Description
Book SynopsisA member of the imperial Palaiologan family, albeit most probably illegitimate, Isidore became a scholar at a young age and began his rise in the Byzantine ecclesiastical ranks. He was an active advocate of the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in Constantinople. His military exploits, including his participation in the defence of Constantinople in 1453, provide us with eyewitness accounts. Without doubt he travelled widely, perhaps more so than any other individual in the annals of Byzantine history: Greece, Asia Minor, Sicily, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and Italy. His roles included diplomat, high ecclesiastic in both the Orthodox and Catholic churches, theologian, soldier, papal emissary to the Constantinopolitan court, delegate to the Council of Florence, advisor to the last Byzantine emperors, metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, and member of the Vatican curia.
This is an original work based on new archival research and the first monograph to study Cardi
Trade Review
"The collection of sources presented here, the thorough presentation of primary and secondary evidence about every facet of Isidore’s life and times, and the erudition of the authors, who are renowned authorities on the late Palaiologan period and the siege of 1453, make this book a signal contribution to the history of the fifteenth-century Mediterranean." - Tia Kolbaba, Rutgers University
Table of Contents1. The rise of Isidore 2. Isidore and the Council of Basle 3. The rise of Isidore and the Council of Ferrara-Florence 4. The papal emissary 5. Defender, humanist, and survivor 6. Cretan interlude 7. Il Cardinal Greco Vecchio: The last years 8. Conclusions: Damnatio Memoriae? Appendix Bibliography Index Personum Index Locorum Index Rerum Antiquarum
