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  3. Past Imperfect

Past Imperfect presents concise critical overviews of the latest research by the world’s leading scholars. Subjects cross the full range of fields in the period ca. 400-1500 CE which, in a European context, is known as the Middle Ages. Anyone interested in this period will be enthralled and enlightened by these overviews, written in provocative but accessible language. These affordable paperbacks prove that the era still retains a powerful resonance and impact throughout the world today.

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18 results in Past Imperfect

Europe's Eastern Christian Frontier
  • Alice Isabella Sullivan
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    09 January 2025
    Print publication:
    31 May 2024
  • Within the shifting political landscapes of Eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages, the principality of Moldavia (extending over today's northeastern third of Romania and the Republic of Moldova) emerged as an eastern Christian frontier - indeed, a bastion, a 'gate of Christianity' - in the face of the advancing Ottoman armies and Tatar forces. Moldavia's leaders - among them Peter I Mușat, Alexander I, and Stephen III - established political, military, and economic contacts in efforts to strengthen and protect their domain, and, by extension, the rest of Europe. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Moldavia under Stephen III also refashioned Byzantine traditions in a new context, thereby preserving and transforming the legacies of the former Byzantine Empire to the north of the Danube River. This book argues for Moldavia's central role in the political, military, economic, and cultural spheres of Eastern Europe from the second half of the fourteenth century to the turn of the sixteenth century.

Russian Imperialism and the Medieval Past
  • Ivan Foletti
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    09 January 2025
    Print publication:
    31 May 2024
  • Vladimir Putin justifies his imperialist policy by use of the past. For him, Russia has always been an Empire and must remain so. The story of Russian imperialism has deep historical roots, and this book shows how Byzantium, the most powerful medieval and Christian empire, is repeatedly presented in Russian history as the source of the empire's imperial legitimacy.

    The author reflects on the role of art and the humanities (especially history and art history) within the power ambitions of regimes and political parties over the last two centuries as tools for the repeated reinvention of an empire's identity; an identity built on a multitude of invented pasts. Within this self-referential narrative, Byzantium becomes the ultimate authority justifying the aggression of the Russian state, and Orthodox belief becomes the bridge linking the medieval past with the present. One of the paradoxes of this narrative is the use of the same past by regimes as different as those of the last Romanovs, Stalin, and Putin, leading to a fundamental question: does this propaganda image really underlie the core identity of Russia?

The Case for East Roman Studies
  • Anthony Kaldellis
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    09 January 2025
    Print publication:
    31 May 2024
  • Byzantine Studies has reached a tipping point: a growing number of historians have realized that the terms 'Byzantium' and 'the Byzantines' distort the reality and identity of the society that we study, and encode a series of prejudices that were embedded in western perceptions. The aim of these terms was to exclude the eastern empire from important discussions and historical developments.

    It is time to end this exercise in orientalist fiction, but what are the alternatives? In this book, Anthony Kaldellis surveys the pros and cons of a range of possible options and examines the implications of a field name-change also for art history, philology, and the study of Eastern Orthodoxy. The new name he proposes will carry the field into the next phase of its history, renegotiate its relationships with its peers and respect the testimony of our sources.

The Almoravid Maghrib
  • Camilo Gómez-Rivas
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    20 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 November 2023
  • The Almoravid Maghrib uncovers the richness and complexity of a neglected past. A pivotal moment in the history of North Africa, the rise of the Almoravids brought a corner of the Maghrib into closer contact with the world around. From the Cid to the Seljuqs, the Almoravids impressed contemporaries in ways no Maghribi regime had, signalling a transformation of western North Africa through burgeoning trans-Saharan and trans-Mediterranean commerce, urbanization (two of Morocco's four imperial cities were founded), and the epic encounter with the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures of Iberia. The Almoravids witnessed a series of key transformations and beginnings, including the introduction of one of the area's most successful gold currencies, the formulation of a new religious orthodoxy, the parallel rise of counter-movements (popular, messianic, and spiritual), and the inception of pan-Maghribi-Andalusi artistic, literary, and architectural styles.

