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A Greek Démarche on the Eve of the Council of Florence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
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Despite the superabundance of material available for the historical preliminaries and the progress of the Council of Ferrara-Florence, there is a source which to all intents and purposes has been neglected and has, therefore, remained outside the purview of the historiography concerning this critical Council. In more than one respect this source sheds significant light on the attitudes, mechanics and state of mind of at least some Greek sections and their aspirations in the matter of the union of the Greek and Latin Churches. The source is not an official document but, as we shall presently see, a memorandum or, to use Foreign Office jargon, a minute by a highly placed official who was not either in his private or public capacity in any way involved in the matter reported. The memorandum demands attention on several counts. It records an unexpected approach on the part of some Greeks to the duke of Milan shortly before Eugenius IV decided to transfer the Council from Ferrara to Florence. The record reveals, like a flashlight, how much diplomatic activity was going on in the corridors of power, in the couloirs, in the backrooms safely removed from the gaze of the public, of the annalists, official shorthand writers, and the forerunners of the modern journalists and of the media, that is to say, the diarists, eavesdroppers and reporters appointed by the various European courts at the seat of the Council. This memorandum or minute is the only source that informs posterity of an abortive, but nonetheless very symptomatic approach intended to settle the question of the union by radical means. Above all, the memorandum faithfully reflects the age-old Byzantine ideology which reached back into the somewhat hazy ancient Roman period and which had matured over more than a millennium that manifestly linked Nea Roma with Roman antiquity. The core and tenor of this approach associates historical continuity with historical Roman law, a combination that had served as the very ingredient, nay, as the anima that gave birth to, and shaped the future of, the Church in Byzantine realms.
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page 338 note 1 For details cf. Ostrogorsky, G., Geschichte des byzantinischen Staates, 3rd ed. Munich 1963, 444 ff.Google Scholar; and for the background see especially Nicol, D. M., ‘Byzantine requests for an oecumenical council in the fourteenth century’ in Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum, I (1969), 69–95.Google Scholar
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page 340 note 2 Ulpian's classic definition in Dig. 1.1.1 (2).
page 340 note 3 For this cf. Ullmann, W., A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages, and ed. London 1974, 7, 23, 29, 41, 43 45. It is, nevertheless, interesting to see that in course of time the ecclesiastics began to assert their own independent position: the imperial rights concerning the ecclesiastical organism became questioned in the fourteenth century when the right of the imperial government to translate bishops from one see to another was no longer accepted and, in fact, disputed. It is the great merit of H.-G. Beck to have stressed this important feature, in Sitzungsberichte, cit., at 36–38.Google Scholar
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page 341 note 3 ibid., 303 f.
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page 342 note 1 For details cf. Gill, J., The Council of Florence, Cambridge 1959, 77 ff.Google Scholar; id., Constance et Bâle-Florence (in Histoire des conciles, IX (1965)), 214 ff.Google Scholar
page 342 note 2 Cf. J. Gill, Florence, 80 ff. H.-G. Beck (Vorträge und Forschungen, cit., at 146) rightly points out that because the Greeks knew very well that Basel as well as the papacy needed them for their respective programmes, they would be in a position to put all their expenses on Western shoulders. On 25 October 1437 the imperial government replied to the Basleans that the Greeks would sail in the papal fleet: see Dölger, F., Regesten der Kaiserurkunden des oströmischen Reiches von 565 bis 1453, Munich 1965, no. 3476Google Scholar. For a detailed and lively account, see Syropoulos, Mémoires, ed. cit., at 160 ff.; here also the severe economic difficulties which faced the Greeks, ibid., 188 ff., 296 f.
page 342 note 3 Gill, op. cit., 88 ff.
page 342 note 4 It would seem that he conceived some of the basic ideas set forth in his De docta ignorantia on his voyage; cf. the dedication of the work to Cesarini, ed. Heidelberg Academy (1932). For some details cf. Nikolaus von Kues als Promotor der Oekumene, ed. Haubst, R., Mainz 1971 ( = Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus Gesellschaft, ix).Google Scholar
page 342 note 5 On 25 February 1438 the emperor wrote to the Basleans and suggested that they should join him at Ferrara in the Council: Reg. no. 3478.
