Abstract
The article is devoted to the history of the medieval town of Stenimachos (modern Asenovgrad) from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the settlement’s development, topography, economic functions, and strategic significance on the basis of written sources and archaeological evidence. The author employs an analysis of Byzantine sources and medieval documents, particularly the Charter of the Bachkovo Monastery of 1084, supplemented by archaeological investigations conducted in present-day Asenovgrad and at Asen’s Fortress. The study demonstrates that Stenimachos was an important center situated at the intersection of major trade routes and possessed a developed defensive system connected with the nearby fortress. Particular attention is devoted to the etymology of the town’s name, its territorial boundaries, and its economic organization, which included mills, inns, and marketplaces. The author also analyzes the role of the town during the Third Crusade and the strategic significance of the region within Byzantine and Bulgarian politics. According to the author, Stenimachos constituted an important administrative and military center of southern Thrace, whose development was closely connected with the activities of the Bachkovo Monastery and with the political transformations of the medieval Balkans.
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License
© by Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of History, Poznań, 1985
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