284 K. M.
SETTON
dled of which are extant from the Catalan period, as compared to a few dozens
from the Florentine period, are serfs and lesser bourgeois, usually nameless.
The Catalan is very clearly seen to be a member of a race apart, one of the
Conquistadors. This was far less true of the Florentine, but the reason is not
far to seek. Athens was not occupied by an Italian Company, and ltalians,
despite the best efforts of Antonio I Acciajuoli to attract them to Athens and
Thebes, were never to be numerous. The later fourteenth and the earlier
fifteenth centuries would be markecl by a great upsurge of the Hellenic spirit,
an increased ethnic awareness that was to maintain the character of Greece
as a nation and of the Greeks as a people through almost four centuries of
Turkish rule. This new spirit, fostered and guicled by the Greek Church, would
put a strong weapon in the hands of the Greek archontic families. The Chalco-
conclylae were to be important in Athens in the third ancl fourth decades of
the fifteenth century as no Greek family could have been a century before.lse
The renaissance at Mistra provides clear evidence of this phenomenon.
Throughout the 1380's, the balance of power was tilting gradually but
irreversibly against the Catalans and in favor of the Florentine Nerio Accia-
juoli. Despite the best efforts of the Catalan commander Peter de Pau and his
compatriots, who received little help from King John I of Aragon, by May
I 388 they could no longer withstand Nerio's unrelenting pressure on the Acrop-
olis. The Florentine forces took the citaclel on May 2, 1388, as plagu,e ravagecl
citizens and soldiers alike.160 The Catalans had ruled in Attica an<l Boeotia
for three quarters of a century. The chief monuments they have left behind
them are documents in the archives of Barcelona and Venice, Palermo and the
Vatican. But these monuments have proved more lasting than bronze, and
from them the incredible history of Catalan domination in Athens and Thebes
has finally been written in the last few generations.
Instilutefor Advanced Study
Prínceton, N. I.
159. The learnedmonograph of Dem. Gr. I(ampouroglous,The Chalkokondylai(in Greek;
Atl.rens, 1926), makes clear that the family fortunes of the Chalcocondylae were founded
shortly after the Catalan era in Athens.
t60. Díp|., doc. DCXXI,pp.652-653; Lampros, Eggrapha, part II, doc. 10, p. 119, a
letter written on May 9, 1388, by one Jacopo da Prato from Patras to Nerio Acciajuoli's
brother Donato in Florencç.
JO}IN W. BARKER
THE 'MONODY' OF DEMETRIOS KYDONES ON THE ZEALOT
RISING OF' 1345 IN THESSALONIKI*
In the course of restudying the entire episode of the Zealot ascendancy in
Thessaloniki during the 1340's, I have come to feel that one important source
text, though it has been utilized to some extent, has not received the full measure
of attention that it deserves. This is the lament composed by Demetrios l(ydones
in the form of a prose oration or discourse, not on the entire span of Zealot rule,
but on one specific occurrence of that period: the savage massacre of pro-
Kantakouzenian notables in Thessaloniki by a mob in the summer of 1345,
Selectecl passages from this text have been citecl by scholars who have
discussed these events, and a few brief quotations from it have been given in
translation. Fleeting mention is also occasionally rnade of it as a significant item
in Kydones' literary output: thus, Ostrogorsky characterizes it rather broadly
as giving "a sombre picture of the Zealot rule in Thessalonica."l But, to my
knowledge, it has never been sampled extensively or translated in full in any
moclern language, nor has it ever been examined systematically either as an
historical source or as a literary document. It is the aim of the following pages
to remedy that small but notable gap. As the ultimate means of making a text
of its kind more accessible, a complete translation is presented, while the inter-
vening remarks are offered for the purpose of putting it in some perspective.
* The death of Basil Laourdas was a personal loss to his friends and a professional blÒw
to his colleagues and field. It was also a loss to his adopted home, the city he loved so dearly,
and the city he enabled me to visit, that I might come to love it in my own turn. It therefore
seems a fitting gesture to celebrate his mernory with this treatment of an account, written by
another man who dearly loved Thessaloniki, of another calamity that befell this city, during
the period in whose history Basil Laourdas was himself a celebrated specialist. Aicovío oùroÕ
ft ¡wÍpn.
1, G. Ostrogorsky, Hístory of the Byzantine State, transl. J. M. Hussey (2nd Englishedi-
tion: Oxford & New Brunswick, N. J,, 1969), p, 474.Cf . the author's original text, Geschichte
des byzøntinischen Staates (3rd German edition: Munich, 1963), p. 390: "eine sehr düstere
Schilderung der Zelotenherrschaft in Thessalonike."
-
-
286 J. W. BARKER
The work's full title is Monodyfor "Lament"] on tlte Fallen in Tltessalonil<i.
(Movrpôíu ðnù roîc èv @eoool,ovírct¡ neo'oõotv). It considers events which
represent perhaps the climax of the extraordiuary but still olly irnperfectiy
understood story of the Zealot regime in l4th-century Thessaloniki. Drawing
upon deep social and economic grievances suffered by the city's lower classes,
and paralleling similar developments in some of the Empire's other cities, a
faction kirown as the Zealots (Zrll"ortoì) organized a popular mcvement in
Thessaloniki that opposed emphatically the claims to the throne of John Kanta-
konzenos, the representative of the rvealthy landed aristocracy. In I 342 the pop-
ular movement succeecled in blocking an effort by Kantakouzeniair sympa-
thizers to deliver the city to the usurper, who had proclaimed himself Emperor,
as John VI, on October 26 of the previous year. The pro-Kantakouzenians
were driven out of Thessaloniki by force, and the popular factions gave their
co-operation to the forces of the ambitious Mégas Doúx Alexios Apokavkos,
who ruled Constantinople in the name of the legitimate dynastic successor,
John V Palaiologos, son of Andronikos III (1328-1341). 'Ihessalonian leaders
acknowledged their dependency on Apokavkos' regime in the capital, and they
even accepted his son, John Apokavkos the Mégas Primlm]ikérios, as governor
in the city in the name of the dynastic loyalists. But much of the real power
remained in the hands of the Zealot factionalists, especially the leader tliat had
emergecl among them: Michael Palaiologos, an obscure individual abont whose
origins little is known and whose relationship to the reigning dynasty is uncer-
tain.2
This is not the place to enter into the extensive arguments over the degree
of social radicalism that the Zealot ascendancy involved for Thessaloniki.
