Skip to main content

Martyn Rady

University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), Emeritus

Followers

1,062

Following

197

Co-authors

19

Public Views

Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History and formerly General Editor, Slavonic and East European Review. Now, writing books that people may actually read.
Address: UCL SSEES, 16 Taviton Street, London. WC1H0BW. But don't send anything to me there as I rarely visit.

less

István Petrovic

University of Szeged

Emmanuelle Pujeau

Université Toulouse II Jean Jaurès

Magyarország a középkori Európában kutatócsoport – Hungary in medieval Europe research group

University of Debrecen

András Kovács

Transylvanian Museum Society, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Attila Bárány

University of Debrecen

Tamás Pálosfalvi

Davor Salihović

University of Antwerp

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Judit Majorossy

University of Vienna

Bálint Lakatos

National Archives of Hungary

InterestsView All (19)

Uploads

Papers by Martyn Rady

Fiscal and military developments in Hungary during the Jagello period

Elfeledett források a mohácsi csatáról: Antonio Burgio pápai nuncius jelentései, és azok hadtörté... more

The Corvina Library and the Lost Royal Hungarian Archive

Within a single fortnight in 1526, two of the greatest collections of Hungarian manuscripts were ... more Within a single fortnight in 1526, two of the greatest collections of Hungarian manuscripts were lost. On 29 August of that year, the Turks defeated the Hungarian army on the field of Mohacs. The young king of Hungary, Louis II (1516–26), was trampled and killed in the rout. News of the catastrophe reached the capital, Buda, on the evening of the next day. During that night, the citizens of Buda loaded wagons and boats by torchlight and buried what they could not take with them. Meanwhile in the palace, the king’s widow, Mary of Habsburg, ordered that the royal archive be transferred to a barge and conveyed upstream along the Danube to the relative safety of Hungary’s second city, Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg). Shortly after negotiating the Danube bend, which is about twenty miles north of Buda, the barge sank somewhere near the archiepiscopal city of Esztergom. Almost the entirety of the Hungarian royal archive thus lies today in the mud of the Danube. Only a few fragments which ...

Government and Law in Medieval Moldavia, Transylvania and Wallachia

Custom and law in central Europe

The notary's function was essentially that of witness: he had been present, and had written down ... more The notary's function was essentially that of witness: he had been present, and had written down what happened; or he had seen a document and drawn up a copy of it'-so wrote Robert Swanson on the role of England's public notaries in the thirteenth century. 1 He could have written almost the same words in respect of the uniquely Hungarian institution of the loca credibilia: an institution which for several centuries co-existed in Hungary with that of the public notaries. 2 The loca credibilia were, however, rather more than scriptoria, 'copying shops', or institutions of witness. Besides their role in recording and verifying transactions and in drawing up deeds, the loca credibilia performed a vital function in discharging the tasks of royal government and in undertaking judicial and administrative duties on behalf of the ruler and of his principal agents. The aim of the following brief survey is to indicate the principal characteristics of this particular vehicle of 'private' legal literacy. The socalled 'places of authentication' (loca credibilia) were institutions which witnessed legal transactions mainly by issuing upon request charters under their own authentic seal. 3 The background to this activity may most immediately be linked to a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1166. This

10 Minorities and Minority Protection in

Hungary and the Golden Bull of 1222

The Golden Bull was issued by Andrew II in the spring of 1222.1 It is the first of five charters ... more The Golden Bull was issued by Andrew II in the spring of 1222.1 It is the first of five charters of liberty published by the kings of Hungary in the thirteenth century and is the most celebrated.2 It has since the eighteenth century often been compared to Magna Carta, as showing a constitutional kinship between Hungary and England.3 Despite its subsequent reputation, however, the Golden Bull is not mentioned in any of the Hungarian chronicles of the Middle Ages; nor does it feature in foreign accounts and correspondence. Although the charters subsequently granted in 1231, 1267, 1290 and 1298 built on its provisions and even borrowed from its text, they made no explicit reference to it. Moreover, despite the Golden Bull’s alleged circulation in seven copies, none of the originals has been found, even though one of these should according to the terms of its issue have been sent to the pope. Unlike the charter of 1231, which

The medieval Hungarian and other frontiers martyn rady

The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages

The German Lands and Eastern Europe, 1999

Identification of the cause cf a hybrid microcircuit malfunction often necessitates testing one o... more Identification of the cause cf a hybrid microcircuit malfunction often necessitates testing one or more of the beam-lead devices separately from the substrate on which it was bonded. This requires a remcval technique that maintains the structural and electrical integrity of the device. This paper discusses a rework technique that will successfully remove beam-lead devices and do so without incurring structural or electrical damage to either the device or substrate metallization.

