The research reported in this volume is a significant addition to the
archaeology, history and economic geography of the Medieval Eastern
Mediterranean from the late 11th to the mid-14th centuries. The focus is on
the Byzantine Empire and its cultural and commercial connections with
the Italian maritime powers and the Crusader States in the East before and
after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins during the Fourth
Crusade. Of central interest are economic networks, with an emphasis on
the Peloponnese, and the impact of those networks on socio-cultural and
territorial changes through the centuries. Material evidence and written
sources are combined to attain maximum economic, socio-political and
cultural information, and network theory is applied to examine economic
systems at various scales. The distribution of tableware pottery and coin
circulation are investigated in detail and a regional perspective is achieved
through the study of agricultural exploitation, the manufacture and
commercialisation of goods, and settlement patterns in the Peloponnese.
The result is a new understanding of production and exchange within the
Medieval Eastern Mediterranean and of the long-term economic impact
of political and territorial changes at multiple geographical scales.
by Katerina Ragkou.
Printed in Nicosia 2020.
212 pages. ISBN: 978-9925-7455-7-9. Hard cover.