Suffice it to say that the popular factionalists enjoyed considerable independence
of initiative, leaving John Apokavkos in an increasingly awkward position. He
appears to have tried to play a balancing game between the popular factions
and the upper-class sympathizers with the Kantakouzenian cause. He seems
to have had a mind of his own and, to the end of consolidating his position in
Thessaloniki, he sought a showdown with the Zealot factionalists. Arranging
a carefully staged meeting with his "co-archon," John Apokavkos ha<I Michael
Palaiologosmurdered. Thiscoup IefttheZealotleadershipshattered and power-
less for the moment. Unfortunately for him and for those who backed him,
2. A, Th. Papadopulos, Versuch einer Genealogie der Palaíologen, 1259-1453 (Munich,
1938; reprinted, Amsterdam, 7962), p. 29, identifies him with a Demetrios / Michael Kou-
troules, Despot of Neopatras, who in 1278 married a daughter of Emperor Michael VIII, Anna
Palaiologina (d. 1300). This identification seems to strain all normal chronological logic.
ïm 'voNooY'oF DEMETRIoS KYDoNES 287
however, events soon movecl to an outcome tlagically different fi'om rvhat he
had in mind.
On June 11, 1345, Alexios Apokavkos was murcleLeel in Constantinople.
John Apokavkos had already been following something of a zig-zag course
of his own, and the news of his father's death apparently released him defini -
tively from any externa\ obligations.He uow set in motion the process of aligning
himself with the l(antakor¡zeuian cause, tolvards which he seems already to
have been drifting inconsistently. His agents went to Verrhoia where Manuel
I(antakouzenos, yourlger son of the usurper, was governor. Terms were there
arranged which confirmecl the status quo in Thessaloniki under John Apo-
kavkos' leadership, in exchange for the submission of the city to l(antakouze-
nian allegiance.
Opposition to this arrangement soon arose in the city, as the Zealots rallied
anew nnder Andreas Palaiologos3 and other leaders. The Zealots aird Apo-
kavkos' faction began skirmishing in the city streets. The bulk of the poprilation
at first wavered but soon fell in behind the Zealots. Many of Apokavkos' sol-
diers becarne reluctant to shed the blood of their fellow-citizens. Refusing to
fight, they lockecl themselves obstinately in the upper city's citadel. Apokavkos
had appealecl to Manuel Kantakouzenos for troops and had hoped through
them to recover his pcsition, but now he found himself'tlapped. 'I'he raging
populace effected entry into the citadel: Anclreas Palaiologos and his associ-
ates seem to have intervened to prevent excesses, but Apokavkos and about a
hundred of the magnates with him were seized, put in chains, and implisoned
in the citadel.
Later the same day, however, news came of the approach of Manuel Kan-
takouzenos' men. They were in fact too late to alter the outcome, but a rumor
nevertheless spread rapidly to the effect that Apokavkos and his associates
were freed, were in command of the citadel, and were ready to admit the Kan-
takouzenian forces. T'he enraged populace some of it supposedly fired as
much by alcohol as by partisan emotion
- again advanced on the citadel in
-
arms. Its inhabitants mounted the walls and begged their fellow-citizens to
clesist. The mob would be placated by nothing less than the delivery of the pris-
oners to them. From the acropolis wallthatfacedthecity'sinterior,theprison-
erswere cast oneby onetotheir deaths. Apokavkos was thefirst: helanded
on the grouncl alive, but his head was struck off and his body was hacked to
pieces. The other prisoners shared his fate. Despite efforts made by Andreas
Palaiologos and a few other leaders to restrain the mob, its bloodlust was now
3. Again, a man of obscure background and of uncertain relationship to the reigning
dynasty: Papadopulos, Versuch, no. 114, p, 7 5,
 288 J. W. BARKER
THE "MONODY. OF DEMBTRIOS KYDONES 289

aroused and it unleashed through the city a wild purge of the city's leading
It is possible that it may have been given some sort of oral delivery, in this or
citizens
- at least of those who were identified, justly or otherwise, with pro-
Kantakouzenian sentiments. Homes were pillaged and demolished, and their
another form; that, however, can only be a matter of speculation, and, sinceits
rhetoric is of tlie kind that Byzantine intellectuals seem to have intended more
occupants were massacred on the spot. Neither ties of kinship with zealot
leaders nor their protection availed to spare some who had been marked for
for the eye than for the ear, the possibility appears to be an unlikely one.
