The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, C.1295-1383

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, Aug 22, 2002 - History - 228 pages
John Cantacuzene reigned as Byzantine emperor in Constantinople from 1347 to 1354. A man of varied talents, as a scholar, soldier, statesman, theologian and monk, he was unique in being the only emperor to narrate the events of his own career. His memoirs form one of the most interesting and literate of all Byzantine histories. Following his abdication in 1354, he lived the last thirty years of his life as a monk, a writer and a grey eminence behind the throne. This book is not a social or political history of the Byzantine Empire in the fourteenth century. It is a biography of a much maligned man who had a hope, however naive, of coming to terms with the emerging Muslim world of Asia and of winning the co-operation of western Christendom without compromising the Orthodox faith of the Byzantine tradition.
 

What people are saying - Write a review

We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Selected pages

Contents

MONK HISTORIAN AND THEOLOGIAN 13541383
134
HIS CHARACTER ACHIEVEMENTS AND FAILURES
161
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
187
INDEX
198
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information