68 research outputs found
The Political Opposition to Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118)
No full textThe goal of my thesis is to survey the political environment and the power struggles during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118). For a while, the interpretation put forward by George Orstrogorsky strongly influenced how scholarship perceived the reign of Alexios I. This author states that the political scenario in Byzantium in the 11th century was marked by the struggle between the bureaucracy and the military landed aristocracy. The seizure of power by Alexios I was, therefore, the final victory of the latter. Another important view is that, once in power, Alexios I established a family rule in which his relatives by blood and by marriage had a powerful role, for they held the highest offices both in the military and administration and had an informal influence on the emperor. This gave Alexios political strength to remain in power and crush the civil aristocracy that opposed him. Both interpretations have been partially questioned. Although the approaches that perceive a binary division between bureaucrats and the military have been clearly disproven, their echo can yet be heard in recent work. Some recent scholarship on power or intellectual struggles during his reign still resorts to arguments that have a smack of the binary interpretation. Other scholars such as Jean-Claude Cheynet dismiss this binary division, but still see relatively fixed groups within the Byzantine ruling elite. The role of Alexios’ family as a source of political support has also been questioned by scholars, mainly Peter Frankopan, who made extensive research about the power struggles during his reign. Although this recent scholarship has put forward relevant arguments, it was not sufficient to provide a convincing overview of this key-period for Byzantine History. A close look on the political alliances that formed the groups supporting an emperor or making opposition to him demonstrates that the opposition to Alexios I was not formed by clearly delineated blocks with clear goals. It was rather characterized by a wide range of interests depending on the existing political situation. His supposed lack of interest in reconquering Anatolia, which, according to current scholarship, is the greatest source of the opposition to Alexios, can be nuanced as being an important motivation only to a particular oppositional movement observed in one single episode. A similar subtle approach is also important to understand the relations between the emperor and his family. Although the contemporary or near-contemporary reports seem to confirm the important role played by the imperial family, his relatives did not support the emperor automatically, which demands a more nuanced analysis of the sources. They present the emperor in constant negotiation with his relatives, sometimes granting and sometimes curtailing power, at times being autocratic, at other times almost submissive. Besides the ad-hoc strategies adopted by the emperor to create a group of supporters marked by open contradictions, Alexios I adopted and adapted different discourses to project himself publically in order to strengthen the support to his regime and discourage opposition, which dismisses completely the traditional image of Alexios as a crude and brutal soldier-emperor. In spite of his political and discursive strategies to energize his supporters, co-opt adversaries and repress opposition were at times unsuccessful, they were often successful, which allowed a long reign and the establishment of a dynasty: clear signs of political triumph in Byzantium.266 Seite
Encomium to the Monastic Life: An Unedited Poem of Alexios Makrembolites
No full textThis article presents the first critical edition of a metrical Encomium to the monastic life written by the fourteenth-century Byzantine author Alexios Makrembolites. The text is preserved in only one manuscript (Hierosolymitanus Sabbaiticus gr. 417). Makrembolites, after referring to the constant rejuvenation of the nature, wonders why people are drawn towards material goods and not to spiritual ones, distancing themselves from the immortality offered by a life close to God. After apologizing for his sinful life, he praises monastic life which he believes he should follow in order to bring an end to all his pains.
When universal history reaches the present: narrative time and authorial presence in Zonaras' account of Alexios Komnenos' reign
No full textThe paper addresses the issues of Zonaras Epitome’s place within the tradition of Byzantine chronicle, using it as a test-case for the validity and meaning of genre distinction in Byzantine historiography. The discussion focuses on the last section of Zonaras’ work, which recounts the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. The author shows that Zonaras’ choices with respect to the selection of narrative contents, their chronological arrangement, and the handling of narrative time push the boundaries of the chronicle genre in order to provide an ideological interpretation of the recent past
The Letters of Maximos Planudes to Alexios Philanthropenos and Melchisedek Akropolites: the Problems of Source Studies in the Context of the Politico-Military Situation in Byzantium in the Late 13th C.
No full textThis research work is dedicated to the problem of dating of the Byzantine scholar and monk Maximos Planudes’ letters to the general, pinkernes Alexios Philanthropenos and his companion, monk Melchisedek Akropolites. Our goal is to date these letters on the basis of their content and data from other sources and to reconstruct chronological sequence of their writing.
The period of time when Alexios Philanthropenos was in office of dux of Thrakision (1293–1295) during which he conducted some military operations against the Turks of beyliks Germiyan and Menteєe has a special place in the history of the Byzantine-Turkish wars in the early Palaiologan era. At this time the Byzantine state made some of its last successful military efforts in this struggle. By studying this theme the present article makes a contribution to research the Byzantine wars against the Turks and the military art and military organization of the empire in the late 13th century.
