The contrast between the Latin West and the ‘Byzantine’ Empire is great in the 10th century. The differences between the fragmented West and the conquering Empire of the Romans are even greater. The article presents what has been well studied over the last three decades, even if the official sources offer a distorting mirror. Military expansion and the consolidation of imperial ideology in the post-Iconoclast period seem to be well known, while the debates surrounding “Byzantine feudalism”, the end of small peasant farming or the fiscal challenge are more or less extinct and have led to more nuanced analyses in the last decades. In recent years, periods before and after the 10th century have been intensely studied, rather than the 10th century. Several points are highlighted here: studies about finance and warfare, and the link between the State and the aristocracy, and the Western margins of Sicily and Italy.
University of Nantes, France - ORCID: 0000-0003-3028-9178
Chapter Title
L’insaisissable Xe siècle byzantin
Authors
Annick Peters Custot
Language
French
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2.09
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Repenser le Xe siècle. États des lieux et perspectives / Ripensare il X secolo. Bilanci e prospettive
Editors
Gianmarco De Angelis, Tiziana Lazzari
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
490
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1093-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1094-2
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1096-6
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079