Description |
1 online resource |
Series |
New approaches to Byzantine history and culture |
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New approaches to Byzantine history and culture.
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Contents |
1. Introduction -- 2. The Reasons for the Rise of Balkan Banditry between the Ninth and the Fourteenth Centuries -- 3. The 'Sociology' of Balkan Banditry -- 4. The Bandit and his Community: 'Parasitical' Societies in the Medieval Balkans? -- 5. The State's Response to Banditry -- 6. Appendix: Inventory of References to Balkan Banditry in the Sources |
Summary |
This book explores the history of banditry in the medieval Balkans between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. While several scholars have recognized the problems which various outlaw groups caused in the region during the Middle Ages, few have given much attention to the bandits themselves, their origins, their reasons for taking up brigandage, and the steps taken by the central authorities to control their activity. Among other things, this book identifies three main sources of banditry: shepherds, soldiers and peasants. Far from being 'lone wolves', these men operated within well-defined social networks. Poverty played a decisive role in driving them to a life of crime, but there is strong evidence to suggest that the growing economic prosperity in parts of the Balkans from the ninth century onwards may have also contributed to the rise of the phenomenon |
Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 03, 2020) |
Subject |
Brigands and robbers -- Balkan Peninsula -- History -- To 1500
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Organized crime -- Balkan Peninsula -- History -- To 1500
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Theft -- Balkan Peninsula -- History -- To 1500
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Brigands and robbers
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Organized crime
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Theft
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Balkan Peninsula
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Genre/Form |
History
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Form |
Electronic book
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ISBN |
303055905X |
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9783030559052 |
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