Nevertheless, it does seem clearly, at the least, to be addressed to fellow-Thes-
death by a populace fired by grr.rdges that were personal, ideological, or sociar.
salonians, perhaps to some of the refugees from the massacre.
only desperate efforts at escape or self-concealment saved a few, such as Ky-
Kydones was probably in his early thirties when he wrote his Monody.T
dones'friend Nicolas Kabasilas. when the furor had run its course, the city's
He was at that point, accordingly, just beginning the career that was to make
ruling classes had been broken and Thessaloniki had been firmly taken in hand
him the commanding Byzantine literary and intellectual figure of the middle
by the zealot factionalists. Thus it remained, as a semi-independent separatist
and late l4th century, the most important link in the Byzantine intellectual
regime, for the next two years, until John vI Kantakouzenos subjected it and
tradition between the great scholarly circle of Andronikos II's reign (1282-
entered it as ruler at the end of 134g, the year following his assumption of the
1328) and thefinal generations of the Empire's men of letters.s In his mature
government in Constantinople.a
years he made significant contributions to the rhetorical, historical, theological,
The involvement of Demetrios Kydones in this nightmarish affair was, if
and philosophical literature of his age, and his crowning achievement might
not direct, at least close. Born of a distinguished rhessalonian family himself,
be reckonned his decisive influence in shaping the style and interests of his most
he retained deep personal feelings for the city all his life, He established himself
distinguished pupil, the Emperor Manuel II (1391-1425).e Even at this early
early as oue of the brightest products of Thessaloniki's intellectual circles. But
juncture in Kydones' career, however, his outlook and style had become well
the identification of his family his father and himself in particular
the Kantakouzenian cause hacl-earned them the hostility of the zealots, - with
and
established, and his Monody therefore provides a representative as well as an
early example of his literary characteristics.
our evidence indicates that he and his farnily were expelled frorn the city early
Those characteristics were shaped, of course, not only by Kydones' own
in the civil war period and during the first part ofthe zealotascendency. Thus,
individuality, but also by the special flexibilities inherent in the Greek language,
Kydones himself was not personally present in the city at the time of 1345 mas-
and by the calculated artificialities that had become the hallmarks of the Byzan-
sacre.ó Nevertheless, though his testimony is not that of an eye-witness, he plain-
tine literary tradition through long cultivation. Based upon pre-occupations
ly had access to the first-hand evidence of others when he composed his Monocly.
that derive from Hellenistic bases and that emphasize form and expression over
While we do have from the same period some of his letters that reflect events of
content, the writing of the sophisticated Byzantine intellectual often assumes
the moment, this Monody represents the earliest of Kydones' major writings sur-
the features of a game. It sometimes seems as if the writer is less interested in
viving to us. The circumstances of its composition are not fully clear. It is accept-
communicating with his readers or his auditors and is more concerned with
ed as dating from 1346,6 but its intended audience is not explicitly indicated.
proving to them how few there really are among them who are sufficiently learned
to understand the subtle intricacies of his exquisite obscurity. To this end, a
4. The fullest and best modern account is by O. Tafrali, Thessaloníque au quatorzième writer such as Kydones utilizes a wide range of conventionalized devices. Veiled
siècle (Paris,1913), pp. 239-249, based mainly on the detailed information given in John Kan-
allusions are preferred to hard facts, and chronological sequences or relation-
takouzenos'ownmemoirs, III,94, ed. L. schopen (Bonn, lg31), vol. II, pp. 574-5g1. Also
quite full is the account in pp. 158-1 65 of Charies Diehl's "Journées révolutiolnaires byzanti-
nes," La Revue de Paris. xxxvc Année (1928), vol. 6 (Nov.-D ec.), 1,51-172; Diehl's account T,Loeneú2, Les Recueils,l08, dates his birth as "1324 c."
incorporates much information and several translated passages from Kydones' Monody, 8. For a good sketch of Kydones' career, see pp. 52-57 of K. M. Setton's "The Byzantine
representing perhaps the fullest use made of this text by any scholar to date, Background to the Italian Renaissance," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
5. R.-J. Loenertz, Les Recueils de Lettres de Dëmétius Cydonès ( Studi e Testi, 137: Yati- 100 (1956), 1-76. For more specialized discussions of his activities and works, as well as of the
can city, 1947),pp' 108-109; G. Gammelli, Démétrius cyclonès: correspondance (par.is, 1930), literature available, see: K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Lítteratur Qtd edition,
p.xi. Munich, 1897),487-489; and H. G. Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen
6. Most recently, Loenertz, Les Recueils, p. 109; the date is likewìse given by combéfis .Reicå (Munich 1959), 733-736
in his edition ofthe text, cited below in n, 11. 9. See J. W. Barker, Manuel II Palaeologus (1391-1425): A Study ín Late Byzantíne
Statesmenship (New Brunswick, N. J., 1969), pp.4l4 ff.
19

290 J. W. BARKER
ships rnay sometimes be blurred or left unclear. More generally, words of the
most vague or ambiguous meanings possible are preferred to more explicit ones,
and participles or articles are used in place of substantive nourls wherever
possible. Syntactical relationships are stretched to their extrernes, ancl word-
orders are deliberately muddled or jumbled, while every opportunity is taken to
suggest constructions or meanings in one direction and then to undo them by
the insertion of one crucial word or construction that alters the meaning in
quite another direction. One is often given the impression, too, that the writer
is more absorbed in perfecting each sentence as an individual entity than in
constructing a logical flow ofideas from one sentence to the next, Accordingly,
much of the literatLrre of this kind leadsthe readerthrough a thorny and stren-
uous path but leaves him with proportionately little of substance,
Kydones employs many of these devices inhis Monody, but he treads a thin
line between expounding and obscuring, for he hardly wishes to baffle his readers
altogether. His essential goal is to convey the horror of the massacre itself, and
his malshalling of atrocities in all their grim detail is eventually carried out with
undeniable cumulative effect. On the other hand, the narrowness of his focus
is achieved at the cost of sacrificing the kind of scope and broader detail that
the modern reader and the specializecl historian woulcl desire: only one very
specific episode in the larger story of the Zealot period is discussed, and no more.
