Anatomy of Power: Sovereigns and Subjects in Europe in the Middle Ages and Modern Times

«Anatomy of Power» is a collaborative work of 28 historians from leading universities and research centers in Russia, studying the phenomenon of power in European society during the Middle Ages and early Modern times. The relationships of power and subordination, political institutions, processes, and technologies are presented here in all their complexity, like a living organism, like a political body, across a broad geographical and chronological horizon: from Rus' and Byzantium to the Pyrenees and Iceland. The reader will learn about aspects of European history such as the legal foundations of power, symbolic communication between power and society, rituals and representation, the strengths and weaknesses of specific rulers or entire institutions, the rise and fall of powers, source-specific features of studying power, historical thought in the service of power, power and economy, power and religion, the body of the sovereign, and myth-making. All studies are based on original sources, some of which are presented in full translations. The book is addressed to a wide range of readers interested in European history as well as professional historians, archaeologists, art historians, cultural scientists, philosophers, and literary scholars.