Medieval Academy of America

Secular Medieval Architecture in the Balkans, 1300-1500, and Its Preservation by Slobodan uri; Evangelia Hadjitryphonos Review by: Robert Ousterhout Speculum, Vol. 77, No. 3 (Jul., 2002), pp. 902-905 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3301140 . Accessed: 28/03/2013 12:47
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a wave to Cohn, however, or nonpayment of taxes. According and took theformof flight communities bordering Modena, Bologna, of "tax revolts"soon followedin themountain are silentabout these Imola, Arezzo, and Siena. He acknowledgesthat the chroniclers among thefollowers "revolts,"whichleave theirtracesin theiraccountsonlyas rivalries feudallordssuchas theUbalor as revolts involving and thePanciatichi of the Cancellieri recordby claimingthatthe dini. Cohn explains thiscurious absence fromthe historical This visionmade it history." visionof Florentine chronicles partook of the "triumphalist have anyevents thatmight family memoirs, even in their impossible forthemto recognize, expansion. contradicted the seemingly inexorablemarchof Florentine Cohn looks forevidenceof tax revoltsin the judicial records.He Not to be deterred, of protest withtheoutbreak in 1401 we see a changein thecharacter arguesthatstarting in thesurrounding in Pistoia,whichsoon expandedto themountains of factional conflict in theFlorentine Alps and PodereFiorenregion.This was followedin 1402 by uprisings upheavals and violencetook place is not in followed.That military tino; otheruprisings conflicts among doubt.Whether these,however, were "tax revolts"as opposed to factional or theuprising of old feudalfamilies againsttheFlorentine clans and their followers family stateis not clear,at least to thisreader. reactionto theseupThe author is on firmer groundwhen he analyzesthe legislative especiallythosein themounof manycommunities, heavals and to the growinginability century saw the Flortains,to meettheirtax obligations.The earlyyearsof the fifteenth those especially grantnumeroustax concessionsto ruralcommunities, entinegovernment and townsand villages, thoseimpoverished in themountains. Unable to collecttaxes from wipedout largeportions border areas,Florence realizing thatthesewerelocatedin sensitive of old debtsand renegotiated obligations.The authorpointsout thathavingruled future a large territorial stateformore thanhalfa century, Florencelearnedfromits own expeit could not gain of the countryside, to squeeze the inhabitants riencethatby continuing the financial fiscalpolicywould createconditions resourcesit needed. A more successful In theend,thiswould enrich and encourageeconomicactivity. thatwould slow emigration a This represented more than the previouspolicy of fiscalextraction. Florentine coffers The mentality and in theirsenseof stateformation. major turning point in theFlorentine lesson well, and Samuel Cohn, in this Florentines learned this important sophisticated mountain provocativebook, pointsout thatit was the humblepeasantsof theFlorentine communities who helpedteach it to them.

C. BROWN,WesleyanUniversity JUDITH
SLOBODAN CURCIC and EVANGELIA HADJITRYPHONOS,eds.,SecularMedievalArchitecture

in theBalkans, 1300-1500, and Its Preservation. Thessaloniki: AIMOS (Society forthe Studyof theMedievalArchitecture in theBalkansand Its Preservation), 1997. Paper.Pp. 368; black-and-white and color figures and black-and-white and color maps and plans.

Prepared as the catalogue fora photographic exhibition held in Thessalonikiin 1997 in conjunction withthe "CulturalCapital of Europe" celebrations, thevolumeunderreview farexceeds its originalpurpose. Representing the first systematic to examinethe attempt heterogeneous architectural heritageof the Balkan Peninsula,the exhibitand catalogue address not the religiousarchitecture, as is the normal focus of medievalarchitectural studies,but the surviving-and, indeed,the survivalof the-secular architecture. With catalogueentries written by morethansixty authors, thebook brings together ninety-four monuments, including urbanentities, townfortifications, fortresses, citadelsand forts, towers,palaces and houses,publicbuildings, publicbaths,bridges, watersupply, and industrial buildings. These are introduced bytwo generalessayswritten bytheeditors, on thesubject

