Klaus-Peter Todt (PhD 1989, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz; habilitation 1999, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) is Professor of Byzantine Studies at Mainz University (now in retirement) working on a wide range of topics within the field of Byzantine history and theology.

For the POLY project he gave a lecture on 14th June 2022, entitled Byzantium in the 11th Century: the Stratēgikon of Kekaumenos. Byzantine literature is very often Constantinople-centred, neglecting events in the provinces (themata) of the Empire. But Kekaumenos (or Kekavmenos), an aristocrat living in Thessaly, is a great exception. In his Stratēgikon, more a summary of his experiences in life and some good advice than a manual on strategy and tactics, he mentions many cities (polis ‘city’) and fortresses (kastron ‘fortress’) in the provinces of the Empire and their respective histories, for example: Amaseia (§ 74), today Amasya/Turkey; Arabissos in Cappadocia (§ 37); Bisiniana (§ 32), today Bisignano/Italy (Calabria); Boïanos and Botkos (§ 33), fortresses in Bulgaria; Dēmētrias/Greece (Thessaly) (§ 31–32); Dyrrhachion (§ 29), today Durrës/Albania; Larisa, today Larissa/Greece (Thessaly); Philippupolis (§ 33), today Plovdiv/Bulgaria; Salōn (§ 90), ancient Salona/Dalmatia, today Solin/Croatia;  Thessalonikē (§ 27); Tobion (§ 30), today Dvin in Armenia; Triaditza (§ 33), today Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Although living in a provincial city, Kekaumenos admonished his sons to be loyal to the emperor reigning in Constantinopel and not to support rebellions against the emperor, because the emperor in his capital will always be victorious.

In his fellowship lecture (5th July 2022), Klaus-Peter Todt spoke on the topic Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (1669–1707) and His History of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem. Patriarch Dositheus II of Jerusalem (1641–1707) was a self-made man. He never visited an academy or a university. Hence it is very remarkable that he did not only compose a higly esteemed confession of the Orthodox faith, the Confessio Dosithei (1672, revised edition 1690), but also a very extensive History of the Greek orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem from the apostle Jacob to his own lifetime (Historia tōn en Hierosolymois patriarcheusantōn), written in a classicising Greek and published posthumously by his nephew and successor, patriarch Chrysanthos Notaras of Jerusalem (1707–1731). This history too was as detailed as it was controversial, dealing with the Roman Catholic theology of the Counter-Reformation (especially with the Controversies of cardinal Roberto Bellarmin, SJ) and the arguments in favor of the primacy of the Pope.