- Medieval Studies, Cultural Memory, Medieval urban history, History of Religion (Medieval Studies), History of Mentality, Mendicant Orders, and 23 moreHistory, Commemoration and Memory, Medieval Livonia, Jochen Schenk Freiburg, Cultural History, Hagiography, Medieval Art, Identity politics, Medieval History, Baltic Studies, Baltic Sea Region Studies, Historiography, Collective Memory, History of Historiography, Crusades, Social and Collective Memory, Cistercians, History of Estonia, Baltic Crusade, Gift Exchange, Jesuit library history, Jesuit libraries, and History of Readingedit
- Gustavs Strenga is a historian, senior research fellow at the Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies, Latvian Academy... moreGustavs Strenga is a historian, senior research fellow at the Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies, Latvian Academy of Culture. He received his PhD from the Queen Mary University of London in 2014. He has worked as a researcher at the Universities of Freiburg, Tallinn and Greifswald, as well as at the National Library of Latvia. Gustavs' academic interests include cultural history, medieval memory and commemoration, gift-giving as a historical phenomenon and the lives of medieval heroes after the Middle Ages.edit
Medieval memoria – commemoration of the dead – was both a form of collective memory and a social practice that was present in every sphere of life. It shaped identities and constituted groups, thus the research of commemorative practices... more
Medieval memoria – commemoration of the dead – was both a form of collective memory and a social practice that was present in every sphere of life. It shaped identities and constituted groups, thus the research of commemorative practices can tell lots about medieval communities. This study reveals importance of memoria as a form collective memory for different groups and institutions: urban government and guilds, the Teutonic Order, bishops and cathedral chapters, and monastic communities, in late medieval Livonia (modern day Latvia and Estonia). Livonia was Christianised during the thirteenth century and rapidly woven in the fabric of medieval European culture and the historiographical narratives of this period represented collective memory of multiple Livonian communities.
Research Interests: Crusades, Social and Collective Memory, Commemoration (Memory Studies), Commemoration and Memory, History of Crusades, and 14 moreCollective Memory, Social Memory, History of Estonia, Merchants (Medieval Studies), Remembrance, Death and Dying, Mourning and Remembrance, Military Orders, Teutonic Knights, Medieval Livonia, History of Latvia, Hanseatic League, Teutonic Order, The Hansa League, and History of Livonia
This anthology is about the representations and uses of medieval saints, heroes, and heroic events as elements of popular, local, and national culture during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Baltic Sea region: Scandinavia, Finland,... more
This anthology is about the representations and uses of medieval saints, heroes, and heroic events as elements of popular, local, and national culture during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Baltic Sea region: Scandinavia, Finland, Baltic countries, Northern Germany and NorthWestern Russia. Authors examine the processes of how medieval saints and heroes have been remembered, commemorated, interpreted, used, and refl ected during modernity, and by whom.
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This book is about the creation, relocation, and reconstruction of libraries between the late Middle Ages and the Age of Confessionalization, that is, the era of religious division and struggle in Northern Europe following the Reformation... more
This book is about the creation, relocation, and reconstruction of libraries between the late Middle Ages and the Age of Confessionalization, that is, the era of religious division and struggle in Northern Europe following the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At the time, different creeds clashed with each other, but it was also a period in which the political and intellectual geography of Europe was redrawn. Centuries-old political, economic, and cultural networks fell apart and were replaced with new ones. Books and libraries were at the centre of these cultural, political, and religious transformations, frequently seized as war booties and appropriated by their new owners in distant locations.
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Gift-giving played an important role in political, social and religious life in medieval and early modern Europe. This volume explores an under-examined and often-overlooked aspect of this phenomenon: the material nature of the gift.... more
Gift-giving played an important role in political, social and religious life in medieval and early modern Europe. This volume explores an under-examined and often-overlooked aspect of this phenomenon: the material nature of the gift.
Drawing on examples from both medieval and early modern Europe, the authors from the UK and across Europe explore the craftsmanship involved in the production of gifts and the use of exotic objects and animals, from elephant bones to polar bears and 'living' holy objects, to communicate power, class and allegiance. Gifts were publicly given, displayed and worn and so the book explores the ways in which, as tangible objects, gifts could help to construct religious and social worlds. But the beauty and material richness of the gift could also provoke anxieties. Classical and Christian authorities agreed that, in gift-giving, it was supposed to be the thought that counted and consequently wealth and grandeur raised worries about greed and corruption: was a valuable ring payment for sexual services or a token of love and a promise of marriage? Over three centuries, Gift-Giving and Materiality in Europe, 1300-1600: Gifts as Objects reflects on the possibilities, practicalities and concerns raised by the material character of gifts.
