Byzantium and Europe
Speros Vryonis, Jr.
Byzantium and Europe
Speros Vryonis, Jr.
Thames and Hudson, London 1967
© THAMES AND HUDSON 1967
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY JARROLD AND SONS LTD NORWICH
CONTENTS
THE EMPERORS OF BYZANTIUM 8
I. TRANSITION FROM ANTIQUITY AND THE EMERGENCE OF BYZANTIUM
Chaos of the third century 11
Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine 16
The barbarian threat 30
Crisis of the fourth and fifth centuries 35
Justinian the Great 42
II. ESTABLISHMENT OF A HOMOGENEOUS BYZANTINE SOCIETY
Heraclians and Isaurians 57
Retrenchment 57
The threat of Islam 62
The new Western empire 66
Disorder in the Balkans 68
Administrative change 71
Iconoclasm 72
Cultural changes 78
Macedonians 83
The Byzantine reconquista 83
Economic life 92
The rôle of the Church 99
The Macedonian contribution to Byzantine culture 110
III. DECLINE
Internal problems 121
Victory of the military 123
Social and economic changes 126
The external threat 130
The crisis of 1071 132
Revival under Alexius I Comnenus 134
Alexius’ successors 141
Flowering of the arts 145
The fall of Constantinople 150
IV. PROSTRATION AND COLLAPSE
The splintering of Hellenism 153
The Latin administration 159
Interplay of the Greek and Latin cultures 162
Reconquest of Constantinople 164
A temporary victory 167
The rise of the Turks 171
The literature of decline 178
The end of Byzantium 187
EPILOGUE 193
BIBLIOGRAPHY 197
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 201
MAPS 206
INDEX 209
Library of European Civilization
Byzantium and Europe
SPEROS VRYONIS JR.
For a thousand years after the collapse of the western Roman empire, Byzantium preserved the heritage of classical antiquity and stood as the bastion of Christendom against Persians, barbarian tribes and the rising forces of Islam. Professor Vryonis gives a lucid account of this changing social organism and relates it to the awakening of civilization in Christian Europe. The enduring vitality of the empire had various causes: the strategical and commercial advantages of its virtually impregnable capital, Constantinople; the wealth of the east; the reservoir of manpower in Anatolia. Riven by internal religious controversies, threatened from without by envious and hostile neighbours, Byzantium seemed endlessly resilient. Again and again, as the author shows, great leaders appeared, readapted the imperial structure to current needs, and rescued Byzantium from what appeared to be irreparable disaster. The factors which brought about its final collapse were inherent in the shifting world-picture. The greatest and longest-lasting achievements of the Byzantines, however, were cultural and artistic. The illustrations in this book testify to the extraordinary creative energy concentrated in the empire and to the widespread influence Byzantium had on the rest of Europe.
with 21 colour plates, 3 maps and 108 black-and-white plates
T & H
Details of other titles in the series appear the back flap
Library of European Civilization
General Editor: Geoffrey Barraclough
This new series cuts across the traditional divisions—into nations and periods—under which European history has been studied in the past and focuses attention on a number of important movements and influences which need to be considered afresh.
The General Editor, Professor of History at the University of California, La Jolla, heads a team of outstanding specialists whose originality of treatment will make their volumes required reading for serious students. The general reader will appreciate particularly the emphasis laid on social and cultural themes, lavishly illustrated from a wide range of sources.
The first titles are:
THE RISE OF CHRISTIAN EUROPE
Hugh Trevor-Roper
REFORMATION AND SOCIETY in Sixteenth-Century Europe
A. G. Dickens
THE EVOLUTION OF RUSSIA
Otto Hoetzsch
FROM SARAJEVO TO POTSDAM
A. J. P. Taylor
BYZANTIUM AND EUROPE
Speros Vryonis Jr.
THE ANCIEN REGIME
C. B. A. Behrens
ROMANTICISM AND REVOLT Europe 1815-48
J. L. Talmon
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Margaret Aston
Thames and Hudson
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