Palaeologan Renaissance

The Palaeologan Renaissance or Palaiologan Renaissance is the final period in the development of Byzantine art. It coincided with the reign of the Palaiologoi, the last dynasty to rule the Byzantine Empire (1261–1453), and essentially preceded and predetermined the Greek and Italian Renaissance.[2] Scholars of the time utilized several classical texts.[3]

Icon with metal background. Constantinople, 14th century. Located in Ohrid, North Macedonia.[1]

History

The Palaiologoi emperors founded new schools to ensure the survival of traditional culture. John III Doukas Vatatzes (r. 1222–1254) commissioned public libraries in all the cities of his possessions and ordered municipal leaders to allocate salaries to scholars of medicine, mathematics and rhetoric. In 1238, he also instituted a school of philosophy directed by Nikephoros Blemmydes.[4][5]: 253 

Michael VIII (r. 1261–1282) undertook restoration projects on the Blachernae Palace, the Hagia Sophia, several sections of the city defenses along with public service projects. Private patrons did the same for the various churches of the city.[6]

Manuel II (r. 1391–1425) created an institution called the Katholikon Mouseion in the early 15th century. Located in a hospital and attached to the monastery of St. John Prodrome whose rich library had at its disposal numerous teachers including Georges Chrysococè and Cardinal Bessarion who later settled in Italy. The library welcomed many Italians who came to Constantinople to learn Greek language and culture. Also, during the reign of Manuel II, the scholar Demetrios Kydones, wrote several texts such as the Discourses and Dialogues on the relationship between Christianity and Islam, on politics and on civil subjects such as marriage and education. He also made a treatise on the seven ecumenical councils, a poem on how to convert unbelievers, a refutation of Catholic doctrine on the procession of the Holy Spirit.[7][8]

Notable contributors
Theodore Metochites, one of many notable contributors to the cultural and literary revival of the Palaeologan Renaissance.

Numerous private persons contributed to the expanding of knowledge in the empire during the time, these include the judge and historian George Pachymeres (1242 – c. 1310), the philologist and theologian Maximus Planude (c. 1255/1260 – c. 1305/1310) who was one of the four great philological scholars of the time of Andronikos II, alongside Thomas Magistros, Demetrius Triclinios and Manuel Moschopoulos. The scholar and statesman Nikephoros Choumnos (c. 1250/1255 – 1327) was one of the most important figures of the renaissance, while the philosopher Theodore Metochites (1270–1332) was a patron of the arts and sciences and was considered the most complete scholar of his time. A tradition of polemic also existed during the time, exemplified by the historian Nikephoros Gregoras, who expanded the criticism of Aristotle in his dialogue Phlorentius.[9] Gemistos Plethon was exiled by Manuel II to the Despotate of Morea, an important intellectual center; his lectures there revived Platonic thought in Western Europe.[8] Under the impetus of emperors, many politicians, scholars and writers took part in the literary revival of the time.

Art and architecture

The majority of scribes who worked on manuscript illumination remain anonymous: only 17 of the 22 manuscripts preserved by Theodore Hagiopetrites (a copyist who lived around 1300 in Thessalonica) are signed. The production of books is rarer, probably because many copyists went into exile under Latin domination. Nevertheless, the scriptoria of the monastery of Panaghia Hodegetria in Constantinople remained active throughout the 14th century.[5]: 244 

Chora Church is the typical representative of this art. In essence, this is the second Byzantine Renaissance after the Macedonian Renaissance, which, however, was redefined by the previous Komnenian restoration.[10]

Jewelry from the Palaeologan period is scarce and rather plain compared with examples from earlier Byzantine history. The scholar Aimilia Yeroulanou suggests that this is only an accident of survival, and that late Byzantine jewelry resembled that made in Greek lands after the empire's fall: distinguished by "technical and aesthetic excellence rather than... the sumptuousness of the materials".[11]

References
  1. "The Icon of the Virgin and Child, Ohrid". Mapping Eastern Europe.
  2. Palaeologan Renaissance
  3. Faveri, De; Lorena (Venice) (2006-10-01), "Palaeologan Renaissance", Brill’s New Pauly, Brill, retrieved 2022-12-11
  4. Bréhier, Louis (1970). Byzantine civilization. Paris. pp. 400–401.
  5. Angeliki, Laiou; Morrisson, Cécile (2011). The Byzantine World III, the Greek Empire and its neighbors 13th-14th century. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
  6. Magno, Cyril (2002). The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. pp. 256–257.
  7. Nicol, Donald M. (2005). The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. pp. Chap. XV pp. 319-340, Chap. XVI pp. 341-360.
  8. Kazdhan, Alexander (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Vol. 2. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1291, 1685.
  9. Ierodiakonou, Katerina; Bydén, Börje (2018), Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), "Byzantine Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2022-12-11
  10. About Chora
  11. Yeroulanou, Aimilia (2008). "4: At Home: Jewellery and Adornment". In Cormack, Robin; Vassilaki, Maria (eds.). Byzantium 330-1453. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. pp. 163–194. ISBN 9781905711260.

Bibliography
  • Fryde, Edmund. The Early Palaeologan Renaissance (1261 – c. 1360). Leiden: Brill, 2000
  • Helen C. Evans (Hrsg.): Byzantium. Faith and Power (1261–1557). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2004.
  • Geanakoplos, Deno John. Constantinople and the West: Essays on the Late Byzantine (Palaeologan) and Italian Renaissances and the Byzantine and Roman Churches. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989
  • Late Byzantium Reconsidered: The Arts of the Palaiologan Era in the Mediterranean, edited by Andrea Mattiello and Maria Alessia Rossi. London: Taylor and Francis, 2019
  • Runciman, Steven. The Last Byzantine Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008
  • Ševčenko, Ihor. The Palaeologan Renaissance. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1984
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.