International Medieval Congress 2023, University of Leeds, Leeds, 3-6 July 2023. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Michael Palaiologos and the Publics of the Byzantine Empire in Exile, c.1223-1259
2022
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-09278-7 This book follows the public life of Michael Palaiologos from his early days and upbringing, through to his assumption of the Byzantine imperial throne in 1258. It explores multiple narratives, highlighting the various public communities in the Byzantine polity, primarily focusing on intellectuals and clerks rather than the emperor himself. Drawing on insights from power relations, studies of class and the public sphere, this book provides an account of thirteenth-century Byzantium that highlights the role of communicative and symbolic actions in the public sphere, and argues they were integral to Palaiologos' political success.
VIIe édition des Rencontres internationales des doctorants en études byzantines, 2-3 October 2015
In my presentation I opposed the view of earlier research (esp. that of Victoria Gerhold) stating that members of the Doukas family schemed with Leo, metropolitan of Chalcedon, against the emperor Alexios I Komnenos. I claimed that Leo, metropolitan of Chalcedon had been influenced by participants of plots against Alexios I, such as anonymous high ranking officials in 1087, and members of Nikephoros Diogenes' plot in 1094. This was one of the factors that led to Leo's banishment to Sozopolis.
Medieval Worlds, 2021
Chrysobulls issued »in common« to the inhabitants of cities, together with a large number of other surviving sources, shed light on the interplay in the Byzantine Empire during the long thirteenth century between, on the one hand, growing claims to civic autonomy advanced by communes and, on the other, efforts by imperial authority to control its territory. This chapter examines the emergence of a new kind of empire – based on commerce and trade – under the Palaiologoi. It analyses the changing circumstances of urban centres in the western provinces, and assesses the degree of fiscal, legal and political emancipation that these centres achieved. It discusses the creation of leagues and other types of alliances that successfully bound cities and towns together into regional associations. It also considers the mechanisms behind revolts and other forms of armed and unarmed protest that occurred against the central regime. Particular attention is paid to the region of northern Greece (Thrace and Macedonia) dominated by the city of Thessalonike, for which the evidence is most plentiful.
Draft for the IMC Leeds 2014, replacement paper for the Session 1319 “Imperial Elites in Comparative Perspective, 800-1600”, Wednesday 9 July 2014: 16.30-18.00 (a shorter version will be presented at the session) Within this paper, the focus on one selected and relatively well-documented elite family within a well-studied period of Byzantine history (I refer to the older works of Seibt, Winkelmann or Kazhdan and more recent studies of Cheynet, Holmes, Neville, Beihammer or Haldon) allows us to reflect on the relational framework of the emergence and dynamics of elite status and elite networks, which may be of interest also for other cases across the medieval world. At the same time, although the new exhaustive database of the “Prosopography of the middle Byzantine Period” (PmbZ, for the years 641-1025) provides material for an even more systematic survey of the elite, the still more fragmentary character of evidence does not allow for the creation of large scale longitudinal network models as done by Nicolas Tackett in his recent book for the Chinese aristocracy in the same period, for instance. Still, thinking in terms of network theory can be useful even without a full usage of the quantitative tools connected with it.
The period between the two falls of Constantinople, namely the Crusader conquest of 1204 and the Ottoman conquest of 1453, witnessed the radical transformation of Byzantium from empire into a mosaic of autonomous and semi-autonomous polities. The fascinating survival and transformation of Byzantine identities in a world dominated by Latin Christian and Muslim powers was the result of complex dynamics, with Constantinople functioning, more or less, as a magnet for the Orthodox populations beyond its narrow political borders. Theodoros Metochites’ (d. 1332) rhetoric eloquently captures the ideological, spiritual and cultural radiance of the “Queen City”. In his laudatory oration on the Byzantine capital, Metochites describes Constantinople as “the citadel of the whole world” (ἀκρόπολιν τινὰ τῶν ὅλων) and the “shared homeland of all people” (κοινοπολιτεία πάντων ἀνθρώπων), stressing the city’s role as a centre, in both geographic and symbolic terms. Over the past two decades, there has been a remarkable progress in the way scholars approach the history and culture of former Byzantine areas under Latin Christian and Muslim rule in the period between 1200 and 1400. The picture emerging from these studies embraces unity and diversity, interaction and contention, synthesis and conservativism, new identities and old. Research on the history of Mediterranean has also shown that the political, religious and cultural fragmentation of the Eastern Mediterranean increased, rather than restrained, the development of multiple connectivities, among the peoples inhabiting this vast liquid area. Yet, the nature and degree of bonds of unity between Late Byzantium and the former Byzantine lands —encompassing the physical mobility of humans and objects, as well as institutional, ideological, religious and cultural links— requires a more systematic and in-depth exploration. The aim of this Colloquium is to re-address questions related to Byzantine connectivities, experiences and identities in Latin- and Muslim-ruled Mediterranean areas once belonging to the Byzantine Empire. Borrowed from graph theory, the term connectivities has been employed by Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell to describe the networks connecting microecologies with similar structures in Mediterranean landscapes and seascapes, society and religion, politics and culture. Focusing on religion and culture as the main strands of identity preservation, negotiation and adaptation, our Colloquium wishes to examine the threads waving the tapestry of a “Late Byzantine Mediterranean”: a fluidly-defined κοινοπολιτεία under the enduring influence of Constantinople, but in constant communication and exchange with the religious and ethnic Other. The main themes of the Colloquium include, but are not necessarily restricted to, the following: • Byzantine legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1200 • Worlds of interaction and conflict (e.g., Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Cyprus and the Aegean) • The role of Byzantine culture as a transcultural language of communication • The impact of intra-Byzantine conflicts in the Eastern Mediterranean • Experiences of colonisation and foreign rule • Instrumentalisation of identities in historiography (inclusions and exclusions) Our speakers represent a variety of scholarly fields and methodological approaches, navigating the sea of Byzantine encounters in the Latin and Muslim worlds from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. By paying close attention to the continuities and discontinuities that (re-)shaped Byzantine identities in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Colloquium aims at providing fresh and stimulating perspectives on the sense of belonging to Byzantium and its broader significance. The Colloquium is dedicated to the loving memory of two great scholars, Speros Vryonis, Jr. and Elizabeth A. Zachariadou, who transformed our perception of the Byzantine legacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Registration necessary at: https://ics.sas.ac.uk/events/late-byzantine-mediterranean-byzantine-connectivities-experiences-and-identities-a