Research Catalog

Title

Lost capital of Byzantium : the history of Mistra and the Peloponnese / Steven Runciman ; foreword by John Freely.

Author

Runciman, Steven, 1903-2000

Publication

Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

144 p., [16] p. of plates : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

Clinging to a rugged hillside in the lush valley of Sparta lies Mistra, one of the most dramatically beautiful Byzantine cities in Greece, a place steeped in history, myth, and romance. Following the Frankish conquest of the Peloponnese in the thirteenth century, William II of Villehardouin built a great castle on a hill near Sparta that later came to be known as Mistra. Ten years later, in a battle in northern Greece, Villehardouin was defeated and captured by the Byzantine emperor. The terms for his release included giving Mistra to the Byzantine Greeks. Under their rule, the city flourished and developed into a center of learning and the arts and was a focal point for the cultural development of Europe. The author of this history has traveled to Mistra on numerous occasions. Lost Capital of Byzantium tells the story of this once-great city?its rise and fall and its place in the history of the Peloponnese and the Byzantine empire.

Alternative Title

History of Mistra and the Peloponnese

Subject

• 1081-1453
• Mistra (Greece) > History
• Byzantine Empire > History, Military > 1081-1453

Genre/Form

• History
• Military history

Note

• "First paperback edition published by Tauris Parke Paperbacks, an imprint of I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd in the United Kingdom [in 2009]. First published in the United Kingdom in 1980 by Thames and Hudson Ltd as Mistra: Byzantine Capital of the Peloponnese"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-137) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The Vale of Sparta -- The coming of the Franks -- The foundation of Mistra -- The return of the Greeks -- The despot Manuel -- The despot Theodore I -- The despot Theodore II -- The last despots -- The city of Mistra -- The philosophers of Mistra -- The rule of the infidel -- The end of ancient Mistra.

ISBN

• 9780674034051 (pbk.)
• 0674034058 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2009293738

OCLC

262430747

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library