The present volume sheds light on an extraordinarily wide array of subjects concerning the Culture and History of South Eastern Europe over the last five hundred years. Aspects of political, economic and social history, interdisciplinary views on the change of mentalities during the passage from the medieval to the modern period and during the complex modernizing process in South Eastern Europe are discussed in case studies or comparative overview papers by specialists from the fields of South Eastern European History, Slavonic Studies, Greek Studies, Romance Studies, Literature, Religious Studies, and Musicology. The papers combine a profound knowledge of the languages and scholarly disourses of the region with the overall questions facing contemporary Cultural Studies. Furthermore, the papers bring regional historiographic debates closer to a wider reading public, while at the same time positioning these debates within central perspectives and discussions.