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School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

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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 eastern Europe and Byzantium

The Orthodox Church

Cults of saints and relics

Religion and warfare

Teaching Summary

鈥rom Tsarism to Communism: Introduction to Russian History and Culture

鈥he World of Orthodox Sainthood 鈥he History of the Byzantine Empire

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
  • 2023. The Byzantine 鈥淐harm Defensive鈥� and the Rus. In: The Making of the Eastern Vikings: Rus鈥� and Varangians in the Middle Ages Brepols. 47-62
  • 2020. Early Medieval Sources. In: Reading Russian Sources: A Student's Guide to Text and Visual Sources from Russian History Routledge. 19-34

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
  • 2023. The Byzantine 鈥淐harm Defensive鈥� and the Rus. In: The Making of the Eastern Vikings: Rus鈥� and Varangians in the Middle Ages Brepols. 47-62
  • 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 Knji啪evna 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: BOJOVI膯, D., ed., Sveti car Konstantin i hri拧膰anstvo. Tom II: Me膽unarodni nau膷ni skup povodom 1700. godi拧njice 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. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 32(2), 149-167
  • WHITE, M., 2006. Byzantine Visual Propaganda and the Inverted Heart Motif Byzantion. 76, 330-363
  • WHITE, M., 2004. Russian Review. VOL 63(NUMBER 3), 493-513

School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

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