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Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204 book cover

1st Edition

Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204

By Guillaume Saint-Guillain, Judith Herrin Copyright 1991
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    366 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume of studies explores a particularly complex period in Byzantine history, the thirteenth century, from the Fourth Crusade to the recapture of Constantinople by exiled leaders from Nicaea. During this time there was no Greek state based on Constantinople and so no Byzantine Empire by traditional definition. Instead, a Venetian/Frankish alliance ruled from the capital, while many smaller states also claimed the mantle of Byzantium. Even after 1261 when the Latin Empire of Constantinople was replaced by a restored Greek state, political fragmentation persisted. This fragmentation makes the study of individuals more difficult but also more valuable than ever before, and this volume demonstrates the very considerable advances in historical understanding that may be gained from prosopographical approaches. Specialist historians of the Byzantine successor states of the period, and of their most important neighbours, here examine the self-projection and interactions of these states, combining military history and diplomacy, commercial and theological contacts, and the experiences and self-description of individuals. This wide-ranging series of articles uses a great diversity of sources - Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Latin, Persian and Serbian - to exploit the potential of the novel methodology employed and of prosopography as an additional historical tool of analysis.

    Contents: Introduction: defining identities and allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204, Charlotte Roueché; Part I The Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade: The lost generation (c.1204-c.1222): political allegiance and local interests under the impact of the 4th Crusade, Teresa Shawcross; The Latin empire of Constantinople, 1204-1261: marriage strategies, Michael Angold; The aristocracy and the empire of Nicaea, Vincent Puech; Epiros 1204-1261: historical outline - sources - prosopography, Günter Prinzing; Prosopography of the Byzantine world (1204-1261) in the light of Bulgarian sources, Dimiter G. Angelov; Serbia's view of the Byzantine world (1204-1261), Ljubomir Maksimovic; 13th-century Byzantine 'metallic' identities, Cécile Morrisson. Part II On the Peripheries of Byzantium: The oriental margins of the Byzantine world: a prosopographical perspective, Rustam Shukurov; The Eastern Mediterranean in the 13th century: identities and allegiances. The peripheries: Armenia, Robert W. Thomson; The Crusader states and Cyprus in a 13th-century Byzantine prosopography, Tassos Papacostas. Part III Western Interests: Identities and allegiances: the perspective of Genoa and Pisa, Catherine Otten-Froux; Tales of San Marco: Venetian historiography and 13th-century Byzantine prosopography, Guillaume Saint-Guillain; Sailing from Byzantium: Byzantines and Greeks in the Venetian world, Sally McKee. Part IV Conclusions: 13th-century prosopography and refugees, Judith Herrin; Concluding remarks, Catherine Holmes; Index.

    Biography

    Judith Herrin is Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow and Professor Emerita of Late Antique & Byzantine Studies, King's College London, UK. Guillaume Saint-Guillain is Newton Fellow in the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, King's College London, UK.

    '... the collection succeeds, in places magnificently, as an exploration of identities and allegiances in the eastern Mediterranean in the thirteenth century, showing how the events of 1204 intensified forces of localism and separatism on an individual level, and inevitably challenged and changed perceptions of the empire across the region. Speculum '... this is a coherent study that draws together experts from a range of associated backgrounds and disciplines. It has a great deal to offer both historians with an interest in this period or, indeed, anyone planning a prosopographical study.' The Historian
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