Drawing on examples from both medieval and early modern Europe, the authors from the UK and across Europe explore the craftsmanship involved in the production of gifts and the use of exotic objects and animals, from elephant bones to polar bears and 'living' holy objects, to communicate power, class and allegiance. Gifts were publicly given, displayed and worn and so the book explores the ways in which, as tangible objects, gifts could help to construct religious and social worlds. But the beauty and material richness of the gift could also provoke anxieties. Classical and Christian authorities agreed that, in gift-giving, it was supposed to be the thought that counted and consequently wealth and grandeur raised worries about greed and corruption: was a valuable ring payment for sexual services or a token of love and a promise of marriage? Over three centuries, Gift-Giving and Materiality in Europe, 1300-1600: Gifts as Objects reflects on the possibilities, practicalities and concerns raised by the material character of gifts.
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Der Band enthält dreizehn Beiträge ausgewiesener Fachleute und jüngerer Forsche- rinnen und Forscher aus Dänemark, Deutschland, Estland, Lettland, Polen, Schweden und der Schweiz, die als Vorträge während der Tagung „Das mittelalterliche... more
Der Band enthält dreizehn Beiträge ausgewiesener Fachleute und jüngerer Forsche- rinnen und Forscher aus Dänemark, Deutschland, Estland, Lettland, Polen, Schweden und der Schweiz, die als Vorträge während der Tagung „Das mittelalterliche Livland und sein historisches Erbe“ im Dezember 2017 gehalten wurden. Die Tagung wurde anlässlich der Hundertjahrfeier der Staatsgründung Lettlands am 18. November 2018 im Rahmen der fünf Konferenzen veranstaltet, die in Riga vom Herbst 2017 bis Frühjahr 2019 stattfanden und in enger Kooperation der Fakultät für Geschichte und Philosophie der Universität Lettlands und der Nationalbibliothek Lettlands durchgeführt wurden.
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Most of the surviving medieval book collections in northern Europe were initially formed by religious communities. During the Reformation, they frequently became for the reformed institutions: universities, schools and municipal book... more
Most of the surviving medieval book collections in northern Europe were initially formed by religious communities. During the Reformation, they frequently became for the reformed institutions: universities, schools and municipal book collections, a kind of book depository and cornerstone for new libraries. After the secularisation of monasteries, friaries and convents the books once owned by these institutions or by individual monks, friars and nuns served pastors, professors, students and urban intellectuals. As the present study will demonstrate, during the late sixteenth century there were also instances when the books of old Catholic religious communities became the property of new ones, the colleges of the Jesuit Order. The use made of the books did not necessarily differ between followers of different beliefs. Some of these medieval books owned by Protestant or post-Tridentine Catholic institutions were meant to be forgotten and reused as raw material; they lay on the shelves unused, waiting for their parchment leaves to become binding material for works of Protestant or Counter-Reformation Catholic authors.
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This article focuses on the process of creating group identity in two transport workers' guilds in mid fifteenth-century Riga, demonstrating the role of donations, discipline and commemoration in constituting both groups. The Beer... more
This article focuses on the process of creating group identity in two transport workers' guilds in mid fifteenth-century Riga, demonstrating the role of donations, discipline and commemoration in constituting both groups. The Beer Carters' and Porters' guilds experienced a 'new beginning' at this time: new resources had to be attracted, new traditions created and internal hierarchies established. Donations were an important element that helped these groups to establish their own spaces of pietyto create altars and chapelsand also to acquire resources for the celebration of communal meals. At both liturgical services and communal meals groups commemorated their deceased members, thus strengthening their identities. In the Hanseatic cities there was a bond between transport workers and merchants; in Riga as well, merchants became members of the two guilds, became involved in the processes of creating group identity, made endowments and helped the guilds gain status.
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This article focuses on the question of ethnicity in late medieval Riga and suggests that the current perception of ethnicity has to be revisited. This article argues that the late medieval transport workers' guilds that have been... more
This article focuses on the question of ethnicity in late medieval Riga and suggests that the current perception of ethnicity has to be revisited. This article argues that the late medieval transport workers' guilds that have been considered to be 'Latvian brotherhoods,' were not ethnic groups until the Reformation and gained an ethnic character only during the religious reform. This article is a detailed study of social, religious, and ethnic aspects of the groups' activities.
