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.
