The career and writings of Demetrius Kydones : a study of fourteenth-century Byzantine politics, religion and society
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The career and writings of Demetrius Kydones : a study of fourteenth-century Byzantine politics, religion and society
（The medieval Mediterranean : peoples, economies and cultures, 400-1453 / editors, Michael Whitby ... [et al.], v. 85）
Brill, 2010
- : hardback
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Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The second half of the fourteenth century was a period of rapid change in the Eastern Mediterranean, principally due to the expansion into Europe of the Ottoman Turks. Demetrius Kydones was one of the key Byzantine political and intellectual figures of the time, and his writings are regarded as one of the most important sources for study of the period. Kydones' career spanned at least four decades, from the 1340s to the 1380s. A Latin scholar, influenced in particular by the writings of Thomas Aquinas (some of which he translated into Greek), Kydones was a leading advocate of improvement of relations between Byzantium and the Latin West as crucial to Byzantine survival. This book examines Kydones' career and writings, investigating how they can contribute to developing a nuanced understanding of Byzantine political and cultural developments in these years of crisis.
Table of Contents
- CONTENTS Acknowledgements ... ix Abbreviations ... xi Introduction ... xiii Section One: Intellectual context Introduction ... 3 Chapter One. Demetrius' Intellectual Background ... 5 * The Primary Context:The Byzantine Background ... 5 * The Secondary Context:Western Texts ... 13 * Demetrius' Latin Studies ... 13 * The Evidence ... 15 TheWriters/Texts ... 16 Aquinas ... 16 Augustinian Texts ... 20 Boethius ... 24 Further texts ... 26 * The Western Material: Observations ... 28 Section two: ideas and preoccupations Introduction ... 41 The Sources: Demetrius'Writings to c. 1371 ... 42 Chapter Two. The Political Sphere ... 49 * Demetrius' Understanding of Imperial Office and His Relationship withHis Imperial Patrons ... 49 * Foreign Policy (Excluding Relations with the LatinWest) ... 57 * The TurkishThreat ... 57 * Bulgarians and Serbs ... 63 * Hungarians andMongols ... 67 * Foreign Policy:The Latins ... 70 Chapter Three. The Religious Sphere ... 83 * Key Principles and Ideas ... 83 * Faith and Revelation ... 84 * The Sources of Revelation: Interplay of Scripture, 'Fathers' and 'Councils' ... 85 * Methodology: Infallibility and Fallibility
- Determining Authoritative Sources ... 88 * Methodology: Defending the Latins ... 90 * Methodology:The Status ofHuman Reason ... 92 * 'Fathers' and 'Councils': Practical Issues ... 96 * Specific Issues ... 103 * The Church, East andWest ... 103 * The Filioque ... 118 * Palamas ... 124 Section three: historical context and implications Introduction ... 131 Chapter Four. The Extent of 'Publicity' ... 133 * Channels for Circulation ... 133 * TheManuscript Evidence ... 133 * Further Evidence of Circulation ... 136 * PoliticalThemes ... 148 * Demetrius andHis Imperial Patrons ... 148 * Foreign Policy ... 153 The TurkishThreat ... 153 International Relations (Excluding the Latins) ... 156 International Relations:The Latins ... 157 * ReligiousThemes ... 160 * General Attitudes to theWest, Including the Papacy ... 160 * Specific Doctrinal Issues ... 161 The Filioque ... 161 Palamism, Philotheos and theHesychasts ... 162 * Normative Relations ... 165 Conclusions ... 168 Chapter Five. Contextualising Demetrius' Pro-western Approach ... 169 Introduction ... 169 * The General Background: Byzantine-papal/Byzantine-Latin Relations ... 171 * Demetrius' Role in Developments ... 184 * The Credibility of the Pro-western Propaganda ... 205 Chapter Six. Orthodox Developments ... 221 Introduction ... 221 * Divisions within Orthodoxy ... 221 * TheHesychast Background ... 221 * The Repercussions of the CivilWar ... 228 * Philotheos and Demetrius in the Late s ... 232 * Indications of Strength? ... 239 * 'Orthodox Universalism' and Relations with Other Orthodox Sees ... 241 Serbia/Pec ... 243 Bulgaria/Trnovo ... 245 Russia/Kiev ... 247 * 'InternationalHesychasm' ... 250 Conclusions ... 258 Conclusion ... 265 Select Bibliography ... 269 General Index ... 281 Manuscripts mentioned ... 289 Index of Letters of Demetrius Kydones cited ... 291 Original works of named authors/translations cited in the text ... 293
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