The Medieval Persian Gulf
  • Brian Ulrich
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    20 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 November 2023
  • The Persian Gulf today is home to multiple cosmopolitan urban hubs of globalization. This did not start with the discovery of oil. This book tells of the Gulf from the rise of Islam until the coming of the Portuguese, when port cities such as Siraf, Sohar, and Hormuz were entrepots for trading pearls, horses, spices, and other products across much of Asia and eastern Africa. Indeed, products traded there became a key part of the material culture of medieval Islamic civilization, and the Gulf region itself was a crucial membrane between the Middle East and the world of the broader Indian Ocean. The book also highlights the long-term presence of communities of South Asian and African ancestry, as well as patterns of religious change among Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Muslims that belie the image of a region long polarized between Arabs and Persians and Sunnis and Shi'ites.

Desert Ascetics of Egypt
  • Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    20 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 November 2023
  • Egypt is revered as the home of the famous Desert Ascetics, who first embraced a monastic life and established homosocial communities on the borders of their urban centres in the Nile Valley. Regarded as angels and warriors, the wisdom of the Desert Ascetics formed part of the oral and literary tradition of wonder-working saints whose commitment to asceticism was legendary and inspirational. This book grounds the mythologized stories of Desert Ascetics in the materiality of the desert, demonstrating the closeness of the desert, the connections between non-monastic and monastic communities, and the exciting insights into lived monasticism through the archaeology of monasticism in Egypt.

Christian-Muslim Relations during the Crusades
  • Alex Mallett
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    13 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 June 2023
  • The popular view of the Crusades is that of two zealous armies ranged against each other in a state of practically permanent warfare, lacking mutual respect, understanding, or co-operation. Scholars long ago replaced such ideas with a much more nuanced understanding, in which rulers from both sides could work together for mutual benefit, even while pretending to ascribe to the principles of crusade and jihad. This perspective, however, focused almost exclusively on the actions of the elites; the attitudes of those who made up the vast majority of the society in the Levant have been all but ignored.

    In a clear and accessible form, this book explores everyday relations and interactions between Christians and Muslims in the Levant during the Crusades, demonstrating that it was usually practicality rather than religious scruples that dictated their responses to the religious other.

'Europe' in the Middle Ages
  • Klaus Oschema
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    13 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 June 2023
  • From the nineteenth century onwards, historians described the Middle Ages as the 'cradle' of the nation state-then, after World War II, they increasingly identified the period as the 'cradle' of Europe. A close look at the sources demonstrates that both interpretations are misleading: while 'Europe' was not a rare word, its use simply does not follow modern expectations. This volume contrasts modern historians' constructions of 'Europe in the Middle Ages' with a fresh analysis of the medieval sources and discourses. The results force us to recognize that medieval ideas of ordering the world differ from modern expectations, thereby inviting us to reflect upon the use and limits of history in contemporary political discourse.

Crusades and Violence
  • Megan Cassidy-Welch
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    13 February 2024
    Print publication:
    30 June 2023
  • How was violence understood and justified during the time of the crusades? This book argues that although just/holy war theory has long provided the framework for explaining crusading violence, cultural history gives us deeper insights into the meaning and conduct of medieval crusading warfare. Using a range of sources including histories, letters, and material culture from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, this book provides fresh insights into medieval violence and the history of the crusades. It shows how violence was debated, defined, worried about, celebrated, and condemned, and that the boundaries of legitimate and illegitimate conduct in crusading warfare were constantly and consciously tested.

Medieval Syphilis and Treponemal Disease
  • Marylynn Salmon
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    06 December 2022
    Print publication:
    31 August 2022
  • Leaders in the field of paleopathology have found enough evidence to prove that treponematosis, including syphilis, existed in ancient and medieval Afro-Eurasia, settling a decades-long debate. Yet documentary and artistic evidence to support this important work remains scarce. After summarizing the confirmed cases of treponematosis detected to date, this book turns to contemporary accounts about the death of the English king, Edward IV, that strongly indicate syphilis as the cause. It then considers further evidence suggesting contemporary awareness that elites tended to experience the disease more severely than commoners, and includes numerous examples from medical treatises and artworks that are highly suggestive that both endemic and venereal treponematosis (bejel and syphilis) were present in late medieval Europe. In doing so, the author hopes to spark a conversation not only about the existence of the disease in various places and times, but also its wider impact on premodern society and culture.

