The other Europe in the Middle Ages : : Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans / / edited by Florin Curta with the assistance of Roman Kovalev.

• Superior document: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, v. 2
• TeilnehmendeR: Curta, Florin.; Kovalev, Roman.
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450 ; v. 2.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (x, 492 pages) :; illustrations, maps

For most students in medieval studies, Eastern Europe is marginal and East European topics simply exotica. A peculiar form of Orientalism may thus be responsible for the exclusion of the Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans from the medieval history of the European continent. This collection of studies is an attempt to stimulate research in a comparative mode and to open up a broader discussion about such key themes as material culture, ethnicity, historical memory, or conversion in the context of social and political developments in early medieval Europe. Another goal of this volume is to introduce a number of new approaches to the study of what is known as “medieval nomads.” Without explicitly rejecting the model of raid vs. trade famously introduced by Anatoly Khazanov, many contributions in this volume shift the emphasis on internal developments that have received until now little or no attention. Contributors are: Tivadar Vida, Peter Stadler, Péter Somogyi, Uwe Fiedler, Orsolya Heinrich-Tamaska, Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski, Florin Curta, Valeri Iotov, Veselina Vachkova, Tsvetelin Stepanov, Dimitri Korobeinikov, and Victor Spinei.

Table of Contents

Conflict and coexistence: the local population of the Carpathian Basin under Avar rule (sixth to seventh century) / Tivadar Vida -- Avar chronology revisited, and the question of ethnicity in the Avar Qaganate / Peter Stadler -- New remarks on the flow of Byzantine coins in Avaria and Walachia during the second half of the seventh century / Peter Somogyi -- Bulgars in the Lower Danube region: a survey of the archaeological evidence and of the state of current research / Uwe Fiedler -- Avar-age metalworking technologies in the Carpathian Basin (sixth to eighth century) / Orsolya Heinrich-Tamaska -- Two worlds, one hoard: what do metal finds from the foreststeppe belt speak about? / Bartlomiej Szymon-Szmoniewski -- The earliest Avar-age stirrups, or the "stirrup controversy" revisited / Florin Curta -- A note on the "Hungarian sabers" of medieval Bulgaria / Valeri Iotov -- Danube Bulgaria and Khazaria as part of the Byzantine oikoumene / Veselina Vachkova -- From 'steppe' to Christian empire and back: Bulgaria between 800 and 1100 / Tsvetelin Stepanov -- A broken mirror: the Kipcak world in the thirteenth century / Dimitri Korobeinikov -- The Cuman bishopric-genesis and evolution / Victor Spinei.