OUR STORE IS CLOSED ON ANZAC DAY: THURSDAY 25 APRIL
Born in 1929, John Julius Norwich served in the foreign office for twelve years before resigning in 1964 in order to write. His many publications include his two-book history published by Penguin in one volume entitled The Normans in Sicily; two travel books, Mount Athos (with Reresby Sitwell) and Sahara; The Architecture of Southern England; Glyndebourne; three anthologies of poetry and prose, Christmas Crackers, More Christmas Crackers and Still More Christmas Crackers; A History of Venice; and his three-volume history of the Byzantine empire of which this is the first, Byzantium: The Apogee is the second, and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall is the third. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order and a Commendatore of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.
This is the second of John Julius Norwich's superb trilogy on the history of the perennially fascinating city, Byzantium. The first volume, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, began with the founding of the city and ended with Pope Leo III laying the imperial crown on the head of Charlemagne in 800 AD thereby questioning the essential unity of Christendom for the first time. This volume covers the next three centuries: Byzantium fighting against the Bulgars to the north (and occasionally against the Russians), to the east and south against the massing forces of Islam and to the west against the Carolingians and their descendants and of course, Rome. Internal struggles livened up procedures too, with rich Anatolian military aristocracy pitted against sinister urban eunuchs. The chapter ends with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks and the beginning of Ottoman rule. A fascinating, rich city embroiled in medieval intrigue. (Kirkus UK)
