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Christianization in Early Medieval Transylvania A Church Discovered in Alba Iulia and its Interpretations

Daniela Marcu Istrate, Dan Ioan Muresan, and Gabriel Tiberiu Rustoiu (Volume editors), Christianization in Early Medieval Transylvania. A Church Discovered in Alba Iulia and its Interpretations, Brill, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450 Series, Vol. 83, 524 p., 2022.

Resume

Little is known about the Christianization of east-central and eastern Europe, due to the fragmentary nature of the historical record. Yet occasionally, unexpected archaeological discoveries can offer fresh angles and new insights. This volume presents such an example: the discovery of a Byzantine-like church in Alba Iulia, Transylvania, dating from the 10th century – a unique find in terms of both age and function. Next to its ruins, another church was built at the end of the 11th century, following a Roman Catholic architectural model, soon to become the seat of the Latin bishopric of Transylvania.

Who built the older, Byzantine-style church, and what was the political, religious and cultural context of the church? How does this new discovery affect our perception of the ecclesiastical history of Transylvania? A new reading of the archaeological and historical record prompted by these questions is presented here, thereby opening up new challenges for further research.

Contributors are: Daniela Marcu Istrate, Florin Curta, Horia I. Ciugudean, Aurel Dragotă, Monica-Elena Popescu, Călin Cosma, Tudor Sălăgean, Jan Nicolae, Dan Ioan Mureșan, Alexandru Madgearu, Gábor Thoroczkay, Éva Tóth-Révész, Boris Stojkovski, Șerban Turcuș, Adinel C. Dincă, Mihai Kovács, Nicolae Călin Chifăr, Marius Mihail Păsculescu, and Ana Dumitran.

More informations can be found on the publisher’s website.

Table of contents

  • Introduction
    Gabriel Tiberiu Rustoiu

Part 1: Archaeological Debates

  • From the Greek Bishop Hierotheos to the Latin Bishop Simon: The Churches in Alba Iulia and the Controversies Related to the Beginnings of the Diocese of Transylvania
    Daniela Marcu Istrate
  • Bulgaria beyond the Danube: Water under the Bridge, or Is There More in the Pipeline?
    Florin Curta
  • The Transylvanian Cradle: The Funeral Landscape of Alba Iulia in the Light of ‘Stația de Salvare’ Cemetery (9th–11th Centuries)
    Horia Ciugudean, Aurel Dragotă, and Monica-Elena Popescu
    Translated by Monica-Elena Popescu
  • Byzantine Bronze Reliquary Crosses with Embossed Figures Discovered in Romania
    Călin Cosma

Part 2: Historical Debates

  • From Terra Ultrasilvana to Regnum Erdeelw: Notes on the Historical Evolution of Transylvania in the 10th Century
    Tudor Sălăgean
  • Hagiography and History in Early Medieval Transylvania: from the Byzantine Bishop Hierotheos (10th Century) to the German Historian Gottfried Schwarz (18th Century)
    Jan Nicolae
  • Patriarch Theophylact, the Horses, and the Hungarians: The Religious Origins of the Byzantine Mission to Tourkia
    Dan Ioan Mureșan
  • Ecclesiastical Consequences of the Restoration of Byzantine Power in the Danubian Region
    Alexandru Madgearu
  • Some Remarks on the Church History of the Carpathian Basin during the 10th and 11th Centuries
    Gábor Thoroczkay
  • Gyula’s Christianity and the Bishopric of the Eastern Mission
    Éva Tóth-Révész
  • The Byzantine Monasteries of Medieval Hungary Revisited
    Boris Stojkovski
  • The Hungarian Kingdom between the Imperial Ecclesiology of Otto III and the Pontifical Ecclesiology of Gregory VII
    Șerban Turcuș
  • Latin Bishoprics in the ‘Age of Iron’ and the Diocese of Transylvania
    Adinel C. Dincă and Mihai Kovács

Part 3: Future Debates

  • The 10th- to 11th-Century Pillared-Church in Alba Iulia: Reconstruction Proposals
    Nicolae Călin Chifăr and Marius Mihail Păsculescu

Conclusions
Ana Dumitran
Translated by Florin Curta

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