Patronage and Humanist Literature in the Age of the Jagiellons: Court and Career in the Writings of Rudolf Agricola Junior, Valentin Eck and Leonard Cox

Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook, 2009

The elites of Renaissance Poland were, as generations of Polish historians have been since, extre... more The elites of Renaissance Poland were, as generations of Polish historians have been since, extremely proud of their country's humanist credentials, seeing these as evidence of its cultural sophistication, vigorous links with Italy and robustly European historical identity. Standard Polish histories of the University of Kraków (f. 1364) without hesitation define the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries as a time of humanist ascendancy at the institution. For Henryk Barycz (1935), this was "the age of humanism" in the Polish capital, while for Józef Garbacik (1964) it was the point at which the university became "a crucible of Renaissance learning and culture." 1 If the early sixteenth century was Poland's much-vaunted "Golden Age," a moment of dynastic triumph and geopolitical expansion under Zygmunt I Jagiellon (1506-1548), this must in turn, so the argument goes, have been accompanied by an appropriate artistic and intellectual flowering. Since the University of Kraków occupied an almost iconic status in Polish national historiography of the Renaissance, the city's claims to be a hotbed of humanism have rarely been subjected to serious criticism or challenge. Patronage and Humanist Literature in the Age of the Jagiellons approaches the question of humanism both at Kraków and other cities in the Jagiellonian bloc from a new and fruitful angle, asking how hospitable international humanists really found these towns and courts. A scholar of Polish neo-Latin literature, Glomski takes as her subject three foreign humanists who travelled to Kraków in search of income, employment and glory-in short, patronage. The men trying "to convert themselves from outsiders to insiders," Rudolf Agricola Junior (ca. 1490-1521), Valentin Eck (1494-1556?) and Leonard Cox (ca. 1495ca. 1549), are identified by Glomski as the most prolific of the itinerant humanists active in early sixteenth-century Kraków, whose hagiographic verse, panegyric poetry, dedicatory letters, orations, and treatises on subjects as diverse as marriage and crusading passed through the printing presses of Johannes Haller,

The 'Title of New Donation' in Medieval Hungarian Law

The Forgeries of Baron József Kemény

Page 1. SEER, Vol. 71, No. I, January 1993 The Forgeries of BaronJozsefKemeny MARTYN RADY The dis... more

The Gesta Hungarorum of Anonymus, the Anonymous Notary of King Béla: A Translation

... the hot springs, 30 and he ordered all the old buildings that he found there to be restored a... more

Justice Delayed? Litigation and Dispute Settlement in Fifteenth-Century Hungary

Central Europe, 2004

... 29 1445:1, 3, 23 (Decreta Regni Mediaevalis Hungariae, vol. 2, ed. by Jinos M. Bak, Pil Engel... more

Medieval Buda in Context

Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings bet... more Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries, particularly its role as a royal center and capital city of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The twenty-one articles written by Hungarian and international scholars draw on a variety of primary sources: texts, both legal and literary; archaeological discoveries; architectural history; art history; and other studies of material culture. The essays also place Buda in the political, social, cultural and economic context of other contemporary central and eastern European cities. By bringing together the results of research undertaken in recent decades for an English-language readership, this volume offers new insights into urban history and the culture of Europe as a whole. Contributors are János M.

