Under the Comnenian dynasty, Byzantine writers of twelfth century Constantinople reintroduced the ancient Greek romance novel, imitating its form and time period but Christianizing its content. Hence the Byzantine stories are traditional in their plot structure and setting (featuring complex turns of events taking place in the ancient Mediterranean, complete with the ancient gods and beliefs) but are also medieval, clearly belonging to the era of the Crusades as they reflect customs and beliefs of that time. It is important to note that a break of eight centuries exists between the last surviving romance novel of late antiquity and the first of this medieval revival. Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus The Comnenus or Komnenos family was an important dynasty in the history of the Byzantine Empire. ... Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Map of Constantinople. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... This article is about the medieval crusades. ...

Only four of these Byzantine novels exist today, just one of which is written in prose: Hysimine and Hysimines by Eusthatios Makrembolites. Two are in the duodecasyllable metre: Rodánthe and Dosiklís by Theodore Prodromos and Drósilla and Charaklís by Niketas Eugenianos—this latter being an imitation of the former. And one is in "political" verse: Arístandros and Kallithéa by Constantantine Manasses, but exists only in fragments. Eustathius(or Eumathius) surnamed Macrembolites (living near the long bazaar), the last of the Greek romance writers, flourished in the second half of the 12th century AD. His title Protonobilissimus shows him to have been a person of distinction, and if he is also correctly described in the manuscripts, as...

Of these four romances, two have been translated into English:

• A Byzantine Novel: Drosilla and Charikles by Niketas Eugenianos translated by Joan Burton (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2004); Nicetas Eugenianos' Drosilla and Charikles translated by F. Conca (Amsterdam: 1988)

• Ismene and Ismenias, translated from the French by L.H. Le Moine, (London and Paris: 1788). This was also translated into German in 1989.

A work describing in detail all four twelfth century Byzantine romances (as well as those of later centuries), including complete plot summaries, is The Medieval Greek Romance by Roderick Beaton (1996, 2nd Revision).

Later medieval romance novels from around the fourteenth century continue the tradition. These are the anonymous Belthandro and Chrysantza, Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, and Livistros and Rodamini—available in English translation as Three Medieval Greek Romances: Velthandros and Chrysandza, Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, Livistros and Rodamni, translated by Gavin Betts, Garland Library of Medieval Literature, 98 (B), (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1995). One of them is available in French: M Pichard, Le roman de Callimaque et de Chrysorrhoé: Texte établi et traduit, (Paris: 1956). (13th century - 14th century - 15th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400. ...

Still other medieval romance novels include the anonymous The Tale of Achilles, The Tale of Troy: a Byzantine Iliad, War of Troy (the latter in twelfth century Old French), Florios and Platza-Flora (in Tuscan and Old French), and Imberios and Margarona (in Old French). Finally there is Giovanni Boccaccio's Thesiad (in Italian). Old French is a term sometimes used to refer to the langue doïl, the continuum of varieties of Romance language spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland during the period roughly from 1000 to 1300 A.D... Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 - December 21, 1375) was a Florentine author and poet, the greatest of Petrarchs disciples, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poems in the vernacular. ...

The inspiration for these medieval prose and poem novels, the ancient Greek romance, also led to works in the Renaissance and Elizabethan eras. By region Italian Renaissance Spanish Renaissance Northern Renaissance English Renaissance French Renaissance German Renaissance Polish Renaissance The Renaissance, also known as Il Rinascimento (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. ... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ...

See also

• Byzantine Literature