Description: Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled 'emperors of the Romans'. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492 tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on outlying regions and neighbouring societies and powers of Byzantium. With aids such as maps, a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists. The revised paperback edition contains a new preface by the editor and will offer an invaluable companion to survey courses in Byzantine history.
Brief description: Jonathan Shepard was a University Lecturer in History at the University of Cambridge. Co-author of The Emergence of Rus (1996) with Simon Franklin, with whom he also co-edited Byzantine Diplomacy (1992), some of his many articles appear in Emergent Elites and Byzantium (2011). Edited volumes include The Expansion of Orthodox Europe (2007), Byzantium and the Viking World (with Fedir Androshchuk and Monica White, 2016), Imperial Spheres and the Adriatic (with Mladen Ančic and Trpimir Vedris, 2017), and Viking-Age Trade (with Jacek Gruszczyński and Marek Jankowiak, 2019), and forthcoming volumes include Muslims on the Volga (with Luke Treadwell) and Political Culture in Three Spheres: Byzantium, Islam and the West (with Catherine Holmes et al.).
Review Quotes: "A fine scholarly accomplishment. The editor's long introduction sets the stage for the contributions that follow. The volume is separated into four segments: the notion of Byzantium, periodization, an ap[preciation of cultural and societal approaches to Byzantium, and a discussion of sources in translation. The book's three parts correspond to the apex, transformation, and fall of the Byzantine Empire....The book has a fine bibliography, illustrations, and map selection. Recommended."
--Choice