DOI 10.1515/bz-2018-0017 BZ 2018; 111(3): 641–658

Scott Kennedy

Bessarion’sdateofbirth: anew assessment of the evidence Abstract: The cardinal was aforemost figure of the Italian and late Byzantium. However,some of the details of his life are not yetsecurely established, especiallyhis dateofbirth. Over the lastcentury,scholars have pro- posed dates rangingfrom 1400 to 1408. In this study, Icriticallyinterrogatethe two most commonlyaccepted dates (1400 and 1408). In the past,scholars have relied on the agerequirementsofcanon laworthe testimonyofItalian observers to determine Bessarion’sage.Bycritically examining the validity of these two as- sumptions, Ireprioritize the evidence,approximating the cardinal’syear of birth as 1403.

Adresse: Dr.Scott Kennedy,Bilkent University,Main Campus, GBuilding, 224/g, 06800 Bilkent–Ankara, Turkey;[email protected]

Striding the boundary between East and West,Greek and , the cardinal Bes- sarion (d. 1472) was amajor figure in the transmission of Greek learning to the Latin West.¹ Born in Trebizond (mod. ) on the coast,Bessarion

In preparing thisarticle forpublication, Ihaveincurred adebt of gratitude to anumber of schol- ars. Thanksare due to Anthony Kaldellis forhis usual editorial wisdom and foralerting me of Evangelos Chrysos’sarticle on prematureordinations in the Middle Byzantine period. Alice MaryTalbot helpfully discussed thisarticle with me on multiple occasionsasIprepared my forthcoming translation of Bessarion’sencomium of Trebizond and Panaretos’schronicle of the emperors of Trebizondwiththe Dumbarton OaksMedieval Library. She also shared with me her pioneeringwork on Akakios Sabbaites. Finally,Iowe adebt of gratitude to Byzantinische Zeitschrift’sanonymous reviewers whose comments and corrections much improved this article.  Thereisnofull biographyofBessarion in English. Forabrief summary of his life, see A.M. Talbot,Bessarion. ODB , .The standardscholarlybiographies areL.Mohler,Kardinal Bessarion als Theologe, Humanist und Staatsmann. Paderborn ,vol. ;L.Labowsky,Bes- sarione. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani  () –.For his life up to ,E.Mioni, Vita del cardinale Bessarione. MiscellaneaMarciana  () –,issuperior.There is also arecentbiographybyG.L.Coluccia,Basilio Bessarione:lospiritogreco el’Occidente. Florence .For abrief outline of his life, M. Zorzi,Cenni sulla vita elafiguradel cardinale Bessar- ione, in A. Cuna /A.Gatti /S.Ricci (eds.), Bessarione el’Umanesimo:catalogo della mostra. , –.

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM 642 Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd. 111/3, 2018: I. Abteilung playedakeyrole at the council of Ferrara-Florencein1438 – 1439asaspokesper- son for the Eastern Orthodoxdelegation. After the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches was ratified, Bessarion joined the as acardi- nal, and almostbecame pope in 1455. Bessarion wasakeyfigure in the Italian Renaissance. His libraryofrare Greek manuscripts, studiously acquired after the Turkish conquest of in 1453, now forms the coreofthe Greek holdingsofthe Bibliotheca Marciana. During the 1460s, Bessarion was also engagedinwhat modern scholars have deemed one of the great literary de- bates of the centurywith over whether PlatoorAristotle’s philosophybetter conformed to Christian belief. The fruit of this dispute was Bes- sarion’sfamous Refutation of Blasphemies against (In Calumniatorem Pla- tonis), which opened the door to the studyofPlato in the West.² As one of the first bookseverprinted on the printing press,the Refutation profited from the power of this new technology to swaypublic opinion.³ As acentral playerinthe Renaissance,Bessarion has naturallyinspired a large amount of scholarlyinterest.Nevertheless, some issues still remainopen in his biography. The cardinal’sdate of birth has been the subject of considerable scholarlydiscussion over the lastcentury,with datespostulated thatrangefrom 1400 to 1408. Opinion has varied and awide variety of evidence has been mar- shalled in support of each proposal, but no consensus has emerged. This study will criticallyreexamine previous arguments for the cardinal’sdateofbirth through arigorous analysis of the sourcematerial.Inthe first section of this paper,Iwill review the debate up to this point,outlining the major evidence and arguments on which they base their claims. In the following sections, I will then test the strength of these theses against other contemporary data. It will be shown that the two most commonlyaccepted dates for Bessarion’s birth (1400 and 1408) are built on shaky foundations. By reprioritizingthe exist- ing evidence, this paper will suggest abetter approximation of Bessarion’sdate of birth, namely1403.

1. Historyofthe question

Since the nineteenth century,scholars have put forward threemajor hypotheses regardingBessarion’sdate of birth. The oldest and now generallyleast accepted

 L. Mohler,Kardinal Bessarion,vol. .Paderborn .For the debateingeneral, J. Hankins, Platointhe Italian Renaissance. Leiden .  Zorzi,Cenni (as footnote  above) .

