HALDON, John F.

PERSONAL: Male. Education: University of Birmingham, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—Centre for Byzantine Studies, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Educator and author. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, reader in history.

WRITINGS:

Recruitment and Conscription in the Byzantine Army c. 550-950: A Study on the Origins of the Stratiotika, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Vienna, Austria), 1979.

Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900, R. Habelt (Bonn, Germany), 1984.

(Translator, and author of introduction and commentary) Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Vienna, Austria), 1990.

Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

The State and the Tributary Mode of Production, Verso (New York, NY), 1993.

State, Army, and Society in Byzantium: Approaches to Military, Social, and Administrative History, 6th-12th Centuries, Variorum (Brookfield, VT), 1995.

Warfare, State, and Society in the Byzantine World, 565-1204, UCL Press (London, England), 1999.

Byzantium: A History, Tempus Publishing (London, England), 2000.

(With Leslie Brubaker) Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (c. 680-850): The Sources: An Annotated Survey, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2001.

The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era, Tempus Publishing (London, England), 2001.

Byzantium at War, Osprey (London, England), 2002.

Contributor to Virgil S. Crisafulli and John W. Nesbitt, editors, The Miracles of St. Artemio: A Collection of Miracle Stories by an Anonymous Author of Seventh-Century Byzantium, E. J. Brill (New York, NY), 1997.

SIDELIGHTS: John F. Haldon is a reader in history at the University of Birmingham, specializing in the history of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900, Haldon examines the traditional stereotype of Byzantine society as stodgy and institutionally inert, showing readers that, as Simon Franklin noted in the English Historical Review, there were chronic tensions in the system of imperial protection, that reflected tensions and changes in society. The forces assigned to protect the emperor were changeable, somewhat chaotic, and never firmly under control. Haldon examines the various imperial guards, analyzing their function, social makeup, recruitment, numbers, command structure, pay, and weapons. Franklin praised Haldon's meticulous documentation and his interpretation, writing that the book is a valuable and persuasive contribution to Byzantine studies.

In Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture, Haldon discusses the major developments and events in Byzantine culture, society, and politics between the years of 610 to 717. During this time, ancient urban civilization collapsed, Islam became established, and culture and social structure changed. In the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Paul M. Cobb wrote that the book "presents a sometimes speculative but highly attractive view of this culture in transition.... Haldon is successful in depicting not only the seventh-century Byzantine world, but also its worldview."

The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era discusses the Byzantine wars against Persians, Arabs, Bulgars, and Normans, with an analysis of battle plans, military manuals of the time, and strategy and how the actions of the Byzantine generals led to victory or defeat. In History Today, Paul Stephenson praised Haldon's "close reading of the primary sources coupled with his personal knowledge of the sites," and commented, "The battle narratives flow nicely . . . and most are illustrated with comprehensible battle plans."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Catholic Historical Review, July, 2001, Stamatina McGrath, review of The Miracles of St. Artemio: A Collection of Miracle Stories by an Anonymous Author of Seventh-Century Byzantium, p. 486.

English Historical Review, December, 1987, Simon Franklin, review of Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional, and Social Survey ofthe Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900, p. 177; June, 1999, Peter Sarris, review of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus: Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions, p. 675.

History Today, December, 2001, Paul Stephenson, review of The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era, p. 60.

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, October, 1995, Paul M. Cobb, review of Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture, p. 302.

Science and Society, summer, 1997, Richard Duchesne, review of The State and the Tributary Mode of Production, p. 257.

Times Literary Supplement, November 23, 2001, Averil Cameron, review of Byzantium: A History, p. 21.*