Medieval Melnik from the end of the 12th to the 14th century

Elena Kostova's Medieval Melnik from the End of the 12th to the End of the 14th Century: The Historical Vicissitudes of a Small Balkan Town makes available to the English-speaking scholars one of the very few comprehensive studies of medieval Balkan urban settlements. Using exhaustively the written sources of the period, Kostova integrates information from topography, archaeology, art history, and architecture as well as sheds light on the evolution of Melnik, a small but strategically located urban center in the south-central Balkans during the High and Late Middle Ages. The gist of the account is political history, a dramatic story of the incessant struggle between the three local political heavyweights, Bulgaria, Byzantium, and Serbia, and a series of local magnates, for controlling the town. The approach is dictated by the nature of the available evidence, but the scarce sources permit glimpses into Melniks economic, ethnic, and ecclesiastical evolution as well. Although strictly local in scope, the study highlights the characteristics of a typical urban center in the Balkans, and permits comparisons with similar settlements in Byzantium, Catholic Europe, and the Middle East.

Author: Elena Kostova
American research Center in Sofia, 2013
Price: 20 lv.