The article deals with the evolution of relationship between the towns of Netherlands (mainly Flanders) during the XIV – middle XV centuries. The research of great town revolts shows gradual decrease of mutual support in the case of political crisis that could be caused by the increased power of the "central government" along with the rising number of economical and political contradictions which always existed between towns and regions of the Low Countries.
Article deals with the struggle for the County of Flanders between England and France in the second half of the XIV century. It concerns with the changes in their tactic: England and France stopped the warfare for a short period of time and used the means of diplomacy to gain Flanders instead. Members of the Plantagenet (Edmund Langley) and the Valois (Philip the Bold duke of Burgundy) dynasties in their matrimonial policy tried to seek the hand of the heiress of Flanders – Marguerite of Males.
The article examines the phenomenon of urban land tenure in a small English medieval town, based on the material of the Rental of 1532/33. The different aspects are being analyzed: its structure, rent, holders and tenants.
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal = Science journal of Volgograd State University. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija = History. Area studies. International relations, Heft 6, S. 320-328
Introduction. Many cultures consider the first day of the new year a holiday which supposes the performance of specific rituals and rites. The traditions of New Year celebrations reflect the nature of this or that civilization, its historical experience, and religious and world-viewing constants. The said is to the full extent actual for the Byzantine civilization. The purpose of the work is to reconstruct the general scenario of official celebrations, to trace its evolution, and to analyse the folk tradition related to it. Methods and materials. The main sources of the given research are liturgical books, treatises on ceremonies, and epistolography. Analysis. In Byzantium, the New Year was celebrated on September 1 at different levels: church, state, and public. Despite its origin from the laity, the Byzantines viewed this holiday primarily as religious as it opened both the new year cycle and the church calendar. By the tenth century, there developed the order of service (akolouthia) for the first day of the new year. The patriarch served special liturgies in St Sophia's Church and performed a crucession. The emperor was not allowed to participate in the church rituals. In Late Byzantium, the climax of the New Year ritual was the public prayer made in the imperial capital, in the Forum of Constantine, in the presence of the emperor. The ceremonial protocol documented that the ruler must participate in the New Year service. The ordinary people of Byzantium widely celebrated this holiday, spending this day in going to church, paying visits, and exchanging greetings. Conclusions. The enlarging of the programme of palatial ceremonies with the emperor's appearance in the New Year celebration shows, from the one hand, the strengthening of the secular component of the holiday and, on the other hand, the trend to sacralization of the palatial life. The comparison of the scenario of the New Year celebration that existed in the Age of the Palaiologoi with the official holiday on such a case in the pre-Petrine Russia shows an important Byzantine influence on Russian culture of celebration and church policy.
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal = Science journal of Volgograd State University. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija = History. Area studies. International relations, Heft 6, S. 329-350
The representations about old age, displayed in Byzantine acts, are revealed in a slightly defined form. However, this problem constantly attracts the attention of Byzantinists. The fundamental interest is adverted to status of the so-called "elders". Their position is studied in the inextricable connection between age, ethical and social motives of social activity and involvement of the "elders" in the government system, especially rural self-government. In this regard the social role of the "elders" seems to be especially significant. All references to them are characterized in the light of the estate belonging of the "elders" to monasticism and village habitants. The formation of the landlord's estate and the strengthening of the feudal dependence of the peasantry conditioned the emergence of the seniormen, represented by so-called "protoelders", as apparatus of the control over the paroikoi population of the seigniorial estate. The further perspective of the subsequent studying the "elders" consists in demonstration of the general development of their social activity. The content of the problems of the studied topic is represented in the sections of the article "Introduction", "The age and the socio-cultural significance of the old age", "The elders in the system of the rural management", "The protoelders" and "Conclusions".
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal = Science journal of Volgograd State University. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija = History. Area studies. International relations, Heft 1, S. 152-161
Introduction. The article is devoted to the identification and analysis of political and legal problems that arose during the formation on the territory of the USSR and the combat use of Czechoslovak military units in the Great Patriotic War. Methods and materials. The methodological basis of the research presented in the article is the principles of scientific objectivity and historicism, as well as general and special methods typical of historical studies. The source base of the research includes both published and unpublished documents found by the author in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Analysis. The Czechoslovak formations were part of the Czechoslovak armed forces and were subordinate to the emigrant government, and in operational and military-technical matters were under the Soviet supreme command. However, the presence of several actors (the Czechoslovak government in exile, the leadership of the USSR, the command of Czechoslovak units and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia) led to a number of political and legal conflicts in this process. Firstly, the intention of the emigrant government to save military forces (in fact, supported in some way by the leadership of the USSR) was in conflict with the plans of the KSČ leadership and the commander of the Czechoslovak units, Svoboda L., who advocated maximum possible participation of Czechoslovaks in combat operations on the territory of the Soviet Union. Secondly, the Soviet side sought to put the Czechoslovak formations under its control. The third manifestation of the contradictions was "the case of the Army of A. Hasal" (autumn 1944), with which the problem of belonging to Transcarpathia was closely intertwined. Results. Despite the existence of a number of political and legal conflicts, they did not become an obstacle to the creation and combat use of Czechoslovak military formations on the Soviet-German front. In addition, the Soviet-Czechoslovak relations themselves developed quite constructively during the Great Patriotic War.
