Florin Leonte

Imperial Visions of Late Byzantium

Manuel II Palaiologos and Rhetoric in Purple

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Explores a Byzantine emperor's construction of authority with the help of his rhetorical texts Manuel II Palaiologos was not only a Byzantine emperor but also a remarkably prolific rhetorician and theologian. His oeuvre included letters, treatises, dialogues, short poems and orations. Florin Leonte deals with several of his texts shaped by a didactic intention to educate the emperor's son and successor, John VIII Palaiologos. He argues that the emperor constructed a rhetorical persona which he used in an attempt to compete with other contemporary power-brokers. While Manuel Palaiologos adhered to many rhetorical conventions of his day, he also reasserted the civic role of rhetoric. With a special focus on the first two decades of Manuel II Palaiologos' rule, 1391-1417, Leonte offers a new understanding of the imperial ethos in Byzantium by combining rhetorical analysis with investigation of social and political phenomena. Florin Leonte is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Edinburgh University Press
• Seitenzahl: 344
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Januar 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 162mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 675g
• ISBN-13: 9781474441032
• ISBN-10: 1474441033
• Artikelnr.: 56973433

Autorenporträt

Florin Leonte is Assistant Professor at the Department of Classics, University of Olomouc, Czech Republic. He received his PhD in Byzantine Studies from the Central European University, Budapest. After graduating, he held a number of postdoctoral positions including a two-year lectureship at Harvard University, Department of the Classics, a fellowship at Villa I Tatti, The Research Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence, and a fellowship from the International Society for the History of Rhetoric.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction
Part I: Dissent and Consent 1. Voices of Dissent: Preaching and Negotiating
Authority Organization of the ecclesiastics' group Major political and
social themes in the ecclesiastics' writings
2. Voices of Consent: Imperial Rhetoricians, Theatra, and Patronage Theatra
and imperial involvement Profile and organization of the rhetoricians
Connections among the members of the literary court The rhetorical
landscape in the late Palaiologan period Main themes in the rhetoricians'
writings
Part II: Other Voices, Other Approaches: Manuel II's Political Writings
Introduction 3. The deliberative voice: The Dialogue with the Empress
Mother on Marriage Contents and structure Genre Constructing dialogic
authority
4. The Didactic Voice: the Foundations of Imperial Conduct Context of
production Contents and structure Genre Authorial voice
5. The didactic voice: The Orations (Seven ethical-political orations)
Introduction The dramatic setting The contents of the Orations Major themes
in the Orations The contents and form of the orations Between teaching and
preaching: constructing the genre of the Orations Authorial voice: teaching
the son and admonishing the emperor
6. The narrative voice: The Funeral Oration on Brother Theodore, Despot of
Morea Contexts of production The rhetorical template and the compositional
structure of the Funeral oration The narrator and the narrative Authorial
voice
7. Towards a Renewed Vision of Imperial Authority Society and social
"classes" Enemies and allies Markers of Byzantine Identity Renewal of
imperial ideology in Manuel's texts Manuel II's Imperial vision and Style
of government
Appendices Bibiliography Index