HIST/HELUA

629 Spring 2013 MW 1112:15 pm

Professor Kostis Smyrlis ks113@nyu.edu office KJCC 715

HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE II 10TH15TH CENTURIES The course surveys the main political developments in Byzantium from the end of the 9th century to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453. Parallel to the study of the historical framework, the course adopts a diachronic approach to examine some of the essential concepts, institutions, and cultural themes of Byzantium, such as imperial ideology, church and monasticism, family and women, the economy, and the cultural and artistic revivals of the middle and late periods. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Lectures and primary sources analysis. Most weeks will include one session of lecture and one devoted to the discussion of primary sources related to that weeks subject. Attendance at lectures and active participation in the discussions of primary sources are integral parts of the course. Students must prepare the primary sources in advance of the weekly discussion session where they will be asked to analyze the sources meanings and significance and how they can be used to further understanding of the historical questions examined. When not obtainable online, sources will become available on Blackboard. Exams. There will be two examinations held in class; the first will be on March 13 and the second on the last day of classes, May 13. Papers. In addition, students will write two short and one longer paper on a primary source. The first short paper (4 pp.), due on February 13 in class, will discuss extracts from the Book of Ceremonies and The embassy to Constantinople (week 3); the second short paper (4 pp.), due on March 4 in class, will analyze passages from Kekaumenos writings (week 5). The longer paper (1314 pp.), due on April 24, will analyze of one of the following primary sources: Lazaros of Galesion (as in week 4), Michael Psellos (as in week 5) or The Land Legislation (as in week 10). Evaluation. Students are expected to participate in discussions. Exams must be taken at the scheduled time. Papers should be handed in on the date indicated. Incompletes are not allowed. Class attendance. Participation in the discussion of the sources: 10%. Short papers: 10% each; longer paper: 20%. First and second exam: 20% and 30% respectively. Readings. Required book (available at the bookstore): Gregory, A history of Byzantium (2nd ed. Malden, 2010). Unless accessible online, all other readings will be available on Blackboard.

 CLASS SCHEDULE 1) Jan. 28: The land and the peoples; From Rome to Byzantium Readings: Haldon, 5574; Sarris, in Mango, OHB, 1959 (ch. 1) Jan. 30: A new medieval world: Byzantium and its neighbors in the 9th C. Readings: Gregory, 22041; Treadgold in Mango, OHB, 12950 (ch. 5); Magdalino, ibidem, 169175 (ch. 7) 2) Feb. 4, 6: The empire strikes back: The apogee of Byzantium, 8671025 Readings: Gregory, 24275; Magdalino, in Mango, OHB, 175181 (ch. 7) Sources: A Byzantine emperor on foreign people: Constantine VII (905959), De adminstrando imperio, 714, 6477 (ch. 13). 10thc. military campaigns and court intrigue: Leo the Deacon, 75103 3) Feb. 11, 13: The mythical capital: Constantinople and the Byzantine emperor Readings: Mathews, 1742; McCormick, in Cavallo, The Byzantines, 23054 Sources: Building at Constantinople under Basil I (867886): Mango, Art, 19299. Imperial ceremonial; The Book of Ceremonies, by Constantine VII, on imperial crowning: http://homepage.mac.com/paulstephenson/trans/decer0.html. Constantinople and the emperor in the eyes of a westerner: Liudprand of Cremona, The embassy to Constantinople, 15256 Feb. 13, paper (4 pp.) due in class: The embassy to Constantinople Feb. 18: Holiday (Presidents Day) 4) Feb. 20, 25: A holy empire: Church, monasteries and devotion Readings: Haldon, 13152; Mango, Byzantium, 10524 Sources: Lazaros of Galesion, pillar saint and monastic founder: Greenfield, The life of Lazaros, 1135 (focus on text: 75135) http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/Laz1.pdf 5) Feb. 27, Mar. 4: The recovery of tradition and political crisis (9th11th C.) Readings: Mango, in Mango, OHB, 21429 (ch. 8); Angold, The Byzantine Empire, 2455; Gregory, 27588 Sources: Michael Psellos, 23854 (Constantine Monomachos), 30214 (Isaac Komnenos); Kekaumenos, extracts Mar. 4, paper (4 pp.) due in class: Kekaumenos, extracts 6) Mar. 6, 11: Revival, grandeur and the western challenge (10811203) Readings: Gregory, 290324; Magdalino, in Mango, OHB, 18296 (ch. 7); Runciman, The Eastern Schism, 12444 Sources: Anna Comnena, 5354 (Robert Guiscard), 33752 (First Crusade); Niketas Choniates, 3539 (Second Crusade), 11316 (Manuel and the Latins) FIRST EXAM: MARCH 13 Mar. 18, 20: no class (Spring Recess)

