Byzantium and the Baltic Sea: Urban Interfaces and Maritime Relations in Medieval Europe

This course explores Byzantium and large towns from the East Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea in a comparative and<br> diachronic perspective during the Medieval period. Common to these towns is that they are built on maritime relations and<br> that they, as nodes in larger sea-based networks, develop their own urban lifeworlds and interfaces. The purpose of this<br> course is to study and compare the development of these urban environments and their diverse cultural expressions in<br> material, visual, and textual sources. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the course problematises the social and spatial<br> dynamics of these towns, their structural elements, cultural and economic exchanges, as well as their significance as<br> nodes in larger networks. The course will also examine medieval towns as cultural heritage; and as modern and<br> contemporary reception in arts and popular culture, conservation and historiography.