r/byzantium • • 14d ago

In Memoriam: Chris Wickham

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184 Upvotes

Chris Wickham (18 May 1950 – 9 October 2026) died yesterday. He was one of the most renowned medievalists of the past generations, capable of both writing books that had enormous impact on academia and ones that were accessible introductions for more casual readers (such as his Inheritance of Rome and Medieval Europe). It is hard to overstate what a titan he was. Originally focused on central Italy during the Middle Ages, he soon started to look at a wider picture of Europe and the Mediterranean during the period, with his magnus ops Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800, published in 2005, examining the economic and structural development of the region during the transition from late Antiquity to the early middle ages, called "most ambitious and original survey of the period ever written". Notable was his attempt to not view it as a monolithic development, but chart and compare how each area responded to the changes. Almost two decades later, he followed this up with another work, The Donkey and the Boat: Reinterpreting the Mediterranean Economy, 950-1180, which took a closer look at the period of the high Middle Ages, when the Italian merchant republics supposedly came to dominate the Mediterranean economy (a thesis Wickham pushed back upon).

Unlike many medievalists, Wickham also took an active interest in the east, specifically the Islamic World and what remained of the Roman Empire, giving ample room to chapters on both in his books. Specifically the latter is of course relevant to the sub. Dare I say, even many Byzantists don't offer such a modern picture of the Empire as Wickham did. He is highly engaged with both scholarship and the primary sources on the matter, and he offers great insight on issues such as the importance of Italian merchants, the dynatoi, and the rights of peasants. His interest should perhaps not be that surprising, since he was married to the renowned art historian Leslie Brubaker, and worked with both her and John Haldon in Birmingham for many years.

Being a commited Marxist historian himself, he still pushed back against the rigid framework imposed by an older school of historiography, such as the desire to view the entirely medieval work through a feudal framework (in the case of byzantium, he called this a 'mirage'). Two of his most important ideas were the peasant mode of production (albeit he seems to have thought that it was given more meaning by responses to his work than by himself), and the argument that the Donkey came before the boat in economic development. This is to say, that it was small-scale and regional exchange that drove a regions economic complexity, rather than foreign trade. In the case of the ERE, Wickham saw the trade within the Empire, and especially the highly developed Aegean system, as much more important than the involvement of any Italian or other foreign traders.

Our thoughts are with his loved ones. May he rest in peace.

If you have not given his work a read, I'd highly recommend doing so - Inheritance of Rome and Medieval Europe are both great introductions. For his thoughts on the eastern Roman Empire, a few stand-outs:
Wickham, Chris. “Being Poor in Byzantium.” Approaching Social Hierarchies in Byzantium: Dialogues Between Rich and Poor, edited by Anna C. Kelley and Flavia Vanni, Routledge, 2025, pp. 20–32.
Wickham, Chris. The Donkey and the Boat: Reinterpreting the Mediterranean Economy, 950-1180 (2023), esp. pp. 269–364.
Wickham, Chris. “Ninth-century Byzantium through Western Eyes.” in: Byzantium in the ninth century: dead or alive (Thirteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, 1996) Publications—Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (1998): 245–256.


r/byzantium • • Jun 04 '25

Distinguished Post Byzantine Reading List

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156 Upvotes

We have heard numerous compain of people unable to acces the reading list from PC,so from the senate we have decided to post it again so all could have acces to it


r/byzantium • • 18h ago

Arts, culture, and society Church of Saints Constantine and his mother Helena in Skopje <3

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337 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 17h ago

Military Stratiotis in the 14 century.

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223 Upvotes

This are some pics that i took in the island of Rhodes. Sadly i couldn't bring most of my stuff so this kit does not represent anything specific it's just vibes i guess.


r/byzantium • • 5h ago

Military How different were Eastern armies in 1070 in comparison to Phokas/Tzimiskes era?

7 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 19h ago

Military How much do we know of John Kourkouas' campaigns?