page 343 note 1 For some personalities see J. Gill, op. cit., 89 n. 2, and now especially Syropoulos, Mémoires, ed. cit., at 184 ff. Further, J. Décarreaux, ‘L'arrivée des Grecs en Italie pour le concile de l'union des églises d'après les mémoires de Syropoulos’ in Revue des études italiennes, VII (1960), 29–59Google Scholar; ix (1962), 33–99; id., ‘L'union des églises au concile de Ferrare-FIorence’ in Irénikon, xxxix (1966), 46 ff. and 177 ff. Cf. also J. P. Arrignon, ‘Les Russes au Concile de Ferrare-FIorence’ ibid., xlvii (1974), 188–208.
page 343 note 2 The point is made by Syropoulos in his Mémoires, ed. cit., at 298 f.
page 343 note 3 For the bankruptcy of the papacy see J. Gill, Florence, 173 ff. and for the relations between Eugenius IV and Florence, see Kirshner, J., ‘Papa Eugenio IV e il monte comune’ in Archivo storico italiano, CXXVII (1969), 339–82Google Scholar. Cf. also Acta camerae apostolicae et civitatum Venetiarum, Ferrariae, Florentinae, Ianuae de concilia Florentino, ed. G. Hofmann (=Concilium Florentinum, III. 1 (1950)) nos. 54 ff., at 45 ff.Google Scholar
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page 344 note 2 Koller, G., Princeps in ecclesia: Untersuchungen zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Albrechts II. von Österreich, Vienna 1964, stops before Albrecht's election as king of the Romans.Google Scholar
page 344 note 3 Cf. Hödl, G., ‘Zur Reichspolitik des Basler Konzils: Bischof Johannes Schele von Lübeck’ in Mitteilungen des österreichischen Instituts für Geschichtsforschung, LXXV (1967), 46 ff.Google Scholar
page 344 note 4 Cf. above n. 1 and RTA. xiv. 57 f., no. 21, and Johannes de Segovia, Historia, ed. cit., iii. 186. Details in Welck, H., Konrad von Weinsberg als Protektor des Basler Konzils, Schwäbisch Hall 1973.Google Scholar
page 344 note 5 RTA. xiii. nos. 41, 47 at 97 f., 110, esp. 112 n. 1.
page 344 note 6 See Schumm, K., ‘Konrad von Weinsberg und die Judensteuer unter Kaiser Sigismund’ in Württembergisch Franken, new series, LIV (1970), 20–58Google Scholar (reference kindly supplied by Mr. E. Gindele, University of Tübingen). Cf., e.g., RTA. xiii. nos. 347 ff. For his other plans, cf. now Koller, H. in Festschrift H. Heimpel, ii, Göttingen 1973, at 70 f.Google Scholar
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page 345 note 1 See H. Weigel (ed.) in RTA. xiv. 57 n. 4. There are numerous and illuminating entries, ibid., nos. 160–167, at 278–95.
page 345 note 2 J. Albrecht (ed.), Einnahmen und Ausgaben Conrads von Weinsberg aus den Jahren 1437 und 1438 (=Bibliothek des literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, XVIII (1850)).Google Scholar
page 345 note 3 It is in the Gemeinschaftliche Hausarchiv (GA), part IV, G59, no. 25. I would like to thank the Chief Archivist, Dr. Taddey, for his help and the supply of photocopies.
page 345 note 4 There is a brief mention in Beckmann, G., Der Kampf Kaiser Sigismunds gegen die werdende Weltmacht der Osmanen, Gotha 1902, 62 n. 2.Google Scholar
page 345 note 5 Ed. H. Weigel in RTA. xiv. 56–57.
page 345 note 6 Referred to by G. Beckmann, loc. cit. and ed., loc. cit., at 57.
page 345 note 7 Ed. cit: ‘Animo ulterius Romam iturus se ad Florentiam transferret’. The pope explained to the Milanese ambassadors that he had no intention of going to Florence with a view to entering into an alliance with the Venetians, Genoese and Florentines against the duke of Milan.
page 346 note 1 To judge by the entries ed. in RTA. xiv. 278 ff., he really had his antennae every-where and was in touch with virtually everyone of consequence.
page 346 note 2 See Johannes de Segovia, Historia, ed. cit., iii. 216; R. Bäumer, ‘Eugenius IV. und der Plan eines “Dritten Konzils”’ in Reformata Reformanda: Festgabe für Hubert Jedin, ed. Iserloh, E. and Repgen, K., i, Münster 1965, 87 ff., at 95 (1 February 1439). For the original Greek reaction to a third place see Syropoulos, Mémoires, ed. cit., 130, 146.Google Scholar
page 346 note 3 See Johannes de Segovia, Historia, ed. cit., iii. 197.
page 346 note 4 Cf. J. Gill, Florence, 226, 234 f., 248 f., 250.
page 347 note 1 Dölger, F., ‘Politische und geistige Strömungen im sterbenden Byzanz’ in Jahrb. der österreichischen byzantinischen Gesellschaft, III (1954), 3 ff., at 12 ff. gives a survey of the various sections and parties in Byzantium and their aims. The overwhelming part of the civil service and of the higher clergy formed one such segment which would have no union with the West under any circumstances, even if Constantinople were to become an easy prey to the Turks.Google Scholar
page 347 note 2 The Reg. have no entry that even faintly could bear upon this démarche: Reg. nos. 3484 and 3485, both of December 1438, deal with entirely different matters. Nor is there any mention of the embassy in the Vita Philippi Mariae Vicecomitis Ducis III, ed. in L. A. Muratori, Rerum italicarum scriptores, xx (=Rerum Mediolanensium Historia, ii), Milan 1731, 985–1020. There is no reference or allusion to it in Syropoulos's Mémoires. Nor have I found any reference to it in a modern work, except as noted above, 345 n. 4.
page 348 note 1 See the Lex Rhodia, in Dig. 14.2.9. Literature and significance in Ullmann, W., Law and Politics in the Middle Ages, London 1975, 57 f.Google Scholar
page 348 note 2 This was first recognised by Meyer, O., Ἑἰς τ⋯ν ῾ρῆγα Σαξωνίας in Festschrift für Albert Brackmann, Weimar 1931 123 ff.Google Scholar, at 130 ff.; see further Ostrogorsky, G., ‘Die byzantinische Staatenhierarchie’ in Seminarium Kondakovianum, VIII (1936), 41 ff. and F. Dölger, ‘Die Familie der Könige’ op. cit. (above, 340 n. 1), 34 ff.Google Scholar
page 348 note 3 Einhard, Vita Karoli, 5th ed. by Holder-Egger, G. O., in M. G. H. Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, Hannover-Leipzig 1905Google Scholar, cap. 28, at 28: ‘Quo tempore … vicitque eorum contumaciam magnanimitate … mittendo ad eos crebras legationes et in epistolis fratres eos appellando.’ See further M. G. H. Epistolae, iv, no. 37, at 556 (anno 813); in 811 he apostrophised Nikephoros ‘tua fraternitas’, ibid., no. 32, at 546. See also O. Meyer, art. cit., at 135; F. Dölger, op. cit., 45 f. and W. Ullmann, Growth (as above, 345 n. 1) 113 n. 3.
page 348 note 4 Cf. Growth, 104 ff.; Short History, 85 ff. The passages cited clearly prove that the idea of a division into an occidental and oriental empire was Charlemagne's.
page 349 note 1 Cf. the numerous examples quoted by F. Dölger, op. cit., at 46 ff.
page 349 note 2 The Unitarian theme—imperial unity (Reichseinheit) as a precondition of ecclesiastical unity (Kircheneinheit)—was first concretely applied after Constantine when imperial governments adopted the policy of compulsory ecclesiastical union (see Caspar, E., Geschichte des Papsttums, i Tübingen 1930, 167 ff)Google Scholar and found in Justinian its most consistent representative. Cf. on this the literature cited above, 340 n. 1; Growth, 31 ff., 75 ff.; Short History, 41 ff. For the doctrinal side of the problem see Beck, H.-G., Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich, Munich 1959, 32 ff.Google Scholar, 626, 682. This Byzantine view would have been directly relevant to the important thesis advanced by Ohnsorge, W., Das Zweikaiserproblem, Hildesheim 1947.Google Scholar
page 349 note 3 This makes it clear that the search for a ‘Third Council’ was still going on. Whether the Greeks would have accepted the Basleans' suggestions (above, 342 n. 5) is far from certain in view of their earlier rather vehement rejections.
page 350 note 1 For these details see de Mesquito, D. M. Bueno, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan: a study in the political career of an Italian despot, Cambridge 1941.Google Scholar
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page 350 note 5 Details in Savigny, op. cit., vi. 312 ff.; N. Horn, loc. cit., 273.
page 351 note 1 Ed. Consilia, Lugdunum 1585, vol. i, Cons. 2, fol. 4v, no. 9.
page 351 note 2 For some reflexions on this topic cf. Short History, 306 ff.
page 352 note 1 The importance of the memorandum makes it advisable to append the entry in full. I have collated the original with the text in RTA. xiv. 57 without adopting the latter's questionable punctuation. I would like to thank Mr. R. V. Kerr, of the University Library Cambridge for his help with some textual problems.