RCH „Lendület” Medieval Hungarian Economic History Research Team led by Boglárka Weisz will receive priority support in the „Momentum” Program of the Hungarian Academy Sciences from July 2015 to June 2020. The Driving Forces of the Hungarian Economy in the Centuries of the Middle Ages Program conducts an interdisciplinary research of the factors that influence the way the economy of Hungary operates and changes throughout and beyond the Middle Ages, as from an economic historian’s point of view, 1526 cannot be considered an end of an era and a beginning of a new one. The historical periods (i.e. the beginning and the end of a certain era) assigned to the fields and subfields of the Lendület research program vary according to the internal logic of the individual topics. The Hungarian Kingdom was one of the most important passive and active operators of the economy. Therefore, one of the main aims of this research team is to investigate this role. Towns had a key role in every area of the economy of the Kingdom of Hungary. The economic policies of individual towns didn’t only have an effect on the kingdom: they also connected the Hungarian Kingdom to the economic circulation of medieval Europe. Therefore, the commercial activities of the towns constitute the second big branch of the research. The research team will investigate the royal revenues, the coinage and the leading institutions of the financial administration; the review of the decrees made by the rulers that are relevant to the economy will also be a concern of the research team. The towns’ commercial activities can be studied on three levels: the administrative, infrastructural and entrepreneurial levels. The team will investigate all three levels in the course of research.

The research team consists of 11 members with the team leader: Draskóczy István DSc (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Medieval and Early Modern History); Kolláth Ágnes (Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Kovács Viktória (University of Szeged, Faculty of Humanities, Doctoral School of History); Körmendi Tamás PhD (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Auxiliary Sciences of History); Lővei Pál DSc (Institute for Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Mordovin Maxim PhD (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Humanities, Institute of Archaeology); Neumann Tibor PhD (Institute of History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Péterfi Bence (Institute of History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Skorka Renáta PhD (Institute of History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Tóth Csaba PhD (Hungarian National Museum).

For more information about the work of the research team and possibility of the cooperation with it contact the leader, Boglárka Weisz: