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Alexios I Komnenos in the Balkans, 1081-1095 - (New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture) by Marek Mesko (Hardcover)
About this item
Highlights
- This book provides a new military history of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos's campaigns in the Balkans, during the first fourteen years of his rule.
- About the Author: Marek Mesko is an assistant professor at the University of Hradec Kralove, Institute of History, Czech Republic.
- 425 Pages
- History, Europe
- Series Name: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture
Description
Book Synopsis
This book provides a new military history of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos's campaigns in the Balkans, during the first fourteen years of his rule. While the tactics and manoeuvres Alexios used against Robert Guiscard's Normans are relatively well-known, his strategy in dealing with Pecheneg and Cuman adversaries in the region has received less attention in historical scholarship. This book provides a much-need synthesis of these three closely linked campaigns - often treated as discrete events - revealing a surprising coherence in Alexios' response, and explores the position of Byzantium's army and navy on the eve of the First Crusade.
From the Back Cover
This book provides a new military history of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos's campaigns in the Balkans, during the first fourteen years of his rule. While the tactics and manoeuvres Alexios used against Robert Guiscard's Normans are relatively well-known, his strategy in dealing with Pecheneg and Cuman adversaries in the region has received less attention in historical scholarship. This book provides a much-need synthesis of these three closely linked campaigns - often treated as discrete events - revealing a surprising coherence in Alexios' response, and explores the position of Byzantium's army and navy on the eve of the First Crusade.
Marek Mesko is an assistant professor at the University of Hradec Kralove, Institute of History, Czech Republic.
Review Quotes
"This is a thorough and deeply-researched book that ultimately convinces. The step-by-step study of the chronology and events do much to shed light on these crucial decades and Mesko makes use of a vast array of secondary literature in a huge range of languages ... . This book is anything but niche, and will serve as an exemplar of how to write pre-industrial military history at the operational level." (Lucas R. McMahon, International Journal of Military History and Historiography, Vol. 45 (1), 2025)
About the Author
Marek Mesko is an assistant professor at the University of Hradec Kralove, Institute of History, Czech Republic.