The Byzantine Economy

A concise survey of the economy of the Byzantine Empire.

Angeliki E. Laiou (Author), Cécile Morrisson (Author)

9780521849784, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 September 2007

288 pages, 3 b/w illus. 8 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.52 kg

'[The Byzantine Economy] offers us the model of historiographic knowledge accumulated and mastered. I entertain no doubts as to the redistribution of such learning or as to the wide dissemination which this magisterial 'textbook' is sure to achieve.' Le Moyen Age

This is a concise survey of the economy of the Byzantine Empire from the fourth century AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Organised chronologically, the book addresses key themes such as demography, agriculture, manufacturing and the urban economy, trade, monetary developments, and the role of the state and ideology. It provides a comprehensive overview of the economy with an emphasis on the economic actions of the state and the productive role of the city and non-economic actors, such as landlords, artisans and money-changers. The final chapter compares the Byzantine economy with the economies of western Europe and concludes that the Byzantine economy was one of the most successful examples of a mixed economy in the pre-industrial world. This is the only concise general history of the Byzantine economy and will be essential reading for students of economic history, Byzantine history and medieval history more generally.

Introduction
1. Natural and human resources
2. The late antique economy and the shift to medieval structures (sixth to early eighth centuries)
3. Restructuring, recovery and controlled expansion (early eighth to tenth centuries)
4. The age of accelerated growth (eleventh to twelfth centuries)
5. Small-state economics (from sometime in the thirteenth century to the fifteenth century)
6. The Byzantine economy as exemplar
the Byzantine and the western medieval economies.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], European history [HBJD]