Historický Časopis Volume 67, 2019, Number 5
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HISTORICKÝ ČASOPIS VOLUME 67, 2019, NUMBER 5 ARTICLES FORMS OF COMMUNICATION OF THE POLITICAL ELITES IN MEDIEVAL CENTRAL EUROPE (HUNGARY, AUSTRIA AND THE CZECH LANDS 1250–1350) DUŠAN Z U P K A ZUPKA, Dušan. Forms of Communication of the Political Elites in Medie- val Central Europe (Hungary, Austria and the Czech Lands, 1250–1350). Historický časopis, 2019, 67, 5, pp. 785-808, Bratislava. The aim of this article is to give an account of the ritualized ways of com- munication of the ruling communities of the high and later Middle Ages in the Central European region. It focuses on the neighbouring realms of Bohemia, Hungary and Austria in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (c. 1250 – c. 1350). It argues that the ruling communities were formed from diverse political groups, most prominently represented by the ruler and his entourage (dynasty, court) on the one hand and the elites (both lay and spiritual) on the other. The rule (lordship) over a particular realm was a mixture of co-operation, competition and compromise between these groups. Secondly, these political communities therefore felt the constant need for public representation of their status, rank and symbolic role with- in the society. Effective ways to express belonging to a political group included a range of symbols, gestures and specific rhetoric. Key words: Communication. Ruling elites. Power. Central Europe. Ritu- als. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/histcaso.2019.67.5.1 In this paper we would like to present a new interpretation of the forms of com- munication and representation of the political elites in the High Middle Ages in the Central European region. We have directed our attention to the territories of Hungary, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia in the 13th and 14th centuries, especial- ly between 1250 and 1350. For our conception of the theme, it is necessary to apply various interdisciplinary approaches to the problem and naturally to under- 785 Historický časopis, 67, 5, 2019 take comparative soundings into the source materials from these three countries.1 This approach starts from two basic premises. The first is the conviction that the ruling elites were in reality varied political groups, represented by the monarch and those closest to him in physical, social and hierarchical terms, meaning the ruling dynasty and court on the one hand, and the local elites, both religious and secular on the other. These groups had their specific characteristics, structure and above all their ways of presenting their community, exclusiveness and solidarity.2 In each of these states, govern- ment and the exercise of power was a symbiosis of cooperation, competition and compromise between these groups. The second premise is the view that the political elites had a continual need to present their status, position and symbolic role in the framework of medieval society. The use of a wide range of symbols, gestures and specific rhetoric was an effective way to express membership of particular political groups, create social bonds or to communicate the idea of such a community.3 Examination of the forms of communication and ritualized presentation of political groups enables us to answer three basic research questions: What was the essence and meaning of the rituals and symbols that reflected and represented the ruling strategies of political groups? What role did these groups play in exercising power, including the processes of decision making, ad- 1 On the concept and methodology of this paper see Pohl, Walter. Introduction: Meanings of Community across Medieval Eurasia. In HOVDEN, Eirik – LUTTER, Christina – POHL, Walter (Eds.). Meanings of Community Across Medieval Eurasia. Comparative Approaches. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016, p. 1-23. ISBN 9789004311978; LUTTER, Christina. Compara- tive Approaches to Visions of Community. In History and Anthropology, 2015, year 26, no. 1, p. 129-143. ISSN 0275-7206; OEXLE, Otto Gerhard – HÜLSEN-ESCH, Andrea von (Eds.). Die Repräsentation der Gruppen. Texte – Bilder – Objekte. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998. ISBN 9783525354568; LAKE, Justin. Current Approaches to Medieval Historiography. In History Compass, 2015, year 13, no. 3, p. 89-109. ISSN 1478-0542. 2 LUTTER, Christina. Social groups, personal relations, and the making of communities in medieval vita monastica. In ROGGE, Jörg (Ed.). Making Sense as a Cultural Practice. His- torical Perspectives. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2013, p. 45-61. ISBN 978-3837625318; JUSSEN, Bernhard. Erforschung des Mittelalters als Erforschung von Gruppen. Über einen Perspektivenwechsel in der deutschen Mediävistik. In Sozialwissenschaftliche Informationen, 1992, year 21, no. 3, p. 202-209. ISSN 0932-3244; WEILER, Björn. The Tales of the First Kings and the Culture of Kingship in the West (1050–1200). In Viator, 2015, year 46, no. 2, p. 101-127. ISSN 0083-5897. 