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Copyright of Discourse: Journal of Childhood & Adolescense Research / Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is in most cases probably due to a fatal complication of tonic-clonic seizures and plays a significant role in the premature mortality of individuals with epilepsy. The reported risks of SUDEP vary considerably depending on the study population, so that an up-dated systematic review of SUDEP incidence including most recent studies is required to improve the estimated SUDEP risk and the counseling of individuals with epilepsy. Objective: To provide an overview of the current research landscape concerning SUDEP incidence across different patient populations and discuss potential conclusions and existing limitations. Material and methods: A systematic literature review on SUDEP incidence was conducted in MEDLINE and EMBASE, supplemented by a manual search in June 2023. Out of a total of 3324 publications, 50 were reviewed for this study. Results: The analyzed studies showed significant heterogeneity concerning cohorts, study design and data sources. Studies conducted without specific criteria and relying on comprehensive registers indicated an incidence of 0.78–1.2 per 1000 patient-years. Research providing incidences across various age groups predominantly show an increase with age, peaking in middle age. Discussion: Due to varying methods of data collection and incidence calculation, comparing between studies is challenging. The association with age might be due to an underrepresentation of children, adolescents and patients over 60 years. Conclusion: Considering all age groups and types of epilepsy it is estimated that about 1 in 1000 individuals with epilepsy dies of SUDEP annually. With an assumed epilepsy prevalence of 0.6% in Germany, this could lead to more than one SUDEP case daily. Standardization of research methods is essential to gain more profound insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly believed that in the debate on the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, representatives of the Order of St. Francis were supporters of the Marian privilege, while the Dominicans were against it. The aim of this article is to verify this opinion by analyzing selected Dominican homilies from the 13th –15th centuries, seeking answers to the questions: has the maculist position expressed by preachers been maintained over the centuries? What caused Dominicans to remain unchanged in their views, despite the gradual spread of the opinion about the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which was finally officially accepted by the Church? What role did Saint’s opinion play? Thomas Aquinas to the position of later Dominicans? The results of the analysis of medieval Dominican sermons allow us to consider the opinion that has so far been widespread as one-sided and superficial. The Dominican position is much more complex.

Initial motive for our geochemical research including REE-analytics were geological questions concerning the genesis of early Tertiary bean-iron ores in the Markgräflerland (South Baden) and of gossan ores upon extended barite-siderite lodes near Neuenbürg (Northern Black Forest). Both districts of iron-ore mining were of major economic and industrial significance from the Celtic Iron Age until the early 20th century. Using REE geochemistry, we decided to continue our studies on hydrothermal hematite veins of predominant Permian age, marine iron oolites of Middle Jurassic age, bean ores of Quaternary age and gossan ores from the Southern Black Forest. For comparison, enrichments of iron oxides in Bunter sandstones and Pleistocene gravel beds were analysed as well. First, we found that all different types of iron-ore deposits display characteristic REE-patterns. In the case of the hydrothermal hematite veins it turns out that single lodes can be distinguished from others despite nearly identical mineral composition. However, bean-ores of different formation ages show related REE-patterns. Since REEs are enriched with increasing iron content of ores and sediments, it is probable that the lanthanides are bound to the spongy microstructure of the iron hydroxides. REE minerals such as bastnaesite, agardite or rhabdophane, which occur in fluorite veins of the Black Forest, could not be detected. For test purposes, we analysed clinker from Celtic and medieval smelting works and found that the REE-pattern of these reflects exactly that of the used iron ore. This chemical behaviour can enable provenance studies in an archaeological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without claiming to be exhaustive, this article compares the different aquatic figures of Scandinavian imagination, and the representations relating to Scandinavia, taking into account their cosmic aspect. This paper highlights the close connection of these creatures with time, weather and music, and the evolution of the representation of sea creatures that embody geography and climate, real or fantasized. These representations evolve, especially because of the important Christianization process that they undergo. With Christianization, these sea creatures tend towards demonization, and they’re influenced by Occidental representations, especially with those of the sirens of the Nibelungenlied. Scandinavian aquatic figures represent different dangers according to the type of water in which they live: salty, soft or marshy. According to their gender, the marine creatures which embody different risks are put in perspective in a comparative approach that links the Eddas and the stories reported by Xavier Marmier, especially Danish and Swedish. Thanks to the privileged bond these figures, emerging from the Edda, sagas and ballads, maintain with speech and music, their evolutions and their representations survive in the collective imagination related to Scandinavia.

