papers

submitted

Finiunt conventi? Status and Order in Early Eleventh-Century Poitou
(This paper has been submitted to a Festschrift for Stephen D. White’s 75th birthday, edited by Richard Barton and Tracey Billado, expected to come out... soon?)
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the social dynamics of early eleventh-century Poitou in the context of the main narratives of society at the turn of the first millennium, focusing on the Conventum inter Guillelmum Aquitanorum comitem et Hugonem chiliarchum, an exceptionally valuable account of the (seemingly) turbulent relationship of William V, duke of Aquitaine, and Hugh IV, lord of Lusignan. In the debate of the “feudal transformation” of French society, different readings of this source were featured in arguments from both sides, but many aspects of the origins and the possible function of the Conventum are still under debate.
I approach the problem from three different angles. On the one hand, I examine the social background of the main characters and establish their position in the dynamics of the regional elite. On the other hand, I situate the Conventum’s worldview in its contemporary ideological landscape. Finally, I propose an answer to the long-debated question of the text’s genre and potential purpose. I argue that the author consciously used a complex comedic toolkit to provide a satirical take on contemporary societal questions and to address the contentious points of the lord-vassal relationship. Despite its mysteries, the Conventum’s upside-down perspective on society allows us a unique look into the preoccupations of eleventh-century Poitevin aristocracy, which makes it essential in our understanding of French society at the turn of the first millennium.

out

Társadalmi felelősségvállalás a 11. századi Provence-ban [Social Responsibility in Eleventh-Century Provence]
In: Kovács Enikő – Rudolf Veronika – Szokola László – Varró Orsolya – Veszprémy Márton (szerk.): Micae mediaevales X. Fiatal történészek dolgozatai a középkori Magyarországról és Európáról. Budapest, ELTE BTK Történelemtudományi Doktori Iskola, 2022.
https://mek.oszk.hu/23700/23737/23737.pdf
The aim of this paper is to explore how different groups of eleventh-century Provençal society interpreted individual and social responsibility. In order to examine this question, it is important to understand contemporary worldviews, attitudes to death and afterlife, relationships with the dead. I use the diplomatic material of the abbeys of Saint-Victor of Marseille, Saint-Pierre of Montmajour, and Saint-Honorat of Lérins as well as the Life of Saint Isarn to reflect on the aforementioned topics. Certain rites, preambules and sanctions of charters, and the notions of death in written sources (the diplomatic material and the Life) provide valuable information on the understanding of social responsibility, which can contribute to the deeper understanding of subjects such as expansion of Benedictine monasteries and the restructuration of society.

Az arisztokrácia átalakulása a 10–11. századi Dél-Franciaországban és Provence-ban [The Transformation of the Aristocracy in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Southern France and Provence]
Sic Itur Ad Astra 75 (2021): 23–54.
https://epa.oszk.hu/01000/01019/00048/pdf/EPA01019_sic_itur_ad_astra_2021_75_023-054.pdf
“As long as the law prevailed, the world was at peace. / The laws are withering now and peace is fading away. / The customs of the people change, and the order changes too,” the Bishop warns the King in Adalbero of Laon’s Carmen ad Rotbertum regem, written around 1030. During the twentieth century, numerous scholars thought to have discovered this chaos and radical change in late 10th- and early 11th-century French and Provençal society, but the theory of feudal transformation or revolution became the target of vigorous criticism in the 1990s. Although the debate seems to have been settled, the questions raised during the discussion are still relevant: what kind of transformation did French society go through in the 10th and 11th centuries? What factors did determine it? In what relation was it with individual and collective identity? This paper examines the social dynamics of French provinces south of the Loire and Provence (the territory of the Kingdom of Burgundy), relying on contemporary diplomatic materials, narrative sources, and socio-philosophical texts, including hagiographic works and miracle collections. The analysis takes into consideration the circumstances that determined the birth and survival of sources necessary for the reconstruction of aristocratic society, the different understandings of proprietary rights, and the coexistence of systems of social theory. It is particularly important to explore how different groups of society defined the criteria of peace and what roles they assigned to themselves and others in establishing it. By reflecting on these issues, we can gain a closer understanding of the problems of French and Provençal society around the first millennium.

Barátok közt: a marseille-i Szent Viktor-apátság megtelepedése Brignoles-ban [Friends, Episode 1: The Settlement of Saint-Victor of Marseille in Brignoles]
In: Kovács Enikő – Rudolf Veronika – Szokola László – Veszprémy Márton (szerk.): Micae mediaevales IX. Fiatal történészek dolgozatai a középkori Magyarországról és Európáról. Budapest, ELTE BTK Történelemtudományi Doktori Iskola, 2020. 189–199.
https://mek.oszk.hu/21400/21445/21445.pdf
The 11th-century history of the abbey of Saint-Victor is a characteristic example of the social developments of the era: the political transformation of France and Burgundy, the expansion of prominent abbeys, the spread of the Cluniac reform movement, new strategies of acquiring and managing landed property, and the appearance of new narratives of society. During the decades between c. 924, which saw the dispersion of the original community, and c. 970, which saw its renovation, the former monastic lands were appropriated by other landholders, but the Church preserved the memory of Saint-Victor’s grandeur, which contributed significantly to the ambitions of the new abbey. At the turn of the first millennium, the monks strove to become integrated into the social network of their neighbours, which led to a long series of conflicts, negotiations, and agreements. The goal of this paper is to present the process and difficulties of integration in 11th-century Provence through the example of Saint-Victor and its neighbours in the territory of Brignoles.

Mary Beard: Women and Power: A Manifesto. London, Profile Books, 2017.
review
Sic Itur Ad Astra 67 (2018): 207–210.
https://epa.oszk.hu/01000/01019/00015/pdf/EPA01019_sic_itur_ad_astra_2018_67_207-210.pdf

Megállapodás Vilmos, Aquitania hercege és Hugó chiliarchus között: egy egyedülálló szöveg a 11. századi Franciaországból [Agreement between William, Duke of Aquitaine, and Hugh the Chiliarch. A Unique Text from 11th-Century France]
translation with introduction
Világtörténet 40/1 (2018): 125–151.
https://tti.btk.mta.hu/125-kiadvanyok/folyoiratok/vilagtortenet-archiv/3134-vilagtortenet-2018-1.html
The Conventum inter Guillelmum Aquitanorum comitem et Hugonem Chiliarchum is a 342-line-long, anonymously written source narrating the relationship of Hugh IV, lord of Lusignan, and William V, duke of Aquitaine, from the former’s viewpoint in a Latin which shows strong vernacular influence. It has been frequently commented on in the debate on the ‟feudal transformation” of French society around the year 1000, due to the circumstances that it shows little resemblance to contemporary sources in its topic, as well as in its form and language. Its depiction of vassality is radically different from the model drawn by educated authors as Fulbert of Chartres or Ademar of Chabannes, and offers an alternative notion of authority and of the inner dynamics of feudal society, namely that of the lower stratum of the political elite (represented in the narrative by Hugh and his adversaries). As such, it is a unique source on medieval political thinking, and while it has multiple English and French translations, no Hungarian translation has been previously made. This paper aims to fill this gap, and it also contains a new translation of Fulbert of Chartres’ letter on vassality.