å, about 2 km from its mouth at Roskilde Fjord (fig. 1).Both in the 1880s and in the 1970s, remains of human skeletons were found in Grydehøj to the west of the old village core (fig. 2). These clearly originate from burials, but the finds are undated. In 1974, remains of an inhumation grave from Viking times were found a short distance from a sunken road which, up until the 18th century, was part of the main road between Kalundborg and Roskilde. In 1979, a gilded bronze strap-end mount from the 8th century AD was found less than 200 m south of the sunken road, but it was first in the winter of 1999-2000 that settlement remains from Viking times were discovered.The archaeological investigationsThe excavation in 2000 uncovered 3600 m2 of settlement remains; these had been heavily damaged by site development in the 1960s and 1970s (fig. 3). On the basis of the evidence available, it is impossible to determine whether these represent several phases of a single farmstead or a portion of a larger settlement. The absence of any traces of structures in the northern evaluation trenches indicates that the settlement did not extend to the north of the sunken road where the graves were found. The terrain falls relatively steeply away from the excavation to the east towards Gevninge Bygade and, although it is possible, it seems rather unlikely that the Viking Age settlement extended in this direction. Relative to the topography, an extension to the south and west seems most obvious.There is no doubt that the site should be assigned to the Viking period. House I is unlikely to be earlier than 10th century (fig. 4), whereas the rectangular pit-house belongs to the end of the same century or the subsequent one. House II (fig. 5) and the other pit-houses are – typologically – less useful for a precise dating of the site. The metal artefacts, including the strap-end mount and a handful of coins from the time of the Civil War, span the period from the 8th to the 14th century, but the majority belong in the 9th-10th centuries (figs. 9-13). Pottery is the most common artefact type and occurs as un-ornamented flat-bottomed settlement wares and Baltic ware (fig. 8). The former have typically inwardly curved rim sections, the sides of the vessels are un-ornamented and they are generally bucket-shaped (fig. 14). The Baltic ware pottery is characterised by more angular rims, which have often been finished off using a wooden shaping tool. Decoration is mostly in the form of encircling grooves, waved furrows and a series of slanting or circular impressions. Compared with the other finds from the structures, the Baltic ware from the excavation belongs in the latter part of the 10th century and up into the 11th century.Traces of crafts were not conspicuous. In one pit-house there were several un-fired clay loom weights, while two deep postholes in the bottom of another pit-house are interpreted as the base for a loom. The distaff whorls and – possibly – the few bone and antler needles also belong to textile production (fig. 7). Iron slag, which definitely was not one of the most conspicuous aspects, originates from “fire-based” crafts. Textile production and iron working are the crafts typically seen at agrarian sites, with the former occurring most frequently.On the basis of the buildings, the traces of crafts and the majority of the finds, the site must be categorised as an average farmstead from Viking times. The site did, however, include four unusual finds: a gold armring (figs. 12 and 13), part of a gilded bronze helmet (fig. 10), a bronze bucket and a winged spearhead. These finds give food for thought, nourished by Gevninge’s location in the landscape, combined with its proximity to the legendary Lejre.A main transport junctionThe area south of Gevninge is characterised by a series of branching streams which meet at Gammel Lejre and continue towards Roskilde Fjord in the form of Lejre Å. To the west and southwest there is an area of about 50 km2 with a more-or-less pronounced moraine landscape. Large parts of this have lain through historical times as rough ground, common and forest. This landscape type forms a very clear contrast to the area east of Lejre Å - a flat and fertile plain extending out to the Øresund and Køge Bugt. In landscape terms, this is a border area, running north-south, where crossing points had to be chosen with care. Gammel Lejre, which from the 5th to the 10th century was an important chieftain’s or royal farmstead with magnificent halls, huge long-houses and a cult site, is well-suited to the passage of east-westbound traffic (fig. 15). In the flat terrain to the east of Lejre Å, maps from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century show no road network prior to the construction of two highways in the second half of the 18th century. These run in a straight line from Roskilde to Ringsted and Kalundborg, respectively. Between them, Ledreborg Allé can be seen; it was constructed at the same time and probably replaced a road running eastwards from Gammel Lejre. To the west of Lejre Å, the undulating landscape, with its numerous small, steep hills, small lakes, watercourses and wetlands, presented greater challenges. There was an alternative crossing point about 4 km to the northwest, close to the fjord. Today, this place is called Borrevejle, which means “the ford at the edge” (fig. 16). From Borrevejle, the road led to Gevninge and – via the sunken road to the north of the Viking Age settlement – down to Lejre Å. Here lay the ford Langvad, from where the road ran eastwards, south of Lyngbjerg Mose, towards Kattinge. The fact that the roads around 1800 led towards Kattinge is linked with the opportunity here