A review of "Byzantine East and Latin West"
This is an old collection of articles on the Byzantine
Empire by Deno John Geanakoplos, a Greek-American scholar of Byzantine and
Renaissance studies. I bought it because of the chapter titled “The Influences
of Byzantine Culture on the Medieval Western World”. Other items of interest
include “The Greco-Byzantine Colony in Venice and its Significance in the
Renaissance” and “The Cretan Role in the Transmission of Greco-Byzantine Culture
to Western Europe via Venice”.
I don't think the author manages to prove a decisive or formative Byzantine influence on the Latin West during the Middle Ages, except in the area of law where the Byzantines had codified Roman law in the form of the Corpus Juris Civilis of Emperor Justinian (“the Code of Justinian”). The sea-laws of the so-called Macedonian Dynasty were also important during the Early Middle Ages, but later fell in disuse. Italy was of course heavily influenced by Byzantine art and architecture, hardly surprising since large parts of the Italian peninsula *were* Byzantine for centuries, i.e. controlled by the East Roman Empire. However, Italy also developed in a different cultural and political direction, although the advanced diplomacy and secret service of Venice may have had Byzantine precedents. Greek philosophical and scientific manuscripts reached the West during the Middle Ages, but this too led to very independent lines of development, such as Scholasticism. I think Byzantium is best seen as the unique civilization is surely was, for good or for bad!
During the Renaissance, one *can* see a Greek influence in the form of Byzantine intellectuals moving to Italy with valuable Greek manuscripts and new ways to read and interpret them. The book says little about this, however, instead describing the history of the Greek community in Venice and the “Cretan” influence on Western Europe. I admit that I found these chapters interesting! The Greeks in Venice were nominally Uniates, i.e. Catholics with a Byzantine rite, but the Latin hierarchy suspected them of being crypto-Orthodox, a suspicion which was probably well founded. Apparently, the Serenissima eventually permitted the Greeks to rejoin the Orthodox Church for reasons of pragmatic Realpolitik. As for Crete, most of the “Cretans” who migrated to Western Europe seems to have been refugees from Constantinople rather than Cretans proper. They made a temporary landfall on Crete, one of the few Greek territories not yet under Muslim Ottoman control (the island was controlled by the Venetians).
I'm not an expert on art history, but I found the author's comments on Byzantine art intriguing. Usually, the Byzantine Empire is associated with otherworldly pictures of Jesus and the Virgin on Orthodox icons, and little else, artistically speaking. Geanakoplos points out that Byzantine art became more naturalistic during the 13th and 14th centuries, and wonder aloud whether it might have influenced Giotto, the famous early Renaissance painter. The author also believes that El Greco's paintings had experimental predecessors in Byzantium. El Greco was Cretan and had been trained in the so-called Cretan school of painting. Ironically, the art in the Late Byzantine Empire apparently reverted back to the non-naturalistic mode during the 14th century, but continued to evolve in Venetian-controlled Crete. To be honest, though, Geanakoplos is so Crete-obsessed that I almost suspect that *he* is Cretan and hence something of a Cretan local patriot!
Ultimately, I will give this book four stars. It's probably not very useful for the general reader, but for “nerds” like yours truly, it was just right.
I don't think the author manages to prove a decisive or formative Byzantine influence on the Latin West during the Middle Ages, except in the area of law where the Byzantines had codified Roman law in the form of the Corpus Juris Civilis of Emperor Justinian (“the Code of Justinian”). The sea-laws of the so-called Macedonian Dynasty were also important during the Early Middle Ages, but later fell in disuse. Italy was of course heavily influenced by Byzantine art and architecture, hardly surprising since large parts of the Italian peninsula *were* Byzantine for centuries, i.e. controlled by the East Roman Empire. However, Italy also developed in a different cultural and political direction, although the advanced diplomacy and secret service of Venice may have had Byzantine precedents. Greek philosophical and scientific manuscripts reached the West during the Middle Ages, but this too led to very independent lines of development, such as Scholasticism. I think Byzantium is best seen as the unique civilization is surely was, for good or for bad!
During the Renaissance, one *can* see a Greek influence in the form of Byzantine intellectuals moving to Italy with valuable Greek manuscripts and new ways to read and interpret them. The book says little about this, however, instead describing the history of the Greek community in Venice and the “Cretan” influence on Western Europe. I admit that I found these chapters interesting! The Greeks in Venice were nominally Uniates, i.e. Catholics with a Byzantine rite, but the Latin hierarchy suspected them of being crypto-Orthodox, a suspicion which was probably well founded. Apparently, the Serenissima eventually permitted the Greeks to rejoin the Orthodox Church for reasons of pragmatic Realpolitik. As for Crete, most of the “Cretans” who migrated to Western Europe seems to have been refugees from Constantinople rather than Cretans proper. They made a temporary landfall on Crete, one of the few Greek territories not yet under Muslim Ottoman control (the island was controlled by the Venetians).
I'm not an expert on art history, but I found the author's comments on Byzantine art intriguing. Usually, the Byzantine Empire is associated with otherworldly pictures of Jesus and the Virgin on Orthodox icons, and little else, artistically speaking. Geanakoplos points out that Byzantine art became more naturalistic during the 13th and 14th centuries, and wonder aloud whether it might have influenced Giotto, the famous early Renaissance painter. The author also believes that El Greco's paintings had experimental predecessors in Byzantium. El Greco was Cretan and had been trained in the so-called Cretan school of painting. Ironically, the art in the Late Byzantine Empire apparently reverted back to the non-naturalistic mode during the 14th century, but continued to evolve in Venetian-controlled Crete. To be honest, though, Geanakoplos is so Crete-obsessed that I almost suspect that *he* is Cretan and hence something of a Cretan local patriot!
Ultimately, I will give this book four stars. It's probably not very useful for the general reader, but for “nerds” like yours truly, it was just right.
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