Why Study the Middle Ages?
  • Kisha G. Tracy
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    06 December 2022
    Print publication:
    31 August 2022
  • The study of the Middle Ages in every aspect of the modern liberal arts-the humanities, STEM, and the social sciences-has significant importance for society and the individual. There is a common belief that the peoples of the past were somehow exempt from (positive, especially) human nature, had less of a sense of morality (by any definition) than we do now, or were unaware of basic human dilemmas or triumphs. Relegating the Middle Ages to 'primitive' distances us from close examination of what has not changed in society-or what has, which might not be for the better. Exploring and exploding these (mis)conceptions is essential to experience the benefits of a liberal education.

Beowulf and the North before the Vikings
  • Tom Shippey
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    06 December 2022
    Print publication:
    31 August 2022
  • Ever since Tolkien's famous lecture in 1936, it has been generally accepted that the poem Beowulf is a fantasy, and of no use as a witness to real history. This book challenges that view, and argues that the poem provides a plausible, detailed, and consistent vision of pre-Viking history which is most unlikely to have been the poet's invention, and which has moreover received strong corroboration from archaeology in recent years. Using the poem as a starting point, historical, archaeological, and legendary sources are combined to form a picture of events in the North in the fifth and sixth centuries: at once a Dark and a Heroic Age, and the time of the formation of nations. Among other things, this helps answer two long-unasked questions: why did the Vikings come as such a shock? And what caused the previous 250 years of security from raiders from the sea?

The Crusades Uncovered
  • Adrian J. Boas
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    24 November 2022
    Print publication:
    31 August 2022
  • Adrian J. Boas, an archaeologist with four decades' experience in the field, takes a fresh approach to investigating the experiences of crusaders, pilgrims, and settlers in the crusader states during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The book opens up the experience of medieval travel and crusading by drawing on personal reflection and comparison with contemporary events. Topics covered include wonderment at the strangeness of the East, adjusting to life in the Levant, the horrors of warfare, the drama of fortress and battlefield, and the theatrical beauty of religious architecture, together with new perceptions of a selection of characters known and less-known. The book encourages the reader to think more deeply as to the meaning of the topics involved.

Medieval Sovereignty
  • Andrew Latham
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    02 March 2022
    Print publication:
    28 February 2022
  • This book aims first to provide an account of a pivotal episode in the historical evolution of the idea of sovereignty - the supreme authority to command, legislate, and judge - in the thirteenth century. It also aims to reconnect early modern theorists of sovereignty to the medieval intellectual tradition out of which they emerged.

Byzantine Rome

Beowulf

Migration in the Medieval Mediterranean
  • Sarah Davis-Secord
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    13 January 2022
    Print publication:
    31 October 2021
  • Migration in the Medieval Mediterranean argues that the cross-Mediterranean movement of peoples was a central aspect of the medieval world. Medieval people migrated in search of safety after regime change, secure life amongst coreligionists, and prosperous careers. This kind of travel between Muslim and Christian regions demonstrates the mutual influences, interconnections, and communications linking them, surpassing the differences between the two civilizations.

Slaveries of the First Millennium
  • Youval Rotman
  • Published by:
    Amsterdam University Press
    Published online:
    13 January 2022
    Print publication:
    31 October 2021
  • In a world where princesses found themselves enslaved, kidnapped boys became army generals, and biblical Joseph was a role model, this book narrates the formation of the Middle Ages from the point of view of slavery, and outlines a new approach to enhance our understanding of modern forms of enslavement. Offering an analysis of recent scholarship and an array of sources, never before studied together, from distinct societies and cultures of the first millennium, it challenges the traditional dichotomy between ancient and medieval slaveries. Revealing the dynamic, versatile, and adaptable character of slavery it presents an innovative definition of slavery as a historical process.