The article "Maria in the Chants of the Liturgy" deals with the liturgical chants dedicated to Mary. The repertoire of Marian chants is rich and mainly includes the liturgy of the hours and the Mass. The reception of the Song of Songs in Gregorian chant plays an important role. Various antiphons and sequences based on texts from the Song of Songs are presented. The use of these texts dates back to the Middle Ages and has a broad history of reception and impact to this day. The text also deals with the Marian chant "Sub tuum praesidium" in various Christian traditions. The chant dates back to the 3rd or 4th century and is still sung in Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, and Catholic churches. [Extracted from the article]

En el marco de tres proyectos sucesivos de investigación llevados a cabo por la Universidad de Vigo se descubrió, excavó y documentó el castillo roquero de San Salvador de Todea, cercano a la villa de Allariz. Se trata de un yacimiento articulado en dos plataformas, que cuenta con dos tumbas antropomorfas en la inferior y la fortificación propiamente dicha en la superior. San Salvador de Todea presenta las características propias de los castillos roqueros. Se emplaza en un punto elevado, muy escarpado y bien defendido naturalmente, con una función principal de control de territorio y de las vías de comunicación, en este caso, entre el interior ourensano y Portugal. El castillo se construye aprovechando los afloramientos graníticos para apoyar vigas y muros, tanto en la muralla, como en la torre y otras estancias habitacionales y defensivas. En este artículo presentamos los resultados de un proyecto multidisciplinar, que ha conseguido fechar la fortaleza pleno medieval entre los siglos XI/XII y el XV, así como varias ocupaciones previas. ABSTRACT The University of Vigo project in San Salvador’s hill unveil a forgotten medieval rock castle unknown until 2016. The project, developed from 2016 to 2019 between the University of Vigo and the Diputación de Ourense, allow us to understand the situation, dating, distribution and function of the fortress. San Salvador de Todea is located near the also medieval town of Allariz (Ourense), and we found archaeological remains in two platforms, with two tombs in the lower one and the fortification itself in the upper one. San Salvador de Todea presents the characteristics of rock castles. It is located on a high point, very steep and naturally well defended, with a main function of controlling the territory and the communication routes, in this case, between the interior of Ourense and Portugal. The castle is built taking advantage of the granite outcrops to support beams and walls. It would have two zones: one, with the tower, one open yard and another room with roof, and the other, with a big yard and room for storage, manufacturing, etc. The walls have elevated positions to control and defend the castle. This is a multidisciplinary project; the combination of field archaeology, radiocarbon dating, material culture studies and written sources was crucial to found the medieval name of the castle, as well as the land under its rule and its main function. Middle Age is a conflictive time in the southern Ourense because of the confrontations with the Portuguese, who tried to conquer this region. San Salvador could be one of the several castles and towers build in XI-XII centuries to fight the Portuguese expansion and control the communication routes.

The legend of Cyprian of Antioch and Justina has had a great aftermath in literature from the Middle Ages to Goethe's Faust. Like Simon Magus, Cyprian is often considered the archetype of the ancient magician and the first case of a pact with the devil. A close examination of the two source writings conversio and confessio, however, reveals considerable differences in the notions of magic and demonology. The conversio depends, in its shaping of the legend, more on pagan sources such as Lucian's Philopseudes, while the later confessio emphasizes the role of the devil. Therefore, we cannot yet speak of a devil's pact with regard to the earlier conversio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of HeilberufeSCIENCE is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Frühmittelalterliche Studien is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Rheinische Vierteljahrsblatter is the property of Universitat Bonn, Inst fur Geschichstwissenschaft, Abt Fruhe Neuzeit & Rheinische Landesgeschichte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An interview with Veronika Darian, junior professor at the Institute for Theater Studies at the University of Leipzig is presented. Topics include talks about being involved with theater and aging or with a theater studies perspective on aging and aging for about ten years now and how theater actually have to do with age and aging.

