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John Haldon,
who teaches history at Princeton University, has produced an accomplished and admirable
book. Not only has The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman
Survival, 640-740 (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. - London, 2016)
attracted the attention of the community of specialists in the field of Late
Antiquity, but it has also gained a wider audience among historians and social
scientists with their own distinct ‘take’ on key issues that have engaged
scholars for decades. Haldon’s analysis proves particularly engaging as it
employs concepts of resiliency, survival, and reproduction that challenge the
current approach to such questions as imperial collapse, systems collapse, and failure.
The editors have accordingly invited four eminent scholars – Yannis Stouraitis
(University of Vienna), Michele Campopiano (University of York), Salvatore
Cosentino (University of Bologna) and Federico Montinaro (University of
Tübingen) – to offer their reflections on the book. Their assessments are
preceded by a cogent introductory note by Paolo Tedesco, editor of the
Symposium and tireless collaborator of the JEEH.
One preliminary
remark: This Symposium should not be read as a review of Haldon’s book, but,
rather, as a series of connected studies that use Haldon’s historical analysis
as a jumping-off point for further consideration of key issues at the heart of
the current historiographical debate. It is the fruit of cooperation between
the editors of The Journal of European Economic History and the Centre for
Advanced Studies “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle
Ages” based at the University of Tübingen. Under the aegis of Mischa Meier,
Stefan Patzold and Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner, the Centre explores new approaches
to migration and mobility in the period in question, with a view to setting
scholarly debate on a new footing. The contributors and editors hope to advance
our understanding of social and economic relations in an important and
fascinating period of history, and also to set out theoretical and
methodological issues for the study of the contemporary world.
The Political Economy of Survival: The Eastern Roman Empire’s Transition to the Early Middle Ages – Paolo Tedesco
Identity as Ideology in the Empire that Would Not Die – Yannis Stouraitis
The End of an Era? The Impact of Early Islamic Expansion on Economic and Social Structures in the Byzantine East – Michele Campopiano
The “Empire That Would Not Die” Looks West – Salvatore Cosentino
Killing “Empire”: Goldilocks and the Three Byzantine Kommerkiarioi – Federico Montinaro
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