| Paper 1704-b | A Visual Memoire of the Crusade of Varna, 1443-1444: Graffiti on the Walls of the Medieval Sv. Nikola Church in Kalotina, Bulgaria
(Language: English)
Ivan Vasilev, Balkan Heritage Foundation / Department of Archaeology, New Bulgarian University, Sofia
Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Crusades, Epigraphy, Military History |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
Both the Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae (Chronicle of Henry of Livonia) and the Livändische Reimchronik (Livonian Rhymed Chronicle) heavily stressed the emotional nature of the Baltic Crusades. Henry of Livonia detailed how Bishop Albert wept when recruiting pilgrims to relieve besieged German colonists in Riga and the anonymous chronicler of the Reimchronik frequently invoked the joy felt by his fellow Teutonic Knights amid the heat of battle. Grounded in recent works of the emotional turn, this paper argues that both the Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae and the Livändische Reimchronik sought to create a climate of warfare in Livonia by creating genealogies of trauma for their different audiences of educated clergy and militant knight-brothers respectively.
Paper -b:
The Crusade of Varna began in 1443 with a military campaign led by King Wladyslaw III of Poland and Hungary against the Ottomans. Once in Ottoman territory, the line of march followed the Diagonal Road (connecting Belgrade with Constantinople) in the direction of the Ottoman capital city of Edirne. This first campaign was repulsed after the crusaders' defeat at the battle of Zlatitsa. The allied Christian forces returned to Hungary following the same road, abandoning the local Christian population to the revenge of the furious Muslim army and Ottoman authorities. On the interior walls of the humble 14th-century church of Sv Nikola (St Nicolas) in Kalotina, Bulgaria, located on the Diagonal road, numerous graffiti images are preserved. These depict a crusader, a priest, equestrians, and many more hunting scenes as well as inscriptions in Cyrillic (one is dated to 1443) that presumably relate to this event. This 'visual memoire' was created either by locals or crusaders themselves in the abandoned church which was used temporarily as a shelter or hunting lodge. This paper will present and discuss this graffiti for the first time since they were 'discovered' and documented.
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