Jonathan Shea

Jonathan Shea is an historian of the Byzantine Empire and sigillographer. His research interests include the development of towns and cities across the medieval world, the mechanisms of empire, and interaction between Europe and the Middle East. He has taught courses ranging from the history of the crusades to Byzantium in the tenth century. Jonathan also works at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection where he studies and catalogues the collection of Byzantine seals. These objects provide information on the social standing, careers, piety, and family connections of thousands of individual Byzantines, and can also be used to explore the structure and evolution of the Byzantine state, army, and church. Jonathan is currently working on a history of the Byzantine administration, and the thousands of people who worked to keep the empire running.