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM S. Kennedy,Bessarion’sdateofbirth 643 position derivesfrom aLatinobit at the end of Niccolò Capranica’seulogyofBes- sarion that states, “Vixit Nicenus annis 69,mensibus 10,diebus 16.” Based on this calculation, Bessarion’slate-nineteenth-centurybiographer Henri Vast neatlycalculated Bessarion’sdateofbirth as January 2, 1403,given thatBessa- rion died on November 18, 1472.⁴ Thetidiness of this date has acertain appeal about it,and it is what one finds in some of the morereadilyaccessiblereference works,such as volume 1ofLudwigMohler’sseminal KardinalBessarion (1923) and LotteLabowsky’sentry in the Dizionario biografico degliItaliani (1967). But as the twentieth centuryworeon, scholars pushed back against this date. The now most commonlyaccepted position derivesfrom an idea first ad- vanced by PierreIoannou and then independentlydeveloped by Henri Saffrey in an influential article on the autograph manuscripts of Bessarion.⁵ It runs like this. Canon 14 of the Quinisext Council in Trullo (691–692A.D.) forbade men from being ordained deacons or priestsuntil theyhad reached the ages of 25 and 30,respectively,under pain of being removed from office.⁶ Saffrey be- lieved thattwelfth-century Byzantine commentaries on canon lawbyAlexios Aristenos,John Zonaras,and Theodore Balsamon indicatedthatthe Byzantines strictlyenforced and respectedthe canon in the fifteenth century.Theywould not have unlawfullyordained the futurecardinal. Since Bessarion himself, in his curriculum vitae scribbled into Venice, Marc. Zan. gr.14(=Marcianus 395), tells us the dates at which he obtained the deaconship and priesthood (Decem- ber 1425 and October 1430,respectively), then his date of birth must fall in 1399/ 1400.⁷ This date has enjoyedwide acceptance and is even included in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium’sentry on Bessarion.⁸ In 1992, John Monfasani assembled and reviewed the vast bodyofdata that Bessarion and his contemporaries provided about his ageinorder to arrive at a new approximation.⁹ Although previous scholarship had doubted the authentic-

 H. Vast,LeCardinal Bessarion.Paris , .  P. Ioannou,Unopuscule inédit du cardinale Bessarion: le panégyrique de Saint Bessarion anachorète égyptien. Analecta Bollandiana  ()  note ;H.Saffrey,Recherches sur quelques autographes du Cardinal Bessarion,in: Mélanges Eugène Tisserant. Vatican City , –.  Ed. H. Ohme,Concilium Constantinopolitanum a. / in Trullo habitum. ACC, /.Berlin , .  The Greek text is published in Saffrey,Recherches (as footnote  above) –;see also P. Schreiner,Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken I. CFHB, /.Vienna , –.  Talbot,Bessarion (as footnote  above) .  J. Monfasani,Platina, Capranica, and Perotti: Bessarion’sLatin eulogists and his dateof birth, in M. Cortesi /E.V.Maltese (eds.), BartolomeoSacchi Il Platina (Piadena –Roma ): Atti del Convegno internazionale (Trento, – ottobre ). Naples , –.

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM 644 Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd. 111/3, 2018: I. Abteilung ity of Capranica’sobit of Bessarion, Monfasani proved that Bessarion’seulogist Capranica or anear contemporary authored the obit.However,hedoubtedthat Capranica actuallyknew how old Bessarion was when he died. Respondingto the Ioannou/Saffrey hypothesis, he argued thatthe canonicalage-requirement would have been followed onlyinanideal society and not the real world of late Byzantium, though he does not offer anyevidence to support this position.¹⁰ Instead, he builds his case upon the evidence of Bessarion’scontemporaries. For example, Bessarion’sfriend and Latin ghostwriter Niccolò Perotti states,inthe prefacetohis translation of Bessarion’sfuneral oration for Manuel II (1391–1425), that Bessarion was not yettwenty (nondum vigesimum aetatis suae annum ingressus)when he wrotethis piece.¹¹ As Perotti was the author of alarge two-volume biographyofBessarion, now lost,this data clearly should not have been neglected in favorofthe Ioannou/Saffrey hypothesis. Under their hypoth- esis, Bessarion would have been approximatelytwenty-five when he wroteMan- uel’sfuneral oration in 1425.The editor of Perotti’spreface, Giovanni Mercati, had alreadynoted this problem and suggested thatBessarion’sdateofbirth probablyfell around 1406.¹² But Monfasani went further thanMercati. Using the testimonyofAmbrogio Traversari, who tells us that Bessarion was thirty (tri- cenarius)when Traversari made his acquaintanceatthe Council of Ferrara-Flor- ence in 1438, Monfasani concludes that Bessarion must have been bornaround 1408, obtaining the deaconship and priesthood at the ageof17and 22, respec- tively.Hebelieved thatscholars had long underestimated the youthful preco- ciousness of the cardinal.¹³ ForMonfasani, Bessarion was averitable child prod- igywho had written mature works and obtainedhighhonors as an adolescent, delivering,for example, Manuel’seulogyatthe tender ageof17. ¹ ⁴ Monfasani’shypothesis has subsequentlyenjoyed mixed approval. In recent years, based on the testimonyofthe chronicler Andrea Stanziali/Vidali di Schi- venoglia that Bessarion was fifty at the council of Mantua in 1458, Thierry Gan- chou has added his voice in support of Monfasani’sposition.¹⁵ Similarly,Tomma- so Bracchini has found that this dateiscorroborated by information provided by

 Monfasani,Platina (as footnote  above) –.  G. Mercati,Per la chronologia della vita edegli scritti di Niccolò Perotti archievescovodi Siponto. , .  Ibid., .  Ibid.,–.  Ibid., .  Th. Ganchou,Les ultimae voluntates de Manuel et Iôannès Chrysolôras et le séjour de Fran- cesco Filelfo àConstantinople. Bizantinistica  ()  note .

