Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843–1118
Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843–1118
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In Byzantium monks did not form a separate caste, apart from society. They were not only loyal to their own houses or monastic leaders, but also formed part of a nexus of social, economic and spiritual relationships which bound together the 'powerful' in the middle Byzantine state. Their monasticism, unlike the Western religious 'orders', displayed a highly individualistic streak. Using hagiography, chronicles and, in particular, the archives of the Athonite monasteries, this book reassesses the role of monks in Byzantine society and examines the reasons for the flowering of the monastic life in the period from the end of iconoclasm to the beginning of the twelfth century. The first study of its kind in English, it is aimed at anyone interested in either the Western or the Byzantine early medieval religious life.
- The first study in English of Byzantine monasticism in its social and economic setting
- Aimed at anyone interested in medieval church history, whether western or Byzantine
- The latest in a sequence of successful high-quality monographs on Byzantine history from Cambridge
Reviews & endorsements
'… excellent … there is no comparable book in English about Byzantine monastic life and its importance in the imperial, social and economic fabric of society.' Donald Nicol, Anglo-Hellenic Review
Product details
March 2011Adobe eBook Reader
9780511869396
0 pages
0kg
6 maps 6 tables
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
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Table of Contents
- List of maps and tables
- Acknowledgments
- Note on transliteration and citation
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I. Founders and Benefactors:
- 1. The resurgence of the monastic life
- 2. Groups, communities and solitaries
- 3. Monastic founders
- 4. Monasticism and society
- 5. Piety, patronage and politics
- Part II. Protection and Survival:
- 6. Monasteries and the law
- 7. Fortune and misfortune
- 8. Territorial expansion and spiritual compromise
- 9. The challenge to central authority
- 10. The Komnene reaction
- Appendix: imperial privileges to monasteries, c. 900-1118
- Bibliography
- Index.
