International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Mária Vargha
Central European University, Budapest, Hungary; 
[e-mail]
Traces of Byzantine Fashion in Hungary in the High Middle Ages
The research into fashion and jewellery has proven to be valid not only to create typochronologies 
for artefacts, and with that, help date archaeological sites, but also to investigate socioeconomic 
processes. Until now, research on jewellery dated to the High Middle Ages has mostly focused on 
the first half of the period, and was dominated, especially regarding Byzantine-style objects, by the 
so-called Bjelo-Brdo debate.
Concerning the interpretation of Byzantine-style finds, research mostly concentrated on 
religious issues, namely the role of Eastern Christianity in the process of the Christianisation of 

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Hungary. Although the research on the influence of Eastern Christianity in 10-11
th
century Hungary 
has recent results both in history and archaeology, in the latter including the investigations of both 
artefacts and diverse phenomena such as burial customs, still many question remains.
Regarding the context of the objects, the present study focuses more on the everyday objects, 
such as trinkets and dress accessories of the commoners. This way a larger segment of the society is 
observable, and thus, larger religious and socioeconomic processes can be tracked.
The latter is perhaps even more important regarding the interpretation of the finds from the 
second half of the High Middle Ages. As by that time, the domination of Western Christianity is 
absolute, Byzatine, and/or Byzantine-style artefacts tell more about socioeconomic, than religious 
issues. Especially because of this, it can be argued that the second half of the period could also 
provide important results, despite that it was not in the focus of the research.
The refreshment of Byzantine relations and its influence on the material culture during the 
reign of King Béla III (1172-1196) is almost topoi-like, but it was never fully examined because 
of the difficulties of the research on the material culture of the period. Personal elements of the 
material culture, such as jewellery and dress accessories are the most commonly used artefacts to 
detect Byzantine influence on the material culture. However, in consequence of the domination of 
churchyard cemeteries, and in parallel with this, the impoverishment of the graves, the amount of 
such finds recovered seriously decreased.
Another significant and well observable period of appearance of Byzantine-styled objects 
occurs during the latest part of the examined age, when Byzantine or Byzantine-style artefacts 
mostly turn up in the context of newcomers, Cumans, and Jazygians. Although their impact on 
material culture and also some social processes cannot be neglected, the fashion of such artefacts 
in the Late High Middle Ages should be reconsidered. For that, one of the best sources can be the 
hoard horizon that is connected to the Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1241-42.
In the present paper, besides revisiting the main issues of these two well detectable periods, 
the question of what existed between should be in the focus of the present investigation, as until 
recently, research rather neglected it in consequence of the mentioned difficulties. As I was able to 
separate the characteristic 12
th
century material, this issue can be revisited. Therefore, in the present 
paper I would like to focus on that issue, the observable impacts of Byzantium in the material 
culture of Hungary around the 12
th
century, and its relation to 13
th 
century Byzantine style artefacts, 
concerning religious, social, and economical issues.

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