PLANUDES, MAXIMOS. - Byzantine theologian and humanist of the 13th-14th centuries, whose deeds were handed down almost exclusively in his own letter collection. Born at Nicomedia around 1260, died at Constantinople in 1310.

He was forced by Andronicus II to abandon the Catholic faith that he had first embraced at the time of the union of Michael Palaeologus and had also defended with a writing on the procession of the Holy Spirit. As a new element that he introduced into Byzantine life - a legacy of Latin influence - one should note the higher school that he founded and, as a monk, directed near the imperial Palace, in which to the customary humanistic disciplines was added that of the language of Latium, which he possessed to perfection. His works are polemical-theological, hagiographical, poetical, and not a few Greek versions of actual treatises of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. The letter collection comprises fully 121 letters of great historical value.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: works: in P. Arcudius, Opuscula aurea, Rome 1630; L. Allatius, Graecia orthodoxa, II, Rome 1652; PG 147 and among the works of Metochites (vol. 141) and of Bessarion (vol. 161) who refuted him. The letter collection in the ed. of M. Treu, Bratislava 1890. - Studies: Krumbacher, pp. 543-46; U. Chevalier, Répertoire des sources... Bio-bibliogr., Paris 1907, col. 3773; V. Laurent, s. v. in DThC, XII, II, col. 2247-52.

Emmanuele Candal

@incollection{ec9_planudes_maximos, author = {Candal, Emanuele}, title = {Planudes, maximos}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1601}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/planudes-maximos} }

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Planudes, Maximos

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