The Exile Empire

This book follows the public life of Michael Palaiologos from his early days and upbringing, through to his assumption of the Byzantine imperial throne in 1258. It explores multiple narratives, highlighting the various public communities in the Byzantine polity, primarily focusing on intellectuals and clerks rather than the emperor himself. Drawing on insights from power relations, studies of class and the public sphere, this book provides an account of thirteenth-century Byzantium that highlights the role of communicative and symbolic actions in the public sphere, and argues they were integral to Palaiologos' political success.

British Romantic writers imagined the Polish exile as a sympathetic wanderer whose homeland no longer existed and the Russian as barbarous and ravenous. But in the Victorian era both were seen as clever, deceitful citizens of the world.