Unrivalled Influence explores the exceptional roles that women played in the vibrant cultural and political life of medieval Byzantium. Written by one of the world's foremost historians of the Byzantine millennium, this landmark book evokes the complex and exotic world of Byzantium's women, from empresses and saints to uneducated rural widows. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, Judith Herrin sheds light on the importance of marriage in imperial statecraft, the tense coexistence of empresses in the imperial court, and the critical relationships of mothers and daughters. She looks at women's interactions with eunuchs, the in-between gender in Byzantine society, and shows how women defended their rights to hold land. Herrin describes how they controlled their inheritances, participated in urban crowds demanding the dismissal of corrupt officials, followed the processions of holy icons and relics, and marked religious feasts with liturgical celebrations, market activity, and holiday pleasures. The vivid portraits that emerge here reveal how women exerted an unrivalled influence on the patriarchal society of Byzantium, and remained active participants in the many changes that occurred throughout the empire's millennial history.Unrivalled Influence brings together Herrin's finest essays on women and gender written throughout the long span of her esteemed career. This volume includes three new essays published here for the very first time and a new general introduction by Herrin. She also provides a concise introduction to each essay that describes how it came to be written and how it fits into her broader views about women and Byzantium.

Abbreviations ixIntroduction xiii1.Women in Byzantium 12.In Search of Byzantine Women: Three Avenues of Approach 123.Women and the Faith in Icons in Early Christianity 384.Mothers and Daughters in the Medieval Greek World 805."Femina Byzantina": The Council in Trullo on Women 1156.Public and Private Forms of Religious Commitment among Byzantine Women 1337.The Imperial Feminine in Byzantium 1618.Political Power and Christian Faith in Byzantium: The Case of Irene (Regent 780-90, Emperor 797-802) 1949.Moving Bones: Evidence of Political Burials from Medieval Constantinople 20810.The Many Empresses of the Byzantine Court (and All Their Attendants) 21911.Theophano: Considerations on the Education of a Byzantine Princess 23812.Toleration and Repression in the Byzantine Family: Gender Problems 26113.The Icon Corner in Medieval Byzantium 28114.Marriage: A Fundamental Element of Imperial Statecraft 302Index 321