to cross the system of watercourses and lakes which extended from Gammel Lejre and past Kor­nerup to a lake, Store Kattinge Sø, by Roskilde Fjord. At both ends of the lake there were lock bridges to allow passage. Store Kattinge Sø was originally a bay which was dammed in the High Middle Ages so that the water level today lies at +2.5 m. In Viking times the lock bridges at Store Kattinge Sø did not exist, the amount of water on the Kornerup Å drainage system was therefore less, and the possibilities for passage were decidedly different.The road eastwards from the ford in Gevninge could well have gone via Kattinge and crossed the watercourse between Lille Kattinge Sø and the bay. Around 1800, the road continued through Kongemarken, where a Viking Age inhumation grave, a Christian burial ground from the Late Viking and Early Medieval times, as well as remains of a settlement from the same time, have all been found. From here, the road swings northwards, across Gedevad and onwards to the east to the bishop’s thorp, Bistrup, and the village of Bjerget (St. Jørgensbjerg) with St. Clemens’ church on Roskilde Fjord. Neither of these two settlements can, with certainty, be traced back to before AD 1000. It is therefore an obvious possibility that eastward traffic from Kongemarken took a more southerly route, which – perhaps – is indicated by settlement remains and stray finds between Roskilde and Svogerslev Sø (see fig. 16). In this respect, it is worth mentioning that the two stray finds from Viking times from the Borrevejle area lie in association with the old road routes. Similarly, the small hoard of silver rings from Lyngbjerg Mose was found where the road from Gevninge to Kattinge ran from about 1800.From the above, it is apparent that there were two significant possibilities for the passage of east-west land traffic in the Gevninge-Lejre area. Both have topographic advantages and disadvantages, and identification of one as being more important than the other can be based on no more than a guess. However, inclusion of the waterways does contribute a new angle when addressing this question.The sea route to LejreThe Isefjord complex comprises a western and an eastern branch which both extend more than 35 km inland into Zealand. The western arm, Isefjord, is deep and wide and only has narrow passages around Orø (fig. 17). Despite the fact that Isefjord is the most accessible route from a seaward perspective, it is unlikely to have been the route taken by people travelling to Gammel Lejre. The distance over land to the Isefjord is almost three times as great as the shortest route between Gammel Lejre and Roskilde Fjord, and more than half of this distance comprises gently undulating rough ground with numerous ponds and wetlands.Roskilde Fjord is characterised by narrow navigation channels and variable water depth, but these naturally-determined sailing conditions would not have been a problem for people who knew the fjord. The bay, Lejre Vig, is the place closest to Gammel Lejre. The sea route leading to the bay is protected by a natural feature – a transverse bar, which extends from Bognæs in the south to Selsø in the north. The mouth of Lejre Å is, in topographical terms, a well-suited site for a landing place, but there is a lack of archaeological evidence for the existence of such a feature. Given the lack of a demonstrable landing place by the fjord, attention can be focussed on Lejre Å as being Gammel Lejre’s link with the sea.Streams and rivers as travel routesToday, very few watercourses in Denmark appear as being navigable. A very great proportion of them no longer have a natural appearance or water flow. This is primarily due to intensive efforts during the last 200 years to drain wet meadows and fields. Any evaluation of the navigability of a watercourse in Viking times is associated with a number of variable and, in part, unknown factors. Accordingly, any conclusions are vitiated by a degree of uncertainty, not least in the case of smaller watercourses. The width and depth of the stream or river is decisive in determining the size of vessel which can be navigated. The fall and natural course of a watercourse, which in places is sharply meandering with a variable water depth, will be limiting factors relative to the size of the vessel which is able to pass (fig. 18).The appearance of Lejre Å on maps from the 19th century can give some indication of the conditions prior to the time when drainage and water extraction were initiated. It seems that the course of the stream was relatively straight from its mouth up to Gevninge. However, at Gevninge Church there was a very sharp turn and this is still in existence. To the south of the village, the stream is considerably narrower and substantially more winding. Particularly from Kornerup and southwards towards Gammel Lejre, the course is, in places, strongly meandering. Overall, the stream has a fall from Gammel Lejre to its mouth of 7 m, which corresponds to a gradient of 1‰. The fall is not, however, evenly distributed. From Gammel Lejre, and about 1.5 km down its course, the stream falls 2.79‰, whereas the fall over the next 750 m is 1.31‰. From here to the ford in Gevninge, the fall is 0.5‰, with the last section to the mouth of the river having a fall of 0.34‰. Ole Crumlin-Pedersen has suggested that a watercourse is navigable – all things being equal – as long as the fall is less than 2‰. Alone on this basis, it is unlikely in the past that vessels sailed all the way to Gammel Lejre. It is therefore an obvious possibility that Gevninge was the place where the change was made from waterway to roadway.The distance from Gevninge to Gammel Lejre is 3.7 km by road, as shown