Rural Lives and Landscapes in Late Byzantium

Art, Archaeology, and Ethnography

Sharon E. J. Gerstel

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9780521851596
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316308158
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This is the first book to examine the late Byzantine peasantry through written, archaeological, ethnographic and painted sources. Investigations of the infrastructure and setting of the medieval village guide the reader into the consideration of specific populations. The village becomes a micro-society, with its own social and economic hierarchies. In addition to studying agricultural workers, mothers and priests, lesser-known individuals, such as the miller and witch, are revealed through written and painted sources. Placed at the center of a new scholarly landscape, the study of the medieval villager engages a broad spectrum of theorists, including economic historians creating predictive models for agrarian economies, ethnoarchaeologists addressing historical continuities and disjunctions, and scholars examining power and female agency.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Maps
• Introduction
• Chapter One The Landscape of the Village
• Chapter Two Communication and the Village Church
• Chapter Three The Village Woman
• Chapter Four Village Men, Village Labor
• Chapter Five In the Service of the Church
• Chapter Six The Body and the Soul
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index