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slavic-canvas · 15 days ago

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slavic-canvas · 4 months ago

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Question: Evolution and Divergence of Medieval Slavic Settlements (5th-15th century)

Dear Schwérpunkt,

Thank you for your in-depth, high quality historical content on the art of war. You always craft spectacular content in regards to the political background, weapons, and armor of the ancient and medieval era. Your understanding of history also extends beyond martial knowledge, as my previous Q&A with you on "Ethnos in the Middle Ages" demonstrates your sensitivity to broader anthropological topics. With this in mind, I would like to dedicate this Q&A to the evolution and divergence of medieval Slavic settlements. But before I do so, I must also ask you something that has been lingering in my mind regarding your content.

Across your playlists I have not come across any content that addresses cities and fortifications beyond Medieval Western Europe. I should also preface that perhaps it is my fault for not delving deep enough into your content, but I would think that since you specialize in the art of war, fortifications and civilian settlements should be discussed in the places like the Byzantine and Islamic world. Is there a reason for why you don't do this? For example, your videos on the Ostsiedlung only gives brief mention to the wooden Gords that the Holy Roman Empire had difficulty subjugating. There is nothing in detail that describes a Gord structure, strategy, or significance to West Slavic societies. Also, your playlist on Gallic warfare has videos dedicated to certain battles, cavalrymen, and infantry but nothing about the Gallic Oppidum. Keep in mind, I'm sure if I were to fish through I could find something about this subject, but I am specifically asking why you don't dedicate a singular video to this topic as you do for something like "Medieval Irish Warrior". Often, in order for me to find content on cities/military fortifications it is embedded in the broader "'X/Y' Warfare video." Would it be possible to create individual videos focused on urbanism and fortifications within your military playlists, specifically dedicated to certain ethnic groups or geographic regions? With your knowledge and expertise I believe you should place more focus into this area, but if you find my feedback invalid please explain why. Bearing all this in mind, I shall now move forward onto the topic I originally had in mind.

Overview: As the early Slavs migrated from their homeland, they were organized into small, tribal agrarian societies. Their settlements were often unfortified and were placed near cliffs, rivers, and lakes to ward off invaders. Yet as time goes on the West and East Slavs begin to develop more elaborate defensive structures known as the Gord.

The development follows:

Phase 1: Small unwalled settlement

Phase 2: Small settlement enclosed by a wooden palisade

Phase 3: Earthworks with a timber rampart, often a singular building without fortifying the broader community.

Phase 4: Well fortified wooden urban centers

Phase 5: Integration of stone architecture

Eventually we see a disruption of this material homogeneity, and by the end of the middle ages we notice three distinct material/architectural styles among the Slavs:

East: Wooden urban centers with a dispersal of stone buildings in the Byzantine fashion.

West: Gothic architecture with stone buildings, essentially an extension of the Frankish sphere.

South: There is an obvious split (and mixture) between the Orthodox Slavs who essentially mimicked Byzantine architecture, and the Catholics Slavs who emulated Frankish influence.

I wanted to bring this subject to your attention because I've never really seen anyone cover it before except you. You seem to allude to the Slavic divergence in a religious and military context, but I feel the architectural differences adds a new dimension to this topic. Not to mention, it is a noticeable split which has continued into the modern era.

South Slavs:

Early Settlement:

-The West and East Slavs created Wooden Gords, but it appears that the historiography of South Slavs do not place as great an emphasis on these structures. Why? I have my theories for this but would like your validation. It seems as though the mountainous terrain and chaotic frontier prevented the early Balkan Slavs from creating communities like their northern brethren. It was likely more preferable to nestle into a cliff rather than create a wooden fort in the lowlands. Likewise, the preexistence of Roman cities, as ruined as they were, provided the early South Slavs with a place to inhabit. The West and East Slavs however had to create a dwelling place where there had been none. Sure, there were pre-existing iron age settlements, but it was nothing like an established Roman city. Hence, while the South Slavs inherited Roman cities, the West and East Slavs had to create them from scratch. But it still leaves one question, what happened to agrarian Slavic communities that did not inhabit Roman cities? Prior to their migration into the Balkans, the Slavs lived rural lifestyles and probably remained that way for awhile. How would they have defended their agrarian settlements? Or rather, was there a presence of Gords in the Balkans after all? What did Balkan Slavic settlements look like archeologically?

