The North Caucasian Kingdom of Alania, 850-1240 / John Latham-Sprinkle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Latham-Sprinkle, John, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought ; 4th ser., 125.

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought. Fourth series ; 125

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

North Ossetia (Russia)--History--To 1500.

North Ossetia (Russia).

Russia (Federation)--North Ossetia.

Physical Description:

xvi, 330 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

The kingdom of Alania was the most powerful polity in the medieval North Caucasus. It contained strategic mountain passes across the Caucasus Mountains, as well as urban centres larger than any in contemporary Rus'. Its kings retained power from the mid ninth to the late eleventh century, intermarried with the ruling families of Georgia and Byzantium and led armies that terrorised the South Caucasus. In this, the first book to explore the subject in the English language, Latham-Srpinkle sheds light on how the kings of Alania came to embody the 'power of the foreign' -- the status which accrued to individuals who could access the material and spiritual products of distant lands -- thus rendering the development of a state structure unnecessary. Challenging existing narratives that centre elites and the state, Latham-Sprinkle provides an important contribution to the historiography of medieval state formation, Christianisation, and transregional connection.--from the back cover.

Contents:

Introduction: framing Alania

Forming the kingdom of Alania, c.800–880

Appropriating Christianity in Alania, c.800–932

The 'Power of the Foreign' and the political economy of the central north Caucasus in the tenth century

The Christian kingdom of Alania, c.960–1090

The Byzantine and Georgian courts and the kingdom of Alania, c.970–1090

The fall of the kingdom of Alania and the transformation of the North Caucasus, c.1090–1240 – Conclusion: Beyond failure.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781009373487

100937348X

OCLC:

1501556682

Publisher Number:

CIPO000254603