At the twilight period of the Eastern Roman / Byzantine Empire, the once secluded and seemingly almighty Emperor of the Romans in Manuel II Palaeologus (c. 1391 - 1425) would break with past precedent and in spite of the claims of divinity that his ancient office held, he would leave the Palace of the Caesars in his besieged capital of Constantinople in the East and be one of the last Emperors to visit the distant nations of the West.
Manuel would tour many of the former lands in which the Roman Empire at its height had once held sovereignty over, but by his time the Romans at the twilight of the Middle Ages were little more than rulers of a city-state in Constantinople which was being besieged by the rising Ottoman Sultanate at the time of Manuel's journey to Western Europe.
His predecessors may have been venerated and he may as well have still legally held the honor of being an heir to the legacy (and imperial title) of Augustus and Constantine, but despite the glorious reception, ceremonial splendor, and theoretical grandeur of his office, Manuel and his diplomatic envoys were little more than over glorified beggar to those who since had surpassed the polity which had once held dominion over their lands.
The tour would be chronicled by contemporary court historians from Paris to London and many would both be in awe as well as hold pity for a man who was well-educated and devoutly pious but nevertheless a tragic figure and the leader of a doomed Empire.
Little would materialize from his visit other than vague promises of aid along with token, symbolic gestures such as gifts and celebrations while he trekked across the West which was too embroiled in its own affairs to muster a proper response to the rapidly expanding Ottoman Empire which despite Manuel and his successors best efforts, would go on to conquer Constantinople and completely vanquish the final vestiges of Ancient Rome.
Despite the failure of Manuel's trip, the primary sources that chronicle his adventures in Medieval Europe provide modern observers and analysts such as ourselves with invaluable insight on the final days of Constantinople and the Roman Empire in the East.
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The source I referenced in the video: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Imagined_Communities_Constructing_Collec/_GZjDwAAQBAJ
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Second Part: ***COMING SOON!***
Video Edition on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VXyMZCtuxiI
Fall of Constantinople in 1453: https://youtu.be/E8HsJ3C6iDk
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[more resources to be included here shortly]
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-TJC
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