The Confraternities of Byzantium
Peregrine Horden
‘The medieval drive to association’. That phrase comes from a monograph by Susan Reynolds. It is be found in chapter on guilds and confraternities. And it representative of the quasi-biological vocabulary which historians those institutions seem especially prone. ‘How appropriate this talk drives? What, context, force ‘medieval’? My ultimate purpose address questions Byzantine perspective; ask effect whether evidence confraternities eastern Roman empire between approximately 400 Ottoman conquest will sustain ‘drive The enquiry is, however, worth preliminary approach broader front. This partly because historiography European shapes that must put sources. also because, unusually, perspective may illuminate problems arising western material. Finally comparative history may, implication, have modest contribution make larger question differences Christianity. Much energy has been expended accounting for ‘parting ways’ - less, perhaps, measuring distance them.
Studies in Church History