The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium
Encyclopedia
The Palaeologian Dynasty. The Rise and Fall of Byzantium is a trilogy
novel
describing the last dynasty
of Byzantium
, written by Greek author George Leonardos
. For this trilogy the author was awarded with the highest State Literature Award 2008.http://www.yppo.gr/2/g22.jsp?obj_id=26470 The trilogy is wrapped up with the historical novel
Sophia Palaiologina. From Byzantium
to Russia
, which refers to the last descendant of Paleologus family, who was married with the Russian ruler Ivan III of Russia
.
Ιτ is a historical novel about one of the most powerful personalities of the Byzantine times during one of the most important eras in Greek history, as it began to develop at the beginning of the Palaeologos’ reign in Byzantine. It’s a fictional biography of Michael VIII Palaiologos
, patriarch
of the homonymous dynasty, the man who achieved the unthinkable for the time, thanks to his versatile, diabolic mind.
The story begins with the disaster of the Fourth Crusade
– an issue still engaging historical researchers – and ends with the Sicilian Vespers
, fomented, indirectly yet actively, by Michael. Between those two historic events stand the battle of Pelagonia
and, of course, the retrieval of Constantinople
by Palaeologos.
It’s a fascinating book full of intrigues, passions and eroticism, as well as political, diplomatic and ecclesiastical background, battles over power that left their mark during the 13th century. It successfully combines fast pace and academic precision.
"As a leader he has been both condemned and praised by many. Just as history demands. Alas to the leaders who pass unnoticed…"
"… Michael entered and exited the typhoons of political and religious intolerance as an excellent conductor of political plot, a gifted opportunist, a great conspirator, a master of undermining tactics and subversive conspiracy, and, at the same time, as an ingenious man, strong, brave and a fighter. He had it inside him. How else were we to have survived unless we had such a leader?" "It is wise to judge whether a leader acted kind or unholy actions, after death. Still we need to consider the circumstances under which he acted…"
In this second historical saga novel, George Leonardos narrates the shocking, gruesome and hideous events of the civil wars among the Palaeologian Dynasty, which carved the path of no return towards the self-destination and the dissolution of the East Roman Empire.
Although a complete story in itself, the result of a thorough study of the historical details and human weakness which marked all “rulers” of the century before the fall of Constantinople, this book constitutes in a way as the sequel to his previous narrative “Michael Palaeologos – The Liberator”.
This in hand historical novel brings to prominence in a most vivid and genial way, not only the heroic but also the vile events which dramatically influenced the life and future of the residents of the former Eastern Roman Empire.
Events that were distorted whether it be deliberately or unintentionally voluntarily or involuntarily so as to contribute to the lethargy of the people for many generations to come.
A historical novel, in which truth exceeds fantasy which was used by the writer only to facilitate comprehension of this novel. “Some time later amidst the cries and screams of the passengers and their children, the ship was sailing from the commercial pier of the gulf of Golden Horn
with a few flexible close hauls heading in the wind our most experienced captain steering the ship towards the estuary of the gulf leaving behind him the Golden Horn
and sailing towards Propontis when a tail wind from the side of Bosporus in the sea of Marmara took us under its wing, steering us towards Gallipoli towards the inlet of Ellispondos. The children thrilled to be traveling by boat, ran to the stern of the ship gazing into the horizon. A new life was ahead… I alone, abandoned from the others slowly went towards the stern of the ship to kneel before the imaginary temple of Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia) and stare out to the life I had left behind…"
.
Using Venetian, Greek and Turkish sources, Leonardos has created a vivid and exciting account of the last days of the Eastern Roman Empire, the new Rome.
Leonardos’ novel grapples with the traditional views of modern Greek historiography on how the Byzantine Empire fell, and asks questions such as what really happened? What were the intrigues and machinations that played a part in the fall of the thousand-year-old empire? Who betrayed Constantine XI Palaeologos, raising the Ottoman standard at the Palace of Blachernae
, as Constantine was fighting at the city walls for the very survival of his kingdom and Christendom in the East?
