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{{Short description|Greek theologian and scholar (1403–1472)}}
{{Other uses|Bessarion (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = cardinal
| honorific_prefix = [[His Eminence]]
| name = Bessarion
| birth_name = Basileios
| image = Johannes Bessarion aport012.png 
| caption = Bessarion by [[Jean-Jacques Boissard]]
| title = ''[[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]]''<br/>''[[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]]''
| diocese = [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]]
| image_upright = 0.8
| enthroned = 
| ended = 
| appointed = 
| other_post = 
| ordination = 
| consecration = 1437
| consecrated_by = 
| cardinal = 18 December 1439
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Eugene IV]]
| rank = [[Cardinal bishop]]
| previous_post = 
| successor = [[Pietro Riario]]
| predecessor = [[Isidore of Kiev]]
| birth_date = 2 January 1403
| birth_place = [[Trabzon|Trebizond]], [[Empire of Trebizond|Kingdom of Trebizond]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1472|11|18|1403|1|2|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Ravenna]], [[Papal States]]
| nationality = [[Greece|Greek]]
| religion = [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] (formerly [[Eastern Orthodox]])
{{Infobox philosopher
| embed            = yes
| region = [[Western philosophy]]
| era    = [[Renaissance philosophy]]
| alma_mater         = 
| institutions       = 
| school_tradition   = [[Neoplatonism]]
| main_interests     = [[Metaphysics]], [[theology]]
| notable_works      = 
| notable_ideas      = 
}}
}}

'''Bessarion''' ({{langx|el|Βησσαρίων}}; 2 January 1403&nbsp;– 18 November 1472) was a [[Byzantine Greeks|Byzantine Greek]] [[Renaissance humanist]], theologian, [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the revival of letters in the 15th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bessarion {{!}} Byzantine theologian|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bessarion|access-date=20 July 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> He was educated by [[Gemistus Pletho]] in [[Neoplatonic philosophy]] and later served as the titular [[Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople|Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]]. He eventually was named a cardinal and was twice considered for the [[Pope|papacy]].<ref>''George Gemistos Plethon, the Last of the Hellenes'', by C. M. Woodhouse, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986, pp. 32–33.</ref>

His baptismal name was '''Basil''' (Greek: Βασίλειος,<ref>Primary source: [[Jacques Paul Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Graeca]]'', Vol. 161, 1866, "Letter from [[George Amiroutzes]] to Bessarion," pp. 723–728, esp. 725.</ref> ''Basileios''<ref>{{cite SEP |url-id=byzantine-philosophy |title=Byzantine Philosophy |last=Ierodiakonou |first=Katerina |last2=Bydén |first2=Börje}}</ref> or ''Basilios''<ref>Craig Martin, ''Subverting Aristotle: Religion, History, and Philosophy in Early Modern Science'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, p. 41.</ref>). He took the name Bessarion upon entering the monastery.<ref>{{cite SEP |url-id=bessarion |title=Basil [Cardinal] Bessarion |author=Eva Del Soldato |year=2018}}</ref> He has been mistakenly known also as '''Johannes Bessarion''' ({{langx|it|Giovanni Bessarione}}) due to an erroneous interpretation of [[Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople|Gregory III Mammas]].

==Biography==
Bessarion was born in [[Trabzon|Trebizond]], the [[Black Sea]] port in northeastern [[Anatolia]] that was the heart of [[Pontic Greeks|Pontic Greek]] culture and civilization during the [[Byzantine]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] periods. The year of his birth has been given as 1389, 1395 or 1403.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}}

===Bessarion's Neoplatonism===
[[File:Basilius Bessarion of Trapezunt.jpg|thumb|Wood engraving from ''Bibliotheca chalcographica'', B1|left|280x280px]]
Bessarion was educated in [[Constantinople]], then went in 1423 to [[Mystras]], [[Peloponnese]] to study Neoplatonism under [[Gemistus Pletho]].<ref>James Hankins, ''Humanism and Platonism in the Italian Renaissance'', Volume 1, Ed. di Storia e Letteratura, 2003, p. 207.</ref> Under Pletho, he "went through the liberal arts curriculum…, with a special emphasis on mathematics…including the study of astronomy and geography" that would have related "philosophy to physics…cosmology and astrology" and Pletho's "mathematics would include [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean number-mysticism]], Plato's cosmological geometry and the Neoplatonic arithmetic which connected the material world with the world of [[Theory of forms|Plato's Forms]]. Possibly it also included astrology…"<ref name=Woodhouse-33>C.M. Woodhouse, ''George Gemistos Plethon, the Last of the Hellenes'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 33</ref> Woodhouse also mentions that Bessarion "had a mystical streak…[and] was proficient in Neoplatonic vocabulary…mathematics…and Platonic theology".<ref name=Woodhouse-33/>

