Authority in Byzantine Provincial Society, 950–1100

This 2004 book examines in detail the mechanisms provincial households in the Byzantine Empire used to acquire and dispute authority.

Leonora Neville (Author)

9780521838658, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 August 2004

224 pages, 5 b/w illus. 1 map
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

"...this is an excellent and significant book. Neville's rejection of ideological systems could be applied with profit to earlier and later periods of Byzantine social history and to Byzantine history in general...."
-H-Law, Warren Treadgold, Department of History, Saint Louis University

The imperial government over the central provinces of the Byzantine Empire c.950–1100 was both sovereign and apathetic, dealing effectively with a narrow set of objectives, chiefly collecting revenue and maintaining imperial sovereignty. Outside these spheres, action needed to be solicited from imperial officials, leaving vast opportunities for local people to act independently without legal stricture or fear of imperial involvement. In the absence of imperial intervention provincial households competed with each other for control over community decisions. The emperors exercised just enough strength at the right times to prevent the leaders of important households in the core provinces from becoming rulers themselves. Membership in a successful household, wealth, capacity for effective violence and access to the imperial court were key factors that allowed one to act with authority. This 2004 book examines in detail the mechanisms provincial households used to acquire and dispute authority.

Introduction
1. Imperial administration and Byzantine political culture
2. Activities of the imperial administration
3. Provincial households
4. Provincial households and the imperial administration
5. Regulation of provincial society
6. Contention and authority
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]