Following the explicit consideration of some disputed items in dating of Maximos Planudes’ letters to the persons mentioned above (42 letters) the author specifies the chronological sequence of their writing and clarifies the stages of the Alexios Philanthropenos’ military activity in Asia Minor. This article also makes a contribution to using of epistolographic data in historical study
Social criticism in late Byzantium voiced under the veil of biblical teachings: The example of Alexios Makrembolites
No full textThe paper strives to highlight the interpretation of text 'A Dialogue Between the Rich and the Poor' written by Alexios Makrembolites, and hence the contribution of source texts to the understanding of Byzantine reality and literature in the fourteenth century. Although he is vaguely defined by his life epopee, his modest biography and inspiring words enabled Makrembolites to point out that the hardships of late Byzantium - civil war and social injustice - had been inflicted upon him, with the corollary of his own literary consciousness being shaped by the noxious effects of these predicaments. Even though the 14th-century Byzantine literature abounds in social themes, the distinctiveness of a Dialogue Between the Rich and the Poor is to be found in its bitter tone against social inequality and biased sympathy for the poorer fellow citizens to whom the author himself belonged. The dynamic historical course and segregation of Romaioi were viewed, in his case, through the lens of wise teachings derived from the Bible, wherewith the latent criticism of the state system became veiled in votive messages. Given the period and conditions under which he wrote, such a 'historical drama' can only be understood as a historiosophical interpretation of events. As such, it could only stem from the Holy Scripture. In this way Makrembolites emphasises a handful of didactic biblical moments and 'canons of conduct' the rich should adhere to, so that the kingdom could survive on the foundations of charity and philanthropy
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Kommentar zur Synopsis canonum /
No full text"This book presents the first critical edition of the commentary on an early Byzantine canonical collection, the Synopsis Canonum. The author of the commentary was the most famous 12th century Byzantine legal scholar, Alexios Aristenos (pre 1100-post 1166). The edition includes prolegomena and indices. The book offers insight on Byzantine legal history and will also be of interest to canon lawyers."--Publisher's website
Contructing a wall for the defence of Methoni in the years of Alexios I Komnenos. The testimony of a metrical inscription
No full textΠαρουσιάζεται μία έμμετρη επιγραφή από την περιοχή της Μεθώνης, που αναφέρεται στην επισκευή των τειχών της πόλης. Βάσει των χρονολογικών στοιχείων που παρέχει η επιγραφή, προτείνεται η χρονολόγησή της στο έτος 1084/85, λίγα μόλις χρόνια μετά την ανάρρηση του Αλεξίου Α΄ Κομνηνού στον θρόνο της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Tο φιλόδοξο αυτό οχυρωματικό έργο, από κοινού με την ίδρυση της μητροπόλεως Χριστιανουπόλεως και την οικοδόμηση του εμβληματικού επισκοπικού της ναού, φαίνεται να συνιστούν δράσεις ενός ενιαίου σχεδίου οργανωμένου από την κεντρική εξουσία, προκειμένου να ενισχυθεί το ηθικό των υπηκόων του βυζαντινού κράτους στο πλέον ευάλωτο στις νορμανδικές επιθέσεις δυτικό όριο της αυτοκρατορίας.The author presents a metrical inscription found near Methoni, referring to the reconstructions of the fortification of the city. Based on the chronological information provided by the inscription, it is suggested that it dates from the year 1084/1085, just a few years after the ascent of Alexios I Komnenos to the throne of Constantinople. This ambitious defensive project, together with the establishment of the metropolis of Christianoupolis and the construction of its emblematic episcopal church, appear to have been actions within a coherent plan organized by the central administration, in order to boost the morale of the subjects of the Byzantine state at the particularly vulnerable to the Norman attacks western frontier of the Empire
Multivariate GARCH models for large-scale applications : a survey
No full textThis chapter provides a survey of various multivariate GARCH specifications that model the temporal dependence in the second moment of multivariate return series processes. The survey is focused on feasible multivariate GARCH models for large-scale applications, as well as on recent contributions in outlier-robust MGARCH analysis and the use of high-frequency returns or the score for covariance modeling. We discuss their likelihood-based estimation and application to forecasting and simulation with software implementations in the R-programming language.</p
A magyar korona néhány alapkérdéséről II. : Kinek készült eredetileg a magyar királyi korona?
No full textApplying results of recent research in the fields of history of art, universal history and goldsmith technology, the author wishes to answer the three following questions in the present study:
- Who was the Hungarian royal crown made for and when? (Chapter 5)
- What event may have damaged it so seriously as to necessitate, among others, the replacing of two enamels on the lower part? (Chapter 6)
- Through what operations was it mended? (Chapter 7)
All these questions concern the Byzantine period of the history of the crown. As a result of his research, the author publishes some substantial new statements in this field. The present study is basically independent from the author's formerly published work concerning the Hungarian royal crown, however, the following conclusions have been taken over from his previous study:
- The lower part was manufactured for the upper part to be completed into a crown;
- The lower part was made in Byzantium;
- Neither the portrait of Emperor Michael, nor that of Constantine was originally made for this crown, but for that of Emperor Michael Doukas' wife;
- The lower part was probably made between 1071 and 1081.