Inventories of Sacred and Profane Treasures of Widowed Princesses from the House of Wittelsbach. Text Features and Interpretative Approaches (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries). From late medieval princely courts, only a few written inventories of sacred objects have survived. Several list-shaped records can be found in foundation letters and wills. Only a few sources come from religious institutions. Thus these different types of texts must be consulted for the investigation of the material sacred culture of the courts and the pious practice of the princesses who used the inventoried objects. Two lists of possessions of widowed Wittelsbach princesses produced after their death, one at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the other in 1520, will be analysed in a comparative study. The article focuses on special text characteristics and possible interpretations by contextualizing the inventories with other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatise focuses on a diachronic demonstration of the development of biographical texts in the Middle Ages, pointing to individuals’ role within these texts. This allows for a definition of content-related value of medieval biographies and their interpretative range. Medieval biographical texts built upon ancient materials only in part. In the early Middle Ages hagiographies and, to some extent, gestae gained prominence; however, they focused on the collective, not the individual. Collective values and goals were thus projected on to a literary character. The so-called twelfth-century Renaissance presents itself as a key moment in the shift of paradigm. Broader social changes also brought about a new perception of the individual. Having previously been reduced to types, individuals began to acquire particular traits. A shift in the perception of an individual gave new impetus to biographical texts in the late Middle Ages. The quantity of such texts increased considerably, the circle of their authors expanded and was no longer restricted to the clergy, and their target audience was differentiated as well. Gradually, vernacular languages took root and the forms of texts became more diverse. Nevertheless, the internal structure of a medieval individual remains concealed due to the quantity and structure of sources and, consequently, methodological issues. On the other hand, it is for these reasons that medieval biographies provide an insight into history’s dominant complexity.

Copyright of Poetica (0303-4178) is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Se analizan los datos que proporciona el estudio antropológico y arqueológico del cementerio altomedieval de Santa María de Tejuela (Bozoó, Burgos) que pueden aportar alguna información sobre aspectos paleodemográficos. El número de individuos exhumados asciende a 182, aunque solo se ha podido asignar edad y sexo a 125 de ellos. El número de individuos infantiles y juveniles es reducido, lo que proporciona un índice de juventud muy bajo. Entre los adultos los resultados sobre la mortalidad son los propios de una población rural medieval que vivió bajo duras condiciones de vida, sobre todo las mujeres. La mayoría de enterramientos de adultos sugiere una población con una aparente baja fertilidad. ______________________________________________________________________________ This paper analyzes the data provided by the anthropological and archaeological study of the Santa María de Tejuela cemetery (Bozoó, Burgos), which may provide some information on paleodemographic aspects, bearing in mind their difficult and sometimes contradictory interpretation. The number of individuals determined from the skeletal remains amounts to 182. However, the number of skeletons with age and sex assigned is 125. This assignment has been carried out by a team of three researchers to minimize inter-observer bias in the application of the different methods utilized. Regarding the distribution by sex, including the three juvenile individuals, males account for the majority of individuals (56.7%) compared to females (43.3%). Among the latter, the majority died before reaching the age of 41 and no woman lived beyond 61 years. The number of children and youth burials is low in relation to that of adults, and the estimated youth index is very low (0.10) and significantly lower than that of other contemporary populations in the region. Non-adults show a very high mortality in the first year of life, somewhat lower in the following two years and with a significant drop from the third year on. The mortality results of adults are consistent with those of a medieval rural population, with low average life expectancy, especially among women. The paucity of infant and youth burials, which provides a mortality profile that does not follow the expected U-shape of pre-industrial populations, cannot be attributed exclusively to taphonomic or methodological factors. Everything points to a population with low fertility, in which there could have been emigrants who did not form families in the place, which could fit with the instability of life in a border area.

The article reports that lower and high nobility up to the crowned heads of Christianity fight against non-Christians as an outstanding task in the 14th century and the Holy Land at the end of the 13th century. Topics include the subjugation and Christianization of the Prussians created a territory ruled by a noble elite, the Teutonic Order; and the Middle Ages developed from a hospital dedicated to the care of the pilgrims and crusaders in the Holy Land into a corporation of pagan warfare.

