Slavs in the Middle Ages between idea and reality / / by Eduard Mühle.

• VerfasserIn: Mühle, Eduard,
• Language: English

"The book presents a new history of the Slavs during the Middle Ages. Based on in-depth source analysis, it describes on the one hand the 'factual' historical structures that can be discerned behind the phenomenon of 'the Slavs'--from the 'early Slavic' population groups and their first formations of power in the 7th to 9th centuries, through the Slavic-speaking realms and nationes of the 10th to 12th centuries, to the late medieval societies of the 13th to 15th centuries. On the other hand, it analyzes external Byzantine, Latin and Arabic perceptions, as well as 'Slavic' self-imagery, with which the Slavs have been conceptualized or imagined as a cultural construct since the 6th century. Mühle further demonstrates that these images were already being instrumentalized for historical-political purposes in various contexts and for different purposes in the Middle Ages"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

The Making of Slavs in Modern Times -- Questions and Methodology -- The Discovery of the Slavs in the Early Middle Ages -- Early Slavic Realities -- Early Slavic Power Structures (regna) -- The Slavs in the Process of Medieval 'State-Formation' and 'Nation-Building' -- Incomplete Processes of 'State-Formation' and 'Nation-Building' -- Slavs Perceived by Non-Slavs through the Middle Ages -- Ideas of Slavic Unity in the Late Middle Ages -- The Making of the Slavs in the Middle Ages.