In Section 5.2, the author makes the point that the triangular decorations above the band of the crown recur on several Byzantine crown representations, but almost exclusively on ladies' crowns. The form of the headdress lets us know without a shadow of doubt that the Hungarian royal crown was originally made for a woman - so the first owner of the crown must have been a top-ranking lady in Byzantine hierarchy. In Section 5.3, the author proceeds to point out that this vaulted-and-closed crown type made its appearance in Byzantium during the reign of Alexios I, i.e. between 1081 and 1118. Further, in Section 5.4, attention is drawn to the fact that the crown is evidently composed of two different parts. The vaulted shape must have emerged as a result of the owner's wish that the upper part of the crown should include part of a certain reliquary that had been made by a goldsmith. In the author's opinion, this may have been the very first vaulted crown in the Byzantium of the 11th century, which, later, served as a model for the closed Byzantine crowns. In Section 5.5, the author considers the symmetries of the crown, as well as the spiritual program expressed by the enamels. On the basis of his findings, he goes on to conclude in Section 5.6 that the person who ordered the crown must have been Anna Dalassena, Alexios l's mother. To the author's mind, the crown was probably made in the period from September to December 1081, right after Emperor Alexios had conferred practically unrestricted power on her mother in August 1081. Having scrutinized the coronation miniature of the so-called Barberini psalm-book, the author concludes in Section 5.7 that the codex in question was originally made between 1074 and 1078 for the coronation of Emperor Michael Doukas' only son, Constantine. The miniature had formerly shown Emperor Michael Doukas, whose portrait could originally be seen on the Hungarian crown as well, together with his wife, Mary „of Alany", and son, Constantine, but the pictures must have been repainted in 1092, on the occasion of the coronation of Alexios Komnenos' first-born son, loannes. These findings support the author's view that Anna Dalassena was the first to use a compound crown. In Section 5.8, it is established that on the back of the crown, the enamel of Emperor Alexios Komnenos I had originally been shown in a vaulted setting, but later it was replaced Emperor Michael Doukas's portrait; while Constantine's image replaced by that of Gheorghiy II, Georgian monarch, defender of the East-Southeast borderlands of the Byzantine Empire. In Section 6.1, the author lists the most serious damages that the crown has suffered, and makes the point that all of these can probably be ascribed to two shocks. The enamels of the lower part must have been replaced because they had got smashed into pieces. One of the power impulses affecting the crown was a short shock that pushed the top plate down, while the other apparently was a violent, momentary hit that reached the crown from the back side of the band. Since the two new pictures, too, were fastened to the crown in Byzantium, the author concludes on the basis of historical evidence that the crown was mended in the period between 1118 and 1185. What remains to be seen now is when and how the crown may have suffered such ravaging impacts. There are, however, no written sources explicitly treating this subject. If to prove the possibility of intentional spoiling, then the author is obliged to have recourse to a historical short story, recording Emperor Alexios I's death. More than 90% of this short story has been taken over word for word from the historical works of Anna Komnene, loannes Zonaras and Niketas Choniates. The author's working theory is that the Hungarian crown was crushed and cast against the ground by Eirene Doukaina, Emperor Alexios Comnenos' wife in the Constantinopolitan Mangana Palace, on August 15th, 1118.
On the basis of research results in the field of goldsmith technology and geometry, the author reconstructs the mending process in Chapter 7. One of his important conclusions is that, viewed from above, the upper part of the crown was turned off anticlockwise by half a turn while mended, as compared to its original position. Besides, the author identifies the bores that had been used for the upper part to be fixed on another work of art previously
Die „deutsche Spur“ in der altrussischen Erzählung über die Einnahme Konstantinopels durch die Kreuzritter
No full textAbstractOld Rus’ literature and art reflected the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders, in particular, in the Tale on the taking of Tsargrad by the Crusaders.The most likely author of this work, the oldest version of which has survived as part of the Older Version of the First Novgorod Chronicle, is the Novgorod Boyar Dobrynya Yadreykovich (later Archbishop Anthony). A close associate of the Galician-Volhynian prince RomanMstislavich, Dobrynya spent several years in Constantinople on his behalf and witnessed the devastation of the Byzantine capital by the Latins in April 1204. The close relationship with the Galician-Volhynian prince explains why Dobrynya paid attention to the prince’s brother-in-law - the German king Philip of Swabia - and his role in organizing the Fourth Crusade.The author of the Tale expressed the „Ibellin“ point of view, i.e. he attempted to take off the German king the responsibility for the devastation of Constantinople. He was familiar with the details of the escape of Prince Alexios (the future emperor Alexios IV) from the Byzantine capital to King Philip and used characteristic German vocabulary (place names and personal names). All this suggests that the Russian scribe used informations from a well-informed German source. Dobrynya’s informer could be one of King Philip’s supporters, Bishop of Halberstadt Konrad von Krosigk, who participated in the siege of Constantinople in 1203-1204.</jats:p
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