A Byzantine Reformer

H. F. Tozer

doi:10.2307/623650

A Byzantine Reformer

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013

H. F. Tozer

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The object of the present paper is to give some account of the scheme of political and social reform for the Peloponnese, which was propounded in the year 1415, by Gemistos Plethon, in the form of two pamphlets, addressed respectively to the emperor of Constantinople, Manuel Palaeologus II., and to his son, Theodore II., who at that time held the office of Despot of the Byzantine province of the Morea. These are entitled and . They were first printed at Antwerp in 1575, as an appendix to the first edition of Stobaeus, W. Canter being the editor; but the manuscript from which this text was derived was imperfect, and the first complete edition was that of Dr. Ellissen of Göttingen, who published the ‘Addresses,’ after a collation of a manuscript existing at Florence—with a German translation, and an excellent Introduction and notes—in 1860, in the fourth part of his Analekten der mittel- und neugriechischen Litteratur. The first person however who in modern times drew the attention of scholars to the importance of their contents was Prof. Fallmerayer, in his Geschichte der Morea, published in 1830. Though the proposals which they contain never were, and in all probability never could have been carried into effect, yet a greater interest attaches to them than to mere paper schemes and imaginary systems, because they were intended to be adapted to the circumstances of the case.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 7 , November 1886 , pp. 353 - 380

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/623650 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1886

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^{page 354 note 1} Decline and Fall, vol. viii. p. 115, ed. Smith, .Google Scholar

^{page 354 note 2} The works which I have principally used in writing this paper, are—(1) Ellissen's Introduction and Notes to his edition of Plethon's Addresses. (2) Alexandre, 's edition of Plethon's Laws, with a French translation by Pellissier, and an Introduction by the editor, and appendices (Paris, 1858)Google Scholar; the text of this will be referred to as Traité des Lois, the remainder of the volume as ‘Alexandre.’ (3) Schultze, 's Georgios Gemistos Plethon und seine reformatorischen Bestrebungen (Jena, 1874)Google Scholar. The Addresses themselves will be referred to as ‘Add. I.’ and ‘Add. II.’

^{page 356 note 1} Schultze, p. 41.

^{page 356 note 2} Add. I. c. 25.

^{page 359 note 1} Alexandre, Append. xix., pp. 412, 413.

^{page 360 note 1} Traité des Lois, p. 130.

^{page 360 note 2} Schultze, p. 220.

^{page 360 note 3} Traité des Lois, p. 2.

^{page 361 note 1} George of Trebizond, in Alexandre, p. xvi. note 1.

^{page 361 note 2} See Hymn xii., in Traité des Lois, p. 213.

^{page 361 note 3} Gennadius' letter to Joseph the Exarch, in Alexandre, Append. xix. p. 424; see also Proclus' scheme, as given by Alexandre, pp. lxxx, lxxxi.

^{page 362 note 1} Traité des Lois, pp. 258–260.

^{page 362 note 2} Add. II. cc. 15–18.

^{page 362 note 3} Traité des Lois, p. 152;

^{page 363 note 1} vol. ii. pp. 257 foll.

^{page 363 note 2} Mazaris, c. 19.

^{page 363 note 3} Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. iv. pp. 176, 178; 227–233.

^{page 363 note 4} Mazaris, c. 22.

^{page 364 note 1} Herod. viii. 73.

^{page 364 note 2} Mazaris, c. 19.

^{page 364 note 3} Hertzberg, , (Geschichte Griechenlands, ii. p. 468Google Scholar, note) following Hopf, Griechische Geschichte, in Brockhaus', Griechenland, vii., pp. 183, 184Google Scholar, believes—but in my judgment without sufficient reason—that by the ‘Lacedaemonians’ are here meant the Byzantine officials at Mistra.

^{page 366 note 1} Hertzberg, op. cit. pp. 470–473.

^{page 367 note 1} Cantacuzene, vol. iii., p. 87, ed. Bonn.

^{page 368 note 1} Mazaris, c. 21.

^{page 368 note 2} ibid. c. 23.

^{page 368 note 3} Add. II. c. 24.

^{page 369 note 1} Add. I. c. 7.

^{page 369 note 2} Add. II., cc. 2, 3, 20.

^{page 370 note 1} Add. II. c. 2.

^{page 370 note 2} Add. I. c. 3.

^{page 371 note 1} Add. II. c. 7.

^{page 371 note 2} Add. II. c. 24.

^{page 371 note 3} Add. I. c. 17.

^{page 372 note 1} Add. I. c. 13.

^{page 372 note 2} Add. I. c. 9; II. c. 10.

^{page 372 note 3} Add. I. c. 14; II. c. 10.

^{page 373 note 1} Add. I. c. 15.

^{page 373 note 2} Add. I. c. 11; II. c. 12.

^{page 374 note 1} Add. I. 18, 19; II. 13.

^{page 375 note 1} Add. I. 12; II. 13.

^{page 375 note 2} Pausan. V. 5, § 2.

^{page 376 note 1} Add. I. cc. 22, 23; II. c. 14.

^{page 376 note 2} Add. I. c. 21; II. c. 14.

^{page 376 note 3} A ghastly description of a provincial execution in modern times will be found in Belle, , Voyage en Grèce, pp. 357, 358.Google Scholar

^{page 376 note 4} Add. I. c. 20; II. c. 14.

^{page 376 note 5} Traité des Lois, pp. 124 foll.

^{page 377 note 1} The correspondences with Plato have been carefully collected and criticised by Ellissen in his edition.

^{page 377 note 2} Add. I. c. 15.

^{page 377 note 3} Laws, viii. p. 847.

^{page 377 note 4} Rep. iii. p. 416.

^{page 377 note 5} Rep. ii. pp. 369, 370; Laws, viii. p. 846.

^{page 377 note 6} Politicus, p. 302.

^{page 377 note 7} Add. II. c. 15; Plato, , Laws, x p. 885Google Scholar.

^{page 378 note 1} Add. I. c. 10; II. cc. 22, 27.

^{page 378 note 2} History of Greece, vol. iv. p. 241.

^{page 378 note 3} Add. I. c. 25.

^{page 378 note 4} Add. II. c. 21.

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