THE MEDIEVAL TOWN IN BULGARIA, THIRTEENTH TO FOURTEENTH CENTURY By PAVEL MURDZHEV A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2008 1 © 2008 Pavel Murdzhev 2 In Memory of my Father 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank the brilliant teachers of my dissertational committee, Dr. Nina Caputo, Dr. Anthony Oliver-Smith, Dr. Frederick Gregory and Dr. Howard Louthan. I especially thank my committee chair, advisor and mentor, Dr. Florin Curta. I thank my friends from Archaeological Museum of Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria, Ivan Tsurov and Stoyan Michailov. I especially thank to my first teacher and friend Dr. Plamen Pavlov. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................7 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................12 2 ECONOMIC HISTORIOGRAPHY OF LATE MEDIEVAL BALKANS. PROBLEMS AND TENDENCIES ..............................................................................................................24 Byzantine Economy in the light of Historical Materialism ....................................................24 The Development of Bulgarian Medieval Historiography and Archaeology .........................34 Western Historiographical Approaches to Late Byzantine Economy ....................................40 3 THE COUNTRY ....................................................................................................................54 Macedonia, Moesia and Northern Thrace: Demographic and Landscape Characteristics. ....54 Rural Settlements. Physical Characteristics ...........................................................................70 Dialectics of Village and Estate ..............................................................................................82 Organization of Production .....................................................................................................97 4 THE URBAN ARENAS .......................................................................................................117 Toward (Not) Defining Town ...............................................................................................117 Semantics of Byzantino-Slavic Settlement Terminology .....................................................122 Town’s (re) Formation in Medieval Bulgaria .......................................................................134 Urban Morphology ...............................................................................................................143 Patterns of Fortified Nuclei ...........................................................................................153 Urban Public Space .......................................................................................................165 Urban Private Dwellings ...............................................................................................175 Urban Social and Institutional Topography ..........................................................................183 Horizontal Social Structures ..........................................................................................185 Vertical Social Structures ..............................................................................................193 5 REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE ................................................................235 Trade and Politics in Late Medieval Bulgaria ......................................................................238 Coin Production and Circulation ..........................................................................................259 Money Circulation, 1082-1185 .....................................................................................262 Money Circulation, 1185-1203 .....................................................................................264 5 Money Production and Circulation, 1204-1256 ............................................................265 Money Production and Circulation, 1257 – 1400 .........................................................279 6 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................299 APPENDIX: TEMPLATES ........................................................................................................317 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................325 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................354 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Coin circulation in Kovachevo and the village on the top of ancient Sevtopolis ..............82 A-1 Hoards 1082-1185 ............................................................................................................318 A-2 Hoards 1185-1203 ............................................................................................................318 A-3 Hoards 1204-1218 ............................................................................................................319 A-4 Hoards 1241-1257 ............................................................................................................320 A-5 Hoards 1257-1400 ............................................................................................................321 A-6 Urban coin finds ...............................................................................................................323 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 3-1 Old Roman Provinces in the Balkans and Asia Minor ....................................................111 3-2 Fourteenth-century Northeastern Balkans .......................................................................111 3-3 Geographical location of the archaeological sites under consideration ...........................112 3-4 Kovachevo- Plan of investigations ..................................................................................112 3-5 Investigational plan of the medieval village on the top of the ruins of ancient Sevtopolis .........................................................................................................................113 3-6 Hotnitsa. Excavation plan ................................................................................................113 3-7 Single-room above-ground house ....................................................................................114 3-8 Two-room house. Wood, stone and wattle-and-daub construction. ................................114 3-9 Type of plow with coulter and plowshare ........................................................................114 3-10 Plowshares and coulters from the medieval village on the top of Sevtopolis .................115 3-11 Painted sgraffito pottery. ..................................................................................................115 3-12 Sgraffito pottery from the village on the top of Sevtopolis .............................................115 3-13 Bracelets from the village on the top of Sevtopolis.. .......................................................116 3-14 Rings and glass bracelets from the village on the top of Sevtopolis ...............................116 4-1 Plan of the citadel of Strezov Grad ..................................................................................216 4-2 Pliska ................................................................................................................................217 4-3 Raš, reconstruction ...........................................................................................................217 4-4 Towns’ design.. ................................................................................................................218 4-5 Late Medieval Turnovo ....................................................................................................218 4-6 Tsarevets. The main gate system and patriarchal church of Holy Ascendance at the top of the hill. ...................................................................................................................219 4-7 Mesembria........................................................................................................................219 4-8 Lovech..............................................................................................................................220 8 4-9 Cherven ............................................................................................................................221 4-10 Fortress’ masonry. ............................................................................................................221 4-11 Cherven. The main tower at the western entrance of the town ........................................222 4-12 The fortress of Shumen and its first suburban fortification .............................................222 4-14 Rila