Warfare and dislocation are obvious features of the break-up of the late Roman West, but this crucial period of change was characterized also by communication and diplomacy. The great events of the late antique West were determined by the quieter labours of countless envoys, who travelled between emperors, kings, generals, high officials, bishops, provincial councils, and cities. This book examines the role of envoys in the period from the establishment of the first 'barbarian kingdoms' in the West, to the eve of Justinian's wars of re-conquest. It shows how ongoing practices of Roman imperial administration shaped new patterns of political interaction in the novel context of the earliest medieval states. Close analysis of sources with special interest in embassies offers insight into a variety of genres: chronicles, panegyrics, hagiographies, letters and epitaph. This study makes a significant contribution to the developing field of ancient and medieval communications.
| ISBN | 0521096383 | | Volumes | 1 | | ISBN13 | 9780521096386
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 530 | | Publisher | Cambridge University Press | | Published in | Cambridge | | Imprint | Cambridge University Press | | Series ISSN | 55 | | Format | Paperback | | Series title | Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life & Thought: Fourth Series | | Publication date | 11 Jan 2009 | | Height (mm) | 228 | | Library of Congress | D | | Width (mm) | 152 | | DEWEY | 327.40902 | | Spine width (mm) | 21 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Academic level | Tertiary education | | Pages | 364 | |
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Preface; 1. Embassies and political communication in the post-imperial world; 2. The provincial view of Hydatius; 3. The hero as envoy: Sidonium Appollinaris's Panegyric on Avitus; 4. The saint as envoy: fifth and sixth century Latin bishops' Lives; 5. Cassiodorus and Senarius; 6. Negotium Agendum; Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography.
Review of the hardback: 'Envoys and Political Communication is a valuable study both of the important role that embassies played in the Late Antique world and of the literary sources from which our evidence for those embassies derives. The stated aim of the book was to make 'a significant contribution to the developing field of ancient and medieval communication'. This Gillett has certainly achieved.' English Historical Review Review of the hardback: '... Gillet has produced an extremely learned and engaging study that deserves a very warm welcome from everyone interested in the transformation of the Roman world and the emergence of the early Middle Ages. It is lucid, fully documented, and it lays a very strong basis for any further research in the field.' Scripta Classica Israelica
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