Moreover, Kydones is an unavoidably biased reporter. His identification with
the victims blinds him to any consideration, at least here, of the complex socio-
economic circumstances and motivations that brought about the agonies of
Zealol activism in Thessaloniki. He virtually ignores the long-standing grievan-
ces which fired the populace's frenzy, and his commitment to the Kantakou-
zenianfaction allows him to close his eyes to the case that might be made against
aristocratic privilege and its abuse in his day.
Indeecl, it is interesting to note that Kydones never once uses the word
"Zealot" inthis text. The omission may be understood, however, not as neces-
sarily demonstrating his willful refusal to acknowledge the very existence of the
faction that had ruined his family, had driven him from his native city, and,
to his way of thinking, had brought ruin upon it. Rather, it reflects a standard
Byzantine literary custom: one always avoided proper names when possible,
especially if they were names that would not have appeared in the Classical
literary works that were the Byzantines' constant models.lo So it is that Kydones
10. It is interesting to speculate as to any one or more specific Classical aûtecedants that
Kydones may have used as models for his work. I am unable to think of any demonstrable
examples, although Thucydides' account (III, 70-84) of the Corcyran upheavals would have
seemed the most obvious prototype. But Kydones makes no attempt to pattern his work after
.MONODY"
THE OF DEMETRIOS KYDONES 29r
gives no proper names at all. His readers or hearers were expected to be able to
identify any individuals referred to in the stylized allusions he gives obliquely.
Thus, in $ 5, the "stern legislator" (ntrpòv vopo0étr1ç) whose unacceptable
leadership is mentioned is presumably John Apokavkos, and "the Emperor's
son" is obviously Manuel Kantakouzenos, son of the usurper John VI (and not
a Palaiologan).
As a result of its highiy mannered qualities, Kydones' Monody is not calcu-
lated to add a great deal of information toour knowledge of the events it
clescribes. We have fairly complete accounts in our other sources, including
sorne of Kydones' own letters. It must be pointed out that all of these sources
are uniformly hostile to the Zealots and to the popular movements, whose own
perspectives are quite lost to us. Nevertheless, the Monody does contribute some
vivid details here and there, and it certainly offers a convincing picture of the
genuine horrors that befell Thessaioniki in that summer of 1345, as well as giv-
ing us the very personal reaction to them of an anguished native son. In these
respects, therefore, the Monody is a valuable and illuminating document, both
as an ancillary historical source and as a specimen of Byzantine literary genre.
No attempt is made here to go beyond the text of the Monody as it was
editecl (with Latin translation) by Fr. François Combéfis (1605-1697), the Do-
minican scholar, for the old Paris Corpus of Byzantine texts (in the volume
containing Í"he Theophanes Continuqlus collection: 1685) ancl reprintecl by Mi-
gne.11 The division and numbering of paragraphs given there are retained in
the following translation; which, it should be stressed, aims at rendering the
original Greek into intelligible English without falsiflying the characteristics
of Byzantine style altogether in the interests of modern readability.l2
MONODY FOR THOSE FALLEN IN THESSALONIKI 11346]
1. Gentlemen, who have escaped from the hands of our kinsmen: as I cast
my eyes in all directions I find myself unable to characterize appropriately the
city in which we have suffered these wrongs. To be sure, the physical circuit
of the city remains intact; yet, the celebration in it of its own citizens' spoliation
that possible precedent, perhaps because he preferred Demosthenic rhetoric to Thucydidean
narrative for his purposes,
ll. Patrología graeca,Yol.109 (1863), coll' 639'652'
12, I acknowledge here the useful advice generously given by my colleague and friend,
Prof. Herbert Howe, of the University of Wisconsin Classics Departmeût, in the preparation
of this translation. He has aided me in avoiding numerous points of inaccuracy or awkwardness
while he bears no responsibility for any of these that still remaio.
 J. W. BARKËR
292
compells its inhabitants, as the emptying of the town of its living beings compells
its fugitives, to declare it worse than the Styx or the Kokytos or any barbarian
climes.
2. O time, that both reveals and conceals all things ! O misfortune, that has
passed beyond the reach of any historical narrative or any poetry! O rumor,
that condemns to silence all who record the narratives and compose the lamen-
tations ! Which ought we to do? Should we praise those whose fate it was to
-
inhabit the place? Yet, we can see the murderers that are there, and those men
with cruelty in their very nature that have waged war against the place. Should
we rather curse the city and ploclaim it defilèd? Yet, the virtue of the fallen
demonstrates its own worthiness of all praise and prayer. Who, then, besrnirched
the city's reputation? Who was not committed to protecting it forever from all
dangers? Who denied it the right to glory in its wisdom and its benevolence?
Who could confuse superior conditions with inferior ones? For, as conditions
prevailed before these misadventures and dark days, who was such a pre-emi-
nent master of words, so excelling all others, that he would be capable of making
a proper comparison of this same city with the greatest of them? - or who
could do justice to its surpassingly beautiful and wholesone location, or its
yielcl of produce that excells even Egypt's fertility? So, too, the superlatively
lovely and sacred shrines and holy places that are everywhere within it, of such
size ancl in such profusion that there is nowhere else their like, neither in magni-
tude nor in multitude. Likewise its market-place, welcotning people from every-
where on earth, and obliging those who gather there to lose track of where in
the world they were: so that living there was as good as being everywhere at
once. And while many people have sung the praises of other harbors, yet the
one there would justly surpass all others as an example, as one and the same
place serving the function of both a city and a harbor and causing the main town
to terminate not at the sea but at virtually a second city. So, too, is it girt by walls
more grand than the circuit of Babylon. And, as the greatest of all the harbors
we know, it provides the greatest security; and, embracing the city in its arms,
as it were, it seems eager to unite with it. Would not the city's total appearance
allay anyone's discontent? Would it not even cure someone \üho was afflicted?
