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Proceedings of the Plenary Sessions

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Texts and Tales of Byzantium in Primarily Oral Cultures

From the Caucasus to Canterbury

Jonathan Shepard    The Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford    

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abstract

This paper considers the unregulated 10th-12th-century outflow northwards of Eastern Christian persons, written texts, oral tales and artefacts via the waterways spanning Rus. Responses to this outflow varied across northwest Europe, helping to consolidate regimes or legitimise rebels, while bolstering individual’s status. Comparable dynamics are seen in the Caucasus, with the titles and visible trappings of a God-blessed court enhancing Alan rulers’ imperial and dynastic ambitions, while tales of Byzantium helped legitimise regional clans. But intensive engagement was finite and fitful, registering the changing needs of developing polities/cultures.

Published
Aug. 22, 2022
Accepted
Feb. 9, 2022
Submitted
Oct. 16, 2021
Language
EN
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-590-2

Keywords: Weaponry • dynasties • elite • gold • Edgar • laudes • Gold • Harald Hardrada • William the Conqueror • Basileus • Iceland • Caucasus • Writing • writing • Dynasties • stratagems • Anglo-Danish • Tales • Mercenaries • Cnut • Viking • Texts • weaponry • Edward the Confessor • Normans • Ragnvald • Alans • Laudes • texts • tales • mercenaries • basileus • Stratagems • Byzantine-awareness • Elite

permalink: http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-590-2/016

Copyright: © 2022 Jonathan Shepard. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.