Rulership in Medieval East Central Europe

This book provides the first detailed overview of research on rulership in theory and practice, with a particular emphasis on the monarchies of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland in the High and Late Middle Ages. The contributions examine the legitimation of rule of the first local dynasties, the ritual practice of power, the ruling strategies and practices of power in the established monarchies, and the manifold influences on the rulership in East Central Europe from outside the region (such as from Byzantium, and the Holy Roman Empire). The collection shows that these ideas and practices enabled the new polities to become legitimate members of Latin Christendom.

Grischa Vercamer, Ph.D. (2008, Freie Universität Berlin), habilitation (2016), is Professor at the Technical University of Chemnitz. He has published monographs, articles, and collective volumes on the High and Late Middle Ages, including Perception of Good and Bad Power/Rulers in England, Poland and the Holy Roman Empire in the 12th century in the Historiography (Harrassowitz, 2020).

Dušan Zupka, Ph.D. (2009, Comenius University in Bratislava) is Assistant Professor at that same University. He has published monographs and articles on power, rulership, and communication in medieval East Central Europe, including Ritual and Symbolic Communication in Medieval Hungary under the Árpád Dynasty, 1000–1301 (Brill, 2016).

“[A könyv] segítségével még mélyrehatóbban tárul fel előttünk a kelet-középeurópai régió középkori története, sőt a térség államainak egyedi vonásairól, az itt regnáló dinasztiák uralkodásának különböző szegmenseiről is részletesebb képet kaphatunk.”
“[This book] helps us gain deeper insight into the medieval history of the Central and Eastern European region, as well as a more detailed picture of the unique features of this region’s states and the different aspects of the dynasties that ruled there.” – Ignácz Ágoston, University of Pécs, in: Aetas 39/2 (2024), p. 216.

“Overall, this book will be of great use to scholars and graduate students seeking to engage their respective fields of expertise with potential avenues of comparative research. The efforts of the authors and editors deserve the highest praise with respect to their willingness to open this rich field of research in medieval studies to a wider audience.” – Gregory Leighton, Nicolaus Copernicus University, in: Austrian History Yearbook 55 (2024), p. 456.

“Insgesamt präsentieren die beiden Hg. ein sehr vielschichtiges Panorama, welches die Bedeutung des (ost-)mitteleuropäischen Raums für die Diskussion dieser zentralen Forschungsfragen eindrucksvoll herausstellt und damit Impulse für eine gesamteuropäische Diskussion bereit­stellt.” – Jürgen Heyde, in: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 79/1 (2023), pp. 357-358.

“The papers collected in the volume offer a breadth of insights into the diverse aspects of rulership in East-Central Europe [...] It is my hope that this excellent contribution will further facilitate discussion about medieval rulership in East-Central Europe both in the region itself and in anglophone academic discourse.” – Michal Machalski, Central European University, in: Historical Studies on Central Europe 2/2 (2022), p. 348.