This paper innovatively examines the multifaceted roles of seven elite women in medieval Serbia, arguing for their pivotal yet understudied contributions to visual culture, ecclesiastical foundations, and artistic development. By critically interrogating male-dominated historiographical narratives, the study highlights how these women—Helen of Anjou, Anna Dandolo, Queen Simonida, Empress Helena, Despotess Jelena Mrnjavčević, Princess Milica, and…
À la mort d’Andronic III Paléologue, le 15 juin 1341, le trône échoua formellement à son fils mineur Jean V. Une institution de régence fut alors instaurée par sa mère Anne de Savoie, inaugurant ainsi une phase de négociation et de redéfinition du pouvoir impérial. L’un des moyens d’étudier ces changements politiques est de nous…
It remains largely undisputed in scholarship that the so-called office of the Roman empress, and the position, prerogatives and power associated with it, were entirely contingent on the goodwill of the emperor. However, in the absence of a constitutionally sanctioned position, role or authority regarded by law for either, academic approaches aiming to delve into…
Corippus designated Justin II and Sophia as ‘the two lights of the world’ in his panegyric, ‘In Laudem Iustini Augusti minoris’, celebrating the accession of Justin to the throne following the death of Justinian. Sophia’s influence can be seen at every stage: her expedient conversion from miaphysitism to orthodoxy during the later stages of Justinian’s…
The reception of Byzantium in modern times is not always positive. Myths of medieval whiteness and gender are mobilised by the American Alt-right, religious and political institutions, and in mainstream media, which participate in maintaining white patriarchy in the present. For instance, Douglas Galbi’s website, purple motes, co-opts Medieval texts to communicate a misogynist agenda….