Through Force or Faith? — Page 81
Chapter 1 — Analysis of the Papal Lecture 81 Before we analyse this point, let us see the historical perspec- tive in which the aforementioned dialogue took place. Historical Analysis of Manuel’s Dialogue Manuel II Palaeologus was the Kaiser of Byzantine from A. D. 1391- 1425 and his capital was Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). Manuel began his political career as the governor of Thessaloniki. At that time, his father John V was the King of Byzantium. Turks had captured the areas encircling Thessaloniki and thus, the city was also at the mercy of Turks and paid trib- ute to them. Due to these conditions, Manuel had to fight the Battle of Philadelphia (present-day Alasehir) for the Turks. In April 1387, before the Turks’ complete conquest of Thessaloniki, Manuel escaped to Lesbos. In the meantime, due to the civil war and defeats at the hands of the Turks, John V lost his reign to his nephew. In 1390, when John V was restored with the help of the Turks, he had to give his son as an obedient vassal to the Turkish emperor. At the death of John V, Manuel fled the Turkish camp in February 1391 and succeeded in reaching Constantinople and became the king of this declining kingdom. From here, he started the efforts for holy war against the Turks. During the time he was in the custody of Turks, he had to participate in some military campaigns of the Turks. During this time, from October 1391 to December 1391, Manuel enjoyed the hospitality of the Turkish magistrate of Ankara, who was known as Mudarris. It is with him that he had the entire dialogue that was edited by Manuel