Church and Society in Byzantium under the Comneni, 1081?1261
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New Ed, 9/21/2000
EAN 9780521269865, ISBN10: 0521269865
Paperback, 622 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm
Language: English
In this major study the theme of 'church and society' provides a means of examining the condition of the Byzantine Empire at an important period of its history, up to and well beyond the fall of Constantinople in 1204. Of all the Byzantine dynasties, the Comneni came closest to realising the Caesaro-papist ideal. However, Comnenian control over the Orthodox church was both deceptive and damaging: deceptive because the church's institutional strength increased, and with it its hold over lay society, damaging because the church's leadership was demoralised by subservience to imperial authority. The church found itself with the strength but not the will to assert itself against an imperial establishment that was in rapid decline by 1180; and neither side was in a position to provide Byzantine society with a sense of purpose. This lack of direction lay at the heart of the malaise that afflicted Byzantium at the time of the fourth crusade. The impasse was resolved after 1204, when in exile the Orthodox church took the lead in reconstructing Byzantine society.
A note on transliteration
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. The Eleventh Century
1. Conflict
Part II. Emperors and PATRIARCHS
2. Alexius Comnenus and the church
3. Church and politics under Manuel I Comnenus
4. The failure of the Comnenian church settlement
PART III. THE BISHOP AND LOCAL SOCIETY
5. The framework
6. Theophylact of Ohrid
7. Michael Italikos and George Tornikes
8. Eustathasius of Thessalonika
9. Michael Choniates
10. John Apokaukos
11. George Bardanes
12. Demetrius Chomatianos
PART IV. MONASTERIES AND SOCIETY
13. Alexius I Comnenus and monasticism
14. Manuel I Comnenus and the monasteries
15. The role of the monasteries under the Comneni
16. The monastic estate and society
17. Lay patronage and the monasteries
18. The condition of the monasteries under the Comneni
PART V. RELIGION AND SOCIETY
19. Lay piety
framework and assumptions
20. Law and marriage
21. Byzantine woman
22. Lay piety at Byzantium
beliefs and customs
23. The Bogomils
PART VI. EXILE 1204–61
24. Byzantium and the Latins
25. Imperial authority and the orthodox church
Bibliography.