Palaiologan Period Research Articles

“The Gates of Eternal Life”: Metamorphosis and Performativity in Middle to Late Byzantine Sculpted Church Doors (with a Case Study of a Wallachian Wooden Door)

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in analyzing the manufacturing techniques of Byzantine church doors in laboratory settings. However, the connection between the iconography and significance of the décor of church doors and their liturgical performativity, as well as their parallels with iconostases in Byzantium, remained a relatively underexplored area of study. This article seeks to delve deeper into these intersections. By focusing on the relationship between the iconography of church doors in Middle to Late Byzantium and their connection to the sacred space and liturgical practices, I aim to shed light on how these artworks played a crucial role in the sacred experience of the Byzantines. This exploration will not highlight only the aesthetic evolution of church door artwork but also emphasize the communal and embodied nature of the religious experience during the Byzantine era. Their intricate designs were not merely decorative elements but served as portals to the divine, enriching the salvation journey of worshippers as they crossed the threshold into the liturgical spaces. By conducting an examination of the development of door iconography and their symbolism throughout the empire’s history, the transformation of narrative depictions from the Middle Byzantine era to the Palaiologan period, culminating in a convergence of symbolic meanings within the sacred space of the church, is delineated. This transformation is further exemplified by a sculpted church door from the Principality of Wallachia. By bridging the gap between art history and religious studies, this article aims to rekindle interest in the profound symbolism and significance of Byzantine church doors and their relation to sacred liturgical space, offering a broader perspective on an important aspect of Byzantine heritage.

Bağlar ve Yolculuklar: Palaiologoslar Döneminde Doğu Akdeniz'i Birleştirmek

This article explores the establishment of economic unity in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Palaiologan Period, focusing particularly on the role of wine trade. It investigates how various regions were interconnected through sea routes and trading networks, contributing to a cohesive economic system. The study emphasizes the significance of wine production as a cash crop, involving landlords, peasants, and merchants. Wine, produced in different grades, played a pivotal role in daily consumption as well as in religious and social ceremonies, catering to diverse societal strata. Additionally, this study demonstrates the economic intricacies of Cretan Malmsey trade, revealing its paramount importance as a sought-after commodity across the Mediterranean. By analyzing historical sources and scholarly research, this study sheds light on the complex dynamics of wine commerce, highlighting its role in facilitating cross-regional trade and cultural exchange. The findings suggest that despite political fragmentation, the Eastern Mediterranean formed an integrated economic entity during the Palaiologan Period, facilitated by extensive trading networks and the prominence of wine trade. Through its comprehensive analysis, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of the economic landscape of the era and its enduring impact on Mediterranean history.

Recycling and adapting Constantine Manasses’ Aristandros and Kallithea in the Palaiologan Chapters in Political Verse

The Chapters in Political Verse is a collection of one hundred paraenetic chapters focusing on vices and virtues, transmitted in the Par.gr. 2750A and the Vat.gr. 1898 (fourteenth century) and containing fragments of the lost novel Aristandros and Kallithea by Constantine Manasses (twelfth century). This article offers a discussion on the authorship and audience of the Chapters (better known under the title Moral Poem and attributed to Manasses), arguing that it belongs firmly in the Palaiologan period and was not composed by Manasses. It pays particular attention to the way in which the anonymous author worked with the Manassean hypotext.

PLP Addenda: Die byzantinische Elite nach den Eroberungszügen des serbischen Herrschers Stefan Uroš IV. Dušan in Makedonien •

AbstractThe research about the Byzantine persons who do not appear in the Greek sources is one of the greatest desiderata of the prosopographical research of the Palaiologan period. The present study aims to show the situation of the Byzantine aristocracy after the Serbian occupation of Byzantine Macedonia. The data were collected from the Registers of the Treskavac Monastery and of the Church of Saint Stefan in Konče. The registers provide only basic information about the transaction of the property, so it is not entirely clear whether the Byzantine aristocracy sold or abandoned their estates in the region of Pelagonia or Kriva Lakavica. However, Byzantine noblemen are often mentioned in the border descriptions, which proves that they had a strong influence in the region even after the Serbian conquests.

