Why does medieval Rome look so, for lack of a better word, Byzantine? Why do its monuments speak an aesthetic of the medieval East? And just how do we quantify that Byzantine aesthetic or even the word “Byzantine”? 
This book seeks to consider the ways in which the artistic styles and iconographies generally associated with the eastern medieval tradition had a life in the West and, in many cases, were just as western as they were eastern. Rome’s medieval monuments are a fundamental part of the history of the East, a history that says more about a cross- cultural exchange and interconnected “Romes” than difference and separation. 
Each chapter follows the political and theological relationships between the East and the West chronologically, exploring the socio-political exchanges as they manifest in the visual language of the monuments that defined the medieval landscape of Rome.

Byzantine Rome (Past Imperfect)

Arts & Photography

Labatt, Annie Montgomery

History & Criticism

Arc Humanities Press

In this work, Francois Soyer examines the nature of medieval anti-Jewish sentiment and violence. Analysing developments in Europe between 1100 and 1500, he points to the tensions in medieval anti-Jewish thought amongst thinkers who hoped to convert Jews and blamed Talmudic scholarship for their obduracy and yet who also, conversely, often essentialized Judaism to the point that it transformed into the functional equivalent of the modern concept of race. He argues that we should not consider antisemitism as a monolithic concept but accept the existence of independent, historical meanings and thus of antisemitisms (plural), including "medieval antisemitism" as distinct from anti-Judaism.

Medieval Antisemitism? (Past Imperfect)

History

Soyer, François

Europe

Why were virtuous Byzantine women described as manly? Why were boys' bodies thought to be closer in constitution to those of women than adult men? Did Byzantines think eunuchs were men? This lively and personal book explains some key aspects of how people of the Medieval Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) conceived of men and women, masculinity and femininity, and proper behaviour for men and women. By laying bare fundamental ideas about how gender was defined and performed, Byzantine Gender enables readers to understand Byzantine society more fully. And by providing background information about Byzantine gender, it makes it easier to approach and appreciate the fascinating otherness of Byzantine culture.

Byzantine Gender (Past Imperfect)

Neville, Leonora

The popular view of the Crusades is that of two zealous armies ranged against each other in a state of practically permanent warfare, lacking mutual respect, understanding, or co-operation. Scholars long ago replaced such ideas with a much more nuanced understanding, in which rulers from both sides could work together for mutual benefit, even while pretending to ascribe to the principles of crusade and jihad. This perspective, however, focused almost exclusively on the actions of the elites; the attitudes of those who made up the vast majority of the society in the Levant have been all but ignored. In a clear and accessible form, this book explores everyday relations and interactions between Christians and Muslims in the Levant during the Crusades, demonstrating that it was usually practicality rather than religious scruples that dictated their responses to the religious other.

Christian-Muslim Relations during the Crusades (Past Imperfect)

Mallett, Alex

As a small, landlocked country, medieval Bosnia managed to preserve its individuality, characterized by religious plurality and by the persistence of its own ancient customs. But its central position in the region, situated between east and west, and between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, meant it was heavily influenced, both politically and culturally by the Venetian Republic, the Hungarian Kingdom, and the Byzantine Empire. Due to language issues and scarcity of sources, this region has largely been overlooked by western historiography. This volume features contributions from an exciting new generation of medievalists, who are working to rectify this gap in the narrative.

Medieval Bosnia and South-East European Relations: Political, Religious, and Cultural Life at the Adriatic Crossroads (Beyond Medieval Europe)

A figure of crucial importance to scholarship on western and eastern Europe alike, King Coloman (1208-1241) here receives long-overdue scholarly treatment as a key figure of the thirteenth century. The Arpád prince ruled over a vast area in Central Europe which remained largely affiliated to the Western Church, territories that comprise modern-day Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, and Bosnia. This study draws on Hungarian and other research that is inaccessible outside the region and places Coloman at the crossroads of Latin Christendom, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Mongol Empire.

Coloman, King of Galicia and Duke of Slavonia (1208-1241): Medieval Central Europe and Hungarian Power (Beyond Medieval Europe)

Biographies & Memoirs

Barabás, Gábor

Font, Márta

Historical

Based on the material of the Old Norse Icelandic sources written down in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, this book demonstrates how medieval Scandinavians imagined Eastern Europe. It reconstructs the system of medieval Scandinavian perception of space in general, and the eastern part of the oecumene in particular. It also examines the unique information of these sources, of which the Russian chronicles were unaware.

Eastern Europe in Icelandic Sagas (Beyond Medieval Europe)

Jackson, Tatjana N.

Religion & Spirituality

By the end of the twelfth century, the Byzantine genos was a politically effective social group based upon ties of consanguineous kinship, but, importantly, it was also a cultural construct, an idea that held very real power, yet defies easy categorization. This study explores the role and function of the Byzantine aristocratic family group, or genos, as a distinct social entity, particularly its political and cultural role, as it appears in a variety of sources in the tenth through twelfth centuries.

Elite Byzantine Kinship, ca. 950-1204: Blood, Reputation, and the Genos (Beyond Medieval Europe)

Leidholm, Nathan

This book focuses on a key zone within the eastern frontier of medieval Europe: Podillya in modern-day Ukraine. Vitaliy Mykhaylovskiy offers a definitive guide to the region, which experienced great cultural and religious diversity, together with a continuous influx of newcomers. This is where Christian farmers met Muslim nomads. This is where German town residents and Polish nobles met urban Armenians and Tatars serving in the military. Podillya offers a unique opportunity to see interaction of so many peoples, principalities, and cultures – the eastern frontier of Europe at its most dynamic.

European Expansion and the Contested Borderlands of Late Medieval Podillya, Ukraine (Beyond Medieval Europe)

Mykhaylovskiy, Vitaliy

Teachers of medieval literature help students bridge the temporal, contextual, and linguistic gulfs between the Middle Ages and the twenty-first century. When episodes involving rape are thrown into the mix, that task becomes even more difficult. The essays in this volume approach these difficult texts in ways that are both academically and ethically sound, recognizing that students and teachers bring a variety of experiences to the classroom that necessarily color the reception of a given work.

Teaching Rape in the Medieval Literature Classroom: Approaches to Difficult Texts (Teaching the Middle Ages)

Literature & Fiction

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