Χρονολόγηση Γεωγραφικός εντοπισμός Constantinople IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ. 1. Organisation of space - infrastructure

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1 Περίληψη : Constantinople in the years of the Palaiologan dynasty was much smaller than in the Middle Byzantine period, remaining however one of the greatest medieval urban centres. Its political centre had been moved in the region of the Blachernai, while the Great Palace maintained a very limited ceremonial function. Many of the brilliant buildings of previous periods had been left without maintenance, however on the initiative of members of the imperial dynasty and imperial families, many monasteries were restored, rebuilt and decorated, thus preserving Constantinople s role as an artistic centre. The city remained a major trade centre, even though commercial activity was to a great degree in the hands of Italian mercantile communities. Χρονολόγηση Γεωγραφικός εντοπισμός Constantinople 1. Organisation of space - infrastructure In the Palaiologan period there was no extensive building or urban programs carried out, and the main points which determined the living space in Constantinople had not substantially changed from the previous periods: The limits of the city were defined by the sea (Propontis to the South, the Bosporus to the SE, and the Golden Horn to the North) and by the Theodosian walls to the West. Inside those limits, the urban space was arranged by the monumental complex of buildings at the eastern end of city (Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, the Great Palace, the Augustaion), by Mese (that is the main street that began from there and reached up to the Golden Gate of the Theodosian walls with a main branch going northwise), Embolos (the main street on the North-South axis, from the Golden Horn to Propontis), and the big colonnaded squares (fora). However, the economic, religious and political centres had been shifted. The harbours of Propontis (Theodosian harbour, Kontoskalion and Sofianos) had lost their importance (or they were even out of use), while the commercial activity had moved, already from the 12 th century, to the North, along the Golden Horn, where there the Italian quarters were (apart from the Genoese, who after 1267 were installed in Galatas/Peran). It also seems that the much decreased -in comparison with the 12 th centurypopulation had been concentrated in the northern part of city. Along the southern coast habitation was only scarse, and apparently an important part of space had been given for cultivation. 1 Also very underpopulated, as was the case in earlier periods too, was the western part of city along the walls, with the exception of the district of the Blachernai in the northern end. The Muslim traveller Ibn Batouta offers a very characteristic description of the city when he reports that it was constituted by thirteen villages. The decreased population did not need anymore the big cisterns of the early Byzantine period for its water supply, and some of them were given to cultivation, while others were used as warehouses or treasuries. 2 According to a panegyric oration, Michael VIII built a public bath; however, all evidence suggest that in this period baths were small structures and were in no way comparable to the big public baths of the Roman or Ottoman period Public buildings From the important complexes that once constituted the centre of city, only Hagia Sophia, as the see of the Patriarchate, maintained its importance. The building sustained a number of alterations, restorations, reconstructions and additions in its decoration. 4 Its place however in the imperial ceremonial had receded, and Emperors visited it more and more rarely. The Great Palace, previously a seat of imperial power, was completely abandoned. A part of it that had not been devastated was used as lodging of the emperor the day before his coronation, and another part was used as a fortress-prison during the civil war ( ). The level of abandonment of the complex had impressed a number of visitors, the last one being the conqueror of the City, Mohamed II. Deserted also was the hippodrome, where races had long before cease to take place, and instead trees and vineyards had begun to be cultivated. 5 The Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 1/6

