Contested Monarchy Integrating the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century AD [Hardcover]

Contested Monarchyreappraises the wide-ranging and lasting transformation of the Roman monarchy between the Principate and Late Antiquity. The book takes as its focus the century from Diocletian to Theodosius I (284-395), a period during which the stability of monarchical rule depended heavily on the emperor's mobility, on collegial or dynastic rule, and on the military resolution of internal political crises. At the same time, profound religious changes modified the premises of political interaction and symbolic communication between the emperor and his subjects, and administrative and military readjustments changed the institutional foundations of the Roman monarchy. This volume concentrates on the measures taken by emperors of this period to cope with the changing framework of their rule. The collection examines monarchy along three distinct yet intertwined fields: Administering the Empire, Performing the Monarchy, and Balancing Religious Change. Each field possesses its own historiography and methodology, and accordingly has usually been treated separately. This volume's multifaceted approach builds on recent scholarship and trends to examine imperial rule in a more integrated fashion. With new work from a wide range of international scholars,Contested Monarchyoffers a fresh survey of the role of the Roman monarchy in a period of significant and enduring change.


List of Abbreviations
Contributors
Map of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century

Introduction
1. The Cloak of Power: Dressing and Undressing the King
Johannes Wienand

Part One Administering the Empire

2. Domesticating the Senatorial Elite: Universal Monarchy and Transregional Aristocracy in the Fourth Century
John Weisweiler

3. The Inflation of Rank and Privilege: Regulating Precedence in the Fourth Century AD
John No?l Dillon

4. Ostentatious Legislation: Law and Dynastic Change, AD 364-365
Sebastian SclC§