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The late medieval Livonia (Latvia and Estonia) was haunted by a conflict between the Teutonic Order and the church of Riga. This article shows how fake memories of the past and dead patrons were instrumental in this conflict and how these... more
The late medieval Livonia (Latvia and Estonia) was haunted by a conflict between the Teutonic Order and the church of Riga. This article shows how fake memories of the past and dead patrons were instrumental in this conflict and how these memories were used by the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order to create feelings of group self-awareness and identity during the late fifteenth century. In the article, it is revealed how memoria – commemoration of the dead – served for bonding groups of the living with individuals and endowments of land that had supposedly taken place centuries before.
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Hanseatic merchants usually built commercial networks, which frequently involved family or close friends, therefore they resettled and adapted were necessary. Thus, they were exposed to a possibility to die far away from their native... more
Hanseatic merchants usually built commercial networks, which frequently involved family or close friends, therefore they resettled and adapted were necessary. Thus, they were exposed to a possibility to die far away from their native town, their family, guild, parish and urban community to which they belonged to. As for every medieval individual, for these, usually rich and powerful men, the commemoration after the death was important – both for the well-being of a soul and strengthening identity of a family. Moreover, memoria allowed those absent be present in places separated by vast distances; body could have been buried in Bruges, but through the remembrance individual could have been present on the other side of the Hanseatic network – in Riga.
As this article shows, the Hanseatic merchants from Livonia – Riga, Reval and Dorpat, who prepared for their death in the Hanseatic cities or kontors of the West, in most of the occasions wished to be commemorated in their native communities. The case studies of the testaments drafted up by Richard Zemelbecker (1390), Veckinchusen family (the early 15th c.), Johann Cavolt (1434), and Tydeman Remlincrode (1501) demonstrate the memorial ties these individuals and families tried to forge with their native communities. Yet there were some cases of disruption, when individuals like Jan Durcop (1495), who had spent most of his active life in Bruges, did not express little interest into the commemoration of his soul in his native city, namely Riga. Durcop’s case shows that behind the decisions about memoria was development of an individual’s identity in a long-term.
As this article shows, the Hanseatic merchants from Livonia – Riga, Reval and Dorpat, who prepared for their death in the Hanseatic cities or kontors of the West, in most of the occasions wished to be commemorated in their native communities. The case studies of the testaments drafted up by Richard Zemelbecker (1390), Veckinchusen family (the early 15th c.), Johann Cavolt (1434), and Tydeman Remlincrode (1501) demonstrate the memorial ties these individuals and families tried to forge with their native communities. Yet there were some cases of disruption, when individuals like Jan Durcop (1495), who had spent most of his active life in Bruges, did not express little interest into the commemoration of his soul in his native city, namely Riga. Durcop’s case shows that behind the decisions about memoria was development of an individual’s identity in a long-term.
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Networks are forged by complex, multilateral relationships that bind multiple partners. 1 Networks have a practical and symbolical value. They provide the ones involved with ties that strengthen mutual loyalty and allow them to gain a... more
Networks are forged by complex, multilateral relationships that bind multiple partners. 1 Networks have a practical and symbolical value. They provide the ones involved with ties that strengthen mutual loyalty and allow them to gain a certain assurance that the other party would help in a moment of uncertainty and need. The creation and sustention of a network is a time and resource-consuming process in which in exchange for loyalty one should provide valuable material goods—gifts, services, and symbolic benefits desired by the other party. 2 The ties of mutual loyalty between the ones involved in a network can form in closer relationship—a friendship, and vice-versa—existing bonds of a friendship can become part of a network. The Middle Ages were no different from the modern world—friends and networks of friendship were needed to ensure that social, economic, legal, religious, and political interests of an individual or a group were better implemented. 3 Medieval religious communities needed support from the surrounding political and social elites to develop and succeed in their mission. For successful existence and maintenance they needed material support—bequests and donations, as well as political support and patronage in order to retain their rights and privileges. A network of lay supporters, " friends " , was a tool that helped to reach these aims. In this respect, the Military Orders were not different from the monastic communities and religious Orders— they also needed lay donors, patrons and clients, who would deliver services and get involved in a religious life of an Order. 