Holy rulers and the integration of the medieval Serbian space
This paper proposes a new line of analysis of the rich body of medieval Serbian royal hagiography.
Linear frontiers in the 9th century: Bulgaria and Wessex
I intend to answer some of those questions through a comparison between two famous, yet relatively neglected examples of imposition of ‘linear frontiers’ onto the landscape of early medieval Europe, both dated to the 9th century.
Andronikos I Komnenos: A Greek Tragedy
The life and death of Andronikos I Komnenos provide us with a window into the aesthetic, moral, intellectual, religious, economic and emotional world of Byzantine society in the 12th century.
‘Just War’ and ‘Holy War’ in the Middle Ages
The current paper examines the issue of medieval war ethics from the perspective of the Byzantine case-study.
A Game of Power: Courtly influence on the decision-making of Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408-450)
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the workings and levels of courtly influence on Theodosius II’s (r. 408-450) decision-making, but also, through analysis of the material by using modern theories, to gain a deeper understanding of the courtly structures, power, and dynamics at play at his court in Constantinople.
Byzantine monastery discovered the Negev Desert
An impressive Byzantine monastery dating to the late sixth-century has been discovered in the northern part of the Negev Desert in Israel.
The soldier’s life: martial virtues and hegemonic masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire
This dissertation argues that martial virtues and images of the soldier’s life represented an essential aspect of early Byzantine masculine ideology. It contends that in many of the visual and literary sources from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, conceptualisations of the soldier’s life and the ideal manly life were often the same.
Greek in Marriage, Latin in Giving: The Greek Community of Fourteenth-century Palermo and the Deceptive Will of Bonannus de Geronimo
This article discusses the pitfalls that can occur in the study of ethnicity in the me- dieval period in the context of the potential existence of two separate Greek minori- ties—one indigenous and one immigrant—in fourteenth-century Latin-dominated Palermo, Italy.
Food and prejudice: a western ambassador in Byzantium
On the 4th of June, 968, Liutprand of Cremona made landfall at Constaninople as ambassador for the German emperor Otto I.
Spiritual ‘encyclopedias’ in eleventh-century Byzantium?
The theoretical debate concerning what constitutes an ‘encyclopedia’ in the Byzantine context appears to be not only underdeveloped, but also carried out in a vacuum with respect to the Latin medieval counterpart (and vice-versa).
The Red Sea and the Port of Clysma. A Possible Gate of Justinian’s Plague
The aim of this study is to present the sea and land commercial routes of the Byzantine Egypt and their role in the dissemination of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis from the Red Sea to Mediterranean ports. The Mediterranean port of Pelusium was considered as the starting point of the first plague pandemic…
Varangian: Norse Influences Within the Elite Guard of Byzantium
Constantinople maintained hundreds of years of dutiful employment of what has been often referred to by scholars as a mercenary force. The elite of which was charged with the primary duty of defending the seat of the Byzantine Emperor and defense of the realm at the emperor’s order.
The Military Use of the Icon of the Theotokos and its Moral Logic in the Historians of the Ninth-Twelfth Centuries
Starting at least by the late tenth century, Byzantine emperors took icons of the Mother of God with them on campaign. This article examines the appearance of such icons in the narratives of historical texts.
‘Waiting Only for a Pretext’: A New Chronology for the Sixth-Century Byzantine Invasion of Spain
This article argues that the common modern version of the invasion, in which Byzantine forces arrived in 552, fought on the side of the usurper Athanagild until 555, and then fought against Athanagild for a brief period before concluding a treaty with him, is flawed and, relying on a more precise reading of the sources, proposes a new chronology and narrative, in which Byzantine forces did not arrive until 554.
Bright Beginnings: Jewish Christian Relations in the Holy Land, AD 400-700
This paper shows that Christian and Jewish relations in the Holy Land between the fourth and seventh centuries, according to the archaeological evidence, were characterized by peaceful co-existence.
Warfare and propaganda: the portrayal of Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282 – 1328) as an incompetent military leader in the Histories of John VI Kantakouzenos (1347-1354)
The Histories of Kantakouzenos is the main source for the civil war between Andronikos II and Andronikos III which was fought intermittently from 1321 until 1328.
The Man of Sorrows and the King of Glory in Italy, c. 1250 – c. 1350
The Man of Sorrows – an iconographic type of Jesus Christ following his Crucifixion – has received extensive analytical treatment in the art-historical literature.
Maurice, Son of Theodoric: Welsh Kings and the Mediterranean World AD 550-650
Among the many petty rulers of early medieval Wales was a king whose name can be rendered Maurice, son of Theodoric.
The Means of Destruction: How the Ottoman Empire Finally Ended the Byzantine Empire
No European had any reason to believe that the Ottomans would capture Constantinople, since they had tried two times previously and had failed in both of those attempts.
‘Part of our commonwealth’: a study of the Normans in eleventh-century Byzantine historiography
‘Part of our commonwealth’: a study of the Normans in eleventh-century Byzantine historiography Alexander Olson (Simon Fraser University) Simon Fraser University: Faculty of…
The Lost Secret History of Nicetas the Paphlagonian
Although the Secret History of Nicetas the Paphlagonian has failed to reach us in its original form, it has probably shaped our knowledge of Byzantium in the ninth and early tenth centuries more than any surviving text.
Byzantine Church and Mosaic discovered in Israel
Archaeologists working for the Israel Antiquities Authority have uncovered the remains of a 1500 year old Byzantine church south of Tel Aviv. It includes a large mosaic and inscriptions in Greek.
Manuel II Palaeologus in Paris (1400-1402): Theology, Diplomacy, and Politics
The end of the fourteenth century found the Byzantine Empire in a critical state.
Integrative Medicine: Incorporating Medicine and Health into the Canon of Medieval European History
Hitherto peripheral (if not outright ignored) in general medieval historiography, medieval medical history is now a vibrant subdiscipline, one that is rightlyattracting more and more attention from ‘mainstream’ historians and other studentsof cultural history.
Land and Sea Communications, Fourth–Fifteenth Centuries
The principle that the active and coordinated collaboration of nature and man is an essential requirement for the creation of a network of communications is of fundamen- tal importance.