Early Palaiologan Hagiography: “Old” and “New” Saints under the Shadow of Symeon Metaphrastes

This article focuses on the hagiographical rewriting from the Palaiologan Period. Having outlined the corpus of relevant texts, the author discusses the two paradigms that currently permeate the scholarship dealing with the Late Byzantine hagiography, the “old saints” paradigm and the “metaphrasis” paradigm. Both approaches, despite their indisputable heuristic value, do not take into consideration all aspects of hagiographical rewriting in the period in question. The first paradigm is not adequate because, first, it is virtually impossible to determine how great the chronological distance between the hero and the text must be to make him or her “old”, and, second, because the life of old saint does not amount to a rewriting; vice versa, a rewritten text does not necessarily mean that we are dealing with the life of old saint. Regarding the second approach, the term “metaphrasis” inevitably creates an association with the metaphrastic Menologion, which is not entirely justifiable because the early Palaiologan hagiographic corpus differs from it minimum in four important ways: these texts are often transmitted in authorial collections (instead of menologia); they were composed on occasion (instead of being part of a prearranged program); they have individual (instead of collective) authorship; the rewriting techniques allow for major alterations in the contents and are rarely limited to passage-for-passage transposition.

The last century of the Chora Monastery: a new look at the tomb monuments

Abstract The present article re-examines the tomb monuments in the parekklesion and the outer narthex of the main church of the Chora monastery, which are generally thought to date from the early Palaiologan period. Based on the analysis of the iconography and style of the frescoes adorning the tombs, it is suggested that some of the burials should be re-dated at least a few decades later. The frescoes in the lunette of the Tomb of Michael Tornikes (Tomb D) appear to have been executed shortly after 1350 and the decoration of Tombs C and E must date from around the same time. The portraits in Tombs F and G date from the 15th century. The epigraphic evidence and the images illustrate the continuing use of the Chora by its patrons, members of various branches of the Tornikes, Asanes, Raoul, and Dermokaites families, during the last century of the monastery.

Diarchy? The System of Co-Rulership in Byzantium at the Turn of the 13th – 14th Centuries and Its Impact on the Situation in the State

Introduction. The study is dedicated to the system of co-rulership in Byzantium in the early Palaiologan period. Our goal is to determine the role of the Byzantine emperor, the son and co-ruler of his father, the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1328), Michael IX (1294–1320) in the political destabilization of the empire at the turn of the 13th–14th centuries by identifying the specific nature of power relations in the state at the time under study. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is a systematic approach. The power relations in Byzantium at the turn of the 13th–14th c. are considered as a system of interconnected elements that perform certain functions in relation to each other and to the system as a whole. The principles of the hermeneutic method allow us to give a holistic interpretation of the sources that form our understanding of the subject under study. Analysis and Results. As a result of the study, we found out that the specific nature of power relations in Byzantium at that time was determined by two circumstances. First, by the institutionalization of the co-rulership that occurred during the reign of the first Palaiologoi. It was mostly due to the publication of the prostagma by Michael VIII (1259–1282) in 1272, an important document, many provisions of which, in our opinion, were fully implemented (and, to some extent, even expanded) during the reign of his son Andronikos II. Second, by the division of managerial functions within the ruling family. While Andronikos II dealt with a whole range of issues related to various state activities (fiscal, socio-economic, administrative, political and legal, foreign policy, etc.), the younger basileus concentrated in his hands mainly the command of the army. The isolated position of Michael IX which consisted in his constant stay outside Constantinople and the presence of significant military contingents under his control provided a certain degree of independence for the younger basileus in his military and political decisions which often contradicted those of his father. At the same time, this separate co-existence of two imperial courts in the state with their own staff of courtiers disrupted the unity within a narrow group of the Byzantine elite, led to its disengagement and the appearance of people who associated with the younger emperor their further acquisition of high ranks and broader powers in Byzantium. After the death of Michael IX (1320) this circumstance will have a significant impact on the outbreak of the civil war in the empire (1321–1328).

Brücken über das Goldene Horn

Abstract Recently, M. Hurbanič had claimed in an essay that there was only one stone bridge over the Golden Horn. Consequently, he considered the several names which were mentioned in the Byzantine sources (Justinian, Kallinikos, Panteleimon and Camel Bridge) as the names of the same bridge. However, according to Ibn Battuta, who stayed in Constantinople in 1334, the former stone bridge over the Golden Horn was destroyed a long time before his visit. This construction must have been collapsed at an unknown time after 1204. On the other hand, the name Camel Bridge appears in the sources only from the end of the 13th century and for the last time in 1343. This new bridge, which was unknown to Ibn Battuta, is depicted on a veduta of Constantinople-Istanbul (Düsseldorf, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, G 13, fol. 54r, ca. 1485/90) with the inscription pons despine. It is the same bridge which is depicted in the Vatican “Epithalamion” (Vat. gr. 1851, fol. 3v). Although the date of the manuscript is being controversially discussed at present, I agree with the scholars who date it in the Palaiologan era. The bridge on fol. 3v marks the place where a foreign imperial bride (presumably Maria-Kyratza of Bulgaria, the bride of Andronikos IV Palaiologos, who entered Constantinople by ship in 1346) is received by court ladies, and is already dressed in the robe of an Augusta (ῥωμαικὸν δεσποινικὸν ἱμάτιον). The name pons despine is without doubt the Latin translation of γέφυρα τῆς δεσποίνης. The bridge on both illustrations must be located further north of the Kosmidion at the narrowest point of the Golden Horn near modern district Silâhtarağa. In future discussions on the date of the Vatican “Epithalamion”, the pons despine in the Düsseldorf manuscript should be taken into account since it owes its name to the reception of an imperial bride (δέσποινης νύμφη). This event must have taken place in the Palaiologan period near the Camel Bridge, the only still existing bridge over the Golden Horn in 1343, 1346 and 1485/90.

