Бокачовски опис избора папе као рефлексија Халкокондиловог става према папству и Флорентинској унији у делу Ἀποδείξεις Ἱστοριῶν
The Boccaccian Description of the Election of a New Pontiff of Rome as the Reflection of Chalcocondyles’ Attitude toward the Papacy and toward the Union of Florence in his Ἀποδείξεις Ἱστοριῶν

Summary/Abstract: The post-Byzantine historian Laonikos Chalkocondyles pioneers a unique approach to the writing of the Byzantine history. A marked difference from both previous and contemporary Byzantine historians is his generally positive and benevolent attitude toward various non-Byzantine nations and states. He is not ultimately focused on the declining Byzantine Empire but on the emerging political and religious powers of his day. Besides the prominent place that Chalcocondiles ascribes to the Turkish Empire and its successful spread over Europe, he shows considerable interest in Italy and especially the Papacy. This is quite understandable since Chalcocondyles depicts in detail the most important Church event of his time – the Church Union of Ferrara-Florence, which took place in 1438/1439. Chalkocondyles’ attitude towards the Union may at first appear as impartial. Nevertheless, under the phenomenological unbiased description of the course of the negotiations regarding the Union, he presents two highly erotic-laden episodes that shed Boccaccian light on the institution of Papacy and on the city of Ferrara, where the negotiations commenced. By placing these two bizarre episodes – with the common subject being looking at the genitals of the protagonists through the hole in the bed – one after another, Chalcocondyles presents both the ritual of the election of the new pontiff of Rome and the sexual scandals of the ruling family of Ferrara in a highly contemptuous and derogatory way. Chalcocondyles is neither impartial regarding the Union nor siding with the Orthodox party, but he is certainly even more distanced from any pro-unionist position.

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