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The cataloguecon(Hadjitryphonos). (Curcic)and itspreservation history of architectural organizedby locationand monument. cludes witha useful"SelectBibliography," The as thiscannot be overestimated. by such an undertaking presented The difficulties balkanized: quite literally has been century last of the course in the history Balkan of study ethnic,and religiousdivisionsof the peninsulahave resultedin the develthe linguistic, in a in which the past has been presented traditions, opmentof separatehistoriographic manner.RobertKaplan once notedthatthe and oftencompetitive fragmentary, selective, to include expandsitsown territory ideal map oftheBalkansdrawnbyeach politicalentity of itspower.Thus an ideal BulgariaincludesbothOhrid at theheight whatwas controlled and partof thenorthAegean; an ideal Macedonia includesbothSkopje and Thessaloniki and would neverbe knownas "F.Y.R.O.M." (as it is here); and an ideal Yugoslavia still includesCroatia, Slovenia,Bosnia, and all the rest.Of course,the OttomanEmpireonce peninsula. envelopedtheentire as complicated, During the late Middle Ages the divisionof the Balkans was similarly and the point is in an Age of Uncertainty," essay, "Architecture Curcic notes in the first emphasizedby a good set of maps on page 70. In thecourse of the two centuries further dramaticchanges,to say the least. underwent the geopoliticalsituation underdiscussion, in 1261 -the ByzBy 1300-following theend of theLatinoccupationof Constantinople antine Empire had regainedcontrolof most of the southernportion of the peninsula, colonies trading althoughthe Latinsstillheld partsof Greece,and Venicehad established withthe kingdomof along thecoast; Serbia,Bulgaria,and a tinyBosnia lay to thenorth, north.By 1350 Bosnia had expanded into Serbianand HungarianterriHungaryfarther Hungarianlands; at in former and Wallachia appeared as a separatepoliticalentity tory, Byzantine the same time,Serbia pushed southward,takingover much of the formerly had changed reduced.By 1400 the situation Empireseverely withthe Byzantine territory, conquestsof the Ottomansacross withthearrivaland rapid territorial almostcompletely at theexpenseof Bulgariaand largepartsof Byzantium halfof thepeninsula, thesouthern colonies,theentire and Serbia. By 1500, withtheexceptionof a ringof Venetiantrading peninsulahad becomepartof the OttomanEmpire. is also complex.One can detect terms means in architectural What thistransformation and the Ottoman inputfromItaly,Byzantium, intensities at varioustimesand in varying changesin techConcurrent developments. architectural withindigenous Empireblending and cannons in warfare-and therevivalof nology-such as theadoption of gunpowder traditional as Ciurci emphasizes, across the board. Ultimately, architecture citiesaffected of boundaries.Identicaltypes becomeas elusiveas thegeographical classifications stylistic on as thefinesequenceof photographs appear in disparateregionsand contexts, masonry "Renaissance" elements round and pointedarchesare used together; page 35 illustrates; Dubrovnik in (p. 43); similar appear beneath"Gothic" details,as in the mayoralpalace stylistic with differing but the peninsula, throughout facades and appear towers of types that as well as a workforce of mobilesocieties, interactions details;and so on. The cultural to the contributed certainly and heterogeneous, at timesmust have been both itinerant text,I mustobject to beingquoted out of exemplary mix. (In the otherwise architectural werenor"workshops thatConstantinopolitan contextin note 10, page 25. My statement followedbya significant locationand did nottravel"was originally mallytiedto a specific cenof thelaterfourteenth not quoted: "But thepoliticaland economicturmoil qualifier, far so not are We to seek pastures." of masons greener may have inducedworkshops tury In sum,Curcicprovidesa thoughtas thefootnote suggest.) might apartin our assessment elsewhere. unaddressed overviewof a subjectvirtually and authoritative provoking oftheArchitectural on thePreservation "Some Reflections The essaybyHadjitryphonos, It atHeritageof a CriticalHistoricalPeriod in the Balkans," is perhapsless successful. in the issues associated with historicpreservation temptsto theorizeand problematize

