Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History
The Last Byzantine Emperor's Italian Refuge: Thomas Palaiologos and the Fall of Morea
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine Empire survived in the Peloponnese—the Despotate of Morea—until 1460. This episode follows the desperate final years of Thomas Palaiologos, the despot who fled to Rome carrying the head of St. Andrew and the greatest relic of Byzantium: the jewel-encrusted skull of the apostle. We explore how Thomas's arrival in Italy reshaped Renaissance culture, from the Greek scholars who sparked the Florentine Platonic Academy to the manuscript libraries that preserved ancient learning. We also examine the tragic betrayal by Thomas's…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.