A SOCIAL HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM Until now, the social history of Byzantium has remained a neglected field. Professor John Haldon has put together a team of leading international Byzantinists, each of whom addresses his or her own specialized area. The book will be a critical tool for anyone who wants to understand Byzantium. Averil Cameron, University of Oxford The great merit of this volume is its openness to larger methodological debates about socio-economic history and state structures. For the first time in a comprehensive study, Byzantine society is treated as an integral part of the world history of the Middle Ages. Claudia Rapp, University of California, Los Angeles Western civilization owes an incalculable cultural and historical debt to the Byzantine Empire. Before falling to the Ottoman Turks in the mid-fifteenth century, the empire flourished for more than a thousand years, bridging the ancient and modern worlds. Byzantium profoundly influenced the pattern of cultural and political development in the lands it occupied and had an enduring influence on neighboring societies. A Social History of Byzantium delves into a crucial and often neglected strand of Byzantine studies the social history of the eastern Roman Empire. Drawing on a wealth of new research and with original essays by leading scholars, this groundbreaking work addresses a wide range of interconnected topics and offers illuminating insights into our knowledge of Byzantine society. Exploring such issues as family life, social structure, religion, class, gender, and imperial power, this book reveals the complex social structure woven throughout the Byzantine world.

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM"Until now, the social history of Byzantium has remained a neglected field. Professor John Haldon has put together a team of leading international Byzantinists, each of whom addresses his or her own specialized area. The book will be a critical tool for anyone who wants to understand Byzantium."Averil Cameron, University of Oxford"The great merit of this volume is its openness to larger methodological debates about socio-economic history and state structures. For the first time in a comprehensive study, Byzantine society is treated as an integral part of the world history of the Middle Ages."Claudia Rapp, University of California, Los AngelesWestern civilization owes an incalculable cultural and historical debt to the Byzantine Empire. Before falling to the Ottoman Turks in the mid-fifteenth century, the empire flourished for more than a thousand years, bridging the ancient and modern worlds. Byzantium profoundly influenced the pattern of cultural and political development in the lands it occupied and had an enduring influence on neighboring societies.A Social History of Byzantium delves into a crucial and often neglected strand of Byzantine studies - the social history of the eastern Roman Empire. Drawing on a wealth of new research and with original essays by leading scholars, this groundbreaking work addresses a wide range of interconnected topics and offers illuminating insights into our knowledge of Byzantine society. Exploring such issues as family life, social structure, religion, class, gender, and imperial power, this book reveals the complex social structure woven throughout the Byzantine world.

Notes on Contributors viiForeword ixList of Abbreviations xiMaps xiii1 Towards a Social History of Byzantium 1John Haldon2 Men, Women, Eunuchs: Gender, Sex, and Power 31Liz James3 Family Structure and the Transmission of Property 51Angeliki E. Laiou4 The Social Function of the Law 76Bernard Stolte5 Social Relations and the Land: The Early Period 92Peter Sarris6 Land and Power in the Middle and Later Period 112Peter Frankopan7 The Producing Population 143Michel Kaplan8 Social Élites, Wealth, and Power 168John Haldon9 Court Society and Aristocracy 212Paul Magdalino10 Church and Society: Iconoclasm and After 233Michael Angold11 A Monastic World 257Alice-Mary TalbotGlossary of Byzantine and Medieval Terms 279Index 286