Papers by Eugene Smelyansky
Journal of Medieval History
Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long di... more Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long discussed the mobility and initiative of prosecutors – episcopal or mendicant inquisitors – as one of the main factors behind the intensification of anti-heretical activity during the 1390s and the early years of the fifteenth century. However, the mobility of heretical refugees produced by these inquisitions also constituted an important factor that helped to perpetuate anti-heretical violence. This article examines late medieval refugees by looking at two case studies involving individuals who left their home towns during the period of intensified persecutions of German Waldensians in the 1390s. Their itineraries demonstrate that Waldensian followers knew of the heretical communities in other cities and reveal the effect the refugees had on their host communities. Waldensian refugees contributed to destabilising local communities or attracting inquisitorial attention, which stoked religious violence and caused further waves of displacement.
Journal of Medieval History, 2022
Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long di... more Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long discussed the mobility and initiative of prosecutors – episcopal or mendicant inquisitors – as one of the main factors behind the intensification of anti-heretical activity during the 1390s and the early years of the fifteenth century. However, the mobility of heretical refugees produced by these inquisitions also constituted an important factor that helped to perpetuate anti-heretical violence. This article examines late medieval refugees by looking at two case studies involving individuals who left their home towns during the period of intensified persecutions of German Waldensians in the 1390s. Their itineraries demonstrate that Waldensian followers knew of the heretical communities in other cities and reveal the effect the refugees had on their host communities. Waldensian refugees contributed to destabilising local communities or attracting inquisitorial attention, which stoked religious violence and caused further waves of displacement.
The Public Medievalist, 2021
A look at the uses and abuses of medieval past in contemporary Russia
EuropeNow, 2020
Part of "Teaching Medieval in Modern Plague Times" roundtable (edited by Esther Cuenca).
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2013
Books by Eugene Smelyansky
Arc Humanities Press, 2024
This new monograph devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has b... more This new monograph devoted to a detailed exploration of the ways in which the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia.
From politicians’ speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided—and continue to provide—a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments.
This study explores persuasive—and pervasive—recourse to tropes concerned with the Middle Ages in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia, seeking to explain why an often romanticized medieval past remains potent in Russian politics, society, and culture today.
Routledge, 2020
Heresy and Citizenship examines the anti-heretical campaigns in late-medieval Augsburg, Rothenbur... more Heresy and Citizenship examines the anti-heretical campaigns in late-medieval Augsburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Strasbourg, and other cities. By focusing on the unprecedented period of persecution between 1390 and 1404, this study demonstrates how heretical presence in cities was exploited in ecclesiastical, political, and social conflicts between the cities and their external rivals, and between urban elites.
These anti-heretical campaigns targeted Waldensians who believed in lay preaching and simplified forms of Christian worship. Groups of individuals identified as Waldensians underwent public penance, execution, or expulsion. In each case, the course and outcome of inquisitions reveal tensions between institutions within each city, most often between city councils and local bishops or archbishops. In such cases, competing sides used the persecution of heresy to assert their authority over others. As a result, persecution of urban Waldensians acquired meaning beyond mere correction of religious error.
By placing the anti-heretical campaigns of this period in their socio-political and religious context, Heresy and Citizenship also engages with studies of social and political conflict in late medieval towns. It examines the role the exclusion of religiously and socially deviant groups played in the development of urban governments, and the rise of ideologies of good citizenship and the common good. It will be of interest to scholars and students interested in medieval urban and religious history, and the history of heresy and its persecution.
University of Toronto Press, 2020
The Intolerant Middle Ages is a collection of primary sources on the history of persecution. Th... more The Intolerant Middle Ages is a collection of primary sources on the history of persecution. The goal of the book is to highlight instances of persecution and violence, as well as those relatively rare but significant episodes of toleration, toward an intentionally broad spectrum of people who existed at the margins of medieval society: heretics, Jews and Muslims, the poor, the displaced and disabled, women, and those deemed sexually deviant. The volume also presents a more geographically diverse Middle Ages by including sources from Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean.
Sources are organized in thematic chapters, covering everything from "Heresy and Inquisition" to "Disease and Disability." Each document is preceded by a brief introduction and followed by questions for discussion, making The Intolerant Middle Ages an excellent entrance into the lives and struggles of minorities in the medieval world.
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Papers by Eugene Smelyansky
Books by Eugene Smelyansky
From politicians’ speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided—and continue to provide—a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments.
This study explores persuasive—and pervasive—recourse to tropes concerned with the Middle Ages in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia, seeking to explain why an often romanticized medieval past remains potent in Russian politics, society, and culture today.
These anti-heretical campaigns targeted Waldensians who believed in lay preaching and simplified forms of Christian worship. Groups of individuals identified as Waldensians underwent public penance, execution, or expulsion. In each case, the course and outcome of inquisitions reveal tensions between institutions within each city, most often between city councils and local bishops or archbishops. In such cases, competing sides used the persecution of heresy to assert their authority over others. As a result, persecution of urban Waldensians acquired meaning beyond mere correction of religious error.
By placing the anti-heretical campaigns of this period in their socio-political and religious context, Heresy and Citizenship also engages with studies of social and political conflict in late medieval towns. It examines the role the exclusion of religiously and socially deviant groups played in the development of urban governments, and the rise of ideologies of good citizenship and the common good. It will be of interest to scholars and students interested in medieval urban and religious history, and the history of heresy and its persecution.
Sources are organized in thematic chapters, covering everything from "Heresy and Inquisition" to "Disease and Disability." Each document is preceded by a brief introduction and followed by questions for discussion, making The Intolerant Middle Ages an excellent entrance into the lives and struggles of minorities in the medieval world.
From politicians’ speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided—and continue to provide—a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments.
This study explores persuasive—and pervasive—recourse to tropes concerned with the Middle Ages in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia, seeking to explain why an often romanticized medieval past remains potent in Russian politics, society, and culture today.
These anti-heretical campaigns targeted Waldensians who believed in lay preaching and simplified forms of Christian worship. Groups of individuals identified as Waldensians underwent public penance, execution, or expulsion. In each case, the course and outcome of inquisitions reveal tensions between institutions within each city, most often between city councils and local bishops or archbishops. In such cases, competing sides used the persecution of heresy to assert their authority over others. As a result, persecution of urban Waldensians acquired meaning beyond mere correction of religious error.
By placing the anti-heretical campaigns of this period in their socio-political and religious context, Heresy and Citizenship also engages with studies of social and political conflict in late medieval towns. It examines the role the exclusion of religiously and socially deviant groups played in the development of urban governments, and the rise of ideologies of good citizenship and the common good. It will be of interest to scholars and students interested in medieval urban and religious history, and the history of heresy and its persecution.
Sources are organized in thematic chapters, covering everything from "Heresy and Inquisition" to "Disease and Disability." Each document is preceded by a brief introduction and followed by questions for discussion, making The Intolerant Middle Ages an excellent entrance into the lives and struggles of minorities in the medieval world.