And would it not pursuade any visitor to forget his own home?
3. But, truly, as to the city's piety and its devotion to the worship of God,
one would testify better by keeping silence instead of speaking out to his audi-
tors. For, no time-limits are fixed there for those who wish to pray: rather, since
the churches are open both night and day, it is possible to have one's fill of
prayefs and to feel re-assured as to that wherefore one came in supplication.
As for the other aspects of the city's eager striving and its zeal in such matters
.T"TOT.¡OOY'
TTTB OF DEMETRIOS KYDONES 293
-_ the beauty of its offerings, the nultitudes of its donations, the continuity of
its vigils, the cantilations of its singers, anC, above all, its virtually rnusical
concord and organization ._ these are perceived bettet' in their actual prosenoe
and understood better from their reality. To be sure, we may observe that their
[the Thessalonians'] reward for this piety is certainly not slight: rather, it is
just what anyone would crave for those dear to him deliverances from sieges,
-
reliefs from famine, remedies for epidernic diseases, the anihilation of sovereigns
who attack with their armies, ancl prophecies regarding the future, such as:
"It lthis city] alone is to be preserved impregnable amid the general disaster."
And he that evokes the awe of the entire universe, alike its inhabited and unin-
habited portions, even he Ipresumably, St. Demetrios] assists in this area of
its needs, since he abides in the midst of the city and he gathers to himself the
polarities of faction from all sides, as the city's savior, the citizens' mediator,
and the intercessor for their interests before God. Nor is this all, but he also
appoints to the government gentie sovereigns, ones that relax the city's taxes
and tribute offerings, while he is also himself commander against its external
foes, inspiring dread in those that dare raise arms against the city. So it is that
one might say that the city has been established as a general model of piety.
4. Ancl where might one fincl larger or finer ensembles of orators and philo'
sophers? Rather, it is here, in this city, that all come together, and they constitute
a veritable school of general studies, with each of them follolving his own Muse
here. Yet, truly, there is one thing only it is nol possible to say: that, while it
now has become this school's lot to stand supreme in intellectual activities,
when it had been established it was among people then ignorant. On the con-
trary, the city was even then and at all times a veritable Helikon, anel the disci-
plines of the Muses have succeeded in blossoming here through all the ages,
just like the ever-youthful Hebe whereof the poets spake. Thus, one might liken
being here to abiding in Athens in the company of Demosthenes and Plato.
5. Yet, but a single day disrupted all this and despoiled the city ofits crowr-
ing glories; but a single day induced everyone to luistrust a place that had been
generally beloved, as if it were now some kind of treacherous reef below the
water's surface. O wherefore has strife entered the universe? And wherefore
has sedition burst in upon us as if in a drunken revel? Or wherefore do this same
city's inhabitants, not recognizing how these blessings would bring advantage
to one another, plunge into contentious strife with each other, and defile with
the blood of kinsmen their own homeland which homeland, were they think-
-
ing aright, ought to mean more to them than their own parents? Nevertheless,
on they raged, and they were paying homage to sovereigns who were no better
than tyrants who ruled by mob will. So the land was acknowledged as our do-

294 J. W. BARKER
main, and it
was cultivated by those who could do so. The sea, or1 the other
hand, was closed off, so that it was possible for the cities to recover and breathe
again only if they were to put aside altogether their independence. But the very
men who ought to have been vexed since their sphere of authority was dimin-
ished
-
were making merry, as if they were improving their fortunes. And the
-
only remecly people had for their difficulties was to complain of their misfortunes
to the very people who were celebrating these things. But all of those present
at the time who could foresee the evils that were in store for the cities were seek'
ing someone who would show some concern for those who rvere perishing. Ancl
they found a man who was more courageous than Herakles, more prudent than
Peleos, more sagacious than Themistokles, a man who had modelecl himself
after the qualities of Cyrus in dealing with his subjects. Nevertheless, he was
a stern legislator towards those who knew not how to be at peacc, and men
well-aware of its disadvantages for themselves were dissatisfied with this man's
regime. So, for these reasons, the acropolis was seized by people who intended
to impress the agitated populace with a violent act. Meanwhile, to the Ernperor's
son a discreet, gentle, and prudent man came emissaries asking him to
- -
send an army, both to restrain the city that was raging against itself and to safe-
guard their interests, he being the one who was able to preserve these latter.
Fortune ought then to have kept its peace some little while and ought not have
hinclerecl soldiers that were bringing freeclom. In that event, instead of bewail-
ing, our city would now be celebrating. Now, too, while our fellow-citizens
would be making merry, our enemies would be experiencing our own current
fate. And there would be justice among men, and the blessings of the Golden
Age would be returned to us. But now, in reality
turns topsy-turvy one's optimistic desires!
- O, how whimsical Fortune
now were the one group fthe fel-
-
low-citizens] abased, while the others [our enemies] were lofted upwards. No
sooner were the soldiers' standards displayed before the gates than some envi-
ous spirit was taking hold of all it wanted: and these men were then, by public
harangues, inciting the populace that was long thirsting for blood to a surfeit
of wicked acts. And indeed they were stirred up, the way Homer describes the
sea being agitated by opposing winds. And from thenceforth there was no law
and order soever, when even the chance passer-by was slain, while they pursued
their slaughter all the way to the leading citizens. And the latter, scattered as
they were, chose to take on their assailants and to fight back against them.