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM S. Kennedy,Bessarion’sdateofbirth 645 the sixteenth-century genealogist Orsini, whose testimony, he tentatively sug- gests, ultimatelyderivedfrom Perotti’sbiographyofBessarion.¹⁶ However,Monfasini’sthesis has met with resistance. In his unfinishedcrit- ical biographyofthe cardinal, Elpidio Mioni stronglyargued for areturn to 1400.¹⁷ AccordingtoMioni, Perotti exaggerates Bessarion’syouth when he wrotehis eulogyofManuel II Palaiologos. Similarly, Traversari’sassertion that Bessarion wasatricenarius at the time of the council can onlymean that he was in his 30’s. Then there is the testimonyofBessarion’spanegyrists Bartholo- meo Sacchi (Il Platina) and Niccolò Capranica that Bessarion had justleft boy- hood (ubi primum apueris excessit)when he left Trebizond for Constantinople in 1416/7.¹⁸ Thus, if Monfasani is correct,Bessarion could onlyhavebeen about seven or eight at the time – hardlyateenager.¹⁹ Mioni therefore falls back on the Ioannou-Saffrey thesis, believing that canon lawwould have been strictlyfollowed. Thus, thereare currentlytwo prevailing positions regarding Bessarion’sdate of birth, which place it in either 1400 or 1408. One recent study of Bessarion’s earlyyears rehashes both positions without taking adefinitive stance.²⁰ The time is ripefor askeptical reexamination of the question and, more broadly, an inquiry into ageinByzantium. Did the Byzantines faithfullyfollow canonical agerequirements? Are fifteenth century ageestimatesaccurate? At what agedid Byzantines allow young and prodigious intellectuals such as Bessarion to climb the secular and ecclesiastical cursus honorum?

2. Bessarion’sdateofbirth and canon law

Let us reexamine the Ioannou/Saffrey thesis and the issue of canon law, to which some scholars have faithfullyclung. They are not alone in this regard, as the can- onical agerequirement has been widelyused to give aminimum date of birth for

 T. Bracchini,BessarioneComneno?Latradizione indiretta di una misconosciuta opera stor- ica di Giano Lascaris comefontebiografico-genealogica. Quaderni di Storia  () , – .  Mioni,Vita (as footnote  above) –.  Platina, Panegyricus,editedinPG  col. CV;Capranica, Funeral Oration, .Edited in Mohler,Kardinal Bessarion,vol. . .  Mioni,Vita (as footnote  above) .  B. Tambrun Krasker,Bessarion de Trébizonde àMistra: un parcoursintellectuel, in C. Märtl /Ch. Kaiser /Th. Ricklin (eds.) “Intergraecos latinissimus,interlatinos graecissimus”:Bessa- rion zwischen den Kulturen. Pluralisierung &Autorität, .Berlin , –.

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Byzantine intellectuals, such as,for example, the tenth-centuryhistorian Leothe Deacon.²¹ But for all the weight scholarship has giventothe legal age-require- ment of canon law, it is onlyquite recentlythat scholars have beguntoquestion how faithfullythe Byzantines clungtoit. In arecent chapter on the youthful or- dination of Greek patriarchs and Latin popes between the ninth and eleventh centuries,Evangelos Chrysos has demonstrated that amix of practical needs and political pressures caused the Byzantines to disregard canon lawage re- quirements for deacons,priests, and the patriarch himself.²² Perhaps,the most egregious examples of these child ordinations took place under Leo VI (886–912)and Romanos Lakapenos (920–944). Even though the emperor Basil I(867–886) and Leo recodified the Justinianic Code with their Ba- silika and made canon 14 imperial law,²³ Leo flagrantlyviolatedthe canon shortlyafter comingtothe throne in 886.Heforced the patriarch Photios I (877–886) to resign and replaced him with his brother Stephen I(886–893), who was just nineteen, in agrabfor control of the Church.²⁴ In the tenth century, anumber of youthful patriarchs obtainedhighoffice in spite of canon 14.Be- sides Stephen I, the patriarchs Tryphon (928–931) and Theophylaktos Lekapenos (b.c.914,r.933 – 956) were ordained at young ages. The patriarch Tryphon had been 12 and 15 when he obtained the deaconship and priesthood, respectively. Theophylaktos, the son of the emperor Romanos ILakapenos (920–44), was nineteen when he became patriarch after having attained the deaconship and priesthood at 15 and 18, respectively. Our sourcefor the ageofthese men is The- odore Daphnopates’ letter to the metropolitan of Herakleia in 931– 932.²⁵ In this letter,Daphnopates attempted to convince the metropolitan to drop his objec- tions to Theophylaktos becomingpatriarch at such ayoungage,citing Stephen and Tryphon as precedents. As the son of the emperor,Theophylaktos was essen- tiallymeant to be apuppet patriarch, strengtheningthe emperor’shold over

 N. Panagiotakes, Λέων ὁ Διάκονος.Athens , –.  E. Chrysos,Minors as patriarchs and popes,inA.Beihammer /B.Krönung/C. Ludwig (eds.)Prosopon Rhomaikon: ergänzende Studien zur Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit. Millennium-Studien, .Boston , –.  Basilika , , ;ed. H.J. Scheltema /N.van der Wal,Basilicorum libri LX.Groningen –.  On Theophylaktos’sage and elevation, see V. Stanković, When was Theophylaktos Lakape- nos born? JÖB  () –;Chrysos,Minors (as footnote  above) –.  TheodoreDaphnopates, Letter ;ed. J. Darrouzès /L.G.Westerink,ThéodoreDaphno- patès. Correspondance. Paris .Onthe controversy,see ibid., –.A.Kazhdan,Theophy- laktosLekapenos. ODB , ,ismistaken when he says that Theophylaktoswas  when ele- vated to the patriarchate. He was probably .

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM S. Kennedy,Bessarion’sdateofbirth 647 both Church and state.²⁶ The metropolitan of Herakleiamay have protested, but in the end his objections had no force. Romanos Lakapenos succeeded in having his son made patriarch in February 933, at the ageofnineteen. The take-away from this letter is the young ages at which males could become deacons and priestswithout considerable pushback from the Church even in the ninth and tenth centuries. Churchmen seem to have raised their voices onlywhen the youthful priest was slatedtoreceive the highestpriesthood in the land. After the egregious power grabs of the ninth and tenth centuries,Byzantine emperors generallyrefrainedfrom appointingyouths to the patriarchateinthe following centuries. However,youthful ordinations of deacons and priests con- tinued throughout the empire for avariety of reasons.Among Bessarion’scon- temporaries there are anumber of examples of relatively ordinary people who werepromoted prematurely, if the bishop was willing.Take for example the cur- riculum vitae reported by amonk named Matthew,who tells us that he was born in August 1431, and promoted to deacon in November 1456,and hieromonk in November1458bythe metropolitan of Ankara.²⁷ Attaining the priesthood at agetwenty-seven, this man was in clear violation of canon law, even if he had obtainedthe deaconship at the canonical ageoftwenty-five.Consider alsoThe- odore Agallianos’ lettertothe bishop of Ephesos dating from after 1467.²⁸ Agal- lianos accuses the bishop of corruptingthe morals of the city and allowing si- monytoflourish. Giving an example, he attacks the bishop for acceptinga bribe from the parents of ayouth namedChristophoros and making him apriest even though he was not yettwenty years old.²⁹ Incidentally, the canonical age requirement was atouchysubject for Agallianos himself. When Agallianos was accused of violating numerous canons and laws, his accusers tacked on acharge of violating canon 14.Agallianos personallyassuresusthat his ordinations were in accordancewith the canon in his preserved response to theiraccusations.³⁰ However,wecan even find instances whereclerics and monks idealized non- canonicalordinations.Inthe earlythirteenthcentury,the monk Akakios of the Mar Saba monastery in the Judaean desert wrotealife of the semi-mythical

 On his placeinRomanos’ government, S. Runciman,The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his reign: astudyoftenth-century Byzantium. Cambridge , –.  J. Darrouzès,Notesd’Asie Mineure. Archeion Pontou  () –.  C.G. Patrineles, Ὁ Θεόδωρος ᾿Aγαλλιανὸςταυτιζόμενος πρὸςτὸνΘεοφάνην Μηδείας καὶ οἱ ἀνέκδοτοι λόγοι του.Athens , –.  TheodoreAgallianos,Letter ,ed. S. Lampros, Ἐπανέκδοσις ἐπιστολῶντοῦμητροπολίτου Μηδείας Θεοφάνους. NE  (), –.  TheodoreAgallianos,Onhis conduct or rather against his accusers, –, ;ed. Pat- rineles, Θεόδωρος (as footnote  above).

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM 648 Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd. 111/3, 2018: I. Abteilung founders of the Trapezuntine Soumela monastery,Barnabas and Sophronios,at the behest of some Soumelan monks. As the monks did not know anything about the founders, Akakios invented alife of the founders (né Basileios and Soteri- chos, respectively), alleging that Basileios/Barnabas became metropolitan of Athens at the canonical ageof30, while Soterichos/Sophronios “piously illumi- nated by the divine” became deacon at 18.³¹ Thecanonicalage requirement for the metropolitan mattered, but apious youth could easilyberaised to the dea- conship. Although heavilyfictional, the evidence of this life, when taken together with harder evidence, shows the flexibilityofcanonical agerequirementsin the later Byzantine era. Canon 14 clearlymattered to people, but its enforcement was not necessarilyabsolute. Although removal from office was the specified remedyfor transgressors, thereisnoevidence in the historicalrecordthat any- one waseverpunished for violatingthe canonicalage requirement.³² Onesus- pects that the Church usuallyhad more pressingissues with which to deal. In general, the canonicalage requirement seems to have elicited rage from the clergy either when aperson was elevated too far too soon, such as the patriarchs Stephen and Theophylaktos, or as asubsidiary charge to pad more serious accu- sations, such as we find in the case of Agallianos and his accusers. Undoubtedly, the issue could be contentiousfor some clergymen, but if one had areputation for piety or apowerful patron such as an emperororbishop, such obstacles could easilybesurmounted. Bessarion became amonkata very earlyage and was surroundedbysuch powerful individuals from ayoung age. He enjoyed the patronage of the formermetropolitan of Trebizond (later the metropolitan of Monemvasia), Dositheos. Then there was the emperor John VIII Palaiologos, under whose governmentBessarion receivedhighhonors at a young age, such as delivering afuneral oration for John’sfather Manuel Palaio- logos and serving as aspokesperson for the Byzantine delegation to Trebizond, wherehedelivered aspeech before the local emperor,Alexios IV (1417– 1429).³³ Eventually, through John’sintervention Bessarion would even become bishop of

 Akakios Sabbaites, Life of Saints Barnabas and Sophronios, ;ed. P. S. Marines, Οἱἅγιοι Βαρνάβας καὶ Σωφρόνιος, οἱ κτίτορες τῆςμονῆςΣουμελᾶ.Patras .Onthe dateand compo- sition of the life, see A.M. Talbot,Aunique saint’slife of the early th c.: Akakios Sabbaites’ Vita of Saints Barnabas and Sophronios,inA.Ödekan /E.Akyürek /N.Necipoğlu (eds.), Change in the Byzantine world in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.Istanbul , –.  As pointed out by Chrysos,Minors (as footnote  above) .  On these events, see section  below.

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Nikaia and spokesperson for the Byzantine delegation at Florence.³⁴ Looking back on his rise in his Encyclical Letter to the of 1463,Bessarion certainly recalled that imperial favorwas the reason that he obtained, “offices and posi- tions of authority well beyond my agenot because of my virtue but rather their (i.e., the emperors) own goodness.”³⁵ Thus, it is entirely possiblethat Bessarion could have been ordained earlywith these two backers in his corner,ifthey had wanted to fast-track his career. As such, the Ioannou/Saffrey thesis on Bessarion’sdateofbirth should be rejected. If alargely unknown individual such as the hieromonk Matthew could bypasscanon law, surelyBessarion could ascend the Church hierarchy at ayoung age. He had powerful connections,and it would have been difficult for potential accusers to verify his age, as he came from Trebizond, at the very limits of the Byzantine world.

