Book contents
- The Byzantine Hellene
- The Byzantine Hellene
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of Historical Figures
- List of Rulers in Byzantium and Beyond
- Author’s Note
- Introduction
- 1 Byzantium in Exile
- 2 “The Holy Land, My Mother Anatolia”
- 3 “I Was Raised as Usual for a Royal Child”
- 4 Pursuit of Learning
- 5 Power-Sharing
- 6 Friends, Foes, and Politics
- 7 Elena and the Embassy of the Marquis
- 8 Sole Emperor of the Romans
- 9 The Philosopher
- 10 The Proponent of Hellenism
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Elena and the Embassy of the Marquis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 July 2019
- The Byzantine Hellene
- The Byzantine Hellene
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Maps
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of Historical Figures
- List of Rulers in Byzantium and Beyond
- Author’s Note
- Introduction
- 1 Byzantium in Exile
- 2 “The Holy Land, My Mother Anatolia”
- 3 “I Was Raised as Usual for a Royal Child”
- 4 Pursuit of Learning
- 5 Power-Sharing
- 6 Friends, Foes, and Politics
- 7 Elena and the Embassy of the Marquis
- 8 Sole Emperor of the Romans
- 9 The Philosopher
- 10 The Proponent of Hellenism
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Soon after Theodore Laskaris reached the age of thirty in late 1251 or early 1252, two events had a profound effect on him. The sudden death (1252) of his wife Elena led to an outpouring of grief and soul searching. One year after her passing (1253), the arrival of the embassy of Marquis Berthold of Hohenburg – a right-hand man of the emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen and a patron of letters – impelled him to take stock of relations with the Latin West and to begin to prepare manuscript editions of some of his ever-growing literary and philosophical works. These episodes in his life have left many traces in his writings and were occasions for self-descriptive compositions. They deserve our close attention.
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- The Byzantine HelleneThe Life of Emperor Theodore Laskaris and Byzantium in the Thirteenth Century, pp. 128 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019