2 political centre was now at the other end of city, in the region of Blachernai, the main imperial residence from the Komnenian period. However it seems that even the much smaller Palaiologan court used, at least from the 14 th century, only part of the 12 th century complex, and the rest was in bad situation or even delapidated, while parts of it were refurbished and used depending each time on the needs of the imperial family Imperial houses and monasteries If public buildings were less impressive as far as other periods are concerned, it seems that the houses of aristocrats were particularly luxurious, at least according to reports in historical sources or in epigrams. Only one of these buildings survives, the so-called Tekfur Sarayı, near the region of the Blachernai; and a tower in the south-western end of the city (Mermerkule) has been associated with the residence of Theodore Kantakouzenos. 7 It was usual practice for the aristocrats to built monasteries next to their palaces. Even more common was the renovation and reconstruction of older monastic institutions. From the surviving churches of these monasteries we should mention the monastery of Lips (Fenari Isa Camii), which was rebuilt by Empress Theodora Palaiologina (between ), the monastery of Chora (Kariye Camii), the patron of which was the megas logothetes Theodore Metochites (1315), the monastery of Pammakaristos (Fethiye Camii), rebuilt by protostrator Michael Glabas Tarchaneiotes and his spouse ( ). The architecture of the late Byzantine additions and the impressive interior decoration (in the case of Chora and Pammakaristos) give an idea of the luxury of the imperial buildings in the Palaiologan period. 8 Monasteries in general, whether they were new foundations or older monasteries, played an important role in the religious, social and cultural life of the city. Some of the most important constantinopolitan monasteries of this period it were the Pantokrator monastery, which became a centre for anti-unionists in the 15 th c., where Georgios Scholarios was a monk; the monastery of Peribleptos, where occasionally at the same century the permanent synod and the imperial Council met; the Hodegon monastery, metochion of the patriarchate of Antioch, and centre of anti-palamites that had remained there after the Hesychast controversy and the predominance of the rival party (1347); the monastery of Prodromos of Petra, where the hospital founded by the Serbian kral Miloutin was located; and the monastery of Mangana where John VI Cantakouzenos lived as a monk. 9 Particularly popular during the last centuries were also two therapeutical pilgrimage sites outside the walls, the monastery of Hagioi Anargyroi in the Kosmidion and the monastery of Pege The foreign communities and commercial life The most important Italian community in Constantinople was undoubtedly that of the Genoese, which from 1267 onward had been transferred to Galatas, on the other side of the Golden Horn, in order to avoid the violent frictions with their Venetian competitors, but also in order for the Byzantine authorities to control them better. This expectation was refuted quite early on, as the Genoese proceeded to fortificate Galatas, which was developed as an independent city right next to Constantinople. The Genoese interfered actively in the political life of the Empire, and in certain cases the residents of Galatas actually clashed with the Emperor. Particularly flourishing was the harbour of Galatas, in which, according to the testimony of Gregoras, the commercial activity was three times more than that in the harbour of Constantinople in the first half 14 th century (without taking other commercial communities' wharfs into account). 11 The following most important group of Italians in Constantinople were the Venetians, who returned in the City in 1277 (after their escape during the Byzantine reconquest in 1261) and were installed in their old region in the Golden Horn. Apart from houses, deposits and docks, their quarter included churches, among which that of St Mark was the most important, the palace of bailo (governor of community), a loggia, and even Giudecca, a quarter for Jews with Venetian citizenship; there is also evidence that the Venetian quarter had its own surrounding wall in the city. Apart from the Venetians, there were other merchant colonies in Constantinople such as those of the Pisans, the Catalans, and many other western tradesmen, but also Muslim, mainly Turks from the 14 th century onward, who had their own quarter and mosque. 12 Byzantine Jews were compelled to live in a fortified ghetto, in Vlanga at Propontis, where they dealt mainly with tannage and the manufacture of clothes made of fur. 13 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 2/6

