Social Stratification in Late Byzantium
- Identifies the main traits of Late Byzantine society and the ideas of the Byzantines about their social system, the social values and the organisation of their society.
- Explores the use of modern sociological and anthropological theories in order to better understand Byzantine society.
- Provides thorough and up-to-date analysis of the different social groups in the Late Byzantine society (character, composition, relation to the economic, political and ideological resources).
- Emphasises the networks of patron-client relations and their effect on the structures of Byzantine society.
- Offers a new explanation of the collapse of Byzantine society and the state in the face of external threats.
This book provides an in-depth analysis of the social structure of Late Byzantine society (mid 13th - mid 15th c.), including the norms and ideas that governed social relations, and the Byzantine perceptions of their society. It includes an analysis of all social groups, the social networks and the patron-client relations proliferating in this period, and the distribution of social and political power between the different social groups and the state. The deficiencies inherent in Byzantine society are recognised as one of the main factors behind the fragmentation and the collapse of the Byzantine empire.
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Note to the Reader
Introduction: Byzantium after 1261: State, Society and Culture
The Subject of the Study and the Sources
Recent Scholarship on (Late) Byzantine Society
Byzantine Society before the Palaiologan Period:
Structure and Characteristics
Outline
Part I: The Earthly Order
1 The Social System
The Order (Taxis) of the Empire
The Dialectics of Deference and the Social Contract
Social Tension and the Challenges to the Established Order
2 Social Status
Social Values and Prestige
Status Incongruence and Social Ascent
3 Social Stratification
Estates and Orders in Byzantium
The Rich and the Poor, the Archontes and the Dēmos
The Anatomy of the Archontes
The Middle Classes and Their Urban Economic Activities
The Peasant World
Concluding Remarks
4 Social Associations
Communities and Vertical Social Groups
A Society of Circles and Social Networks
The Aristocratic Oikos and Its Following
A Fragmented Society
5 Social Power
The Basis of Economic Power
Political Power
State, Church and Society . . . and the Breakdown
Part II: Case Studies
6 Late Byzantine Provincial Society: The Example of Serres
The Higher Elite in Serres and the Non-local Forces of
Economic and Social Influence
The Local Military Elite of Serres
The Civil (Ecclesiastical) Elite of Serres
The Monasteries and Local Society
Urban Economic Activities and the Middle Class
Social Relations in the Countryside of the Lower Strymon
Late Byzantine Provincial Society
7 Late Palaiologan Urban Society: Constantinople at the
Turn of the Fifteenth Century
Byzantine Society on the Eve of Demise: Developments
in the Late Fourteenth Century
Economic and Social Life in Constantinople during the
Siege of Bāyezīd I (1394–1402)
The Fortunes of the Higher and of the ‘Military’ Elite
The Civil Elite
The Middle Class of Constantinople
The Aftermath
Conclusion: The Order and the Structures of the Social System
Appendices
Tables 26–9
Glossary
General Terms
Late Byzantine Offices, Dignities and Epithets
Byzantine Emperors (1261–1453)
Alphabetical List of the Official Hierarchy of Titles in Pseudo-Kodinos
Alphabetical List of Ecclesiastical Offices
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary Works
Index
This study of late Byzantine social structure is notable for the way the author has abandoned any preconceptions about the character of Byzantine society. These mostly derived from either comparing Byzantium or assimilating it to other societies: the Medieval West in particular. Instead, the author confronts Byzantium on its own terms, thus allowing it to emerge in all its bewildering complexity. If it does not fit any obvious patterns so much the better. Christos Malatras is to be congratulated on a very considerable achievement, which is founded on the mastery of an impressive range of sources.
