Dr Catherine Holmes
Tutor in Medieval History
University College
01865 (2)76626
I am a historian of the politics and the culture of the Mediterranean world, including Byzantium, between the tenth and early fifteenth centuries. I am particularly interested in frontiers, in relations between different religious and ethnic groups, in comparative political culture, and in the Global Middle Ages.
Research Interests
- Global Middle Ages
- Byzantine Studies
- Medieval Mediterranean
In 2005 I completed a monograph on Byzantine politics, government and historiography: Basil II and the Governance of Empire, 976-1025. My current research involves reinterpreting the eastern Mediterranean world that was created in the later Middle Ages by the collapse of Byzantium and the rise of the Ottomans. In 2012 I published an edited book in this field with Jonathan Harris and Eugenia Russell: Byzantines, Latins and Turks in the Eastern Mediterranean World after 1150. I have also become intrigued by the possibilities of medieval history on a global scale. Together with Naomi Standen (Birmingham) I ran an AHRC-funded network of medieval historians and archaeologists with interests in 'Defining the Global Middle Ages' (2012-15). The project members are now co-writing a book on this subject: Before Columbus. Towards a Global Middle Ages. I am also the co-convenor of a project which compares the political cultures of Byzantium, the medieval Islamic world and the Latin West. I am one of the editors of The English Historical Review.