3 The northern part of city was the centre of commercial activity since many of shops and workshops have been attested to have stood there, inside and outside the westerners' quarters. They were usually small residences, which belonged to landowners and were rented for exploitation. Even though the planning restrictions of the middle Byzantine period were not in effect anymore, it is likely that similar enterprises continued to concentrate at the same street or in the same region Population-alimentation As for the other phases of the medieval phase of city, there is no reliable evidence that would allow us to calculate with precision the population of the late Byzantine Constantinople. It is likely that the population had been inflated enough in the decades after 1261, because of the economic resurgence, and the surge of refugees from Asia Minor. It is also sure that the strains of , and above all the plague of 1347, led to a dramatic reduction of the population, roughly to half. The population at the eve of the conquest of 1453 should not overcome , perhaps even less. Respectively, in the previous period could possibly be around In any case the city, even if it was smaller compared to the 12th century, was still among the great urban centres of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. 16 Despite the size of city, the alimentation under normal circumstances was not problematic, because of its very good commercial networking, since it was a main centre of transit trade, among others for cereals and other alimentation products. Constantinople regularly depended for its supply in cereals and meat on its Thracian hinterland; wine was mainly transported through the costal regions of Thrace; and local produce from fishing and rural cultivation inside and outside the city walls played an important role as well. Additionally the needs of capital were covered by cereals that reached the city from the Black Sea, mainly from the estuaries of Danube. 17 Problems in food supply arose because of military assaults, during which a big part of Thrace s production was destroyed, as it happened in 1305, during the pillages of the Catalans, or from 1345 onward with the raids of the Turks. Usually the problem was intensified because during this period refugees from destroyed regions would go to Constantinople. The Byzantine government tried to control the situation by prohibiting the export of cereals from its harbours if their price went above a specific limit, or by negotiating directly with the Italian cities the mission of wheat from the West to the city. Conditions of real famine were rather seldom, and the most characteristic example was during the siege of Constantinople from the Ottoman sultan Bayiazid I ( ). 18 In conclusion, even if Constantinople in the Palaiologan period was much smaller than in previous periods, and notwithstanding the practical inability to maintain some of the magnificent buildings of the past, that occasionally created negative impressions to visitors, it was not a poor city. On the contrary, it was an active economic centre, with adequate population for the standards of the period, with high building- and artistic activity, not to mention its fame as a religious pilgrimage centre at least for the orthodox world. 1. Κιουσοπούλου, Τ., Βασιλεύς ή οικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση (Αθήνα 2007), p. 25 ff. 2. Κιουσοπούλου, Τ., Βασιλεύς ή οικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση (Αθήνα 2007), p. 29, n. 23; Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", in Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, D.C. 2002), p On Michael VIII see Jacoby, D., The Urban Evolution of Latin Constantinople, in Necipoğlu, N. (ed.), Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life (Leiden - Boston - Cologne 2001), p. 296, n For baths in general, see bibliography in Bouras, Ch., "Aspects of the Byzantine City, Eighth-Fifteenth Centuries", in Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, D.C. 2002), p and n Mark, R. - Çakmak, A. Ş. (ed.), Hagia Sophia from the Age of Justinian to the Present (Cambridge - New York 1992). 5. Κιουσοπούλου, Τ., Βασιλεύς ή οικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση (Αθήνα 2007), p. 29; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2 (Oxford - New York 1991), entry Hippodromes. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 3/6