Bessarion's Neoplatonism stayed with him his whole life, even as a cardinal. He was very familiar with Neoplatonist terminology and used it in his letter to Pletho's two sons, Demitrios and Andronikos, on the death of his still-beloved teacher in 1452.<ref>Woodhouse, ''George Gemistos Plethon'', p. 13</ref> Perhaps the most remarkable thing about his life was that a Neoplatonist could have played such a significant role in the Catholic Church for at least a brief time, though he was attacked for his views by more orthodox Catholic academics shortly after his death.

===Role in the Council of Ferrara===
[[File:Cristofano dell'altissimo, basilio bessarione.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Bessarion, 16th century|272x272px]]
On becoming a tonsured monk, he adopted the name of [[Bessarion of Egypt]], whose story he has related. In 1436 became [[abbot]] of a monastery in Constantinople and in 1437, he was made [[metropolitan of Nicaea]] by the Byzantine Emperor [[John VIII Palaeologus]], whom he accompanied to [[Italy]] in order to bring about a reunion between the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern (Orthodox)]] and [[Catholic Church|Western (Catholic)]] churches. The emperor hoped to use the possibility of re-uniting the churches to obtain help from Western Europe against the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Bessarion participated in the Byzantine delegation to the [[Council of Ferrara-Florence]] as the most eminent representative of unionists, although he originally belonged to the party of anti-unionists. On 6 July 1439, he read the declaration of the Greek Association of Churches in Florence cathedral, in the presence of [[Pope Eugene IV]] and John VIII.

Some historians have impugned Bessarion's sincerity in adhering to the union.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wFZoAAAAMAAJ&dq= ''Miscellanea marciana di studi bessarionei''], Antenore, 1976, p. 121.</ref> However, Gill upholds Bessarion's sincerity in being convinced of the truth of the Roman position in the matters discussed at the Council, quoting from Bessarion's own work ''Oratio Dogmatica'':
{{blockquote|But if we had discerned error in the doctrine of the Latins or distortion in their faith, not even I would have counseled you to embrace union and agreement with them in that case, that for fear of bodily ills you should prefer the values of the present world to spiritual values, the freedom of the body to the betterment of the soul, but I myself would have undergone all that is worst and I would have exposed you to it before I would have urged you to union with them and have recommended such action.<ref>Joseph Gill, "The Sincerity of Bessarion the Unionist," ''Journal of Theological Studies'' n.s. 26 (1975), p. 387.</ref>}}

===Cardinal and later life===
{{infobox cardinalstyles
| name     = Bessarion
| dipstyle = [[His Eminence]]
| offstyle = [[Your Eminence]]
| relstyle = [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]]
| see      = [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople|Constantinople]]
| image   = Coat of Arms of Cardinal Bessarion.svg
| image_size = 120px
}}
Upon his return to the East, he found himself bitterly resented for his attachment to the minority party that saw no difficulty in a reconciliation of the two churches. Pope Eugene IV invested him with the rank of [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]] at the [[papal consistory|consistory]] of 18 December 1439.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}}

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| width             = 200
| image1            = Casina-Bessarion-exterior-1.jpg
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = 
| image2            = Casina-Bessarion-interior.jpg
| alt2              = 
| footer            = The suburban residence of the bishops of Tusculum along the Appian way in Rome, believed to have been built and utilized by Cardinal Bessarion during his episcopate (1449–1468).
}}
From that time, Bessarion resided permanently in Italy, doing much (by his patronage of learned men, by his collection of books and manuscripts, and by his own writings) to spread the [[New Learning]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}} His [[palazzo]] in Rome was a virtual academy for the studies of new [[Renaissance humanism|humanistic learning]], a center for learned Greeks and Greek refugees, whom he supported by commissioning transcripts of Greek manuscripts and translations into Latin that made Greek scholarship available to Western Europeans.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}} He supported [[Regiomontanus]] in this fashion and defended [[Nicholas of Cusa]]. He is known in history as the original patron of the Greek exiles (scholars and diplomats) including [[Theodore Gaza]], [[George of Trebizond]], [[John Argyropoulos]], and [[Janus Lascaris]].

