The Byzantine Commonwealth - Eastern Europe 500 - 1453

by Dimitri Obolensky

Book Overview

This text is a historical account of the political, diplomatic, ecclesiastical, economic and cultural relations between the Byzantine Empire and the peoples of Eastern Europe. It shows that these... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000NPNRIY
• ISBN13: 9781111099015
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Praeger, 1971.
• Length: 445 Pages
• Weight: 2.42 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great!

Really an excellent source for understanding Byzantine influence in eastern and central Europe and the relationship of the Orthodox Church to the spread of Byzantine culture.

The Struggle for Cultural Survival

The East Roman Empire provides an extraordinary study of survival. Beset on every side by newly arrived tribes and established rival empires, Byzantium not only endured but exerted a cultural influence that helped shape successive nation states once within its orbit. Central to Obolensky's classic account is Byzantium's `cultural diffusion' and the most striking example of this is how its spiritual culture, transmuted into Old Church Slavonic through the linguistic brilliance of its missionaries, helped provide a basis of literacy alongside the visual impact of its iconographic art. Many a pagan tribe fell under the Orthodox spell; the Bulgarians, Russians and Serbs were all converted at various times, apostasy finally giving way to unequivocal faith. Acknowledgement of the Empire's military dominance was, however, often contested. After the Turkish conquest of 1453, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and Russia retained much of the cultural influences and ideology of Byzantium and it is the intermingling of Greek and Slavonic elements that Obolensky brings so well into the foreground. As in the west but developing along divergent lines, much of the spirit of the East Roman Empire survived by it's interrelationship with so called 'barbarian' peoples. Obolensky's Byzantine Commonwealth, along with Frank Eyck's Religion and Politics in German History, reveal that process at work. Both books show how the Roman Empire became absorbed into Medieval European culture.

A superb appraisal of Byzantine heritage in Eastern Europe

A span of almost thousand years marks the blooming and decadence of the Byzantine Empire. "The Byzantine Commonwealth - Eastern Europe 500-1453" is a balanced and informed history of the outer lands (provinces, independent principalities and kingdoms), mostly inhabited by Slavic populations, whose history intersected the one of the Empire. It is mostly a history of assimilation, with its many facets. The strategy of the empire to develop an extensive diplomacy of the sword and of the cross. The cautious and balanced use of force, diplomacy (both political and religious) and money. The widespread and deep phenomenon of inclusion and assimilation of cultural values that Constantinople inspired. The gradual political emancipation of the emerging new nations (Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, Hungary and lastly Rumania) It ends in 1453, the year of the fall of Constantinople to the Turkish armies: in that moment the Byzantine commonwealth disintegrates and the great eastern diasporas begin (with the rise of the myth of the third Rome in Russia, the emergence of the principalities of Rumania, the defeat and toll of resentment in the Serbian and Balkan lands). Obolensky's study is already somehow outdated since first printed in 1971 for the "History of Civilization" Series of Phoenix Press (in the same series you can find the still unsurpassed "The Greek Experience" by C. M. Bowra,). It cannot take account of the events following the disintegration of USSR and the widespread renaissance of an Orthodox "koinè" (cultural community), especially religious but sometimes also political and social (this at least is one of the - highly debatable - theses advanced by professor Samuel P. Huntington in "The Clash of Civilizations"): a feature this one that cannot change the overall picture, but is nonetheless a strong indication about how deeper went the Byzantine influence. "The Byzantine Commonwealth" is sometimes very specific, and yet immensely interesting. I greatly enjoyed the history of the missionary work and travels of st.Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius, their invention of the Glagolitic (and later Cyrillic) script and the inception of the movement of translation from Greek to Old Church Slavonic (the medieval common language of the Slavic populations). Compelling are also the chapters dealing with the presence and spreading of heretical movements, especially Paulicianism and Bogomilism, sects influenced by Manicheism and that very likely "exerted a powerful influence upon the Patarene and Cathar (or Albigesian) movements in Italy and Southern France". It is amazing to realize the scantiness of our knowledge and the prejudices we still retain about the Byzantine world. While for Rome and classical Greece we have still outstanding and impressive remains (temples, theatres, aqueducts, weapons and literature), the whitewash following the Turkish conquest and censure of history (from "the idle liars of neither gender" of bishop Liutprand of Cremona to the "te

Byzantium and the Barbarians

After the fall of Rome, Byzantium was the greatest, richest, most prestigious city in the known world. It was the center of the Orthodox religion and a great center of culture. It was also the target for every barbarian tribe who wanted a piece of the wealth land and culture.Dimitri Obolensky's readable book achieves two purposes. First he describes the relations between the Byzantine empire and her neighbors. Obolensky explains how the Byzantines used one barbarian tribe against another, like the Avars, Slavs, Bulgars, Pechenegs, Russians and Khazars. He also shows how the Byzantines used religion to influence the tribes and gain control over them. Eventually the barbarian tribes worshipped Byzantium, but did not trust it. Secondly Obolensky describes how the barbarian cultures like the Bulgars and the Russians adopted the culture and civilization of Byzantium. The new comers learned art, literature, law and religion from Byzantium. This book covers the period from 500 AD to the fall of Byzantium in 1453, starting with a description of the geography, roads and trade routes the Byzantines used, and their strategic importance. Then Obolensky recounts relations in order of region, from the Balkans, then east-central Europe and finally the coast of the black sea.Obolensky shows how the Byzantines became the source of legitimacy among the states that made up the commonwealth like the Bulgars and the Russians. Finally he recounts how the barbarians learned art, religion, law and literature, and civilization in general from the Byzantines.The book includes many well placed maps and photos that make this complicated subject clearer. Obolensky's book is a must read book for anyone interested in the history of Byzantium or medieval eastern Europe.

Tightly focused but quite good

I can't praise highly enough this well researched, masterful look at the mechanisms of cultural diffusion in the Balkans and Russia in the Byzantine period. Obolensky, an unquestioned leader in the field of Byzantine studies, has put together a cogent, precise and elegantly written book that, while not really for the layman, is clear enough for most persons with some familiarity with the topic. He demonstrates the role of what he calls "intermediaries", e.g. merchants, missionaries and mercenaries, in spreading Byzantium's unique Graeco-Romano-Christian culture throughout the Slavic world. A little attention is paid to Byzantium's influence on the West and on the structures of the Ottoman state, but the real focus realy is on the Balkan states. And, well, where have you seen that lately?