The Social History of Byzantium (eBook)

John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, and is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of late Roman and Byzantine social, economic, and institutional history. His books include Warfare, State, and Society in the Byzantine World (1999). Byzantium: A History (2000). Byzantium at War (2002), and The Oxford Handbook of Byzantium Studies (editor with E. Jeffreys and R. Cormack, 2008).

Notes on Contributors vii

Foreword ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Maps xiii

1 Towards a Social History of Byzantium 1
John Haldon

2 Men, Women, Eunuchs: Gender, Sex, and Power 31
Liz James

3 Family Structure and the Transmission of Property 51
Angeliki E. Laiou

4 The Social Function of the Law 76
Bernard Stolte

5 Social Relations and the Land: The Early Period 92
Peter Sarris

6 Land and Power in the Middle and Later Period 112
Peter Frankopan

7 The Producing Population 143
Michel Kaplan

8 Social Élites, Wealth, and Power 168
John Haldon

9 Court Society and Aristocracy 212
Paul Magdalino

10 Church and Society: Iconoclasm and After 233
Michael Angold

11 A Monastic World 257
Alice-Mary Talbot

Glossary of Byzantine and Medieval Terms 279

Index 286

"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 specialised 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