International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Krasimira Yordanova
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria;
[e-mail]
Despot Stefan Lazarevic, the Gattilusio Family 
and the Byzantine Emperors (1402-1405)
The topic of this paper is related to my PhD thesis, which is dedicated to despot Stefan Lazarevic 
and his diplomatic relations with the other countries. This report will address the marriage of Despot 
Stefan and Helena, Gattilusio’s daughter, the ruler of Lesbos Island (Mitylene). The emphasis is on 
the importance of the marriage for obtaining despotic title by the co-emperor John VII Palaeologus 
and its confirmation by Manuel II, the full Byzantine emperor. The report presents the impact of the 
alliance between Stefan Lazarevic and Helena Gattilusio in determining the successor of the Serbian 
state as well as a possible cause of the unrest in Moravian Serbia.
Among the main sources used are The Life of Despot Stefan Lazarevic by Constantine the 
Philosopher, а short Byzantine chronicle, Ducas, and the correspondence of Despot Stefan and 
Princess Milica with the administration of Dubrovnik.
Natalia Zhigalova
Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
Some Aspects of the Pro-Ottoman Position of George Amiroutzes
George Amiroutzes is one of those Byzantine intellectuals who continued an intellectual 
activity at the court of the Ottoman Sultan after the fall of Byzantium in 1453. According to the 
Byzantine historian Kritovoulos, Amiroutzes was a «great philosopher who has encyclopedic 
knowledge, besides the orator and poet», he was recognized by Mehmed ΙΙ, who been impressed by 
his wisdom and invited him to the service.
The purpose of this paper is, on the one hand, to follow a career path of Amiroutzes and to 
identify the causes which pushed the writer for approchement and cooperation with people of other 
faith; on the other hand – to consider from his writings, what characteristics and epithets were used 
by the author in relation to the figure of Mehmed II and what else indicates for a philosopher’s pro-
Ottoman position.
Amiroutzes appears as an active and pragmatic person. His main writings are «A Dialogue 
with the ruler of the Turks about the Christian faith» and several poems dedicated to Mehmed ΙΙ. 
In his writings the author designated Mehmed as the heir and successor of the Byzantine emperors, 
calling the Sultan «The Lord of the ecumene» and «basileus of the Hellenes». In «A Dialogue» 
Amiroutzes talked about the disasters that have befallen on the Greeks, but in the words of the 
Sultan urged them not to fight the invaders and to understand the principles of their faith, customs 

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and practices, speaking about the importance of humility and submissiveness. Literary activity 
Amiroutzes shows the author’s desire to demonstrate his loyalty to the Sultan, get reward from the 
Turkish ruler for his laudatory passages.
However, there are some evidences which called into question the sincerity of pro-Turkish and 
pro-Muslim sympathies of Amiroutzes. These data demonstrate the existence of cryptochristian 
trends in Byzantium during the second half of the XV century and indicate the seeming turkophile 
of adventurous Amiroutzes. This allows us to look at his ideological and religious position from the 
different angle.
Thus, we would consider an activity of George Amiroutzes at the court of Mehmed ΙΙ not 
only from the point of view that the service to the Sultan could bring benefits and promotion to the 
writer, but also in the context of the spiritual quest of the Greek intellectuals in a post-Byzantine era.
This research has been financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, 
project no. 16-31-15017

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