An interview with academician Victor Spinei

This paper elaborates on the problem of the traditional terms of experts and lay people. Language is a fundamental component of everyday life and all individuals react to language issues by using language itself. The paper contests the claim that lay people do not exist in the field of linguistics. There must be dealt with innovative concepts, such as professional and amateur, because the "lay people" (as a considerable amount of studies have investigated) are well aware of processes concerning language issues and thus generate their own kind of "linguistic theory". The task of linguists is to scrutinize such theories, which form the basis for the understanding of linguistic change and the formation of language norms. The line of argument presented here is arranged in chronological order: starting in antiquity, light will be shed on the meaning of the term "lay people" in cultural history. Special emphasis will be put on the Middle Ages, the early modern age and the modern period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this articole is to discover traces of humanitas in late antique and mediaval literature. Starting from the classic meaning of this notion, the paper finds three meaningful episodes: the controversy between Ambrosius and Symmachus about the Altar of Victory, the Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian by Peter Abelard and the spread of the Life of Balaam and Josaphat. Through these examples, the article builds a new idea of humanitas, free from historical restricion, a blend of literary passion, acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism.

This article takes as a point of departure the frequent use of Emperor Frederick III’s well-known motto „AEIOV“. It will examine this usage to direct closer scrutiny to the role that material culture played in the practice of rulership during the 15th century. It argues that the Emperor’s well-attested love for precious stones, relics and reliquiaries, for building projects, portraits, medals, and treasure pieces was central to his idea of rulership. Moving beyond the traditional view that only Frederick’s personal taste could explain his extensive love for precious items, and refuting the idea that the rise of the individual is the best master-narrative for understanding our sources, the article highlights the novelty of using material culture for establishing presence in the ruler’s often long absences. Cultural historians have emphasized the importance of ritual and performance for pre-modern rulership. Therefore, the king’s or emperor’s absence left a gap that objects could fill: In showing the ruler as St Christopher, naming his motto or showing his coat of arms, in bringing forward his clothes or the carriages the court had used in an adventus, the ruler’s presence was established, remembered, and promised for the future. In using the material culture of his time in this way, Frederick was able to mitigate one of the weak points in his dominion. Its relatively widespread, heterogeneous, and multicentral character necessarily prohibited him from being at all major centres of the Habsburg lands at the same time. Thus, Frederick initiated a new technique of rulership in absence that not only had its root in the wider cultural context of the late Middle Ages, where discourses of presence started to dominate nearly all aspects of society, but also marked the beginning of a development that led to the allpresent portraiture of the early modern world. Understudied and almost unnoticed so far, this article brings a major aspect of pre-modern culture to the fore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with structure and change of the nominal case systems of two isolated Germanic varieties, Visperterminen Alemannic (Valais, Switzerland) and Övdalian (Älvdal, Sweden). As both varieties inherited and retained the full vocalism in unstressed syllables of their predecessors (Old High German and Old Swedish, respectively), they provide a suitable testing ground for the examination of processes of morphological change independently of phonological processes. By comparing the particular changes in nominal inflection we analyse syncretisms, inflectional reductions and (purely morphological) strategies for compensating syncretisms in both varieties. Despite different trajectories of case loss, both varieties yield strikingly parallel results in terms of compensation at the level of the noun phrase. The modern noun system displays nominativeaccusative syncretism in the singular (minor exceptions in Övdalian) and plural, as well as nominative/accusative-dative syncretism in the singular (minor exceptions in both varieties), caused by one of two factors: We can observe that a new, non-phonologically conditioned collapse and reorganisation of inflection developed, but there is also inherited syncretism, dating back to the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, at the level of the full noun phrase (i. e. including the article and the adjective), the dative is still clearly marked as an oblique case, whereas nominative and accusative syncretise. The diachronic comparison of these two isolated varieties with their historical precursors shows that these changes in the respective case systems - towards a ± dative system - are to be regarded as a process that is largely internal to morphology, as it is neither a side effect of phonological change nor the result of contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to reconstruct the ways through which Richard Messer/Meszleny (1881-1961) approached the work of Rainer Maria Rilke in his writings, starting with three German-language studies published in 1919 in journals - although it is probably fair to assume that Messer's interest in Rilke's oeuvre goes back further in time - following with other reflective pieces (in the journal Das Riff, the daily Prager Presse) and a Czech-German monograph entitled Moderní pražský mystik Rainer Maria Rilke [The Modern Prague Mystic Rainer Maria Rilke] (1923), as well as a tractate on Rilke which was part of a treatise on ”the epic Mariology of German poetry in the middle and new ages” (1924). Messer, who worked at the Prague Czech Faculty of Arts until the 1950s as a German lecturer, returned to Rilke's work in subsequent years - albeit more sporadically - and the final instance apparently was the article Internacionálnost moderní lyriky [The Internationality of Modern Lyricism], printed in 1948 in the Filosofická revue [Philosophical Revue]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the application of P. Reinecke's classification of the development in the area of modern-day Slovakia and its modifications in the Early Bronze Age. J. Eisner mainly fused Reinecke's second and third stages (Br B and Br C) creating his Middle Bronze Age. The excavations after World War II and the discovery of new cultural