THE LETTERS OF MICHAEL PSELLOS AND THEIR FUNCTION IN BYZANTINE

EPISTOLARY CULTURE
Michael Grnbart
Mnster, Westflische Wilhelms-Universitt

Letters are normally preserved as coherent selections or larger collections in manuscripts. Modern editions mostly follow the classical approach of text editions that try to establish an archetypus. They often create the impression of a definitive and complete collection of one letterwriter; different stages of transmissions and variants in the wording of letters are abandoned
into the apparatus criticus.
Although letters were originally exchanged they turned into literature; after being copied and
stored by a learned audience they started a second life. Sometimes they became model letters
or were reused with slight modifications (Grnbart 2015).
New philology and digital edition techniques put special emphasis on textual variants and multifaceted transmission. Scribes are no longer been seen as mechanically copying a text, but actively reworking and recycling it (Cerquiglini 1999 and Nichols 1990, 8). Variance is an
inherent characteristic of medieval literature (Nichols 1990, 8-9). Cerquiglini and Nichols argue
that each manuscript witness (Textzeuge) has to be treated as an equally important manifestation of medieval writing and as a characteristic usage of a certain piece of text. Both render
traditional editorial methods unsuitable for these texts. Reading Byzantine letters the importance of variants become apparent because they are indicators of re-modelling and secondhand usage (see below). Another important issue of digital edition technique is that editors now
deal with documents rather than works (Robinson 2013, 107), a premise that can perfectly
adapted to Byzantine epistolography as well. A letter preserved in a manuscript is a unique
document with an individual context.
In a project dealing with the Byzantine epistolary tradition in toto the ways of arranging collections and organizing letters in a single manuscript will be investigated. It should lead to a better
understanding of Byzantine epistolary culture and the place of letter-writing in the educational
system.
Problems of transmission become apparent in various cases. One of the most prominent examples is the correspondence of Michael Psellos, who belongs to the group of the most prolific
Byzantine letter-writers. Pselloss letters are preserved in many manuscripts (Papaioannou 1998
and 2013) and their new edition is expected eagerly (Papaioannou forthcoming). 515 letters are

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The Letters of Michael Psellos

attributed to the scholar and politician (copied in 19 principals mss, and another25 mss with
individual pieces Papaioannou 2012, 301).
In an instructive article Stratis Papaioannou discussed the transmission of Byzantine letters
(asking both how many manuscripts contain letters of a certain letter-writer and how many
letter-writers are known by just a single manuscript, Papaioannou 2012, 291-295) and put special emphasis on collections of Michael Psellos (Papaioannou 2012).
The oeuvre of Psellos has turned into a classic some decades after the death of its composer (for
Psellos Wirkungsgeschichte still see Emmanuel Kriaras in Paulys Realencyclopdie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft S XI, 1968, 11761179). This can be proven by theoretical
statements of Byzantine scholars and by examples of reception or mimesis in the oeuvre of
certain epistolographers. The grammarian Gregory of Corinth recommends a couple of models
for letter-writings: Besides the canon of epistolographers flourishing in late antiquity he specifies and counsels Michael Psellos (Komines 1960, 128-129). The statement of Gregory can be
confirmed by the examination of John Tzetzes (see Duffy 1998, Agiotis 2013) or by the praise
of Michael Choniates who casts Psellos name together with Cato, Cicero, Arrian and Themistios (letter nr. 28 Kolovou).
But the works of the hypatos ton philosophon were not only venerated per se; there was also
active involvement with them as they were both copied and reused. The anonymous excerpts
and adaptations of Psellos Omnifaria doctrina in the famous Barocc. gr. 131 form a neat example (Pontikos 1992). It goes without saying that Psellos left traces in other genres like epistolography as well.
In the corpus of Euthymios Malaces, who belonged to the learned circle of Eustathios of Thessalonica, several letters are preserved that were taken from other letter-writers. The second letter
in Bones edition is in fact a letter of Synesios with some minor changes, nevertheless the editor
included it in the collection (Bones 1937). Letter 4 in the same edition can be identified as
original Psellian or Ps.-Psellian composition. Malakes seems to appropriate an archetype for
his own use (Gautier 1977, 105 nr. 13). The letter provides a classification: .
(a letter of request; a person who requires compassion). It seems that Malakes
version does not depend on an archetype (the Psellian piece being the second witness), but is in
fact a reworked version of the original (the Psellian piece). Forms of address, lexicographic
inventory and syntax have been altered, but the common material is striking (Grnbart 2003,
36-37). Paul Gautier noted the similarity between those two letters, but he revoked Psellos
authorship.

