BOOK: Maria Filomena LOPES DE BARROS, Clara ALMAGRO VIDAL (eds.), Forms of unfreedom in the Medieval Mediterranean (Évora: Publicações do Cidehus, 2021), ISBN : 9791036589201 // OPEN ACCESS

(Image source: Open Edition)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dependence and loss of freedom – be it partial or total – go hand in hand. During the Middle Ages, people were bonded together through a wide variety of ties that limited their freedom in different ways and to variable degrees.This volume explores these forms of unfreedom. Focusing on both the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean from the eighth century until the fifteenth, the contributors focus on aspects such as transformations of terminology, implementation of different legal traditions across time and space, establishment and dissolution of bonds, and details of everyday life attached to these situations.

Looking at the “ties that bind”, that is, the obligations acquired and everyday implications of the establishment of that dependence, this volume reflects on concepts such as captivity, slavery, manumission and serfdom, among others, and their appearance in the sources.

More information and the entire publication can be found here.

BOOK: Antonio MUSARRA, Il Grifo e il Leone. Genova e Venezia in lotta per il Mediterraneo (Bari: Laterza, 2020). ISBN: 9788858140727, pp. 272, € 24,00

 

(Source: Laterza)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Luogo d’incontri e contaminazioni, nel basso Medioevo il Mediterraneo fu, anche e soprattutto, un luogo di aspri scontri. Genova e Venezia – così come Pisa o la corona catalano-aragonese – si resero protagoniste d’una lotta senza quartiere, ricorrendo a ogni mezzo, lecito o illecito, per assicurarsi il controllo delle principali rotte di trasporto. Sin dalla fine dell’XI secolo, le due città, grandi potenze navali e commerciali, erano andate imponendo il proprio predominio sul Mediterraneo orientale, moltiplicando i propri insediamenti. Le loro attenzioni s’erano volte all’Egitto e alla costa siro-palestinese, divenuti dopo le crociate una parte essenziale del mondo. La conquista veneziana di Costantinopoli, nel 1204, rivoluzionò il quadro politico, dando avvio ai primi scontri tra le due marine. Con la cosiddetta ‘guerra di San Saba’, conclusasi con la cacciata dei genovesi da Acri, capitale del regno di Gerusalemme, si giunse per la prima volta allo scontro aperto. Da questo momento, il Grifo e il Leone esprimeranno un’accesa rivalità, scandita da innumerevoli battaglie navali, che si protrarrà per oltre un secolo e mezzo.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Antonio Musarrra insegna Storia medievale alla Sapienza Università di Roma. Con il Mulino ha pubblicato «Genova e il mare nel Medioevo» (2015), «Acri 1291. La caduta degli stati crociati» (2017), «Il crepuscolo della crociata» (2018) e, con Franco Cardini, «Il grande racconto delle crociate» (2019).

The table of contents is available in PDF version, here. More information with the publisher.

BOOK: Nicolas DROCOURT & Élisabeth MALAMUT (Eds.), La diplomatie byzantine, de l’Empire romain aux confins de l’Europe (Ve-XVe s.)(Leiden: Brill, 2020). ISBN: 9789004431805, €121.00

(Source: Brill)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: The Medieval Mediterranean, Volume: 123

In La Diplomatie byzantine, de l’Empire romain aux confins de l’Europe (Ve-XVe s.), twelve studies explore from novel angles the complex history of Byzantine diplomacy. After an Introduction, the volume turns to the period of late antiquity and the new challenges the Eastern Roman Empire had to contend with. It then examines middle-Byzantine diplomacy through chapters looking at relations with Arabs, Rus’ and Bulgarians, before focusing on various aspects of the official contacts with Western Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. A thematic section investigates the changes to and continuities of diplomacy throughout the period, in particular by considering Byzantine alertness to external political developments, strategic use of dynastic marriages, and the role of women as diplomatic actors. 

Contributors are are Jean-Pierre Arrignon, Audrey Becker, Mickaël Bourbeau, Nicolas Drocourt, Christian Gastgeber, Nike Koutrakou, Élisabeth Malamut, Ekaterina Nechaeva, Brendan Osswald, Nebojša Porčić, Jonathan Shepard, and Jakub Sypiański.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Nicolas Drocourt is an Associate Professor of Medieval history at the University of Nantes. He published Diplomatie sur le Bosphore. Les ambassadeurs étrangers dans l’Empire byzantin des années 640 à 1204 (Leuven, 2015), and numerous articles on Middle Byzantine diplomacy. He also edited or co-edited different volumes on medieval diplomacy, notably La figure de l’ambassadeur entre mondes éloignés (XIe-XVIe siècle) (Rennes, 2015) and Themis en diplomatie. Le droit et les arguments juridiques dans les Relations internationales de l’Antiquité tardive à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (Rennes, 2016). He is currently working on the co-edition of Byzantium and the Latin West (860-1204), to be published by Brill.

