Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction

Part I: Dissent and Consent
1. Voices of Dissent: Preaching and Negotiating Authority
Organization of the ecclesiastics' group
Major political and social themes in the ecclesiastics’ writings

2. Voices of Consent: Imperial Rhetoricians, Theatra, and Patronage
Theatra and imperial involvement
Profile and organization of the rhetoricians
Connections among the members of the literary court
The rhetorical landscape in the late Palaiologan period
Main themes in the rhetoricians’ writings

Part II: Other Voices, Other Approaches: Manuel II’s Political Writings
Introduction
3. The deliberative voice: The Dialogue with the Empress Mother on Marriage
Contents and structure
Genre
Constructing dialogic authority

4. The Didactic Voice: the Foundations of Imperial Conduct
Context of production
Contents and structure
Genre
Authorial voice

5. The didactic voice: The Orations (Seven ethical-political orations)
Introduction
The dramatic setting
The contents of the Orations
Major themes in the Orations
The contents and form of the orations
Between teaching and preaching: constructing the genre of the Orations
Authorial voice: teaching the son and admonishing the emperor

6. The narrative voice: The Funeral Oration on Brother Theodore, Despot of Morea
Contexts of production
The rhetorical template and the compositional structure of the Funeral oration
The narrator and the narrative
Authorial voice

7. Towards a Renewed Vision of Imperial Authority
Society and social "classes"
Enemies and allies
Markers of Byzantine Identity
Renewal of imperial ideology in Manuel's texts
Manuel II’s Imperial vision and Style of government

Appendices
Bibiliography

Index