While the empire was in political and economic turmoil, the first half of the fourteenth century saw a renaissance in culture, the arts, and scholarly debate. Gregory Palamas was born to an aristocratic family and received a good education in Constantinople. In grammar and rhetoric he was instructed by erudite humanists but in spiritual matters by Athonite monks. Inspired by the latter, he moved in 1316 from Constantinople to Athos where he pursued the eremitical life with a hesychast brotherhood. Driven out by Turkish raids in about 1325, he moved first to Thessaloniki and then to a hermitage near Veroia. Returning to Athos in 1331, he acquired fame and began to write. In 1336 he began to correspond with Barlaam of Calabria who was now in Constantinople. When Barlaam began to attack hesychasm, Gregory responded by writing his Triads. The monks of Athos supported Gregory by publishing the Hagioritic Tome. The controversy rumbled on and it took three church councils (1341, 1347, 1351) before Gregory was finally vindicated and his teachings were declared Orthodox. This was a triumph not only for Gregory but for Athos.