1st Edition

Byzantium and the West Perception and Reality (11th-15th c.)

    342 Pages
    by Routledge

    342 Pages
    by Routledge

    The interaction between Byzantium and the Latin West was intimately connected to practically all the major events and developments which shaped the medieval world in the High and Late Middle Ages – for example, the rise of the ‘papal monarchy’, the launch of the Crusades, the expansion of international and long distance commerce, or the flowering of the Renaissance. This volume explores not only the actual avenues of interaction between the two sides (trade, political and diplomatic contacts, ecclesiastical dialogue, intellectual exchange, armed conflict), but also the image each side had of the other and the way perceptions evolved over this long period in the context of their manifold contact.



    Twenty-one stimulating papers offer new insights and original research on numerous aspects of this relationship, pooling the expertise of an international group of scholars working on both sides of the Byzantine-Western ‘divide’, on topics as diverse as identity formation, ideology, court ritual, literary history, military technology and the economy, among others. The particular contribution of the research presented here is the exploration of how cross-cultural relations were shaped by the interplay of the thought-world of the various historical agents and the material circumstances which circumscribed their actions.



    The volume is primarily aimed at scholars and students interested in the history of Byzantium, the Mediterranean world, and, more widely, intercultural contacts in the Middle Ages.

    Introduction (by the editors); Part One:Setting the Scene; 1. Anthony Kaldellis, "Keroularios in 1054: Nonconfrontational to the Papal Legates and Loyal to the Emperor"; 2. Michel Balard, "Colonisation and Population Movements in the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages"; 3. Sandra Origone, "Genoa and Byzantium: Aspects of a Long Relationship"; Part Two: Byzantium and the West during the Early Crusades; 4. Athina Kolia-Dermitzaki, "Byzantium and the Crusades in the Komnenian Era: Perception and Reality"; 5. Jean-Claude Cheynet, "Some Thoughts on the Relations between Greeks and Latins at the Time of the First and Fourth Crusades"; 6. Jonathan Phillips, "Crusader Perceptions of Byzantium, c.1095 to c.1150"; 7. Angeliki Papageorgiou, "The Perception of Westerners in the Court of John II Komnenos"; 8. Elizabeth Jeffreys, "A Twelfth-Century Perspective on Byzantium’s Western Neighbours: The Witness of Manganeios Prodromos"; 9. Catherine Holmes, "De-centring Twelfth-Century Constantinople: Archbishop Eustathios and the Norman Conquest of Thessalonica Revisited"; 10. Michael Angold, "The Fall of Jerusalem in 1187 to Saladin and its Impact on Byzantine Opinion"; Part Three: Cross-cultural Contacts in the Margins of East and West; 11. Eleni Tounta, "Admiral Eugenius of Sicily (12th c.): Court Poetry and Political Propaganda in a Cross-Cultural Environment"; 12. Nikoletta Giantsi, "A Detail of the Third Lateran Council (1179): The Leper King of Jerusalem and the Papal Policy in the East"; 13. Alicia Simpson, "Byzantium and Hungary in the Late Twelfth Century and on the Eve of the Fourth Crusade: Personal Ties and Spheres of Influence"; 14. Ilias Giarenis, "Nicaea and the West (1204-1261): Aspects of Reality and Rhetoric"; 15. Maria Dourou-Eliopoulou, "The Image of the ‘Greek’ and the Reality of Greco-Latin Interaction in Romania, according to Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-century Latin Sources" ; 16. Nickiforos I. Tsougarakis, "Perceptions of the Greek Clergy and Rite in Late Medieval Pilgrimage Accounts to the Holy Land"; Part Four: The Latins and Late Byzantium: Perceptions and Reality; 17. Theodora Papadopoulou, "The ἑσπέρια γένη in Byzantine Literature before and after the First Capture of Constantinople (mid-12th to mid-13th c.)"; 18. Nikolaos G. Chrissis, "Worlds Apart? Reconsidering Late Byzantine Identity through the Image of the West"; 19. Sophia Mergiali-Sahas, "In the Face of a Historical Puzzle: Western Adventurers, Friars and Nobility in the Service of Michael VIII Palaiologos (1261-1282)"; 20. Triantafyllitsa Maniati-Kokkini, "Μιξοβάρβαροι and λίζιοι: Theory and Practice regarding the Integration of Westerners in Late Byzantine Social and Economic Reality"; 21. Christos Makrypoulias, "‘Our Engines are Better than Yours’: Perception and Reality of Late Byzantine Military Technology"; Index

    Biography

    Nikolaos G. Chrissis is Assistant Professor of Medieval History at the Democritus University of Thrace and Associate Lecturer at the Hellenic Open University, Greece. He has also taught at the Universities of London, UK, Birmingham, UK, and Crete, Greece. In 2012-2015, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Athens.





    Athina Kolia-Dermitzaki is Professor Emerita of Byzantine History at the University of Athens, Greece. Her research and publications deal with: Byzantine ideology; the political and ecclesiastical relations between Byzantium and the West; the ideological background in the Byzantine-Islamic confrontation; war and peace; and various aspects of Byzantine society (particularly mentalities).





    Angeliki Papageorgiou is Adjunct Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Slavic Studies at the University of Athens, Greece. Her research interests focus on the transition from the Middle-Byzantine to the Late-Byzantine period and the social, diplomatic and ideological history of the Komnenian era, as well as the relations between Byzantium and the Slavs from the 12th century onwards.