He held in succession the [[archbishopric of Siponto]] and the [[suburbicarian see]]s of [[see of Sabina|Sabina]] and [[Frascati]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}} At the [[papal conclave, 1455|papal conclave of 1455]] which elected the Aragonese candidate, Alfons de Borja, as [[Callixtus III]], Cardinal Bessarion was an early candidate, favored on account of his disinterestness in the struggle  between candidates pushed forward by the Roman factions of the [[Orsini family|Orsini]] and [[Colonna family|Colonna]].<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02527b.htm "Johannes Bessarion"], ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907).</ref> He was opposed for his Greek background by the French Cardinal [[Alain de Coëtivy]].

[[File:Chiostri del palazzo dei ss. apostoli, monumento al cardinale bessarione (m. 1472) 01.JPG|thumb|175x175px|Tomb of Bessarion in the [[Santi Apostoli, Rome]].]]
For five years (1450–1455), he was [[papal legate|legate]] at [[Bologna]], and he was engaged on embassies to many foreign princes, among others to [[Louis XI]] of France in 1471.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=821}}  Other missions were to Germany to encourage Western princes to help their fellow Christians in the East.  For these efforts, his fellow humanist Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, then [[Pope Pius II|Pius II]], gave him the purely ceremonial title of [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]] in 1463. As ''primus Cardinalium'' (from April 1463) – the title [[Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals]] was not yet in use – Cardinal Bessarion presided over the [[Papal conclave, 1464]]<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1464.html ''Sede Vacante of 1464''.] Retrieved: 6 April 2016.</ref> and [[Papal conclave, 1471]].<ref>J. P. Adams, [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/SV1471.html ''Sede Vacante 1471''.] Retrieved: 6 April 2016.</ref>

He died on 18 November 1472 at [[Ravenna]]. He was subsequently buried in the basilica of the [[Santi Apostoli, Rome]] in a large funerary chapel of which he had overseen the renovation during his life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muijtjens |first=Philip |date=2025-03-26 |title=The Funerary Chapel of Cardinal Bessarion in the Basilica of SS XII Apostoli in Rome: Commemoration and Competition |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zkg-2025-1002/html |journal=Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte |language=en |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=1–33 |doi=10.1515/zkg-2025-1002 |issn=2569-1619|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Works==
[[Image:Bessarion - Epistolae et orationes, MCCCCLXXI - 3845584.tif |thumb|180px|''Epistolae et orationes'', 1471]]

Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of [[Aristotle]]'s ''Metaphysics'' and [[Xenophon]]'s ''Memorabilia'', his most important work is a treatise directed against [[George of Trebizond]], a vehement Aristotelian who had written a polemic against [[Plato]], which was entitled ''In Calumniatorem Platonis'' ("Against the Slanderer of Plato").<ref>Ludwig Mohler, ''Bessarionis in calumniatorem Platonis libri IV'' [Kardinal Bessarion als Theologe, Humanist und Staatsmann. Funde und Forschungen Band 2]. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1927 (repr. 1967).</ref> Bessarion, though a Platonist, was not so thoroughgoing in his admiration as [[Gemistus Pletho]], and he strove instead to reconcile the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of [[Platonism]] to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of [[theology]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=822}}

It was thanks to him that the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', an important compendium of [[Greek mythology]], has survived to the present. His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek manuscripts, was presented by him in 1468 to the [[Venetian Senate|Senate]] of the [[Republic of Venice]], and forms the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark's, the ''[[Biblioteca Marciana]]''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=822}} It comprised 482 Greek and 264 Latin manuscripts.<ref>[https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=826&lang=en Emblem of Cardinal Bessarion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033229/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=826&lang=en |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> Most of Bessarion's works are in [[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Graeca]]'', volume 161.

===Editions===
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Monfasani |editor1-first=John |title=Liber Defensionum contra Obiectiones in Platonem: Cardinal Bessarion's own Latin translation of his Greek defense of Plato against George of Trebizond |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin; Boston |isbn=9783111246352}}

==See also==
* [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance]]
* [[John Chortasmenos]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

'''Attribution'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Bessarion, Johannes|volume=3|pages=821–822}}

