Ties of Kinship Hardcover by Christian Raffensperger

Product Details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press (2016-04-26)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 418 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781932650136
• Item Weight: 567.0 grams
• Dimensions: 0.0 x 0.0 x 0.0 cm

The warp and weft of political and social relationships among the medieval elite were formed by marriages made between royal families. Ties of Kinship establishes a new standard for tracking the dynastic marriages of the ruling family of Rus´—the descendants of Volodimer (Volodimeroviči). Utilizing a modern scholarly approach and a broad range of primary sources from inside and outside Rus´, Christian Raffensperger has created a fully realized picture of the Volodimeroviči from the tenth through the twelfth centuries and the first comprehensive, scholarly treatment of the subject in English.

Alongside more than twenty-two genealogical charts with accompanying bibliographic information, this work presents an analysis of the Volodimeroviči dynastic marriages with modern interpretations and historical contextualization that highlights the importance of Rus´ in a medieval European framework. This study will be used by Slavists, Byzantinists, and West European medievalists as the new baseline for research on the Volodimeroviči and their complex web of relationships with the world beyond.

About the Author

Christian Raffensperger is the Kenneth E. Wray Chair in the Humanities and Professor and Chair of the History Department at Wittenberg University, and an Associate of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. He is the author of Reimagining Europe: Kievan Rus´ in the Medieval World, 988–1146; Ties of Kinship: Genealogy and Dynastic Marriage in Kyivan Rus´; The Kingdom of Rus´; and Conflict, Bargaining, and Kinship Networks in Medieval Eastern Europe.