Nicholas Mesarites ( el, Νικόλαος Μεσαρίτης; ca. 1163/4 – after 1216) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

churchman and writer, who eventually rose to the office of

Metropolitan of Ephesus The Metropolis of Ephesus ( el, Μητρόπολις Εφέσου) was an ecclesiastical territory (metropolis) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in western Asia Minor, modern Turkey. Christianity was introduced already in the city o ...

in the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhous ...

Life

Born ca. 1163/4, Mesarites is first recorded in 1200, during the attempted coup of

John Komnenos the Fat John Komnenos (Latinized as Comnenus), nicknamed "the Fat" ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κομνηνὸς ὁ παχύς, Ioannis Komninos o pahys), was a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine noble who attempted to usurp the imperial throne from Alexios III Ange ...

. At the time, Mesarites was ''

skeuophylax ''Skeuophylax'' ( el, σκευοφύλαξ), feminine form ''skeuophylakissa'' (σκευοφυλάκισσα), meaning "keeper of the vessels", is an ecclesiastical office in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Usually held by a priest, the office of the ...

'' of the Church of the Pharos in the

Great Palace of Constantinople The Great Palace of Constantinople ( el, Μέγα Παλάτιον, ''Méga Palátion''; Latin: ''Palatium Magnum''), also known as the Sacred Palace ( el, Ἱερὸν Παλάτιον, ''Hieròn Palátion''; Latin: ''Sacrum Palatium''), was th ...

, and wrote an eyewitness account of the events. After the

capture Capture may refer to: *Asteroid capture, a phenomenon in which an asteroid enters a stable orbit around another body *Capture, a software for lighting design, documentation and visualisation *"Capture" a song by Simon Townshend *Capture (band), an ...

of Constantinople by the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1204, he initially remained in the city. In late 1206, along with his brother John he participated in discussions between the

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

clergy and the new

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

authorities, represented by the

Latin Patriarch of Constantinople The Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople was an office established as a result of the Fourth Crusade and its conquest of Constantinople in 1204. It was a Roman Catholic replacement for the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinopl ...

Thomas Morosini and the

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

, Cardinal Benedict of Santa Susanna. The discussion failed to breach the rift between the two parties, as the Greeks refused to subordinate themselves to the Latin clergy. Following the death of his brother in February 1207, Mesarites left for the

, where he was appointed

soon after. As Metropolitan of Ephesus, he headed a mission in 1214/5 to Constantinople for discussions with the new papal envoy, Cardinal

Pelagius of Albano Pelagio Galvani (c. 1165 – 30 January 1230, Portuguese: Latin: Pelagius) was a Kingdom of León, Leonese Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, and canon lawyer. He became a papal legate and leader of the Fifth Crusade. Born at Guimarães, his ea ...

. Mesarites wrote a report of his discussions with Pelagius, where he highlights his intransigence, intolerance towards the Greek Orthodox clergy and insistence on

Papal primacy Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is a Roman Catholic ecclesiological doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. The doctrine is accepted ...

. In 1216 he officiated at the marriage of

Irene Laskarina Irene Laskarina (died 1240) ( el, Εἰρήνη Λασκαρίνα, ''Eirēnē Laskarina'') was an Empress of Nicaea. She was a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, emperor of Nicaea and Anna Angelina. Her maternal grandparents were Emperor Alexios ...

, the eldest daughter of the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Laskaris, and Andronikos Palaiologos.

Writings

Mesarites' writing style, distinguished by "his interest in vivid details and in his own role in the events" (A. Kazhdan), marks a conscious departure from the conventions of Byzantine literature, which he on occasion mocks. This is particularly evident in his description of the 1200 coup, which is far more vivid and immediate than the far more stylized and abstract treatments of the same event by other contemporary writers. The

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

he composed for his brother contains also an eyewitness account of the fall of Constantinople and contemporary events. Mesarites also left a valuable description of the

Church of the Holy Apostles The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...

, and of the school that functioned in its premises.

Editions

* August Heisenberg, ''Nikolaos Mesarites. Die Palastrevolution des Johannes Komnenos'', Würzburg, 1907. * August Heisenberg, ''Der Epitaphios des Nikolaos Mesarites auf seinen Bruder Johannes'', in ''Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenunion'' I, Sitzungsberichte der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich, 1922. * August Heisenberg, ''Die Unionsverhandlungen von 30. August 1206. Patriarchenwahl und Kaiserkrönung in Nikaia 1208'', in ''Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenunion'' II, Munich, 1923. * August Heisenberg, ''Der Bericht des Nikolaos Mesarites über die politischen und kirchlichen Ereignisse des Jahres 1214'', in ''Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des lateinischen Kaisertums und der Kirchenunion'' III, Munich, 1923. * Glanville Downey, ''Nikolaos Mesarites. Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople'', Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1957.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Nicholas Mesarites, ''Ekphrasis on the Church of the Holy Apostles''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mesarites, Nicholas 1160s births 13th-century deaths 13th-century Byzantine bishops Byzantine writers Bishops of Ephesus People of the Empire of Nicaea East–West Schism 13th-century Byzantine writers Constantinopolitan Greeks Writers from Constantinople