But a second struggle came into being, an internal one behind the lines; so that
they had no alternative whereunto they might turn their gazes. Then fire was
applied to the gates, and the smoke blocked from going forwarcl those who
were outside and were trying to rush in; as if the people they wanted to help
.MONODY' 1ô<
THE OF ÐEMETRIOS KYDONES
were beset. Meanwhile, those on the inside were opening their gates to those
murderers; and the latter, rushing in, rnade known by the acts they cornrnitted
the total ruin of the city. And while the soldier was stlipped of his arms, the lnan
who was wont to exercise great and far-reaching authority over others was
dragged off by people encountered entirely by'chance. Servant knew not his
master, and on men to whose justice one was formerly subject he now dared
to seek retribution. Then, once the slaves and paupers had established them-
selves as masters of arms and wealth, they concluded tliat those men who had
forrnerly possessed these things meritecl the fate of enslaved captives and, bincl-
ing them, they confined thern with the determination that they should not even
enjoy the sun's beams. A rush for the victirns' houses ensued, and they left
entire communities gutted, as if they rvere cleserts. But anyone who shed any
tears thereon had his throat cut by these infidels. O city, becone fragmented
insteacl of united, and each faction thereof become utterly hostile to the others !
O commourvealth, more treacherous than any sea ! O citizens, altogether more
faithless than people by nature barbaric! Pirates they are, openly operating on
the dry land or rather, with all their characteristics, they are even rvorse!
-
For the former [their models: pirates], once they have stripped their victims of
their possessions, would still not destroy their very lives. As for the latter Ithe
imitators: our rioters], to be srire, they do send forth into beggary, as if he were
suddenly laid low by a thunderbolt, a man who was capable of maintaining au
army out of his private resources. But their excess, holvever, is that, as they sepa-
rate people from their possessions, they become furious at the possibility that,
in remaining alive among other people, these men would remember their
disasters.ls
13. Though the point is probably far-fetched, it is tempting to speculate whether Kydones
might have intended this comparison of the rioters to pirates as more than an abstract meta-
phor. For it is a fact that Andreas Palaiologos'first allies against Apokavkos were the harbor
elements from the city's shore districts. These people are clearly distinguished from the Zealot
factionalists as a group by Kantakouzenos, who identifies them as nopc,0o.Àúooror (ed. Bonn,
Vol. II: p. 576 line 8 and lines 18-19; p. 577,line 4). The word literally means "seaside-dwel-
lers," but it probably involves a precise occupational connotation. The PontanusLatintrans-
lation reproduced in the Bonn edition of Kantakouzenos tenders the word more flexibly as
maritímes.In modern accounts, Tafrali, pp. 243, 245, calls them "mar.ins," and P. Charanis,
p. 215 of his "Internal Strife in Byzantium during the Fourteenth Century," Byzantion, 15
(1940-41), 208-230, calls them "mariners." Moreover, Andreas Palaiologos is identified by
Tafrali as "le chef de la corporation des marins," and by Charanis as "the head of the guild of
the mariners"; or as "président de Ia corporation des marins" by C. P. Kyrris, p.293 of his
"Gouvernés et gouvernants à Byzantce pendant la revolution des Zélots (1341-1350)," in
GouvernésetGouvernanÍs,ll:Antíquiiéethautmoyenâge(: p¿ru"¡¡tdelasociétëleanBodin
pour I'Histoíre Comparatíve des Institutions, 23 [Brussels, 1968], 271-330,
The basis for that identification is a most interesting passage in Kantakouzçnos' account
 296 J. W. BARKER
6. O mistreated rationality! O all-encompassing irrationality! To be sure,
there were some people who were roused, more swiftly than fire, to acts ofjus-
ice. But, generally, no one could feel fully secure: not anyone of distinguished
birth, nor anyone who had performed great and numerous public services, nor
t.
I
anyone who had shown himself able to get along with everyone. Rather, as if
I
I death had been foretold for all of them, they trembled, therefore, when they
beheld these furies descending upon them. Some were unable to bear the mere
1
sight of it all and concealed themselves under their neighbors' beds. Others
descended into cisterns; still others, reaching religious shrines, found their
location offering not one whit of relief for their fear. And then there are those
who, as if impatient at not having died previously, broke into graves, lay under
the still-putrefying corpses, and forebore to breathe if anyone should pass by;
but not even these people, despite this device, were able to escape their grave-
violating pursuers. A hue and cry was raised against dwellings, and the man
who yesterday dug in the ground for barely a pittance was today becoming
wealthy by razing the city to the ground. Even so, food became very costly for
anyone who had only the public fountains as a relief for thirst [i.e., the poor and
destitute]. And a great racket and a cloud of dust would announce from afar
the collapse of [a house's] walls, burying a wife and her children. But, for those
who survived, escape became more painful when they perceived that safety was
not to be without risk for them: because they were confrontecl with their next
ordeals when the riches of Croesus were demanded of them. And wheresoever
was a maiden who had all this while escaped the eyes of men, she perished,
stripped naked in their scourgings. O insanity, that allows men who have dared
commit these outrages to escape being marked plainly for what they are ! Bad
that is often used but is never quoted, and that merits presentation. It comes at the point when
Andreas Palaiologos is first introduced as the opponent of Apokavkos' project to submit
Thessaloniki to the Kantakouzenian side:-"... And Palaiologos, fearing lest he be quite
destroyed by these disagreements, immediately seized the gate on the sea side as a point of
security. Around it dwell all the maritime community lnõv rò voutrròv; in Pontanus'Latin,
omnes classianï1, the majority of them being prone to bloodshed and, further, being fully
armed,sothattheyarethemostpowerfulunitofthepopulace [rò rpútotóv elot toü ôf¡¡rou],
and in nearly all the seditions these people lead the whole multitude that readily follows them
wherever they may direct. And they have a government[&pXùv] distinct from that ofthe rest
of the city. Of these people this man [i.e,, Andreas Palaiologos] was leader[ñpxe] at the time'
Therefore, because ofhis leadership [tö tipl,erv], and the good will they bore him otherwise,
they eagerly took up their arms and they were ready to defend him from any attack." (Kanta-
kouzenos, III, 94; ed. Bonn, Vol. II, p. 575, lines 5-1O.
