Geschichtsunterricht für Kaiser Sigismund? Gedanken zu einer nie gehaltenen Rede des Isidor von Kiev

Schreiner, Peter (2025) Geschichtsunterricht für Kaiser Sigismund? Gedanken zu einer nie gehaltenen Rede des Isidor von Kiev. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 65. pp. 339-347. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

In 1434, the monk Isidor, later Metropolitan of Kiev and since 1439 also cardinal of the Roman Church, headed a Byzantine delegation to the Council of Basel. For this purpose, he also wrote a speech on Emperor Sigismund, whom he met in Ulm on June 14, 1434. In this speech, he highlights the qualities that make him the leader of the European powers. He refers to his role in Hungarian history, in church politics and sees in him the only personality who can push back the “infidels”, i.e. the Turks. The author of the present article stress in an analysis that the speech, because of its length and its complex linguistic form, could not have been presented to the emperor, who also did not understand simple Greek. As Isidor himself also emphasizes, the speech was supposed to be a personal gift to the German emperor, which was presented to him only in written form. The text testifies to an absolutely pro- Western political behavior of its author, in which the Byzantine Empire no longer plays a role. Historically, this text is important for the mentality that was widespread in various circles of the capital 20 years before the downfall.

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