Department of History of the Middle Ages . ... The department incorporates the Centre for Byzantine History and the History of the Black Sea Region. ... There is special focus on investigating contact zones between different ethnic, political and religious entities: Byzantine and Slavic, Byzantine and Moslem, Pyrennean and Arab, South-East European and Ottoman, West European and Slavic. ... Social and Economic History: . ... Social and Political History: . ... History of State Institutions . ...