A New Verse for a New Epic? Reflections on Political Verse

This paper examines the role of political verse in the late Byzantine period, particularly its connection with the emergence of the so-called vernacular romances. From the eleventh and twelfth centuries onward, texts written in political verse took two distinct directions: on the one hand, popular epic, such as Digenis Akritis; on the other, refined compositions often commissioned by or dedicated to the imperial court. Their authors were some of the most prominent intellectuals of their time; among them, Theodore Prodromos, Manganeios Prodromos, John Tzetzes, and Constantine Manasses. The production of political verse gained further momentum in the Late Byzantine period, where we continue to find both elegant didactic poems, such as Manuel Philes’ Metaphrasis of the Psalms and parenetic texts, as well as love romances written in a language rich in vernacular elements. This study compares the increasing literary prominence of the vernacular in Byzantium with parallel developments in Western medieval traditions. It analyzes the metrical systems that, in other literary cultures, may have favored the emergence of a poetic vernacular and assesses whether Greek political verse played a similar role. In doing so, the paper situates Byzantine poetic practice within a broader Mediterranean and European context, highlighting its unique yet interconnected trajectory in the evolution of the medieval vernacular imagination.