Environment and Society in Byzantium, 650-1150: Between the Oak and the Olive

265 Pages·2020·3.076 MB·English

by  Alexander Olson

NEW APPROACHES TO
BYZANTINE HISTORY AND CULTURE
Environment and
Society in Byzantium,
650–1150
Between the Oak and the Olive
Alexander Olson
New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture
Series Editors
Florin Curta
University of Florida
FL, USA
Leonora Neville
University of Wisconsin Madison
WI, USA
Shaun Tougher
Cardiff University
Cardiff, UK
New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture publishes high-quality
scholarship on all aspects of Byzantine culture and society from the fourth
to the fifteenth centuries, presenting fresh approaches to key aspects of
Byzantine civilization and new studies of unexplored topics to a broad
academic audience. The series is a venue for both methodologically
innovative work and ground-breaking studies on new topics, seeking to
engage medievalists beyond the narrow confines of Byzantine studies.
The core of the series is original scholarly monographs on various
aspects of Byzantine culture or society, with a particular focus on books
that foster the interdisciplinarity and methodological sophistication of
Byzantine studies. The series editors are interested in works that combine
textual and material sources, that make exemplary use of advanced meth-
ods for the analysis of those sources, and that bring theoretical practices of
other fields, such as gender theory, subaltern studies, religious studies
theory, anthropology, etc. to the study of Byzantine culture and society.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14755
Alexander Olson
Environment and
Society in Byzantium,
650-1150
Between the Oak and the Olive
Alexander Olson
Independent scholar
Burnaby, BC, Canada
ISSN 2730-9363 ISSN 2730-9371 (electronic)
New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture
ISBN 978-3-030-59935-5 ISBN 978-3-030-59936-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59936-2
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A
cknowledgments
The process of writing this text, from early research questions to the final
manuscript, was essentially completed on the same laptop between 2013
and 2020. However, the finished book is the culmination of work across
various contexts and involved the help of many individuals. Time in librar-
ies, conversations with professors, suggestions from various academics,
multiple readings and edits, discussions and presentations at several con-
ferences, and email correspondence with editors and publishers have all
allowed me to produce something that would have been beyond my abil-
ity by myself. Because of these experiences, I am indebted to numer-
ous people.
Starting the project in Madison, Wisconsin, I was, as a starving gradu-
ate student living in an apartment with a wonderful lakeview, fortunate
enough to meet and learn from several people. Among them are Jeffrey
Beneker, William Aylward, Marc Kleijwegt, Laird Boswell, Bill Cronon,
Karl Shoemaker, Elizabeth Hennessy, and the late David Morgan, all of
whom provided wonderful opportunities for edification and contributed
ideas or suggestions that became part of this book. Rick Keyser kindly read
several clunky chapter drafts and generously guided me through the grow-
ing field of medieval environmental history. Elizabeth Lapina graciously
gave her time and yielded much valuable advice on the manuscript along
the way. Tony Pietsch, Neal Davidson, and Derek Taira provided helpful
questions and suggestions. Leslie Abadie worked miracles on a regular
basis and allowed me to keep the little sanity I have.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Paolo Squatriti magnanimously supported my early and vague ques-
tions about medieval environmental history, often with plenty of humor.
Professor Ben Graham was unsparing in his sharing of bibliography and
ideas concerning pre-modern olive cultivation. John Haldon kindly
invited me to a symposium on history and the environment, the experi-
ence of which further clarified ideas for this work. I also wish to express
my gratitude to those who pointed me in the direction of medieval his-
tory back in my undergraduate days at Simon Fraser University: Paul
Dutton taught me that we learn much from the little details that pre-
modernity has left us; and to my friend Dimitris Krallis who opened the
door to Byzantium, and showed me that there was much more to see
than I had previously thought (and made microbrews a staple of my life
in the process). Aleksandar Jovanović was a rewarding conversationalist
on Byzantine topics back in Canada, and he helped me with some chal-
lenging Greek.
I am eternally grateful to Leonora Neville who supervised this project
in its dissertation form, and then encouraged me to turn it into a book.
She was a superb advisor and I always found myself leaving her office
encouraged and enthusiastic about understanding people who lived in the
medieval Roman Empire. Since then, her continued recommendations,
and help with some tricky sources, have further improved this work. Her
confidence and desire to creatively approach Byzantine studies did much
to make this book more than a hypothetical project.
I also would like to thank the editorial board and production team for
the New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture series at Palgrave
Macmillan. I also wish to thank the three anonymous readers whose com-
ments greatly improved this work, particularly its ideas concerning peas-
ants and olives.
Several institutions have assisted me greatly through this process.
The History Department at the University of Wisconsin was an excel-
lent environment in which to pursue this project. The dissertation, from
which this book emerged, drew on research supported by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The Graduate School and
the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison enabled two years’ worth of
writing thanks to an ample supply of funding from the Wisconsin
Alumni Research Foundation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
My family has always been encouraging of my academic pursuits.
Although my grandparents did not receive higher education themselves,
they always supported learning, be it about animals, maps, or fiction, and
did a lot to ensure that their children and grandchildren could go to uni-
versity. I owe much to my Mom and Dad, not only for their unconditional
love, but for exposing me to books and telling me that spelling was impor-
tant. My brother Michael, himself with a degree in history, generously
gave feedback on an early chapter draft when he had more pressing busi-
ness. Most of all, I want to thank my wife Danielle LeBlanc, who made the
map, gave feedback on the original dissertation and challenging parts of
the book, and encouraged me in everything from moving to the Midwest
for a graduate degree to submitting a book proposal. She had prodigious
patience throughout this project from initial airheaded ruminations con-
cerning trees to last minute edits of a nearly published book. I have been
truly fortunate to find a wonderful partner who doubles as an exceptional
writer and an excellent driver on harrowing back roads in the Mediterranean
countryside.
And so the project ends with me back in Canada, working as a bureau-
crat who experiences weekends and still gets to do research and write in
order to help people. The lights are not on as late now, the apartment is
bigger, and I am not starving. My son Alastair seems more intrigued by
dirt than trees at the moment, but he reminds me all over again that pine-
cones, pebbles, and tree stumps are interesting. This book is dedicated to
him and Danielle.
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
al
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1
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Fi
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ontents
1 I ntroduction 1
2 Middle Byzantium’s Environmental and Economic
Antecedents 25
3 An Evergreen Empire 49
4 The Decline of the Olive in Middle Byzantium 95
5 Rearranging Woods and Scrub 137
6 The Return of the Olive 177
7 The Devil Chops Wood 213
8 Conclusion 233
Bibliography 239
Index 255
ix