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal = Science journal of Volgograd State University. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija = History. Area studies. International relations, Heft 6, S. 310-338
The problem of reception of the concept "res publica" is complex and multifaceted. It has been thoroughly studied in relation to the period of the Middle Ages. The task of the author is to demonstrate, that the possibilities of applying the information approach in the field of cognitive surveying to reveal the content of receptions and Latin-Greek transliterations of the concept "res publica" with the help of the Expert System "Byzantine Law and Acts". The comparisons of Greek translations and compilations with their Latin prototypes of Byzantine law prove: their compilations did not necessarily follow their prototypes in conveying the notion of "res publica". It, as a rule, was replaced by other Greek concepts and word-combinations. For them, as well as their Latin prototypes, a certain semantic ambiguity is evident. Accordingly, the medieval Byzantine jurists felt the need to use the direct reception of the Latin concept "res publica", in particular "rei publicae causa". It served as the subject of attention and professional lawyers used this concept to interpret and explain the content of the sources of medieval Byzantine law. Noticeable discrepancies in the recording forms of the identified receptions and Greek transliterations of the concept "res publica" are probably due to individual characteristics of Medieval Byzantine lawyers and their professional qualifications. The direct borrowings of the concept "res publica causa" or its transliterations, revealed in medieval Byzantine law monuments, were purely terminological in most cases. It, if it is admissible, may be considered as a kind of cultural phenomenon. The article includes the parts: Introduction, The Receptions and Transliterations, Theophili Antecessoris "Paraphrasis Institutionum", "Librorum Basilicorum LX", Scholia in "Librorum Basilicorum LX", Other Compilations, Conclusions, as well as too additions: Appendix 1. Direct Receptions and Transliterations of the Concept "Res Publica" and Terminology Ascending to It and Appendix 2. Distribution of Receptions and Transliterations of the Concept "Rei Publicae causa".
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal = Science journal of Volgograd State University. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija = History. Area studies. International relations, Heft 6, S. 357-367
In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal. Serija 4, Istorija, regionovedenie, meždunarodnye otnošenija, Band 26, Heft 3, S. 84-94
Introduction. In the 1960s, the formation of a consumer society began in the USSR. At the same time, the differences in living standard and quality of life between the segments of the population became more and more noticeable. These phenomena were in conflict with the Soviet ideology – the basis of the political system of the USSR. However, the problem of the consumer society formation in the USSR and the associated challenges to the Soviet system have not yet been sufficiently studied in historiography. Methods and materials. The methodological background of the research is based on the principles of scientific objectivity and historicism, as well as the general scientific and special methods typical for historical research. The research base includes both published and unpublished documents found by the author in the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the Central State Archive of the City of Moscow. Analysis. The Soviet power tried to respond to the challenges of consumer society within the framework of the new political and ideological concept of Developed Socialism. One of the tasks of the country's development at this stage was declared to be the achievement of a high standard of living in the country, as well as the widespread introduction of a system of material incentives. This policy has had a certain effect. However, the previous challenges for the Soviet system remained, and new problems arose. The wage growth outstripped the growth of labor productivity, and the commodity deficit became one of the main reasons for the decline in the effectiveness of the material incentive system. To solve the problems listed above, the authorities introduced innovations in policy: reducing the rate of income growth and the population's desire to consume, increasing the role of moral incentives, fighting surplus money, and pursuing people for non-labor income. These innovations were in conflict with the policy aimed at increasing the welfare of the population. Results. Thus, the response of Soviet ideology to the challenges of the consumer society was to implement mutually exclusive measures. First, the authorities, while officially promoting a policy of increasing living standards, in practice sought to limit the growth of consumption. Second, material incentives to work and the rejection of equalization were introduced simultaneously with the censure of enrichment. In addition, the authorities failed to eradicate the negative manifestations of the consumer society for the Soviet ideology. In general, the inability of Soviet ideology to provide an adequate response to the challenges of consumer society was one of the manifestations of the ideological impasse in which the country was during the period under review. Problems related to the standard of living of the population became one of the time mines that undermined the Soviet system and led to its collapse.
This work is dedicated to the comparison of textual variants of the life of St. Pancratius of Taormina represented in manuscripts of the 10 th and 11 th centuries. The presumable full corpus of Pancratius story is told in thirteen Greek manuscripts that have been currently uncovered. One of them, the 11 th century AD manuscript, written in Koine Greek, is currently being reposited in State Historical Museum in Moscow under cipher GIM Vlad. 381 (Sin. gr. 15). In this paper the manuscript Sin. gr. 15 is analyzed from codicological and paleographic perspectives; it is also compared to the manuscripts of the first edition. The purpose of the study includes a comparative analysis, namely through reading, studying and translation of excerpts from the lives in Greek language into modern Russian. The comparison between the first edition and the unpublished second edition of the life of St. Pancratius points to significant textual differences, both compositional and linguistic. The composition of the first edition is more extensive, while the second one is shortened and stylistically improved as a result of literary processing, as compared to the first version. Thus, the aforementioned conclusion confirms the hypothesis that the two editions appeared at different historical periods and in different intellectual circles.