Our institute was represented by Dániel Bácsatyai, Benjámin Borbás and Bence Péterfi at the fifth biennial conference of the Medieval Central Europe Research Network (MECERN), a three-day scientific gathering of medieval researchers from the Central European region, held this time at Comenius University in Bratislava (27-29 April 2023).
In the panel about the transformation of the region in the 11th century, Dániel Bácsatyai presented the economic foundations of the early Árpád era and itinerant courts of rulers through new observations on the relatively well-documented, but still uncertain function of the servant population, the companions.
In the section on holy war, Benjamin Borbás presented the fate of prisoners of war and plundered objects captured during the Holy Land Crusades by analysing the urban triumphal marches, highlighting how the victorious side used these war trophies to serve their own political, military and economic interests.
Bence Péterfi talked about the Austro-Hungarian War of 1479, examining the extent to which the local population resisted the Hungarian royal troops occupying Habsburg territories, the ways in which they fought for (locally valid) peace truces, and the reasons why others began to cooperate with the Hungarian invaders.
