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<\/p>\n\t\t\t\tThe Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops: A Critical Edition and Translation of the \u2018Gesta Episcoporum Neapolitanorum\u2019<\/p>\n
Edited and translated by Luigi Andrea Berto<\/p>\n
Routledge
ISBN: 978-1-032-04241-1<\/p>\n
In the eighth and ninth centuries, Naples was an autonomous city-state navigating complex relationships with its neighbours. This book presents the original text and translation of a contemporary account that chronicles the city\u2019s local history during this period.<\/p>\n
Excerpt:<\/p>\n
Like the anonymous author who had written the biographies of the \ufb01rst thirty-nine bishops of Naples, John the Deacon put the deeds of the Neapolitan prelates at the center of his work. The possibility of having a greater number of sources at his disposal and the narrative ability of the Neapolitan chronicler ensured that the second part of The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops is much more detailed than the \ufb01rst. The greater availability of information did not, however, allow John the Deacon to isolate the bishops from the environment in which they had lived, as happened in the \ufb01rst section. Moreover, the political circumstances he recounted were extremely delicate. They were characterized by the strong autonomy of Naples from Constantinople that made the Neapolitan dukes independent from Byzantine rule. In a situation in which the transmission of the ducal o\ufb03ce did not follow well-established rules, the dukes necessarily had to reinforce their own power, and one of the ways to achieve this was through control of the Neapolitan Church.<\/p>\n
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Who is this book for?<\/p>\n
At first glance, this book may seem most relevant to those interested in the history of Naples and its church. Yet the author\u2019s account ranges far beyond the city, covering broader developments in Italy and the Byzantine Empire, making it a valuable source for the eighth and ninth centuries. It also offers an illuminating case study of how smaller political entities managed to survive at a time when powerful forces\u2014the Lombards, Carolingians, and Muslims\u2014were competing for dominance in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work is made up of three parts. The \ufb01rst is an anonymous compilation that runs up to Bishop Calvus (r. 750\u2013762\/3). Thereafter the second part, a continuation, written by a certain John the Deacon, brings the narrative down to the death of Athanasius I (r. 849\u2013872) and engages with seven lives. Finally, there is a short and incomplete addition by Peter the Subdeacon, which only discusses Athanasius II (876\u201398). All these sections are collated and translated by Berto, who also provides the apparatus to support the text. It is a modest text in terms of size, running to 129 pages of the actual Gesta itself.\u201d ~ review by Christopher Heath in Al-Mas\u0101q:<\/a>Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Editor\/Translator<\/p>\n Luigi Andrea Berto<\/a> is Professor of History at Western Michigan University, where his research focuses on medieval Venice and Italy. He has edited and translated several other works, including History of the Venetian Dukes (1102-1229): with an Appendix of Brief Venetian Historical Texts<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can learn more about this book from the publisher\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n You can buy this book on Amazon.com<\/a> | Amazon.ca<\/a> | Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Medievalverse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops: A Critical Edition and Translation of the \u2018Gesta Episcoporum Neapolitanorum\u2019 Edited and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[30505,457,30506,30507,96,30508,30509,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-55936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-2023-books","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-byzantium","11":"tag-early-middle-ages","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-medieval-ecclesiastical-history","14":"tag-medieval-italy","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}