Muslim Rulers Visiting the Imperial City: Building Alliances and Personal Networks between Constantinople and the Eastern Borderlands (Fourth/Tenth–Fifth/Eleventh Century)

Abstract

This essay explores one of the main tools of Byzantine diplomatic techniques: inviting foreign rulers to Constantinople and establishing bonds of alliance through the bestowal of titles and stipends, with respect to the empire's Muslim neighbours in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries. In particular, it will be explained how and under what circumstances the traditional lines of communication between Constantinople and the caliphal court of Baghdad were gradually transformed...