The laws and customs of medieval Croatia and Slavonia: A guide to the extant sources

A history of the Hungarian constitution: law, government and political culture in Central Europe

Parliaments, Estates and Representation

Commonwealth. It could proclaim, at least with more credibility than the other nationalist partie... more Commonwealth. It could proclaim, at least with more credibility than the other nationalist parties, the dream of a peaceful reunification of the country. Redmond and others were persistent advocates for memorialization of the Great War and for the welfare of veterans. At the general election of June 1927 eight of the party’s candidates were successful. Shortly thereafter the arithmetic of the Dáil was transformed by the decision of Fianna Fáil to abandon abstentionism. In a remarkable episode Fianna Fáil agreed to support the installation of a new government led by the Labour party and the Irish National League. The requisite vote of no confidence in the Cumann na nGaedheal government was defeated only on the casting vote of the chair. So, within less than a decade of the destruction of the IPP the son of John Redmond had been within a whisker of becoming a minister in the Irish Free State, with the support of the anti-treaty party. A snap election in September 1927 witnessed a surge by the two main parties. The Irish National League subsequently disintegrated and, following the 1932 election, Redmond was one of eighteen Cumann na nGaedheal TDs (out of a party total of fifty-seven) from an IPP background. By late 1933 most of them had followed that party into a new amalgam, Fine Gael, but a few others, including the former MP Tom O’Donnell, were with the now-dominant Fianna Fáil. When an inter-party government replaced Fianna Fáil in 1948 it proceeded to proclaim the republic and leave the Commonwealth. Of the thirty-one Fine Gael TDs in the coalition, ten had IPP links, but at this point the old party had become history. Martin O’Donoghue presents his account in an admirably detached fashion. With no dominant archive or set of papers to work from, the author had a challenging task in assembling his materials and has completed it impressively. In addition to more narrowly political matters, a chapter is devoted to IPP historiography and commemoration down to 1949, with manoeuvring around the 1946 centenaries of the births of Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt being particularly revealing. The biographical appendix covering nearly 120 IPP figures is a useful tool. Post-1918 the IPP was cast by friend and foe as the epitome of constitutional pacifism. However, in its heyday the party was as adept as any at rousing the blood with recall of mythic sacrifice, its martyrs being Allen, Larkin and O’Brien hanged in November 1867 following the killing of a policeman in Manchester. The party’s motto ‘God save Ireland’ was not a clever publicity slogan devised in the 1880s, but the sainted last words spoken ‘high upon the gallows tree’ by the Manchester martyrs in 1867.

University Theses in Russian, Soviet and East European Studies 1907–2006: A Centennial Bibliography of Research in the British Isles. MHRA Bibliographies 3by Gregory Walker; J. S. G. Simmons

Medieval Buda in Context

by József Laszlovszky, Andras Vadas, and Martyn Rady

Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings bet... more Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries, particularly its role as a royal center and capital city of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The twenty-one articles written by Hungarian and international scholars draw on a variety of primary sources: texts, both legal and literary; archaeological discoveries; architectural history; art history; and other studies of material culture. The essays also place Buda in the political, social, cultural and economic context of other contemporary central and eastern European cities. By bringing together the results of research undertaken in recent decades for an English-language readership, this volume offers new insights into urban history and the culture of Europe as a whole. Contributors are János M.