3. TheMonfasani thesis

Next let us turn to the evidence accumulated in favorofthe Monfasani thesis. For the casual observer,the round numbers of Bessarion’sage givenbyAmbrogio Traversari (30) and Vidali di Schivenoglia (50) should immediatelyraise suspi- cions. The numbers are tidy, which mayindicate that these Italian observers did not know Bessarion’sexact agebut tried to estimate it,roundingupor down. Nevertheless,Monfasani is emphatic that when Traversari says Bessarion was a tricenarius,this could onlymean thirty and not thatBessarion was in his thirties. Therefore, let us test the reliability of these Italian observers. Vidali di Schivenoglia’schronicle will serveasatest case. Schivenoglia de- scribes individuallythe cardinals and Pope present at the council of Mantua in 1458. Atypicalentry (in this case on Bessarion) runs, “Lo gardenalle Nizeno era anny50esiera grego, barbazuto… (The cardinal of Nicaea was 50 years old. He was Greek and had abeard).”³⁶ As Schivenoglia provides the ageofall the car-

 Sylvester Syropoulos,History , ,ed. V. Laurent,Les “Mémoires” du Grand Ecclésiarque de l’Église de Constantinople Sylvestre Syropoulos sur le concile de Florence (–). Paris .  Bessarion,Encyclical Letter, PG  col. C–D. Forfurther discussion of this important passage,see section  below.  Excerpts from Schivenoglia’sunpublishedchronicle arepublished throughout R. Signorini, Alloggi di sedici cardinali presenti alla dieta in A. Calzona/F. P. Fiore /A.Tenenti /C.Vasoli (ed.,) Il SognodiPio II eilviaggio di Roma aMantova: atti del convegno internazionale, Man- tova, – aprile .Florence , –.

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM 650 Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd. 111/3, 2018: I. Abteilung dinals and the Pope present at the council, severalofwhom came from well- known families, became Pope, or werewell-known intellectuals, we can test the accuracy of his informationagainst that of other,more reliable sources. In the table below,Isynthesizethis information.The second column givesSchive- noglia’sapproximation of each individual’sage;the third what we know about their date of birth; the fourth their actual ageatthe council; and the fifth the differencebetween Schivenoglia’sestimate and the person’sactual age.

Name Ageper Actual DOB Actual Age Difference Schivenoglia at Council

.PopePius II  //³⁷  + .Cardinal Guillaume  c. –.³⁸ Unknown Unknown d’Estouteville .Cardinal  c. ³⁹  + .Cardinal Isidore of  c. –⁴⁰ Unknown Unknown Kiev .Cardinal PietroBarbo  //⁴¹  + (laterPopePaulIIr. –) .Cardinal Alain de  //.⁴²  + Coëtivy .Cardinal Giacomo Te-  Unknown⁴³ Unknown Unknown baldi

 Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Commentaries , ,ed. A. Van Heck,Pii II Commetariirerummem- orabilium que temporibus suis contigerunt,vol. .Città del Vaticano .  M.J. Gill,Death and the cardinal: The two bodies of Guillaume d’Estouteville. Renaissance Quarterly  () –.  S. Corradini,Notesul cardinale Latino Orsini fondatore di S. Salvatore in Lauro, in ed. F. Benzi, SistoIV. Le arti aRoma nel primo Rinascimento. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi. Palazzo della Cancelleria Apostolica – ex Convento di S. Salvatore in Lauro. Roma, –  ottobre .Rome , .  PLP .See also D. Ziegler,Isidore de Kiev,apôtredel’Union florentine. Union des Egl- ises  (),;P.Schreiner,Ein byzantinischer Gelehrter zwischen Ost und West.Zur Bi- ographie des Isidor vonKiew und seinem Besuch in Lviv (). BollGrott  () .  Michael Canensius,Life of Paul II, ed. G. Zippel,LevitediPaolo II di GasparedaVerona e Michele Canensi.Città di Castello , .  On the life of Alain de Coëtivy,see R. Harrouet,Une famille de bibliophiles au XVe siècle: les Coëtivys. Bulletin et mémoiredelasocietéarchéologique du départment d’Ille-et-Villaine  (), –.  On Tebaldi, see A. M. Corbo,Iltestamentodel cardinale Giacomo Tebaldi. Commentari: riv- ista di critical estoria dell’arte  () –;G.Moroni,Dizionario di erudizione storico- ecclesiastica da s. Pietrosino ai nostri giorni. Venice , .

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.ViceChancellor Ro-  //⁴⁴  - drigo de Borja(later PopeAlexander VI r. –) .Cardinal Juan de  ⁴⁵  - Mella .Cardinal Filippo  ⁴⁶  - Calandrini .Cardinal Prospero  c. –⁴⁷ Unknown Unknown Colonna .Patriarch Ludovico  ⁴⁸  + Trevisan .Cardinal Jean Rolin  ⁴⁹  + .Cardinal Luis Juan  ⁵⁰  + de Milà ydeBorja .Cardinal Bessarion  Unknown Unknown Unknown .Cardinal Juan de  ⁵¹  - Torquemada .Cardinal Nicholas of  ⁵²  - Cusa

