ABSTRACT
The Memoirs of Sylvester Syropoulos,1 a fifteenth-century narrative account of the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-39) and the events surrounding it, begin with the last years of Manuel II Palaiologos’s reign (ca. 1415) and the beginning of negotiations for the organization of an ecclesiastical council first with Pope Martin V and then with his successor, Eugenius IV. Syropoulos continues with the correspondence of Emperor John VIII with the delegates of the Council of Basle, as well as with King Sigismund of Hungary. In Section IV, which is the main focus of this volume, he gives a colourful account of the Byzantine delegation’s journey to Italy, and the events of the council itself. His account finishes a few months after the delegation’s return to Constantinople.
