Imperial and Episcopal Leadership Networks in the Later Roman Empire

doi:10.1017/9781009493833.010

Chapter 9 - Imperial and Episcopal Leadership Networks in the Later Roman Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2025

Bronwen Neil

Edited by

Melina Tamiolaki

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Melina Tamiolaki: Affiliation:
University of Crete

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Summary

The author provides an account of the cultural evolution of a new concept of leadership for both emperors and the church in the Christianising society based in the eastern Roman capital of Constantinople. The focus is the pivotal period from the establishment of Constantine the Great’s one-man rule through Byzantine rule over the eastern and western empires in the sixth and seventh centuries, ending with the rule of Irene as sole empress (797–802) and Charlemagne’s coronation in 800. Letters exemplify the late Roman transformation from a model of one-man (or one-family) rule to a more complex system of power sharing between religious authorities, which was under constant renegotiation, from the highest levels of governance under emperors and bishops to the lowest level of the parish led by local clergy. Increasing opportunities for women to exercise power, hand in hand with the episcopal leaders of the new church, also shaped imperial leadership ideals in new ways.

Keywords

Emperors bishops early Byzantium Byzantine imperial leadership ecclesiastical leaders Constantine the Great late antiquity Later Roman Empire episcopal leadership

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Leadership in the Ancient World
Concepts, Models, Theories
, pp. 201 - 222

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009493833.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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