 G.B. Picotti /M.Sanfilippo,Alessandro VI, in M. Bray(ed.,) Enciclopediadei Papi. Rome .Online at http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/alessandro-vi_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/.  His tombstone inscription and ageatdeath arerecorded in V. Forcella,Iscrizioni delle chi- ese ed’altri edificii di Roma, .Rome , ,no. .  C. Gennaro,Calandrini, Filippo. Dizionario biografico degli italiani, .Rome , – .  F. Petruchi,Prospero Colonna. Dizionario biografico degli italiani .Rome .Available online at: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/prospero-colonna_res-aab-eb-dc- ed-eee_(Dizionario-Biografico)/  P. Paschini,LudovicoCardinal Camerlengo († ). Rome , .  The life of Jean Rolin lacks acritical biographical study. Most sourcesonhis life date back to the nineteenth century.C.Bigarne’sÉtude historique sur le chancelier Rolin et sa famille. Dijon , ,gives  for his date of birth, but he does not cite anysource for the year.Bibliog- raphyonRolin’slife is helpfullyassembled by F. Joubert,Tel un princedans son diocès, Jean Rolin, cardinal évêque d’Autun, in F. Joubert (ed.), L’artisteetleclerc:commandes artistiques des grands ecclésiastiques àlafin du moyen âge(XIVe àXVIe siècle). Paris ,  note .  The dategiven for del Mila’sbirth is ,but his life lacks acritical study. On him, J. Goñi, Juan Luis del Mila, in Q.A. Vaquero/T. M. Martínez /J.V.Gatell (eds.), Diccionario de historia eclesiástica de España. Suplemento. Madrid , –;P.L.LlorensyRaga,Episcopolo- gio de la dio´cesisdeSegorbe-Castello´n, .Madrid , –.  S. Lederer,Der spanische Cardinal Johann vonTorquemada: sein Leben und seine Schrif- ten. Freiburg ,  note .The textofhis tombstone is giveninV.Forcella,Iscrizioni delle chiese ed’altri edificii di Roma, .Rome , ,no. .  The evidencefor  is assembled by E. Meuthen,Acta Cusana: Quellen zur Lebensge- schichtedes Nikolaus vonKues. Hamburg , .

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From the table above, it should be clear thatSchivenoglia’sage estimates tend to be round numbers or ages ending in 4or8.This in itself should make the scholar suspiciousthat Schivenoglia onlyhad an approximate idea of the ageofthe car- dinals at the council. When we comparehis estimateswith the actual ages of these men basedontheirown testimony, tombstones, or dates deduced by mod- ern scholarship, it should be clear that Schivenoglia had inaccurate information about how old these men were. None of his estimates is correct.They tend to de- viate from the ageestablished by modernscholarship by 5–10 years, or an aver- ageof±7.08 years. One might arguethatusing the dates assigned by modern scholarship is problematic because modern estimates of these men’sdate of birth are not always established on the testimonyofthe author themselvesor their gravestone. There are onlyfour individuals for whom we possess such in- formation(Pope Pius II, Juan de Torquemeda, , Juan de Mella). But even in the case of authors who tell us the exact daythat they wereborn,such as Pope Pius II, Schivenoglia overestimates Pius’ ageby7 years, saying that the Pope was sixty when he was in fact fifty-three. GivenSchi- venoglia’sinaccuracy,weshould not give this chronicle anyvalue as asourcefor precisely dating Bessarion’sage.Ithits the targetbut not the bullseye, which is what we are looking for here. Schivenoglia’sround figures undermine the Monfasani thesis. When one en- counters around numberonits own, it is temptingtotrust it,but thereisareal danger in putting faith in it.Italians who wroteabout Bessarion often seem to have estimated his agerather than actuallyknowing it.Itistemptingtotrust Tra- versari’sestimate that Bessarion was thirty at Ferrara-Florence, but this number is probablyquite flexible, give or take 5–10 years. Consider the testimonyofBes- sarion’scolleague, the cardinal Jacopo Ammannati. In his diary,hesaysthat Bessarion was now sixty (iam sexagenarius)when he departed on his final mis- sion as papal envoytothe king of Francein1472.⁵³ If Monfasani is correct,Bes- sarion would have actuallybeen 64.How can we trust Traversari over Amman- nati when both men wereonlyacquaintances of Bessarion?Thus, we need to be suspiciousofage estimates that are whole numbers. They could easilybeoff by one to ten years, especiallyifanobserver’sestimate of the cardinal’sage was based on his appearance. Bessarion could have lookedyounger than he actually was and thereby fooledobservers.

 Ed. E. Carusi,Ildiario romano di JacopoGherardi da VolterradaVII settembreMCCCCLXIX al XII agosto MCCCCLXXXIV.Città del Castello , .

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4. Toward anew date

From areview of the Ioannou/Saffrey and Monfasani theses, we can see that the evidence usedtosupport adate of 1400 or 1408 is problematic. Scholars have optimisticallyput too much weight on the canonical age-requirement of the Or- thodoxChurch as adating criterion, expecting Byzantines to have strictlyfol- lowed the canon, or they have put too much faith in the ageestimatesofItalian observers, which provide onlyrough estimates of when afigure was born.Thus, the two prevailing theses on Bessarion’sexactdate of birth are no longer ten- able. It is time to take afresh lookatthe evidence and reprioritize it in order to arrive at amoresatisfactory answer. The most valuable piece of evidence that we possess is Bessarion’sown tes- timonyinhis Encyclical Letter to the Greeks from 1463:

Γνώριμον ἦντοὐμὸνὄνομα πᾶσι τοῖς ὁπηδήποτε φωνῆς ἑλληνικῆς ἐπαΐουσι· καὶ μήπω τέτταρα καὶ εἴκοσιν ἔτη γένομενος, αἰδοῖος ἡγεμόσι καὶἄρχουσι καὶ πᾶσιν ὑμῖν ὑπῆρχον, ποθεινότατος βασιλεῦσιν, οἳ οὐ τῶν ἡλικιωτῶνμόνον καὶ τῶνπροβεβηκότων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀξιώματα περιβεβλημένων ἡμᾶςπροετίθουν, καὶἀξιώμασί τε καὶἀρχαῖςταῖςὑπὲρτὴν ἡλικίαν, οὐ δι᾽ἐμὴνἀρετὴν, ἀλλὰ δι᾽ἰδίαν καλοκἀγαθίαν ἐκόσμουν. My name was known to everyone whosoever spokeGreek. Even though Iwas not yet twenty-four years old, Iwas revered by sovereigns, rulers,and all of you. Iwas most be- loved to the emperors,who preferred me over not onlymypeers and superiors,but also those whoalreadyheld an office. They adorned me with offices and positions of authority wellbeyond my agenot because of my virtue but rather their own goodness.⁵⁴