==Sources==
* Bardi, Alberto. "Islamic Astronomy in Fifteenth-Century Christian Environments: Cardinal Bessarion and His Library", ''Journal of Islamic Studies'', Volume 30, Issue 3, September 2019, pp. 338–366 ([https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etz013 online]).
* {{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Johannes Bessarion}} (not fully exploited)
* [https://cardinals.fiu.edu/election-calixtusiii.htm Francis A. Burkle-Young, "The election of Pope Calixtus III (1455)"] Bessarion an early candidate, opposed by the French.
* Geanakoplos, Deno John. ''Greek Scholars in Venice: Studies in the Dissemination of Greek Learning from Byzantium to the West'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard, 1962).
* Gill, Joseph. ''The Council of Florence'' (Cambridge, UK : [[Cambridge University Press]], 1959).
* Harris, Jonathan. ''Greek Emigres in the West ''(Camberley : Porphyrogenitus, 1995).
* Henderson, Duane. "Bessarion, Cardinalis Nicenus. A cardinalitial vita between ideal conceptions and institutional structures," {{cite book|editor1=Claudia Märtl |editor2=Christian Kaiser |editor3=Thomas Ricklin |title="Inter graecos latinissimus, inter latinos graecissimus": Bessarion zwischen den Kulturen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6XoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|year=2013|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-11-031621-6}}, 79–122.
* Keller, A. "A Byzantine admirer of 'western' progress: Cardinal Bessarion", in, ''Cambridge Historical Journal'', 11 (1953[-]5), 343–8.
* {{cite book|editor=Kraye, Jill |title=Cambridge Translations of Renaissance Philosophical Texts: Moral and Political Philosophy|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BK07FV1_2qAC&pg=PA133|volume=1|date=28 August 1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge UK/New York|isbn=978-0-521-42604-6|chapter=Chapter 12}}
* Labowsky, Carlota. ''Bessarion's Library and the Biblioteca Marciana'' (Rome : Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 1979).
* Legrand, Émile. ''Bibliographie Hellenique'' (Paris : E. Leroux (E. Guilmoto), 1885–1906). volume 1.
* {{cite book|editor1=Märtl, Claudia |editor2=Christian Kaiser |editor3=Thomas Ricklin |title="Inter graecos latinissimus, inter latinos graecissimus": Bessarion zwischen den Kulturen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F6XoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79|year=2013|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-11-031621-6}}
* Mohler, Ludwig ''Kardinal Bessarion als Theologe, Humanist und Staatsmann'' (Aalen : Scientia Verlag; Paderborn : F. Schöningh, 1923–42), 3 volumes.
* Monfasani, John. ''Byzantine Scholars in Renaissance Italy: Cardinal Bessarion and other Émigrés'' (Aldershot, UK : Variorum, 1995).
* Setton, K.M. "The Byzantine background to the Italian Renaissance", in, ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', 100 (1956), 1–76.
* Vast, Henri. ''Le Cardinal Bessarion'' (Paris : Hachette, 1878), see also (Geneva : Slatkine, 1977).
* Wilson, Nigel Guy. ''From Byzantium to Italy. Greek Studies in the Italian Renaissance'' (London : Duckworth, 1992).

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Basilius Bessarion}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Bessarion, Johannes|year=1905 |short=x}}
* {{Cite Nuttall|title=Bessarion, John |short=x}}
* {{MathGenealogy|id=131444}}
* Makripoulias Christos, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150425/http://www.ehw.gr/asiaminor/forms/fLemmaBodyExtended.aspx?lemmaId=10636 "Bessarion Cardinal"], Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor
* {{cite web|author-link=Salvador Miranda (historian) |last=Miranda |first=Salvador |title=BESSARION (1403–1472)|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1439.htm#Bessarion |work=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church |publisher=[[Florida International University]]|oclc=53276621}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Isidore of Kiev]]}}
{{s-tul | title= [[Latin Patriarch of Constantinople]]| years=1463–1472}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pietro Riario]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bessarion, Johannes}}
[[Category:1403 births]]
[[Category:1472 deaths]]
[[Category:Byzantine Pontians]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Frascati]]
[[Category:Cardinal-bishops of Sabina]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy]]
[[Category:Deans of the College of Cardinals]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the Holy See]]
[[Category:East–West Schism]]
[[Category:Empire of Trebizond]]
[[Category:Former Greek Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:Greek cardinals]]
[[Category:Greek Renaissance humanists]]
[[Category:Greek theologians]]
[[Category:Latin Patriarchs of Constantinople]]
[[Category:People from Trapezus]]
[[Category:Bishops of Nicaea]]
[[Category:15th-century Byzantine writers]]
[[Category:15th-century Greek scientists]]
[[Category:15th-century Greek educators]]
[[Category:15th-century Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:15th-century Greek mathematicians]]
[[Category:15th-century Greek astronomers]]