Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, episode 267, Provincial Separatism

with Nathan Webstale.

One of the big questions surrounding the fourth crusade is the issue of Provincial

Separatism.

Human provinces have rarely, if ever, tried to break away from Constantinople during the

course of this podcast.

But in the wake of Manoel's death and Andronicus's disastrous reign, Provincial rebels began

to behave differently than their predecessors.

Instead of using their rebellions to launch a bid for the throne, they began to simply

cut ties with the capital and create local statelets instead.

What was going on here?

Was this simply a post-Manoel development?

Or a post-manzacert scenario?

What lay underneath it was it circumstantial or did it hint at long-term problems and

do events after 1204 tell us more about what was really happening?

These are the sorts of questions I'm hoping to tackle in the next couple of episodes.

I thought I'd start by talking to someone who is studying these issues right now.

Nathan Webstale is a PhD candidate at Oxford University and president of the Byzantine

Society there.

We sat down and had a chat about some of the theories which exist to explain the developments

of this era.

We talk about events you are familiar with, like the Bulgarian uprising and the coup of

...