Jiří Sláma (1934–2020). Science, Love, Faith

Table of contents

• Bibliography of Prof. Jiří Sláma for the years 2004–2024 – Compiled by Lada Šlesingerová
• Karel Nováček: East Syrian monasteries in Iraq as a settlement form
• Soňa Dvořáčková: Bohemia as the Cradle of Croats? Dalmatia and Its Early Medieval Transformation
• Naďa Profantová: Bronze fittings depicting the human face from Nový Bydžov in the context of similar depictions in the Central Europe
• Drahomíra Frolíková-Kaliszová: The issue of manors in the Great Moravia at the beginnings of the Bohemian state to the middle of the 10th century
• Pavla Tomanová: The Significance and Hierarchy of the Early Medieval Churches at Budeč
• Pavel Bolina: What tithes did Bishop Vojtěch transfer to the Břevnov monastery in the privilege of Pope John XV from year 993?
• Jakub Izdný: Was the Legend of Kristian Written in the 12th Century? On the Controversy Surrounding the Age of the Legend
• Dana Zapletalová: A New Look at the Age of the Legend of Kristian and the Cult of St Ludmila
• Luboš Polanský, Jan Mařík: 10th and 11th Century Coins and Weights Found in Libice and Its Hinterland
• Jan Frolík, Jiří Militký, Jan Musil, Michaela Sedláčková: The Kočí III Site (Chrudim District) as an Example of Scattered Settlement in the Hillfort Period
• Jan Podhorský: Coin Finds from the Medieval Cemetery in Nesvětice (until 2020)
• Martin Pták, Tomáš Hiltscher, Jaroslav Jiřík, Rastislav Korený: Denarius Hoard from the Řeteč Camp in the Písek District
• Milena Bravermanová, Helena Březinová, Jana Bureš Víchová: Textiles from the Grave of Prague Bishop Cosmas († 1098)
• Jana Bezáková, Jan Turek: Zbečno. A Medieval cemetery with finds of coins
• Pavel Vojtíšek: Still unregistered mint mark of Olomouc mint
• Karel Sklenář: The oldest plan of the hillfort Příkopy near Kdyně (Domažlice district)
• Roman Křivánek: Geophysical surveys of early medieval fortifications and the influence of modern changes in the use of their landscape
• Lucie Janus Hlavičková, Jana Michalčáková, Lukáš Kučera, Karel Lemr, Antonín Černoch, Jindřich Švihel: Research of the Preserved Panel Paintings from the Historical Form of the Olomouc Astronomical Clock
• Miroslav Popelka: Sbohem, pane profesore!

East Syrian monasteries in Iraq as a settlement form

Karel Nováček

Despite the impressive development and apparent importance of monastic settlement in Iraq during the late Sasanian period and in the first centuries of Islam, the knowledge of East Syrian monasteries as a settlement form remains dependent on textual sources, which were understandably only marginally interested in this aspect. Thus, the monastery is still seen in the literature exclusively as an institution, not as an important component of the late Antique cultural landscape. This study summarizes the historical clues and, above all, the archaeological state of art of the monastic sites of the Church of the East in the territory of Iraq and Gulf, and attempts to define some general features that may help in the identification of other sites, especially rural monasteries, since the urban monastic houses remains as yet completely understudied.

Bohemia as the Cradle of Croats? Dalmatia and Its Early Medieval Transformation

Soňa Dvořáčková

The transformation of early medieval Dalmatia and its ethnic composition in the 7th–9th century remains a hotly debated topic without a satisfying conclusion to date. When investigating the early medieval history of the Dalmatian area, Croatian researchers rely mainly on Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus’s work De Administrando Imperio. The interest of these scholars is focused mainly on the question of when the Croats arrived in Dalmatia. Some interpretations date their arrival to the beginning of the 7th century, while other researchers claim that the Croats came to the Adriatic only at the end of the 8th century. Archaeology thus far has little to offer in the way of settling this dispute, with archaeologists lacking a sufficient amount of their own data on which to build a chronology, forcing them to rely on information from written sources. To this day, it is not entirely clear when and from where the Croats arrived in the Balkans, nor who is actually buried in the 7th-century cemeteries.

