Civic Identity and Civic Participation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

• Superior document: Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
• Author: Brélaz, Cédric, 1976-
• TeilnehmendeR: Rose, Els, 1972-
• Place / Publishing House: Turnhout, Belgium : : Brepols Publishers,, 2022.; ©2021.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Cultural encounters in late antiquity and the Middle Ages.
• Physical Description: 1 electronic resource (447 pages)

During the Ancient Greek and Roman eras, participation in political communities at the local level, and assertion of belonging to these communities, were among the fundamental principles and values on which societies would rely. For that reason, citizenship and democracy are generally considered as concepts typical of the political experience of Classical Antiquity. These concepts of citizenship and democracy are often seen as inconsistent with the political, social, and ideological context of the late and post-Roman world. As a result, scholarship has largely overlooked participation in local political communities when it comes to the period between the disintegration of the Classical model of local citizenship in the later Roman Empire and the emergence of ‘pre-communal’ entities in Northern Italy from the ninth century onwards. By reassessing the period c. 300-1000 ce through the concepts of civic identity and civic participation, this volume will address both the impact of Classical heritage with regard to civic identities in the political experiences of the late and post-Roman world, and the rephrasing of new forms of social and political partnership according to ethnic or religious criteria in the early Middle Ages. Starting from the earlier imperial background, the fourteen chapters examine the ways in which people shared identity and gave shape to their communal life, as well as the role played by the people in local government in the later Roman Empire, the Germanic kingdoms, Byzantium, the early Islamic world, and the early medieval West. By focusing on the post-Classical, late antique, and early medieval periods, this volume intends to be an innovative contribution to the general history of citizenship and democracy.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Cédric Brélaz and Els Rose. Introduction -- Clifford Ando. Local Citizenship and Civic Participation in the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire -- Cédric Brélaz. Democracy, Citizenship(s), and 'Patriotism' -- Anthony Kaldellis. Civic Identity and Civic Participation in Constantinople -- Avshalom Laniado. Social Status and Civic Participation in Early Byzantine Cities -- Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira. Informal Expressions of Popular Will in Late Roman Africa -- Pierfrancesco Porena. Urban Identities in Late Roman Italy -- Michael Kulikowski. Cities and Civic Identities in Late Roman and Visigothic Spain -- Ralph Mathisen. Personal Identity in the Later Roman Empire -- Peter Van Nuffelen. A Relationship of Justice -- Els Rose. Reconfiguring Civic Identity and Civic Participation in a Christianizing World -- Stefan Esders and Helmut Reimitz. Legalizing Ethnicity -- Mathieu Tillier. Urban Populations in Early Islam -- Marco Mostert. Urban Culture in the Early Medieval West -- Gianmarco De Angelis. Elites and Urban Communities in Early Medieval Italy -- Claudia Rapp. Citizenship and Contexts of Belonging -- Back Matter.