Byzantine preservation

This week was alot quieter in terms of research. With only two posts to go and all the good resources found I haven't worried doing about much more hunting since at best most books would mention the subject of libraries in maybe a single passage. That would be the primary research difficulty I would say; Finding books that mention anything.

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The last emperor who made major to contributions to the library in the empire's first century was Emperor Theodosius II. Both he and his wife, the daughter of the Athenian philosopher Leo, were great benefactors for the Imperial Library (Ilie 2007 p. 6). Indeed by 477 A.D. the library possessed 120,000 volumes (Ilie 2007 p. 6); Unfortunately in the year that count was taken the library burnt down. In time it was rebuilt and would endure until the arrival of the Turks when the city was captured in the 15th century (Ilie 2007 p. 6).

Although it possessed a great many volumes at the time it burnt down there was in fact a private library during the reign of Justinian I which possessed an equal amount. An astonishing amount considering a collection of 20 volumes would be considered a library (Ilie 2007 p. 20.).

It was these private collections that together with the official libraries of the empire helped to preserve and disseminate many of the classical works which remain to this day. These works spread and survived not only through the efforts of copyists and scribes but also as a side effect of the invasions the empire suffered.

Whilst other invasions had been more destructive to the collections and the empire's treasures, when the Turks invaded they understood the value of the books and instead sold them to the Italians (Ilie 2007 p. 21)

The books of the empire also spread through more conventional means; Some books were requested by King Charlemagne for his palace at Aachen. In one instance an entire library was transferred to Armenia at the request of an Armenian princess (Ilie 2007 p. 21).

Much was also preserved by the Byzantine monasteries and from those works that were passed on to schools and universities of western Europe.

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'library' 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 19 September, 2012

'Byzantine Empire' 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 19 September, 2012

Ilie, B 2007, 'Libraries and Book Culture of the Empire', Master's, University of North Carolina
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Byzantine Fact: After Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 the Ottoman Empire made it their new capital.