Customary Law in Hungary

Darin Hayton, The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I

European History Quarterly

his death, advertised Maximilian's real and imagined achievements as well as those of his putativ... more his death, advertised Maximilian's real and imagined achievements as well as those of his putative forebears. Like every other ruler, Maximilian employed astrologers at his court and took them into his circle of patronage. Darin Hayton examines the careers of half a dozen of Maximilian's astrologers and their various accomplishments, which in terms of observatory and mathematical rigour were not insignificant. Most of the time, Maximilian's astrologers were involved in the production of ephemerides, which gave the daily position of celestial bodies. These were published as tables or in a simplified form as wall calendars, which noted the best times of the year for planting, sowing, taking a bath, and so on. Ephemerides were vital tools for navigation but in landlocked Austria were mostly used for predictive purposes. Composing charts and, more importantly, learning how to read the tables drawn up by others were vital to casting horoscopes. Unsurprisingly, the most popular lectures at the University of Vienna were those dedicated to the study of ephemerides. Astrologers used their charts and calendars as a way of advertising Maximilian. They included the Habsburg coat of arms prominently, drew attention to the emperor's genealogy and geniture, and related how in general terms his political mission to heal the Church and unite the German princes was celestially ordained. On occasions, Maximilian consulted them to obtain advice on the most propitious time to engage in an enterprise-as for instance on the eve of the Landshut Succession War of 1503-1505, or of the opening of negotiations with Wladislas II of Hungary in 1506. Such occasions seem, nonetheless, to have been rare-at least, Darin Hayton mentions only a handful. Altogether Maximilian seems to have bowed to the superior wisdom of his astrologers much less than did his father, Frederick III, who postponed his own wedding so that it should happen only under the most propitious of conjunctions. Scholars hoping to establish how astrology influenced the 'politics of Maximilian I' (to quote from the book's title) will thus be disappointed. Maximilian's tame astrologers contributed to his image and to the lustre of his house, but their day-today influence over policy is far less obvious. Partly the absence of evidence for their direct involvement arises from the limitations that the author sets, according to which astrology is a 'science of the stars' (3), akin to astronomy except that it has predictive and explanatory functions in respect of human affairs. There were plenty of star-gazers, however, who were part of the

Fiscal and military developments in Hungary during the Jagello period

Elfeledett források a mohácsi csatáról: Antonio Burgio pápai nuncius jelentései, és azok hadtörté... more

The Corvina Library and the Lost Royal Hungarian Archive

Within a single fortnight in 1526, two of the greatest collections of Hungarian manuscripts were ... more Within a single fortnight in 1526, two of the greatest collections of Hungarian manuscripts were lost. On 29 August of that year, the Turks defeated the Hungarian army on the field of Mohacs. The young king of Hungary, Louis II (1516–26), was trampled and killed in the rout. News of the catastrophe reached the capital, Buda, on the evening of the next day. During that night, the citizens of Buda loaded wagons and boats by torchlight and buried what they could not take with them. Meanwhile in the palace, the king’s widow, Mary of Habsburg, ordered that the royal archive be transferred to a barge and conveyed upstream along the Danube to the relative safety of Hungary’s second city, Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg). Shortly after negotiating the Danube bend, which is about twenty miles north of Buda, the barge sank somewhere near the archiepiscopal city of Esztergom. Almost the entirety of the Hungarian royal archive thus lies today in the mud of the Danube. Only a few fragments which ...

Government and Law in Medieval Moldavia, Transylvania and Wallachia

Custom and law in central Europe

The notary's function was essentially that of witness: he had been present, and had written down ... more The notary's function was essentially that of witness: he had been present, and had written down what happened; or he had seen a document and drawn up a copy of it'-so wrote Robert Swanson on the role of England's public notaries in the thirteenth century. 1 He could have written almost the same words in respect of the uniquely Hungarian institution of the loca credibilia: an institution which for several centuries co-existed in Hungary with that of the public notaries. 2 The loca credibilia were, however, rather more than scriptoria, 'copying shops', or institutions of witness. Besides their role in recording and verifying transactions and in drawing up deeds, the loca credibilia performed a vital function in discharging the tasks of royal government and in undertaking judicial and administrative duties on behalf of the ruler and of his principal agents. The aim of the following brief survey is to indicate the principal characteristics of this particular vehicle of 'private' legal literacy. The socalled 'places of authentication' (loca credibilia) were institutions which witnessed legal transactions mainly by issuing upon request charters under their own authentic seal. 3 The background to this activity may most immediately be linked to a decree of Pope Alexander III in 1166. This

10 Minorities and Minority Protection in

Hungary and the Golden Bull of 1222

The Golden Bull was issued by Andrew II in the spring of 1222.1 It is the first of five charters ... more The Golden Bull was issued by Andrew II in the spring of 1222.1 It is the first of five charters of liberty published by the kings of Hungary in the thirteenth century and is the most celebrated.2 It has since the eighteenth century often been compared to Magna Carta, as showing a constitutional kinship between Hungary and England.3 Despite its subsequent reputation, however, the Golden Bull is not mentioned in any of the Hungarian chronicles of the Middle Ages; nor does it feature in foreign accounts and correspondence. Although the charters subsequently granted in 1231, 1267, 1290 and 1298 built on its provisions and even borrowed from its text, they made no explicit reference to it. Moreover, despite the Golden Bull’s alleged circulation in seven copies, none of the originals has been found, even though one of these should according to the terms of its issue have been sent to the pope. Unlike the charter of 1231, which

