'Then So Did the General’s Lady with Great Magnificence': the Role of Noble Women in Byzantine Provincial Military Family
| Autor: | Anton Mokhov, Karina Kapsalykova |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | ruština |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Cultural Studies
History poem Digenis Akritis lcsh:History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics Sociology and Political Science provincial military aristocracy Byzantine army lcsh:International relations Ancient history sphragistics Byzantine heroic poetry noble women in Byzantium Political Science and International Relations Military Family lcsh:DK1-4735 Byzantium Byzantine architecture lcsh:JZ2-6530 |
| Zdroj: | Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 4. Istoriâ, Regionovedenie, Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ, Vol 22, Iss 5, Pp 300-310 (2017) Volgogradskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet-Vestnik-Seriya 4-Istoriya Regionovedenie Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya |
| ISSN: | 2312-8704 1998-9938 |
| Popis: | The article is devoted to the role of women in the families of the Byzantine provincial military nobility, in the middle of 9th – middle of 11th century. This issue remains poorly understood in historiography, and it is surely very urgent in light of the intensification of research of the daily life of the Byzantine society. The most important data on the topic of the article is contained in the Byzantine heroic poetry (first of all, in the poem Digenis Akritis). One of the key images of these literary works was the figure of the general’s lady (ἡ στρατήγισσα, “wife of the strategos”). In the absence of her husband, who served in the imperial army, she was engaged in housekeeping, corresponded with relatives and neighbors, arranged weddings for her children, resolved family conflicts. In the case of an enemy raid, general’s lady took care of the ransom of prisoners. According to the authors, the responsibility entrusted to the general’s lady gave it considerable freedom; strategissa had a special social status in the world of the Byzantine borderlands. To confirm their argument, the authors used sphragistic data. The article analyzes a group of 14 seals of the middle of 10th – middle of 11th century, which belonged to the wives of Byzantine military leaders. The most important of these are the seals of strategissa Helene (no. 1.2) and strategissa Ekaterina Melisina (no. 2.2), as well as Konstantina Pekoulena, topoteretissa of the Kibyrraioton. The authors’ assumption that in the second half of the 10th century, wives of strategoi used boulloterion of their husbands for sealing private correspondence is discussable. This issue requires further study. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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