Subjects and Space in Roman and Serbian Lands

Untangles the mechanisms through which ideology affected Byzantine society following the Crusades

• Defines ideology in a clear and adaptable way for premodern contexts, steering clear of both positivist and (post-)structuralist limitations
• Offers fresh interpretations of a wide range of thirteenth-century Greek and Slavonic texts—including orations, hagiographies, letters, autobiographies, philosophical and parenetic writings, as well as monastic, economic, and legal documents
• Brings together post-classical narratology with spatial and social theory, advancing diachronic approaches to narrative and opening Byzantine Studies to broader interdisciplinary dialogues
• Brings together the different spheres of medieval social life by focusing on storytelling as their common thread
• Reveals a richer landscape of social and political agency, highlighting more dynamic and interactive forms of power in thirteenth-century societies

Ideology remains one of the most used yet rarely defined concepts in Byzantine and Medieval Serbian Studies. Focusing on the decades following the Crusaders’ conquest of Byzantine lands, this book bridges modern theory and interpretation of medieval texts to redefine ideology as a practice of performative storytelling. Vukašinović rereads overlooked narratives from Nicaea, Epiros and Serbia—from court orations and hagiographies to monastic donations and juridical opinions—not as mere representations of events, but as social acts that shaped the world. Developing a model of how humans become subjects and produce space, the study reveals how emperors, bishops, monks, and peasants alike acted as storytellers, heroes and agents of history. It argues for diverse forms of social and political agency, challenging conventional notions of Byzantine fragmentation and Serbian independence.