on maps from around 1800. The road departs from an area where Viking Age settlement has been excavated and it follows the contours of the landscape in such a way that steep passages are avoided. The route taken by this road, rather than the river, constitutes the probable link between the two places.ConclusionGammel Lejre was not established at some random place in the landscape. With regard to resources, it was a border area between the hamlets of the Eastern Zealand plain and the Central Zealand forest settlements. In addition, it provided a satisfactory, potential crossing point east-west over the steam systems from the south. There is archaeological, legendary and historical evidence showing that Gammel Lejre was a very special place in the Late Iron Age and Viking times. This special position arose from its role as a cultic and power-political centre.The same situation was probably the case at the Tissø complex in Western Zealand, which was established at the beginning of the Late Germanic Iron Age. Tissø lies slightly more than 6 km from the coast, and both its name and finds from the lake demonstrate the cultic significance of the site. Almuth Schülke has pointed out that the Tissø complex lies virtually on an island, with the lake to one side and wetlands and watercourses to the other. Access to Tissø was made difficult by natural barriers in the landscape which conferred exclusiveness and – not least – the possibility of controlling traffic to the settlement.The topographically determined limitations on potential access to Gammel Lejre are not as clear as in the case of the Tissø complex. Watercourses and wetlands to the south and east form a natural border, and the rough ground of the common landscape to the west contains its own obstacles. None of these barriers was insurmountable but they could well have functioned as a border zone around Gammel Lejre. In the area of common from Borrevejle in the north to Ledreborg Castle in the south, a couple of settlements have been demonstrated along with three graves and a few stray finds from the Roman Iron Age. Similarly, in the Middle Ages there were at least five thorps here, which were later abandoned. For the central period relative to Gammel Lejre, the 5th-10th centuries AD, there are no finds from this area. It was not necessarily a conscious choice that the area lay abandoned. The same tendency to abandon poorer soils at the beginning of the Late Iron Age can be seen elsewhere, such as, for example, in Nordskoven at Jægerspris and on Halsnæs at the northernmost part of Roskilde Fjord. Neither is it unusual that areas such as these were then re-occupied for thorp settlement in the Early Middle Ages. This does not, however, change the fact that the area to the west of Gammel Lejre appears to have lain as a wilderness in Viking times. Apart from one artefact with no details of its exact find spot, there are no recorded finds from the Late Iron Age bet­ween the central site and Elverdamsåen, a watercourse lying about 10 km to the west.Access to Gammel Lejre was obviously regulated so that approved people could enter and intruders were held at a distance. Gevninge was a link in this invisible fence. Gevninge is located where roads running east-west meet to avoid Central Zealand’s areas of hilly rough ground, and where watercourses could be crossed relatively unproblematically. Furthermore, Gevninge was a landing place and offloading point for vessels that were able to enter the lower part of Lejre Å. Larger vessels could perhaps have lain at the mouth of the stream or innermost in Lejre Vig, but from here people would anyway have been directed to follow the road from Gevninge to Gammel Lejre.Seen in the light of this situation, Gevninge could have been the home of the Lejre King’s entrusted servant. He not only controlled the traffic through the area and access to Gammel Lejre, he also represented the Lejre king and, on his behalf, received distinguished personages and – who knows – perhaps escorted them to important meetings in the exclusivity of the magnificent hall. With this position in society, Lejre’s gatekeeper probably received gifts of golden rings, magnificent weapons and vessels from Lejre’s pugnacious king.Jens UlriksenRoskilde Museum

In a detailed analysis and critical examination of currently known facts about the fragments of a pre-Romanesque altar rail found at the Begovača site in Biljane Donje near Zadar, the author uncovers important facts. These are not only linked to the fragments and their epigraphic context, but are also significant in determining the onstruction development stages of the site, as already discussed in Croatian archaeology and art history circles. New evidence confirms the assumption that there was a larger early Christian church on the site which was rebuilt and furnished with new liturgical fittings in the Early Middle Ages, and replaced by a significantly smaller Romanesque church in the course of the high Middle Ages. A combination of recognising the construction features of the preserved fragments and their artistic-morphological and epigraphic characteristics, also confirms the attribution of the aforementioned fragment to a Stonemasonry workshop from the period of Prince Trpimir, since on part of the votive inscription of one of the fragments of the architrave, the name of the Croatian Prince Mislav can be identified. he was the immediate predecessor of Trpimir, which thus dates the reconstruction of the early Christian church more firmly to the period of Mislav's reign, i.e. the fourth decade of the 9th century, while the production of the stonemasonry can be dated to approximately the second quarter of the same century.

