Social Stratification in Late Byzantium / Christos Malatras.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Malatras, Chrēstos, author.

Series:

Edinburgh Byzantine studies.

Edinburgh Byzantine Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Byzantine Empire--History--1081-1453.

Social classes--Byzantine Empire.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (609 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press Ltd, [2023]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Introduces the basic patterns, ideas and gestures that governed the system of social relations and the construction of social profiles and roles of Byzantine society.

Contents:

Intro

List of Illustrations

List of Abbreviations

Preface and Acknowledgements

Note to the Reader

Introduction: Byzantium after 1261: State, Society and Culture

The Subject of the Study and the Sources

Recent Scholarship on (Late) Byzantine Society

Byzantine Society before the Palaiologan Period: Structure and Characteristics

Outline

Part I: The Earthly Order

1 The Social System

The Order (Taxis) of the Empire

The Dialectics of Deference and the Social Contract

Social Tension and the Challenges to the Established Order

2 Social Status

Social Values and Prestige

Status Incongruence and Social Ascent

3 Social Stratification

Estates and Orders in Byzantium

The Rich and the Poor, the Archontes and the Dēmos

The Anatomy of the Archontes

The Middle Classes and Their Urban Economic Activities

The Peasant World

Concluding Remarks

4 Social Associations

Communities and Vertical Social Groups

A Society of Circles and Social Networks

The Aristocratic Oikos and Its Following

A Fragmented Society

5 Social Power

The Basis of Economic Power

Political Power

State, Church and Society . . . and the Breakdown

Part II: Case Studies

6 Late Byzantine Provincial Society: The Example of Serres

The Higher Elite in Serres and the Non-local Forces of Economic and Social Influence

The Local Military Elite of Serres

The Civil (Ecclesiastical) Elite of Serres

The Monasteries and Local Society

Urban Economic Activities and the Middle Class

Social Relations in the Countryside of the Lower Strymon

Late Byzantine Provincial Society

7 Late Palaiologan Urban Society: Constantinople at the Turn of the Fifteenth Century

Byzantine Society on the Eve of Demise: Developments in the Late Fourteenth Century.

Economic and Social Life in Constantinople during the Siege of Bāyezīd I (1394-1402)

The Fortunes of the Higher and of the 'Military' Elite

The Civil Elite

The Middle Class of Constantinople

The Aftermath

Conclusion: The Order and the Structures of the Social System

Appendices

Tables 26-9

Glossary

General Terms

Late Byzantine Offices, Dignities and Epithets

Byzantine Emperors (1261-1453)

Alphabetical List of the OfficialHierarchy of Titles in Pseudo-Kodinos

Alphabetical List of Ecclesiastical Offices

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Secondary Works

Index of Names

Index of Terms

Index of Places.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781474460910

1474460917

9781474460903

1474460909