Book contents
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- 20 After the Fourth Crusade
- 21 Balkan Powers: Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria (1200–1300)
- 22 The Palaiologoi and the World Around Them (1261–1400)
- 23 Latins in the Aegean and the Balkans (1300–1400)
- 24 The Roman Orthodox World (1393–1492)
- Glossary (Including some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
22 - The Palaiologoi and the World Around Them (1261–1400)
from Part III - The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- General Introduction
- Part I The Earlier Empire c. 500–c. 700
- Part II The Middle Empire c. 700–1204
- Part III The Byzantine Lands in the Later Middle Ages 1204–1492
- 20 After the Fourth Crusade
- 21 Balkan Powers: Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria (1200–1300)
- 22 The Palaiologoi and the World Around Them (1261–1400)
- 23 Latins in the Aegean and the Balkans (1300–1400)
- 24 The Roman Orthodox World (1393–1492)
- Glossary (Including some Proper Names)
- Genealogical Tables and Lists of Rulers
- List of alternative place names
- Bibliography
- Picture Acknowledgements
- Index
- References
Summary
introduction
In the course of the fourteenth century, Byzantine society underwent a series of major changes, in some ways similar to those in western Europe, in other ways quite different, and complicated by the presence of external threats that progressively led to the dissolution of the state and the conquest of its territory. While economic, social and cultural developments show considerable vitality, the weakness of the state, radically reducing its ability to provide order and security for its subjects, could not but influence the dynamic of other developments. Innovation, in practice more often than in theory, was not lacking; on the contrary, the responses to new conditions often present interesting if contradictory aspects.
For political history, a new era begins not with the start of the century but rather with the recovery of Constantinople from the Latins by a small expeditionary force of Michael VIII Palaiologos (1258–82), emperor of Nicaea since 1258. This event, which occurred on 25 July 1261, had been long desired by the leaders of the major Greek splinter states, the emperors of Nicaea and the despots of Epiros, and it had certainly been prepared by Michael VIII. The restoration of a Byzantine emperor in the old capital of the empire had certain important consequences. For one thing, it displaced the rulers’ focus from Asia to Europe, as they had to deal with western claims. The papacy, Charles of Anjou, the house of Valois and the Venetians all became engaged in various efforts to retake Constantinople, so that there was hostility between Byzantium and at least one western power at almost any time between 1261 and 1314; in 1281, as in 1308, powerful coalitions were aligned against Byzantium.
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- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500–1492 , pp. 803 - 833Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
References
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