A 'story' of predestined polities: reviewing Nicaea's Anatolian dominance (c.1204-14)

Kinloch, Matthew C. (2014). A 'story' of predestined polities: reviewing Nicaea's Anatolian dominance (c.1204-14). University of Birmingham. M.Res.

Kinloch14MRes.pdf
PDF - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 January 2025.
Download (3MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

This thesis contends that the historiography of the ‘late’ Byzantine world, and the thirteenth century in particular, has been compromised. The so-called ‘turning-points’ of 1204, 1261 and 1453 have come to monopolise a historical narrative which does little more than link these ‘significant’ events together. A teleological and anachronistic metanarrative has been created, which forces ‘historical events’ into a simplistic linear narrative framework, denuding the past of its due complexity. The historiographical treatment of the polities which came into existence after the fall of Constantinople in 1204 illustrates this macrohistoriographical trend. The perceived ‘success’ of the polity founded at Nicaea, which captured Constantinople in 1261, is repeatedly projected backwards onto the entire period 1204-61. Historiographical treatment routinely denudes Nicaea’s so-called rivals of power and potential, through a combination of the events on which historians place significance and the language they use to describe them. This thesis considers in depth the effect that (meta)narrativisation has had on the period 1204-14. It thus serves the dual function of identifying a macro-historiographical issue and starting to resolve some of the problems to which it has given rise.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Res.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Res.

Supervisor(s):