Although Bessarion is not specific about what moment in his life he is referring to, we know enough about his earlylife thatwecan guess. Specifically, he can onlybereferringtoanearlyburst of political and literaryactivity that can be dated between 1425 and 1427.Unlikemanyother contemporary figures,weare fortunate in that Bessarion preserved his youthful writingsfor posterity in Mar- cianus 533(788), so that we have awindow on his earlylife and writings.⁵⁵ The first datable work that he producedwas the funeral oration for the emperorMan- uel II Palaiologos (1391–1425), who died in July 1425.⁵⁶ Bessarion subsequently served on an embassy to negotiate amarriagealliance between the Palaiologoi and the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond, sometime between August 1426 and Au-

 Bessarion,Encyclical Letter (as footnote  above) col. CD.  See Saffrey,Recherches (as footnote )for an overview of the manuscript.  Ed. S. Lampros, Παλαιολόγεια καὶ Πελοποννησιακα, .Athens , –.

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM 654 Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd. 111/3, 2018: I. Abteilung gust 1427.⁵⁷ During the embassy to his homecity of Trebizond, Bessarion deliv- ered apanegyric praising Trebizond’semperor Alexios IV (1417– 1429) and his wife TheodoraKantakouzene.⁵⁸ After the death of Theodora in November 1426, Bessarion wrote three monodies to comfort the distraught emperor.⁵⁹ This was ahighlyproductive time for Bessarion, duringwhich he had the ear of emperors. After 1427,Bessarion seems to have faded into the background for atime, as he returned to his studies and subsequentlymoved to the despotate of Morea, wherehestudied under the philosopher George Gemistos Plethon until roughly 1436.The next datable document in his portfolio are some verses written to honor the death of Cleofe Malatesta,the wife of the despot Theodore II Palaio- logos in 1433.⁶⁰ Bessarion is not known to have held anyimperial honors during this time. The next great honor he receivedwas the bishopric of Nikaia in 1437. Thus, when Bessarion says he receivedhighhonors before he was 24,heisin all likelihood referringtothe period of 1425–1427 when he first rose to promi- nence. This would put his date of birth between the fall of 1402 and the fall of 1404.Ifthe Saffrey/Ioannou dating werecorrect,Bessarion would have first began accumulating “great honors” in 1423,much tooearlygiven the existing facts. Similarly, per the Monfasani thesis, Bessarion would, in his Encyclical Let- ter,besaying that he first became important in 1431, which is much too late. Our next best evidence comesfrom Bessarion’spanegyrist Platina, who probablyinterviewed the cardinal to produce his panegyric. Platina reports that Bessarion “had just left boyhood” (ubi primum apueris excessit)when he departed Trebizond with his mentor Dositheos to pursue more advanced studies at Constantinople, in 1416–1417.⁶¹ In Greek culturethen just as today, boyhood

 August  is the terminus post quem for the embassy,asthe emperor John VIII’sprevious wife Sophia of Montferrat fled to the West in this month. Forthis event,Doukas, History ., ed. V. Grecu,Istoriaturco-bizantină (–). Bucharest ;George Sphrantzes, Chronicle, .,ed. R. Maisano,Giorgio Sfranze: Cronaca. CFHB, .Rome .August  is the terminus ante quem for the embassy, as John’snew bride Maria of Trebizond came to the city then. On which, see Sphrantzes,Chronicle, ..  Ed. Chrysanthos, Βησσαρίωνος προσφώνημα πρὸςτὸνεὐσεβέστατον βασιλέατῆςΤραπε- ζοῦντος ᾿Aλέξιον τὸνΜέγαν Κομνηνόν. Archeion Pontou  () –.  Monodies – are editedbyA.Sideras,  unediertebyzantinische Grabreden. Thessalo- nike , –, –.The first monodyiseditedseparatelybyA.Sideras,Die by- zantinischen Grabreden. WBS, .Vienna , –.  Ed. S. Lampros, Παλαιολόγεια (as footnote  above) .  Platina, Panegyricus (as footnote  above): ubi primum apueris excessit, curaparentum By- zantium transmittitur. The phrase is repeated almost verbatim by Capranica, Funeral Oration (as footnote  above) .The datefor Bessarion’sdeparturefromTrebizond is provided by V. Laurent,Lasuccession episcopale de Trébizonde au moyen âge(additions et corrections). Ar- cheion Pontou  () –.

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM S. Kennedy,Bessarion’sdate of birth 655 ended around the ageoffourteen.⁶² If he wereborn in 1402– 1404,Bessarion would have been 12–15 when he left his homecity,which tallies well with his own testimony. By comparison, accordingtothe Ioannou/Saffrey thesis he would have been 16–17,while accordingtothe Monfasini thesis he would have been 8–9. Since Bessarion tells us in the prologuetohis collected early works thathewas born in Trebizond but really raised and educated in Constan- tinople,his date of birth must be later rather than earlier.⁶³ It is harder to believe that he would have thought thathewas raised in Constantinople if he had ar- rivedthereasa16–17 year old. As Inoted above, Capranica’stestimonythat Bessarion was bornonJanuary 2, 1403,has long fallen out of favor. But the time is now ripe to reconsider this evidence. In the past,scholars ignored it because it contradicted the canonical agerequirements.⁶⁴ But as this paper has suggested, Bessarion could easily have been ordained at aprematureage if powerful people had supported his ca- reer,asthey most certainlydid. Asecond train of thoughthas raised suspicions about the obit,specificallyadoubtthat Capranica wrote it.⁶⁵ But as Monfasani showed long ago, Capranica probablydid write it,oratleast someone contem- porary to Bessarion did.⁶⁶ Monfasani alsosuggested that Capranica’smalice or carelessness mayhavemade him careless in his calculations of Bessarion’s life-span. However,this premise is not entirely satisfactory.Capranica’sfuneral oration of Bessarion maybecareless about the details of his life, but he need not have misrepresented Bessarion’sage,ifone considers Capranica’stestimony in light of the other,more reliable evidence on Bessarion’sage that we have pre- sented. If we follow Capranica, Bessarion would have been twenty-three between January1426and January 1427.Aswehaveseen, this was ahighlyproductive year for the future cardinal and exactlymatches his own precise testimonyin the Encyclical Letter. In addition, Bessarion’sobit – Vixit Nicenus annis 69,mensibus 10,diebus 16 – bears aresemblancetothe languageoftombstones from this period. Forexam- ple, the tombstone of Bessarion’sfellow cardinal Juan de Mella reads, Ioanni de

 Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, letterpip.: Παῖς. ἀπὸἐτῶνεʹἕως ἐτῶνιδʹ;ibid., letter eta p. : Ἔφηβος. παῖςνέος ἤτοι ἐτῶνιδἢιη;ed. J. A.H. Tittmann, Iohannis Zonarae lexiconex tribus codicibus manuscriptis,  vols.Leipzig .  Saffrey,Recherches (as footnote  above) : τοὔνομα Βησσαρίωνι, τὸ γένος ἐκΤραπε- ζοῦντος, ἐνΚωνσταντινουπόλει τραφθέντι καὶ παιδευθέντι.  Ibid., –.  Mioni,Vita (as footnote  above) –.M.de Nichilo,Iviri illustres del cod.Vat.lat. . Rome , –,concurs with Monfasani.  Monfasani,Platina (as footnote  above) –.

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Mella…cardinali Zamoren sacrum. Vixit annis 70.Obiit 13 Octobris asalute nostra 1467,pontificis maximi Pauli II annoquarto (“Sacred…to Juan de Mella the cardi- nal of Zamora. He livedfor 70 years. He died on October 13,1467, year four of Pope Paul II”).⁶⁷ Bessarion’soriginal tombstone does not survive,asthe Eugenia (now Bessarion) chapel wherehewas buried in the Basilica di dei Santi XII Apostoli in Rome was damaged by floods, the sackofthe city in 1527, and the construction of other chapels.The chapel’scurrent decoration is not original, but was restored in 1683.⁶⁸ Thus, it is entirelypossible thatCapranica or whoever scribbled this contemporary note obtained this information directlyfrom Bessa- rion’soriginal tombstone in Rome. If Capranica’sdate is correct,itdoes not contradict the testimonies of Traver- sari and Schivenoglia. Bessarion would have been 35 and 55,respectively,when these individuals made his acquaintance, falling within the rangeoferror evi- dent from theirestimatesof30and 50.Itissignificant that when Bessarion de- parted on his final mission as papal envoytothe king of France in 1472, his fel- low cardinal Jacopo Ammannati tells us that Bessarion was sixty (iam sexagenarius),⁶⁹ but another contemporary observer reports that the cardinal was seventy at his death later that year on the night of November17–18, 1472.⁷⁰ If he was born in 1403,Bessarion would have straddled the border of both estimatesatthe ageof69. Of course, problems remain for the proposed date1403.There is stillthe tes- timonyofBessarion’sfriend Niccolò Perotti that Bessarion was not yettwenty years old when he wrote his funeral oration for ManuelPalaiologos. As Perotti tells us that he wrotealong two-volume work on the cardinal’slife, it is hard to overlook his information. It would place Bessarion’sbirthdate between the summer of 1406 and the summer of 1407 at the latest.Hewould have been just achild of 10 –11 when he left Trebizond – hardlyateenager. Similarly,Bes- sarion’sown statement that he was “not yet24”when he receivedhighhonors would place the first high honors that he receivedin1429 – 1430.But from all in- dications, this was afairlyuneventful period in Bessarion’slife, as the future car-

 Forcella,Iscrizioni (as footnote  above) ,no. .  On Bessarion’sfunerary inscriptions, see Mohler,Kardinal Bessarion (as footnote  above) .–;Vast,Lecardinal (as footnote  above)  note .For the textofthe  inscrip- tion, see ibid., .The text is also printedinForcella,Iscrizioni delle chiese ed’altri edificii di Roma, .Rome , ,no. .  Ammanati,Diary ed. Carusi (as footnote  above) .  Anonymous,Bessarione: note biografice. Bessarione  (–) .

Brought to you by | Ohio State University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 9/23/18 10:51 AM S. Kennedy,Bessarion’sdateofbirth 657 dinal had returned to his studies.⁷¹ As noted above, Bessarion’scollected works do not include anymajor writingsfrom this period. We know that he became a priest during this period, but one doubts thatanyone would have thoughtofthis as ahighhonor,given his earlier accomplishments in the literary, diplomatic, and political arenas.⁷² Therefore, Perotti’sdate simplydoes not fit the biograph- ical information provided by Bessarion himself. Although Perotti should have known when Bessarion was born, Mioni correctlydemonstrates thatPerotti, prone to numerical exaggeration, underestimated the cardinal’sage to make Bes- sarion seem more impressive.⁷³ In light of all the evidence available on Bessarion’sbirth, it thereforeseems most likelythat the cardinal was born on January 2, 1403,oratleast sometime between the fall of 1402 and the fall of 1404.The evidence provided by Capranica matches well the data that ultimatelyderivesfrom Bessarion himself. Admit- tedly, manyItalian observers offer conflictingestimates of Bessarion’sage,but scholars should not optimisticallytrust them as they have in the past.Astep for- ward is astep back.

 Foradetailed outline of this period, Tambrun-Krasker,Bessarion (as footnote  above) –.  Saffrey,Recherches (as footnote  above) .Bessarion became apriest in October .  Mioni,Vita (as footnote  above) .

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