The letters of Maximos Planudes to Alexios Philanthropenos and Melchisedek Akropolites: the problems of source studies in the context of the politico-military situation in Byzantium in the late 13th c

This research work is dedicated to the problem of dating of the Byzantine scholar and monk Maximos Planudes’ letters to the general, pinkernes Alexios Philanthropenos and his companion, monk Melchisedek Akropolites. Our goal is to date these letters on the basis of their content and data from other sources and to reconstruct chronological sequence of their writing. The period of time when Alexios Philanthropenos was in office of dux of Thrakision (1293-1295) during which he conducted some military operations against the Turks of beyliks Germiyan and Menteєe has a special place in the history of the Byzantine-Turkish wars in the early Palaiologan era. At this time the Byzantine state made some of its last successful military efforts in this struggle. By studying this theme the present article makes a contribution to research the Byzantine wars against the Turks and the military art and military organization of the empire in the late 13th century. Following the explicit consideration of some disputed items in dating of Maximos Planudes’ letters to the persons mentioned above (42 letters) the author specifies the chronological sequence of their writing and clarifies the stages of the Alexios Philanthropenos’ military activity in Asia Minor. This article also makes a contribution to using of epistolographic data in historical study.