That Kydones may have conceived of his analogy of pirates, either consciously or sub-
consciously, as a subtle association with the participation of the napo0oÀúooror in the terri
ble events of that summer of 1345 must remain, of course, lotally a matter of speculation.
t¡t¡'voNoIry' oF ÞEMETRIo3 KyDoNBs 297
enough that they have perpetrated such crimes, but they have done yet more
of the like in addition !
7. Therefore, beyond their previous rnisdeeds, still more of their impieties
in this regard were yet to be encountered: and the extremes of their evil acts
were actually to be overshadowed by their subsequent ones. Against men so
distinguished, what greater vengeance could one seek than prison, and flogging,
and moulderiirg away in chains as if they were malefactors? Would not anyone
seeing them suffering such woes be srnitten to the soul and lose his reasoning?
and, being wary of fortune's shiftings, would he not draw the line at such pun-
ishment of these men? Yet,noteven these acts satisfied those foul ruffians:
rather, they would not be content unless they could cap their malefactions with
some utterly inhuman tragedy. So they led them forth, stripped down to their
lightest under-garments: and men who had often fought, both for their own
freedom and for that of the city, they dragged by ropes around their necks, in
the way one would treat captive slaves. At this point servant was pushing
master, the slave his purchaser, the peasant the general, and the farmer the
soldier;l4 in sum, the pauper and the slothful criminal [abusing] someone
whom many people had once recognized for his service to his country, done out
of his own resources. And so they led them whereto it was destinecl that they
undergo butchery.
8. O city where such cleecls are revellecl in by malicious spirits! O walls,
what towers of men you acquired in their dying! O defensive circuit, from which
those men so often hurled back their enemies: after which victories they suffered
evils more bitter than the vanquished! So, they led them up to the walls, with
bound hands, in the manner of criminals: and the victims' souls sank when they
beheld their impending doom there. Some were urging on others that were
fainting from fear. Others turned their thoughts to their money. Still others
bethought themselves only of a magnanimous bearing there. And, when some
14. Ostrogorsky, History (2nd English edition), p. 519, translates these few lines, retaining
in the process the word strategus, and explaining orpoîlórqv as the equivalent of "pronoiar"
(cf, the 3rd German edition, p. 428), These suggested reflections of social and land-tenurial
status are interesting, but Kydones' use ofwords in this text generally involves broad meanings
of Classical association rather than technical terminology, and I find this emphasis on the
latter unconvincing.
Since this t¡ansiation and analysis went to press, one further usage of Kydones' Mono-
dy has appeared. This is in Peter Arnott's The Byzantínes and Theír Ií/orld (London & New
York, 1973),which is a set of impressions intended for non-scholarly readers, but which quotes
many source passages in translation, Arnott clearly has a special feeling for Thessaloniki,
and gives a short account Gry.240-245) of theZealot period. As part of this (pp. 243-45),he
offers a few briefpassages from fhe Monody in his own pungent but rather free translation.
 ---
298 J. W. BARKER
of the conclemned remindeci their custodians of good turns they had done them,
the latter became enraged at the recollection of those people by whom they had
been treatecl well. They searched evcrything that could Qonceal anything -_
homes, underground passages, caverlls, tombs. And, when those apprehended
were led away, others saw thetn and, fleeing the city as an hostile place, they
threw themseives from the walls to the outside: benefitting to this extent, that
they would not be slain in the manner of criminals. Thus, there was 11o way for
them to escape clying. And everywhere there were the screams and the tears of
people being dragged off, of people in flight, of people being tramplecl, of people
being discovered, of people being slaughtered.
9. O, to what tragedy needs must we compare these events? To what dis-
asters in fother] cities? What poets could compose lays that woulcl do justice to
such horrors as these? O all-seeing Sun, had you never before behelcl the likes
of this that you gave forth then such a racliance, more odious than all the night?
As they slaughtered these men at the towers, the community became diversified
in this evil: while some people constituted themselves as ministers of that part
of the atrocity, others, as if encountering some spectacle, proceeded to revel in
it. So, as some were thrusting the victims off the top, others, holding swords
below them, caught them in mid-air. One victim's head would be shattered,
another's brains rvould spill out, and, upon tearing open another's belly, they
woulcl venture to probe things no man has a right to see. They would cut off
one man's leg, while they would tear out another man's backbone, and yet an-
other's entrails they would carry off in their bare hands. And, as one victim would
be slain, when he fell from above onto the swords, for the next man it was worse
than even his own death to behold the kincls ofoutrages, especially as perpetrat-
ed upon the bodies of his friends, that he was obliged to expect for himself
after his fali. And if someone fell down half-dead and begged to be spared the
rest of the abominations, he was only making his death both more prolonged
and more bitter for himself. Once a man was dead, he was ignored; but against
those who were still panting for breath every hand was raised. They slew every
man, in every couceivable fashion. But for many of the victims death gave their
bodies no reprieve. Rather, as if they begrudged the corpses their bodily integ-
rity, they renderecl them unidentifiable, for the purpose of hindering the subse-
quent quests after the remains by kinsmen. Bodies would pile upon bodies:
brains, blood, dust, entrails, stones, flesh, sinews, sticks, bodily members
-
all were compacted together into one mass.
