Byzantine Scholars Flee to Italy

In the decades before and after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, many Byzantine scholars moved to Italy, bringing with them Greek manuscripts and a deep knowledge of ancient Greek language, literature and philosophy. The movement had begun earlier. Around 1397, the scholar Manuel Chrysoloras was invited to teach Greek in Florence, where he trained a generation of Italian humanists. Byzantine scholars who attended the Council of Florence in 1438 to 1439 made a strong impression, especially the philosopher Gemistos Plethon, who inspired Cosimo de' Medici's interest in Plato. Bessarion of Nicaea stayed in Italy, became a Catholic cardinal, and later donated his great collection of Greek manuscripts to Venice, where it formed the core of the Marciana Library. As the Ottoman threat grew and after Constantinople fell, more scholars followed, teaching Greek and producing translations and early printed editions of Greek texts. Their work gave Western Europe renewed access to Plato, Homer and other classical authors, and it helped fuel the Italian Renaissance, although the Renaissance had other important causes as well.