Le savoir et le monarque : le Traité sur les nations de l'empereur byzantin Constantin VII Porphyrogénète

Knowledge and the Monarch : The Treatise on the Nations of the Porphyrogenite Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII. De Administrando Imperio, an ethnographic and diplomatic treatise written by the Emperor Constantine VII, attests to the articulation in 10th century Byzantium of cultural and political practices at the highest level of government. A rereading of the text brings to light not so much what is usually considered to be an encyclopedic collection of material as an erudite compilation that draws on narrative and historiographie sources as well as administrative archives. The text combines scholarly rhetoric with the use of of fidai language characteristic of Byzantine diplomacy. This two-fold tradition is accompanied by two-fold cultural and political qualification of the emperor himself. De Administrando Imperio in effect illustrates the sovereign's mystery and knowledge of imperial discourse and tradition, in accordance with the model of the scholarly prince that was developed at that time. In that sense it guarantees Constantine VII's personal and dynastic legitimacy.Beaud Béatrice. Le savoir et le monarque : le Traité sur les nations de l'empereur byzantin Constantin VII Porphyrogénète. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 45ᵉ année, N. 3, 1990. pp. 551-564