4 The group of supporters every Military Order had usually consisted of noblemen—local gentry, but frequently emperors, kings, princes and dukes posed themselves as patrons. During the Middle Ages, in order to sustain relationships between laymen and religious communities in a long term, special institutions were established. Since the early Middle Ages in the Western Europe confraternities of prayer (Gebetsbrüderschaften) bonded laymen (mostly noblemen) and monastic communities. 5 For these groups the exchange of gifts and services was essential for their existence; there the material
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Raksts ir veltīts Vecākajai Livonijas Atskaņu hronikai, Vācu ordeņa historiogrāfiskajam tekstam, kurš sarakstīts 13. gadsimta nogalē vidusaugšvācu valodā. Šī hronika, lai gan apraksta Livonijas kristianizāciju un Baltijas krusta karus 12.... more
Raksts ir veltīts Vecākajai Livonijas Atskaņu hronikai, Vācu ordeņa historiogrāfiskajam tekstam, kurš sarakstīts 13. gadsimta nogalē vidusaugšvācu valodā. Šī hronika, lai gan apraksta Livonijas kristianizāciju un Baltijas krusta karus 12. gadsimta nogalē un 13. gadsimtā, nebija teksts, kura galvenā auditorija atradās Livonijā. Hronika, visticamāk, bija domāta Vācu ordeņa brāļiem un ordeņa atbalstītājiem vācu zemēs (Sv. Romas impērijā). Lai gan šī hronika ir viena no divām svarīgākajām viduslaiku hronikām Livonijas 13. gadsimta vēstures izpētei, nav zināms, cik plaši un vai vispār šo tekstu izmantoja Vācu ordeņa Livonijas atzars. Atskaņu hronika ir vecākais Vācu ordeņa historiogrāfiskais teksts tautas valodā, tomēr tas atšķīrās no ordeņa reģionālās (Livonijas un Prūsijas) vēstures tekstu tradīcijas. Zināmie saglabājušies un avotos minētie hronikas manuskripti ir saistīti ar Prūsiju, un neviens no tiem nav saistīts ar Livoniju. Šis teksts bija nozīmīgs vēstures naratīvs Vācu ordenim, vēlāk, 19. gadsimtā, tas kļuva par nozīmīgu tekstu vācbaltiešiem Krievijas impērijas provincēs, bet gadsimta beigās latviešu un igauņu nācijām tas bija avots, lai izzinātu savu vēsturi kristianizācijas laikmetā.
Atslēgvārdi: hronika, viduslaiku historiogrāfija, Livonija, Vācu ordenis
Atslēgvārdi: hronika, viduslaiku historiogrāfija, Livonija, Vācu ordenis
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The relationship between the contemporary societies and the Middle Ages is a complicated one. On the one hand, the Middle Ages are omnipresent in our lives because of cultural products: movies, TV shows, computer games, novels, LARP games... more
The relationship between the contemporary societies and the Middle Ages is a complicated one. On the one hand, the Middle Ages are omnipresent in our lives because of cultural products: movies, TV shows, computer games, novels, LARP games and other cultural phenomena that have been inspired by the medieval times. On the other hand, the Middle Ages are difficult to grasp for the contemporary European societies.
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Wars and military conflicts have been repetitive occurrences during the history of humanity, and when conflicts come to an end, they always leave behind those, who have fallen during battles, as well as memories commemo- rating them. It... more
Wars and military conflicts have been repetitive occurrences during the history of humanity, and when conflicts come to an end, they always leave behind those, who have fallen during battles, as well as memories commemo- rating them. It is an essential question how different groups remember their members killed during the conflicts and what role this remembrance plays in the formation and shaping of their identities. The commemoration of the fallen forms an essential part of every group’s commemorational culture.
This article is divided in two parts. The first part explains medieval memoria — the commemoration of the dead — as a form of the collective memory. One of the main objectives of this article is to show memoria as a religious, social, political and cultural phenomenon that has influenced every sphere of life. Ideas and concepts of the German medievalist Otto Gerhard Oexle form the core of this theoretical sketch. The second part of the article consists of a case study focusing on the late medieval collective memory of the Teutonic Order and the commemoration of its brethren who were killed during the Christianization of Livonia in the 13th century. This investigation is focused on the question how memories of the Order’s Livonian experiences were transferred to the Order’s institutions in the Holy German Empire and how these memories were sustained during the late Middle Ages. The author argues that one particular episode of the Order’s history — the defeat at Durbe (1260) — was lieu de mémoire of the Teutonic Order as a cooperation, not only of its regional structure — the Livonian branch. The author has illuminated how the memories of the defeat at Durbe and of the brethren killed there have been recorded, transferred and also recol- lected during the late Middle Ages in the Imperial bailiwicks of the Order.