Élisabeth Malamut is Professor Emeritus of the University of Aix-Marseille. She is a specialist in the Byzantine Empire. Her research interests focus on island and urban history, holy monks and travelers, diplomatic and cultural relations and on women, especially empresses. She is the author of Les îles de l’Empire byzantin, VIIIe-XIIe s. (Paris, 1988), Sur la route des saints byzantins (Paris, 1993), Alexis Ier Comnène (Paris, 2007). She is currently working on the history of the Byzantine Empire to be published by Humensis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Liste des Illustrations
Liste des Contributeurs
Introduction
        Nicolas Drocourt

Part 1 ère ie: Une diplomatie en transition ( V e– VI e siècle)
1. From Hegemony to Negotiation: Reshaping East Roman Diplomacy with Barbarians during the 5th Century
           Audrey Becker
2. Collusion on the Eastern Front: The Strange Cases of Constantine of Theodosiopolis and Theodorus of Martyropolis
           Ekaterina Nechaeva

Part 2 ème ie: Rechercher et identifier les acteurs de la diplomatie médio-byzantine
3. Photius entre l'Assyrie et al-Andalus - Jakub Sypiański
4. Le traité byzantino-russe de 944, acte fondateur de l’État de la Kievskaja Rus’ ?
           Jean-Pierre Arrignon
5. À propos des formules protocolaires concernant les Bulgares dans le Livre des Cérémonies : réception et correspondance
            Élisabeth Malamut

Part 3 ème ie: Le poids de l’Occident dans la diplomatie byzantine aux XIII e– XV e siècles
6. Le traité de 1279 entre Charles d’Anjou et Nicéphore Ier d’Épire
    Brendan Osswald
7. Changes in Documents of the Byzantine Chancery in Contact with the West (Michael VIII and Andronikos II Palaiologos). Language, Material, and Address
    Christian Gastgeber
8. Manuel II Paléologue en Occident (1399–1402) : la perspective de l’échec confrontée aux sources
    Mickael Bourbeau

Part 4 ème ie: Permanences et mutations. Le temps long de la diplomatie
9. The Emperor’s Long Reach: Imperial Alertness to ‘Barbarian’ Resources and Force Majeure, from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Centuries
    Jonathan Shepard
10. Permanence and Change in Serbian Medieval Diplomacy
    Nebojša Porčić
11. Summit Diplomacy with a Female Face: Women as Diplomatic Actors in Byzantium from the 11th to the 15th century
    Nike Koutrakou
12. Les Alliances matrimoniales dans la diplomatie byzantine du 8e au 15e siècle : une stratégie dynastique revisitée sur la longue durée
    Élisabeth Malamut

Index

More information here.

BOOK: Georg L.K.A. CHRIST & Franz-Julius MORCHE, eds., Cultures of Empire: Rethinking Venetian Rule 1400–1700. Essays in Honour of Benjamin Arbel (Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2020). ISBN: 978-90-04-42760-0, €149.00

(Source: Brill)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Series: The Medieval Mediterranean, Volume: 122

This book investigates perceptions, modes, and techniques of Venetian rule in the early modern Eastern Mediterranean (1400–1700). Against the backdrop of the controversial notion of the Venetian realm as a colonial empire, essays from a range of specialists examine how Venice negotiated control over the territories, resources, and traditions of different empires (Byzantine, Roman, Mamluk, Ottoman) while developing its own claims of authority. Focusing in particular on questions of belonging and status in the Venetian overseas territories, the volume incorporates observations on the daily realities of Venetian rule: how did Venice negotiate claims of authority in light of former and ongoing imperial belongings? What was the status of colonial subjects and ships in the metropolis and in foreign territories? In what ways did Venice accept and continue old forms of imperial belonging? Did subordinate entities join in a shared communal identity? The volume opens new perspectives on Venetian rule at the crossroads of empire and early modern statehood: a polity negotiating and entangling empire. 

