Autobiography and Hagiography in Byzantium

This article explores the interaction between hagiography and autobiography in Byzantine literature. As the most productive narrative genre, hagiography influenced the structure and content of autobiographical accounts. On the other hand, for some vitae the protagonist's autobiographical account constituted the primary written source. A hagiographical work, again, may have a highly autobiographical character insofar as the author refers to himself as the saint's associate who eye-witnessed the saint's exploits. In many cases the hagiograph's autobiographical remarks are sprinkled over the whole narrative. Other authors present the life, or part of it, in a separate section, located usually toward the end of the text. The present study also points to common features in hagiographical autobiography and other forms of autobiographical writing, that constitute the conventions of a standardized way of written self-representation in Byzantium.     

The Circulation,Distribution and Consumption of Marine Products in Byzantium: Some Considerations

Marine exploitation in Byzantium had developed to become an industry by the early 10th century, but the systematic study of the various pieces of information scattered through a range of sources has only just begun. Despite the piecemeal nature of the evidence, it has been possible to sketch out a picture of the organised and methodical exploitation of the empire’s marine resources through large and expensive investments, such as in epochai and vivaria, which facilitated an uninterrupted supply of marine products to the cities. It is the development of these features that merits the use of the term “industry”. Byzantium sustained elaborate methods for supplying food to its employees which was provided either during the exercise of their duties, as part of their reward, as a mark of their privileged status, or even based on legitimate legal claims. Large groups of people benefited from the work of those involved in primary production (fishermen, epochai/vivaria owners and lease holders), without necessarily having contributed to the initial investments or expenses. By clarifying these distribution methods, it is evident that the circulation and consumption of marine products in Byzantium was larger than previously thought, and middle and lower class citizens actually did participate and have a share in it. Marine product consumption was not simply restricted by the producer-buyer or offer-demand relationship, it involved social parameters that are not immediately and easily recognisable because of the fragmentary nature of the available information.     

The value of empire: tenth-century Bulgaria between Magyars,Pechenegs and Byzantium

The article seeks to explain the connection between the migration of the Magyars and Pechenegs in central and south-east Europe, in the late ninth and early tenth century, and the conflict between Byzantium and Bulgaria during the same period. Through reference to anthropologists discussing the relations between nomadic and sedentary societies (Khazanov, Barfield), and historians studying medieval rituals (Buc, Althoff, Koziol), the article interprets the aggressive policy of the Bulgarian tsar Symeon as a consistent effort to displace Byzantium as major partner of the nomadic polities in the area. By subverting the principles of Byzantine diplomacy and political culture, Symeon turned his own kingdom into a society-structuring factor in the nomadic world. The article evaluates the very meaning of imperial claims not so much in legal terms, as an effort to guarantee Bulgaria’s sovereignty in a Byzantium-centred world, but in the real-time capacity of a ruler to make use of imperial symbols and act upon the dynamically changing conjuncture.     

The value of empire: tenth-century Bulgaria between Magyars,Pechenegs and Byzantium

The article seeks to explain the connection between the migration of the Magyars and Pechenegs in central and south-east Europe, in the late ninth and early tenth century, and the conflict between Byzantium and Bulgaria during the same period. Through reference to anthropologists discussing the relations between nomadic and sedentary societies (Khazanov, Barfield), and historians studying medieval rituals (Buc, Althoff, Koziol), the article interprets the aggressive policy of the Bulgarian tsar Symeon as a consistent effort to displace Byzantium as major partner of the nomadic polities in the area. By subverting the principles of Byzantine diplomacy and political culture, Symeon turned his own kingdom into a society-structuring factor in the nomadic world. The article evaluates the very meaning of imperial claims not so much in legal terms, as an effort to guarantee Bulgaria’s sovereignty in a Byzantium-centred world, but in the real-time capacity of a ruler to make use of imperial symbols and act upon the dynamically changing conjuncture.     

Everyday Life in Byzantium: Some Problems of Aproach

Abstract

In 1554 a Franciscan friar of Angoulěme, André Thevet, published at Lyons his Cosmographie de Levant. The author had recently returned from a three year journey to Constantinople and the Holy Land, and the Cosmographie was the first of a number of geographical works.     

Byzantium confronts its neighbours: Islam and the crusaders in the twelfth century

Abstract

The fall of the Byzantine empire at the end of the twelfth century and the debacle of 1204 had complex causes, most of which are far beyond the scope of a short paper. However, it is very evident that military failure was a powerful element in the Byzantine collapse. The enquiry that follows seeks to establish the reasons for this failure by examining the nature of the empire's armies and the events of particular campaigns. It is evident that sweeping generalizations about military failure need considerable qualification and that the outcome of individual expeditions was influenced by particular circumstances. Yet it does appear that it is possible to see certain general factors at work undermining, or at least limiting, the military efforts of Byzantium.     

Qualifying Mediterranean connectivity: Byzantium and the Franks during the seventh century

In the last two decades, historians researching the seventh century ce have increasingly emphasized mobility, communications and connectivity across the Mediterranean world that supposedly included close contacts between the Franks and Byzantium. These studies, however, rely often on optimistic, maximum interpretations of the comparatively sparse source base, and have not always precisely distinguished between different forms of mobility and connectivity. This article argues that a closer examination of the actual cultural and political consequences of mobility and contact between Byzantium and Gaul is required, and that the possibility of discontinuity and disintegration should not be disregarded. In our reading of the sources, we deliberately adopt a sceptical, methodologically cautious minimal position: the textual sources can be interpreted as showing that, while individual, sporadic contacts across the Mediterranean continued to exist, there was no established, continuous practice of communications between Byzantium and Gaul.