Book Reviews 139

of these sources lies on various levels – terminological, linguistic (Iranian loanwords), and
toponymical, but also on that of mythico-historiography. A nice example of the latter can
be found in an episode related in the Life of the Kings, which tells how the great Nimrod
was killed by the Caucasian hero Hayk in a battle of mythical proportions that led to the
withdrawal of the Iranian invaders and the creation of a Caucasian kingdom with Hayk
as its first ruler (see Rapp, pp. 189-190). Here myth and history cooperate in the struggle
for identity and consciousness of the little neighbour of the mighty Iranian empire. On a
more general level Iranian, and in particular, Sasanian views on kingship helped shape
that of the Georgian rulers, both with regard to their qualities and the atrocities they are
allowed to perform because of their title and power (see pp. 232ff.).
Rapp has produced a most impressive book that illustrates on every page the great
learning and scholarship of its author.
 Joseph Verheyden (Leuven)

Mihai-D. Grigore, Neagoe Basarab – Princeps Christianus. Christianitas-Semantik im

Vergleich mit Erasmus, Luther und Machiavelli (1513-1523). Erfurter Studien zur
Kulturgeschichte des orthodoxen Christentums 10. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang, 2015,
436 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-66507-7

With this book, which is based on the author’s habilitation thesis (Habilitationsschrift) at
the German university of Erfurt in 2013, Mihai-D. Grigore introduces a central text of
the Orthodox-Byzantine genre of a “mirror of princes”, namely the “Teachings of Neagoe
Basarab to his son Teodosie” (translated from the Romanian original title “Învăţăturile
lui Neagoe Basarab către fiul său Teodosie”), compiled most likely between 1519 and
1521. The very intention of this book is yet wider, as Grigore puts the text into a wider,
in a sense pan-European context, devoting one third at least of his study to a comparative
analysis with three other contemporary tracts on the Christian ruler – Erasmus’ Institutio
principis christiani, Luther’s Von weltlicher Obrigkeit and the famous Il principe by Niccolo
Machiavelli, all of which curiously originate from approximately the same couple of years
as that of Basarab, albeit from rather different historical contexts. His tertium compara-
tionis is formed by the image of the Christian ruler, or – as he puts it – the semantics
of christianitas, apparently understood both in the sense of a main characteristics of this
ruler, and of the community of the ruled.
More than half of the study is covered by a presentation and contextualization of the
text named in the title. Neagoe Basarab was the ruler or prince (voevoda) of Wallachia in
the years between 1512 and his premature death in 1521. Circumstances that contributed
to the compilation of this writings were various. First, the text is a continuation, and in
fact extension of an already existing genre that goes back to the times of the Byzantine
emperors and writers out of their environment, like the famous ekthesis of the deacon
Agapet (devoted to Empreror Justinianus) or the “mirror of princes” by Theophilakt of
Ohrid, to name but a few. To claim this tradition also meant that the Romanian rulers
after the fall of Constantinople consciously positioned themselves in a continuation of the
Byzantine emperors, and their principalities in the succession of the Christian Roman
Empire of Byzantium. That included allusions in their title, but also a particular sense of
responsibility for matters of faith, patronage and, last but not least, the impact of Eastern
theological traditions on their self-image. In fact, one learns a lot about details within this
140 Book Reviews