The answers to these questions are set against the backdrop of the social upheaval and chaos of the late Middle Ages. With lively portrayals of the major players, Leonardos also relates what later became of the heroes of the day.
to Catholic Rome, and from there to medieval Moscow, the life of Zoe-Sophia Palaiologina traces the collapse of one civilisation and the rise of a new one. Heir to the imperial titles of the Second Rome, vanquished Constantinople, the daring Byzantine princess managed to escape Rome
and, as the wife of Ivan III, create the Third Rome
from the emerging Russian Empire. The first Tsarina in Russian history, the avowed enemy of the Tatars
who had Russian lands under their yoke, comes alive in the pages of his new historical novel by George Leonardos, and sheds light on aspects of history that are not widely known. Historical scholarship, a thrilling adventure, a reminder of the true power of Orthodoxy and of Russia, in a plot that thunders forward like a juggernaut. The novel depicts the developing relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The bonds strengthened after the marriage of Zoe-Sophia Palaeologos, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI Palaeologos who fell defending the City against the Ottoman army, to Ivan III the Great, himself a descendant of the Rurik Dynasty
. With the help and at the instigation of his Greek consort, Ivan III managed to reject the Tatar yoke and unite the fragmented principalities and hegemonies under a large, and powerful central leadership, the predecessor to today’s Russia. Because of his marriage to Sophia Palaeologos, the sole heir to the Byzantine Empire, he also succeeded in making his state the heir to the vanquished and fragmented Eastern Roman Empire, and thus adopted the Empire’s symbols, such as the double-headed eagle, and also became a power in the Orthodox world, declaring Moscow the Third Rome, after Rome itself and Constantinople. The novel begins in Rome where Zoe Palaeologina was raised and describes the machinations of the Greek Orthodox and later Catholic Cardinal Bessarion and a series of Popes, the last of whom was Sixtus IV, to marry Zoe off to Ivan III, then Grand Duke of Moscow, so that she could convert the Russians to Catholicism. As soon as she planted her feet on Russian soil, Sophia’s Byzantine Orthodoxy awoke and she changed her name to Sophia, as the Russians considered the name Zoe to be Catholic. At Sophia’s instigation – she often nagged him that she had not “married to become a vassal of the Tatar infidels” – Ivan managed to overthrow Tatar hegemony over the Russian people, particularly after the bloodless confrontation in the Ugra River, and make his domains a powerful state. It was for this reason, as well as his patriotism and policies that Ivan III was proclaimed ‘the Great’, the first in Russian history. Ivan’s and Sophia’s grandson was Ivan the Terrible.
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
describing the last dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
of Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
, written by Greek author George Leonardos
George Leonardos
- Early life :Son of Anastase and Maria, Leonardos was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 20 February 1937. His father died when he was two years old and he lived with his mother in Alexandria until 1954. He was an avid reader of fiction and history, and as a high school student in Alexandria had his...
. For this trilogy the author was awarded with the highest State Literature Award 2008.http://www.yppo.gr/2/g22.jsp?obj_id=26470 The trilogy is wrapped up with the historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
Sophia Palaiologina. From Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, which refers to the last descendant of Paleologus family, who was married with the Russian ruler Ivan III of Russia
Ivan III of Russia
Ivan III Vasilyevich , also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus"...
.
Michael VIII Palaeologos, The Liberator
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...
, patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
of the homonymous dynasty, the man who achieved the unthinkable for the time, thanks to his versatile, diabolic mind.
The story begins with the disaster of the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
– an issue still engaging historical researchers – and ends with the Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...
, fomented, indirectly yet actively, by Michael. Between those two historic events stand the battle of Pelagonia
Battle of Pelagonia
The Battle of Pelagonia took place in September of 1259, between the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus, Sicily and the Principality of Achaea...
and, of course, the retrieval of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
by Palaeologos.
It’s a fascinating book full of intrigues, passions and eroticism, as well as political, diplomatic and ecclesiastical background, battles over power that left their mark during the 13th century. It successfully combines fast pace and academic precision.
"As a leader he has been both condemned and praised by many. Just as history demands. Alas to the leaders who pass unnoticed…"
"… Michael entered and exited the typhoons of political and religious intolerance as an excellent conductor of political plot, a gifted opportunist, a great conspirator, a master of undermining tactics and subversive conspiracy, and, at the same time, as an ingenious man, strong, brave and a fighter. He had it inside him. How else were we to have survived unless we had such a leader?" "It is wise to judge whether a leader acted kind or unholy actions, after death. Still we need to consider the circumstances under which he acted…"
The Palaeologues.
Although a complete story in itself, the result of a thorough study of the historical details and human weakness which marked all “rulers” of the century before the fall of Constantinople, this book constitutes in a way as the sequel to his previous narrative “Michael Palaeologos – The Liberator”.
This in hand historical novel brings to prominence in a most vivid and genial way, not only the heroic but also the vile events which dramatically influenced the life and future of the residents of the former Eastern Roman Empire.
Events that were distorted whether it be deliberately or unintentionally voluntarily or involuntarily so as to contribute to the lethargy of the people for many generations to come.
