1,721,101 research outputs found
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From forest to field: the changing environment of Medieval Prussia
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Frontier societies and environmental change in northeast Europe: introduction
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Ecologies of crusading, colonization, and religious conversion in the medieval Baltic: Terra Sacra II
No full textThis book complements Terra Sacra 1, the integrated study of the environmental impact of the crusades in the eastern Baltic. Drawing on select papers presented at the Terra Sacra conference marking the end of the Ecology of Crusading project in 2014, it provides a snapshot of recent research on multiple aspects of environmental change in the medieval eastern Baltic. The papers are concerned with both Livonia and Prussia, and are sub-divided into five themes: building in the conquered territories; sustaining the Teutonic Order’s houses; life in the multi-cultural towns of the eastern Baltic; transforming the physical landscape; transforming the spiritual landscape; and the Baltic Ordensland in its regional context
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Environment, colonization, and the Baltic crusader states: Terra Sacra I
No full textThis book is the end result of a four-year project funded by the European Research Council on the environmental impact of the crusades in the eastern Baltic and the societies created by the process of military conquest, colonisation and religious conversion. Adopting a multi-scalar, multi-proxy methodology, synthesising a range of archaeological, environmental and historical sources, this study demonstrates how indigenous societies had already begun to significantly transform the environment in the pre-crusade period. Following the establishment of a militarised Christian theocratic regime in the regions that became known as Livonia and Prussia, environmental exploitation was re-organised alongside territorial reconfiguration. Fortified convents were at the centre of this reorganisation, and formed a network that connected the conquered territories within a hierarchy centred on the headquarters of the Teutonic Order at Marienburg, today Malbork in Poland. The Teutonic Order, which dominated the theocratic regime, promoted itself as the defender of Latin Christendom in north-eastern Europe. Environmental exploitation therefore served to secure and maintain the political and military authority of the Order, and is at the heart of understanding the success and longevity of the Baltic ‘crusader states’. However, despite the theocracy’s monolithic image and centralised administration, its impact on the conquered territories was variable. This can be synchronised with the regionally uneven and protracted process of colonisation which followed the military conquests, as well as reflecting varied relations with the indigenous population. This study provides an important contribution to our understanding of the development of Europe in the formative period of the Middle Ages, the crusading movement and how environmental change can be used as a critical proxy of colonisation
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The castle and the warren: Medieval East Anglian fur culture in context
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The dragon's skull: how can zooarchaeologists contribute to our understanding of otherness in the Middle Ages?
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The archaeology of the Prussian Crusade: holy war and colonisation
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