Literary trends in the Constantinopolitan courts in the 1120s and 1130s*

The reign of John II Komnenos can easily be regarded as a literary void. However, recent work is beginning to make this period look rather more interesting, and to suggest that the literary innovations usually attributed to his successor Manuel in fact had their origins under John. In what follows I will refer to several texts; these include imperial encomia, especially encomia in verse, a history by a male aristocrat, a novel, and an epic-romance – a hybrid that defies generic classification.