This book intertwines two themes in medieval studies hitherto kept apart: comparisons of Latin and Orthodox Europe and the "feudal revolution" of the late- and post-Carolingian periods. The book broadens the debate by comparing texts written in "learned" and "vulgar" Latin, Church Slavonic, Anglo-Norman, and East Slavonic. From this comparison, the Kingdom of the Rus appears as a regional variation of European society. This suggests current interpretations overemphasize factors unique to the medieval West and overlook deeper pan-European processes.
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. Rus and Latin Europe: Words, Concepts, and Phenomena
- 2. Medieval Texts and Professional Belief Systems: Latin, Church Slavonic, and Vernacular Political Narratives
- 3. Elite Domination in Rus and Latin Europe: Princely Power and Banal Lordship
- 4. Interprincely Agreements and a Question of Feudo-Vassalic Relations
- Conclusions
- Index
- Bibliography
- Primary Sources
- Chronicles Published in the Polnoe Sobranie Russkikh Letopisei
- Other Editions of Rusian Chronicles
- Birchbark Documents
- Other Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources
- Index