I hear you have a noble horse - Manuel II Palaiologos’ letter no. 43 addressed to Demetrios Chrysoloras

Abstract

The letter of Manuel II Palaiologos no. 43 addressed to Demetrios Chrysoloras, as their correspondence in whole, is a vivid testimony, not only on the friendship between these two great intellectuals, but also on some social rules and customs of the court of the last Palaiologan emperors and habits of the Byzantine social and intellectual elite in the first half of the XV century. Through the paradigm of noble horse, used as a symbol of public office, in this case the one of mesazon in the service of John VII, the emperor showed that he was not indifferent and suggested to his friend to give up something which doesn’t suit him and continue to occupy himself with intellectual work. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitetu vizantijskom svetu i br. 177015: Hrišćanska kultura na Balkanu u srednjem veku: Vizantijsko carstvo, Srbi i Bugari od 9. do 15. veka]

Keywords

• Demetrios Chrysoloras
• Manuel II Palaiologos
• mesazon
• archon
• horses
• i`ppikh maqhsij
• education