Aspekte Der Politischen Verflechtung Des Patriarchen In Der Mittelbyzantinischen Zeit
The patriarch of Constantinople became an important political factor in the 
 middle Byzantine period. Three aspects will be discussed: 1. Responsibility 
 for the inauguration of the ruler, 2. Support of usurpations and political 
 coups, 3. Mediation.
Kaiserprophetien und Hochverrat. Apokalyptische Schriften und Kaiservaticinien als Medium antikaiserlicher Propaganda
Im Juli oder August des Jahres 1280 erließ Kaiser Michael VIII. Palaiologos († 11.12. 1282) ein Gesetz, das auf den ersten Blick etwas eigenartig anmutet. Der eigentliche Text dieses Gesetzes ist nicht berliefert. Allein der Historiker Georgios Pachymeres berichtet ber den Vorgang; seine Mitteilung dar ber und insbesondere der Kontext der Ereignisse sind allerdings schwer zu verstehen. Schon Karl Krumbacher kennzeichnete die Lekt re dieses Geschichtswerkes – vçllig berechtigt – als „qualvoll“, und der Abschnitt (IV,24), der mit der Nachricht ber das Gesetz endet, gehçrt zu den schwierigsten. Es ging jedenfalls um bestimmte „Flugbl tter“ (v2lousa), deren Besitz, Lekt re oder gar Ver-
Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice
unity came under attack ideologically and economically. ldeas from the Enlightenment and revolutionary France seeped in, questioning the political principles of the Empire and calling for a new relationship: between citizen and state. This represented a profound constitutional change, not simply a modification of the status quo. A second ideological assault arose from the increasing emphasis on language among various ethnic groups of the Empire. Language grew to represent “all categories of shared experience,” thereby emphasizing particularism and working against the unifying ideology of Catholicism. The third force acting against imperial unity came from the new economic system that favored the middle class. While emperors relied increasingly on the middle class, the middle class derived its power and prestige from economic entrepreneurship rather than from favors awarded by the crown. This led to a fundamental change in the basic constitution of the Empire. The combined effects of these three forces and the inability or lack of will of the crown to make adjustments to them pointed to the decline and eventual collapse of the empire in the years after 1848. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Airribuies of Empire is based almost completely on secondary sources and serves well as a synthesis of current scholarship. At one hundred seventy pages of text, however, it is hard to decide who the audience is. I t moves along too fast for an undergraduate survey, which is a pity since the field would benefit greatly from such a work, but lacks the depth of a graduate-level work. It is also curiously organized, with five chapters of chronology leading up to 1848 followed by a chapter which overviews the entire period discussing the forces of integration and disintegration.