This is the first detailed analysis of Byzantine political attitudes towards the Ottomans and western Europeans during the critical last century of Byzantium. The book covers three major regions of the Byzantine Empire - Thessalonike, Constantinople, and the Morea - where the political orientations of aristocrats, merchants, the urban populace, peasants, and members of ecclesiastical and monastic circles are examined against the background of social and economic conditions. Through its particular focus on the political and religious dispositions of individuals, families and social groups, the book offers an original view of late Byzantine politics and society that is not found in conventional narratives. Drawing on a wide range of Byzantine, western and Ottoman sources, it authoritatively illustrates how late Byzantium was drawn into an Ottoman system in spite of the westward-looking orientation of the majority of its ruling elite.

这是第一本详细分析拜占庭在关键的拜占庭最后一个世纪对奥斯曼人和西欧人的政治态度的书。该书涵盖了拜占庭帝国的三个主要地区--塞萨洛尼克、君士坦丁堡和莫雷亚--在社会和经济条件的背景下考察了贵族、商人、城市居民、农民以及教会和修道院成员的政治取向。通过对个人、家庭和社会团体的政治和宗教倾向的特别关注，该书对晚期拜占庭政治和社会提供了一个传统叙事中所没有的原创性观点。该书利用广泛的拜占庭、西方和奥斯曼资料，权威性地说明了拜占庭后期是如何被卷入奥斯曼体系的，尽管其大多数统治精英都是向西看的。