Description

During the 14th and 15th centuries the Ottoman Empire emerged as the new hegemonial power in the Romania, i.e. the territories that once had formed the core of Byzantium. As a major economic and political agent in this area, Venice and the Venetian elite were thoroughly affected by this transition, and consequently Venetian documents have often been used to elucidate the history of the late Byzantine and early Ottoman epoch. Yet, the repercussion of this change in the numerous works of late medieval Venetian historiography, particularly in the often anonymous chronicles, still awaits systematic exploration. Against this background, the present collection of papers, that goes back to an international workshop held in 2014, combines both, methodological reflections on the characteristics of the Venetian cronachistica and the use of the information it contains, and a number of individual case-studies reflecting crucial stages of the Byzantine-Ottoman transition.