Balkans in the Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500

The Balkans in the Late Middle Ages, 1300–1500 is the first publication of its kind to provide a point of reference for the history of Southeastern Europe during the late medieval period. Scholars have long recognized the 14th and 15th centuries as an extremely important period in the history of the medieval Balkans. This was an era of intense political and military tumult, financial crisis, and social disruption, but also a time of cultural and intellectual innovation and achievement.

While a growing body of literature has focused on developments in the Byzantine Empire and Latin Greece (i.e., the states created by Western/Latin rulers in the Greek Peninsula and some of the Aegean islands), most of the other states in the region, including Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania, have been largely neglected. What is more, no study has examined the whole peninsula as a geographic unit. The ultimate ambition of this 12-chapter volume is to fill this gap and produce a closely argued, fresh interpretation of events for the entire region, from Dalmatia, Wallachia, and Moldavia in the north to Byzantium and the Latin states in the south.

This book will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students and scholars with academic interests in the medieval Balkans, as well as to readers wanting to learn more about the history of the region.

Florin Curta is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida, USA. His books include Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages (2006) and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1300 (2019). He is also the editor of The Routledge Handbook of East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1300 (2022), Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, and the co-editor of the East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 series.

Panos Sophoulis is Professor of History at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, specializing in Southeastern Europe and particularly the Balkans during the Middle Ages. He is the author of Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775–831 (2012) and Banditry in the Medieval Balkans, 800–1500 (2020). He is also the co-editor of The Balkans in the Seventh Century: Ethnic and Cultural Transformations (2025).