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Michael Attaleiates and the Politics of Imperial Decline in Eleventh-century Byzantium

Author: Dimitris Krallis

Publisher: Mrts

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 9780866984706

This book exposes Michael Attaleiates' engagement with the problem of Byzantine imperial decline some three decades before the Crusades. It suggests that in the History, his account of the empire's eleventh-century drama, Attaleiates creatively appropriates ancient genres and ideas and produces a mature and original critique of contemporary mores that escapes the confines of the dominant political and cultural orthodoxy, seeking solutions to the crisis faced by the Byzantine polity in its distant Roman past. The reader encounters here, in the person of this judge, one of the Empire's most interesting and least studied historians and with him participates in conversations that shaped politics in an era of cataclysmic cultural, economic, social and political change. Book jacket.

Michael Attaleiates

Author: Dimitrios Krallis

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780542787324

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This dissertation is about history as politics in eleventh-century Byzantium. Focusing on the Historia, the work of the judge and courtier Michael Attaleiates, it examines the uses of history within the Byzantine court in the 1060s and 1070s. I argue that Michael Attaleiates wrote history with his eyes firmly set on the political scene of his times. The production of history was a highly political enterprise that allowed Attaleiates to communicate with his contemporaries and express his ideas about the empire's military and political crisis. At the same time his skills as a historian were presented as skills useful in governance. By demonstrating his understanding of the past Attaleiates hinted at his ability to plan the future. The Historia was therefore the proof of his status as an advisor and an active political man. The portrait of Attaleiates emerging from this dissertation is one of an ambitious, socially conscious, "patriotic" and entrepreneurial political agent negotiating the pitfalls of Byzantine court life while maintaining a dialogue on current affairs with his contemporaries.

Social Change in Town and Country in Eleventh-Century Byzantium

Author: James Howard-Johnston

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020-06-04

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0198841612

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The eleventh century saw both the heyday of Byzantium and its almost immediate subsequent decline following serious military defeats and heavy territorial losses. The papers in this volume view the social order as a prime determinant of change, tracking it through archaeological and documentary evidence to deepen our understanding of the period.

Byzantium in the Eleventh Century

Author: Marc D. Lauxtermann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-10-18

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1351803964

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The eleventh century in Byzantium is all about being in between, whether this is between Basil II and Alexios Komnenos, between the forces of the Normans, the Pechenegs and the Turks, or between different social groupings, cultural identities and religious persuasions. It is a period of fundamental changes and transformations, both internal and external, but also a period rife with clichés and dominated by the towering presence of Michael Psellos whose usually self-contradictory accounts continue to loom large in the field of Byzantine studies. The essays collected here, which were delivered at the 45th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, explore new avenues of research and offer new perspectives on this transitional period. The book is divided into four thematic clusters: 'The age of Psellos' studies this crucial figure and seeks to situate him in his time; 'Social structures' is concerned with the ways in which the deep structures of Byzantine society and economy responded to change; 'State and Church' offers a set of studies of various political developments in eleventh-century Byzantium; and 'The age of spirituality' offers the voices of those for whom Psellos had little time and little use: monks, religious thinkers and pious laymen.

War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium

Author: Georgios Theotokis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0429574770

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War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium presents new insights and critical approaches to warfare between the Byzantine Empire and its neighbours during the eleventh century. Modern historians have identified the eleventh century as a landmark era in Byzantine history. This was a period of invasions, political tumult, financial crisis and social disruption, but it was also a time of cultural and intellectual innovation and achievement. Despite this, the subject of warfare during this period remains underexplored. Addressing an important gap in the historiography of Byzantium, the volume argues that the eleventh century was a period of important geo-political change, when the Byzantine Empire was attacked on all sides, and its frontiers were breached. This book is valuable reading for scholars and students interested in Byzantium history and military history.

Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing

Author: Leonora Neville

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-05-17

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 110866394X

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This handy reference guide makes it easier to access and understand histories written in Greek between 600 and 1480 CE. Covering classicizing histories that continued ancient Greek traditions of historiography, sweeping, fast-paced 'chronicle' type histories, and dozens of idiosyncratic historical texts, it distills the results of complex, multi-lingual, specialist scholarship into clear explanations of the basic information needed to approach each medieval Greek history. It provides a sound basis for further research on each text by describing what we know about the time of composition, content covered by the history, authorship, extant manuscripts, previous editions and translations, and basic bibliography. Even-handed explanations of scholarly debates give readers the information they need to assess controversies independently. A comprehensive introduction orients students and non-specialists to the traditions and methods of Byzantine historical writing. It will prove an invaluable timesaver for Byzantinists and an essential entry point for classicists, western medievalists, and students.

Serving Byzantium's Emperors

Author: Dimitris Krallis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-01-31

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 3030045250

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This book is a microhistory of eleventh-century Byzantium, built around the biography of the state official Michael Attaleiates. Dimitris Krallis presents Byzantium as a cohesive, ever-evolving, dynamic, Roman political community, built on traditions of Roman governance and Hellenic culture. In the eleventh century, Byzantium faced a crisis as it navigated a shifting international environment of feudal polities, merchant republics, steppe migrations, and a rapidly transforming Islamic world. Attaleiates’ life, from provincial birth to Constantinopolitan death, and career, as a member of an ancient empire’s officialdom, raise questions of identity, family, education, governance, elite culture, Romanness, Hellenism, science and skepticism, as well as political ideology during this period. The life and work of Attaleiates is used as a prism through which to examine important questions about a long-lived medieval polity that is usually studied as exotic and distinct from both the European and the Near Eastern historical experience.

Michael Palaiologos and the Publics of the Byzantine Empire in Exile, c.1223–1259

Author: Aleksandar Jovanović

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-09-28

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 3031092783

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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.

The Byzantine World War

Author: Nick Holmes

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2019-05-28

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1838598928

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Provides a new angle on the Crusades – from the viewpoint of the Byzantine Empire. An exciting narrative describing the fall of Byzantium in the eleventh century, the origins of modern Turkey, and the epic campaign of the First Crusade. Will appeal to anyone interested in history, military history or medieval history.

Byzantium in the Time of Troubles

Author: Eric McGeer

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-12-30

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9004419403

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The Continuation of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes provides a contemporary narrative of the events and people that shaped the course of Byzantine history in a time military and political crisis.