Petr Meduna, Medieval countryside - something we constructed / "taiga" lecture

Medieval countryside is a construct – the term "countryside" was never used (nor was the term "medieval", for that matter). Our view is given by the antiquity and the mediterranean typology cannot be straightforwardly applied to Europe behind the Alps. The archaic, "barbarian" understanding of countryside is surviving to this day - as opposed to the antique and "cultural".