In this compelling, readable and revisionist book, historian Laura Bolick challenges the traditional argument that the Byzantine Empire’s fate, in the final decades of the fifteenth century, was inevitable collapse. Basing her opinion on the activities of two significant Byzantine officials, Iohannes Bessarion and Isidore of Kiev, Laura Bolick analyses the efforts that they made to galvanise the Roman Catholic west into forming a crusade that would defend Constantinople from the encroaching Ottoman Turks.

As Saving Byzantium shows, these men, the dedicated champions of Byzantium, faced formidable obstacles, notably the strong divisions between Roman Catholic Christianity in the west and Orthodox Christianity in the east. They also had to navigate mutual suspicion and indifference. The book charts their continuing efforts to surmount these difficulties in order to promote a spiritual, cultural, political and military alliance against the Ottomans.

Although the empire would eventually fall, Saving Byzantium provides a new insight into this momentous period of history and one that is sure to stimulate renewed interest and discussion.

Laura Bolick holds a doctorate in art history and is an independent historian specialising in the relationship between Byzantium and the Latin West in the fifteenth century. Her research examines Western responses to the crisis facing the Byzantine Empire during the period of Ottoman expansion. She began her career in academic publishing, working on the art history list at Yale University Press, and later trained as a painting conservator. Drawing on both scholarly research and material culture, Saving Byzantium: The Struggle to Salvage an Empire brings together archival research, visual culture, and narrative history for a general readership.