Life
In his sixteenth year he was sent by his father, the logothete Constantine Akropolites the elder, to the court of John III Doukas Vatatzes, emperor of Nicaea, where Akropolites continued his studies under Theodore Hexapterygos and Nicephorus Blemmydes. The emperor afterwards entrusted him with important state missions, as did his successors (Theodore II Laskaris and Michael VIII Palaiologos). The office of Grand Logothete, or chancellor, was bestowed upon him in 1244.
As commander in the field in 1257 against Michael II, despot of Epirus, he showed little military ability. He was captured and kept for two years in prison, from which he was released by Michael Palaiologos. Meanwhile, Michael Palaiologos was proclaimed emperor of Nicaea, afterwards expelling the Latins from Constantinople, and became emperor of the restored Byzantine Empire; and from this moment Akropolites becomes known in the history of the eastern empire as one of its greatest diplomats. After having discharged the function of ambassador at the court of the Bulgarian Tsar Constantine, he retired for some years from public affairs, and made the instruction of youth his sole occupation.
In the meantime, Michael, afraid of a new Latin invasion, proposed to Pope Clement IV to reunite the Greek and the Latin Churches; and negotiations ensued which were carried on during the reign of five popes, Clement IV, Gregory X, John XXI, Nicolaus III, and Martin IV. Akropolites was chosen as the emperor's ambassador, and in 1273 he was sent to Pope Gregory X. In 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon, he confirmed by an oath in the emperor's name that that confession of faith which had been previously sent to Constantinople by the pope had been adopted by the Greeks. The reunion of the two churches however roused considerable opposition in Byzantium and was afterwards broken off. It did however serve its main purpose, delaying and ultimately entirely averting a Latin attack on Constantinople. In 1282, Akropolites was once more sent to Bulgaria, and shortly after his return he died, in the month of December of the same year.
Read more about this topic: George Akropolites
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“We only seem to learn from Life that Life doesn’t matter so much as it seemed to do—it’s not so burningly important, after all, what happens. We crawl, like blinking sea-creatures, out of the Ocean onto a spur of rock, we creep over the promontory bewildered and dazzled and hurting ourselves, then we drop in the ocean on the other side: and the little transit doesn’t matter so much.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Just as we need to encourage women to test life’s many options, we need to acknowledge real limits of energy and resources. It would be pointless and cruel to prescribe role combination for every woman at each moment of her life. Life has its seasons. There are moments when a woman ought to invest emotionally in many different roles, and other moments when she may need to conserve her psychological energies.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)
“His meter was bitter, and ironic and spectacular and inviting: so was life. There wasn’t much other life during those times than to what his pen paid the tribute of poetic tragic glamour and offered the reconciliation of the familiarities of tragedy.”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)