The medieval Hungarian and other frontiers martyn rady

The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages

The German Lands and Eastern Europe, 1999

Identification of the cause cf a hybrid microcircuit malfunction often necessitates testing one o... more Identification of the cause cf a hybrid microcircuit malfunction often necessitates testing one or more of the beam-lead devices separately from the substrate on which it was bonded. This requires a remcval technique that maintains the structural and electrical integrity of the device. This paper discusses a rework technique that will successfully remove beam-lead devices and do so without incurring structural or electrical damage to either the device or substrate metallization.

Patronage and Humanist Literature in the Age of the Jagiellons: Court and Career in the Writings of Rudolf Agricola Junior, Valentin Eck and Leonard Cox

Erasmus of Rotterdam Society Yearbook, 2009

The elites of Renaissance Poland were, as generations of Polish historians have been since, extre... more The elites of Renaissance Poland were, as generations of Polish historians have been since, extremely proud of their country's humanist credentials, seeing these as evidence of its cultural sophistication, vigorous links with Italy and robustly European historical identity. Standard Polish histories of the University of Kraków (f. 1364) without hesitation define the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries as a time of humanist ascendancy at the institution. For Henryk Barycz (1935), this was "the age of humanism" in the Polish capital, while for Józef Garbacik (1964) it was the point at which the university became "a crucible of Renaissance learning and culture." 1 If the early sixteenth century was Poland's much-vaunted "Golden Age," a moment of dynastic triumph and geopolitical expansion under Zygmunt I Jagiellon (1506-1548), this must in turn, so the argument goes, have been accompanied by an appropriate artistic and intellectual flowering. Since the University of Kraków occupied an almost iconic status in Polish national historiography of the Renaissance, the city's claims to be a hotbed of humanism have rarely been subjected to serious criticism or challenge. Patronage and Humanist Literature in the Age of the Jagiellons approaches the question of humanism both at Kraków and other cities in the Jagiellonian bloc from a new and fruitful angle, asking how hospitable international humanists really found these towns and courts. A scholar of Polish neo-Latin literature, Glomski takes as her subject three foreign humanists who travelled to Kraków in search of income, employment and glory-in short, patronage. The men trying "to convert themselves from outsiders to insiders," Rudolf Agricola Junior (ca. 1490-1521), Valentin Eck (1494-1556?) and Leonard Cox (ca. 1495ca. 1549), are identified by Glomski as the most prolific of the itinerant humanists active in early sixteenth-century Kraków, whose hagiographic verse, panegyric poetry, dedicatory letters, orations, and treatises on subjects as diverse as marriage and crusading passed through the printing presses of Johannes Haller,

The 'Title of New Donation' in Medieval Hungarian Law

The Forgeries of Baron József Kemény

Page 1. SEER, Vol. 71, No. I, January 1993 The Forgeries of BaronJozsefKemeny MARTYN RADY The dis... more

The Gesta Hungarorum of Anonymus, the Anonymous Notary of King Béla: A Translation

... the hot springs, 30 and he ordered all the old buildings that he found there to be restored a... more

Justice Delayed? Litigation and Dispute Settlement in Fifteenth-Century Hungary

Central Europe, 2004

... 29 1445:1, 3, 23 (Decreta Regni Mediaevalis Hungariae, vol. 2, ed. by Jinos M. Bak, Pil Engel... more

Medieval Buda in Context

Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings bet... more Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries, particularly its role as a royal center and capital city of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The twenty-one articles written by Hungarian and international scholars draw on a variety of primary sources: texts, both legal and literary; archaeological discoveries; architectural history; art history; and other studies of material culture. The essays also place Buda in the political, social, cultural and economic context of other contemporary central and eastern European cities. By bringing together the results of research undertaken in recent decades for an English-language readership, this volume offers new insights into urban history and the culture of Europe as a whole. Contributors are János M.

