From the time of Pio Rajna, the first scholar to explore the sources of the Renaissance masterpiece Orlando furioso, to the current decade of the 21st century, literary historians from many countries have been trying to answer the question: from where did Ludovico Ariosto draw inspiration for the motif of the Bulgarian-Byzantine clash included in…
According to the Lemma of the 11th-century Greek manuscripts of The Edifying Story of Barlaam and Ioasaph, the Story was brought to the Holy City by the monk Ioann of the Monastery of Saint Sabbas (Ἰωάννου μοναχοῦ …. μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Σάββα), an honourable and chosen (virtuous) man (ἀνδρὸς τιμίου καὶ ἐναρέτου). According to many…
The third marriage of Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, with the Trapezuntine princess Maria Komnene, has been interpreted in historiography as the result of a personal motive of the emperor, from which Byzantium gained nothing from Trebizond aside from the bride’s beauty. However, a detailed analysis of political developments in Europe and Asia Minor, as…
Diese Botschaft der Alexias lautet: Die Nachfolge der Kaiserherrschaft soll nicht durch Erbfolge bestimmt sein; eine gerechte Usurpation ist möglich. Nicht Blutsverwandtschaft ist die richtige Bedingung für die Nachfolge im Kaiseramt. Diese Botschaft der Alexias ist von Zeitgenossen verstanden worden. Jemand hat durch Manipulation des Alexias-Textes versucht, sie zu konterkarieren oder zumindest abzuschwächen. Diese Manipulation…
The manuscript Austrian National Library, Hist. gr. 53, dating to the early 14th century, contains the shorter version of Niketas Choniates’ History and is best known for the author’s portrait on the frontispiece (folio Iv). Its margins and blank folios are filled with annotations by the main scribe and later hands, which help reconstruct the…
The Ξυγγραφή Ιστοριών of Michael Kritovoulos, often translated as The History of Mehmed the Conqueror, chronologically covers the period from 1451 to 1467. Since the author himself did not explicitly state when he began writing or when he delivered the History to the Sultan, scholars have generally accepted 1453 as the starting date of his…