7) Mar. 25, 27: The revolution of the Komnenoi and the Byzantine women Readings: Magdalino, Manuel I, 180201; Talbot, in Cavallo, The Byzantines, 11743 Sources: A Byzantine princess writes about herself: Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, 1721 (prologue), 50515 (epilogue). Domestic violence endured, St Thomas of Lesbos: Talbot, Holy Women, no. 9, (pp. 297322); available online: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/ATHW.html 8) Apr. 1, 3: Punishment for sins: the Fourth Crusade and fragmentation (12041261) Readings: Angold, The Byzantine Empire, 31628; idem, in NCMH V, 54363; Gregory, 27992 Sources: The sack of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204: Niketas Choniates, O city of Byzantium, 294327 9) Apr. 8, 10: From reconquest to civil war under the Palaiologoi (12611341) Readings: Gregory, 34058; Ostrogorsky, 45065, 478503 Sources: Michael VIII Palaiologos. George Akropolites, The history, 33988 10) Apr. 15, 17: The richest land: the Byzantine economy, 10th15th C. Readings: Laiou, The Byzantine Economy, 114564: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EconHist/EHB51.pdf; Treadgold, A history, 56979, 699706, 83744: eversion available through Bobst Sources: State intervention in the economy in the 10th C: McGeer, The Land Legislation of the Macedonian Emperors, 3760 (novels B & C); Book of the Eparch, regulations on food and silk: http://homepage.mac.com/paulstephenson/trans/eparch.html 11) Apr. 22, 24: Frankish knights, Italian merchants and Ottoman conquerors Readings: Balard, in NCMH VI, 82538; Jacoby, in NCMH V, 52542; Jeffreys & Mango, in Mango, OHB, 294305 (ch. 12); Kunt, in NCMH VI, 83963 Apr. 24, paper (1314 pp.) due in class. 12) Apr. 29, May 1: War, earthquake and plague: the real fall of Rome (13551453) Readings: Gregory, 35899 Source: Doukas, Decline and fall of Byzantium, 20341 13) May 6: The Byzantine legacy Readings: Gregory, 40120; Vryonis, in Laiou & Maguire, 1935; Mathews, 13763 May 8: Revision of main points discussed in lectures SECOND EXAM: MAY 13 BIBLIOGRAPHY Reference A. Kazhdan et al., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (New York, Oxford, 1991); also available online through BobCat (do a title search) Sources (in translation) George Akropolites, The history, trans. R. Macrides (Oxford, 2007) Niketas Choniates, O city of Byzantium, trans. H. J. Magoulias (Detroit, 1984) Anna Comnena, The Alexiad, trans. E. R. A. Sewter (London, 1969)

Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De adminstrando imperio, ed. G. Moravcsik, trans. R. J. H. Jenkins (Budapest, 1949; 2nd ed. Washington, 1967) Doukas, Decline and fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, trans. H. J. Magoulias (Detroit, 1975) Liudprand of Cremona, The embassy to Constantinople and other writings, trans. F. A. Wright (London, 1993) C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 3121453 (repr. Toronto, 1986) E. McGeer, The Land Legislation of the Macedonian Emperors (Toronto, 2000) Michael Psellos, Fourteen Byzantine rulers: the Chronographia, trans. E. R. A. Sewter (Baltimore, 1966) A.M. Talbot, ed., Holy Women of Byzantium. Ten Saints Lives in English Translation (Washington, 1996; also available at: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/ATHW.html) J. Thomas and A. Constantinides Hero, eds., Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents, 5 vol. (Washington, 2000; also available at: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/typ000.html) Secondary Literature D. Abulafia, ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History (NCMH), V: c.1198c.1300, (Cambridge, 1999) P. Agapitos, Teachers, pupils and imperial power in eleventhcentury Byzantium, in Pedagogy and Power. Rhetorics of Classical Learning, Y. Lee Too, N. Livingstone, eds. (Cambridge, 1998), 170191 M. Angold, The Byzantine Empire 10251204: A Political History (London, 2nd ed. 1997) R. Browning, The Byzantine Empire (New York, 1980) G. Cavallo, ed., The Byzantines, (Chicago, 1997) T. E. Gregory, A history of Byzantium (2nd ed. Malden, 2010) J. Haldon, Byzantium: A History (Stroud, 2000) M. Jones, ed., The New Cambridge Medieval History (NCMH), VI: c.1300c.1415, (Cambridge, 2000) A. Laiou, The Byzantine Economy: An Overview, in The Economic History of Byzantium, 3 vols., A. Laiou, ed. (Washington, 2002), 11451164; also available at: http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EHB.html A. Laiou and H. Maguire, eds., Byzantium, A World Civilization (Washington, 1992) P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 11431180 (Cambridge, 1993) C. Mango, Byzantium. The Empire of the New Rome (London, 1980) C. Mango, ed., The Oxford History of Byzantium (Oxford, 2002); abbreviation: Mango, OHB T. F. Mathews, Byzantium: from Antiquity to the Renaissance (New York, 1998) G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State (New Brunswick, 1969) S. Runciman, The Eastern Schism (Oxford, 1955) W. Treadgold, A history of the Byzantine state and society (Stanford, 1997)