Un 'children book' per la principessa e l'istruzione alla corte imperiale bizantina

Vat. gr. 1851 of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana is a small-format luxury codex produced in Constantinople, of uncertain dating oscillating between the 12th and 14th centuries. It contains an Epithalamium dedicated to a princess who travelled from the West to Constantinople, who, according to the hypothesis of Iacobini, can be identified as Anna d’Ungheria, who in 1282 wed Andronikos II, the son of the emperor Michael Palaiologos (Iacobini 2009). The codex, unprecedented in Byzantine book production due to the particularly large writing, very spacious line spacing and the simplified miniatures in bright colours, is thought to be a genuine children’s book to facilitate reading and learning the Greek language. It sheds light on one particular aspect of Byzantine education, where higher education and absolute mastery of the language were considered essential conditions for entry to any kind of career: the education of the ‘diplomatic brides.