The architectural appearance of Banská Štiavnica in the Romanesque period, especially its older developmental stages, is still not clear to us from an architectural or urban planning point of view. Since the declaration of the city as a Preserved Area (since 1950), much architectural-historical research has been carried out, which enables the summarization of new knowledge in the context of urban development. The current identifi cation and documentation of the oldest houses of burghers and miners followed up on previous research carried out in the 1980s and 1990s, which, however, lacked consistent documentation and interpretation. Although the results of our research still do not allow a complete identifi cation of the oldest buildings in the entire assumed urban area, this study presents the results of research into the architectural- and urban-historical development of the prosperous mining town of Banská Štiavnica during the Middle Ages. URL: https://www.upjs.sk/filozoficka-fakulta/katedra-historie/10984/

Within the archaeological-historical complex at the hillfort of Biranj (Kaštel Lukšić), the ancient church of St. John the Baptist stands out in particular as a cultural entity. Three architectural phases (Romanesque, Late Gothic, and Modern period) can be perceived in its present appearance. The façade of the church bears a group of late medieval inscriptions in Latin: a donative inscription on the lintel, dated 1444 and also by the reign of the Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari (today placed in the interior of the church), as well as four consecratory inscriptions from the same time on the corners of the church. They were placed by donors (church juspatronatus) on the structure of the church on the occasion of the dedication of the thoroughly renovated original church of St. John, which had been built in the Romanesque period, at the end of the 12th or in the early 13th century, as the endowment of the Ostrog free villagers. From the donative inscription on the lintel it is learned that the ruinous Romanesque church was renovated from the foundations up by the juspatronus and plebanus Grgur Nikolin, the archpresbyter and canon of the Trogir diocese, in the name of a personal vow and the vows of all the juspatroni of St. John of Biranj. The four consecratory inscriptions with the text + Christus venit in pace et Deus homo factus est on the corners of the Late Gothic church from the same period are particularly interesting. On the basis of the contents it is hypothesized that they represent some kind of reminiscence of the possible original epigraphic dedications from the period of the construction of the Romanesque church at the end of the 12th century or in the early decades of the 13th century. The inscriptions and the sacred structure to which they belong are considered in the framework of the site as a cultural-historical complex and multi-century religious shrine and are analyzed in terms of the formal and contextual epigraphic traits. Their context is explored in the framework of the historical and religious-spiritual conditions related to the specific area in the period of the developed (12th and 13th centuries) and late Middle Ages (middle of the 15th century).