4 6. Magdalino, P., Pseudo-Kodinos Constantinople, in idem, Studies on the History and Topography of Byzantine Constantinople (Aldershot 2007), study ΧΙΙ, pp The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 3 (Oxford - New York 1991), entry "Tekfur Sarayı". For some Tekfur Sarayı is older from the Palaiologan period. For the tower, Κιουσοπούλου, Τ., Βασιλεύς ή οικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση (Αθήνα 2007), p. 34, n. 48, The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 1 (Oxford - New York 1991), entry Chora Monastery ; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2 (Oxford -New York 1991), Lips Monastery ; Belting, H., Mango, C., Mouriki, D., The Mosaics and Frescoes of St. Mary Pammakaristos (Fethiye Camii) at Istanbul (Washington D.C. 1978); Underwood, P.A., The Kariye Djami, vol. 1-4 (Princeton 1975). 9. Magdalino, P., Pseudo-Kodinos Constantinople, in idem, Studies on the History and Topography of Byzantine Constantinople (Aldershot 2007), study ΧΙΙ, pp Talbot, A.-M., Pilgrimage to Healing Shrines: The Evidence of Miracle Accounts, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56 (2002), p. 165 ff. 11. Balard, M., La Romanie génoise, XIIe-debuts du XVe siècle, vol. 2, (Roma - Genova 1978); idem, L organisation des colonies étrangères dans l Empire Byzantin (XIIe-XVe siècle), in Hommes et richesses dans l Empire byzantin, vol. 2 (Paris 1991), pp Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", in Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, D.C. 2002), pp Jacoby, D., Les quartiers juifs de Constantinople à l époque Byzantine, Byzantion 37 (1967), pp Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", in Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, D.C. 2002), pp ; and in the same volume, idem, "Commerce, Trade, Markets, and Money, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", pp Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", in Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Washington, D.C. 2002), p In the same volume see Magdalino, P., "Medieval Constantinople: Built Environment and Urban Development", p. 536, who estimates a greater population for the 15 th c., ca See also Necipoglu, N., Social and Economic Conditions in Constantinople during Mehmed II s Siege, in Κιουσοπούλου, Α. (ed.), Η άλωση της Κωνσταντινούπολης και η μετάβαση από τους μεσαιωνικούς στους νεώτερους χρόνους (Ηράκλειο 2005), p. 78, n Κιουσοπούλου, Τ., Βασιλεύς ή οικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση (Αθήνα 2007), p. 26, n Laiou-Thomadakis, A., The Byzantine Economy in the Mediterranean Trade System: Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries, Dumbarton Oaks Papers (1980), pp ; Koder, J., Fresh Vegetables for the Capital and Dagron, G., Poissons, pêcheurs et poissonniers de Constantinople, in Mango, C. and Dagron, G. (eds.), Constantinople and Its Hinterland (Aldershot 1995), pp and respectively. P. Magdalino's paper The Grain Supply of Constantinople, Ninth-Twelfth Centuries, in the same volume, pp , pertains to the previous period, which partly has similarities with the situation the was formed in the 14 th and 15 th century. 18. See N. Necipoglu, Economic Conditions in Constantinople during the Siege of Bayezid I ( ), in Mango, C. and Dagron, G. (eds.), Constantinople and Its Hinterland (Aldershot 1995), pp Βιβλιογραφία : Talbot A.M., "The Restoration of Constantinople under Michael VIII", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 47, 1993, Κιουσοπούλου Τ., Βασιλεύς ή oικονόμος. Πολιτική εξουσία και ιδεολογία πριν την Άλωση, Αθήνα 2007 Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 4/6

5 Magdalino P., "Μεσαιωνική Κωνσταντινούπολη: Κτισμένο περιβάλλον και αστική ανάπτυξη", Λαΐ ου, Α.Ε. (επιμ.), Οικονομική ιστορία του Βυζαντίου από τον 7ο έως τον 15ο αιώνα 2, Αθήνα 2006, Laiou-Thomadakis A.E., "The Byzantine Economy in the Mediterranean Trade System. Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 34-35, , Janin R., Constantinople byzantine. Développement urbain et répertoire topographique, 2, Paris 1964 Ousterhout R.G., "Contextualizing the Later Churches of Constantinople; Suggested Methodologies and a Few Examples", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 54, 2000, Müller-Wiener W., Schiele R., Schiele W., Bildelexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls, Tubingen 1977 Matschke K.P., "The late Byzantine urban economy, Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries", Laiou, A. (ed.), The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century, Washington, D.C. 2002, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 39, Necipoğlou, N. (ed.), Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, topography and everyday life, Leiden Boston Cologne 2001, The Medieval Mediterranean 33 Mango, C. Dagron, G. (eds), Constantinople and its Hinterland. Papers from the 27th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, April 1993, Aldershot 1995 Magdalino P., "Pseudo-Kodinos Constantinople", Studies on the History and Topography of Byzantine Constantinople, Aldershot 2007, nr ΧΙΙ, 1-14 Δικτυογραφία : Culture in Late Byzantine Period - 13th c. Culture in Late Byzantine Period - 14th c. The Late Byzantine Urban Economy, 13th-15th centuries Γλωσσάριo : bailo Bailo was the representative