tradition of what can be named Byzantine (and, of course, post-Byzantine) political theology
thanks to the immensely erudite comments and explanations which accompany the authors
description of the text and its roots. Legitimacy constitutes a second factor within the
named circumstances preceding the compilation of the work: In narrow terms, Neagoe
Basarab was an usurper, who as member of an influential family, but with if any then at
maximum suspect dynastic links to the ruling house, came to power only after a successful
rebellion of the boiar elite against the preceding voevoda Bogdan, whom Neagoe eventu-
ally had executed by the Turks after his victory in battle (according to other sources he
even killed Bogdan himself). Against such background, the “teachings” with their extensive
allusion to the Byzantine tradition also fulfilled the function of providing a moral instead
of the – in Neagoe’s case disputable – dynastic legitimation: He appears as the ruler chosen
by God’s grace, but this choice at the same time implies a moral obligation, which is then
thoroughly outlined in the teachings.
A long sub-chapter deals with the textual history of the “teachings”, including the ques-
tion of its original language (according to Grigore most likely in Church Slavonic, as it
was used, however with remarkable Romanian influences, also in Walachia at that time,
p. 107-110) and further influences and copies of the work outside Medieval Romania, as
for example in Muscovite Russia (p. 85). The “teachings” were not compiled at once,
but rather form a collection of previously existing letters, passages, excerpts or speeches
– this compilation work appears to have been done mainly in the years after 1519. At least
one of Neagoe’s sons had already passed away when the text was completed. (p. 112)
As the author leaves no stone unturned in his documentation of the texts tradition, this
chapter goes far beyond a first introduction to a non-specialist audience, but will most
likely represent the state of research also for those previously familiar with Neagoe’s
“teachings” and their history. Similarly, the author’s erudition comes into play in his
explanation of the texts content, its roots, leanings and use of Orthodox Byzantine legacy.
His main point in presenting the “political theology” of Neagoe Basarab’s “teachings” is
made in the following sub-chapter, called “Christomimesis, Theomimesis, Homoiosis”
(p. 133-191), which in a way forms the core of the book, and can be read with significant
gain by, and should be recommended to anyone interested in not only Byzantine politi-
cal thinking, but political thinking in general. According to the “teachings”, the basis
for a righteous, divinely approved rule lies not in a specific kind of inter-human, let alone
hierarchical interrelations, but in cosmology. A well-ordered society reflects the cosmic
harmony of God’s creation – the ruler, in this framework, is mainly a vessel of God’s will,
but at the same time endowed with the dignity of imitating Christ, and becoming God-
like. This is, to be sure, Byzantine understanding, and hardly a new view of the Walachian
ruler, whereas this tradition experiences a lengthy interpretation in Neagoe’s writings.
Already Neagoe’s erudition, by all evidence, went far beyond the average level of his time,
including that of a prince or nobleman. As the author fully copes with the challenge to
identify the richness of all the sources which went into the corpus of the text, even those
readers vaguely familiar with this tradition will find traces hitherto unknown (as the
“basileus basis laou” [“the ruler is the fundament of the people”] in the tradition of Nike-
phoros Blemmydes and Theophilact of Ohrid [p. 139] or interesting for comparison (as
in the enthusiast passages on human dignity by Neagoe and in the Orthodox tradition
[p.140], which would stand any comparison with Pico della Mirandola’s famous Renais-
sance statement, and might well be referred to in order to counter the stereotype of
Western idolatry of man, so wide-spread among Orthodox anti-Western ideologists of the
Book Reviews 141

20th century). With the dignity, the likeness to Christ, ultimately to God himself of the
Christian comes yet a high responsibility: The ruler is both example and forerunner on
the path to salvation. The consequence is an ascetic program, as it is only by fasting, pray-
ing and spiritual experience that the Christian ruler can gain the state of enlightenment
that would allow him to gain knowledge of God’s will and to fulfill it. In a sense, this
ascetic program obliges any human being – it has its roots in the Hesychast tradition
going back to the desert fathers, but is understood here not in the rather elitist sense of
monasticism, but as a path to salvation for entire humankind, in which the Christian ruler
takes a leading, but not necessarily exclusive role. To be sure, this is an understanding of
“political Hesychasm” apparently much more balanced and closer to the Orthodox roots,
and at the same time much less polemical and exclusivist than more contemporary politi­
cal pamphlets with their anti-Western overtones issued in Greece or Russia.
That the differences to Western tradition are indeed, in more than one respect, rather
gradual than principal, is what the author aims showing in the second part of the book.
The image of the Christian ruler, and with it the semantics of christianitas, as he argues,
can equally be found back in the writings of some of Neagoe’s Western contemporaries.
Grigore again presents the writings in question together with a thorough account of their
textual history and previous interpretations. Sometimes he argues, then with reason, that
the interpretation of Erasmus’, Luther’s and Machiavelli’s texts needs to be slightly changed.
To sum up his results here: Erasmus’ genuinely humanist understanding of the role of
a Christian ruler is that of a man formed by both Christian education [a crucial pattern
in humanist understanding of man] and devotion, whose acquired philosophia christiana
forms a safeguard for order and justice in the world, and the salvation of man. The con-
cept of imitatio Christi, and therefore the spiritual next to the moral aspects in his ideas,
next to their roots in the Church fathers’ tradition, make Erasmus comparable to Neagoe
Basarab (p. 203f.). Despite his sympathy for aristocratic or even democratic elements,
Erasmus favors monarchy as the kind of rule best fitting human nature. (p. 193-231).
Luther’s writing has to be seen as a concretion of his ideas about the “two kingdoms”,
where the ruler acts in this world, but serves the other kingdom. (p. 260) Luther’s ruler,
as he appears in his writing Von weltlicher Obrigkeit, und wie man ihr Gehorsam schuldig
sei out of 1523, even in his function as a ruler only counts on God’s grace (sola gratia),
and despite his secular dignity is merely an officer, who fulfills God’s will by cooperation
(cooperatio is presented as a central term in Luther’s political understanding, p. 268-274)
with God. Curiously, the role of the ruler is much less sacramental and representative
than in the Medieval tradition, but the distinction of the good ruler fulfilling God’s will
and commands with that of the selfish, self-will oriented tyrant prominent in ancient,
medieval Western and even Muscovite Russian tradition remains in force. Finally, Machi-
avelli’s Principe is the text which only in a negative sense can be related to the semantics
of christianitas, as it is here where the established Christian political ethics and idealism
is abolished, and replaced by a sober, scientific analysis of the rules of secular political
life. Machiavelli formulates an “ethic of action” juxtaposed to traditional, in a way “pre-
nominalistic” images of the Christian ruler, which he – preceding Nietzsche by centuries
(p. 317) – considers to be a weakening and inadequate to the actual rules of the game. So
the presence of christianitas in Machiavelli’s work is frequent, but negative and in the
background.
Very few critical things can be said about this book. Here and there one comes across
passages which provide additional information or thoughts, but seem superfluous in the
142 Book Reviews