entities in both the western and eastern parts of the country called, however, for changes to Eisner's original concept. New cultural entities, the Nitra and the Košťany cultures, were later merged with the so-called Epi-Corded-Ware complex as part of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe. Its beginnings precede the original Br A1 stage, being part of what is now called Br A0. Another change in the classification is also represented by the creation of the problematic stage Br A3 in Slovakia and its subsequent gradual abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardly any country in Europe has such a high density of historical fortifications and noble residences as Malta, starting with Bronze Age fortifications, up to fortresses and palaces of the Order of St. John (1530-1798) and the fortifications of the British colonial rulers (1800-1930s). Many aspects of this subject are little known to central European scholars, including Malta's early modern palaces and mansions, which will be presented here in a brief overview. In 1530, Emperor Charles V gave the Maltese Islands to the Knights of St. John as an "eternal fiefdom". After the Turkish siege in 1565, the Order founded its new capital, the Renaissance fortress town of Valletta on the Grand Harbour. Napoleon caused the demise of the religious state of Malta in 1798. With the help of British troops the Maltese forced the French to surrender in 1800. In 1814 Malta became a British crown colony. Landowners built tower houses on their lands, suitable for the defence of smaller-armed troops. The first torri originated in the late Middle Ages, a larger number in the early modern period. Characteristic elements were machicolations and small loopholes for firearms. Due to frequent Muslim raids, the Militia had been set up in Malta. It used noble residences militarily. Later, tower houses and palaces of Maltese nobles were included in the watchtower and defensive system of the Order of St. John. In the late 1580s to the 1750s, country castles were built, which symbolically suggested defensiveness with towers or "bastions", corner guards, merlons, drawbridges and ditches. Some have tower parapets containing gun gates (Verdala Palace, 1586/1588), which were mostly barely usable (Selmun Palace, mid-18th century). Four-towered palaces partly resemble Malta's "Wignacourt Towers", coastal forts. Due to tower-like corner attachments on the platform, the appearance of some tower houses of the 17th century was visually aligned with that of the forts. Most of the summer palaces built in Malta by individual grandmasters, inquisitors and nobles are not of a uniform type. There are many palaces in Malta's towns and villages. Most of them are located in Mdina, the old capital and seat of the Maltese nobility, in Rabat, the unwalled suburb of Mdina and in Birgu and Valletta, successive residence cities of the Knights of St. John. But palazzi can also be found in villages. In several cities there are palaces called "Siculo- Norman", which are often perceived as Norman buildings, but these buildings in Birgu, Mdina and Rabat/Gozo are late Gothic palaces of the 15th century. These noble houses with striking biforate windows on the upper floors of the main facades correspond to largely contemporary buildings in Spain and southern Italy or on Rhodes/Greece. During the 16th century, individual palaces and townhouses with striking décor were created: in the largely simple, unstructured facades, the piano nobile was adorned with windows framed with socalled Melitan mouldings. A distinctive element of many early modern palaces and townhouses is a balcony on the first floor with a stone parapet (in relief). Since the second half of the 18th century, the wooden balconies typical of Malta have prevailed. The most magnificent baroque city palaces were built in Mdina and Valletta, many of which show Italian influences. Maltese noble families (partly wealthy in Sicily) were oriented towards palazzi in Catania, Palermo and Syracusa. Its facade décor is more extensive and plastic than that of the Renaissance palaces. Since the 18th century, there have also been influences of French palace architecture and the Parisian hotel type. With the end of the early modern era, Malta did not experience "the end of the castles". After the fall of the Order of St. John in 1798, villas and palaces were built during British colonial rule. The period from burgeoning romanticism around 1800 to the castle and palace reception in the 20th century is therefore described in detail in the next issue of this magazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Godisnjak / Yearbook is the property of Academy of Sciences & Arts of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Center for Balkan Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The annual report of the DHI Rome 2022 provides an overview of the activities and achievements of the institute in the past year. Despite the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, events were able to take place both online and in hybrid form. New projects were launched, including a transnational research group on the pontificate of Pius XII and the project "Reconstructions". The institute also hosted the foundation council meeting of the Max Weber Foundation and organized various conferences and workshops on various topics. Junior promotion was supported through study courses and research colloquia. The DHI was involved in various events and research projects, including the annual conference of the SISCALT and the seminar "Understanding Germany". It also received approval for the DFG-ANR project "GRACEFUL17" and is preparing an application for the development of a research data infrastructure. The library of the DHI was further developed and the open access policy improved. There were also personnel changes at the institute. The report provides an overview of various research projects, including conceptions of age and power in the Middle Ages, the radical Reformation in Venice, and trade networks of Genoese merchants. Projects on the edition of letters by the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius and the restitution of looted cultural goods were also examined. The research work was influenced by the pandemic, but progress was still made. The institute collaborates with various institutions to carry out research projects and promote young scholars. It offers events, study courses, cultural activities, and digital resources on various topics. The library has improved access to digital resources and offers a scanning service. Internships and scholarships are offered. The institute has introduced a time tracking system and restructured its administration. The research areas include music history, digital humanities, and historical research. The institute is headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Baumeister. [Extracted from the article]

