Friday 17 May 2019

Francisco Lopez-Santos Kornberger: Empress Catherine's role in John Skylitzes’ Continuation.

The historical narrative known as the Continuation of Skylitzes is one of the most understudied eleventh-century Byzantine historical accounts. For the most part, scholars considered the Continuation a mere rework of Michael Attaleiates' History. Researchers assumed that Skylitzes avoided producing propaganda towards a given ruler in his work. However, Catherine Holmes has suggested that the Synopsis performs a discreet propaganda of emperor Alexios Komnenos without even mentioning him explicitly. The election of specific characters and topics when presenting the reign of Basil II in the Synopsis would suffice for Skylitzes to subtly praise the contemporary policies of the Komnenian family and their allies.In my research, I have found similar traits of discreet Komnenian propaganda in other sections of the Synopsis and in the Continuation. The depiction of Isaak Komnenos, Emperor Alexios’ uncle, in the Continuation becomes significant to determine the narrator’s position towards the Komnenian family. The Continuation mostly worked with the Attaleiates' account on Isaak, which is mostly critical towards him. However, the Continuation successively subverts Attaleiates’ negative depiction of Isaak, simplifying the most critical sections of Attaleiates’ account while fitting additional, more positive information about Isaak’s reign.One of the most significant changes in the Continuation is the new focus on Empress Catherine. This paper discusses Empress Catherine’s insertion in the narrative as a means for ameliorating the depiction of both Isaak and the Komnenian family. I will also connect Catherine’s role in the Continuation with other cases of strong female imperial characters in nearly contemporary sources.

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