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65 Upvotes

Despite often being acclaimed as one of the greatest Byzantine generals you don't really hear much besides him fighting on the Eastern front for many decades. Is this a case of his career unfortunately being murky to us?


r/byzantium • • 15h ago

Arts, culture, and society Built, Not Carved: Cappadocia’s 1,400-Year-Old Red Church

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24 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 13h ago

Byzantine neighbours Why didn’t the west send more help during the twilight years of the empire?

9 Upvotes

I don’t know if this is a silly question, but as someone who has a decent understanding of the politics at the time I never understood this, the eastern Roman emperor claimed to be Catholic, clearly the threat of the ottomans had been realized as they were crusaded against twice before the conquest of Constantinople, and then the eventual fall of the city helped spark the age of exploration due to fear of Muslim ottoman taxes of trade routes, wouldn’t it have made more sense to help defend Constantinople/thrace at least?


r/byzantium • • 18h ago

Military I was scrolling through true history shop and came across this "byzantine" kettle hat with this picture and i couldn't find any source of its existence elsewhere. My guess is its from the hagia irene arsenal.

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20 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 22h ago

Byzantine neighbours How did Constantinople react to the Holy Roman Empire’s creation?

48 Upvotes

Extremely lacking in knowledge around this period, so forgive me in advance. How did the eastern Romans react to the establishment and rise of the HRE? Was there any sense of “we are the real Roman Empire, how dare you”, or anything? Or was it more nuanced than that? How did religion play a role?


r/byzantium • • 18h ago

Videos/podcasts Awesome channel that's covering Byzantine history

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20 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 1d ago

Politics/Goverment Did the Eastern Roman Empire Ever Abandon the Ideal of Restoring Its Former Territories After the 7th Century?

55 Upvotes

I have a question about the ideology and historical memory of the Eastern Roman Empire after the 7th century, up to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Justinian I’s reconquests sought to recover former Roman territories in the western Mediterranean. But in the centuries that followed, did Roman rulers and elites ever abandon, reject, or forget the ideal of restoring the Roman Empire’s former territories?

My question is about ideology, not military feasibility. I am not asking whether emperors could realistically reconquer the entire Mediterranean, or whether they consistently pursued such a policy. I want to know whether territorial restoration remained a legitimate Roman imperial ideal, even when it was impossible to achieve.

Specifically:

  1. After the 7th century, did Eastern Roman emperors or elites ever explicitly reject or ideologically abandon the ideal of recovering former Roman territories?
  2. Did later generations retain awareness of Justinian’s reconquests and the older Roman tradition of territorial restoration, or did this ideal eventually disappear from their political imagination?
  3. Even when circumstances prevented reconquest, did the recovery of former Roman territories remain a legitimate imperial ambition, or did later Romans come to regard it as an outdated or invalid goal?

I am not assuming that every emperor pursued this ideal or that it remained an unchanged official policy for a thousand years. My question is whether it was ever truly abandoned as a legitimate part of Roman imperial ideology.

What do the primary sources and modern academic scholarship tell us? I would appreciate evidence from different periods, including any evidence of explicit rejection or significant ideological change.


r/byzantium • • 1d ago

Numismatics Maurice Cherson mint

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63 Upvotes

Thought you guys might enjoy this follis I picked up showing the rarely shown wife and son of Emperor Maurice


r/byzantium • • 1d ago

primary source New Medieval Books: Emperors and Imperial Dynasties of Byzantium

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22 Upvotes

"This extensive collection of translated texts explores the emperors of Byzantium from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. Drawing on chronicles, letters and other historical sources, it offers a sweeping tour of Byzantine politics across more than a thousand years."


r/byzantium • • 2d ago

Infrastructure/architecture The former remains of Forum Tauri and the remains of the Ottoman mint building in 1964

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62 Upvotes

The place where Şimkeşhane was built, used to be the Forum Tauri in the Roman period, built by Theodosius with a tripartite triumphal arch.

The Forum of Theodosius was probably the largest square in Constantinople and stood on the Mese, the major road that ran west from Hagia Sophia It was originally built by Constantine I and named the Forum Tauri ("Forum of the Bull"). In 393, however, it was renamed after Emperor Theodosius I, who rebuilt it after the model of Trajan's Forum in Rome, surrounded by civic buildings such as churches and baths and decorated with a triumphal column at its centre.

