Byzantine literature of the Laskaris and Palaiologos periods was the final period of Byzantine literature, from the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
After the Crusader conquest of Constantinople in 1204, in the following years, the Byzantine state was revived in Anatolia with its center in Nicaea. The years of the Nicaean Empire were primarily a period of collecting the dispersed legacy. The most prominent authors of this period include the historian and theologian Niketas Choniates and the polymath Nikephoros Blemmydes.
In the final decades of the Byzantine Empire, local centers gained importance as the capital weakened. On Rhodes, Emanuel Georgilas Limenites created, and the Rhodesian Love Songs were composed. From Crete came the Notes and Stanzas of Stephanos Sahlikis. In Mystras, at the court of the Despotate of the Morea, Mazaris wrote his satire, and the philosopher Gemistos Plethon, a proponent of Neoplatonism and pagan Hellenism, influenced Renaissance Italy. His students, Bessarion and John Argyropoulos, defended Plato in Italy, while Gennadius Scholarius and George of Trebizond critiqued Plethon.
The turn of the 14th and 15th centuries saw the last romances inspired by French models, such as Floris and Blanchefleur and Imberios and Margaron. At the same time, there was a shift to Greek themes, with Emanuel Georgilas Limenites' Historical Tale of Belisarius and the widely popular Tale of the Suffering Apollonius of Tyre. Historians such as George Sphrantzes and Laonikos Chalkokondyles wrote from differing perspectives, with the last significant historian, Michael Critobulus, documenting Sultan Mehmed II's reign. Several works remain about the struggles with the Turks, including The Tale of the Siege of Constantinople and The Conquest of Constantinople, likely by Emanuel Limenites.
Nicaean period
After the conquest of Constantinople in April 1204, the Byzantine Empire was revived in Anatolia. The new Laskaris dynasty chose Nicaea as the capital of their state. From the captured Constantinople, Niketas Choniates (c. 1155 – c. 1215) fled to Nicaea with the first version of his History, covering the history of the empire from 1118 to 1204. In Nicaea, he finalized and expanded the work, bringing it up to 1206, the second year of the reign of Henry of Flanders. At the court of Theodore I Laskaris, the writer began working on his second major work, The Treasury of Orthodoxy, in 25 books, addressing heresies and doctrinal errors in the church. Niketas also wrote many occasional speeches and a poetic work about the marriage of Isaac Angelos to Margaret, daughter of Hungarian King Bela III.
During the reign of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes (1222–1254), Nikephoros Blemmydes (1197–c. 1272) was active in the Nicaean Empire. After studying philosophy, theology, and medicine, he sought manuscripts for the library established by the emperor in Nicaea. He was the teacher of future Emperor Theodore II Laskaris. Blemmydes was interested in various fields of human knowledge. His most famous philosophical works include A Manual of Logic and Physics and Treatise on the Duties of the Ruler (Lògos), dedicated to the emperor. In connection with the emperor's efforts to achieve a church union, he wrote a comprehensive two-volume work on the origin of the Holy Spirit (the first book titled Evidence, and the second Dogmatic Dispute). He also wrote numerous smaller theological treatises, commentaries on the Psalms, a Geographical Outline, two autobiographies, and numerous poems on state and religious themes.
Among the Byzantine writers of this period, a significant place is held by Theodore II Laskaris, a student of Blemmydes and emperor (1254–1258). He authored a philosophical work, On the Unity of Nature, in which he demonstrated the unity of nature despite the contradictions and opposites within it, and Christian Theology, a work in 8 books dealing with God, the Holy Trinity, and the origin of the Holy Spirit. In On the Origin of the Holy Spirit, directed against the Latins, Theodore II debated his teacher. He also wrote numerous homilies, speeches, ascetic writings, prayers, and canons.
Renaissance of the Palaiologians
Union dispute
In 1261, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople. In response to the attempt by his opponents to rebuild the Latin Empire, one of his political priorities became the establishment of a church union with Rome, which was finally achieved at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. The chief theoretician of the union during Michael VIII's reign was Patriarch John XI of Constantinople (c. 1225–1297), the author of On the Unity and Peace of the Churches of Old and New Rome, in which he argued that the Greek Fathers of the church acknowledged the origin of the Holy Spirit also from the Son (Filioque). John XI is also the author of a Collection of Quotations from the Fathers of the Church indicating that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.
In 1282, after the death of Michael VIII, John XI was imprisoned. The new Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory II (c. 1241–1290), opposed his views and wrote The Book of Faith. In defense of the union, those imprisoned with John XI, including Constantine Meliteniotes (d. 1307) in On the Origin of the Holy Spirit and George Metochites (d. 1328) in The Treatise, wrote works supporting the union.
Historians and polymaths The work of Choniates was continued after the recapture of Constantinople by George Akropolites (1217–1282), a scholar, ambassador, and chief logothete, who led the Byzantine delegation at the Council of Lyon. In his major work, History of Contemporary Events, Akropolites described events from 1203 to 1261, focusing on the histories of the Nicaean and Latin empires. His contemporary, Theodore Skoutariotes, metropolitan of Cyzicus, wrote a Review of History, a chronicle of humanity from the creation of the world to the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in 1261. At the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, Ephraim of Ainos wrote a poetic chronicle covering Roman emperors from Caligula (37 AD) to Michael VIII Palaiologos (1282).
