On Friday, April 13th 2018, Neven Budak’s “Croatian history from 550. until 1100.” book was presented by prof. dr. sc. Marina Vicelja-Matijašić (Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka), doc. dr. sc. Maurizio Levak (Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Pula), doc. dr. sc. Goran Bilogrivić (Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka) and the author prof. dr. sc. Neven Budak (Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb).
The book is focused on the so-called dark centuries (7th and 8th), creating and developing of Croatian ethnic identity, forming the Croatian politics and their Christanization, social development, Church organization and culture as a statement and initiator of social relations. The book is based on the newest results in history and related sciences. In addition to some of the most prevalent issues of Croatian medieval history, the author also deals with topics that have only been opened recently. From most books dealing with a similar theme, this differs from periodization, abandoning the usual timelines based on the dynasty history, shifting the focus from political history to social and cultural, different perception and interpretation of ethnic identities, establishing a balance between the coverage of the entire Croatian historical space and highlighting regional differences and, finally, by interdisciplinarity based on the contemporary methodological approach of authorship.
Photo: Nikki Vancaš