In this interview, Maria Vargha, Assistant Professor for Spatial Approaches to Medieval Studies at University of Vienna, discusses her recent and current research into early Christianisation on the edges of what came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire.

Using a vast amount of archaeological and historical data, and spatial and network analysis, Maria shows how different regions of Central Europe were Christianised and the power dynamics that were involved.  Her innovative approach focusses on the lowest rungs of society, the rural peasants, and the networks of churches that served them. 

This research will result in an open-access data base of archaeological and historical data covering Central Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.  The data base will include all known settlement and burial sites, and all known data of secular and sacred power of the period.

This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Medieval Studies.

MECERN interview with Michaela Antonín Malaníková

Michaela Antonín Malaníková is the Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Faculty of Arts at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.

In this interview, she discusses the marital disputes which resulted in litigation before ecclesiastical and municipal courts in the Bohemian lands, 1300 – 1500. She considers the general approach to marriage in the period, the different roles taken by the courts, and how the two juridical systems worked in harmony; she also discusses individual cases of alleged bigamy, mis-understood flirtation, pre-nuptial agreements and dissolution of marriage.