The Byzantine Commonwealth 500-1453 (History Of Civilization)

Praeger, 1971. Hardcover. Near Fine +/Very Good +. Throughout Much Of The Middle Ages, Eastern Europe-The Balkans, Russia, And Lands On Either Side Of The Middle Danube--Fell Under The Political And Cultural Influence Of The Byzantine Empire, And In Time They Came To Share A Common Cultural Tradition. The Byzantine Heritage Of This Countries Is In Fact Significant Enough For Us To Say That They Formed A Single International Community. In The Byzantine Commonwealth, The Often Obscure History Of This Period Is Brought To Life By Dimitri Obolensky With The Aid Of Numerous Maps And Photographs. Barbarian Invasions In The Early Part Of The Period Caused Shifting Of Boundaries And Division Into Ethnic Groups And Warring National States. But, Through It All, The Commonwealth Retained Enough Vitality And Cohesion To Survive As A Definite Entity, Not Merely An Intellectual Abstraction But A Real Society. Professor Obolensky Here Provides A Comprehensive Account Of The Relations Between Byzantium And Eastern Europe--Political, Diplomatic, Economic, Religious, And Cultural--Considering Them Both In The Light Of Byzantine Europe's Foreign Policy And From The Point Of View Of The East European Peoples Themselves. The Religious Bond Is Perhaps The Easiest To Comprehend, For The Community Has Been Seen Mainly As The Body Of Orthodox Christendom, With The Church Of Constantinople As Its Acknowledged Head; Political, Juridical, And Cultural Bonds Are More Elusive, Because National Sovereignty Was Still Strong And, Although The Rule Of The Byzantine Emperor And His Political Organization Was Fully Accepted, There Was Never A Need To Formalize It. It Was An Unusual Kind Of Nationalism That Flourished During The Middle Ages, And Professor Obolensky Explores Its Depths And Slow Development. The Byzantine Empire, After Surviving A Succession Of Wars, Recovered And Reassumed Control In The Ninth And Tenth Centuries; In The Late Middle Ages, Though It Was Politically Moribund, It Reasserted Its Cultural Dominance Over The Greater Part Of Eastern Europe. Byzantium Enjoyed A Towering Prestige, And As Long As The Empire Existed No Single Nation Of Eastern Europe Successfully Challenged Its Religious And Cultural Supremacy. This Is The First Major Work By A Western Historian To Isolate And Fully Examine The Society Of The European "Heirs Of Byzantium," A Society Whose Structure And Bonds Were Seldom Wholly Visible To Men Of The Middle Ages