Political culture in the Latin west Byzantium and the Islamic world c.700 c.1500 : a framework for comparing three spheres Our main aim is to provide a set of parallel studies to enable readers with experience in the history and historiography of one sphere to gain grounding in the fundamentals of the political cultures of the other two. We hope to provide a framework or set of starting points for those keen to work at a comparative level across spheres or to explore overlaps and entanglements between them. Individual chapters refer to current specialist scholarship and may be of interest to subject specialists but our overriding concern is to make these spheres accessible to non specialists Political culture in three spheres : introduction Catherine Holmes Jonathan Shepard Jo Van Steenbergen and Björn Weiler Reflections on political culture in three spheres R. Stephen Humphreys Comparing the three spheres through the prism of the sources Jonathan Shepard The Latin west : sources Björn Weiler and Jonathan Shepard Byzantium : sources Jonathan Shepard The Islamic world : sources Jo Van Steenbergen and Jonathan Shepard The Latin west : pluralism in the shadow of the past Len Scales Byzantium : one or many Catherine Holmes The Islamic world : conquest migration and accommodating diversity Andrew Marsham Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen The Latin west : expectations and legitimisation Björn Weiler Byzantium : imperial order Constantinopolitan ceremonial and pyramids of power Judith Herrin The Islamic world : community leadership and contested patterns of continuity Andrew Marsham Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen The Latin west : multiple elites and overlapping jurisdictions Daniel Power Byzantium : To have and to hold the acquisition and maintenance of elite power Rosemary Morris The Islamic world : nomads urban elites and courts in competition Andrew Marsham Eric Hanne and Jo Van Steenbergen Comparisons connections and conclusions Jonathan Shepard.