Античная древность и средние века (Dec 2024)
Idea of the Church Union at the Council of Constance: The Polish Initiative in the Byzantine Game
Abstract
This article examines the international context of the Council of Constance, where, in the fall 1415, the idea of the Church union between the Latin West and the Orthodox East was voiced on behalf of the Polish King. The analysis undertaken links the origins of the initiative in question with the political game of the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos of Byzantium. According to the author of this article, it was the time when Byzantium sought to secure peace with the Ottomans, and the way to it laid through the separation and balancing of three forces, Venice, the Roman King Sigismund Luxembourg, and the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I. Against the background of the contradictions between Sigismund and Venice, the most important task of Byzantine diplomacy was to block the possibility of an agreement between Venice and the Ottoman ruler. In this regard, the Byzantines deliberately instilled in everyone the false assumption about the intentions of their Emperor to join King Sigismund, who was preparing for the Crusade. The article’s author believes that the game simulated the preparation of the Greeks for negotiations on the Church union, and the Byzantines actually provoked the Polish King and his supporter the Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania to the appropriate appeal sounded as a result at the Council of Constance. In the light of the proposed hypothesis, the article explains some details of the Byzantine embassy, which visited the two rulers in 1415. The article reveals the Byzantine trail of the mission of Theodore Chrysoberges to the Council of Constance. The result of the Byzantine game is seen in the fact that with its help the Greeks managed to involve Venice in negotiations with the emperor on a maritime agreement that provided for international control over the Straits while maintaining the alliance of Byzantium with the Ottoman sultan.
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