AEA_68 Archaeology of the Middle Ages II

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Měřínský, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Měřínský, CSc.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Dobešová
Timetable
Tue 16:40–18:15 C43
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
Course description: The course follows 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.
Syllabus
  • l. Village settlements. Category and definitions (legal, historical and geographical, ethnographical, sociological; economic aspects). Structure of village, homestead, municipal and rural zones – layout arrangement of a homestead, village and cadastre. Latin terminology of medieval written sources for house, homestead and settlement; its development changes related to time and space (Bohemia and Moravia, Hungary, Austria and Germany). Slavic terminology. 2. Early medieval settlements (6th – 12th cent.). House and its development, layout, construction techniques. Issues of interpretation of archaeological research of the layouts obtained. Changes in the arrangements of settlements and houses in the 10th and 13th centuries; theory of the so-called Frankish house and its influence on the development of Slavic house. Overview of the most significant sites studied and the outcomes of the excavations. 3. Village of the High Middle Ages (13th – 1st half of 16th cent.). Homestead, its type and form, determination by the natural environment and the economic system of agricultural production. The structure of homestead and the development of three-part house. Main layout types of medieval villages; natural and standard types; village common and its genesis. Number of homesteads in the village and the social structure; other buildings (church, clergyman's house, farmstead, feudal manor, hostelries and taverns etc.) 4. “Plužina” (agricultural plot), its definition, types of agricultural plots and their relation to the layout arrangement of a settlement. Determination of agricultural plot by field morphology. Agricultural plot and the system of agricultural production. The scope of agr. plot, terminology, medieval measures of area. Surface surveys of medieval agricultural plots; identification of agr. plot marks in the field; classification. 5. Development of settlement. Study of the history of settlement and the individual aspects; disciplines studying the development of settlement. Mechanism of the settlement process; old and new settlement areas; changes in settlement structure. 6. Abandoned medieval villages; their lists, literature. Research of abandoned medieval villages; outline of the most significant sites. Causes of abandonment. Theory of agrarian crisis of the late feudalism and its criticism. 7. Medieval town. Definition of the term; genesis of urban organisms; town plan; market habitats; urban right and their groups. 8. Medieval town. Urbanism; earth-houses in towns; house and other sunken, production and service structures; fortifications; municipal roads; town and sacral features; fortified castles and strongholds in towns. Overview of the most important sites studied in Bohemia and Moravia. 9. Feudal fortified manors. Definition of the term and genesis of these features. Timber fortified castles of 11th -12th cent. Upland settlements and minor fortifications, lightly fortified manors (the so-called residences), refugii. Overview of the most important sites studied in Bohemia and Moravia. 10. Forts and fortified manors. Definition of the term and genesis of these features. “Motte” type manors and their origins, all-stone fortified manors, typology of these features, their structure and equipment. Gentlefolk and residential courts. Overview of the most important features studied in Bohemia and Moravia. 11. Stone castles, their origins in this country and in the European context. Types of arrangements, their genesis and chronology. Structure and equipment of stone castle architecture. Besiegers' posts and advanced fortifications. Castles and their role in the economic and social development and settlement. Overview of the most important sites studied in Bohemia and Moravia. 12. Sacral features (monasteries, churches, cemeteries and burial grounds). Monasteries; overview of orders; arrangement of convents and their distinctions; the most important excavations. Churches, chapels and cemetery chapels. 13. Burial grounds of the 11th -12th cent. and their inventories. Influences from the adjacent regions; Belobrdska cemeteries in the Carpathian basin. Ordinary late fortified settlement cemeteries and their chronology; burials near sacral buildings; church organizations of the 11th -12th centuries; great parish organization and settling of the parish network in the 13th century. Cemeteries of the High Middle Ages near parish churches and the issues of their excavations. 14. Medieval crafts and production, research of manufacturing features and technologies. Processing of metals; ferrous metallurgy, blacksmithing and locksmithery, iron founding, jewel-making, goldsmithery, minting and precious metals. Montane archaeology. 15. Potter's trade and pottery production, oven building, brick making (manufacturing equipment and products), glass making and glass products, tar and lime production, building and products made of stone, building metallurgical works, products from wood, bone, textile, food-making trades.
Literature
  • BENDA, Klement. Dějiny českého výtvarného umění. [D.]Ş1. [Č.]Ş1, Od počátků do konce středověku. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 1984, 397 s, : i. info
Teaching methods
lectures
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 also listed under the following terms Spring 2003, Spring 2005, Spring 2007, Spring 2011, Spring 2013, Spring 2015, Spring 2017, Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2009/AEA_68