Crisis management in late antiquity (410-590 CE) : : a survey of the evidence from Episcopal letters / / by Pauline Allen, Bronwen Neil.

• Superior document: Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, volume 121
• Author: Allen, Pauline, 1948-
• TeilnehmendeR: Neil, Bronwen.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2013.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae ; v. 121.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (298 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil investigate crisis management as conducted by the increasingly important episcopal class in the 5th and 6th centuries. Their basic source is the neglected corpus of bishops’ letters in Greek and Latin, the letter being the most significant mode of communication and information-transfer in the period from 410 to 590 CE. The volume brings together into a wider setting a wealth of previous international research on episcopal strategies for dealing with crises of various kinds. Six broad categories of crisis are identified and analysed: population displacement, natural disasters, religious disputes and religious violence, social abuses and the breakdown of the structures of dependence. Individual case-studies of episcopal management are provided for each of these categories. This is the first comprehensive treatment of crisis management in the late-antique world, and the first survey of episcopal letter-writing across the later Roman empire.

Table of Contents

Front Matter / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Crisis in Late Antiquity / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Studying Late-Antique Crisis Management Through Letters / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Population Displacement / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Natural Disasters / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Religious Controversies and Violence / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Social Abuses / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Breakdown in the Structures of Dependence / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Conclusion / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Ancient Author Profiles / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Bibliography / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil -- Indexes / Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil.