Book Series Byzantioς. Studies in Byzantine History and Civilization, vol. 19

Intercultural Encounters in Medieval Greece after 1204

The Evidence of Art and Material Culture

Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Vicky Foskolou (eds)

  • Pages: 572 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Illustrations:220 b/w, 35 col.
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2022

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-59850-5
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This volume is a contribution to the ongoing scholarly dialogue on a crucial topic, viz. the relations between East and West and their reflection in art and culture in late medieval Greece.

Review(s)

"The fourteen richly documented studies, with the profiles and credentials of its sixteen contributors, all Greek, provide a highly commendable picture of the standards of the Greek academia and the National Ephorates, the Culture Supervising Agencies of Greece, which these scholars serve and represent. What is beyond doubt is that there is very much of history (and not only medieval), geography, culture, theology, politics, ideology, social and ecclesiastical life etc. to be learned from this volume in addition to art, architecture, iconography, history of art, trends, schools and methodologies. The 245 Figures and the 35 Plates enriching the volume with visual evidence and color, make it a valuable addition to an academic and private library." (Daniel J. Sahas, in The Byzantine Review, 04.2022.018, doi: 10.17879/byzrev-2022-4393)

«  il faut surtout surtout souligner la richesse de la documentation fournie, la minutie de la présentation des oeuvres tour à tour considérées, et la solidité des argumentations déployées pour leur interprétation. » (Jean-Pierre Caillet, dans Deltion of the Christian Archaeological Society 43. 2022, p. 435-438)

«Ένας τόμος επιμελημένος από δύο εξέχουσες και διακεκριμένες ερευνήτριες της βυζαντινής τέχνης και αρχαιολογίας δεν θα μπορούσε παρά να είναι μία ευτυχής εκδοτική συγκυρία. (...) Συμπερασματικά, με τον εν λόγω τόμο επιχειρούνται επίκαιρες μεθοδολογικές και ερευνητικές υπερβάσεις, οι οποίες προωθούν ουσιαστική επανεξέταση και δυναμική επέκταση των ορίων και πεδίων της μελέτης του μεσαιωνικού υλικού πολιτισμού στον ελλαδικό χώρο.» (Sophia Germanidou, in Byzantina Symmeikta 33, 2023, doi: 10.12681/byzsym.32429)

“Συμπερασματικά, με τον εν λόγω τόμο επιχειρούνται επίκαιρες μεθοδο[1]λογικές και ερευνητικές υπερβάσεις, οι οποίες προωθούν ουσιαστική επανε[1]ξέταση και δυναμική επέκταση των ορίων και πεδίων της μελέτης του μεσαιωνικού υλικού πολιτισμού στον ελλαδικό χώρο. Ο εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρων «υβριδικός» χαρακτήρας που του αποδίδεται φαίνεται πως θα αποκρυπτογραφείται πια όχι μόνο από τα καλλιτεχνικά επιτεύγματα ή τα καλά κατηγοριοποιημένα ευρήματα της αρχαιολογίας αλλά από την δια– και πολυ– πολιτισμική ταυτότητα των ανθρώπων που τα δημιούργησαν.” (Σοφια Γερμανíδου, BYZANTINA ΣΥΜΜΕΙΚΤΑ 33, 2023, p. 318)

“The particularity and the specialized approach and analyses of some topics might, unconsciously, deviate (…) It should be remembered, however, that the detail is what unveils its bearer. Art is flourishing in the detail! The brush is made of hair; each single one competing for the lifeless shade and the thinnest, brightest and most expressive nature of the lively ray; while the brushstrokes, especially for a (Byzantine) iconographer, make for an exercise for a prayerful state in a persistent mood of humility, and penance! There is where the iconographer finds meaning…” (Daniel J. Sahas, in Byzantine Review, 04.2022.018, p. 117)

BIO

Sophia Kalopissi-Verti is Professor Emerita of Byzantine Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is co-director of excavations of early Byzantine sites on the island of Kos (Dodecanese) and at Sinai, and the author of a book on Dedicatory Inscriptions and Donor Portraits in Thirteenth-Century Churches of Greece. 

Vicky Foskolou is Assistant Professor of Byzantine Archaeology at the University of Crete. Her research focuses on Byzantine monumental painting and iconography, cross-cultural exchanges between Byzantium and the West, and aspects of private devotion in the Byzantine world.

Summary

Based on the evidence of artistic production and material culture this collective volume aims at exploring cross-cultural relations and interaction between Greeks and Latins in late medieval Greece in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade. Fourteen essays discuss mostly new and unpublished archaeological and artistic material, including architecture, sculpture, wall-paintings and icons, pottery and other small finds, but also the evidence of music and poetry. Through the surviving material of these artistic activities this volume explores the way Byzantines and Latins lived side by side on the Greek mainland and the Aegean islands from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries and traces the mechanisms that led to the emergence of the new, composite world of the Latin East. Issues of identity, patronage, papal policy, the missionary activities of the Latin religious orders and the reactions and responses of the Byzantines are also re-considered, offering fresh insights into and a better understanding of the various manifestations of the interrelationship between the two ethnicities, confessions and cultures.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
List of Abbreviations
List of Illustrations

PART I: TRACING THE LATIN IDENTITIES AND THE ROLE OF THE MENDICANTS
Michalis Olympios, Architecture, Use of Space, and Ornament in the Mendicant Churches of Latin Greece: An Overview
Vicky Foskolou, Reflections of Mendicant Spirituality in the Monumental Painting of Crete in the Late Medieval Period (13th–15th centuries)
Nickiphoros I. Tsougarakis, Art, Identity, and the Franciscans in Crete
Ioanna Bitha and Anna-Maria Kasdagli, Saint George ‘of the English’: Byzantine and Western Encounters in a Chapel of the Fortifications of Rhodes
Dimitris Kountouras, Western Music and Poetry at the Kingdom of Thessalonica: Music and Historiography of the Fourth Crusade

PART II: SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND MUTUAL APPROACHES: THE EVIDENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND MATERIAL CULTURE
Olga Gratziou, Imported Projects, Local Skills, and the Emergence of a ‘Cretan Gothic’
Anastasia Vassiliou, Glazed Pottery in Late Medieval Morea (13th–15th Centuries): Cross-Cultural Tableware with Multiple Connotations
Maria Michailidou, Pottery Finds in the Medieval Town of Rhodes (1204−1522): Insights on a Multicultural, Cosmopolitan Society
Eleni Barmparitsa, Dress Accessories and Sartorial Trends in the Principality of Achaia (1205–1428): Evidence from the Frankish Castles of Chlemoutsi and Glarentza

PART III: CULTURAL INTERACTIONS AND BYZANTINE RESPONSES: THE EVIDENCE OF ARCHITECTURE, MURALS, AND ICON PAINTING
Michalis Kappas, Cultural Interactions between East and West: The Testimony of Three Orthodox Monasteries in Thirteenth-Century Frankish Messenia
Aspasia Louvi-Kizi, Politics of Equilibrium: Gothic Architectural Features at Mystras (1361–71), Cypriot Models, and the Role of Isabelle de Lusignan
Nikolaos Mastrochristos and Angeliki Katsioti, Reconstructing the Artistic Landscape of Rhodes in the Fifteenth Century: The Evidence of Painting from Lindos
Konstantia Kefala, Permeable Boundaries of Artistic Identity: The Origin of a Fifteenth-Century Annunciation
Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Preaching, the Role of the Apostles, and the Evidence of Iconography in East and West: Byzantine Responses to the ‘Challenges’ from the Latin Church after 1204

Notes on Contributors
Index