Byzantium, Venice and the Medieval Adriatic
Spheres of Maritime Power and Influence, c. 700-1453

Innovative study re-positioning the Adriatic as a liminal region between different cultures and faiths before the heyday of Venice.

Magdalena Skoblar (Edited by)

9781108814645, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 March 2023

424 pages, 56 colour illus. 2 maps 5 tables
24.4 x 17 x 2.2 cm, 0.818 kg

'By shedding new light on the pre-Venetian Adriatic and the competitors of Venice, this volume explains why hegemony over this sea was crucial for Mediterranean polities.' Nicola Carotenuto, English Historical Review

The Adriatic has long occupied a liminal position between different cultures, languages and faiths. This book offers the first synthesis of its history between the seventh and the mid-fifteenth century, a period coinciding with the existence of the Byzantine Empire which, as heir to the Roman Empire, lay claim to the region. The period also saw the rise of Venice and it is important to understand the conditions which would lead to her dominance in the late Middle Ages. An international team of historians and archaeologists examines trade, administration and cultural exchange between the Adriatic and Byzantium but also within the region itself, and makes more widely known much previously scattered and localised research and the results of archaeological excavations in both Italy and Croatia. Their bold interpretations offer many stimulating ideas for rethinking the entire history of the Mediterranean during the period.

Introduction Magdalena Skoblar
1. The Adriatic Sea 500–1100: A Corrupted Alterity? Richard Hodges
2. Thinking of Linking: Pottery Connections, Southern Adriatic, Butrint and Beyond Joanita Vroom
3. A Winter Sea? Exchange and Power at the Ebbing of the Adriatic Connection 600–800 Francesco Borri
4. The Origins of Venice: Between Italy, Byzantium and the Adriatic Stefano Gasparri
5. The Northern Adriatic Area between the Eighth and the Ninth Century: New Landscapes, New Cities Sauro Gelichi
6. Provincia Iadrensis: Heir of Roman Dalmatia or a Still-Born Child of Byzantine Early Medieval Adriatic Policy? Trpimir Vedriš
7. Ravenna and Other Early Rivals of Venice: Comparative Urban and Economic Development in the Upper Adriatic c.751–1050 Thomas S. Brown
8. Byzantine Apulia Jean-Marie Martin
9. From One Coast to Another and Beyond: Adriatic Connections through the Sigillographic Evidence Pagona Papadopoulou
10. Icons in the Adriatic before the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 Magdalena Skoblar
11. The Rise of the Adriatic in the Age of the Crusades Peter Frankopan
12. Venice in the Twelfth Century: Between the Adriatic and the Aegean Michael Angold
13. Venice, the Ionian Sea and the Southern Adriatic after the Fourth Crusade Guillaume Saint-Guillain
14. Sea Power and the Evolution of Venetian Crusading Christopher Wright
15. Reassessing the Venetian Presence in the Late Medieval Eastern Adriatic Oliver Jens Schmitt
16. 'Strangers' in the City? The Paradoxes of Communitarianism in Fifteenth-Century Venice Élisabeth Crouzet-Pavan
Conclusion Chris Wickham
Index.

Subject Areas: Medieval European archaeology [HDDM], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]