The last Byzantine controversy, or, 'How the Union of Florence Failed': rhetoric, religion, and politics from the Council of Ferrara-Florence to the fall of Constantinople and beyond (1439-1463)

Thesis

The Union of Florence (1439) ignited the last great controversy of Byzantium, rending the Greek-speaking world on the verge of collapse, and dividing Constantinople as it teetered on the brink. By entering communion with the Catholic Church, the Union of Florence put a brief end to centuries of the Eastern Schism, and provoked the Ottoman Sultan to extinguish the threat of a united Christendom. 

The polemic to which the controversy gave rise, in the form of encyclicals, apologiae, speeches, epic poetry, and dramatic dialogue, is the raw material of this thesis: material little known, most never translated, for the first time here the subject of close analysis. These writings of remarkable urgency and power are of huge value to the historian and fundamental to a proper understanding of the period of the last years of Byzantium, from the Council of Florence (1438-9) to the Fall of Constantinople (1453), and its repercussions into the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean.

I study the controversy from three perspectives: anti-Unionist Greek Orthodox, Latin/Western Catholic, and pro-Union Greek Catholic. The analysis is rhetorical, seeking to unpick and understand the various and complex strategies employed by these authors and actors to convince and refute, to characterise and justify: chiefly, Mark Eugenikos, Gennadios Scholarios, Loukas Notaras; Pope Nicholas V and Ubertino Posculo; Bessarion of Nicaea, Isidore of Kiev, and John Plousiadenos.

Though I cannot survey all the polemic which this controversy produced, I will, by selecting and analysing what I consider the chief specimens of each perspective, provide a much-needed account of the rhetoric and wider attitudes of this crucial historical moment, and a key to unlocking much of the worldview and political imperatives embodied in the protagonists of this dramatic and decisive age.

Authors: Martin, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j2qoy1bnq
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: intertextuality; Byzantium; orthodox; history; Ottoman; Constantinople; rhetoric; Renaissance; schism; Catholic; classics; theology; Venice; Greek; Latin; quattrocento
• Subjects: Renaissance; Ottoman; Classical Languages; Classics; History; Byzantium; Rhetoric; Church history; Theology