Bronze fittings depicting the human face from Nový Bydžov in the context of similar depictions in the Central Europe

Naďa Profantová

Novy Bydžov is a newly discovered lowland site with finds of bronze Avar-type belt fittings and bronze spurs with hooks. The finds belong to the 8th century. Two of the belt strap-ends are gilded and with rare scenes; the fittings with the motif of a sexual mythical scene with a snake have equivalents in South Moravia, Eastern Bavaria and Western Hungary; all of them are based on the same template. The belt strap-end with the motif of a human face is unique, inspired by Byzantine and probably also Nordic types. The stylisation of the face with the outstretched tongue of the hangers depicting a divine or mythical being is continued in Moravia in the form of hangers (Hluk, Olomouc) from the late 8th and 1st half of the 9th century. The site could be considered important in a connection with the long-distance communication to the northeast – today’s Poland.

The issue of manors in the Great Moravia at the beginnings of the Bohemian state to the middle of the 10th century

Drahomíra Frolíková-Kaliszová

The topic of manors was one of many that Prof. Jiři Slama focused on. After more than 30 years, some of the older researches have been reworked and reinterpreted as manors. The paper compares them with the only completely examined manor in Pohansko near Břeclav. The conclusion reflects the state of the current archaeological research – out of a total of 20 potential manors, only three meet at least three of the five criteria – i.e. enclosure, representative dwelling, church, family burial ground, other buildings – those are, in addition to Pohansko, also Budeč in Bohemia and Ducove in Slovakia. The other sites, especially those with a church and a small cemetery, may have been “magnates’” manors but this is not archaeologically documented.

The Significance and Hierarchy of the Early Medieval Churches at Budeč

Pavla Tomanová

The existence of two early medieval churches at Budeč raises the question of their hierarchy and the testimony of the importance of the site. The following text seeks to answer these questions through comparisons with analogical sites with concentrations of Church structures in the broader area of Europe and by means of a discussion of concrete aspects of the Budeč churches, i.e. their architecture, dating, their patron saint, their location inside the stronghold and the testimony of the burials in their interior. The discussion leads to the hypothesis that the Rotunda of St Peter needn’t have been built as the main Budeč church, but perhaps as a burial chapel. The main place of worship could have been the Church of the Virgin Mary and its possible predecessor, the existence of which is indicated by the oldest graves in the adjacent cemetery. The conclusions of the discussion also present Budeč as a base of Bavarian missionaries and an important Christianisation centre of Přemyslid Bohemia.

What tithes did Bishop Vojtěch transfer to the Břevnov monastery in the privilege of Pope John XV from year 993?

Pavel Bolina

The key to understanding the tithe issue in the early medieval Bohemia could be the clarification of reasons for the existence of two different tithes, the ecclesiastical grain tithe and the bishop’s six-denier tithe. In this context, we should ask when the Přemyslid duchy could have been considered a Christian country by its neighbours and whether the introduction of the six-denier bishop’s tithe is reflected in the development of coinage in Bohemia.

Was the Legend of Kristian Written in the 12th Century? On the Controversy Surrounding the Age of the Legend

Jakub Izdný

The study is a response to Petr Kubin’s work, the latest addressing the age of the Legend of Kristian. In his analysis of information regarding the oldest epoch of the cult of St Ludmila, Kubin assumes that the author of the text essentially initiated the very beginning of the saint’s cult only in the 12th century by falsifying the account of her solemn translation (i.e. ‘local canonisation’) in the tenth century. The study attempts to demonstrate that the dating of the Legend to the 12th century is highly improbable, naturally assuming that we accept the idea that its author did not intentionally (and completely ahistorically for the period context) attempt with surprisingly great success to imitate a far more ancient origin of the text. Above all, however, the legend is not in accordance with the development of the Ludmila cult in the 12th century as presented by Petr Kubin himself.