3 SCHMITT, Oliver. Addresing Community in Late Medieval Dalmatia. In Hovden – Lutter – Pohl, ref. 1, p. 125-126; STOLLBERG-RILINGER, Barbara – NEU, Tim – BRAUNER, Christina (Eds.). Alles nur symbolisch? Bilanz und Perspektiven der Erforschung symbo- lischer Kommunikation. Köln: Böhlau, 2013. ISBN 9783412211936; KERTZER, David I. Ritual, Politics and Power. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 9783412211936; WILENTZ, Sean (Ed.). Rites of Power. Symbolism, Ritual, and Politics Since the Middle Ages. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press, 1985. ISBN 9780812216950. 786 Dušan Zupka Forms of Communication of the Political Elites vising the monarch and joint exercise of power? What power political strategies were used during the continual dynastic conflicts, succession crises and efforts to legitimize power? Central European parallels We will attempt to demonstrate the inter-connections and significance of ruling elites in the society of the period as expressed in ritualized communication by comparing source materials from Hungary, the Czech Lands and Austria.4 Va- rious reasons led us to define our theme of research in this way. One of them was the conviction that these relationships in all three countries underwent substan- tial changes in the 13th and 14th centuries. This was caused to a large extent by the fact that in all three monarchies, the “native” dynasty died out: the Baben- bergs of Austria in 1246, the Arpáds of Hungary in 1301 and the Přemyslids of Bohemia in 1306.5 The consolidation and stabilization of the position of the new monarchs and their dynasties – Habsburgs, Angevins and Luxembourgs – in the framework of their new kingdoms or duchy (in the case of Austria) was asso- ciated with prolonged conflicts and negotiations with the local aristocratic eli- tes, courts and ecclesiastical and urban communities. New politically influential groups arose in this process, new alliances were formed and innovative power political strategies emerged. Rituals and the ritualized communication of these groups played a significant role in these cases. We will look at their logic, form and course following the examples of all three regions. The geographical definition of the study was also given by practical consi- derations. The concept of Central or East Central Europe is a long studied but still controversial theme of historiography. The concept of so-called Ostmittel- europa,6 of which the Czech, Polish and Hungarian monarchies formed the core prevailed for decades in medieval studies. The region is similarly understood in 4 They appear in the local sources under various designations as communitas ipsarum terar- rum in the Hausordnung from 1283 or as die gemain der landschaft in a document issued by the Duke of Austria Albert III in 1373. Comp. HÖDL, Günther. Habsburg und Österreich 1273–1493. Wien; Köln; Graz: Böhlau, 1988. ISBN 9783205050568, especially p. 13-14. Between about 1280 and 1382 they gradually became usual also in Hungarian, Czech and Polish sources. Comp. GAWLAS, Slawomir. Möglichkeiten und Methoden herrschaftlicher Politik im östlichen Europa im 14. Jahrhundert. In LÖWENER, Marc (Ed.). Die „Blüte“ der Staaten des östlichen Europa im 14. Jahrhundert. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004, p. 262. ISBN 3447047976. 5 JOHNSON, Lonnie R. Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbours, Friends. Oxford: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 2010 (3), p. 30-35. ISBN 9780195386646. 6 LÜBKE, Christian. Mitteleuropa, Ostmitteleuropa, östliches Europa: Wahrnehmung und frühe Strukturen eines Raumes. In LÖWENER, ref. 4, p. 15-43. 787 Historický časopis, 67, 5, 2019 English language literature under the designation Central Europe.7 However, the same term often represents a much larger part of our continent. Apart from the core comprising the historical Czech Lands, Hungary and Poland, it also includes territories of modern Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.8 Other authors place a region defined like this and enriched with parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe under the term East-Central Europe.9 The aim of this study is not to provide a further definition of Central or East-Central Europe. For the needs of research into forms of communication of medieval elites, it was neces- sary to limit the field of research to a region enabling the greatest possible degree of comparison. The number and character of the narrative and diplomatic sources was also not the least important of the considerations leading us to study the Austrian, Hungarian, Czech and Moravian political elites. Relations between Hungary, Austria and the Czech Lands were very close in the 13th and 14th centuries, and each of them often played an important role in the political development