The laws and customs of medieval Croatia and Slavonia: A guide to the extant sources

A history of the Hungarian constitution: law, government and political culture in Central Europe

Parliaments, Estates and Representation

Commonwealth. It could proclaim, at least with more credibility than the other nationalist partie... more Commonwealth. It could proclaim, at least with more credibility than the other nationalist parties, the dream of a peaceful reunification of the country. Redmond and others were persistent advocates for memorialization of the Great War and for the welfare of veterans. At the general election of June 1927 eight of the party’s candidates were successful. Shortly thereafter the arithmetic of the Dáil was transformed by the decision of Fianna Fáil to abandon abstentionism. In a remarkable episode Fianna Fáil agreed to support the installation of a new government led by the Labour party and the Irish National League. The requisite vote of no confidence in the Cumann na nGaedheal government was defeated only on the casting vote of the chair. So, within less than a decade of the destruction of the IPP the son of John Redmond had been within a whisker of becoming a minister in the Irish Free State, with the support of the anti-treaty party. A snap election in September 1927 witnessed a surge by the two main parties. The Irish National League subsequently disintegrated and, following the 1932 election, Redmond was one of eighteen Cumann na nGaedheal TDs (out of a party total of fifty-seven) from an IPP background. By late 1933 most of them had followed that party into a new amalgam, Fine Gael, but a few others, including the former MP Tom O’Donnell, were with the now-dominant Fianna Fáil. When an inter-party government replaced Fianna Fáil in 1948 it proceeded to proclaim the republic and leave the Commonwealth. Of the thirty-one Fine Gael TDs in the coalition, ten had IPP links, but at this point the old party had become history. Martin O’Donoghue presents his account in an admirably detached fashion. With no dominant archive or set of papers to work from, the author had a challenging task in assembling his materials and has completed it impressively. In addition to more narrowly political matters, a chapter is devoted to IPP historiography and commemoration down to 1949, with manoeuvring around the 1946 centenaries of the births of Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt being particularly revealing. The biographical appendix covering nearly 120 IPP figures is a useful tool. Post-1918 the IPP was cast by friend and foe as the epitome of constitutional pacifism. However, in its heyday the party was as adept as any at rousing the blood with recall of mythic sacrifice, its martyrs being Allen, Larkin and O’Brien hanged in November 1867 following the killing of a policeman in Manchester. The party’s motto ‘God save Ireland’ was not a clever publicity slogan devised in the 1880s, but the sainted last words spoken ‘high upon the gallows tree’ by the Manchester martyrs in 1867.

University Theses in Russian, Soviet and East European Studies 1907–2006: A Centennial Bibliography of Research in the British Isles. MHRA Bibliographies 3by Gregory Walker; J. S. G. Simmons

Medieval Buda in Context

by József Laszlovszky, Andras Vadas, and Martyn Rady

Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings bet... more Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries, particularly its role as a royal center and capital city of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The twenty-one articles written by Hungarian and international scholars draw on a variety of primary sources: texts, both legal and literary; archaeological discoveries; architectural history; art history; and other studies of material culture. The essays also place Buda in the political, social, cultural and economic context of other contemporary central and eastern European cities. By bringing together the results of research undertaken in recent decades for an English-language readership, this volume offers new insights into urban history and the culture of Europe as a whole. Contributors are János M.

Customary Law in Hungary

Darin Hayton, The Crown and the Cosmos: Astrology and the Politics of Maximilian I

