Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204

by Paul Stephenson

Overview

This is a narrative political history of the northern Balkans in the period 900-1204. It treats the Balkans as the frontier of the Byzantine empire, and considers imperial relations with the peoples living in the Balkans, including the Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians and Hungarians. It also considers responses to invasions from beyond the frontier: by steppe nomads, from beyond the Danube, and by western powers through Hungary and across the Adriatic sea. The first four crusades, 1095-1204, are considered in some detail, and extensive use is made of archaeology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521027564
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.83(d)
Lexile:	1530L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

List of maps and figures; Preface; A note on citation and transliteration; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Bulgaria and beyond: the northern Balkans (c. 900–963); 2. The Byzantine occupation of Bulgaria (963-1025); 3. Northern nomads (1025–1100); 4. Southern Slavs (1025–1100); 5. The rise of the west, I: Normans and crusaders (1081–1118); 6. The rise of the west, II: Hungarians and Venetians (1100–1143); 7. Manuel I Comnenus confronts the West (1143–1156); 8. Advancing the frontier: the annexation of Sirmium and Dalmatia (1156–1180); 9. Casting off the 'Byzantine yoke' (1180–1204); Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...Stephenson has incorporated into his work recent sigillographical publications as well as reports on archaeological finds...usefully discussed and analyzed with the help of tables, graphs, and maps of find spots. The book is well written and discussion is concise, and is recommended for all collections." Choice

"...can be lauded both as a successful synthesis of a number of practical, and some theoretical, problems related to Balkan dimensions of the High Middle Ages, and as a thorough new reading of the available written sources, supplemented with overviews of archaeological discoveries made in Southeast Europe during the last decades." Comitatus

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