The tombs of the Palaiologan emperors

This article examines textual and material evidence regarding the burials of emperors during the Palaiologan period. It is argued that the Palaiologos dynasty did not initially have a plan to establish an imperial mausoleum: the monastery of Lips, re-founded by Theodora Palaiologina and often regarded by modern scholars as an imperial mausoleum, was instead conceived as a family shrine. Small-scale attempts to establish imperial mausolea are discernible only from the middle of the fourteenth century onwards, with the burials of Andronikos III and John V in the monastery of ton Hodegon and of the last Palaiologoi in the Pantokrator.

The court of women in early Palaiologan Byzantium (ca.1260-1350)

This article serves as a contribution to the discussion of gender segregation at the imperial court of Byzantium. Evidence from the Palaiologan period shows that many of the elements of a women's court, as it was known from earlier centuries, were still present in the last centuries of the empire.

Emperor and Church in the Last Centuries of Byzantium

This study discusses relations between the Church and the emperor in the last two centuries of the Byzantine empire's existence, in the Palaiologan period (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries). It questions the accepted view that the Church rose in importance and status as imperial power and authority declined. According to this view, expressed by Steven Runciman and accepted by historians since, a strong Church was the legacy of the Byzantine empire to the Ottomans. In this article the ceremonies of the late Byzantine court, as represented by the mid-fourteenth-century text of Pseudo-Kodinos, are examined for indications of continuity in the emperor's dominant role in the Church in this later period. Gilbert Dagron's contrary perspective is considered. It is then argued that the writings of two late Byzantine churchmen, Symeon of Thessalonike and Makarios of Antioch, who insist on a lesser role for the emperor in the selection and the making of a patriarch, provide evidence for the contemporary performance of the promotion of a patriarch as described by Pseudo-Kodinos. While the two churchmen tried to show that the emperor was subject to the Church, practice shows something different.

The Monastery of Stoudios in the 15th Century

The article examines the history of the Stoudios monastery during the Late Palaiologan period and traces its impact on Constantinopolitan public life during the last decades of Byzantium. Although Stoudios was already restored in the early Palaiologan period, it was only during the reign of emperor John V Palaiologos (1341–1391) that it began once more to emerge as a leading monastery in a way reminiscent of its Middle Byzantine heyday. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries the monks of Stoudios, led by figures such as Patriarch Euthymios II and Joseph Bryennios, often challenged official imperial policies. Later, during the reign of John VIII the monastery was intimately connected with the imperial administration. Throughout this period, Stoudios played an active role in the discussions about the Union of the Churches. The textual evidence also provides information on the appearance and status of the monastery’s building complex and reveals its importance within the urban landscape of Late Palaiologan Constantinople.

The mock turtle's tears: ersatz enamel and the hierarchy of media in Pseudo-Kodinos

The enormous prestige accorded to Byzantine cloisonné enamel seems to have continued into the Palaiologan period, although evidence suggests that its production ceased in the decades after the Fourth Crusade. The medium of the imperial images described by Pseudo-Kodinos as ὑπὸ ὑελίου λεγομένου διαγελάστου, which was worn on the headgear of thirteen ranks of court officials, is here identified asverre églomisé, reverse painting on glass. A reading of Pseudo-Kodinos’ treatise alongside surviving works of art suggests that fourteenth-century Byzantines were consciously using ersatz media in an effort to keep up the appearance of continuity with the empire's more prosperous past.

