Algemeen leaderIn elke historische maatschappijvorm bestaat er een dominerende laag die eventueel zelf samengesteld is uit meerdere sociale groepen, en in laatste instantie noodzakelijk open moet blijven qua karakter. Afhankelijk van tijd en ruimte, van politieke en economische stabiliteit of instabiliteit, varieert het hernieuwingsritme van deze klasse: de snelheid waarmee nieuwe leden, die een objectief belangrijke positie in de maatschappij hadden ingenomen, worden opgenomen 2
Robert of Courtenay's rule as emperor of Constantinople from 1221 until his death in 1227 has been largely neglected by modern historiography. To our knowledge not a single article, apart from entries in a few reference works, has been dedicated to his person or rule. Yet his reign is of pivotal significance for the history of the Byzantine space in the thirteenth century since it witnessed the dramatic collapse of the empire of Constantinople, which until then had assumed the role of aspirant hegemon in the Eastern Mediterranean. This development paved the way for the rise of both the empire of Nicaea and the empire of Thessalonike. Among scholars who have discussed Robert's reign-however superficially-there appears to exist a consensus of opinion that the misfortunes that befell the Empire of Constantinople during this period are largely to be attributed to his personal and utter incompetence. In this contribution we challenge this view. Through a thorough reexamination of all available sources concerning Robert's reign, we construct an alternative and hopefully more convincing image of Robert's emperorship. We argue that the current view is based on the uncritical use of a limited selection of rather biased chronicle passages, themselves based on one-sided information provided by a particular political faction in Constantinople. Adducing overlooked or neglected sources we then paint more nuanced picture, highlighting how in the period under consideration Byzantine influences at the imperial court were strong while Latin-Byzantine power struggles ran high.
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