29/09/2026
📖 Upcoming Lecture “The Latin Controversy and the Panoplies: Form and Doctrinal Authority in Twelfth-Century Byzantium”
Speaker: Alessandra Bucossi
Organized by Andrea Massimo Cuomo, Francesca Samorì, en Marthe Nemegeer
📅 1 October 2026 🕒 16.00 📍Faculteitsraadszaal, Blandijnberg 2
Abstract
This seminar will address Byzantine florilegia dealing with the doctrinal controversies between the Roman and the Constantinopolitan Churches, tracing the development of this polemical form up to the late twelfth/early thirteenth century. As a case study, I will focus on Camateros’ Sacrum Armamentarium, examining the Panoply as a literary form — a highly elaborated development within the broader florilegium tradition. A central aim will be to clarify in what sense it constitutes a distinct evolution of that tradition, and why this perspective is methodologically productive.
I will also take into account the broader political horizon of the twelfth century. Under Manuel I Komnenos, attempts at rapprochement with both the Roman and the Armenian Churches provide an important backdrop to polemical production. In this light, a work such as the Sacrum Armamentarium — enriched by dialogical sections and structured syllogistic collections — offers a particularly revealing example of how controversies involving both Latins and Armenians are articulated within a unified argumentative framework. This allows for reflection on the interplay between literary structure, doctrinal systematization, and imperial policy in the shaping of religious polemics.
https://www.mela.ugent.be/events/
