From Byzantine to Norman Italy - (New Directions in Byzantine Studies) by Clare Vernon (Paperback)

About the Book

Using Italian sources unavailable in English, this book analyses the art and architecture of the archdiocese of Bari and Canosa during the Byzantine period

Book Synopsis

This is the first major study to comprehensively analyze the art and architecture of the archdiocese of Bari and Canosa during the Byzantine period and the upheaval of the Norman conquest. The book places Bari and Canosa in a Mediterranean context, arguing that international connections with the eastern Mediterranean were a continuous thread that shaped art and architecture throughout the Byzantine and Norman eras. Clare Vernon has examined a wide variety of media, including architecture, sculpture, metalwork, manuscripts, epigraphy and luxury portable objects, as well as patronage, to illustrate how cross-cultural encounters, the first crusade, slavery and continuities and disruptions in the relationship with Constantinople, shaped the visual culture of the archdiocese. From Byzantine to Norman Italy will appeal to students and scholars of Byzantine art, the medieval Mediterranean and the Italo-Norman world.

Review Quotes

"This is a valuable study which showcases how the cultural heritage of southern Italy still is an area in need of scholarly explorations." --Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

"This is a fascinating look at the important mid-sized port city of Bari during the pivotal centuries of the transition from Byzantine to Norman authority in the region. Vernon deftly shows us that Bari was a town attentive to its wide-ranging connections with important sites in both the contemporary and ancient Mediterranean world. Exploring these connections through the lens of Bari's buildings and monuments, Vernon brings our focus to the town's efforts to demonstrate its economic prowess and its participation in the papal reform movement, crusading, and cutting-edge artistic developments." --Sarah Davis-Secord, Associate Professor of History, University of New Mexico, USA

About the Author

Clare Vernon teaches medieval art history at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. She was awarded by PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK for a thesis on the visual culture of Norman Apulia and has published on the art and architecture of southern Italy in a Mediterranean context.