Ethos, Logos, and Perspective represents the first comprehensive study of late Byzantine court rh... more Ethos, Logos, and Perspective represents the first comprehensive study of late Byzantine court rhetorical praise as a general phenomenon surfacing in many types of rhetorical epideictic compositions dating from the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries: panegyrics, encomia, city descriptions, encomiastic verses, or letters. The aim of this book is to reconstruct the two perspectives, idealism and pragmatism, that shaped authorial choices in matters of rhetorical style and composition. This study uncovers a little-known period in the history of Byzantine rhetoric. Proceeding from a nuanced understanding of the ancient concepts of ethos and logos, it analyzes the rhetoric of Byzantine praise in a modern theoretical framework. Unlike other previous studies of Byzantine rhetoric, the present research traces the structures and meanings that ultimately influenced the political attitudes and values circulating in the last century of Byzantine history. Another feature of this book is that it offers translations and discussions of important passages from the late Byzantine rhetoric, a corpus of texts that only recently has started to receive attention. This book will appeal to scholars, students, and all those interested in Byzantine literary culture (particularly in reference to moral and spiritual advice) and the techniques of Byzantine rhetoric. In addition, readers will also find informative approaches on the main authors and genres of late Byzantine rhetoric.
Letters in Late Medieval Franciscan Observant Chronicles: Communication, Narrative, and Reform
Kultúrne dejiny, Dec 31, 2022
From History to Propaganda and Back: Byzantium in the Romanian Historical Cinema
I.B.Tauris eBooks, 2023
Epideictic Logos: Between Idealism and Pragmatism
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2023
The Didactic Voice: The Foundations of an Imperial Education
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Dec 1, 2019
This chapter analyses how the emperor fashioned his didactic voice and how it functioned in a typ... more This chapter analyses how the emperor fashioned his didactic voice and how it functioned in a typical text of advice. It argues that the Foundations combines the tradition of political advice inaugurated by Agapetos, the gnomic tradition, and the tradition of theological centuria providing moral and theological principles. The generic strands present in the text allow for a multifaceted authorial voice less formal than that in previous similar texts. The Foundations stands as more than a list of principles for the emperor’s conduct: it is rather a complex guide for understanding, managing and implementing ethical axioms. Manuel injected a degree of political realism and paternal intimacy, features absent from the court rhetoric of the period. In re-elaborating the gnomic tradition, Manuel partly positioned himself outside the traditional tenets transmitted via other texts of advice. This chapter suggests that one should shy away from placing the Foundations in the category of ‘princely mirrors’, at least because that fails to explain the core features of the text: intimacy and political advice.
The Narrative Voice: The Funeral Oration on His Brother Theodore, Despot of Morea
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Dec 1, 2019
In this chapter it is suggested that the encomium for Manuel’s deceased brother, Theodore Palaiol... more In this chapter it is suggested that the encomium for Manuel’s deceased brother, Theodore Palaiologos was integrated into a broader account of the affairs of the Morea. Manuel emulated the traditions both of the panegyric oration and of the epic/chronicle. The subject matter, the praise for his brother, is treated in the form of a narrative account, and to a large extent the author is precise about the events he recounts. By this account, the unit dealing with Theodore’s achievements was conceived not as a mere list of glorious deeds illustrating Theodore’s virtues but as a string of interconnected episodes, truly an account of the Morea and not only of the brother. Certainly, these elements did not combine in a composition resembling a historical chronicle. However, they were primarily intended not just to describe military situations but also to convey a political message, as various stylistic devices such as the configuration of a strong narrative voice or the use of criticism indicate. Based on the peculiarities of the author’s literary strategies, this narrative of Theodore’s deeds took the form of a sanitised, official account of events which put forward a message that claimed Morea’s dynastic control.
Voices of Dissent: Preaching and Negotiating Authority
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Dec 1, 2019
This chapter discusses the attempts of the late Byzantine churchmen to formulate a parallel and d... more This chapter discusses the attempts of the late Byzantine churchmen to formulate a parallel and divergent view over the idea of imperial authority. In their concerted efforts to construct a coherent programme of action, the churchmen saw themselves both as defenders of social fairness and as promoters of an Orthodox spirituality which they deemed to be core connected aspects in defining Byzantine identity. The evidence presented here also suggests that they avoided showing allegiance to imperial policies. Instead, what they valued in the imperial persona was rather the cultural and spiritual aspects. While, naturally, the church continued to claim authority in the spiritual sphere, it also increasingly asserted the links between religious reform and social changes.
Introduction to Part II
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Dec 1, 2019
The previous chapters revealed information about the social and intellectual milieu in which the ... more The previous chapters revealed information about the social and intellectual milieu in which the emperor tried to articulate a new political voice. In the following chapters, I offer an analysis of the strategies the emperor used in the construction of his messages identifiable in four major political texts which arose from Manuel’s preoccupation with the internal and external affairs of the empire: the ...
