Reviving Empires

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the intricate dynamics of regional dominance, conflict, and diplomatic exchanges that unfolded in the northeastern Mediterranean during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The historical backdrop is set against the backdrop of the emergence of competing centers of imperial power in Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula, following the disintegration of the Byzantine political and cultural unity in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. The study revolves around two central themes: 1) the strategies employed by Latin, Greek, and Slav powers to establish and legitimize their imperial status in a region previously dominated by Byzantine universalism, and 2) the concurrent policies pursued by the Constantinople Patriarchate to restore ecclesiastical unity within the religiously and politically fragmented Christian realm of the northeastern Mediterranean. The dissolution of the Byzantine Empire led to a multipolar world, challenging the assumption of a unified Christendom in the Greek East and allowing for the testing of various forms of leadership as alternatives to a single dominant ruling system.