Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, c.700–c.1500
Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, c.700–c.1500
Jonathan Shepard , University of Oxford
Jo van Steenbergen , Ghent University
Björn Weiler , Aberystwyth University
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This comparative study explores three key cultural and political spheres – the Latin west, Byzantium and the Islamic world from Central Asia to the Atlantic – roughly from the emergence of Islam to the fall of Constantinople. These spheres drew on a shared pool of late antique Mediterranean culture, philosophy and science, and they had monotheism and historical antecedents in common. Yet where exactly political and spiritual power lay, and how it was exercised, differed. This book focuses on power dynamics and resource-allocation among ruling elites; the legitimisation of power and property with the aid of religion; and on rulers' interactions with local elites and societies. Offering the reader route-maps towards navigating each sphere and grasping the fundamentals of its political culture, this set of parallel studies offers a timely and much needed framework for comparing the societies surrounding the medieval Mediterranean.
- Offers the first systematic presentations of the three spheres' political cultures in English-speaking or any scholarship
- Provides readers with a ready tool for comparative study
- Represents an important first stage in a wider project to identify and explain comparisons and connections between the spheres
Reviews & endorsements
'Three medieval civilizations, at least partially derived from the Roman world and based on monotheism, confronted each other in the Mediterranean area. The authors, highlighting similarities as well as differences, have brilliantly explored the evolution of their political cultures (rulers, military class, role of families and women, resource allocation …).' Jean-Claude Cheynet, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
'A marvellous work of collaborative scholarship. Ideas take centre stage in this study of political dynamics in the West, Byzantium and Islam. It is comparative history at its best, seeking out the general from the particular and forming a very useful introduction to the medieval history of western Eurasia.' James Howard-Johnston, University of Oxford
'This is an illuminating and thought-provoking exploration of elite political culture--the theory and practice of power - across three cultural spheres that dominated medieval Eurasia. Carefully plotted and thoughtfully framed, the editors are to be congratulated for producing a sequence of interfoliated essays about medieval Eurasia that is sober and judicious.' Paul M. Cobb, University of Pennsylvania
'… a comprehensive and well-structured insight into the development of power and elite structures between the 8th and 15th centuries in the Latin-Western, Byzantine and Islamic world. … one can congratulate the editors of the volume on a successful basic work that achieves its goal.' Miriam Salzmann, H/Soz/Kult (hsozkult.de)
'This volume represents an impressive achievement and substantial resource that will appeal not only to historians, but also to scholars of art, religion, and literature. … It brilliantly shows the value of long-term working groups and how efforts to make one's field legible to newcomers can prompt a productive discussion of the terms and assumptions that shape our fields.' Heather A. Badamo, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies
Product details
November 2023Paperback
9781009011136
592 pages
229 × 152 × 30 mm
0.847kg
Available
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Table of Contents
- List of figures and maps
- Preface and acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- List of contributors
- General maps
- 1. Political culture in three spheres: introduction Catherine Holmes, Jonathan Shepard, Jo Van Steenbergen and Björn Weiler
- 2. Reflections on political culture in three spheres R. Stephen Humphreys
- Part I. Sources:
- 3. Comparing the three spheres through the prism of the sources Jonathan Shepard
- 4. The Latin west: sources Björn Weiler and Jonathan Shepard
- 5. Byzantium: sources Jonathan Shepard
- 6. The Islamic world: sources Jo Van Steenbergen and Jonathan Shepard
- Part II. Historical Contexts:
- 7. The Latin west: pluralism in the shadow of the past Len Scales
- 8. Byzantium: one or many? Catherine Holmes
- 9. The Islamic world: conquest, migration and accommodating diversity Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
- Part III. Norms, Values and their Propagation:
- 10. The Latin west: expectations and legitimisation Björn Weiler
- 11. Byzantium: imperial order, Constantinopolitan ceremonial and pyramids of power Judith Herrin
- 12. The Islamic world: community, leadership and contested patterns of continuity Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
- Part IV. Practice and Organisation:
- 13. The Latin west: multiple elites and overlapping jurisdictions Daniel Power
- 14. Byzantium: 'To have and to hold' – the acquisition and maintenance of elite power Rosemary Morris
- 15. The Islamic world: nomads, urban elites and courts in competition Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
- Part V. Conclusions:
- 16. Comparisons, connections and conclusions Jonathan Shepard
- Appendix
- Glossary
- Index.
