Abstract
The project aims at investigating an aspect of Byzantine diplomacy consisting of thirty-three Greek acts issued by the Byzantine emperors in favour of the cities of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Ancona, and Florence. They date from the mid-12th to the mid-15th century. These documents are presently available to scholars only in old nineteenth-century editions, which offer neither a translation nor any support for their understanding. Moreover, they have so far been studied mostly from an economic perspective or for the ‘positive’ information they provide on political history. The present project, on the contrary, aims at studying this legacy under its aspect of cultural and social memory as well as at providing a fresh edition of it, with translation and commentary. The new edition will be prepared both in printed and in digital version, in the latter case benefiting from the tools now available in the field of digital humanities. The value of the acts as historical source mirroring the identity traits of the political powers involved in the negotiation activity will be emphasised. As far as Byzantium is concerned, the project will clearly demonstrate the modernity of its way of promoting forms of international relationships that today we would call ‘cultural diplomacy’. Finally, the proposal aims at raising awareness in the general public of the importance of this Greek medieval legacy for the history of western Europe as well as the importance of state archives in preserving and enhancing our cultural heritage.
Results achieved
: The project set out to investigate a key aspect of Byzantine diplomacy through the study of thirty-three Greek imperial acts issued in favour of the Italian merchant cities of Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Ancona, and Florence. Dating from the mid-twelfth to the mid-fifteenth century, these documents are currently accessible only in nineteenth-century editions, which provide neither translations nor adequate scholarly commentary. To date, they have been studied primarily from an economic perspective or as sources of factual information for political history. Over the two-year duration of the project, the participating research units transcribed, translated, and produced a preliminary commentary on the documents assigned to their respective areas of responsibility. The Bologna unit was responsible for the acts relating to Ancona and Florence, the Palermo unit for those concerning Pisa and Genoa, and the Venice unit for those issued in favour of Venice. The project has successfully achieved its principal objectives and produced results fully consistent with the original research plan. An agreement has been reached with CISAM (Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo) to publish the project’s results in the Quaderni di Bizantinistica series as an open-access volume. The volume will include a general introduction, five thematic essays examining the relations between Byzantium and each of the merchant cities that received imperial privileges, and critical editions of the documents, accompanied by Italian translations and scholarly commentary. Submission of the final manuscript is scheduled for the summer of 2027, and publication is expected by the end of that year. The project’s outcomes represent a substantial contribution to the study of Byzantine history, the relations between Byzantium and the Italian merchant cities in the later Middle Ages, and the diplomatics of Byzantine imperial documents. Collaboration among the participating research units proved highly effective, fostering a shared methodological framework and a coherent editorial approach. The planned dissemination of the results through an open-access publication will ensure their wide availability and maximise their scholarly impact.Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Salvatore Cosentino
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Beni Culturali
Coordinator:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 201.904,00
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 73.104,00
Project Duration in months: 24
Start Date:
17/10/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
