The Early Palaeologan Renaissance (1261 - C. 1360): 27 (Medieval Mediterranean) - Hardcover

'...a welcome addition to the growing list of publications dedicated to the late Byzantine period, and its breadth will be especially appreciated by undergraduate and beginning post-graduate students, for whom it will supply a good traditional overview...a practical and accessible survey of a too-little studied period, and will be especially helpful for those of us attempting to teach the period to undergraduates. With its publication, Fryde has paved the way for future generations of scholars to consider the period in a more nuanced way.' Leslie Brubaker, TMR, 2001.

The Byzantine world underwent a remarkable recovery of intellectual energy in the period following the recovery of Constantinople in 1261. The reaction of the emperors and their entourage of well-educated high officials to their political disasters was a deliberate revival of the glories of ancient Greek culture. This book explores the preservation and dissemination by this learned elite of such ancient literature, philosophy and science as still survived then, the development of editorial techniques which resulted in more complete and less corrupt texts, and their improvement buy the addition of commentaries and other innovations.