Emperors, Pilgrims and Crusaders: The World of Byzantium

Emperors, Pilgrims and Crusaders explores the world of Byzantium, highlighting its vibrance, sophistication and centrality to our understanding of the medieval world. This was the world which witnessed the foundation of the city of the Constantinople in the fourth century AD and its gradual establishment as the capital of the eastern Roman empire, surviving the disintegration of the west. This period also saw the emergence of Christianity as a state religion, prompting major new ecclesiastical building projects, the rise of charismatic religious figures and the development of the medieval cult of relics. The Byzantine empire engaged actively with its neighbours to the West in Europe including the Carolingians and the papacy, and with Persia and the Islamic Caliphate to the East, with our sources revealing intricate diplomatic negotiations and fierce military engagements. And, in 1204 the Crusader sack of Constantinople sent shockwaves across the Christian world, changing forever relations between Byzantium and the West. This course will investigate Byzantine history through the activities of emperors and empresses, the roles of holy men and women, the spectacular art and architecture of the era, and the accounts of the ultimate fall of Constantinople, after a millennium of Byzantine rule, to the Ottomans in 1453.