A historical novel, in which truth exceeds fantasy which was used by the writer only to facilitate comprehension of this novel. “Some time later amidst the cries and screams of the passengers and their children, the ship was sailing from the commercial pier of the gulf of Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
with a few flexible close hauls heading in the wind our most experienced captain steering the ship towards the estuary of the gulf leaving behind him the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
and sailing towards Propontis when a tail wind from the side of Bosporus in the sea of Marmara took us under its wing, steering us towards Gallipoli towards the inlet of Ellispondos. The children thrilled to be traveling by boat, ran to the stern of the ship gazing into the horizon. A new life was ahead… I alone, abandoned from the others slowly went towards the stern of the ship to kneel before the imaginary temple of Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia) and stare out to the life I had left behind…"
The Last Palaeologue.
In this last part of his Palaeologue dynasty trilogy, the prize-winning novelist George Leonardos writes about the last Emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI Palaiologos and the fall of ConstantinopleFall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
.
Using Venetian, Greek and Turkish sources, Leonardos has created a vivid and exciting account of the last days of the Eastern Roman Empire, the new Rome.
Leonardos’ novel grapples with the traditional views of modern Greek historiography on how the Byzantine Empire fell, and asks questions such as what really happened? What were the intrigues and machinations that played a part in the fall of the thousand-year-old empire? Who betrayed Constantine XI Palaeologos, raising the Ottoman standard at the Palace of Blachernae
Blachernae
Blachernae was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. It was the site of a spring and a number of prominent churches were built there, most notably the great Church of St. Mary of Blachernae , built by Empress Pulcheria in circa 450,...
, as Constantine was fighting at the city walls for the very survival of his kingdom and Christendom in the East?
The answers to these questions are set against the backdrop of the social upheaval and chaos of the late Middle Ages. With lively portrayals of the major players, Leonardos also relates what later became of the heroes of the day.
Sophia Palaeologina.
By the well known Greek author George Leonardos who has written fourteen novels, successful both in Greece and abroad, on the age of the Palaeologos Dynasty, traces the roots of the centuries-long, enduring and traditional bonds between Greece and Russia. From Greek MystrasMystras
Mystras is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sparti, of which it is a municipal unit. Situated on Mt...
to Catholic Rome, and from there to medieval Moscow, the life of Zoe-Sophia Palaiologina traces the collapse of one civilisation and the rise of a new one. Heir to the imperial titles of the Second Rome, vanquished Constantinople, the daring Byzantine princess managed to escape Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and, as the wife of Ivan III, create the Third Rome
Third Rome
The term Third Rome describes the idea that some European city, state, or country is the successor to the legacy of the Roman Empire and its successor state, the Byzantine Empire ....
from the emerging Russian Empire. The first Tsarina in Russian history, the avowed enemy of the Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
who had Russian lands under their yoke, comes alive in the pages of his new historical novel by George Leonardos, and sheds light on aspects of history that are not widely known. Historical scholarship, a thrilling adventure, a reminder of the true power of Orthodoxy and of Russia, in a plot that thunders forward like a juggernaut. The novel depicts the developing relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The bonds strengthened after the marriage of Zoe-Sophia Palaeologos, niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI Palaeologos who fell defending the City against the Ottoman army, to Ivan III the Great, himself a descendant of the Rurik Dynasty
Rurik Dynasty
The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year 862 AD...
. With the help and at the instigation of his Greek consort, Ivan III managed to reject the Tatar yoke and unite the fragmented principalities and hegemonies under a large, and powerful central leadership, the predecessor to today’s Russia. Because of his marriage to Sophia Palaeologos, the sole heir to the Byzantine Empire, he also succeeded in making his state the heir to the vanquished and fragmented Eastern Roman Empire, and thus adopted the Empire’s symbols, such as the double-headed eagle, and also became a power in the Orthodox world, declaring Moscow the Third Rome, after Rome itself and Constantinople. The novel begins in Rome where Zoe Palaeologina was raised and describes the machinations of the Greek Orthodox and later Catholic Cardinal Bessarion and a series of Popes, the last of whom was Sixtus IV, to marry Zoe off to Ivan III, then Grand Duke of Moscow, so that she could convert the Russians to Catholicism. As soon as she planted her feet on Russian soil, Sophia’s Byzantine Orthodoxy awoke and she changed her name to Sophia, as the Russians considered the name Zoe to be Catholic. At Sophia’s instigation – she often nagged him that she had not “married to become a vassal of the Tatar infidels” – Ivan managed to overthrow Tatar hegemony over the Russian people, particularly after the bloodless confrontation in the Ugra River, and make his domains a powerful state. It was for this reason, as well as his patriotism and policies that Ivan III was proclaimed ‘the Great’, the first in Russian history. Ivan’s and Sophia’s grandson was Ivan the Terrible.
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