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Monica White
Associate Professor in Russian and Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Arts
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Expertise Summary
History of pre-modern Russia and Byzantium
The Orthodox Church
Cults of saints and relics
Religion and warfare
Teaching Summary
•Nation, Myth, Identity: Introduction to Russian and Slavonic Studies (R81106)
•The World of Orthodox Sainthood (R82098) •The History of the Byzantine Empire (R83111)
I am able to offer postgraduate supervision in early East Slavonic and Byzantine history, religion and culture.
Recent Publications
2023. Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires. In: Picturing Russian Empire
2023. Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Strategic Thinking about the Rus. In: Medieval Rus and Early Modern Russia Routledge. 3-14
2020. Early Medieval Sources. In: Reading Russian Sources: A Student's Guide to Text and Visual Sources from Russian History Routledge. 19-34
2018. 'Structural Mobilities in the Global Middle Ages' Past and Present. Annual Supplement, 158-189
Past Research
Military Saints in Byzantium and Rus, 900-1200, published by Cambridge University Press in 2013, studies the cults of the patron saints of armies in the medieval Orthodox world. Starting with an analysis of the religious re-orientation of Byzantine military thought between the sixth and tenth centuries, the book examines the emergence of a new corps of divine patrons whose cults were promoted by successive emperors of the Macedonian dynasty. The Byzantine tradition of military sainthood went on to exert a strong influence in early medieval Russia (Kievan Rus), shaping the cult of the martyred princes Boris and Gleb.
During and after work on this monograph, I completed a number of other projects on aspects of Byzantine and Rus culture and religion. These include articles about the inverted heart motif, a pattern found on enamels in the medieval Orthodox world; the evolution of dragon-slaying miracles in Byzantine hagiography; the place of Ss Boris and Gleb within the world of Orthodox sainthood; the veneration of Constantine the Great in early Rus; and relics in the religious culture and politics of Rus and Byzantium.
I am currently working on a history of relations between Byzantium and Rus over the entire medieval period (c. 860-1453).
2023. Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires. In: Picturing Russian Empire
2023. Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Strategic Thinking about the Rus. In: Medieval Rus and Early Modern Russia Routledge. 3-14
2020. Early Medieval Sources. In: Reading Russian Sources: A Student's Guide to Text and Visual Sources from Russian History Routledge. 19-34
2018. 'Structural Mobilities in the Global Middle Ages' Past and Present. Annual Supplement, 158-189
MONICA WHITE, 2018. 'Late Byzantine Views of Rus: A Reassessment' Byzantinoslavica. 76, 84-99
MONICA WHITE, 2017. Fotii, A Rus' Pilgrim to Constantinople. In: CHRISTIAN RAFFENSPERGER and DONALD OSTROWSKI, eds., Portraits of Medieval Eastern Europe, 900-1400 Routledge. 185-193
MONICA WHITE, 2016. Relics and the Princely Clan in Rus. In: Byzantium and the Viking World Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
MONICA WHITE, JONATHAN SHEPARD and FEDIR ANDROSHCHUK, eds., 2016. Byzantium and the Viking World Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
MONICA WHITE, 2014. The 'Grave Covering' of St Demetrios between Byzantium and Rus Književna istorija (Literary History). XLVI(152), 9-28
WHITE, M., 2013. Military saints in Byzantium and Rus, 900-1200 Cambridge University Press.
WHITE, M., 2013. Veneration of St. Constantine in pre-Mongol Rus. In: BOJOVIĆ, D., ed., Sveti car Konstantin i hrišćanstvo. Tom II: Međunarodni naučni skup povodom 1700. godišnjice Milanskog edikta, 31. maj-2. jun 2013 Centar za crkvene studije. 351-362
WHITE, M., 2010. Byzantine saints in Rus and the cult of Boris and Gleb. In: ANTONSSON, H.T. and GARIPZANOV, I.H., eds., Saints and their lives on the periphery: veneration of saints in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe Brepols. 95-114
WHITE, M., 2008. The rise of the dragon in middle Byzantine hagiography Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 32(2), 149-167 WHITE, M., 2006. Byzantine Visual Propaganda and the Inverted Heart Motif Byzantion. 76, 330-363