Please use the Department links below to find a specific member of staff in Cultures, Languages and Area Studies.

Monica White
Associate Professor in Russian and Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Arts
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Expertise Summary
History of pre-modern eastern Europe and Byzantium
The Orthodox Church
Cults of saints and relics
Religion and warfare
Teaching Summary
•Nation, Myth, Identity: Introduction to Russian and Slavonic Studies (R81106)
•The World of Orthodox Sainthood (R82098) •The History of the Byzantine Empire (R83111)
I am able to offer postgraduate supervision in early East Slavonic and Byzantine history, religion and culture.
Past Research
Military Saints in Byzantium and Rus, 900-1200, published by Cambridge University Press in 2013, studies the cults of the patron saints of armies in the medieval Orthodox world. Starting with an analysis of the religious re-orientation of Byzantine military thought between the sixth and tenth centuries, the book examines the emergence of a new corps of divine patrons whose cults were promoted by successive emperors of the Macedonian dynasty. The Byzantine tradition of military sainthood went on to exert a strong influence in early medieval Russia (Kievan Rus), shaping the cult of the martyred princes Boris and Gleb.
During and after work on this monograph, I completed a number of other projects on aspects of Byzantine and Rus culture and religion. These include articles about the inverted heart motif, a pattern found on enamels in the medieval Orthodox world; the evolution of dragon-slaying miracles in Byzantine hagiography; the place of Ss Boris and Gleb within the world of Orthodox sainthood; the veneration of Constantine the Great in early Rus; and relics in the religious culture and politics of Rus and Byzantium.
I am currently working on a history of relations between Byzantium and Rus over the entire medieval period (c. 860-1453).