of Venice at Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire. His office was quite important, that's why only members of the venetien aristocracry were appointed at it. The bailo was a man of particular education and his diplomatic presence at the Sublime Port was decisive. The reports of the bailos' and their mention in the venetian administration constitute important documents which are often true handbooks of political, military and financial science and therefore important sources for the modern historian. Catalan Company, the (almugavares, compagnia) A group of fully-armed and highly-trained Catalans mercenary warriors, who numbered a few thousand. In 1303 they came to the assistance of Byzantium against the Turks, but soon they turned against the Empire and took to large-scale looting. They conquered the Burgundian duchy of Athens, after the battle of Orchomenos in Copais, in endemousa synodos (permanent synod) of Constantinople A consulting synod of ecclesiastic officials dwelling in Constantinople, convened every year in the capital to discuss current matters, the demands of bishops and prelates etc. megas logothetes The head of the civil Byzantine administration. Megas logothetes was a title used at the end of the 12th century during the reign of Isaac II Angelos ( ), replacing the logothetes ton sekreton, an office which was created during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos ( ) to bring the Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 5/6

6 entire civil administration under the control of a single individual. metochion In the Byzantine period, metochion meant the estate that was conceded to a monastery for income purposes and operated as its dependency. Usually the metochia were located far from the monastery to which they belonged and included various structures, such as churches, hospices etc. protostrator A Byzantine military office, accorded to the chief of imperial stratores or hippokomoi («grooms»). The title is first mentionned in the 8th century. In the 9th and 10th century, his major duty was to accompany the Emperor while on horseback. In the 12th century he was one of the highest officials of the Byzantine court and he also commanded troops. Πηγές Manuel Chrysoloras, Epistola ad Joannem imperatorem, qua veteris ac novae Romae comparatio continetur, ed. J.P. Migne, Patrologia cursus completus, Series graeca 156, col , esp Manuel Holobolus, Orationes in imperatorem Michaelem Palaeologum, ed. M. Treu, Manuelis Holoboli Orationes (Programm des königlichen Victoria Gymnasiums 2, Potsdam 1907), pp Isidore of Kiev, «Εγκώμιον εις Μανουήλ και Ιωάννην Παλαιολόγους», ed. Σπ. Λάμπρος, Παλαιολόγεια και Πελοποννησιακά Γ (Αθήνα 1926; repr. 1972), p «The Wanderer of Stephen of Novgorod», ed. G. Majeska, Russian Travellers to Constantinople in the 14 th 15 th c. (Washington D.C. 1984), pp Παραθέματα The resoration of Constantinople under Micahel VII, according to the first of Holobolus's orations to the Emperor οὓς δὴ καὶ αὐτοὺς λαμπροτέρους πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ καὶ περιφανεστέρους αὐτὸς παρέστησας, βασιλεῦ, τεράστιόν τι χρῆμα κειμένους τοῖς τε μακρὰν καὶ τοῖς σύνεγγυς, τοῖς μὲν εἰς ὄψιν προβεβλημένους, τῶν δέ γε μακρὰν εἰς ἀκοὰς διαβαίνοντας. ὡραϊσμοὶ πρὸς τούτοις δημοσίων κατασκευῶν ἱππόδρομοι, θαῦμα ἰδεῖν ἀγορὰ πλήθουσα θέατρα δικαστήρια στενωποί κάλλη στοῶν ἀφθονία λουτρῶν δρόμοι ἐν βάθει, ἕτεροι ἐν τέλει, οἱ μὲν κατάστεγοι, οἱ δ ὕπαιθροι γηροτροφεῖα πανταχοῦ ἐλέους πηγαὶ ἀένναοι βρύουσαι καὶ λοιπὰ φιλανθρώπου γνώμης τεκμήρια ὧν σὺ καὶ αὐτῶν αὐτάναξ ὡς φίλοικτος, θαυμάσιος οἰκοδόμος ἄρτι καὶ καινιστής λόγων ἀμύθητος ἀφθονία σπουδαὶ παντοίων ἐπιστημῶν καὶ Μοῦσα πᾶσα, ἡμεδαπή τε καὶ ἔπηλυς... Manuel Holobolus, Orationes in imperatorem Michaelem Palaeologum, ed. M. Treu, Manuelis Holoboli Orationes (Potsdam 1907), pp The magnificence of Palaiologan Constantinople in the eyes of its contemporaries a. Ἀποτέτμηνται δ αὐτῆς ἀγυιαί, λεωφόροι καὶ ἱππήλατοι πᾶσαι:... ἔστι δ ἐν οἷς καὶ δρόμους καταστέγους, τὰς δὲ πολλὰς ἀμαξηλάτους ὧν μὲν προσαπολήγουσιν [εἰς] ἱερὰ καὶ στοὰς καὶ ἀνάκτορα, ἄλλαι θέατρα καὶ ἱπποδρόμους καὶ γυμνάσια καὶ βαλανεῖα καὶ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς πόλεως αἱ δὲ πρὸς ἀγορὰς καὶ νεώρια καὶ λιμένας... Isidore of Kiev, «Εγκώμιον εις Μανουήλ και Ιωάννην Παλαιολόγους», ed. Σπ. Λάμπρος, Παλαιολόγεια και Πελοποννησιακά Γ (Αθήνα 1926, repr. 1972), p b. Entering Constantinople is like [entering] a great forest; it is impossible to get around without a good guide... «The Wanderer of Stephen of Novgorod», ed. G. Majeska, Russian Travellers to Constantinople in the 14 th 15 th c. (Washington D.C. 1984), p. 44. Δημιουργήθηκε στις 18/1/2017 Σελίδα 6/6