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Dejan Gašić
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade, Serbia;
dejan.gasic@pr.ac.rs
Portraits of the Byzantine Emperors in the Fourteenth Century.
John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos
– Literary Antipodes in Doukas’s
History
In keeping with manners of the literary epoch of the Palaiologian dynasty, in the course of
which the Byzantine emperor was routinely extolled
as a political ideal of wisdom
, whether actual
or desirable, even though in his “The Fall (Ἅλωσις) 1453“ historian Doukas,
not feeling under the
necessity
of depicting the late Roman history (Δούκας), did not remain immune to the indirect
original findings and the aforementioned receptive literary form which caused him to produce
his work
Historia Turco-Byzantina
(1341-1462). Made up of XLV chapters, Doukas’s tale begins
in the biblical fashion–with
Genesis
, which is of course fairly concise, then unfolds disjointedly
and very dynamically until 1341, when the narration in a minute detail records the
lineage
of the
Palaiologian dynasty. The very first lines of this genealogy reveal the author’s concise statements
about the two Byzantine
basileis
, the two namesakes - two antipodes: John V Palaiologos and John
VI Kantakouzenos, where the former inherited the throne due to the premature death of his father
Andronicus III (1328-1341), while the latter is presented to the reader
as one who raised
the juvenile
emperor John V (παιδαγωγούμενος παρὰ κυρίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ Καντακουζηνοῦ).
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Although it is superfluous to point out that the personalities of both Roman rulers are well-
known in Byzantine studies, it is evident that neither primeval sources nor concise medieval
studies bestowed a lot of beautiful words upon John Palaiologos as basileus, and even fewer upon
his personal qualities and character. On the other hand, John Kantakouzenos, although a writer
himself, in his own memoirs wrote of himself as a historically tragic hero. The accounts of his fellow
writers often attributed to him the traits of an ideal administrator capable of
providing his homeland
with the joy of peacefulness and prosperity
, while in historiography he is recognized as one of the
most outstanding historical figures of the late Byzantine era.
In accordance with the above-mentioned, this paper strives to shed light upon
the historical
portrait
of the two
basileis
and the prerogative of their imperial titles preserved in sources from
XIV and XV century, where Doukas’s post festum portrayal of them was viewed in relation to
what the author felt as a vivid millennium-old richness of literary expression in
the conception of
a ruler
(κάτοπτρα ἡγεμόνος). The common denominators for the virtues of an ideal administrator
in the works of zealous authors from XIV century—where the attitudes of Demetrius Cydonius
and Nicholas Cabasilas stand out—are hermetically and spiritually well-rounded:
prudence
(σωφροσύνη),
wisdom
(σοφία),
justice
(δικαιοσύνη),
courage
(ἀνδρία) complemented by esoteric
attributes of confessional nature:
altruism
(φιλανθρωπία) and
piety
(εὐσέβεια). In the sources from
the last period of Byzantium, all three
basileis
(
Manuel II, John VIII and Constantine XI) deserved
to be called
emperors and philosophers
or
guardians of the law
, whereby some writers preserved
a centuries-old political tradition which regarded the emperor as νόμος ἔμψυχος. Although this
premise reached its peak with the thought of Georgius Gemistus Plethon or John Argyropoulos, the
political and thought paradigm from the late Roman literary epoch can be adequately explained by
saying that philological portraits of emperors in the twilight of their state are inextricably linked to
the protection of the motherland and people.
This hypothesis is very similar to that of the historian Doukas (circa 1400-1470), which he
subtly made use of in his literary conception of legal context and
the properties of the long imperial
heritage
, and which is very skilfully elaborated upon in his work through the prism of the emperors’
personalities. Writing in a lapidary fashion while forming a picture of the protagonists - the
antipodes, Doukas was aware that Turcocracy had spilt and spread like magma across the Roman
territories; childhood, adolescence and adulthood of John V were completed, he grew old, and
there was an air of lethargy about him (μεθ ὅσης ναρκότητος), whereas he felt a twinge of envy for
the sensible (ἀνδρί σθνετῷ) and very belligerent (πολεμικὰ μαχιμωτάτῳ) John Kantakouzenos, the
glorious bloom of his generation, due to the fact that the latter had stirred up hatred among the
Romans (
Rhomaioi
). For those who are virtuous are envied the most (καὶ γὰρ φθονοῦσι μᾶλλον
τοῖς μᾶλλον ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ προιοῦσιν).
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