The image of Michael VIII in the historical works of the Palaiologan period

The present paper tends to examine the image of the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty, Michael VIII(1259-1282), in the historical works written during the reign of the last Byzantine dynasty and after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. With the analysis of Michael?s coming to the throne and the union of the churches in Lyons in 1274, it looks as if the first ruler of the Palaiologoi was mostly remembered, in historiography and among the most learned, elite circles of the capital, as a usurper of the throne and rights of his minor predecessor, Emperor John IV Laskaris. The blinding of the son of Theodore II was an event that had far reaching consequences not only during the reign of Michael VIII, but also his consequent heirs.

Artistic production in centres and the periphery of the Byzantine Peloponnese. Aspects of monumental painting in the late palaiologan period.

Στην παρούσα μελέτη εξετάζεται μνημειακή ζωγραφική από τον Μυστρά (Ευαγγελίστρια) και την περιφέρεια του Δεσποτάτου του Μορέως (Άγιος Γεώργιος στο Νικάνδρι, Άγιος Γεώργιος Μολάων, Παντάνασσα Γερουμάνας, Αγία Παρασκευή Πλάτσας), χρονολογούμενη στα τέλη του 14ου και τις αρχές του 15ου αιώνα, η οποία είτε επηρεάζεται άμεσα από σημαντικά μνημεία του Μυστρά είτε αναπτύσσεται στη σφαίρα επιρροής άλλων κέντρων του Δεσποτάτου. Από το Πριγκιπάτο της Αχαΐας παρουσιάζονται τοιχογραφίες από την παλαιά μονή Ταξιαρχών Αιγιαλείας, ένα εξαιρετικό δείγμα κωνσταντινουπολίτικης ζωγραφικής στην περιφέρεια της αυτοκρατορίας.

Epistolographie und Astronomie in der frühen Palaiologenzeit. Ein bislang unedierter Brief des Nikolaos Rhabdas an Andronikos Zarides aus dem Jahr 1321

Codex Plut. 59.35 of the early fourteenth century transmits a letter, which so far has remained unpublished and therefore almost completely escaped scholarly attention. In this letter, addressed to Andronikos Zarides, the mathematician Nikolaos (Artabasdos) Rhabdas predicts a solar and a lunar eclipse, which can be dated to the year 1321. The present article provides the first edition, with German translation, of this text and explores its implications for the biography of its little-known author and addressee as well as their place within the scholarly circles of the early Palaiologan period.

Physician and miracle worker. The cult of Saint Sampson the Xenodochos and his images in eastern Orthodox medieval painting

Physician and miracle worker. The cult of Saint Sampson the Xenodochos and his images in eastern Orthodox medieval painting

Barbara Zipser, John the Physician’s Therapeutics: A Medical Handbook in Vernacular Greek, Studies in Ancient Medicine, Vol. 37 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. x + 377, €125.00/$185.00, hardback, ISBN: 978-90-04-17723-9.

Barbara Zipser, John the Physician’s Therapeutics: A Medical Handbook in Vernacular Greek, Studies in Ancient Medicine, Vol. 37 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. x + 377, €125.00/$185.00, hardback, ISBN: 978-90-04-17723-9. - Volume 55 Issue 1

The dialectics of expansion and retraction: recent scholarship on the Palaiologan aristocracy

In the first half of the fifteenth century a man donated an icon to the monastery of Mega Spelaion at Kalavryta; his name was less an instrument of identification than a manifesto of social association: John Tornikes Doukas Angelos Palaiologos Raoul Laskaris Philanthropenos Asanes. To judge from the chain of such resounding names of the leading late Byzantine families he clearly belonged to the dominant class of his time, and since nothing else is known of him, for lack of more precise social coordinates, we surely must count him among the aristocracy. Can we take an educated guess at what constituted a person of such social standing? He must have owned land; he probably held some office, while the accumulation of all his names points to marriage alliances between families of similar social standing. None of these assumptions suggests anything new about the aristocracy of the Palaiologan period, and yet, the overview that will follow aims to disclose exactly that: the points in which this era brought forth new developments that challenge the (thankfully dwindling) misconception of Byzantium as a state in which hardly anything changed. In 1973 Angeliki Laiou published her important article on the Palaiologan aristocracy. In twenty dense pages she made a number of remarks and reached several important conclusions that have influenced the direction of scholarship on the topic. As such it is worth summarizing these conclusions briefly.

Byzantine art and architecture: an introduction

Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Introduction 1. The early Christian period 2. The sixth century 3. The dark age and Iconoclasm 4. The Macedonian dynasty 5. The Comnene dynasty 6. The Latin occupation of Constantinople 7. The Palaiologan period 8. Approaches to the study of Byzantine art and architecture Appendices Glossary Select Bibliography Sources of plans Sources of photographs Index.