10. O ye that act like public executioners rather than public-spirited citizens !
O spirits defilèd ! O hands even more defilèd ! How was it that these people were
not struck numb when they raised violent hands against brothers and friends,
lgs'MoNony' oF DEMETRIoS KyDoNEs 299
on whose behalf they ought themselves also to have clied fighting? How was
it that the fall of but one victim did not check their passion? How was it that th€
second oue did not quench their wrath? How was it that they were shattered in
spirit when they beheld yet the third, but rather were pleased to harden them- 'I
selves against ordinary human feeling? o what must this be called? A victory,
I
i
or something moi'e savage than any defeat? The Kadmeian victory, the Lemnian i
atrocities, all the calamities celebrated until now, will be recognized as but myth ,l
[by comparison]. Alas for what is simultaneously a tomb and a homeland ! Alas l
for what simultaneously brings forth and swallows up, as if in a tidal wave! o i
homeland that has falsified that very name to those whom it raised up, even more I
untrustworthy than any skylla ! o citizens, unjustly shedding blood thus in
your own homeland ! o city more cruel than all the styx ! Ah, how it did seem
that the city was chastizing others, when, on the contrary, it will stand self-
condemned for what it has done, and it will suffer the woes of those iunatics
who, when they tear at themselves, think it is at others they do so ! when the
soldier has fallen, the man capable of stopping the attacking enemy is gone;
nor will there be anyone to give advice on what needs to be done. so, now the
enemies will advance: but those in the city who are resolute against people of
their own kincl will shudcler when they behold an army glittering before their
gates. And, when the latter do attack, the former will not hold out, but the city
will belong to the victols; ancl then they will discover how it is to suffer [them-
selvesl the things they have done [to others]. Belike this was why strange stars,
shooting about even by day like beacons, and earth-tremors, were observed by
everyone. o communal wreckage! But then, I was taking it for granted that
squalls and thunderbolts and openings of the earth under them, and diseases
that make death seem sweeter, would come to these faithless wretches I
I l. Alas for those who have been killed ! AIas for those being killed ! Alas
for those who are going to be killed ! Alas for those who have been left behind !
For, I regard that last group as in no way whatsoever more fortunate than the
departed, inasmuch as painful prospects are their lot. Everywhere they will
hear reproaches, and they will be driven away as if accursèd; when they seek
for syrnpathy, they will hear the reproaches normally hurled at murderers,
and it will be necessary for them to conceal whither they are from. o city, that
formerly suffered for the glory of its citizens, but now will encompass them all
with enduring dishonor!what will be our response to those who censure thee?
on the one hand, to keep silent when our country is being insulted is disgrace-
ful; but, on the other hand, it is insanity to plead any defense for such openly
manifest deeds in it; and admirers of wisdom will instead loathe the savagery
and will cast this in the teeth of its citizens. As for those who are well aware of
300 J. W. EARKER

their own misdeeds, they will remain silent before the bar of justice; and all
men will shun this city, as if it perforce breeds a plague in those who inhabit its
area. Most abominable of all men, how handsomely have you repaid your coun- C. A. TRYPANIS
try for the rearing it gave you you who rightly owed more to it than to your
-
parents. You even deprived it of the name of a city by virtue of the acts you have
dared to commit. o plague spread in our midst! o episode so disruptive to
people who had chosen to live together! For, we must needs ask God alone to A POSSIBLE PORTRAIT OF JOHANNES GEOMETRES KYRIOTES
extend his hand and repopulate this city totally anew. For, we must needs await
that One Who alone can fill in the desolation. But, as for human beings, it was
men who ruined it, and it is men who will flee it in hatred.

University of úl/ísconsín, Madison ln Dumbarton Oaks Papers 22,1968, plates 3l

and 32 \rye see the photo-
graphs of two frescoes of the Virgin discovered in Kalenderhane Camii, which
bear the name Kyriotissa. The one of these (plate 32) is described in the first
preliminary report on the work at the Kalenderhane Camii 1 as "a well-preser-
ved fresco of the Mother of God with a donor ... found in a sealed off cham-
ber, which at one time had been a door between the bema and the diaconi-
con." At the same time we are told that the fresco is of excellent quality, and
that the donor carries a scroll, the inscription of which is illegible, facts which
are also clear in the above-mentioned photograph.
I should like to suggest that in the figure with the scroll at the feet of the
Virgin we may possibly have a representation of Johannes Geometres Kyrio'
tes, the distinguished lOth century Byzantine poet, who spent part of his event-
ful life as a monk in the monastery TOY KYROY, z and who was famous for
his poems on the Mother of God. 3 The reasons for suggesting this identifi-
cation are the following: Firstly, that the garments worn by the figure are not
those of an emperor or a high official, but rather the simple habit of a monk,
which to my mind precludes a donor. Secondly, that the scroll held suggests a
writer, and indeed one who celebrated the Virgin at whose feet he stands; but
he has no halo and his features are very realistic, he cannot therefore be one
of the great religious poets like Romanos or St. John Damascene who wgre
canonized, and were later represented in a stylized conventional manner. And
thirdly, the well preserved inscription round the Virgin with the epithet Kyrio'
tissa suggests a man closely connected with the Kyriotissa Virgin, and such
was Johannes Geometres Kyriotes, who was not only a monk in the monastery

l.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 21,1967, pp.267 f.
2. See H. - G. Beck, Kirche und theologishe Literatur im byz. Reich, München 1959, pp.
553f.
3. See Byzantinísche ZeÍtschrìft 4, 1895, pp. 559 f.