Towards the Study of Byzantine Commons? – Subjects, Practices, Notions

Dr Milan Vukašinović (Lewis-Gibson Visiting Fellow, Uppsala University)

The commons—collectively governing and exploiting a resource for the sustainable benefit of all contributors—have gained renewed attention in recent decades as an alternative to extractive capitalism. While its theorists routinely draw on the medieval European past for historical grounding and romanticized inspiration, Byzantine Studies has remained largely absent from these debates, despite occasional acknowledgments by economic historians. I seek to chart this unexplored terrain by surveying and testing the theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and source materials that can bring Byzantine evidence into broader conversations on the commons.

My central question is: How does the concept of the commons change our understanding of Byzantine economy and society?

Three analytical categories guide the inquiry: the collective subjects who contribute to and benefit from a resource; the practices through which that resource is managed; and the notion of the common good that legitimates these practices. The first phase qualitatively examines the presence and interplay of these categories in selected Byzantine contexts. By analyzing the Athonite and Lembiotissa Archives—unique Byzantine collections documenting resource management in late medieval Macedonia and Anatolia—alongside the writings of Constantinopolitan historians, I identify the social, institutional, economic, and intellectual foundations necessary for a sustained study of Byzantine commons.