Leonard of Chios ( el, Λεονάρδος ο Χίος; it, Leonardo di Chio) was a Greek scholar of the
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...
and Latin Archbishop of Mytilene, best known for his eye-witness account of the
Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which is one of the main sources for the event.
Biography
Leonard was born on the
Aegean island of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...
, then under
Genoese domination (cf.
Maona of Chios), in .
According to his own account, he was of humble parents. He entered the
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...
in Chios, and after profession was sent to the
University of Padua
The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...
for his philosophical and theological studies. After ordination he taught at both Padua and
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, then at the request of Maria Giustiniani returned to his native island, and was made
Archbishop of Mytilene on the island of
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...
by
Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...
. There he enjoyed a close relationship with the
Gattilusi
The House of Gattilusio was a powerful Genoese family who controlled a number of possessions in the northern Aegean from 1355 until the mid 15th century. Anthony Luttrell has pointed out that this family had developed close connections to the Byz ...
i, the Genoese rulers of Lesbos.
In 1452, Cardinal
Isidore of Kiev
Isidore of Kiev, also known as Isidore of Thessalonica or Isidore, the Apostate ( el, ; russian: Исидор; uk, Ісидор; 1385 – 27 April 1463), was a prelate of Byzantine Greek origin. From 1437 to 1441 he served as the Metropolitan ...
stopped at Lesbos on his way to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
to conduct negotiations for a union between the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. Stopping on Lesbos, Isidore invited Leonard to join him. The latter accepted, and arrived at Constantinople with the papal delegation on 26 October 1452.
As a result, he was an eyewitness of the subsequent
siege and capture of Constantinople by the
Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed II in May 1453. It is not known what role he played in the defence; he evidently accompanied Cardinal Isidore, and thus participated both in the councils of the defenders, and in the defence of the sector of Saint Demetrios, that Isidore commanded. During the sack of the city on 29 May, both Isidore and Leonard were captured, but soon were released or ransomed. Leonard was even able to buy some books from the looting Turks on the same day of the sack.
Leonard soon managed to find passage to Chios, from where on 16 August he wrote to
Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene made ...
a detailed account of the fall of Constantinople in a letter. Written in Latin, Leonard's letter "describes the conquest in a fashion hostile to the Byzantines and Venetians but favorable to the Genoese".
It "remains our basic source for the event" to this day, and was reprinted several times in subsequent centuries, translated into
Venetian and vernacular Greek, and was used as a source, or outright copied, by several other authors.
His later life is not well documented. Thus it was long believed that he returned to his see at Mytilene, and remained there until the
Ottoman conquest of Lesbos
The Ottoman conquest of Lesbos took place in September 1462. The Ottoman Empire, under Sultan Mehmed II, laid siege to the island's capital, Mytilene. After its surrender, the other forts of the island surrendered as well. The event put an end to ...
in 1462, when he was captured anew. A Latin work describing the siege and capture of Mytilene, ''De Lesbo a Turcis capta'', was long attributed to him, but stylistical differences suggest a different author. Modern scholarship considers that Leonard returned to Italy to campaign for a Christian alliance against the Ottomans, and that he died there in . His successor to the see of Mytilene, Benedetto, was nominated in December 1459, and is the likely author of ''De Lesbo a Turcis capta''.
Works
His best-known writings is the letter mentioned above and an
apologetical
Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
tract in answer to the humanist
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanist. He was responsible for rediscovering and recovering many class ...
. Both tracts with biographical sketches were edited by Michael Justinian (Avila, 1657). There is reason to believe that many of his letters remain unedited in the
Vatican Library
The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...
.
References
Sources
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{{Authority control
1395 births
1458 deaths
15th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Republic of Venice
Dominican bishops
Fall of Constantinople
Medieval Chios
Medieval Lesbos
Writers from Chios
People of the Byzantine–Ottoman wars
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain
Clergy from Chios
15th-century Greek writers
15th-century Greek educators