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The Letters of Michael Psellos

Another example can be found in the sphere of Michael Choniates. 21 prooimia of letters have
been published at the end of the edition of his epistles (Kolovou 2001, 288-291). Most of these
pieces preserved in a Florentine manuscript. are borrowed from John Chrysostom, but one
seems to have its roots in a Psellian original (Kolovou 2001, 289, l. 35-45, no notification of
the similarity or provenance of the passage in the edition). It is a lengthy text comprising more
than a prooimion of a letter. But exact reading shows small differences between these two versions while a further manuscript, not used by its editors Kurtz and Drexl, makes it clear that
their edition did not base on the most reliable testimony. The manuscript nr. 508 of the Romanian Academy of Sciences containing much unpublished material as the collection of the monk
Hierotheos has not been taken into consideration. The Romanian and the Florentine manuscript
(cod. Laur. Plut. 59,12) are more suitable for understanding the letter the documents are presented in three columns:

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The Letters of Michael Psellos

Michael Psellos ep. 2

Kurtz- Drexl

Michael Choniates
Epist. Init. p. 289,35ff.
Kolovou

Hierotheos 106 (125

Darrouzs; ed. Grnbart)

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The Letters of Michael Psellos

It becomes apparent that the letter of Psellos served as a model: It was copied and slightly
revised the pieces are three new documents used in different contexts. The simplest change
in the process of recycling letters forms the replacement of forms of address.
Psellos was kept as a model in the collection of prooimia attributed to Michael Choniates (the
last paragraph is missing). And it seems that the monk Hierotheos (3rd quarter of the 12th century; Grnbart forthcoming) re-used the Psellian piece with minor changes.

Byzantine epistolary culture was a vivid process of copying, remodelling and adapting predecessors letters into a new context. Traces of this habit can be found in the oeuvre of almost
every Byzantine epistolographer. If we treat letters as documents and do not search exclusively
for the original appearance of a message, that process can be visualized in a formidable manner.
The concept of a fixed text (fester Text) or even an original collection should be reconsidered.
It has to be kept in mind that collecting, copying and storing letters created florilegia or (in a
more technical sense) a stock of rhetorical spare parts. The engagement with the epistolographic
tradition also reflects the versatility, the learnedness, the creativity, but also the destress of Byzantine letter writers. Michael Pselloss letters serve as prominent model underlining such a remarkable afterlife.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
(see also http://proteus.brown.edu/psellos/8126)
Agiotis, Nikos, Tzetzes on Psellos revisited. Byzantinische Zeitschrift 106 (2013) 1-8
Bones, K.G., , ( 2). Athens 1937
Cerquiglini, B., In Praise of the Variant. A Critical History of Philology. Translated by Betsy
Wing. Baltimore. Md, 1999
Darrouzs, Jean, Un recueil pistolaire du XIIe sicle: Acadmie Roumaine cod. Gr. 508. Revue
des tudes Byzantines 30 (1972) 201229
Duffy, J. Tzetzes on Psellos. In: C.-F. Collatz/J. Dummer/J. Kollesch/M.-L. Werlitz (eds.),
Dissertatiunculae criticae. Festschrift fr Gnther Christian Hansen. Wrzburg 1998,
441-445
Gautier, Paul, Un recueil de lettres faussement attribu Michel Psellos. Revue des tudes
Byzantines 35 (1977) 99-106

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The Letters of Michael Psellos

Grnbart, Michael, Athanasios Chatzikes und Michael Psellos. Byzantion 70 (2000) 307308
Grnbart, Michael, Anmerkungen zur byzantinischen Briefrhetorik. In: L'pistolographie et la
posie pigrammatique: projects actuels et questions de mthodologie: actes de la 16e
Table ronde organise par Wolfram Hrandner et Michael Grnbart dans le cadre du
XXe Congrs international des tudes byzantines, Collge de France Sorbonne, Paris, 1925 Aot 2001 (Dossiers byzantins 3). Paris 2003, 3141
Grnbart, Michael, Zusammenstellen vs. Zusammenstehlen. Zum Traditionsverstndnis in Byzanz. In: Andreas Rhoby/Elisabeth Schiffer (Hgg.), Imitatio aemulatio variatio. Akten des Internationalen Wissenschaftlichen Symposions zur Byzantinischen Sprache
und Literatur (Wien 22. 25. Oktober 2008) (Verffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung
21 = sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschriften 402).
Wien 2010, 129137
Grnbart, Michael, From Letter to Literature: A Byzantine Story of Transformation. In: Christian Hgel/Elisabetta Bartoli (eds.), Medieval Letters. Between Fiction and Document
(Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy 33). Turnhout 2015, 291306
Grnbart, Michael, Exploring the hinterland: The letter collection of Hierotheos the monk
(twelfth century) (forthcoming)
Kolovou, Foteini (ed.), Michaelis Choniatae epistulae (CFHB 51). Berlin New York 2001
Komines, A.D., . Rome 1960
Kurtz, Eduard Drexl, Franz (eds.), Michaelis Pselli scripta minora magnam partem adhuc
inedita II, epistulae, Milan 1941
Papaioannou, Stratis, A Fragile Literature: Byzantine Letter-Collections and the Case of Michael Psellos. In: P. Odorico (ed.), La face cache de la littrature byzantine. Le texte
entant que message immdiat. Paris 2012, 289-328
Papaioannou, Stratis, Michael Psellos: Rhetoric and Authorship in Byzantium. Cambridge New York 2013
Papaioannou, Stratis, Michaelis Pselli epistulae (forthcoming)
Pontikos, I.N., Anonymi miscellanea philosophica. A miscellany in the tradition of Michael
Psellos (Codex Baroccianus Graecus 131). Athens - Paris 1992
Robinson, P., Towards a Theory of Digital Editions. Variants 10 (2013) 105-131