During the reign of Andronikos II Palaiologos, George Pachymeres (1243–c. 1310), a pupil of Akropolites, polymath, and high-ranking imperial official, wrote History of Contemporary Events, a 13-book historical work covering years from 1260 to 1308. In his work, Pachymeres dedicated considerable space to theological and doctrinal disputes, particularly the 1274 union of Lyon. He also wrote Quadrivium on the Byzantine education system, a treatise on Aristotelian philosophy, a paraphrase of the letters of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, as well as Life of Manuel Holobolos, rhetorical works, and 13 political speeches.
A great scholar of the later period of Andronikos II's reign was Theodore Metochites (1270–1332), the son of George Metochites and grand logothete from 1321 to 1328. His major work, Various Writings, consists of 120 treatises on philosophy, history, and literary history. He also left behind 20 poetic works, hagiographical pieces, a Collection of Commentaries on Aristotle gathered from various philosophical textbooks, and a Foundation of Astronomy.
A student of Theodore Metochites, another Byzantine polymath, Nicephorus Gregoras (1295–1359/1360), served as chartophylax and imperial envoy during Andronikos II's reign and later became a monk. His most famous work is Roman History, a 37-book account covering the period from 1204 to 1359. Gregoras continues and supplements the works of his predecessors, George Akropolites and George Pachymeres, presenting a memoir with philosophical commentary detailing events from 1320 onwards. In addition to history, Gregoras was involved in theology, supporting the church union and opposing Hesychasm. His philological works include Grammatical Exercises, On Orthography, and a Commentary on the Odyssey. He also wrote two astronomical works: Encouragement for Astronomy and Against the Enemies of Astronomy.
The last major historian of this period was John VI Kantakouzenos, emperor from 1347 to 1354. After abdicating and entering a monastery, he wrote History of the Years 1320–1356, a 4-book memoir based on his own notes, archival documents, and letters, defending his reign.
Planudes and the philologists Among the notable Byzantine writers of this period, a special role was played by Maximus Planudes (c. 1255–c. 1305), who served as secretary and envoy for Emperor Andronikos II. In 1285, Planudes became a monk and founded a monastery for laypeople and a school near the imperial library in Constantinople, where he engaged in extensive philological work. He made the works of ancient Greek authors widely accessible to his contemporaries. He edited the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, Moralia and Lives by Plutarch, and the Odes of Pindar. Additionally, he published Aristophanes' Plutus with commentary, Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, Hesiod's Works and Days, and commented on Theocritus' Idylls, Hermogenes' Art of Rhetoric, and Aesop's Life, appending a collection of Aesopian fables. Planudes also compiled an anthology of excerpts from ancient philosophers, historians, and geographers, a collection of epic poetry, popular proverbs, and an anthology of various epigrams. His Greek Anthology remained the only known collection of Greek epigrammatic poetry in Europe until 1606. He rediscovered and translated Ptolemy's Geography, edited Diophantus' Arithmetic, and expanded Byzantine culture by introducing several Latin works. Planudes translated The Distichs of Cato, Cicero's Dream of Scipio, Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars, Ovid's writings, Juvenal's Satires, Aelius Donatus' Ars Minor, Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy, and Augustine's On the Trinity. His translations became a basis for learning Greek in the West. Additionally, he authored a Greek grammar and syntax textbook, Grammar.
Planudes' work was carried forward by his students and successors in the next generation. Manuel Moschopoulos (born c. 1265), a student and friend of Planudes, authored Questions on Grammar, a popular textbook for Renaissance humanists, complemented by Exercises. He edited Pindar's Odes and produced concise commentaries on Hesiod's poetry, the first two books of the Iliad, Euripides' tragedies, Theocritus' Idylls, and Aristophanes' comedies. Thomas Magister (c. 1275–1346), a friend of Moschopoulos, created a Lexicon of Nouns and Verbs and published Sophocles' Triad with commentary, along with triads of Euripides and Aeschylus. Demetrius Triclinius (c. 1280–c. 1340) edited Pindar's Olympian Odes with corrections and commentary and annotated five of Aeschylus' tragedies, Sophocles' tragedies, Aristophanes' comedies, and Theocritus' Idylls. Between 1316 and 1320, he also commented on Hesiod's poetry.
Other notable figures include John Pediasimos, who commented on Hesiod's Shield and Theogony, Theocritus' Syrinx, and Aristotle's works. Another significant contributor was Andrew Lopadios, a student and friend of Moschopoulos, who authored the Vienna Lexicon. Patriarch John XIII of Constantinople (born c. 1250) also authored the treatise On Syntax.
Poets and rhetoricians In the 13th and 14th centuries, Byzantine poets and rhetoricians earned their living either as state officials or by writing for the court and aristocracy. The most prominent poet of the period was Manuel Holobolos, who served as secretary to Emperor Michael VIII (1259–1282). His criticism of the emperor cost him his nose and lips, and ultimately led to his exile to Nicaea. Holobolos authored 20 hymns on religious themes, interspersed with flattery directed at rulers, and two funeral orations in verse. He also gained renown as a teacher of logic, wrote a commentary on Aristotle's Analytics, and translated Boethius' logical works.