Place and time of the conference: Slavonski Brod, 21 and 22 October 2021

You are invited to participate in the scientific conference dedicated to the concept of Slavonia and the region of Slavonia in the Middle and Early Modern Ages (c. 1000 – c. 1800 A.D.).

The gathering is an integral part of the activities of the project “S(c)lavoni(j)a: name, scope and border position in the Middle and Early Modern Ages” (IP-2020-02-3333), funded by the Croatian Science Foundation.

Please fill in the completed application form (attached) with the title of your presentation by 15 May 21, to the postal address of the Croatian Institute of History – Dept. for the History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja, A. Starčevića 8, 35000 Slavonski Brod, or by e-mail: info@hipsb.hr.

A summary of the presentation (approx. 300 words) should be sent no later than 15 June 2021, to the e-mail: info@hipsb.hr.

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The geographical name Slavonia / Sclavonia had multiple uses in the Middle Ages, and the history of the term – its meanings and spatial applications – has been very complex for centuries since its first appearance in the sources. In this context, the question of a “specialization” of the name Slavonia within the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom is particularly interesting, where in the 13th century an administrative unit known as the Kingdom of Slavonia (Regnum Slavoniae) was established, with a certain degree of political and cultural distinctiveness. The name and scope of the latter province are particularly interesting and important due to the well-known fact that the political-geographical notion of Slavonia in the early modern period gradually shifted from west to east, so that the area of medieval Slavonia largely does not coincide with today’s Slavonia, while at the same time the political-geographical notion of Croatia shifted towards the north and the continental interior. This has many implications for understanding the statehood and state borders of Croatia and Hungary in the Middle Ages and later, then for understanding the political concepts promoted from various political centers of power, and also for understanding the formation of central government institutions – Croatian Parliament, Slavonian Parliament, joint Croatian-Slavonian (in later development Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian) Parliament, Croatian and Slavonian counties and many short-term institutions such as the Provincial Administration for Slavonia, the Croatian Royal Council and others.

Through all these changes in political concepts and institutions related to the regional toponym Slavonia, it is a very important circumstance that the areas marked with this name on the political map have always had border and frontier position. In the high/central and late Middle Ages, within the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom, Slavonia was a country located – not only geographically, but also culturally and politically – between the then Croatia and the then Hungary. At the same time, although small in scope, with its two external borders Slavonia was on the threshold of two large spatial complexes of medieval Europe: on the one hand the predominantly Germanic Holy Roman Empire, and on the other the Balkan area which inherited the dominant cultural influence of Byzantium. In the later Middle Ages it was directly bordered by the state of Bosnia, and from the 15th century by the Ottoman Empire. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Slavonia, moreover, became the immediate scene of conflicts between “East and West”, embodied in the conquering Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy which then began its expansion into the former Hungarian-Croatian state. After the retreat of the Ottoman rule and the great expansion of Habsburg rule to the east, a new use of the name Slavonia was established between the lower Drava and Sava rivers, and the province marked by that name acquired, within the new political order, the role of guarding the state border and living along it. In the 18th century, the southern belt of the then Slavonia (with Srijem) was incorporated directly into the large system of the Habsburg Military Frontier towards the hostile Ottoman Empire. New approaches in the study of the history of border areas open up new perspectives here as well, especially in combination with possible ecohistorical research.

Especially with the shift of Slavonia to the east all the way to the Danube, the fact that the main road communication of Southeast Europe, Vienna – Buda/Pest – Osijek – Belgrade – Sofia – Constantinople/Istanbul, has been passing through the Danube region for centuries becomes very relevant for this topic. This road communication connects Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula, ie the Levant, which creates significant preconditions for economic development and all kinds of cultural exchange. With the strengthening of river traffic during the 18th century, the rivers Danube, Sava and Drava that flow along the edges of the then Slavonia (connecting the Danube/Pannonian Plain and the sub-Pannonian area with the eastern Adriatic ports) came into focus of the activity of state institutions. Thus, the placement of products on new markets was opened to the Danube Region and Slavonian agricultural production. The favorable traffic position made Slavonia open to migration movements at that time, changing the existing demographic structure. Just as in the late Middle Ages the population retreated to the northern parts of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom before the Ottoman army, and after some of its parts fell under Ottoman rule a new population moved to the border areas between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, thus, after new military and political changes, the population of the Islamic religion left these areas, which in turn were inhabited by the Christian population (both Catholic and Orthodox) originating from the Balkan Peninsula. The demographic structure was changed by the central state authorities, but also by local landowners who, in an effort to encourage economic progress, settled inhabitants from various parts of the Habsburg Monarchy. Thus, the border position of Slavonia, in combination with other factors, significantly influenced the demographic dynamics and economic development of its area.

The aim of the conference is to present the results of research on all aspects, here barely indicated, of the history of the name/concept of Slavonia and administratively defined areas that took form and lasted under this name, within larger state formations between the Carpathians and the Adriatic, Central Europe and the Balkans, in the medieval and early modern times.

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