The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context Małgorzata Dąbrowska The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context Małgorzata Dąbrowska − University of Łódź, Faculty of Philosophy and History Department of Medieval History, 90-219 Łódź, 27a Kamińskiego St. REVIEWERS Maciej Salamon, Jerzy Strzelczyk INITIATING EDITOR Iwona Gos PUBLISHING EDITOR-PROOFREADER Tomasz Fisiak NATIVE SPEAKERS Kevin Magee, François Nachin TECHNICAL EDITOR Leonora Wojciechowska TYPESETTING AND COVER DESIGN Katarzyna Turkowska Cover Image: Last_Judgment_by_F.Kavertzas_(1640-41) commons.wikimedia.org Printed directly from camera-ready materials provided to the Łódź University Press This publication is not for sale © Copyright by Małgorzata Dąbrowska, Łódź 2017 © Copyright for this edition by Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódź 2017 Published by Łódź University Press First edition. W.07385.16.0.M ISBN 978-83-8088-091-7 e-ISBN 978-83-8088-092-4 Printing sheets 20.0 Łódź University Press 90-131 Łódź, 8 Lindleya St. www.wydawnictwo.uni.lodz.pl e-mail: [email protected] tel. (42) 665 58 63 CONTENTS Preface 7 Acknowledgements 9 CHAPTER ONE The Palaiologoi Themselves and Their Western Connections L’attitude probyzantine de Saint Louis et les opinions des sources françaises concernant cette question 15 Is There any Room on the Bosporus for a Latin Lady? 37 Byzantine Empresses’ Mediations in the Feud between the Palaiologoi (13th–15th Centuries) 53 Family Ethos at the Imperial Court of the Palaiologos in the Light of the Testimony by Theodore of Montferrat 69 Ought One to Marry? Manuel II Palaiologos’ Point of View 81 Sophia of Montferrat or the History of One Face 99 “Vasilissa, ergo gaude...” Cleopa Malatesta’s Byzantine CV 123 Hellenism at the Court of the Despots of Mistra in the First Half of the 15th Century 135 4 • 5 The Power of Virtue. The Case of the Last Palaiologoi 147 Le roi de France, aurait-il pu acheter Byzance? 163 CHAPTER TWO Byzantium and the Polish Kingdom in 13th–15th Centuries A Byzantine Lady’s Daughters in Poland 173 Peter of Cyprus and Casimir the Great in Cracow 183 Could Poland Have Reacted to the Submission of Byzantium to the Turks in 1372–1373? 195 Uzun Hasan’s Project of Alliance with the Polish King (1474) 211 From Poland to Tenedos. The Project of Using the Teutonic Order in the Fight against the Turks after the Fall of Constantinople 233 Cantacuzene – “The Wolf” or Matthias Stryjkowski’s Recollection of Byzantium 247 CHAPTER THREE Byzantium Viewed from the Contemporary Polish and Texan Perspective La vision moscovite de Byzance et le byzantinisme allemand de Koneczny ou Byzance sans Byzance 269 Byzance, source de stéréotypes dans la conscience des Polonais 287 Byzantine Frescoes Chapel from Lusignans’ Cyprus in Houston 301 CONTENTS http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/8088-091-7.01 Preface Byzantine studies in Poland are connected with two eminent scholars. The medievalist, Oscar Halecki, Professor at the Uni- versity of Warsaw since 1919, began the research on the Church union during the time of the Palaiologoi. The first chair of Byzan- tine History at that University was created in 1935 and offered to the historian of antiquity – Professor Kazimierz Zakrzewski. Ha- lina Evert-Kappesowa was their student. She attended Halecki’s M.A. seminar and then wrote her Ph.D. on the union of Lyons in 1274 under his wing. In the meantime, she became an assistant to Professor Zakrzewski. After WW II when Warsaw was comple- tely destroyed, she appeared among other scholars in Lodz, at the new University, founded here in 1945. It was Professor Kappesowa who renewed Byzantine studies in Poland. Being her last Ph.D. student, I inherited her interests in late Byzantium which is reflected in this volume. I began my research with the relations between Michael Palaiologos and Saint Louis and I remained faithful to the history of the Palaiolo- goi, especially dealing with mixed imperial marriages, exploring the role of the foreign Empress at the Byzantine court, following the vicissitudes of imperial families in 13th–15th centuries. As a Byzantinist of Polish origin I was tempted to follow Ha- lecki’s interests in the relations between the Eastern Empire and the kingdom of Poland, and I wrote some articles which shed light on this rarely known subject in the Western scholarly milieu. The 6 • 7 same reason encouraged me to present the stereotype of Byzan- tium in the context of Polish history in the 19th century. And last but not least, I wrote a chapter about Byzantine traces in Houston, while visiting Professor at Rice University in 2005–2008. So this is a sketch of the present volume, consisting of articles published over twenty years: 1989–2009. I am indebted to Pro- fessor Kappesowa, whose name introduced me to the world of eminent Byzantinists. My debut came in 1988 when I participated in the Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in Nottingham. I was happy to meet Sir Steven Runciman and Professors: Donald Nicol and Anthony