Cultural Relations between East and West in the Twelfth Century*

During the twelfth century the Byzantine and western worlds met each other in all spheres and at all levels more closely than ever before. It is natural to expect and seek results of the encounter. One of Theophylact&s;s most interesting writings points to a more fundamental difference of outlook and tradition. It is an appeal to his emperor to support education in the art of rhetoric, &s;to restore a custom which has fallen into decay in the course of time and to reintroduce the tradition of delivering speeches in the imperial presence&s;. As in the field of art, it is true that there are a few significant examples of Byzantine literary and theological works passing into the West in the twelfth century, but, as in the field of art, their impact does not seem to have been particularly great. It is surprising that the major successful Serbian and Bulgarian risings against Byzantium were postponed until last decades of twelfth century.