Gender, Society and Economic Life in Byzantium

The studies in this volume reflect the authors interest in history as it was lived: not only the social and economic structures, but the men and women, collectively and individually, who made them function. The role of women in Byzantine economy and society is found to be much more important than had been believed; their participation in trade and manufacturing is established, as is the role of aristocratic women in the economic affairs of the household; the question of female literacy is also discussed. Two studies on the Byzantine family, based in large part on the legal sources, examine the formation of matrimonial ties as well as the practice of divorce and concubinage in the 13th century. The second part of the volume is focused on the economy of exchange in Byzantium between 1204 and the fall of the Empire. Byzantine trade and manufacturing are placed in the context of the economic developments of the eastern Mediterranean, with the conclusion that, whereas the activities of Byzantine and Greek merchants were much more considerable than scholars had thought, they were subordinated to the needs of the Italian-dominated trade system, while Byzantine manufacturing declined. Les etudes assembles dans ce volume refltent lintrt de leur auteur pour lhistoire telle quelle tait vcue; non seulement en ce qui concerne les structures sociales et conomiques, mais aussi les hommes et les femmes, collectivement et individuellement, qui permettaient celles-ci de fonctionner. Le rle des femmes dans la socit et lconomie byzantine se rvle comme ayant beaucoup plus dimportance quon ne le pensait auparavant; leur participation au commerce et lindustrie est un fait tabli, tout comme lest le rle des femmes aristocrates dans les affaires conomiques du foyer. Le thme de lalphabtisation des femmes est aussi souev. Deux tudes sur la famille byzantine, se basant en grande partie sur des sources lgales, exa