Bryer. They became my compass in the world of foreign research. In 1989, due to the scholarship of the French Government, I got an opportunity to pursue my studies in Paris, being affiliated to the Centre of Byzantine Civilization at College de France. Professor Gilbert Dagron was my maître de stage and I met there Professor Paul Lemerle, a legend of the French milieu of Byzantinists. He knew Mme Kappesowa from their stay in Dum- barton Oaks and he offered me much time, recommending me to the Bibliothèque Nationale to see the New Testament offered by Michael Palaiologos to Saint Louis in 1269. It seemed that Clio was sitting next to me and that Kairos appeared at the last moment, as Lemerle died in the same year, 1989. The inspiration of the title to this volume is taken from Do- nald Nicol’s preface to his book The Last Centuries of Byzantium 1261–1453 (1972). The author wrote: “The last period of Byzan- tium was less closely studied than the earlier centuries, and it still contains many secrets. It is now attracting more and more attention from scholars writing in specialist publications and pe- riodicals in a babel of languages.” My articles are written in En- glish and French. The first language is a contemporary lingua franca, the second – still is… Let’s come back to some secrets of late Byzantium. I will reveal the Polish one. In my part of the wor- ld it was not easy to conduct research abroad, even after 1989. The publicaction of this book was supported by my aunt, Danuta Tarnowska, the sister of my late father, Stanisław Dąbrowski. Preface Acknowledgements The author is pleased to thank the Editorial Boards of the Jour- nals and Publishers who kindly agreed to republish the follow- ing articles: Alliance Française (Lodz) “Le roi de France, aurait-il pu acheter le Byzance ?”, Alchemie Française. Correspondence des Arts 4 (2001), 25–29. Byzantiaka (Thessaloniki) “Peter of Cyprus and Casimir the Great in Cracow,” Byzantiaka 14 (1994), 257–67. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (Birmingham) “Ought One to Marry? Manuel II Palaiologos’ Point of View,” Byz- antine and Modern Greek Studies 31–2 (2007),146–56. Byzantinoslavica (Prague) “L’attitude probyzantine de Saint Louis et les opinions des sources françaises concernant cette question,” Byzantino- slavica L (1989), 1, 11–23. “Cantacuzene – ‘The Wolf’ or Matthias Stryjkowski’s Recollec- tion of Byzantium,” Byzantinoslavica LVI (1995), 257–67. “‘Vasilissa ergo gaude…’ Cleopa Malatesta’s Byzantine CV,” Byz- antinoslavica LXV (2005), 217–24. 8 • 9 “Is There any Room on the Bosporus for a Latin Lady?”, Byzan- tinoslavica LXVI (2008), 1–2, 229–39. Evangelos Chrysos (Andros) “Could Poland Have Reacted to the Submission of Byzantium to the Turks in 1372–1373?”, Captain and Scholar. Papers in Memory of Demetrios Polemis, ed. E. Chrysos and E. Zachari- adou, Andros 2009, 79–92. Institute of History of Arts (University of Warsaw) “Byzantine Frescoes Chapel from Lusignans’ Cyprus in Hou- ston,” Ikonotheka 21 (2009), 21–32. Institute of Literary Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw “La vision moscovite de Byzance et le byzantinisme allemand de Feliks Koneczny ou Byzance sans Byzance,” Organon 28–30 (1999–2001), 257–68. Lodz University Press “Sophia of Montferrat or the History of One Face,” Acta Universi- tatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica 56 (1996), 177–94. “Uzun Hasan’s Project of Alliance with the Polish King (1474),” Mélanges d’histoire byzantine offerts à Oktawiusz Jurewicz à l’occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversaire, Byzantina Lodziensia III (1998), 171–85. Mainzer Veröffentlichungen zur Byzantinistik (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz–Verlag) “From Poland to Tenedos. The Project of Using the Teutonic Or- der in the Fight against the Turks after the Fall of Constan- tinople,” Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950–1453. Beiträge zu einer Table Ronde des XIX International Congress of Byzan- tine Studies (Copenhagen 1996), ed. G. Prinzing and M. Sala- mon, Wiesbaden 1999, 165–76. Acknowledgements Oficyna Wydawnicza LEKSEM “The Power of Virtue. The Case of the Last Palaiologoi,” Cesar- stwo Bizantyńskie. Dzieje, religia, kultura. Studia ofiarowane profesorowi Waldemarowi Ceranowi przez jego uczniów na 70-lecie urodzin, ed. P. Krupczyński and M. Leszka, Łask- Łódź, Leksem 2006, 9–25. Presses Universitaires de Vincennes. Universitè Paris 8 “Byzance, source des stéréotypes dans la conscience des Polo- nais,” Byzance en Europe, ed. M.-F. Auzepy, Paris 2003, 43–54. Scientific Society (Thorn) “Byzantine Empresses’ Mediations in the Feud between the Palaiologoi (13th–15th Centuries),” Konfliktbewaltigung und Friedensstiftung im Mittelalter. Przezwyciężanie konflik- tów i ustanawianie pokoju w średniowieczu, ed. R. Czaja, E. Mühle and A. Radzimiński, Toruń 2012, 227–29. UNIVERSITAS Publishers (Cracow) “Hellenism at the Court of the Despots of Mistra in the First Half of the 15th Century,” Paganism in Late Roman Empire and Byzantium, ed.