Medievalists and the Notion of the Frontier

Abstract

This article addresses the relevance of theories of the frontier for medi eval history. Since Turner, 'frontier' has become a widely used concept, but its different meanings have not been separated and defined. Medi eval historians have studied the development of internal boundaries within kingdoms, political frontiers and frontier societies. Their exam inations included such divergent topics as agricultural expansion and interaction between societies, the latter in turn comprising everything from military confrontation to acculturation. After disentangling the various historiographical trends, the author proposes a distinction between 'frontier zone', a meeting-point of different civilisations, and 'frontier society', a political unit that incorporates two or more reli gions and cultures.

Re-emerging Frontiers: Postcolonial Theory and Historical Archaeology of the Borderlands

“…Although since its conception the approach has undergone criticism and reformulations, the ideas of the frontier presented by Turner still appeal to scholars and are hard to overcome (for recent reviews and critiques, see Berend 1999;Kutchen 2005). The frontier as a theme of study has not lost popularity, and it remains one of the more keenly researched topics in North American historiography, occasionally being addressed by historical archaeologists.…”

“…They address questions concerning the reasons and causes of the economic and political expansion into new territories and the ways of controlling the frontiers. In most historical studies of European borderlands, emphasis is placed on subjects such as the military institutions and the overall organization of the border, the particular mentality of the frontier settlers and their involvement and focus on the war and the specific mechanisms of negotiation and mediation they develop (Abulafia and Berend 2002; Bartlett and Mackay 1989;Berend 1999;Power 1999). Some attention is also paid towards reinterpretation of political borders as zones of cultural clash and co-existence and towards ideological aspect of frontiers where the 'rhetoric of identity' is employed (e.g.…”

Lords at the End of the Empire: Negotiating Power in the Late Byzantine Frontiers (Fourteenth–fifteenth Centuries)

“…Notions of borders as linear, fixed and permanent entities go back to Turner's work on the American West frontier which has long been criticised for its inapplicability to other political conditions and environments and failure to recognise the permeability and fluidity of borders (Turner 1963; for a critical approach to Turner's work, see Slotkin 1992; Kutchen 2005; Naum 2010, 102–3). In the case of ancient and medieval states, linear and clearly defined border lines emerge in texts as part of the construction of political propaganda and imperial ideology but have little to do with the reality on the ground (Berend 1999; Pohl 2005, 265; Smith, M.L. 2005; Kulikowski 2005, 247, 252–3; Parker 2006, 80).…”