Student participation in archaeological excavations in the city of Soroca. campaign 2015

The holy monks (Desert Fathers, confessors, hermits, founders of institutions or monastic status etc.) occupy the lower row of the immense vision of the Triumphant Church which covers the eastern parts – including side apses – of the Moldavian’s churches facades with exterior painting. At the Annunciation of the Virgin’s church of Moldoviţa Monastery were preserved (in Slavonic language) “sentences” written on the scrolls of following holy monks: Theodore the Sanctified, Theodotus, Gelasius, Georges of Mt. Maléon, Domentian, John the Fool-for-Christ, Hilarion, Joasaph, Bessarion, Abraham, Paul of Thebes, Nikon, John of the Lavra of St. Sabbas, Gerasimos, Theophanes, Anthony, the Angel seen by Pachomius the Great, Luke the stylite and David Thessaloniki the hermit. The purpose of our research is to find the literary sources of these “sentences”. As we'll see below, most of them are borrow from the Scripture or from the collections gathering the “quotes” of the Holy Fathers. The collection called Palestinian Paterikon (translated from Greek into Russian by Theophan the Recluse) includes about 80% of “sayings” of the Holy Fathers painted at Moldoviţa. The presence in the paintings of monasteries Humor and Moldoviţa a number of “sayings” – which exists only in Russian translation in the text of this Paterikon – proves that in the 16th century in Moldavia existed some Slavonic-Bulgarian translations from Greek “collections of sayings” of the Holy Fathers – today lost or forgotten – many of which have been similar or identical to collections inspected and copied by Theophan the Recluse during his mission (from 1847 to 1853) at the Lavra of St. Sabbas in the Holy Land.

The study is dedicated to an reappraisal of the sovereign's fief policy in late middle age Austria. While the older research tendencies were mostly based on the idea of a slightly declining system signed by a rigid formalism, a new analysis of the fief structures in the hereditary territories of the Habsburg dynasty shows a slightly different picture. The anatomy of fief letters and books, reverses and letters of conveyance show that the increasing literacy transformed fiefdom into one of the central playgrounds of sovereign chancelleries. Mostly in case of dominion divisions or changes in late medieval rulership that vassality became important. Despite the reification of fiefdom, territorial rule and vasality do not oppose each other. The sovereign fiefdom in the 14 th and 15 th century is considered as an important often monetarised instrument among others, used to enhance and consolidate the sovereign's rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines historical, archival and material sources of Bruncu Pubusa/Santusangius, which was an important site during Nuragic and Roman Age. Earlier studies described the site as an abandoned village (Monpusi) during the late Middle Age. In fact, it is argued that the Medieval village Monpusi never existed. Riassunto: Lo studio delle fonti storico-archivistiche e delle evidenze materiali in località Bruncu Pubusa/Santusangius, importante sito tra l’Età nuragica e quella romana, pone in luce come quello che alcuni Autori ritengono essere un villaggio spopolato nel basso medioevo (Monpusi) non sia in realtà mai esistito in tale periodo e con il nome citato

