By the end of the twelfth century, the Byzantine <i>genos </I> was a politically effective social group based upon ties of consanguineous kinship, but, importantly, it was also a cultural construct, an idea that held very real power, yet defies easy categorization. This study explores the role and function of the Byzantine aristocratic family group, or <i>genos</i>, as a distinct social entity, particularly its political and cultural role, as it appears in a variety of sources in the tenth through twelfth centuries.
- Cover
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Defining “the Family” in Byzantine Sources and the Modern Historiography
- The Language of Kinship
- Marriage Impediments and the Concept of Family
- Interrogating Consanguinity in a Byzantine Context
- Family Names and the Politics of Reputation
- Kinship and Political Developments of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
- Conclusion
- Select Bibliography
- Index