The economic fate of urban settlements in Rhomanian Boeotia, Thessaly, and Western Macedonia (783-1204)

de Rosen, Elie (2018). The economic fate of urban settlements in Rhomanian Boeotia, Thessaly, and Western Macedonia (783-1204). University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

de_Rosen18PhD.pdf
PDF - Accepted Version
Download (14MB)

Abstract

Although there are enough studies on the economic history of late 8th-early 13th century Rhomanian Greece (for my use of the term ‘Rhomanian’ rather than ‘Byzantine’, see the end of section I) to warrant years of intensive reading, few of them are regional or multi-regional in their scope. Largescale interpretations have been correspondingly few. The most noteworthy one – with regard to the regions that I am studying – is that Boeotia was home to one of the finest silk industries in the Empire in the late 11th-12th centuries. Using all available sources of information (ecclesiastical, hagiographical, geographic monographs, court chronicles, weather station statistics, archaeological monuments and artifacts, and so on), I examined urban settlements based on five main criteria: the quality and pervasiveness of ceramic material, the distribution of currency, the presence of a Jewish population, the incidence of sigillographic data, the magnitude, quality, and frequency of architectural projects, and the size and number of settlements. I found that there is ample evidence for growth in the domains of demography, silk production (whose quantitative element still hangs in the balance, however), exports to Constantinople, religious construction projects, coin use, and high-quality production imports/production.These trends are then probed for natural and human explanations, and used to discuss the relationship between my regions of study and Rhomania as a whole.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):