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Trapped in the imperial narrative? Some reflections on warfare and the provincial masses in Byzantium (600-1204)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2020

Yannis Stouraitis
Yannis Stouraitis*
Affiliation:
University of EdinburghYannis.Stouraitis@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

The experience of war of the common people in the medieval East Roman Empire is a topic related to hotly debated issues such as collective identification and attachments, or imperialism and ecumenical ideology. This paper attempts a bottom-up approach to the way warfare was perceived and experienced by provincial populations based on the analysis of selected evidence from the period between the seventh and the twelfth centuries. It goes without saying that the treatment of the topic here could not be exhaustive. My main goal was to problematize the relationship between the objectives of imperial military policies and the pragmatic needs of common provincials for protection of their well-being.

Keywords

Byzantiumimperialismecumenismwarfareidentity
Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , April 2020 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 2020

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Footnotes

The research for this paper was conducted within the framework of the project ‘Ideologies under scrutiny: Differentiated perceptions of Roman imperial ideals in Byzantine society (7th-12th centuries)’, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (P 24752-G19).

References

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