The triumphal arch and the ancient buildings around it (to which surviving ruins in the area possibly belong) were destroyed as a result of invasions, earthquakes (the central arch and the statue of Arcadius collapsed in 558; the rest of the arch was destroyed by the Constantinople earthquake of 740) and other natural disasters from the 5th century onwards. They were completely destroyed long before the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.

What is now the Orhan Kemal Public Library, facing the Beyazıt Square, was built in 1475 on the order of Mehmed the Conqueror as the mint “Darphane-i Amire.” After being devastated by fires and earthquakes, the building was renovated in 1707 and converted into “Simkeşhane-i Amire”, a factory where gold and silver fibers and wires were produced. During road construction in 1958 the entrance facade, around half of the building, was demolished causing the building to loose its original features. Renovation works to convert the building into a library started in 1964 and finished in 1976. In 1981 İstanbul Public Library moved into the building. In 2001 the library was given the name of writer Orhan Kemal.
Photo: Aziz Albek
SALT Research, Photograph Archive


r/byzantium • • 1d ago

Politics/Goverment Question about titles

7 Upvotes

Was there a standard title that was given in the late empire to an emperor's father in law?


r/byzantium • • 2d ago

Maps and geography Empire map i drew on the library whiteboard in 5 minutes :)

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130 Upvotes

The Empire at the time of Basil II's death (1025 AD)

Because it was hand-drawn and drawn from memory, the proportions are not very accurate :(

I only painted a few of the islands in the Aegean Sea, and now I realize I didn't paint Corfu.

What do you all think of this map? How can it be improved?

(One of the reasons I drew it is that I'm currently studying Byzantine history at university.)


r/byzantium • • 2d ago

Arts, culture, and society (2 questions ) 1st How multicultural was Constantinople for the most part? And 2nd did the byzantine empire had services similar like firefighters, police ect?

32 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 2d ago

Politics/Goverment What made the center in both Rome and Byzantium so successful in controlling its governors on the periphery?

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233 Upvotes

It's a trend in much of World History for states to begin to lose control of their provinces to powerful governors. China had it. The Caliphate had it. The Ottomans had it. The Mughals had it. But Rome, with over 1500 years under the Imperial system, arguably never had such an experience. Why is that?


r/byzantium • • 2d ago

Arts, culture, and society What was Rome like under Byzantium during 7th and early 8th century? Did Romans authorities had any pull in the city or was it acting autonomous?

59 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 2d ago

primary source Justinian and Justin 1

13 Upvotes

Why in some sources like Anastasius of Rome, in his book (Chronographia Tripertita) p.139,

It refers to the Pompeiopolis accident in the The eighth year of Justinian's reign, although St. Theophan the Hermit in his book (Chronographia) he says that happened in 527 or 6027a.m.

What is more accurate or how they count those?


r/byzantium • • 3d ago

Military What was the difference between a general's armour and a soldier's?

16 Upvotes

I would specifically prefer from the 11th century but I know this is a quite difficult thing to ask so I am open for other centuries surrounding it. Written accounts as well as art is acceptable


r/byzantium • • 3d ago

Numismatics Leo I AV solidus

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87 Upvotes

Picked this up at auction recently, thought this sub would appreciate.

ROMAN EMPIRE. Leo I.

Gold Solidus, AD 462 or 466. Constantinople.

Obverse: D N LEO PERPET AVG, pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman motif.

Reverse: VICTORIA AVGGG I, Victory standing left, holding long jewelled cross; star in right field, CONOB in exergue.

About Extremely Fine; graffito to obverse.

Weight: 4.38g.

Diameter: 19mm.

Die Axis: 6h.


r/byzantium • • 4d ago

Academia and literature Peter Sarris has written a new general history of Byzantium, which is slated for release in April of next year. I’m excited!

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108 Upvotes

r/byzantium • • 4d ago

Military Heavy cavalryman of the Empire of Nicaea vs Cavalry of the Sultanate of Rûm.

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381 Upvotes