European History Quarterly

his death, advertised Maximilian's real and imagined achievements as well as those of his putativ... more his death, advertised Maximilian's real and imagined achievements as well as those of his putative forebears. Like every other ruler, Maximilian employed astrologers at his court and took them into his circle of patronage. Darin Hayton examines the careers of half a dozen of Maximilian's astrologers and their various accomplishments, which in terms of observatory and mathematical rigour were not insignificant. Most of the time, Maximilian's astrologers were involved in the production of ephemerides, which gave the daily position of celestial bodies. These were published as tables or in a simplified form as wall calendars, which noted the best times of the year for planting, sowing, taking a bath, and so on. Ephemerides were vital tools for navigation but in landlocked Austria were mostly used for predictive purposes. Composing charts and, more importantly, learning how to read the tables drawn up by others were vital to casting horoscopes. Unsurprisingly, the most popular lectures at the University of Vienna were those dedicated to the study of ephemerides. Astrologers used their charts and calendars as a way of advertising Maximilian. They included the Habsburg coat of arms prominently, drew attention to the emperor's genealogy and geniture, and related how in general terms his political mission to heal the Church and unite the German princes was celestially ordained. On occasions, Maximilian consulted them to obtain advice on the most propitious time to engage in an enterprise-as for instance on the eve of the Landshut Succession War of 1503-1505, or of the opening of negotiations with Wladislas II of Hungary in 1506. Such occasions seem, nonetheless, to have been rare-at least, Darin Hayton mentions only a handful. Altogether Maximilian seems to have bowed to the superior wisdom of his astrologers much less than did his father, Frederick III, who postponed his own wedding so that it should happen only under the most propitious of conjunctions. Scholars hoping to establish how astrology influenced the 'politics of Maximilian I' (to quote from the book's title) will thus be disappointed. Maximilian's tame astrologers contributed to his image and to the lustre of his house, but their day-today influence over policy is far less obvious. Partly the absence of evidence for their direct involvement arises from the limitations that the author sets, according to which astrology is a 'science of the stars' (3), akin to astronomy except that it has predictive and explanatory functions in respect of human affairs. There were plenty of star-gazers, however, who were part of the

A Contribution to the debate around the UK Referendum on the EU

The article is published in the June 2016 edition of *History Today*. It can be accessed via http... more

Reform and Renewal in Medieval East and Central Europe: Politics, Law and Society

by Alexandru Simon, Suzana Miljan, Kristina Judaš, Maria Emilia Tiplic, Mária Pakucs, Arany Kriszta, Mariana Goina, Antun Nekić, Tudor Salagean, Attila Barany, Judit Gál, Damir Karbic, Martyn Rady, and Miloš Ivanović

Reform and Renewal in Medieval East and Central Europe: Politics, Law and Society (=Minerva, III, 15; Studies in Russia and Eastern Europe, XIII), edited by Éva B. Halász, Suzana Miljan, Alexandru Simon, 2019

The initial idea about the volume started with the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in Su... more The initial idea about the volume started with the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in Summer 2015, where Romanian and Hungarian colleagues organised a number of sessions on the topic on Reform and Renewal in East and Central Europe. For this volume, we have chosen some of them, while adding texts authored by other colleagues from every corner of Europe. This was a process that took us more time than initially expected. Therefore, we are grateful to our colleagues and collaborators, without whose help this volume could not have appeared. Particular thanks are due to our peer-reviewers, for their useful advices and perpetual support, professors Ioan-Aurel Pop, Martyn Rady and Damir Karbić. We have to acknowledge here the assistance of Dr.

Medieval Buda in Context

by Balázs Nagy, Martyn Rady, Katalin Szende, and Andras Vadas

Nagy Balázs; Martyn C. Rady; Szende Katalin; Vadas András (eds.), Medieval Buda in Context. Leiden; Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2016.

Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings bet... more Medieval Buda in Context discusses the character and development of Buda and its surroundings between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries, particularly its role as a royal center and capital city of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. The twenty-one articles written by Hungarian and international scholars draw on a variety of primary sources: texts, both legal and literary; archaeological discoveries; architectural history; art history; and other studies of material culture. The essays also place Buda in the political, social, cultural and economic context of other contemporary central and eastern European cities. By bringing together the results of research undertaken in recent decades for an English-language readership, this volume offers new insights into urban history and the culture of Europe as a whole.

POLITICS AND THE NATION: COFFEE AND ALCOHOL

This is a draft of a paper to be given in Sibiu at the conference 'Histories of Food in Central-E... more

Making Sense of Customary Law

This is an attempt to make sense of my thoughts so far on the nature of customary law. It is very... more