Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe 500-1453; Author: Obolensky, Dimitri; Paperback

Author: Obolensky, Dimitri
History of Civilization (Phoenix); Paperback; 64pp B&w Illustrations
456 pages
Published: May 2000
Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 1842120190

Throughout much of the Middle Ages, Eastern Europe--the Balkans, Russia, Rumania, and the lands on either side of the middle Danube--was effected by Byzantine political and cultural influence. Professor Oblensky shows how this international community of nations, which he terms the Byzantine Commonwealth, came to embrace common traditions. Their history is traced from the barbarian invasion of the 6th and 7th centuries to the later Middle Ages when the Empire was able to reassert its cultural dominance over the greater part of Eastern Europe.A clear and illuminating account of the often obscure history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. Throughout much of the Middle Ages, the lands of Eastern Europe lay within the orbit of Byzantine political and cultural influence, forming a major preoccupation of the Empire. This is a comprehensive historical account of the relations between the Empire and the peoples of Eastern Europe.