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reference heterogeneous societies.One might find thetopiccomplicated to enoughwithout Foucault,Derrida,Heidegger, thediscussion Freud,and linguistic theory; moreover, might have been clarified with less theoryand more examples. Still,as a restoration architect, Hadjitryphonos writesfromtheheart,as she questionshow current assessment programs deal withmonuments ofmixedheritage, whichoften standas witness to pastconflicts, and is oftendetermined how selectionforpreservation thusfavoring by "artistic"merit, religious buildings over secularones. Bothauthorsare concerned withthepoliticsofdestruction, thediscontinuities ofhistory, then and now, and the difficulties of addressingthese issues withoutpoliticizing them. thatthe discussionof damage and destruction, suggests "as a subjectreHadjitryphonos lated by its verynatureto the notionof loss, and therefore of death,became taboo" (p. 59). Curcic,on the otherhand, pointsout how theemphasison fortification architecture reflects "certaindark realities"of the period (p. 42), as do thedisappearanceof so many of the secular buildingsfromthisperiod. The transformation of urbancenters underthe Ottomanseffectively eliminated most tracesof theirmedievalor Byzantine predecessors, and thisfactsitsuncomfortably; as Ciurcic writes:"The nagging questionremains-could any of the pre-existing have been reused,and because theywere not,whynot? buildings In fact,the completeeradicationof older urbanfabricpresumes morethana desirefora better builtenvironment. Nor are thehypotheses about thepoor stateofpreservation, poor use of ephemeralmaterials, construction, etc., fully convincing"(p. 45). Here he may be the level of discontinuity-I personallyam not fullyunconvinced overstating of the hypothesesjust mentioned, but thisis clearlya problemthatdemandsfurther study. The catalogue assemblesa wealth of fascinating and usefuldocumentation, often with photographs and architectural in color.In thefinal drawings reproduced analysis, however, the catalogue is something of a mixed grill,withthe emphasisdiffering fromone author to thenext.The entries on theurbanentities of Kotor,Hvar, and Trogir, forexample,are elegantly written, of the local history masterly summaries and monuments, yettheyare poorlyillustrated, lackingboth siteplans and architectural At the oppositeexdrawings. the entry on the town fortification treme, of Platamonasdoes little to clarify its layoutor and the detaileddrawingsof its octagonal towerare not discussed.The text chronology, on the fortress of Chlemousioffers a veryshorthistory and a verylong discussionof the CAD programused in the surveyof it, illustrated by twice as manycomputer-generated drawingsas photographs. Most entries includea discussionof preservation efforts at the siteand the stateof current research. Many entries successfully balance authoritative text withgood visual documentation, as, forexample,the uniformly good entries on towers. In theentries on palaces, it is at first disconcerting but ultimately rewarding to look at the Byzantine TekfurSaray and the Ottoman(;inili Ko6k side by side. The same goes forthe Byzantine and Ottoman baths of Thessaloniki, presented herewithexemplary documentation.Indeed,bringing thematerial together in thisway raisesimportant questionsabout in thearchitecture-suchas therelationship continuities betweenByzantine and Ottoman palace decorationor bath types-and providestheimpetus to pursuethesubjectsfurther than thecontextof thecatalogue allows. All told, Secular Medieval Architecture in theBalkans chartsimportant new directions forthestudy ofmedievalarchitecture, withitssignificance extending farbeyondtheBalkan Peninsula.Although someoftheinformation presented herehas beenpreviously published, much of it has been inaccessibleto those unable to read Albanian,Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian,Turkish,Greek,or Romanian.To coordinatethe scholarsacross theBalkans,and to bringsuch a wealth of information together in a well-organized and well-synthesized volume,is a magisterial achievement, and we owe the authorsand editorsan enormous debt of gratitude. To do so in the current lingua francaincreasesthe accessibility of so muchnew material; an English-language editorcould have improved severalofthepresen-

