One of the most important figures in the history of fourteenth century Byzantium was John Cantacuzenus, a military commander under Andronicus III, who then rebelled against the regency government of Anna of Savoy, and himself emperor from 1347 to 1354. Furthermore, John also wrote a history of this period, including …
Peter Purton A History of the Early Medieval Siege c.450-1220. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2009. Pp. xxvii+505. ISBN 978-1-84383-448-9. As the date range in the title implies, this book is only half of the author’s history of medieval siege warfare. There is a second, equally robust, volume devoted to the …
Cristina Tonghini Shayzar I: The Fortification of the Citadel Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2012. 539 pp. This book, an immense assembly of transcribed inscriptions, re-established floor plans, chemical analysis of mortar and construction materials is very much like the building—or rather set of buildings—it proposes to discuss. It intently focuses on …
Dey, Hendrik W. The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome AD 271-855. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. 376. $110. ISBN: 978-0-52176-365-3. Reviewed by Gregor A. Kalas, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, gkalas@utk.edu Avaialble at The Medieval Review TMR 12.03.20