Medievalists and the Notion of the Frontier

Abstract

This article addresses the relevance of theories of the frontier for medi eval history. Since Turner, 'frontier' has become a widely used concept, but its different meanings have not been separated and defined. Medi eval historians have studied the development of internal boundaries within kingdoms, political frontiers and frontier societies. Their exam inations included such divergent topics as agricultural expansion and interaction between societies, the latter in turn comprising everything from military confrontation to acculturation. After disentangling the various historiographical trends, the author proposes a distinction between 'frontier zone', a meeting-point of different civilisations, and 'frontier society', a political unit that incorporates two or more reli gions and cultures.