Reimagining Europe : Kievan Rus' in the medieval world / Christian Raffensperger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Raffensperger, Christian.

Series:

Harvard historical studies ; v. 177.

Harvard historical studies ; 177

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity--Kyivan Rus.

Christianity.

Europe--Relations--Kyivan Rus.

Europe.

Kyivan Rus--Civilization--Byzantine influences.

Kyivan Rus.

Kyivan Rus--History--862-1237.

Kyivan Rus--Relations--Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (340 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

An overriding assumption has long directed scholarship in both European and Slavic history: that Kievan Rus' in the tenth through twelfth centuries was part of a Byzantine commonwealth separate from Europe. Christian Raffensperger refutes this conception and offers a new frame for two hundred years of history, one in which Rus' is understood as part of medieval Europe and East is not so neatly divided from West.With the aid of Latin sources, the author brings to light the considerable political, religious, marital, and economic ties among European kingdoms, including Rus', restoring a historical record rendered blank by Rusianmonastic chroniclers as well as modern scholars ideologically motivated to build barriers between East and West. Further, Raffensperger revises the concept of a Byzantine Commonwealth that stood in opposition to Europe-and under which Rus' was subsumed-toward that of a Byzantine Ideal esteemed and emulated by all the states of Europe. In this new context, appropriation of Byzantine customs, law, coinage, art, and architecture in both Rus' and Europe can be understood as an attempt to gain legitimacy and prestige by association with the surviving remnant of the Roman Empire. Reimagining Europe initiates an expansion of history that is sure to challenge ideas of Russian exceptionalism and influence the course of European medieval studies.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

1. The Byzantine Ideal

2. The Ties That Bind

3. Russian Dynastic Marriage

4. Kiev as a Center of European Trade

5. The Micro-Christendom of Rus'

Conclusion

Appendix: Rulers of Rus'

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p.283-321) and index.

ISBN:

9780674065468

0674065468

9780674068544

0674068548

OCLC:

794003984