Стаття присвячена особливостям розвитку сакральної архітектури Галицько-Волинського князівства, яка, перебуваючи у руслі східнохристиянської традиції, використовувала романську будівельну техніку і сформувала систему декоративного оздоблення споруд із застосуванням білокам’яного різьблення, що є типовим для центрально- і західноєвропейської мистецької традиції. Висвітлено окремі аспекти наукової дискусії стосовно взаємовпливів галицько-волинської та володимиро-суздальської мурованої архітектури ХІІ–ХІІІ ст. Виявлено, що, незважаючи на виразні ознаки західноєвропейських впливів, середньовічні церкви на території Західної Русі свідчать про особливість місцевої архітектурної традиції, виражену в технології будівництва, тенденціях облаштування інтер’єрів в унікальному внутрішньому просторові храмових споруд. Ключові слова: Середньовіччя, архітектура, романська стилістика, Галич, Холм, Володимиро-Суздальське князівство. The paper considers peculiar development of sacral architecture of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia which, while being congruent with the Eastern Christian tradition, still applied Romanesque building techniques and created building decoration system involving white-stone carvings typical of Central and Western European artistic tradition. It also covers some aspects of scholarly discussion concerning mutual influence of Galicia-Volhynia and Vladimir-Suzdal stone architecture of the ХІІ–ХІІІ centuries.We find that, despite abundant signs of Western European influences, medieval churches on the territory of West Rus testify to the local architectural tradition peculiarity, expressed in the technology, design and arrangement trends and unique temple interior decoration.Key words: Middle Ages, architecture, Romanesque style, Halych, Chelm, Vladimir-Suzdal Principality

The political present of the Europe in its geographical understanding is to a decisive extent determined by the historical retrospective and traditions, which mainly originate from the border of antiquity and the Middle Ages. The formation of the complex of European ethnic and regional identities, for the most part, took place in the second half of the 1 st millennium AD. e., and finally it took shape in modern times. That is why the initial stage of the “birth of Europe” is closely related to the problems of post-Roman influence or direct Roman tradition, as well as the regional characteristics of the barbarian social organisms themselves, which at times were extremely variable. The basic division into Western Romanesque and Eastern Romanesque models of early political genesis (according to G.S. Lebedev) undoubtedly needs multiple clarifications. Based on the explanatory and heuristic potential of the concept of S. Rokkan and S. Lipset, primarily the conceptual map of Europe, extrapolated to earlier eras, the article attempts to detail the geopolitical map of the Dark Ages and the early Middle Ages in general, the correlation of the six geographical clusters identified with the processes politogenesis in post-Roman Europe. The focus is on the role of the imperial legacy (unique in each cluster) in the formation of the early barbarian kingdoms and their destinies. The methodological basis for the analysis of early political genesis is the concept of the dominance of the military factor in the creation and transformation of social and political-administrative structures of barbarian kingdoms and early medieval states (C. Tilly, F. Stanton, C.W. Hollister, C. Petit-Dyutailly, etc.). It is also noted that the “Frankish model”, supplemented by the less viable Eastgothic, Visigothic and Burgundian, clearly opposes the North and East European models of the early Middle Ages finale. The key importance in the article is given to the definition of the boundaries of the regions and the qualitative differences of the Roman heritage within them, as well as to the peculiarities of the barbarian systems of socio-political self-organization. The main task is to clarify and detail the picture of “two Europes”, defined by the line of the Roman border and having a decisive influence on the political events of our time and the foreseeable future.

Between 2019 and 2021 an archaeological research project was conducted with the aim to study the early medieval brick church of Edsleskog. The results showed that it was constructed as a Romanesque cruciform church, dating at least to the beginning of the 13th century. In this article the focus is the architectural design and history of the building. By comparative examples and historical documentation, it was possible to get a better understanding of how the church was designed. A few changes were made to the church through different building phases. The northern semitransept and a sacristy or chapel on the northern side of the choir were added later to the building, during the first half of the 13th century. A tower or a ridge turret were likely built during the late Middle Ages. Its position or type of construction has not been possible to determine. In 1568 the church burned down and was only rebuilt in reduced size.

AbstractThe construction materials of the Santalla de Bóveda Monument, one of the most studied buildings in Galicia (Spain), are analysed to date the mortars and bricks of walls and vaults by combining three dating techniques: optically stimulated luminescence, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence. Petrological characterisation of the mortars themselves is carried out. Until now, the paintings on the vault have been interpreted as Roman, early Christian or Pre-Romanesque, depending on the interpretative framework used by the researcher who studied them. There is also no consensus on their functionality. A total of 21 samples were collected, and 39 datings were made. The results are conclusive: the original building dates from the second half of the fourth century AD, the paintings date from the beginning of the seventh century or the upper floor from the tenth to twelfth centuries. These results make it necessary to review the history of Galician architecture between Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval Ages.

