Description: Translated works of Nicholas Mesarites, an ecclesiastic, who provides a different view of Byzantium at crisis point: the descent of the Byzantine Empire into factionalism, the loss of its capital Constantinople in 1204 to the armies of the fourth crusade, and its eventual reconstitution in exile as the Empire of Nicaea.
Brief description:
Michael Angold is Professor Emeritus of Byzantine History, University of Edinburgh. His many previous publications include Eastern Christianity: The Cambridge History of Christianity V (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Nicholas Mesarites, His Life and Works (in translation) (Translated Texts for Byzantinists, Liverpool University Press, 2017).
Review Quotes:
'Angold provides the first comprehensive study of Mesarites and his literary production, a contribution that helps us better situate the writer's output in the broader picture of the Greek-Orthodox world and its dynamics in the time of fragmentation for the medieval Roman polity.'
Stefanos Dimitriadis, The Byzantine Review