Contributors are Housni Alkhateeb Shehada, Giacomo Corazzol, Nicholas Davidson, Renard Gluzman, Deborah Howard, David Jacoby (ZL), Marianna Kolyvà, Franz-Julius Morche, Reinhold C. Mueller, Monique O’Connell, Gerassimos D. Pagratis, Maria Pia Pedani (†), Dorit Raines, and E. Natalie Rothman.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Georg Christ, Ph.D. (2006), Universität Basel, Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Manchester. His research mainly focuses on the late medieval Eastern Mediterranean and Veneto-Mamluk trade and political relations. 

Franz-Julius Morche, Dr. phil. (2013), Universität Heidelberg, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study and the Department of History, Durham University. He was previously a member of the ERC research team “Communication and Empire: Chinese Empires in Comparative Perspective” at King’s College London and Leiden University.

More information here

BOOK: "Grandes villes méditerranéennes du monde musulman médiéval", Jean-Claude Garcin (edit.) (Rome, 2015)

Jean-Claude Garcin (ed.), Grandes villes méditerranéennes du monde musulman médiéval 

Rome, École française de Rome, Collection de l'École française de Rome, 

all information here

Pour pouvoir répondre à l'enquête lancée en 1993 par Claude Nicolet, alors directeur de l'École française de Rome, sur les Mégapoles méditerranéennes (Paris-Rome, 2000) des historiens du monde musulman médiéval se sont efforcés de réunir les données actuellement disponibles sur les grandes villes méditerranéennes à leur apogée, ainsi que sur la Bagdad des califes abbassides. Ils se sont interrogés sur la formation des populations urbaines et leur importance, la morphologie des villes, leurs infrastructures et services, leur gestion, leurs groupes sociaux, leurs réseaux de toute nature, leur image et leur identité. Pour la première fois, des cartes des villes et des territoires qui les concernent, ont été dressées à la même échelle, pour permettre les comparaisons. Ils ont ainsi constitué un dossier factuel, dégagé de tout esprit de système, sur les villes médiévales de Méditerranée et sur Bagdad, pour servir à l'élaboration d'une histoire plus générale du phénomène urbain dans le monde musulman. Ce livre, publié en 2000, était depuis longtemps épuisé ; cette nouvelle édition en constitue la réimpression à l’identique.

Author

• Jean-Claude Garcin, spécialiste du monde musulman, est professeur émérite de l’Université d’Aix-Marseille

BOOK: "La Mer des Califes. Une histoire de la Méditerranée musulmane (VIIe-XIIe siècle)" by Christophe Picard (Paris, January 2015)

La Mer des Califes. Une histoire de la Méditerranée musulmane (VIIe-XIIe siècle), by Christophe Picard

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Fernand Braudel reconnut l’Islam comme l’une des grandes civilisations méditerranéennes, mais comme un acteur de second plan durant les siècles de croissance des échanges en Méditerranée. Dans son sillage, les histoires de la Méditerranée médiévale accordent une place subalterne aux marins de l’Islam, généralement relégués au rang de pirates.

Cet ouvrage propose une histoire totalement renouvelée de l’espace méditerranéen. La production écrite des Arabes, prolifique durant toute la période médiévale, et la documentation archéologique en pleine croissance permettent de réévaluer le rôle des musulmans dans l’histoire de la Méditerranée, dont tant de sites portent encore la trace.

On découvre alors que les califes et les oulémas ne se sont pas détournés de l’espace maritime, bien au contraire. Des marins, guerriers et marchands ne cessent de la sillonner tandis qu’elle est abondamment décrite par les géographes, cartographes et encyclopédistes. Territoire du jihad des califes, elle n’a cessé de faire l’objet d’une attention soutenue de la part de l’Islam médiéval.

Author

Christophe Picard est professeur à l’université Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Il est l’auteur de nombreux ouvrages consacrés à l’Islam médiéval.

BOOK: "Shipping, Trade and Crusade in the Medieval Mediterranean. Studies in Honour of John Pryor", Edited by Ruthy Gertwagen and Elizabeth Jeffreys

• Edited by Ruthy Gertwagen, Haifa University, Israel, and Elizabeth Jeffreys, University of Oxford, UK
• May, 2012

• The cutting-edge papers in this collection reflect the wide areas to which John Pryor has made significant contributions in the course of his scholarly career. They are written by some of the world's most distinguished practitioners in the fields of Crusading history and the maritime history of the medieval Mediterranean. His colleagues, students and friends discuss questions including ship construction in the fourth and fifteenth centuries, navigation and harbourage in the eastern Mediterranean, trade in Fatimid Egypt and along the Iberian Peninsula, military and social issues arising among the crusaders during field campaigns, and wider aspects of medieval warfare. All those with an interest in any of these subjects, whether students or specialists, will need to consult this book.

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