Medieval kingdom of Hungary was since its very begining founded on the basis of multiethnicity and openness to foreigners. Foreigners in Hungary, especially in the 11th and 12th century came from Western Europe. Great immigration waves of the romance population are documented mostly during the reign of king Géza II (1141 – 1162), when they managed to settle in peripheral regions of the country and increase the population and significance of weakly populated regions. Foreigners in the 12th recieved privileged status as the „guests“. In the 11th and 12th century these guests have settled in Srem, Spiš, Transylvania and Tokaj. Some information about Srem region are provided by crusades chronicles. In Srem there was a village called Francavilla, which belonged to the oldest and most important romanesque settlement in Hungary. The Guests in Transylvania had their own church organization and there were several bishops of Transylvania and Bihar/Oradea of western european origin. Other regions with Romanesque population – Spiš and Tokaj laid on international routes. The collegiate chapter of Spiš even owned vineyards in Tokaj – in Sárospátak, one of the oldest Hungarian cities with privileges. A large number of documented pilgrimage passing through Hungary could also stand behind the increase of new romance population in the country. Additional aspect of the Crusades was the creation of religious orders, the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers, who just few decades after their formation appeared in Hungary and were engaged in the life of Hungarian kingdom. The romance population appeared in Hungary already in 11th century, but the massively in 12th century, and was engaged in different spheres of political, religious, cultural and economic life of Hungary in the High Middle Ages, whether as wine producers, merchants or the dignitaries of church and also military orders. Tracking the development of romance population, however, calls for a broad research sources and all aspects of medieval life, taking into account the specificities of Hungary and its regions.

The nunnery church at Vrejlev buildings history By the end of the Middle Ages, the Premonstratensian nunnery at Vrejlev was characterised by a large and voluminous church. However, the Late Medieval building incorporated several features derived from a large Romanesque church established already in the mid-12th century. This article deals with the buildings-archaeological evidence, which provides a detailed overview of the site’s complicated buildings history and thereby sheds light on an important ecclesiastical centre in Medieval Vendsyssel (figs. 1-6). The church was originally constructed as a large three-aisled basilica, comparable with the existing church at Skarp Salling in Himmerland. The use of large granite ashlars, displaying a refined architecture, signifies a trend and knowhow that could have originated in the larger workshops of Viborg cathedral. The construction of the church at Vrejlev probably took place in the second half of the 12th century (figs. 7-13). In the 13th century, the church was damaged by fire, prompting repair works on the large building. During the 14th century there is no clear evidence for building activity on the site, but this increased markedly during the 15th century. A tower was erected in the 1420s, and during the final decades of the 15th century the church was completely rebuilt with bricks and converted into a large, two-aisled vaulted church displaying the architectural trends of the decades prior to the Reformation (figs. 14-18).

Hundslund prioryThe history of its medieval buildingsThe Benedictine priory of Hundslund is situated in Vendsyssel, northern Jutland. It flourished from its establishment in around 1200 until the Reformation, after which it became transformed into a manor house, Dronninglund Slot. This transformation secured parts of the medieval complex, which are consequently preserved to the present day (figs. 1-4).The medieval complex consisted of a church and several buildings constructed at different times. The oldest part of the complex is the brick church, constructed around 1200 in a distinct Romanesque style similar to the nearby diocese church at Børglum and a small group of local parish churches. Some monastic buildings must have existed in conjunction with the church, but these have left almost no trace in the archaeological record (figs. 5-9).A building boom occurred in the latter part of the 15th century, and the church was subject to several building projects. The walls were raised and the church was vaulted, a tower was built on the west side of the nave and a large monastic wing was constructed. After a short break, rebuilding resumed in the early 16th century, when two transepts were added to the church as well as a porch, and a new west wing of monastic buildings was constructed. In addition to the dateable construction works, a major canal was constructed at the priory in the late medieval period, as well as some smaller buildings on the priory area (figs. 10-20).The priory church had a dual function, serving both the priory’s nuns and the local parish. This meant that the church and the monastic complex had to have a layout which secured the integrity of the monastic clause. Especially during the later Middle Ages, when there was a building boom, this may have been difficult to ensure, as the natural topography also imposed some limits with respect to where the monastic buildings could be constructed. This resulted in a somewhat unique structure, whereby the monastic buildings lay to the far west of the church, instead of directly adjoining it. It was consequently not possible to achieve a traditional monastic layout with adjoining buildings and cloister walks (fig. 21a-c).