1. Introduction: Meeting the Roman Public .- 2. Making Officials in Exile: The Case of the Palaiologoi .- 3. Linking the Golden Chain: The Social Network of Michael Palaiologos .- 4. "Je veux être calife à la place du calife": Michael Palaiologos in the Saljuq Sultanate of Rum .- 5. "The Return of the King": Michael Palaiologos Claims Imperial Dignity .- 6. Conclusion.

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. Aleksandar Jovanović is Sessional Instructor in History at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, Canada. 

Explores the construction and importance of the public sphere in thirteenth-century Byzantium Moves beyond narrative history to explore the social and political agency of others in the empire Draws on Habermas' concept of the public sphere, and Hauser's idea of multiple publics

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