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tations,butthisis a minorquibble. Certainly thiswill not be thelast word on thesubject, but it is an impressive beginning and will be a fundamental resourceon the subjectfor yearsto come.
ROBERT OUSTERHOUT,

of Illinois University

ANNE CURRY

and ELIZABETH MATTHEW, eds., Conceptsand Patternsof Servicein the N.Y.: Eng.,and Rochester, Century, 1.) Woodbridge, Later Middle Ages. (The Fifteenth figures. $75. 2000. Pp. xxiii, 195; 6 black-and-white Boydelland Brewer,

collectionof essaysby Curryand Matthewhave herecompiledan informative Professors concerned period.These nineessays,ostensibly severalnotedscholarsof thelate-medieval prewereoriginally idea and practiceof service, and fifteenth-century withthefourteenth1998. Theyarelooselyconnected in September ofReadingconference sentedat a University emphasizein thevolume'sintroduction, which,theeditors themeof service, bythecentral Europeansin farmorediverseways thanthetraditional was understood by late-medieval Quoting Rosearticulated. on "bastard feudalism"has hitherto modernhistoriography ethicof the middleages" (p. xi), the was "the dominant maryHorrox's view thatservice years,must in recent attention the subjectof muchscholarly editorsinsistthatpatronage, in relationto thevassal, client,and clericalservice not be studiedin isolationbut,rather, that patronagerewarded.Curryand Matthewexplain how the term"service"was variupon thefeudal periodnot onlyto denoteattendance ouslyemployedin thelate-medieval forGod, parents, lord and his host but also to describea wide arrayof dutiesperformed and evenlovers.The authorofthefirst customers, sovereigns, spouses,patrons, employers, entitled"What Was a thispoint in his contribution, essay,P. J. P. Goldberg,reinforces variety"of ways and was understood"in a bewildering Servant?"He arguesthatservice invitesreadersto "achieve a more subtle and nuanced picture" (p. 2) of late-medieval varioussocial suchas "ancilla" and "famulus"intheir service theuse ofterms byexploring contexts. articlesgo on to address start,most of the remaining Followingthisratherpromising servicein some manneror other,thougha the book's advertised focus on late-medieval in England includeChrisGiven-Wilson's pieceon labor statutes fewdo not.The exceptions on peasantsand exploreslegal restrictions mostly theBlack Death. This offering following laws of "national" labor and vagrancy versions laborersand arguesthatEngland'searliest and meticulously researched, theessay is stimulating fromthisperiod.Although emerged ofservice." "conceptsand patterns itseemsout ofplace in a volumededicatedto unpacking Likewise,David Morgan's essay on the householdof King HenryV is more a treatment of that ethos by English of the martial "ethos" of Henry's court,and the recollection service. Ralph in thefollowing thanit is an analysisof fifteenth-century reign, chroniclers controlof window on plans to establishprovincial Griffiths similarly opens an intriguing of 1470-71, buthe does noteffectively restoration Lancastrian thebrief Englandfollowing linkthisdiscussionto themain themeof the book. do indeedgrapplewith the othercontributors Those threeanomaliesnotwithstanding, and of methodological servicefroma remarkable variety diverseformsof late-medieval VirginiaDavis examinesthe formsof patronagethat career documentary perspectives. and makes livelihoodas secularpriests long-term clericsin Englandsoughtto ensuretheir liststo shed lighton thisissue. In a relatedarticle ordination effective use of ecclesiastical graduatesin late-meby university Catto exploresthe myriadservicesperformed Jeremy dieval England-especially those with doctoratesfromthe "higherfaculties"of Oxas legal consulcrown,patrons,and even payingcustomers bridge-who servedchurch, Three finalessays take the readeraway from and certifying physicians. tants,preachers,

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