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Basilios Bessarion
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Basilios Bessarion

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Also known as Nicolaus Bessarion, Basilius Bessarion, Basileios Bessarion, Cardinal Bessarion, Bassilios Bessarion, Cardinal Bēssariōn, Iohannes Bessarion, Johannes Bessarion

Bessarion (; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the revival of letters in the 15th century. He was educated by Gemistus Pletho in Neoplatonic philosophy and later served as the titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He eventually was named a cardinal and was twice considered for the papacy.

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Basilios Bessarion (1403–1472) was a male diplomat, Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian. Born in Trabzon, he worked within the Byzantine Empire and later held positions including Dean of the College of Cardinals, Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, metropolitan, and apostolic administrator. His fields of work included politics, the Christian Church, theology, and rhetoric. He spoke Latin, Italian, and Ancient Greek.

Bessarion was a student of Gemistus Pletho and John Chortasmenos. He taught doctoral students Regiomontanus, John Argyropoulos, and Janus Lascaris. He participated in the papal conclaves of 1447, 1455, 1458, and 1464. His religious affiliations included the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy.

He died in Ravenna on November 18, 1472, and was buried at Santi Apostoli. His works have been described in sources such as Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition and Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary.

Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Group

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Key facts

Christian leader.type
cardinal
Christian leader.honorific_prefix
His Eminence
Christian leader.name
Bessarion
Christian leader.birth_name
Basileios
Christian leader.image
Johannes Bessarion aport012.png
Christian leader.caption
Bessarion by Jean-Jacques Boissard
Christian leader.title
CardinalLatin Patriarch of Constantinople
Christian leader.diocese
Constantinople
Christian leader.image_upright
0.8
Christian leader.consecration
1437
Christian leader.cardinal
18 December 1439
Christian leader.created_cardinal_by
Pope Eugene IV
Christian leader.rank
Cardinal bishop
Christian leader.successor
Pietro Riario
Christian leader.predecessor
Isidore of Kiev
Christian leader.birth_date
2 January 1403
Christian leader.birth_place
Trebizond, Empire of Trebizond
Christian leader.death_place
Ravenna, Papal States

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Gender
male
Place of birth
Trabzon
Place of death
Ravenna
Occupation
writer
Position held
cardinal
Languages spoken
Ancient Greek
Participant in
1471 papal conclave
Doctoral student
Janus Lascaris
Field of work
classical philology
Image
Johannes Bessarion aport012.png
Work location
Byzantine Empire
Show 9 more facts
Commons category
Basilius Bessarion
date of birth
1403-01-02
date of death
1472-11-18
place of burial
Santi Apostoli
maintained by WikiProject
WikiProject Mathematics
Commons Creator page
Basilios Bessarion
P13311
Yeosu
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

10 sections
Contents
  • Biography
  • Bessarion's Neoplatonism
  • Role in the Council of Ferrara
  • Cardinal and later life
  • Works
  • Editions
  • See also
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

Bessarion (; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the revival of letters in the 15th century. He was educated by Gemistus Pletho in Neoplatonic philosophy and later served as the titular Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. He eventually was named a cardinal and was twice considered for the papacy.

His baptismal name was Basil (Greek: Βασίλειος, Basileios or Basilios). He took the name Bessarion upon entering the monastery. He has been mistakenly known also as Johannes Bessarion () due to an erroneous interpretation of Gregory III Mammas.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Basilios Bessarion” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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