1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793568203321

Autore

Panov Mitko (Mitko B.)

Titolo

The blinded state : historiographic debates about Samuel Cometopoulos and his state (10th-11th century) / / by Mitko B. Panov

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden ; ; Boston : , : Brill, , 2019

ISBN

90-04-39429-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (476 pages)

Collana

East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, , 1872-8103 ; ; volume 55

Disciplina

949.9/013092

Soggetti

Byzantine Empire History 527-1081

Balkan Peninsula History

Macedonia History 168 B.C.-1389 A.D

Byzantine Empire Historiography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Acknowledgements -- Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Samuel's State in the Contemporary Sources -- Samuel's State in The Byzantine Ideology: Basil II and the Construction of Identity -- Basil versus Samuel: Constructing Legends and Traditions in the Medieval Balkans -- Samuel's Multiple Faces: Sympathetic Ruler and God's Sinner -- Rediscovering the Dark Side of Samuel -- Absolving Samuel -- Resurrecting Samuel -- An Antidote for Balkan Nationalisms: Samuel and the Struggle for National Consciousness in Macedonia -- Under Samuel's Shadow: The Blinding Continues -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book is a revisionist account of Samuel's State and the legendary struggle between Samuel Cometopoulos and Basil II (10th-11th century). It goes beyond the standard approach to the study of state formation, presenting an entirely new analytical framework which interrogates how contemporaries in the Balkans at different times, ranging from the Byzantine and Balkan elites of the medieval centuries to later voices in the early modern and modern periods, have represented Samuel's polity in the service of their own political agendas and territorial aspirations towards Macedonia. The wide-ranging relationship between culture, identity and power are addressed, making



use not just of Balkan literary and artistic traditions but on writings from across the Slavic world and western political and intellectual contexts. Demonstrating the conflicted legacy of the Samuel's State in the Balkans, Mitko B. Panov questions established scholarly opinion and offers new interpretations that reconsider its place in Byzantine and Balkan history and imagination.