end as they contribute little to the main argument (p. 293f., 311f.). More important,
to the reviewer’s mind, is that the parallels between Eastern and Western tradition in
the general picture are sometimes slightly exaggerated at the expense of differences also
existing: Erasmus’ and also Luther’s concepts continue to work with elements of social
contracts (cf. p. 217), which are mostly absent in the Byzantine tradition. Cosmology
as the base for political rule on the one hand, and God’s order expressed by natural law
on the other leave a larger space for nuances between one another as the study some-
times suggests. Western theorists of politics and society apply a slightly different set
of metaphors: Where the Latins including Erasmus refer to the human body in order
to identify the role of the head (the Christian ruler) and other parts, Byzantine tradi-
tion keeps referring to the ship and the helmsman. Sure, one can argue whether this is
constitutive, or representing merely different points on one scale – but to hastily dimin-
ish such differences would perhaps make a mutual understanding more difficult, when-
ever a suggested identity and similarity of things is misleading. Such cautious objections
notwithstanding, readers and experts from both traditions, Eastern and Western, will read
this erudite study with gain – highly recommended.
 Alfons Brüning (Nijmegen)

Peter Bartl (ed.), Albania Sacra. Geistliche Visitationsberichte aus Albanien 3: Diözese
Sappa. Albanische Forschungen 26,3. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag, 2014, 505 pp.
ISBN 978-3-447-10310-7

The first two volumes, by the same editor, dealt with the dioceses of Alessio (2007) and
Durazzo (2011). This third volume covers the diocese of Sappa in the region of Skutari.
The diocese was created in the late 15th century by merging together three dioceses –
Dagno, Sarda and Sappa, which were all under Venetian control at that time. The first two
had been laid together by Pope Eugenius IV in 1444; Sarda was joined to Sappa in 1491.
There exist incomplete lists of the bishops of Sarda and Sappa since 1199 and 1291. In
the first half of the 16th century, when the region had been conquered by the Turks, only
titular bishops were appointed, but from 1560 till 1928 the bishops again resided in
Sappa. Several of them were Franciscans, a few belonged to the Dominican order.
Bartl offers a short history of the diocese and a more detailed survey on its territory,
parishes, churches and religious buildings, clerics, religious orders, schools, the survival of
Turkish propaganda and efforts to convert to Islam, and the political situation in general.
The bulk of the book, however, consists of the reproduction of the texts of 65 visitation
reports, all of them in Italian, dated between 1610 and 1914 that contain information on
the diocese of Sappa (15 from the 17th, 33 from the 18th, 13 from the 19th, and 4 from
the early 20th century). The majority of these documents are part of larger visitation
reports. Each of them is briefly introduced and situated. Their length can go from over
one page (no. 2) to almost 40 pages (no. 35). The latter one is the report of two visits
the newly appointed bishop of Sappa, Giorgio Vladagni, made in 1751-2 and 1754-5,
but sent to Rome only in 1757. The delay was caused by the difficult situation the bishop
was in, having been accused (falsely?) of converting Muslims to Christianity. The man had
been expelled for a while, until he could bribe himself back into his diocese. The second
report mentions a slight raise in the number of Christian families (from 1331, which
the bishop in a note changed to 1646, to 1967, which the author in a note brought back