Books by Jonathan Shepard
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Although often mentioned in textbooks about the Carolingian and Byzantine empires, the Treaty of ... more Although often mentioned in textbooks about the Carolingian and Byzantine empires, the Treaty of Aachen has not received much close attention. This volume attempts not just to fill the gap, but to view the episode through both micro- and macro-lenses. Introductory chapters review the state of relations between Byzantium and the Frankish realm in the eighth and early ninth centuries, crises facing Byzantine emperors much closer to home, and the relevance of the Bulgarian problem to affairs on the Adriatic. Dalmatia’s coastal towns and the populations of the interior receive extensive attention, including the region’s ecclesiastical history and cultural affiliations. So do the local politics of Dalmatia, Venice and the Carolingian marches, and their interaction with the Byzantino-Frankish confrontation. The dynamics of the Franks’ relations with the Avars are analysed and, here too, the three-way play among the two empires and ‘in-between’ parties is a theme. Archaeological indications of the Franks’ presence are collated with what the literary sources reveal about local elites’ aspirations. The economic dimension to the Byzantino-Frankish competition for Venice is fully explored, a special feature of the volume being archaeological evidence for a resurgence of trade between the Upper Adriatic and the Eastern Mediterranean from the second half of the eighth century onwards. For further information: www.routledge.com/9781138225947
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One might assume that Scandinavians played only a marginal role in the history of the Byzantine e... more One might assume that Scandinavians played only a marginal role in the history of the Byzantine empire. But Byzantium needed the military service of foreigners such as the Rhos and Varangians as much as the Scandinavians needed the empire, both as a foil for constructing their own cultural identity and as a source of luxury goods and coin. 'Byzantium and the Viking World' brings together scholars from the very different worlds of Byzantine and Scandinavian studies, and from the different academic disciplines of archaeology, history and literature. They offer a snapshot of recent findings on the material evidence and the reasons for contacts between Byzantium and the Viking world, and on Byzantium’s image in the Old Norse sagas and Rus chronicles, while presenting new interpretative models of cultural transfer between these worlds. Available from: http://acta.mamutweb.com/Shop/Product/0016-Byzantium-and-the-Viking-World/diva2%3a907178
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Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled ‘emperors of the Romans’. It u... more Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled ‘emperors of the Romans’. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on particular outlying regions, neighbouring powers or aspects of Byzantium. With aids such as a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important new findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists.
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Papers by Jonathan Shepard
Al-Qanṭara, 2013
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The Catholic Historical Review, 2008
Medieval Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. By Florin Curta. [Cambridge Medieval T... more Medieval Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. By Florin Curta. [Cambridge Medieval Textbooks.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. Pp. xxviii, 496. $90.00 hardback; $34.99 paperback.) Curta's survey of the vast area he terms Southeastern Europe appears in the Cambridge Medieval Textbooks series, which is designed to introduce students to important topics in medieval history. But "textbook" is something of a misnomer in this instance. Curta offers a magisterial study of the groupings and microsocieties that merged or, more often, were forcibly merged into larger political units in the region between the Adriatic, the Aegean, the Black Sea, Transylvania, and, to the northeast, the steppes reaching from the Lower Danube to the Dnieper and the wooded zone that skirts them. Whether "Southeastern Europe" is particularly appropriate for denoting this assortment is open to question. What emerges is the dearth of fixed territorial, tribal, or linguistic coordinates of the groupings under study. In light of this, "Southeastern Europe" conveys rather too insistent a notion of territorial space, and the label hardly fits the Dniester and Dnieper basins better than "Balkans" does. The latter term is arbitrary, loose, and carries varied connotations; but in so far as these evoke both fragmentation and associations withthough not necessarily incorporation within-superpowers like Byzantium, it has its merits. Some-but not all-of the groupings crystallized into durable polities, such as those of the Bulgarians, Hungarians, Croats, and Serbs. But these were mostly volatile, depending heavily on the cohesion of ruling families and on masterful individuals, and even the strongest of them, Bulgaria, could not withstand the resurgence of Byzantine power at the end of the tenth century, and was absorbed within Basil II's empire. Curta makes the impact of Byzantium on other populations of southeastern Europe a principal theme: two chap ter s are boldly title d " The fir st Byzantine c entur y (1000-1100)" and "The second Byzantine century (1100-1200)," in line with his emphasis on the empire's wealth, power, and diplomatic reach at that time. The book's earlier chapters reprise Curta's monograph The Making of the Slavs, including the thesis that the Slavs only jelled into a kind of ethnic entity in the later sixth century, essentially in response to the obstacles that Justinian's massive fortifications program had placed in the way of lucrative pillaging expeditions. …
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The Historical Journal, 1989
... Nikita was a historical personage, being the brother of Ivan IV's first wife, Anasta... more ... Nikita was a historical personage, being the brother of Ivan IV's first wife, Anastasia Romanovna, and he was thus the grandfather of Michael ... Indeed, as Perrie emphasizes, the image of Ivan himself is ambivalent in some stories, especially those whose hero is a 'fine young lad'. ...
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Al Qanṭara, Dec 30, 2012
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... of his father, Boris ' s, policy of inculcating Christian doctrine, worship and normativ... more ... of his father, Boris ' s, policy of inculcating Christian doctrine, worship and normative values into his subjects, making ortho-doxy unshakeable (Iliev 1995 : 99 ... to send named representatives to negotiate a treaty with the Byzantines in 944, side by side with Prince Igor ' s ( PVL ...
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Byzantinoslavica, 1991
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Byzantium and the West, c. 850-c. 1200: Proceedings …, Jan 1, 1988
Byzantine rulers in the tenth century, notably Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, harboured a certa... more Byzantine rulers in the tenth century, notably Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, harboured a certain sense of affinity for political elites in the Christian west, especially the ‘Franks’, a term denoting Germans as well as Romance-speaking rulers of the West Franks. This is understandable, in light of the threats from nearly all directions facing imperial statesmen in the mid-tenth century. The threats eased and communications between the east, central and even western Mediterranean quickened from the later tenth century on, with the increase in western pilgrimages to the Holy Land registering this. Byzantines’ familiarity with Latin Christians, as with Muslims of the Levant, was markedly greater by c. 1050 than it had been a century earlier. This gave rise to tensions and reaction on the part of those fearing contamination of eastern religious correctness and culture, most notoriously Patriarch Michael Keroularious. Alexios I Komnenos, however, prized the military prowess and other qualities of western warriors. He deserves his place in history for triggering the First Crusade through invocation of Christian fraternity in his appeals for military aid in the earlier 1090s.
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Byzantine Diplomacy, ed. J. Shepard and S. Franklin (Aldershot, 1992), pp. 41-71, 1992
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Русь в IX-X вв.: общество, государство, культура [Rus in the 9th-12th Centuries: Society, State, Culture], ed. N. A. Makarov and A. E. Leontiev (Moscow, 2014), pp. 234-42, 2014
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Byzanz und ostmitteleuropa 950-1543, ed. G. Prinzing and M. Salamon (Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden: 1999), pp. 55-83, 1999
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Books by Jonathan Shepard
Papers by Jonathan Shepard