Reimagining Europe [[electronic resource] ] : Kievan Rus' in the medieval world / / Christian Raffensperger

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910791938203321
• Autore: Raffensperger Christian
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge, Massachusetts, : Harvard University Press, 2012
• ISBN: 0-674-06546-8; 0-674-06854-8
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (340 p.)
• Collana: Harvard historical studies ; ; 177
• Disciplina: 947.02
• Soggetti: Christianity - Kyivan Rus; Europe Relations Kyivan Rus; Kyivan Rus Civilization Byzantine influences; Kyivan Rus History 862-1237; Kyivan Rus Relations Europe
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p.283-321) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. The Byzantine Ideal -- 2. The Ties That Bind -- 3. Rusian Dynastic Marriage -- 4. Kiev as a Center of European Trade -- 5. The Micro-Christendom of Rus' -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Rulers of Rus' -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: An overriding assumption has long directed scholarship in both European and Slavic history: that Kievan Rus' in the tenth through twelfth centuries was part of a Byzantine commonwealth separate from Europe. Christian Raffensperger refutes this conception and offers a new frame for two hundred years of history, one in which Rus' is understood as part of medieval Europe and East is not so neatly divided from West.With the aid of Latin sources, the author brings to light the considerable political, religious, marital, and economic ties among European kingdoms, including Rus', restoring a historical record rendered blank by Rusianmonastic chroniclers as well as modern scholars ideologically motivated to build barriers between East and West. Further, Raffensperger revises the concept of a Byzantine Commonwealth that stood in opposition to Europe-and under which ; Rus' was subsumed-toward that of a Byzantine Ideal esteemed and emulated by all the states of Europe. In this new context, appropriation of Byzantine customs, law, coinage, art, and architecture in both Rus' and Europe can be understood as an attempt to gain legitimacy and prestige by association with the surviving remnant of the Roman Empire. Reimagining Europe initiates an expansion of history that is sure to challenge ideas of Russian exceptionalism and influence the course of European medieval studies.