contact: vspin@uaic.ro

Research Interests

• Early Middle Ages in the East-Carpathian regions
• Romanian populations north and south of the Lower Danube during the medieval period
• Migrations of nomadic tribes in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
• Political, economic, cultural, and religious relations between the Romanians and the Byzantine Empire, Slavic world, and Turkic-Mongol confederations
• Production and circulation of cult objects in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
• Romanian and universal historiography

Biography

Victor Spinei is a full member of the Romanian Academy, Senior Researcher (CS I), and Honorary Director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy, Iași Branch, as well as Vice-President of the Romanian Academy.
He was born on 26 October 1943 in Lozova (today in the Republic of Moldova). He studied at the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, where he graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy. He obtained his PhD in History in 1977 at the “N. Iorga” Institute of History in Bucharest, with a dissertation on medieval Moldavia. His professional career has been closely linked to the Institute of Archaeology in Iași, where he has worked since 1966, advancing to Senior Researcher (CS I) and Head of the Medieval Archaeology Department. He served as Director of the Institute between 2003 and 2011 and has held the position of Honorary Director since 2014. In parallel, he has had an extensive academic career at the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, where he progressed through all academic ranks, becoming full professor and later Professor Emeritus.
He was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 2001 and full member in 2015, later becoming Vice-President of the Academy. His research focuses on the archaeology and history of the Early Middle Ages in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, particularly on nomadic migrations, the interaction between sedentary and nomadic populations, and the historical evolution of the Romanian space in relation to major political and cultural entities of the time. He has conducted extensive international research, benefiting from numerous fellowships and documentation stages, and has participated in major international conferences and scholarly collaborations.
He is a member of several international scientific organizations, including the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut and the European Association of Archaeologists, and has played a key role in promoting Romanian historical and archaeological research internationally.

Selected publications

Books

Spinei, Victor, 1981, Moldova în secolele XI–XIV, București: Editura Academiei Române.

Spinei, Victor, 1985, Realități etnice și politice în Moldova meridională în secolele X–XIII. Români și turanici, Iași: Editura Junimea.

Spinei, Victor, 1999, Marile migrații din estul și sud-estul Europei în secolele IX–XIII, Iași: Editura Universității „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”.

Spinei, Victor, 2003, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Leiden – Boston: Brill.

Spinei, Victor, 2006, The Great Migrations in the East and South East of Europe from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Century, Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Cultural Institute, Center for Transylvanian Studies.

Spinei, Victor, 2009, Universul lumii românești în Evul Mediu timpuriu, Iași: Editura Universității „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”.

Edited and coordinated volumes

Spinei, Victor (coord.), 2004, Românii și Europa în Evul Mediu timpuriu, Iași: Editura Universității „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”.

Spinei, Victor (coord.), 2007, Istoria românilor, vol. III: Genezele românești, București: Editura Enciclopedică.

Spinei, Victor (coord.), 2010, Istoria românilor, vol. IV: De la universalitatea creștină către Europa „patriilor”, București: Editura Enciclopedică.

Articles and studies

Spinei, Victor, 1975, Unele considerații privind pătrunderea triburilor turcice în spațiul carpato-danubiano-pontic, în Studii și Cercetări de Istorie Veche și Arheologie, 26, p. 245–260.

Spinei, Victor, 1986, Les migrations des peuples turcs dans l’espace carpato-danubien aux XIe–XIIIe siècles, în Revue Roumaine d’Histoire, 25, p. 3–28.

Spinei, Victor, 1994, The Cuman Bishopric – Genesis and Evolution, în Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, 8, p. 45–89.

Spinei, Victor, 2001, The Romanians and the Steppe Nomads in the Early Middle Ages, în Dacia, NS, 45, p. 123–156.

Spinei, Victor, 2006, Political and ethnic realities in the Lower Danube region during the Early Middle Ages, în Acta Archaeologica Carpathica, 41, p. 89–120.

Spinei, Victor, 2012, The historical and archaeological evidence of the early medieval populations in Eastern Europe, în Arheologia Moldovei, 35, p. 9–34.

Spinei, Victor, 2015, The Romanians and the Turkic world in the Middle Ages, în Anuarul Institutului de Istorie „A. D. Xenopol”, 52, p. 25–56.