Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantium and the Crusades

Education, learning, literature, and art 

Page 10

At the close of the eleventh century and at the beginning of the twelfth there lived a very prominent theologian, Theophylact, archbishop of Achrida (Ochrida) in Bulgaria. He was born on the island of Euboea and for some time officiated as a deacon in St. Sophia in Constantinople. He received a very good education under the famous Michael Psellus. Then, probably under Alexius I Comnenus, he was appointed to the archbishopric of Achrida in Bulgaria, which at that time was under Byzantine power. Under the severe and barbarous living conditions in this country he was unable to forget his former life in Constantinople, and with all the force of his soul he wished to return to the capital. This wish was not fulfilled. He died in Bulgaria at the beginning of the twelfth century (about 1108, though the exact date is unknown). He was the author of some theological works, and his commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testament are particularly well known. But from the modern point of view his most important literary legacies are his letters and his book On the Errors of the Latins. Almost all his letters were written between 1091 and 1108, and they draw an exceedingly interesting picture of provincial Byzantine life. They deserve particular attention, and they have not yet been thoroughly studied from the point of view of the internal history of the Empire. His book On the Errors of the Latins, was remarkable in its conciliatory tendencies towards the Catholic church.

Michael of Thessalonica lived and wrote during the reign of Manuel. He began his career as deacon and professor of exegesis of the gospels at St. Sophia in Constantinople, then received the honorable title of master of rhetors, and was finally condemned as a follower of the heresy of Soterichus Panteugenus and deprived of his titles. He composed some orations in honor of Manuel, five of which were published; the last one was delivered as a funeral oration a few days after the Emperor's death. Michael's orations give some interesting details of the historical events of the time; the last two orations have not yet been used by any scholar.

In the middle of the twelfth century one of the numerous Byzantine imitations of Lucian's Dialogues among the Dead, Timarion was written. Usually, this work is considered as anonymous, but perhaps Timarion was the real name of the author. Timarion narrates the story of his journey to Hades and reproduces his conversations with the dead men whom he met in the underworld. He saw there Emperor Romanus Diogenes, John Italus, Michael Psellus, the iconoclastic emperor, Theophilus, and so on. Timarion, without doubt the best Byzantine achievement in the literary field of Lucian's imitations, is full of vigor and humor. But apart from purely literary quality, Timarion is important for such descriptions of real life as the famous description of the fair of Thessalonica. Therefore, this piece of work of the Comnenian epoch is a very interesting source for the internal history of Byzantium.

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