The First Bulgarian Empire:

-Pliska, a residence of the Bulgar Khan, was initially a fortified nomadic grazing area. The inner enclosure was originally crafted from wood, burnt down by the Byzantines, and rebuilt by into an opulent stone fortress. Upon further research it seems that enslaved Byzantine soldiers were responsible for creating this new stone palace for the Bulgars. With this in mind, how how influential were Byzantine civilians and engineers in urbanizing/fortifying the First Bulgarian Empire? What extent did the Bulgars and Slavs create stone cities/forts for themselves without the aid of the Romans? How did the Bulgarians re-settle and develop abandoned Roman cities? How many of these cities already had Byzantine civilians living within them? To some it may seem that I am being biased, that I am implying Greeks had to civilize Bulgarians, but this is not my intention. My ultimate motive is to dissect the cultural interaction between Byzantium and the Slavs. Civilization is inherited and furnished, it is not confined to itself.

The achievements of the Bulgarians during that time astonished even their contemporaries. In amazement, Armenian historians wrote that to the north of the Caucasus only the Bulgarians had stone towns while all other peoples were living in huts, dugouts and tents. But some sources assert that the stone areas of pliska were actually built by Roman fugitives and captives.

-The city of Preslav represents a full on material and spiritual transfiguration Bulgaria, but how did Tsar Simeon manage to reconstruct the city on such a grand scale? Where did the knowledge, resources, and manpower come from? Was there a noticeable period before and after Simeon where urbanization took place, or was it too gradual to tell?

-How did the cultural development of the first Bulgarian Empire compare to that of Latin-Germanic Europe (Frankish Empire)? I ask this because many Bulgarians like to brag about how their empire was more culturally developed than the west, if not on par with it. This is also another parallel to Byzantine vs Western Barbarian dichotomy you have spoken on, only it extends itself to the Bulgarians.

The Serbians:

-how did the serbs come to inherit stone architecture? Did the serbs immediately inhabit stone cities after their migration into the Balkans? During what time period and what extent did the Serbians re-build stone cities for themselves? As I asked earlier with the Bulgarians, how did the serbs interact with Byzantine engineers in the process of rebuilding and inheriting cities? To what degree did the Bulgarians, having been able to challange the byzantines and establish the slavic liturgy influence Serbian state formation?

-In regards to the Bulgarians, how different and similar were their interactions with Byzantine in the urbanization of their polities?

-Slovenia, Bosnia & Croatia:

West Slavs:

-Poland Casimir the great

-Great Moravia and Bohemia: It seems clear that Greeks played a vital role in building stone settlements for South Slavic states, but how do the Germans parallel this among the West Slavs? The adoption of stone architecture seems to have been more colonial in nature, especially among the bohemians. Ostiedlung. "Watch development of castles video"

-Pannonian Slavs: Archeological evidence and digital reconstructions of early Hungarian fortifications demonstrate a distinct slavic character to them. The gradual Germanic influence however, sees Hungarian castles take on a style similar to other Ostsiedlung settlements. In my previous Q&A I also asked how the Slavs were gradually Magyarized. You replied that the Hungarians simply displaced them from the steppe lands, and that the Slavs entrenched themselves in the hills. This is the obvious explanation, but I was hoping you would shed light on the those Slavs who continued to live in the steppe and were subjugated by the Magyars. How did these populations eventually become Hungarian? In fact, there may have even been communities that, while being subjects of the Magyars, never merged with them? There may be no definitive answer to this, but

To what degree were Germans hired to carry out the process of stone building? It should also be noted that early hungarian fortifications carried with it the legacy of the pannonain slavs. What happened to those slavs who were subjugated by the avars. How did the italins inlfuence the urbanization of the catholic slavs that lived near the cost?

East Slavs:

German and Italians

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slavic-canvas · 4 months ago

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Phase 1: Rural, unfortified Agrarian Community

Phase 2: Fenced settlement, sometimes with an outer trench

Phase 3: Well structured Gord fortification which may or may not encompass the whole settlement.

Phase 4: Urbanized settlement with complex fortifications that encompass the whole community.

Phase 5: Urbanized settlement with notable stone structures.

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slavic-canvas · 4 months ago