Proposal a) Legitimising Vienna’s advance into Southeast Europe in 17th and 18th centuries
The Ottoman Empire lost ground as a result of the Hapsburg advance into Southeast Europe after their successful defence of Vienna (1683). The “downfall” of the “Turkish yoke” was acclaimed early on, together with the “victory of Christianity”. Which strategies of justification and legitimation can be found in imperial proclamations and the numerous contemporary written works? How is Byzantium involved?
Proposal b) Fortified Monasteries in Southeast Europe as theatres of conflict in the Early Modern Era
Moldavia and Wallachia are landscapes dominated by fortified monasteries. They were not only places of religion but above all places where sovereignty was shaped and asserted in times of extreme danger. While it was the Ottomans who threatened Southeast Europe, East Europe was threatened above all by the Tatars. The fortified monasteries were at times the last bulwark of Orthodox rule in the 16th and into the 17th centuries. The Crimean Tatars, for example, besieged the fortified monasteries close to Moscow and the fortified monasteries in Moldavia and Wallachia were threatened by the Ottomans and other enemies. A comparative analysis of the Chronicles recording these sieges are the subject of this PhD project. The focus will lie on the siege methods used, defence strategies and descriptions of the fortified constructions.