International Medieval Congress 2023, University of Leeds, Leeds, 3-6 July 2023. (original) (raw)

Rebuilding Networks in Byzantium after 1204: The Case of Niketas Choniates After the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, Niketas Choniates, a distinguished bureaucrat, author, and a learned elite of the Byzantines, found himself in an unwelcoming environment after he sought refuge in one of the Byzantine successor states, the Nicaean Empire in Asia Minor. His former Constantinopolitan circle now shattered and scattered, he had to re-establish political ties during the vibrant years ahead. My paper examines the ways in which a former high-ranked court officer of Byzantium tried to attain a position fitting his qualities by creating a new network of people in different parts of the fragmented post-1204 Byzantine world.