ABSTRACT

The Byzantine empire survived for some 500 years from about 600 in a form which grew increasingly away from its late Roman roots. Yet although there were many substantial changes in its geographical extent, institutional arrangements and social structure, it remained until the early 13th century the recognisable descendant of the eastern Roman empire of Justinian. By the middle of the 11th century, however, the international political and economic context of the 12th century – in which it had, after all, to survive – was beginning to change in ways that set up substantial challenges to the empire and, more importantly, to the ways in which it worked and was able to respond.