This article is divided in two parts. The first part explains medieval memoria — the commemoration of the dead — as a form of the collective memory. One of the main objectives of this article is to show memoria as a religious, social, political and cultural phenomenon that has influenced every sphere of life. Ideas and concepts of the German medievalist Otto Gerhard Oexle form the core of this theoretical sketch. The second part of the article consists of a case study focusing on the late medieval collective memory of the Teutonic Order and the commemoration of its brethren who were killed during the Christianization of Livonia in the 13th century. This investigation is focused on the question how memories of the Order’s Livonian experiences were transferred to the Order’s institutions in the Holy German Empire and how these memories were sustained during the late Middle Ages. The author argues that one particular episode of the Order’s history — the defeat at Durbe (1260) — was lieu de mémoire of the Teutonic Order as a cooperation, not only of its regional structure — the Livonian branch. The author has illuminated how the memories of the defeat at Durbe and of the brethren killed there have been recorded, transferred and also recol- lected during the late Middle Ages in the Imperial bailiwicks of the Order.
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The article shortly describes the Reformation in Riga, Livonia (1521-1525) and also depicts book culture in medieval Riga before and during the religious reform.
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This article was intended as a brief study on remembrance (memoria) and memory in the late medieval Livonia as the first scholarly steps in this field. Although studies of medieval remembrance and memory have undergone intense... more
This article was intended as a brief study on remembrance (memoria) and memory in the late medieval Livonia as the first scholarly steps in this field. Although studies of medieval remembrance and memory have undergone intense development in Western scholarship, in Latvian scholarship this field has been left completely untouched. The two main persons I am dealing with in this article are the Dominican Nicolaus Sapientis (lived in the mid-15th century) and the provost of the Riga Cathedral chapter Dietrich Nagel (1400–1468/69). The case of Nicolaus Sapientis shows how he remembered two deceased persons – positively, the bishop of Courland Johannes Tiergart and, negatively, the prior of the Dominican friary in Riga, Nicolaus van der Pernow. In two letters to the Riga town council, Sapientis shows his attitudes towards remembrance clearly – Tiergart receives his respect, but van der Pernow disgrace because of Sapientis’ conflict with him. If van der Pernow before his death, or his fellow friars after his death, had not preserved the memoria of him, van der Pernow’s remembrance could be endangered and his soul could be considered damned for suffering in the purgatory or even hell.
The story of Dietrich Nagel and his memoria has been less dramatic. Nagel clearly formulated the late medieval understanding of memoria in a document (1447) which preserves not only his own memoria but also remembrance of three other individuals. Nagel wrote that it is the obligation of every good Christian to remember the souls who are suffering in the purgatory. The essence of the whole late medieval understanding of memoria, as revealed here, is to be remembered after one’s death in order to escape long suffering in the purgatory. In the mentioned document Dietrich Nagel successfully constructed his own remembrance to ensure that it will be kept after his death.
The story of Dietrich Nagel and his memoria has been less dramatic. Nagel clearly formulated the late medieval understanding of memoria in a document (1447) which preserves not only his own memoria but also remembrance of three other individuals. Nagel wrote that it is the obligation of every good Christian to remember the souls who are suffering in the purgatory. The essence of the whole late medieval understanding of memoria, as revealed here, is to be remembered after one’s death in order to escape long suffering in the purgatory. In the mentioned document Dietrich Nagel successfully constructed his own remembrance to ensure that it will be kept after his death.
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For mendicant friaries in the Middle Ages there was a clear tie between their financial incomes and their liturgical obligations. In Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), testators and townspeople made their donations to the Dominicans for... more
For mendicant friaries in the Middle Ages there was a clear tie between their financial incomes and their liturgical obligations. In Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), testators and townspeople made their donations to the Dominicans for spiritual reasons. Every donor who gave even a single shilling hoped that the religious institution to which he offered the donation would mention him in the common Masses and liturgical services or at least just pray for his soul. Donation was a favor for which a returned favor was expected. In Reval also, individuals who donated money or objects for the Dominicans expected their prayers in return. This was a normal expectation, because prayers (and liturgical ceremonies in general) of religious communities had the character of a social donation made in return for material donations. The donations for religious purposes had a positive influence on both the donor and the beneficiary of the donation. Donations and Mass foundations were made with the intention of avoiding eternal torment or shortening the time which had to be spent in purgatory.
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Thesis is on Dominicans in medieval Reval (Tallinn) and their relationships with local urban society. Thesis was defended in 2006 in the Central European University (Budapest). Supervisor: Prof. Gerhard Jaritz.