Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, c.700–c.1500
A Framework for Comparing Three Spheres

A comparative study of how elites gained and retained power and resources in the medieval Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic world.

Catherine Holmes (Edited by), Jonathan Shepard (Edited by), Jo van Steenbergen (Edited by), Björn Weiler (Edited by)

9781316519769, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 August 2021

500 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 3.5 cm, 0.94 kg

'… a comprehensive and well-structured insight into the development of power and elite structures between the 8th and 15th centuries in the Latin-Western, Byzantine and Islamic world. … one can congratulate the editors of the volume on a successful basic work that achieves its goal.' Miriam Salzmann, H/Soz/Kult (hsozkult.de)

This comparative study explores three key cultural and political spheres – the Latin west, Byzantium and the Islamic world from Central Asia to the Atlantic – roughly from the emergence of Islam to the fall of Constantinople. These spheres drew on a shared pool of late antique Mediterranean culture, philosophy and science, and they had monotheism and historical antecedents in common. Yet where exactly political and spiritual power lay, and how it was exercised, differed. This book focuses on power dynamics and resource-allocation among ruling elites; the legitimisation of power and property with the aid of religion; and on rulers' interactions with local elites and societies. Offering the reader route-maps towards navigating each sphere and grasping the fundamentals of its political culture, this set of parallel studies offers a timely and much needed framework for comparing the societies surrounding the medieval Mediterranean.

List of figures and maps
Preface and acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
List of contributors
General maps
1. Political culture in three spheres: introduction Catherine Holmes, Jonathan Shepard, Jo Van Steenbergen and Björn Weiler
2. Reflections on political culture in three spheres R. Stephen Humphreys
Part I. Sources: 3. Comparing the three spheres through the prism of the sources Jonathan Shepard
4. The Latin west: sources Björn Weiler and Jonathan Shepard
5. Byzantium: sources Jonathan Shepard
6. The Islamic world: sources Jo Van Steenbergen and Jonathan Shepard
Part II. Historical Contexts: 7. The Latin west: pluralism in the shadow of the past Len Scales
8. Byzantium: one or many? Catherine Holmes
9. The Islamic world: conquest, migration and accommodating diversity Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
Part III. Norms, Values and their Propagation: 10. The Latin west: expectations and legitimisation Björn Weiler
11. Byzantium: imperial order, Constantinopolitan ceremonial and pyramids of power Judith Herrin
12. The Islamic world: community, leadership and contested patterns of continuity Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
Part IV. Practice and Organisation: 13. The Latin west: multiple elites and overlapping jurisdictions Daniel Power
14. Byzantium: 'To have and to hold' – the acquisition and maintenance of elite power Rosemary Morris
15. The Islamic world: nomads, urban elites and courts in competition Andrew Marsham, Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen
Part V. Conclusions: 16. Comparisons, connections and conclusions Jonathan Shepard
Appendix
Glossary
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]