The Deliberative Voice: The Dialogue with the Empress-Mother on Marriage
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Dec 1, 2019
This chapter deals with Manuel’s Dialogue with the Empress-Mother on Marriage, corresponds to a s... more This chapter deals with Manuel’s Dialogue with the Empress-Mother on Marriage, corresponds to a strategy of conveying political messages that is characterised by a sense of conversationalism and intimacy between the two interlocutors, the emperor and his mother Helena. It is argued that the Dialogue features a rather informal approach to the problems of dynastic succession during a period of prolonged Ottoman blockade. Notably, the author combines deliberative and demonstrative topics on the basis of which he outlines several traits of the representation of imperial power in late Byzantium. Thus, here he presents a dramatised version of his political messages whereby the emperor pictures himself as defending his choices and arguing against possible criticisms regarding his social responsibility. The analysis of the demonstrative and the deliberative approaches in the text allows for a partial reconstruction of Manuel’s political strategies and, ultimately, of his style of government. In terms of style, praise was left aside in favour of a deliberative stance and a more applied discussion of concrete situations that provide suggestions for future action.
Moral lessons in late Byzantium: rhetorical models and didacticism in Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters (c. 1402)
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Sep 10, 2019
This article examines Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters, a text that has been hitherto explor... more This article examines Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters, a text that has been hitherto explored mostly for the information on social practices in late Byzantium. The analysis of the text's rhetorical techniques indicates that Bryennios departed significantly from other contemporary collections of kephalaia which relied on the inherited wisdom of gnomologia. I argue that the pervasiveness of figurative language and vivid analogies in the Forty-Nine Chapters shaped his specific didacticism and unveiled the author's acquaintance with the technique of rhetorical amplification.
Late Byzantine Court Ethos: Contemplation and Action
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2023
Beyond Praise: Didacticism and Epideictic Discourse in Joseph Bryennios' Forty-Nine Chapters (c. 1402)
Routledge eBooks, Jan 18, 2023
Ethos, Logos, and Perspective
Moral lessons in late Byzantium: rhetorical models and didacticism in Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters (c. 1402)
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 2019
This article examines Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters, a text that has been hitherto explor... more This article examines Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters, a text that has been hitherto explored mostly for the information on social practices in late Byzantium. The analysis of the text's rhetorical techniques indicates that Bryennios departed significantly from other contemporary collections of kephalaia which relied on the inherited wisdom of gnomologia. I argue that the pervasiveness of figurative language and vivid analogies in the Forty-Nine Chapters shaped his specific didacticism and unveiled the author's acquaintance with the technique of rhetorical amplification.
Nouvelle série Études byzantines et post-byzantines continuent, sous la forme d'une revue à parut... more Nouvelle série Études byzantines et post-byzantines continuent, sous la forme d'une revue à parution annuelle, la série homonyme, éditée par la Société roumaine d'études byzantines, dont le premier tome est paru en 1979, sous l'égide de l'Institut d'études sud-est européennes, par les soins de Nicolae-Șerban Tanașoca et Eugen Stănescu.
The Chronicle of Michael of Carynthia (Early Sixteenth Century)
Medieval Chronicle, 2025
This article discusses the Chronicle of Michael of Carynthia, an early sixteenth-century text tha... more This article discusses the Chronicle of Michael of Carynthia, an early sixteenth-century text that tells the story of the origins and development of the Franciscan Order in Central Europe. The author, Michael of Carynthia, acted as a secretary and provincial custodian in Moravia. The chronicle, written around 1510, is a typical example of a miscellaneous historical genre and reflects the order’s roots, identity, and desire to provide moral edification to its readership. The study shows how the chronicle uses biographical typology, normative exposition, and regional focus to highlight the role of individual vicarii and their relations with the papacy, the Conventuals, and the local communities. The article also discusses how the chronicle integrates historical, spiritual, and political facts, as well as miraculous events, to create a coherent and instructive account of the Observant past and present. It suggests that the author of the chronicle used the idealized image of John of Capistrano as a model for other biographies of Observant personalities in an effort to shape the local Franciscan identity.
This paper explores the changing attitudes towards Venice in late Byzantine texts. It argues that... more This paper explores the changing attitudes towards Venice in late Byzantine texts. It argues that, along with the strengthening of political and cultural ties between Byzantium and Venice, the Byzantines' perspectives evolved from rejection to admiration. As scholars like Demetrios Kydones and Manuel Chrysoloras began to teach Greek in Venice, exchanges intensified and the Byzantines' views became more nuanced. The later Byzantine émigrés in Italy, George of Trebizond and Bessarion, not only fostered stronger intellectual links but also perceived the Republic as supporting their efforts to reinvent a Hellenic identity outside Byzantium. While court rhetoric collapsed Venice's representations into a generic image of Italy, historians like Laonikos Chalkokondyles idealized its political system whose roots, he emphasized, were to be found in the ancient political systems. Finally, after 1453, vernacular laments of the fall of Constantinople, portrayed Venice as inheritor and potential saviour of Byzantium's imperial glory, thereby signalling the connections between the cultivation of the Byzantine heritage and Venice's political ambitions.
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