Цайтгайст на балканите след 1204 г.? Преплитането на макро- и микроистория, отразено в Ponemata diaphora на охридския архиепископ Димитър Хоматиан
Zeitgeist in the Balkans after 1204? The entanglement of macro- and microhistory as reflected in Ponemata diaphora by Demetrios Chomatenos, archbishop of Ohrid

Summary/Abstract: The sack of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204 not only had an impact on the ongoing conflict between Byzantium and Bulgaria – in which a couple of regional rulers were involved – but it made the political situation in the Balkans even more dynamic through the emergence of the Latin empire. Thus, both political figures and local inhabitants had to face the consequences of frequent shifts of political borders, especially in Thrace and Macedonia, that had been uncommon in the previous centuries. Regarding the study of that period by modern historians, what made the situation even more different compared to earlier times was the fact that a couple of sources have survived that can help us reconstruct the entanglement between macro- and microhistory within the military conflicts in the Balkans during the three decades following the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders. Among these sources the acts of archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos known as Ponemata diaphora throw light on the impact of war and forced migration on the local population by recounting the life stories of certain individuals and their families. Moreover, these documents preserve valuable accounts about how local inhabitants adapted to the change of political sovereignty and tried to use (or abuse) the emergence of a new master for their own profit.

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