AEM_03g Medieval archaeology in Europe

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Petr Hrubý, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jana Mazáčková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Rudolf Procházka, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Petr Hrubý, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
Passive knowledge of English and German language
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Goals: increase of the level on the themes raised in the compulsory lecture during the first cycle, which are complemented and expanded upon in a European-wide context and with an emphasis placed on archaeological-historical issues in medieval Europe and on familiarity with the academic literature.
Learning outcomes
The outcome of the course is an expanded knowledge of archaeology, but also of the general realities of the European Middle Ages.
After completing the course, the student should be able to:
- orient themselves in the realities and theoretical problems of archaeological study of the Later Middle Ages in Europe.
- place the themes, issues and phenomena encountered in Czech medieval archaeology in a broader European context.
Syllabus
  • syllabus of lectures:
  • -----------------
  • 1. The major features of the development of the medieval Europe in the 11th   15th century.
  • 2. Development of Archeology of Younger Middle Ages in Europe.
  • 3. Colonization, European upland settlement, formation of high medieval landscape in 11th to 13th century.
  • - long process of colonization, recolonization, its repetition
  • - Examples of the successful and the unsuccessful colonization mentioned in written sources (eg. Adam of Bremen, Helmold of Bosau)
  • - culture landscape in the lower Elbe region, which in the 13th century exceeds a fragmentary understanding: the oldest core Elbe River levees
  • - Examples exhaustion landscape and the abandonment of settlements still in the Middle Ages in the lower Elbe region : Lüneburg Heath
  • - Examples archeological and topographical study of the living and deserted medieval structures: Hercynian - Variscan uplands (Germany).
  • - examples of exploitation and transformation of forest and landscape in the foothills of the Ore Mountains settlement in Wettin Meissen
  • 4. rural settlement
  • - methods and processing deserted villages and rural settlement in Europe
  • - processes of abandonment of rural settlements
  • - archaeological excavations of rural settlements
  • 5. Technology and technical innovations from the West medieval Europe
  • - heritage of Europe to the Middle Ages: cultural - civilizational and technological gap between the regions and areas erstwhile of Roman provinces and Barbaricum
  • - innovation in construction and a short excursion architectural styles
  • - innovations in mechanics
  • - innovation in the exploitation of raw materials
  • - innovations in metallurgy and iron founding, archaeologicl evidences
  • - glass and glass prodaction: imports and somestic production
  • 6. The genesis of so-called. Municipal cities in Europe
  • 7. Archaeological evidences of European medieval towns
  • 8. Urban centers of production and distribution of precious metals at 11th to 13th century in Western Europe, Imperial and the surrounding lands.
  • - British Islands: Wales a SW_England, centres: Durham, Carlise etc.
  • - French regions: closely related to the Imperium
  • - Alpenraum (Trento)
  • - Schwarzwald, Harz, Erzgebirge
  • - Silesia nad Malopolska
  • 9. Selected topics on trade and craft industries in Europe 11th and turn of 13th 14th century
  • - land trade routes, river trade routes and sea trade routes
  • - emporium/emporia of North Sea and Baltic coast, mixed as maritimes centers
  • - River shipping of NW-Europe and the beginnings of Hansa
  • - trade and finacial cenres of Italy: Venetia, Florencia regions
  • - continental transit trade centers in Imperium - archaeological evidences (Norimberk, Passau, Erfurt)
  • - exceptional role of iconography for studying medieval crafts and production
  • - examples of best archaeologically processed sectors medieval craft production (excluding ceramics)
  • 10. European castles and fortress
  • - architecture and main elements in different part of Europe
  • - local build production: Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, middle Europe, Byzantium
  • 11. Castles of Levanta, Arabic castles and forttress, military impact
  • - the influence of the Arab world on military architecture - warfare - Crusades and origin and rise of their states in Levant, Baltics
  • – christianisations of pagan state in Younger medieval
  • 12. Church structure and burials
  • - church structure: WEST and EAST
  • - monasteries and church orders – cohesion in Europe
  • - architecture
  • - burials: European standards and differences (for exmple: deviant burials,executed, kings burials, mass graves)
Literature
    required literature
  • Castles, siegeworks and settlements : surveying the archaeology of the twelfth century. Edited by Duncan W. Wright - O. H. Creighton. Oxford: Archaeopress Archaeology, 2016, xii, 167. ISBN 9781784914769. info
  • LE GOFF, Jacques and Jean-Claude SCHMITT. Encyklopedie středověku. Edited by Franco Alessio, Translated by Lada Bosáková. Vyd. 3. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2014, 935 s. ISBN 9788074291302. info
  • LE GOFF, Jacques. Kultura středověké Evropy. Vyd. 2., Ve Vyšehradu 1. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2005, 702 s. ISBN 8070218088. info
  • LE GOFF, Jacques. Středověká imaginace. Translated by Irena Murasová. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo, 1998, 329 s. ISBN 8072030744. info
  • MORANT, Henry de and Gérald GASSIOT-TALABOT. Dějiny užitého umění : od nejstarších dob po současnost. Vyd. 1. Praha: Odeon, 1983, 573 s. URL info
    recommended literature
  • Deichmann, F. W., Einführung in die christliche Archäologie, Darmstadt 1983.
  • Fehring, Günther, P., Einführung in die Archäologie des Mittelalters, Darmstadt 1987.
  • Clarke, Helen, The Archaeology of Medieval England, London 1984.
  • Boüard, M. de, Manuel d archéologie médiévale. De la fouille á ľ histoire, Paris 1975.
  • Holl, Imre, Mittelalterarchäologie in Ungarn, Acta Arch ASH 22, 1970, 365-411.
  • Dějiny Evropy. Edited by Frédéric Delouche - Hana Gelnarová - Jiří Úlovec, Translated by. Vyd. 2., dopl. a rozš. Praha: Argo, 2001, 416 s. ISBN 8072033174. info
Teaching methods
- lectures
- guided discussion
Assessment methods
Completion Requirements for the examination: - Basic orientation in the individual spheres of research in the branch - Knowledge of specialist literature, periodicals and outcomes of the work of significant researchers within the scope of the lecture and the assigned literature - Adequate participation in the work of the seminar - Presentation of the assigned papers
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/AEM_03g