A New Look at the Age of the Legend of Kristian and the Cult of St Ludmila

Dana Zapletalová

In the controversy surrounding the Legend of Kristian, several clues suggesting its dating significantly earlier than the middle of the twelfth century have not been taken into account. The text cites the Salic law, which the author could have studied in the 10th century at the latest (later it was already difficult to access). Attention was also drawn to Ludmila’s wooden grave at Tetin, which was common in the Middle Hillfort period. The Legend of Kristian and the Crescente fide legend indicate that Ludmila was murdered with a rope, whereas Cosmas at the beginning of the 12th century mentions a veil as her relic, which the hagiographer would certainly have taken into account. In the end, it is surprising that a saint as exclusive as St Adalbert is not included in the legend, but appears in the prologue as a living relative of the hagiographer. The prince’s brother named Kristian is found not only in Bruno of Querfurt and Cosmas, but is also preserved in the memory of the Břevnov Monastery founded by Prince Boleslav II himself. For that matter, the cult of St Ludmila did not even spread much after its recognition at the diocesan level.

10th and 11th Century Coins and Weights Found in Libice and Its Hinterland

Luboš Polanský, Jan Mařík

Over the course of more than a century of archaeological excavations at the stronghold in Libice nad Cidlinou and its agglomeration, a total of 37 early medieval coins dating from the middle of the 10th century to the beginning of the 12th century were collected. A significant part of this assemblage comes from a metal detector survey conducted at the acropolis of the hillfort in 2009–2018. Based on the coin finds, it is possible to date the end of settlement at the stronghold’s acropolis to the mid-11th century. In addition to the coins, the metal detector survey also produced a set of thirty weights, which, based on their distribution at the acropolis, are most likely related to early medieval trade.

The Kočí III Site (Chrudim District) as an Example of Scattered Settlement in the Hillfort Period

Jan Frolík, Jiří Militký, Jan Musil, Michaela Sedláčková

Excavations of settlements from the 10th–12th century remain rare in Bohemia. Two rectangular areas enclosed by a fence or a palisade and containing houses with a post construction were uncovered at the Koči III site during a rescue excavation on the Chrudim bypass. They are interpreted as farmsteads. The Koči III site is identified as a residential cell of the scattered settlement typical for the Chrudim district up until the 13th century. A dating to the 11th and 12th centuries is supported by finds of a temple ring and especially a denarius of Hungarian King Stephen I (997–1038).

Coin Finds from the Medieval Cemetery in Nesvětice (until 2020)

Jan Podhorský

The article publishes in preliminary form the coin finds made at the cemetery from the 11th–13th century in Nesvětice in the Most district. The site is located outside lignite Bilina Quarry in northwest Bohemia. An archaeological excavation was conducted in two stages: 1984–1988 and 2013–2023, during which time a total of 2250 graves have been investigated. The coin finds were made in the years 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. This paper describes only coins found up to 2020, because more recent finds have not yet been processed. Of the 13 coins found by 2020 (11 denarii and two bracteates), 11 are linked to a specific grave. The dating of the coins covers the entire period of use of the cemetery, beginning with a denarius of Duke Oldřich from 1012–1033 and ending with a denarius of Ottokar II from 1253–1270. Despite the large number of uncovered graves, the burials of only twenty individuals (1 %) were furnished with a coin(s).

Denarius Hoard from the Řeteč Camp in the Písek District

Martin Pták, Tomáš Hiltscher, Jaroslav Jiřík, Rastislav Korený

The article presents basic information on the find of a hoard of deniers in a vessel from the Řeteč camp in the Pisek district in 2017. The hoard is composed of 1,341 small deniers of Dukes Břetislav I and Spytihněv II.

Textiles from the Grave of Prague Bishop Cosmas († 1098)

Milena Bravermanová, Helena Březinová, Jana Bureš Víchová

During the detailed processing of a collection of textiles from Prague Castle originating from an archaeological context, four fabrics related to the grave furnishings of Bishop Cosmas († 1098) were interpreted in 2001 and 2021: a protolampas with a pattern of interconnected mandorlas, a thin unpatterned fabric with a linen weave, band with gold stripes and band with deer. These were dated to the 11th and 12th centuries, which is partially inconsistent with the find context. The textiles come from silk production centres in the Middle East, Sicily or other regions of Europe.

