International conference Past and Present: Cultural Politics in Byzantium and Beyond, Harvard University

Description

The Dishypatos family in Constantinople, Italy and France, c.1400-1496

This paper is part of my wider research project which aims to assess the Byzantine diaspora not solely in terms of its impact on western European scholarship or national origins but as a phenomenon in its own right and in the context of the culture that gave rise to it. Its primary focus is George Palaiologos Dishypatos (or ‘Georges de Bissipat’), who in the later fifteenth century was a sea captain and castellan in the service of two kings of France and highly influential at the French court. The paper seeks to explain how an outsider and refugee might have been able to reach a position of such prominence. The methodology will be to connect Dishypatos with other bearers of the name who travelled to Italy and France in the first half of the century. It will suggest that Dishypatos’ rise to power and wealth in France was probably the result of pre-existing contacts that had been established decades before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Moreover, although Dishypatos does not conform to the stereotype of the émigré Byzantine as a learned scholar, an element of cultural politics may well have played a part in his rise.

Period	2 May 2026
Event type	Conference
Location	Cambridge, United States, MassachusettsShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International