ABSTRACT
King Béla IV (1235-70) in one of his letters called the kingdom of Hungary the ‘gate of Christendom’.1 This text provides us with an explicit medieval representation of what was considered to be a frontier and how the characteristics of a kingdom on the frontier were described (see Map 11.1). This document, a consciously elaborated statement at the royal court, serves as a starting point for an investigation of what ‘frontier’ meant in medieval Hungary. Medieval formulations in themselves may not be more precise or more helpful tools for historians than the modern terminology of ‘frontier societies’. They do, however, help to understand self-perception in medieval society. By exploring medieval views and concepts concerning frontiers, it is possible to analyse rhetoric and ideology, and situate them in the context of the period. By first focusing on medieval notions rather than imposing modern terminology that may be anachronistic, we can also refine our analytical concepts.