Zbečno. A Medieval cemetery with finds of coins

Jana Bezáková, Jan Turek

Part of the medieval cemetery was excavated during 2020 rescue excavation within construction of a sewer system in the entire village of Zbečno (Rakovnik District, Central Bohemia). The burial rites can be characterized as a standard Christian inhumation method of burial. It is probable that the funerary area was spatially limited, as evidenced by the significant accumulation of burials in front of house Nr. 22 (‘Hamous’s farm’), where secondary use of grave pits was common. A frequent phenomenon was children’s funerals attached next to or directly on the top of the skeleton of an adult person. Although the Christian rite was largely respected, a relatively large number of artefacts were recovered from the graves. Most items are related to the clothing and hair dress of the deceased, so they are not ex vota in the true sense of the word, but rather parts of the costume. Due to the coin finds and the typology of bronze temple-rings, it can be assumed that most of the burials in Zbečno were buried at the turn of the 12th and 13th century and especially during the first half of the 13th century. It is therefore the time of construction of the nearby castle Křivoklat (founded 1230).

Still unregistered mint mark of Olomouc mint

Pavel Vojtíšek

Unknown variety of Olomouc mint mark is described in this article. The mint mark (letter O with tilde above all in ringlet) is registered on a 3-kreuzer produced by the mint-master Martin Fritsche (MKČ 928; Rumpl IV/169) in 1628. This mark still has not been documented on any coins, despite of the fact, that the summary of Moravian coinage from the seventeen century is detailed, thanks to the work by A. Rumpl and J. Rumpl.

The oldest plan of the hillfort Příkopy near Kdyně (Domažlice district)

Karel Sklenář

Přikopy in Domažlice district, southwest Bohemia is definitely one of the ambiguous fortified localities, whose dating and interpretation are the subject of various opinions in the literature. Its massive fortification with triple ramparts and ditches contrasts with the small inner space without any traces of masonry objects. Recently, the site has been referred to either as an early medieval border fortress from the 11th century (R. Turek, the author of the only archaeological research carried at the location in 1959, and his student Jiři Slama), or a castle of a transitional type from the 12th century (T. Durdik). This article aims to present the oldest surviving plan of Přikopy from 1826, probably the oldest plan of a hillfort-type site in the Czech archaeology and explains its origins, as well as its connection with the activity of Count Eugen Charles Czernin of Chudenice, pioneer of archaeological research in this region.

Geophysical surveys of early medieval fortifications and the influence of modern changes in the use of their landscape

Roman Křivánek

The results of non-destructive geophysical surveys are increasingly influenced by the state of archaeological sites. It has also been influenced in several decades by the way in which the terrain of the sites is used. This also applies to many hillforts often located in intensively and long-used landscapes. The plowing of the area and the associated changes in the older cultural landscape repeatedly have a negative effect on the state of subsurface preservation of archaeological situations. In agricultural regions, we only have to talk about the preservation of such archaeological features that have been sufficiently sunk into the subsubsoil. But neither the thickness nor the quality of the soil horizon is either stable or unchanging. On the examples of area magnetometer surveys of seven early medieval hillforts, we can illustrate the risks of losing archaeological information of plowed, remodelled and/or eroded parts of sites and the resulting limits of identification and interpretation of some archaeo-geophysical measurements.

Research of the Preserved Panel Paintings from the Historical Form of the Olomouc Astronomical Clock

Lucie Janus Hlavičková, Jana Michalčáková, Lukáš Kučera, Karel Lemr, Antonín Černoch, Jindřich Švihel

The study presents research on the original panel paintings of the Olomouc Astronomical Clock from the depository of the Regional Museum in Olomouc. It is a cooperation of the ARTECA project researchers and the Regional Museum in Olomouc. The techniques and procedures used should contribute to the clarification of the history of the preserved panel paintings, as well as to the determination of the material nature of the preserved colour layers.