Worlds of the Slavs. The power of emperors, elites, and the veche. Who needs it?

Gniezno, September 16–18, 2026 | hybrid conference
The Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, together with the Polish Young Academy of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Committee of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno, the Faculty of Archaeology of the Warsaw University, the Academy in Piotrków Trybunalski and the Lithuanian Institute of History cordially invite you to the fourth in a series of conferences on the theme ‘Worlds of the Slavs’. This year’s conference, entitled ‘The power of emperors, elites, and the veche. Who needs it?’, will be held on September 16–18, 2026 at the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno (ul. Kostrzewskiego 1, 62-200 Gniezno).
Our somewhat provocative title concerns the origins of power in the Slavic world, focusing on the political organisms which emerged there from the perspective of both ruling elites and their subject groupings – whether tribes, peoples, principalities, or kingdoms. To what extent did medieval political organisms emerge through conciliation and compromise, or were they more a result of brutal violence, mitigated over time by more sophisticated tools of persuasion such as an ideology based on monotheistic religion?
Such questions of compromise with and resistance to centralised power also encourage a focus on those communities in the Slavic world and its borderlands which did not produce strong, centralised monarchies. Previously seen as backward ‘defenders of traditional values’, should we not now see them as defenders of other values – of diffuse, majority-controlled power? The conference essentially addresses the question raised in its title: how did medieval Slavic political communities emerge, expand and sustain themselves, and what was the role of elites, rulers and dynasties in this process.
Programme
Over three days of proceedings, more than forty papers will be delivered in eleven panels, devoted among other things to the right of resistance and identity, territorial systems of power, the power of elites, medieval assemblies, the rituals and terminology of power, religion and politics, landscapes of power, local administrative centres, and power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in Scandinavia. The proceedings will be preceded by three lectures, by Aleksander Paroń (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences), Jonathan Shepard (University of Oxford) and Andrzej Pleszczyński (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin). Scholars will come to Gniezno from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria and the United States. The conference languages will be English and Polish.
Accompanying events include a tour of the Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno on September 15 and a visit to the Archdiocesan Museum in Gniezno on September 18.
On-line participation
The conference is hybrid (traditional and on-line): alongside the proceedings on site in Gniezno, remote participation is possible. Those wishing to join online are asked to write to theworldoftheslavs@gmail.com, from where they will receive a link to the stream. A detailed schedule of sessions is given in the conference programme.
Practical information
Dates: September 15–18, 2026 (proceedings September 16–18)
Venue: Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno, ul. Kostrzewskiego 1, 62-200 Gniezno
Format: hybrid (traditional and on-line)
Languages of the proceedings: English, Polish
Contact and streaming link: theworldoftheslavs@gmail.com
Conference programme (PDF): https://ihpan.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Worlds-of-the-Slavs-2026.pdf
Event page: https://ihpan.edu.pl/swiaty-slowian-wladza-cesarzy-moznych-i-wiecu-kto-jej-potrzebuje/
Organizers
The Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences | The Polish Young Academy of the Polish Academy of Sciences | Committee of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences | Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno | Faculty of Archaeology of the Warsaw University | Academy in Piotrków Trybunalski | Lithuanian Institute of History
Organizing Committee: Adrian Jusupović (main coordinator, Warsaw, Poland), Dariusz Adamczyk (Hanover, Germany), Darius Baronas (coordinator, Vilnius, Lithuania), Marta Font (coordinator, Pécs, Hungary), Tomasz Nowakiewicz (coordinator, Warsaw, Poland), Aleksander Paroń (coordinator, Wrocław, Poland), Jonathan Shepard (coordinator, Oxford/Cambridge, United Kingdom), Monika Stelmasiak-Majorek (coordinator, Gniezno, Poland), Stepan Stepanienko (coordinator, Schleswig, Germany), Monika Stobiecka (coordinator, Warsaw, Poland), Alexandra Vukovich (coordinator, London, United Kingdom), Constantin Zuckerman (coordinator, Paris, France).