Review on book - J. Eagles, Stephen the Great and Balkan Nationalism. Moldova and Eastern European History. I.B. Tauris, London & New York, 2014

Saschiz (Keisd, Sászkézd vára) is located in the south-eastern part of Transylvanian, in the area of Saxon colonization. We have to look for its medieval origin during the eleventh to the twelfth centuries. It was first mentioned in documents in 1309 and during the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries, it was a regionally important settlement, in many ways comparable to Sighişoara. The Evangelical church was built in a late gothic style in the years 1493– 1525. Its originality consists in the architectural project, which included from the beginning, the necessary components for a double functionality : a church and a fortress that can protect the inhabitants in case of an unexpected danger. The church in Saschiz thus became the model for an entire series of fortified churches in southern Transylvania, known as “ reduit churches”. The church consists of a large nave (41 × 4 m), an elongated choir, closed with a polygonal apse and a sacristy on the northern side. The sacristy is next to the choir and it is superposed as so, on the outside, it resembles a small tower. All these constructions are superposed by a bracketed defense floor, supported by buttresses. A fortified tower is placed on the northern side, about 10 meters away from the church. The archaeological research was conducted along with a restoration project between 1999– 2010. The excavations were concentrated on relatively small surfaces, outside the church, inside the tower and inside the choir. The research mainly tried to solve some technical problems concerning the characteristics and stability of the building, the construction stages and the evolution of the ground level. This article presents the research on the church, the investigations in the tower area, the cemetery and the archaeological materials are to represent a future paper. The Evangelical church in Saschiz was built on a short, irregular plateau, with a higher area in the central part of the current nave. The foundation ditches were lowered in a layer of yellow clay, with hard, brown insertions, almost petrified in some segments. The ditches generally go 1.3 meters deep, with variations determined by the rigid structure of the soil, most accentuated in the sacristy area. The masonry infrastructure of the church is regular, made of river stone and local sandstone of variable sizes ; a large quantity of relatively friable mortar, made of lime and sand was used. The profile of the foundations is irregular, mostly viewed from the outside. The archaeological research has established that the church, formed of a large nave, elongated choir, closed with a polygonal apse and a sacristy on the northern side, was built on a single stage of construction, including the buttresses, as foreseen in the initial project. The first ground level, laid out on the inside, consisted of a tile floor with brick measuring 36 × 18 cm. The floor was identified in the nave at a depth of – 0.4 m. It was evidenced that, inside the choir, after the construction of the foundations, the surface was leveled out, the ground floor being standardized at around – 0.2 m, by a thick, clayish layer that must have been part of the structure of a first paving. The first ground level inside the apse of the altar is hypothetically proposed around level 0.00, corresponding to the inferior level of an ancient plaster layer. The ground level before the restoration is. in the nave and choir at – 0.1 m (on average) and inside the apse of the altar at + 0.46 m. A cemetery developed around the church, of which we have managed to research over 30 graves. The necropolis is thin and the overlappings suggest the existence of familial burial grounds. We did not notice burials prior to the church ; therefore the inhumations have started as early as the beginning of the construction site, around 1500. As we know, these cemeteries were closed toward the middle of the sixteenth century, after the Reformation, whose adoption in Saschiz is accepted for the year 1545. The fact that the cemetery is not much extended is therefore explainable by its limited duration, which we can estimate to the first half of the sixteenth century. An exception are the inside burials, usually reserved for peers of the community, especially clergy and their families. These inside burials have continued even after the closing of the exterior cemetery. Although the excavations were relatively small, we can conclude that on this spot there never was an older church. We have not identified any kind of vestiges (ruins, stratigraphic deposits, cemetery or artifacts) that could relate to an older stage of constructions. The older speciality papers have constantly claimed such an evolution, in which the older church of the Saxon community, probably a twelfth century basilica, was more or less directly overlapped by the fortified nave church at the end of the fifteenth century. Such a theory was sustained by the presence of a small lapidary inside the church, by the use of profiled carved stones in the gothic building and, of course, that fact that, naturally, this is the evolution of most of the Saxon communities in southern Transylvania (among churches of different stages of construction one can notice a spatial continuity). However, the archaeological discoveries at Saschiz did not confirm such a scenario. It is evident that the Romanesque church functioned in a different location, together with its own cemetery. This is probably the cemetery that remained, after the Reformation, the main community cemetery.

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