Jonathan Shepard is a British historian specializing in early medieval Russia, the Caucasus, and the Byzantine Empire. Formerly University Lecturer in Russian History at the University of Cambridge, he is regarded as a leading authority in Byzantine studies and on the Kievan Rus.

'Having read this book, the researcher will have a fresh understanding of the way in which the Emperor spread the Word of Christianity: with the zeal of a real Apostle (at least apparently), but doing it only upon the request of the potentate.' Byzantinoslavica

• Contents: Introduction: Centres old and new, the uses of Byzantium to emerging elites; Spreading the word: Byzantine missions; Slavs and Bulgars; Symeon of Bulgaria - peacemaker; The ruler as instructor, pastor and wise: Leo VI of Byzantium and Symeon of Bulgaria; A marriage too far? Maria Lekapena and Peter of Bulgaria; Tzetzes' letters to Leo at Dristra; Byzantine writers on the Hungarians in the 9th and 10th centuries; Byzantium and the steppe-nomads: the Hungarian dimension; Crowns from the basileus, crowns from heaven; Otto III, Boleslaw Chobry and the 'happening' at Gniezno, A.D. 1000: some possible implications of Professor Poppe's thesis concerning the offspring of Anna Porphyrogenita; Conversions and regimes compared: the Rus' and Poles ca. 1000; Manners maketh Romans? Young barbarians at the emperor's court; Addenda and corrigenda; Bibliography; Index.

Jonathan Shepard is a British historian specializing in early medieval Russia, the Caucasus, and the Byzantine Empire. Formerly University Lecturer in Russian History at the University of Cambridge, he is regarded as a leading authority in Byzantine studies and on the Kievan Rus.

'Having read this book, the researcher will have a fresh understanding of the way in which the Emperor spread the Word of Christianity: with the zeal of a real Apostle (at least apparently), but doing it only upon the request of the potentate.' Byzantinoslavica

• Contents: Introduction: Centres old and new, the uses of Byzantium to emerging elites; Spreading the word: Byzantine missions; Slavs and Bulgars; Symeon of Bulgaria - peacemaker; The ruler as instructor, pastor and wise: Leo VI of Byzantium and Symeon of Bulgaria; A marriage too far? Maria Lekapena and Peter of Bulgaria; Tzetzes' letters to Leo at Dristra; Byzantine writers on the Hungarians in the 9th and 10th centuries; Byzantium and the steppe-nomads: the Hungarian dimension; Crowns from the basileus, crowns from heaven; Otto III, Boleslaw Chobry and the 'happening' at Gniezno, A.D. 1000: some possible implications of Professor Poppe's thesis concerning the offspring of Anna Porphyrogenita; Conversions and regimes compared: the Rus' and Poles ca. 1000; Manners maketh Romans? Young barbarians at the emperor's court; Addenda and corrigenda; Bibliography; Index.

Jonathan Shepard is a British historian specializing in early medieval Russia, the Caucasus, and the Byzantine Empire. Formerly University Lecturer in Russian History at the University of Cambridge, he is regarded as a leading authority in Byzantine studies and on the Kievan Rus.

'Having read this book, the researcher will have a fresh understanding of the way in which the Emperor spread the Word of Christianity: with the zeal of a real Apostle (at least apparently), but doing it only upon the request of the potentate.' Byzantinoslavica

• Contents: Introduction: Centres old and new, the uses of Byzantium to emerging elites; Spreading the word: Byzantine missions; Slavs and Bulgars; Symeon of Bulgaria - peacemaker; The ruler as instructor, pastor and wise: Leo VI of Byzantium and Symeon of Bulgaria; A marriage too far? Maria Lekapena and Peter of Bulgaria; Tzetzes' letters to Leo at Dristra; Byzantine writers on the Hungarians in the 9th and 10th centuries; Byzantium and the steppe-nomads: the Hungarian dimension; Crowns from the basileus, crowns from heaven; Otto III, Boleslaw Chobry and the 'happening' at Gniezno, A.D. 1000: some possible implications of Professor Poppe's thesis concerning the offspring of Anna Porphyrogenita; Conversions and regimes compared: the Rus' and Poles ca. 1000; Manners maketh Romans? Young barbarians at the emperor's court; Addenda and corrigenda; Bibliography; Index.