Where the Middle Ages Begin
This thesis will attempt to unravel how it came to be that men who claimed to fight in the name of the cross had come to attack one of the most important cities in all of Christendom. It shall focus particularly on the motivations and actions of the Venetians, a people whose involvement in this crusade and the crusading movement in general has often been misunderstood.
Intimately tied to concepts of wholeness, corporeal integrity, and the resurrection of the body, the collecting of bones and body parts of holy martyrs was an important aspect of the Christian cult of relics already during Antiquity
The Romano-Byzantine landscape was forever changed in the seventh century with Heraclius’ defeat of Sasanian Iran, the Arabs’ wresting of the Near East from the Byzantines, the removal of the Monophysite problem from Byzantium proper, and the massive devastation
brought by this ferocious cycle of warfare.
Since at least the Iron Age, and perhaps much earlier, Caucasia has been a cohesive yet diverse zone of cross-cultural encounter and shared historical experience. Despite their linkage by a web of interconnections which was as dense as it was durable, the peoples inhabiting the isthmus between the Black and Caspian Seas have seldom exhibited a conscious regional identity in their oral, written, and visual monuments.
Located at the heart of Constantinople by the Senate and the Imperial Palace, Hagia Sophia was one of the great monuments of Christianity for more than nine hundred years.
Jonathan Phillips sees one of the most notorious events in European history as a typical ‘clash of cultures’
This article is in direct contrast to an earlier one by Joseph Gill, in which he utilizes primary sources in an attempt to establish Pope Innocent III’s lack of responsibility in the outcome of the Crusade.
The Fall of Constantinople: Bishop Leonard and the Greek Accounts By Marios Philippides Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies v.22 (1981) Introduction: The work attributed to George Sphrantzes (1401-1477) has comes down to us in two different forms: a short version, the Chronicon Minus, and a much large account, the Chronicon Maius. The latter incorporates all […]
The relationships between the State and the Church in the Romanian Countries (14th-18th centuries) Flaut, Daniel Revista Romana de Studii Eurasiatice, Vol.4 (2008) Abstract History shows that, in setting up its organization, the Christian Church has always taken into consideration the historical context. In the Romanian Countries, as with other Orthodox peoples, “there was a strong […]
Byzantine women´s visibility in the arts Piltz, Elisabeth (Uppsala University, Sweden) 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London (2006): Communication (II.5 Secular Space) Abstract The role and status of women in Byzantium is related to the genus theory of women in medieval societies. Several scholars have already dealt with this problem. Angeliki Laiou has written about […]
Fama et Memoria: Portraits of Female Patrons in Mosaic Pavements of Churches in ByzantinePalestine and Arabia Britt, Karen C. Medieval Feminist Forum, 44, no. 2 (2008) Abstract When we think of portraits that memorialize the contributions of female donors to the construction and adornment of Byzantine churches, or to support their liturgical functions, the images that […]
Transparency, Contract Selection and the Maritime Trade of Venetian Crete, 1303-1351 Williamson, Dean V. US Department of Justice, July (2001) Abstract The paper explores how merchants enabled long-distance trade in the Mediterranean before and after the Black Death. The Black Death disrupted the flows of information about commercial prospects upon which merchants depended for deciding when, […]
The Means of Agricultural Production: Muscle and Tools Bryer, Anthony The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington,D.C. (2002) Abstract The principal means of Byzantine production was the muscle of its peasants. The Byzantine state, its administration, defense, even patronage of its arts, eventually depended upon […]
The Byzantines and Saladin, 1185-1192: Opponents of the Third Crusade Brand, Charles M. Speculum, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Apr., 1962) Abstract On the eve of the Third Crusade the chief Christian state in the East joined with Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, to further their common interests, which involved opposition to the Latins in the […]
The Debate on the Fourth Crusade Harris, Jonathan History Compass, Volume 2, Issue 1 (2004) Abstract This article examines attempts over the past two hundred years to account for the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople and its sack of the city in 1204. While nineteenth-century scholars dreamed up far-fetched conspiracy theories, their successors […]
Latins and Franks in Byzantium: Perception and Reality from the Eleventh to the Twelfth Century Kazhdan, Alexander The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. (2001) Abstract When scholars write about relations between the West and Byzantium in the Middle Ages, they naturally emphasize the contrasts […]
The “Wild Beast from the West”: Immediate Literary Reactions in Byzantium to the Second Crusade Jeffreys, Elizabeth and Michael The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. (2001) Abstract The purposes of this study are two: the first and more important is to draw […]
Novgorodian Travelers to the Mediterranean World in the Middle Ages Matsuki, Eizo Studies in the Mediterranean World Past and Present (1988) Abstract “Novgorod the Great,” a unique republic city state in the 12th-15th centuries, was situated at the Northwest corner of the Russian plain, not far from the Baltic Sea. It was on the northern […]
The Mese: Main Street of Constantinople By David Bergstein Published Online (2010) Introduction: Imagine the main street of your own town, the center of your home city. There are shops and restaurants, markets and amusement centers, bustling activity and the crowds of people. Just like modern urban centers, Byzantine Constantinople had a main street, known […]
The Eastern Schism and the Division of Europe Ledit, Joseph S.J., Theological Studies, Vol.12:4 (1951) Abstract Now that Europe has been cut in two, and its two fragments have become minor parts of the large systems that fill the world, Eurasia on one side, and the Atlantic community on the other, it becomes the object of […]
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